by William Kassler - copyright 2015
Do not Copy - Refer others to this website
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It's Jesus You're
Searching For --
Preview by William Kassler - copyright 2015 Do not Copy - Refer others to this website |
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By
William Kassler
I looked then, and
saw a Man named Evangelist coming to him, and asked, “Why do you cry?”
He answered, Sir, I perceive by the Book in my hand, that I am
condemned to die, and after that come to Judgment; and I find that I am not
willing to do the first nor able to do the second.
Then said Evangelist, “If this be your condition, why do you stand
still?” He answered, “Because I
know not where to go.” Then, he
gave him a parchment-roll and there was written “Escape from the wrath to
come.” The man read it and
looking at the Evangelist very carefully said “Where must I go?”
The Pilgrim’s Progress – John
Bunyan (1676)
I love heroes. Heroes
are part of everyday life. They
are the people who have the ability to overcome great difficulties when the
need arises.
Real life sometimes feels like you have been dropped in the middle of
a desert without provisions and without a map.
If only somewhere out in the distance you could see a familiar oasis
on the horizon, you would have hope that you were going in the right
direction.
Heroes are not special; they are merely prepared.
Heroes may read books on parenting before conceiving.
It doesn’t make them better parents, but it helps to enter into
parenting with their eyes open.
Another aspect of heroes is their confidence.
Heroes seem assured, when they get put to the test; they are on the
right path. In false heroics,
situations overcome the hero.
For example, in CPR must you give five chest compressions and two breaths,
or fifteen chest compressions and two breaths, or thirty chest compressions
and two breaths? Surety of that
answer can save a life.
Some heroes are emotional heroes who are there when you need a hug.
They are the people who listen to you when times are tough.
They care about you and will give good advice, when you need it, to
get through the tough times.
They may be great life coaches, but they are not authorized to make the
winning shots in your life.
They can encourage you to be the best that you can be, but they can’t do it
for you. These heroes may
become your friends as they give you the confidence to succeed.
You have likely been an emotional hero in the past, but you wonder
who is going to help you when you need it?
Isn’t there anyone who understands what you’re going through?
Why do you always have to be the person who helps?
How can you be such a great hero
when your life seems to be such a mess?
The search for love and security should manifest real answers that
provide you the assurance that you are moving in the right direction when
you are dropped in the desert.
You need to get a perspective of where you are to know the direction to
take. The best directions steer
clear of the pitfalls transforming your feelings of insecurity to feelings
of security. You are prepared
and assured. You feel like a
hero.
Your search for
direction may have you battling with yourself.
In a game of chess, it’s impossible to play both black and white in
the same way you would play a true opponent.
Real life difficulties are true opponents, yet we are not prepared to
attack because we fight with ourselves strategizing to get the best
position. For every argument
you imagine, you can imagine a counter argument.
Rather than fight your opponent, you fight yourself.
What if you could get the perspective of a hero and do it as the hero
would do it? What will you do
to come out on top?
I hope you enjoy It’s Jesus You’re Searching For.
I pray that you will find the hero waiting to burst out from inside
of you.
“For
whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. “
(Romans 8:29)
When I started writing this book, I started in the middle knowing
that eventually I would have to write the beginning.
I was predestined to write the beginning, even though I started
writing in the middle. The
scripture above is often quoted.
It says, in essence, that God had a plan for you.
My heart is
overjoyed in the Lord because today you started reading these opening
paragraphs. You were
predestined. I pray that this
book challenges your beliefs, and deepens your understanding by introducing
you to the awesomeness of knowing the Lord.
Here is another famous quote, “Can you ever really know someone?”
A person’s face may have just flashed into your mind.
Even though you may be together daily, can you ever really know that
person? Think about yourself.
What do you know about yourself?
Here’s a wild thought, “Can anyone ever know God?”
“I
love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me. “
(Proverbs 8:17)
The Bible implies
that you can get to know God.
Of all the reasons to get to know God, this is the most important.
That you are convinced He is real and your salvation is secure in
Him.
Beyond salvation,
this is one of the most awesome times to see God in action.
We can read in the bible of His plans and see the actions He has
taken. We’re not in the dark,
but in the light. He has
fulfilled so many of His plan for the world that it is even becoming obvious
to the casual person.
Therefore, this book
is not to prove or disprove the Bible.
The Bible stands provable and you are welcome to research it.
However, there is an underlying question, “If Jesus is real, what
does it have to do with me?”
Think about it, are the things written in the written thousands of years ago
even relevant today?
Current day
philosophy college courses abound with studies of the great thinkers.
Socrates said (as written by Plato): “I sought to persuade every man
among you that he must look to himself, and seek virtue and wisdom before he
looks to his private interests.”
Is this ancient wisdom as relevant today as it was to Socrates before
his death in 339 BC? It must be
significant as philosophy, with the great philosophers, is still taught in
universities all over the world.
While Socrates was great, the man deemed as the wisest man in the
world was Solomon. He wrote: “Let
us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His
commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret
thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.”
(Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
I believe wisdom to help you discover “who you are” is contained in the
Bible. If the Bible can help
you, then it is both historical and relevant to you today.
…”he
who comes to God must believe that He is…”
(Hebrews 11:6)
The statement that
“He is” implies that God is active today.
The word is indicates
current day, not past as in “He was”,
or future as “He will be.”
No, He is.
Because He is, you can
have a relationship with Him unlike a relationship with a dead relative or
an unborn child not yet conceived.
It can be daily and interactive.
Because He is, He knows the stuff you are going through.
"But
from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you
seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 4:29)
What I have found is
that the more you attempt to know God, the more you will examine yourself.
Knowing God causes introspection that unveils the deepest parts of
you. Since the most important
person in the world to you is you, this can be a very good thing.
You care about yourself.
This is not to say you are selfish, but you have a great deal of interest in
your diet, health, recreation, entertainment, relationships, volunteerism,
etc. You have an interest in
the type of clothing you wear, the sports you participate in, and the route
you take to your school or your job.
You have an interest in the people you associate with on a daily
basis. You are interested in
you. Why not?
Who else is going to care about you?
My answer is simple. God
cares. He cares about you and
He cares about your decisions.
“God
has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.” (Romans 11:11)
Could God have foreknown you?
Could He know your future and your past?
Could He have known you before you were born?
In fact, He did because He is.
Think about this: He is always there.
You get a realization that while you were sleeping, riding to work
or to school, making breakfast, or being intimate He is always
there.
He was also there before you were conceived.
To have known you that means he already knew about your parents,
grandparents, and great grandparents.
What does God know?
Does He know you as a bystander?
Or does God know you as an influencer?
In something called
a product life cycle, there is an idea or concept phase.
There is no actual product at the beginning only the notion of the
product. The project starts
based on a concept. Did the
final product exist in this conceptual stage of the project?
No, of course not.
Let’s look at an
example: I have a project to
create nuclear energy. Let’s
say you need to obtain uranium for use in a nuclear plant.
The natural byproduct of uranium decay is plutonium.
Plutonium is the garbage after the uranium is used up.
Plutonium is not desired in a nuclear factory, but uranium is
desirable. However, I must deal
with the fact that in order to have what I need (uranium), I must also
contend with what I don’t need (plutonium).
Before the project
starts, I do not have uranium.
I also know that the plutonium waste must be disposed of as by-product of
running a uranium rich nuclear power plant.
The project must include a clear plan of how to dispose of the
plutonium waste. I have the
wisdom, but I lack the plan. I must
plan for the waste disposal, while I am in the idea and concept phase or
many people will die from radiation exposure.
You are much more valuable to God than uranium.
He saw your life before you were born, and included you in His plan.
God could see your life’s beginning and end as clearly as you can
foresee the use of and disposal of uranium.
God’s great plan includes you.
Can you accept that
God has foreseen and expected you?
Try to comprehend that God intimately know every moment of your life.
He knows that you are reading this book as well as what you will be
doing exactly one year from now.
You are beginning to grasp the mind of God.
He is omniscient, all seeing, and all knowing of things past and
things to come. Reading this
book is not a coincidence, but a predetermined fact of your very existence.
Free choice means that you can put this book down even now.
Predestination means that regardless of your choices, your life is a
book already written. Who will
you be exactly one year from now?
Since God knows, shouldn’t He clue you in a little?
If you have read this far, you are already learning a bit about God
and perhaps a little about yourself.
"Behold,
the days are coming,'' says the Lord God, "That I will send a famine on the
land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the
words of the Lord.” (Amos
8:11)
The words of the
Lord are truth: they are words of love, mercy, and grace.
Are you hungry for truth?
Maybe you’ve never opened a bible before.
Are you thirsty enough to want to jump in and get wet?
God’s desire is to bring to people who are hungry and thirsty for Him
the testimony of Jesus. Jesus
said His words are life.
Here is something Jesus said: you can have life more abundant.
Something new is going to happen to you if you stay the course.
Who are you? If you need
a change that would make you feel like a different person a year from today,
you might be very interested in what God has in His mind for you today.
This book is one
fragment of God’s desire to speak His abundant life into your life.
God hopes to deepen His presence within your inner man at your core.
That work has already begun.
As an analogy, it is mathematically correct to say, “The shortest
distance between two points is a straight line.”
Spiritually, there is a straight line to God.
As a line has two ends, one end is God, and the other is you.
God is large, powerful, and unchanging.
Can you see your way to Him?
You probably can’t see your way.
Here’s why. You don’t
know where you are. How can you
find your way without a starting point?
Even a GPS always uses “here” as a starting reference point.
Admitting that you are lost, but you know where you want to go, is
where everyone starts. It is
the beginning of your travel.
That makes today, and right now, a critical checkpoint for your future.
In the GPS of your life, “right now” is your “here” point.
The new identity of your life begins as the Word of God reveals
itself to you.
So, who are you?
If you answer by
stating your job, or job title, or anything related to how you earn money,
it doesn’t qualify as a correct response.
If you answer that you are a student, unemployed, a politician,
retired, or anything similar, it does not answer the question “Who are you?”
The question is not,
“What do you do?”
The question is “Who
are you?”
Let’s fill an imaginary bag with
your life choices. When the
door to your bedroom is closed, who are you?
When you are driving in your car, what do you listen to, and what
thoughts consume your thinking?
When you pick friends, what kind of friend do you pick?
Your baggage is filled with the life choices you made.
Your baggage is yours and you carry it always.
If you change jobs, your
baggage would go with you to the other job.
Are you happy, or angry?
Are you grieving and sorrowful, or full of joy?
What motivates you in the morning, or in the evening?
Is your baggage full of
deep things that are not resolved?
Discovering you means digging under the surface of everyday life and
discovering a deeper understanding of your inner self and your motivations.
Delving beneath the surface and identifying “who you are” will give
you an opportunity to understand when God talks to you.
God is not talking to a lawyer, salesman, doctor, cashier, or a
teacher. He is talking to you,
the person holding the baggage.
Who you are touches
your motivation. Who you are
shakes your free will choices.
Who you are governs if you are striving to “live for today” or to “live for
tomorrow.” If you are living
for tomorrow, it makes sense to put money into a retirement plan even though
you can’t spend that money for a number of years.
If you are living for today, saving is not a choice at all because
you need the money to survive day today. When
you live for today, but are making a conscious effort to “save for tomorrow”
in spite of your current circumstance, then you are shaking your natural
tendency for something better.
The choice to overcome is inspired by
who you are.
When you choose to
save money, in lieu of your day-to-day survival, you seek a better future.
You want to have a reasonably good lifestyle today, but the right
choices today will make a difference in your future.
Perhaps for your retirement account, maturity is age fifty-nine and
one half. It means that the
date the retirement money will make a difference is preset.
When you seek God,
you come to an understanding of things that you perhaps never knew.
You start to understand choices you didn’t know existed.
You may come to a knowledge of choices other people made but you
didn’t understand. Why did some
people protest when the monument of the Ten Commandments was to be hauled
away from Judge Moore’s
"Enter
by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to
life, and there are few who find it.”
(Matthew 7:13-14)
In your future, a
gate represents the transition from your earthly life to existence beyond
your physical lifetime. Jesus
said that gate is narrow. How
can you make it through that narrow gate if you can’t even find it?
If you can find it, why is it so difficult to navigate?
I am not the type of
person who will ask directions until I have to.
That is part of who I am.
However, why I don’t ask directions may be for any of the following
reasons:
1.
I’m following directions already.
2.
I’ve been spurned in the past with bad directions.
3.
There is no place to safely stop and ask.
4.
I just feel like driving around a bit and it’s not critical to be
somewhere on a schedule.
The summation of
“who I am,” and the choices that I will make, is a balance of multiple
things. Past influence balanced
by the priority of my schedule will affect my choices.
The key is the prioritization and it implies you have a choice.
If time is of the essence, and the original directions are bad, I may
be willing to risk stopping in an unsafe place.
I prioritized the goal, but evaluated the risk.
Instead of focusing on my unsafe surroundings, I venture to get the
directions I need so I arrive on time.
Your choices may
also be financially influenced.
Consider why you would take a taxi instead of a bus.
You take a taxi because you are willing to pay a knowledgeable driver
to get to your exact destination.
A bus cannot be exact.
It has predetermined scheduled stops and less than perfect comfort.
Examine again Jesus words, “Because
narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there
are few who find it.” I had
an experience where I parked a block away from my destination.
When I tried to find the building at 555 Park Avenue, the building
number I needed did not exist.
I needed help from someone who knew the way because I had been misguided.
Let your goal
determine your steps.
Who you are should line up with
your goals.
Learning about God
is one thing, but learning does not get you to and through the narrow gate.
Many people can tell you things they’ve learned about Jesus.
I know Jesus died on a cross, but how does that change me?
Jesus rose from the dead, so do I know anything more about finding
the gate and getting through?
The facts about Jesus seem unrelated.
Can I find in the Bible, or on the internet, the map to the narrow
gate? The narrow gate exists,
but without direction, how will you find it and pass through?
Jesus indicates that
missing the gate leads to
destruction. It’s an
interesting concept. He sounds
like an authority on life and death.
He said His words are “life.”
Jesus also said another path
leads to destruction.
In basketball, you can do a lay up, key shot, corner shot, and the
ball can hit the rim, backboard, or swish.
The important thing is to score not how
the ball passed through the hoop, but that the ball passed through it.
If scoring were limited to only swishes,
then the game of basketball would be an entirely new sport.
Limited to only swishes, few MVP’s (most valuable players) would
remain. The narrow gate is how
God describes the path to Him.
You must learn how His knowledge about Him applies to you; otherwise, it’s
just knowledge. You might have
to change.
What is beyond that
gate? What should compel you to
do anything different from what you have always done in the past?
Why should it be important to you?
Eternal Life is
beyond the gate. Now, I must
point out something; every person has a form of eternal life.
Nothing created by God is ever destroyed.
You may die and decompose in the natural world, but in the spiritual,
you are eternal. All people
have an eternal presence, your soul, which will live on beyond your natural
years. Getting through the gate
implies your award of eternal life; however, failure to pass through the
gate means you will eternally suffer.
People will know exactly why they are eternally suffering.
They will suffer because they missed it.
Throughout your life, God
attempted to influence your choices.
You resisted Him. Beyond
the gate is life without suffering.
Just imagine that for a moment.
Wow! Getting through the
gate is done by choice. It is a
choice that we all must make.
Not every person knows he must choose.
Now, you know.
Imagine you are
driving in a city and approach a pedestrian walkway.
Crosswalks are indicated with white painted “bars” from one side of
the street to the other side.
It is required in this city that you stop your car, and not enter the
crosswalk, when pedestrians are present in the walkway.
However, where you live, the walkway lines are only to inform you
that pedestrians might be crossing here so you swerve around the people, as
it’s not required to stop. When
the police pull you over, what is your excuse?
Are you forgiven because you are an outsider, or do you get a ticket
for breaking the law of the land?
In the same manner that you are ignorant of the local laws, do you
have understanding in the way that leads to salvation?
There are no tickets with fines after you die, only judgment.
Do you know what you need to do to cross through that narrow gate?
Why did Jesus say
that to miss the narrow way leads to destruction?
What have you done that was so bad that you should be destroyed?
To understand judgment you have to know the law of the land.
The law of the land was established by God for people.
It states that to break one of God’s commandments is to receive the
death penalty. It’s His land;
it’s His law; it’s His penalty.
When you pass through His gate, you receive His reward.
We, the people of God, are subject to the rules and regulations of
His land. Ignorance is not an
excuse. If you stood before a
judge, he would tell you whom you are.
Notice, I didn’t say the judge would ask you who you are.
With the stroke of a gavel he would say, “You are guilty.
You are condemned. You
are a sinner.”
Look closely in the
mirror. Have you ever
considered that when God looks at you He may see only a sinner?
…”all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
Have you ever
considered that when God looked upon humanity He only saw sinners worthy of
the death sentence and eternal destruction?
Who are you?
Do you have a method
to get through the narrow gate to heaven and eternal life?
Do you have a secret code?
Do you have a formula for life?
Are your past actions from years ago nothing to worry about?
Are you a simply good person?
Most people think so.
Are you a sinner? Within a
short time, we lose sight of deeds we’ve put behind us.
Does a timeless God ever forget?
So He
(Jesus)
said to him, "Why do you call Me good?
No one is good but One, that is, God.
(Matthew 19:17)
Calling yourself
good is the same as calling
yourself God. Are you God?
A part of us, the
part that makes up our value system, consists of things that we have learned
at home, in school, on the street, in church, during intimate times, in
jail, with our friends, or in a bad situation.
You may have been in a bad situation that got worse as more people
became involved, and it ended up totally unfurling your life.
Your value system permitted the activities in which you willingly
participated. You allowed the
actions and reaped your consequences.
Outside influences
can modify your value system.
If you hear about rape performed by a clergy member, and the rapist was
acquitted, you may develop a lack of trust.
You may feel you can never trust God again as His representative has
totally failed. Your current
value system is part of your baggage.
You will be holding it today, briefly, as you begin to seek God and
all His riches and blessings.
Many of us want to
exhibit good values. In fact,
we all have things about ourselves that we like.
We’re good students, children, mothers or fathers, employees or union
members. Regardless of our good
points, there are things that we grapple with about ourselves that we wish
we could change. You can never
forgive your father. You will
smoke till the day you die. You
cannot get past the thought of your mother dying.
Your best friend stole your fiancé.
Your issue is a
hardship, and generally, we have many hardships.
Consider who you would be if you could overcome your biggest problem?
What would you say if your biggest problem was no longer an issue?
Would you have a testimony to share of how you overcame it?
I believe you would.
Your testimony of overcoming hardships is just what others need to hear who
are in your situation. Your
situation is yours, but it is not necessarily unique.
It is a burden, but it could be overcome.
People who overcome begin with hope.
Are you a person of
hope? Is your glass half empty
(and getting worse) or half full (and getting better)?
Do you hope for a better job, or are you complaining about the job
you have? Do you hope for
better grades, or are you slacking?
Do you hope for a companion, or are you whining because you don’t
have one? Those who have given
up hope are bitter, complaining, angry, and they shut away the world.
Without hope, we turn to substitution for happiness with drugs or by
taking out our frustration on others.
Perhaps you substitute your hope with sports, clubs, workouts,
boating, food, TV, or a romance novel.
Popular book and movie themes are about overcoming issues, not
burying them. A covering of the
finest paint cannot keep a building from falling.
The whitewash of paint only covers the problem.
Without hope, as a starting point, you will fall.
So who are you?
Perhaps you are a
Catholic, a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Scientologist, a
Hellenist, a Cabbalist, a Jehovah’s Witness, a Mason, a Mormon, an atheist,
or an agnostic. Is your
religious orientation who you are?
Does the place you attend services guarantee your salvation and give
you assurance that you will pass through the narrow way?
Your religious
affiliation does not guarantee your salvation.
Being a Boy Scout does not guarantee that you can tie a knot.
An organization like the Boy Scouts can guarantee they will give you
the opportunity to learn.
Salvation is as personal as how you pick the friends to invite to your home.
You carefully create the invitation list and allow the choicest
people through your narrow gate – that is, your doorway.
Anyone who is uninvited can be thrown out forcibly.
Even if you think you have an invitation, check your ticket.
Is your ticket a scam or the real deal?
Do you really know for sure that Jesus invited you to His home?
What truths would you uncover if you did a little digging?
Are you a person who
keeps traditions? Does keeping
the traditions guarantee your salvation?
If you miss one festival, will you be excluded from your eternal
rest? In the natural, we try to
make up for our shortcomings.
If you missed a test in school, you would schedule a make up.
If you missed a deadline at work, you would work overtime or look for
an extension. How can you make
up for a spiritual festival you missed?
Since you can’t make it up, you need to seek forgiveness or begin
creating your list of excuses.
Whom will you ask to forgive you?
Would it be someone in authority?
No tradition or
organization can guarantee your salvation.
Only Jesus the inviter can
guarantee your salvation. As
the inviter, He is the authority.
If the inviter says you
are welcome, then you can enter in or pass through, period.
Many families have babysitting teens who become the authority when
parents were out of town.
Friends are invited and the home is trashed.
Was the teen the authority or the parent?
If
the inviter cannot be trusted,
your invitation is a scam. How
can you determine if your spiritual leaders who invite you to their church,
mosque, or temple are telling the whole
truth? Your religious group
is a place where you join up in fellowship with other people, like yourself,
on a regular basis. You become
a member. Membership does not
guarantee your narrow way to heaven.
You are going to have to accept the invitation to heaven and get help
to steer down the narrow path.
Jesus has the authority to invite and be your guide.
“For
I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of
peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah
29:11)
Who you are, complete with all your baggage and your thoughts about
life and love, religion, finances, education, and your hopelessness is okay
for God to use as a starting point for your future.
Consider this: a rich lawyer can come to Jesus.
A poor mother of many children, each with a separate father, can come
to Jesus. A priest, a rabbi, a
monk, a shaman, can come to Jesus.
However, just coming to Jesus is not enough.
Jesus said to him, "I am the
way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
(John 14:6)
Then Jesus said to
them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
(John 10:7)
Jesus said there is no other way except His way.
The Word says that Jesus claims to be
the narrow gate.
No one comes to the Father (that is, to God the Father whom Jesus
himself honors and respects) except through Him.
That sounds rather boorish that there could be no other way.
Isn’t there another way, some other method, which can get you to
eternal life? The answer is no.
Other faiths (religions) make fantastic claims that cannot be
validated. Is anyone sure that
reincarnation exists; much less, that it leads to enlightenment?
Is there evidence in Allah that your jihad sacrifice would be
acceptable and that 25 virgins await?
The answers to this and other religious mysteries is no.
So, what makes this faith in Jesus so different?
Can He prove everlasting life?
Can He prove that He is an inviter with authority?
“Jesus,
when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. And
behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the
earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many
bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of
the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared
to many.”
(Matthew 27: 50-53)
“For
I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that
He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was
seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once” (1
Corinthians 15: 3-6)
Jesus spoke about
what He would do. Witnesses
wrote about what Jesus would do.
He fulfilled His claims with actions that demonstrated that He was
not a liar. He told the truth.
He proved that He could raise the dead to life.
Jesus didn’t personally write anything about Himself, but others
wrote of Him throughout history.
Jesus life proved the writings accurate.
He proved death could not hold Him.
He proved that He is not
that He was.
Therefore, in His promises, we have hope.
No matter who you
are, Jesus has a place He is preparing for you.
Since we have sinned by failing to be obedient, we are destined to
eternal suffering as a death sentence.
That makes the option of eternal life through Jesus is an eternal
pardon from the death sentence.
You can begin your way to eternal life when your hope becomes faith in
Jesus’ promises. Give yourself
fully to Jesus. In return for
your belief, you will be blessed with eternal life.
By believing, you will be exchanging your life with all its baggage
for a life guided by Him. If
you start today, in a year’s time you may not recognize yourself.
"Come
to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.''
(Matthew 11:
28-30)
It is a baggage
exchange. You exchange who you
are, with your old tired burdensome baggage, for Jesus baggage.
When we discussed building our nuclear facility, we needed to look
toward the results, making good planning decisions for the entirety of the
project. You now have enough
information and knowledge about the end to make a decision about your new
beginning. You know the end is
either destruction or life. The
decision you make will determine your final destination.
Many people, when
they desire to know Jesus, experience a lifting of burdens that comes from
deep inside. The burden of
unforgiveness for a friend or a relative is lifted.
It’s baggage. The burden
of prejudice is lifted. It’s
more baggage. The burden of
poverty is lifted. This is
still more baggage. The sting
of having no money may remain for a time, but you no longer care or linger
on it as you did before. The
burden of grief for your aborted child is lifted.
The burden of divorce is lifted.
The burden of sin and guilt is lifted.
The burdens of swearing, cursing, promiscuity, lewd behavior are
lifted from you. For the first
time, you feel new, clean, and released.
Life seems positive and uncomplicated.
For the first time you have answers for your problems.
His name is Jesus.
If you need Jesus
and desire a baggage exchange, then say this right now out loud wherever you
are:
“Jesus – I need you.
I am sorry that I have sinned and deserve death.
I pray that you will help me, right now, because I have no other
hope.”
Declaring you have
“no other hope” immediately turns your half empty glass (and getting worse)
to a glass half full (and getting better).
With Jesus, your half empty glass fills providing more than you asked
for, more than you needed. It’s
not just a turn around; it’s a shove in the right direction.
Your pockets become full of the stuff you need to keep going.
We call this grace.
Declaring you have
“no other hope” effectively states that you have accepted Jesus:
1.
as your Messiah (the one who said He would come again to rule over
the world)
2.
as your Savior (the one
who has removed the curse of destruction from you)
3.
as your Counselor (the one you go to for advice and council)
4.
as your Atonement (the one who gave His life for sin, so you didn’t
have to)
Without Jesus as
messiah and savior and hope:
1.
you have no messiah (and you will not be here when He reigns)
2.
you become your own savior (with no guide for success, you will fail)
3.
you become your own counselor (your advice has not been good, so far)
4.
you become your own atonement (your blood is spilled for your
failures. You miss out on
eternal life because you are not good
enough to be the kind of atonement God required.
Therefore, you miss the narrow way.
Your pride became your downfall.
You are eternally sorrowful.)
“out
of weakness were made strong” (Hebrews 11:34)
Declaring you have
“no hope” is a humble place to be.
Jesus makes a way in our weakness.
Our money, our muscle, our looks, our possessions, our promises, our
lies, our deceptions, our vows,… nothing prepares us for Jesus better than
getting humble and admitting “I cannot make it through the narrow way unless
I do it your way. I cannot do
it alone. I need you.”
You are welcome,
once again, to talk to Jesus.
“I need you. I pray that you
would help me because I have sinned and have no other hope.”
Who are you?
Some would say you are now a Christian then promptly get biased
regarding your denomination, affiliation, and church membership.
Remember, denominations and affiliations don’t save a soul.
Only Jesus, the inviter with authority, can declare that you are
righteous, and welcome through the gate.
Who are you?
Some would say you are saved, born again.
They would be correct.
Say, “I AM born again.” Born
inside of you is I AM, the name of God given directly to Moses.
God is inside you. You
now can live a born again life.
Who are you?
Suffice it to say, you are
loved by Jesus and God the Father.
Let go of your burdens and baggage.
Believe then in a bright and healthy future before you.
Say, “I AM highly favored.”
That is favored by I AM, the name of God.
When you look at your children, your brothers, your sisters, your
mother, your father, your car, and your heated home, your bank account, and
your toaster you can say, “I AM
blessed.”
"I
will never leave you nor forsake you.’’
(Hebrews 13:5)
Prepare to fulfill
His will in your life. Starting
today, nothing will ever be the same.
Who are you?
You are God’s.
Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all
things have become new.
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
Who you “are” is not
who you think you are. If your
job is to be an engineer, and your role is to be a father, and your
volunteer work is for the Boy
Scouts and your church
affiliation is Methodist, which of these attributes does God consider
important and acceptable to Him?
If the credentials to be acceptable were to be a Methodist, engineer,
father, or scout leader, then many people would not qualify.
The things we do or our affiliations to organizations are not the
ticket into eternal life.
Jesus, the narrow gate, is the only way to heaven.
We cannot barter with Jesus on the Day of Judgment.
We are not who we think we are.
God’s plan puts
everyone on equal terms. The
housewife and the executive, the liar and the pimp, the priest and the
rabbi, all are put on equal terms.
God uses your vocation, your church, your volunteer work as
opportunities for you to be shaped, but none of these roles qualifies you
for eternal life. God can use
your failures, your hurts, and your experiences to bring about the person
that He needs for His purposes.
It is God’s plan that pastors, ministers, and priests come from every walk
of life. Some clergy have had
shaded pasts mixed with experiences of perversion, drugs, violence, and
abuse, yet today they walk boldly with the Lord and for the Lord.
The disciple Paul, for example, persecuted the church itself putting
Christians to death before becoming a Christian himself.
You may have classified clergy as “goody-two-shoes.”
These servants walk boldly with the Lord.
What differs in each of them is how they responded individually to
the calling of
God.
And do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
(Romans 12:2)
As a dog returns to
his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
(Proverbs 26:11)
There is a way that
seems right to a person, perhaps attending school followed by college then a
finding a job and starting a family.
This is clearly a life path.
It feels normal and natural.
You can read books on how to navigate the path, or pay for advice
from a counselor. You can learn
in school, or ask your parents.
It’s not wrong, but the size of your home or the value of your car does not
give you better access to the Lord.
As you transitions from who you are today to life in Jesus, His path
you may have never considered.
A change of thinking
is required. Submission to God
is required, which is, obedience to what He’s thinking.
The renewing of your mind is like starting over; rebooting your
mental computer to get it running better.
On every reboot, you gain hope because of the longer intervals before
you fail.
Being conformed to
the world, I was a social drinker.
Doing worldly acceptable things, I competed to be the best friend of
my friends rather than the best friend of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.
I was hypocritical and not the man that Jesus wanted me to be.
To return to that life and lifestyle would undo much of what Jesus
has done. He changed my life,
conforming it to Him. I would
be as a dog who returns to his vomit if I returned to my former ways.
To desire it is temptation.
To partake of it is sin.
I am no longer that person, yet I remember who that person was.
My mind is renewed.
The Lord told
Jeremiah, “Arise and go down to the
potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.''
Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making
something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in
the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it
seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me,
saying: "O house of
God believes He has
a right to make changes, corrections, and conversions in your life in order
to create a godly person in you.
He knows your life is marred and imperfect without His help.
The more you resist, the more He will lovingly attempt to bring about
changes in you. Before I chose
Jesus, my life seemed like a rollercoaster.
One good day was followed by bad days.
In fact, every good day seemed like the doorway to a very bad day.
Bad days, however, were not a guarantee that the following day would
be good. I prayed, and it
seemed to no avail. Was He
listening to my prayers? Whom
was I praying to? Perhaps I
didn’t recognize His helping hand.
God has persistent
hope. God hopes that you will
embrace Him as Lord. I hadn’t
done that for the longest time.
It’s not that resistance is futile, but the more you resist the more He will
attempt to mold you into whom He wants you to be.
The purpose of guard rails is to keep you on the road when you are
veering off the road. You may
have a clear road up ahead, but if you steer off, you will hit a guard rail.
Your car will be scuffed, perhaps immobilized for a time, but you
will be kept on the road. The
guardrails were installed for your safety.
Could God be keeping you on His path in a similar way?
What seems
irrational is that you think you know who you are, because the Bible says we
are works in progress. In the
scripture, above, about the potter, we realize that our old broken self is
to be transformed into a new creation just as the potter made a new clay
pot. If the potter foreknew his
clay pot would be presented to the king, would he work to make the best pot
he could? Yes!
It would be ornately designed, meticulously crafted, and carefully
inspected. Yet, we treat our
lives as if we are broken shards of clay and no one cares about us.
We don’t seek the answer to life’s most basic question, “Am I fit for
the inviter when I die?” You
should aspire to be fit for Jesus the king.
Unlike a broken pot which is discarded, you can be reshaped into
perfection. How fortunate that God
loves you enough to spare your immortal soul and He is willing to invest in
your life and make you into the person He wants you to be.
Who you are ultimately gets shaped by His will, not yours.
Why?
Why would God need you?
What is special about you that God can’t do on His own?
Then God said, "Let
Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,
over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’’
(Genesis 1:26)
God created the
earth for man. Not only did He
create earth for man, He then gave it to man.
They had dominion over all created things.
The earth, and all its riches, was given an amazing gift to Adam.
Further, Adam and Eve were created sinless.
God put sinless man in charge of all things on the earth.
Dominion over the earth is man’s role.
God has a sense of
order called His Law. The Law
has allowed that hell was reserved for law breakers with satan as its
gatekeeper. Therefore, without
sin which leads to damnation in hell, satan could have no authority over
man. With God’s authority, when
Adam sinned satan the jail keeper could put Adam behind bars; imprisoned
until the fine was paid.
If there is imposed on him a
sum of money, then he shall pay to redeem his life, whatever is imposed on
him. (Exodus 21:30)
The jailer satan, in
the form of a snake, coerced Eve and Adam into sin.
They chose disobedience over obedience, knowledge over wisdom, and
ultimately death over life.
They lost their dominion until the ransom was paid.
The ransom was too high for Adam to pay it back.
It was too high for Eve.
They lost their position before God.
Hanging their heads in shame, they were forced out of the Garden of
Eden, never to return. Satan
became the ruler of the world, a position he held until the ransom was paid.
Therefore, what God had given to man, man gave away to the devil.
Nevertheless, we are victorious over the devil since the ransom has
been paid through Jesus Christ.
When Jesus paid it all, it was to give you a second chance.
In order for you to partake in this redemption, invite Jesus to be
your Savior. You may have done
that already, perhaps minutes ago.
If you have, He is already on the job.
So why does it still seem that nothing had changed and everything is
wrong in your life? Perhaps you
are listening to the devil’s lies just as Adam and Eve listened.
Do you not believe Jesus has restored your authority?
I’m sure you are confused.
The devil will still get into your thoughts and suggest that God is a
liar. Trust me: you have the
authority, and the devil does not.
With that power, what will you say to the devil when he returns to
destroy your life? Get ready to
shout, “No more!”
“I
will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming,
and he has nothing in Me.”
(John 14:30)
The ruler of this
world is satan, and he has a plan for your life.
His plan has nothing to do with your invitation of Jesus to be with
God. The evil satan is the
“ruler of the world,” in the scripture above, and he has no place, no peace,
no promise of a hopeful future in Jesus.
Jesus points out that satan has nothing in Him.
Satan’s goal is to
steer you away from Jesus’ promises of peace, eternal life, and salvation.
Jesus said satan has nothing to do with Him.
If you are the lord and
master of your life and not surrendered to Jesus then Jesus has nothing to
do with you. The consequence
for taking the steering wheel of your life is that, as the road narrows, you
will strike a guard rails that lie ahead.
If you let Jesus be Lord and Master of your life, He can steer for
you to avoid the pitfalls.
Satan, the current ruler of the world, would love to see you crash.
Be sober, be
vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour.
(1 Peter 5:8)
If you are seeking a
relationship with Jesus, realize that you have an adversary.
Scripture says that the devil’s goal is to try to devour you, or see
you fail.
“…For the devil has
come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short
time.''
(Revelation 12:12)
In the satanic
realm, there is a form of government set up with a singular purpose: to
convince you God is a liar.
Satan’s hope is that you never comprehend Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of
God who will return one day to rule and reign on the earth as is promised in
the scriptures. Under satan, in
his governmental authority, are lying devils.
They too oppose your believing that Jesus is returning to gather His
people. If no Jews remain who
seek the Messiah, then Jesus has no reason to return and satan keeps his
dominion.
The devil will
deceive by suggestion. He will
attack by filling you with suggestions to weaken your
belief in your God given
authority. When the devil is
persecuting you, you may experience headaches, ulcers, illness, poverty, and
every other foul thing that has plagued man since the beginning of time.
How do we know that these are caused by evil spirits?
Jesus healed people by casting the demons out.
People arrived sickly and left cured.
Are you ready to reestablish your dominion now?
Say, “No” to the devil and say, “Yes” to Jesus.
The Lord will cause
your enemies who rise against you
(devils and demons)
to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way
(persecutions) and flee before you
seven ways. (Deuteronomy
28:7 emphasis added)
The devil has no
love, no care, and no desire to see you succeed.
He wants to take down, your mother, your father, your siblings, your
children, your business, your name, or your heart.
He wants you and all things on the earth destroyed.
He believes that if you are devoid of all knowledge of Jesus, your
spirit will belong to him. He
will claim victory. A world of
chaos is his goal. A world
without love is his prize. His
goal is to have you curse and blame God for all your troubles.
So many people today blame God for everything.
Don’t allow the devil to achieve his goal which has you hate God.
He has worked deception through sickness, unforgiveness, and evil in
your life. You were his prey,
and he nearly destroyed you.
Contrary to the
workings of the devil, God also has foreseen these events in your life.
For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not
of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
(Jeremiah 29:11)
God thinks of giving
you a future and hope. The
devil thinks about destroying your hope in God and cutting off your future.
Both influences exist today and are real in your life, yet you may
never have considered them.
Consider that the same Hollywood people who say there is no God will bring
you movies with evil themes of haunting, seduction, possession, and magic.
The Bible, which is the reference on all things good, provided
“Therefore
submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
God knows His plans for you.
He knows your future before you know your future.
He knows where you live.
His method to change and influence you requires that you come in agreement
with His will. Since God has
good plans for you, you only need to obey His lead.
You can resist, but He will never stop trying out of love for you.
Resisting God is seen as disobedience and sin, which comes with
consequences. Choosing God is a
struggle because God’s way may not be the most pleasurable way.
In choices, there are clear winners and losers.
Who you are can sometimes be measured in if you seek or do not seek
Him.
As you make the
choice to follow Jesus, you enter into a covenant with Him.
A covenant is like a marriage.
It is an unbreakable agreement, with its terms and conditions.
As in a marriage, there is a passing of a family name from the
husband to the wife. The wife
takes on the name of the husband.
She is no longer who she was moments ago, but she is suddenly
changed. Although she cannot
see beyond the wedding dress and the reception, she knows that her entire
future now relies on her faith in the new relationship and the strength of
the new covenant. She made a
choice to take his name. Your
choice to take Jesus is nothing less than entering a covenant with Him.
“I
speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with
your father.'' (John 8:38 – Jesus differentiating His covenant)
Knowing the end from
the beginning, Jesus is able to speak with authority.
He knows His outcome and is willing to enter into a covenant with His
Father based on what He knows.
Jesus always does what His Father wills.
Jesus speaks of what
He has seen with His Father.
One day, they spoke about you.
God the Father chose you that day.
Jesus now authoritatively speaks on your behalf, if you can live in
His covenant.
As a stern warning,
Jesus warns that some people are following the works of satan.
Satan is also referred to as a chief authority of his principality,
which is death and destruction.
Satan is still acting as if he is running the show.
Those who willingly give in to satan live unredeemed.
They are not saved.
"You are of your father the
devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a
liar and the father of it.” (John 8:44)
God said His name is, “I AM.”
(Exodus
And the devil, who
deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast
and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever
and ever.
(Revelation 20:10)
Who you are has dire consequences for your eternal home.
Paul said that when you choose Christ (or Christ calls you
and you accept) you are a new
creation. Surely, Paul didn’t
mean that you changed your outward appearance.
The instant you accept Christ something happens that cannot be
explained by any physical or chemical change.
It’s outside of the natural.
It is supernatural. In
fact, it is glorious and only accomplished by the grace of God.
When I accepted Christ, some my traits changed.
I didn’t understand what God had done that day, but I knew inside (in
my spirit) that it happened.
The same moment that I accepted Christ, something also happened in my
physical body. I was unaware of
the physical until God demonstrated His power.
That day I received Christ, I vowed to no longer socially drink
again. Weeks later, my best
friend bought me my favorite drink.
He was (and still is) my best friend, so I accepted it out of social
politeness. That very evening,
within the next two hours of having just one drink, I was suffering from
severe allergies. It was in
that moment I realized that Jesus removed my allergies.
They don’t plague me to this day.
He used the drink, my best friend, my weak flesh, and my failed vow
to show me His blessings: He redeemed me from years of seasonal allergies.
Allergy relief was a gift that I didn’t know I had received until the
blessing was removed.
Grace is unmerited favor.
Consider this. When you
are graced by God, you have done nothing to earn it and pay nothing in
return. The moment you receive
Jesus as your Savior, you receive eternal life with Him.
Because of His grace, you receive total forgiveness of your sins, and
freedom from the lake of fire with its torment forever.
That’s an extremely good deal, and it’s true.
Adam could not redeem himself.
Neither can you. Grace
is favor not because of anything you did or earned.
You simply chose to believe.
You come to your decision out of fear, reasoning, or desire to have a
change of life. You choose to
be with God and He already chose to accept you.
You are no longer on your old path, but on a new path.
God rewards your decision by rewarding you eternal life and maybe
some extra blessings you can use now.
Let’s look at that scripture
again:
Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all
things have become new.
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
The scripture says that not only are you a new creation, your old
self is passed away and all things have become new.
Some people, at this moment with Christ, feel something inside of
them totally removed and lifted out.
Generally, they can name the spiritual burden that was lifted out of
them which has been troubling them for a long time.
At that moment, Jesus redeems you from the power of the devil.
It feels like a deeply rooted black ball was supernaturally lifted
out, and no longer exists. It
feels supernatural because you know it but you don’t know how you know it.
Perhaps Jesus lifted out anger leading to forgiveness.
Perhaps what is removed is prejudice leading to better relationships.
Maybe it was lust, leading to renewal in your marriage and your
ability to work steadfastly with your peers.
Whatever God lifts out by His grace is becomes the first step of the
conversion to who He wants you to be.
He paves the way that He wants you to go.
Jesus’ grace to you is a gift.
He is a burden lifter.
He removes troubles and baggage.
The moment you give your life to Him, I urge you to never forget the
thing that He removed from you.
While science cannot bear out your claims, you nevertheless have a testimony
of the supernatural actions from God. If this has already happened to you, I
am writing this to let you know that you are not crazy.
God’s graceful burden lifting is a real byproduct of coming to
Christ. May you identify your
gift and testify of it forever.
What a true gift it is.
Because God graces
you with a gift, you are never the same.
Remember, you know that you know something has changed.
He gives you the grace you need to set out and accomplish awesome
things for the Kingdom of God.
God then continues to shape you into a better individual than you were
before you knew Christ. In
supernatural terms, God made an advanced payment to you, providing all that
you need to survive the year.
During the upcoming year, He continues to pour out on you so that your
pockets are never empty. He
does all this just because you believe HE IS and because He loves you.
You are special to Him.
We call Jesus, the
Son of God, and the sacrifice for our sin.
Jesus said those who believe on Him, He would take to the Father.
It’s never a bad time to ask Jesus to be your personal redeemer.
Tell Jesus now, “I need you Jesus.
I messed up my life and I don’t know how to redeem myself, just like
Adam and Eve. I need You as
Lord of my life. Be my guide
and my friend.”
If we are truly are
new creations, what’s next?
Your employment is the same, but you might be happier on the job.
The family is the same, but you might be more forgiving of them now.
The home is the same, but you might not complain about it as much as
you did yesterday. Your
finances are the same. Your
transportation is the same. The
only thing that changed is you.
Consider His gift to
you when you gave your life to Jesus.
What baggage came out of you when you let Him in?
These areas of your life will change the fastest.
There may be areas of your life that have also changed, yet you are
unaware. By example, if you
used to speak with foul language, but God removed that from you, you
suddenly won’t use swear words.
It will be a miracle, and people may wonder what’s changed in you.
(Tell them, “It was Jesus!”)
However, the fact that you no longer hate your old teacher might be
suppressed until you think about the teacher.
At that time, you will find you no longer hate and maybe are
understanding or even forgiving.
(Thank Jesus.)
“But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no
law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions
and desires.” (Galatians 5:22-24)
Your new life begins
with how you view the world.
You will learn to love. Joy
will be unlike you ever experienced in the past.
There will be peace. You
will find patience through longsuffering.
You will be kind to one other and faithful to God.
There will be a new gentleness within as you realize you are not as
oppressed as you once believed.
After all, if God could have mercy on you, couldn’t you exhibit mercy on
someone else? Blessings will
abound with new self-control against violence in words, thoughts, and
emotions. You will be liked and
likeable by other people who have embraced this changed life-style.
You are changed.
The change is
brought about by the Spirit of God.
“But
you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God
dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not
His.” (Romans 8:9)
This passage talks
about a supernatural change inside of you.
The Spirit of God dispels the darkness inside of you.
When that dark baggage came out of you, it’s because God used His
Spirit (the Holy Spirit) to ensure that you would get a full revelation of
Him. That is your new
testimony.
“This is the message which we
have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no
darkness at all.” (1 John
1:5)
When the light of Jesus (He called Himself “light”) comes into you by
the power of the Holy Spirit, it casts out the darkness.
That dark something had to leave in order to make way for Jesus.
You held onto that darkness for so long that it took the powerful
Spirit of God to redeem and to free you.
You have been changed.
Praise God.
Then Jesus, being filled with
the Holy Spirit, returned from the
Having His Spirit within, you have a leader to guide your life
wherever you may go, even into the wilderness of your future.
You have a life check
inside of you that will help you discern right from wrong, good from bad,
and truth from a lie. You will
need training. God provided
training in His Word, the collected writings of the Bible.
Who you are will
start to come from God’s word as you read.
It slowly transforms and shapes you, as a potter would shape clay,
into the most wonderful person you ever could become.
The process will go on forever.
If only you had started, perhaps a day earlier, or perhaps a year
earlier. Could a bad situation
have been averted if you had been more peaceful, and kept silent, instead of
saying something hurtful? Might
you have been better off, if you never cheated, now that you’ve been caught?
The world knows how to accuse (because it is the role of the devil to
accuse) but God teaches us how to forgive.
At times, we seem to have an answer before we fully understand the
situation. Many wars – even in
your mind – have started over such thinking.
Does this conversation sound familiar:
Princess: We’re not speaking.
Bonnie: Call her, Princess.
You have been friends forever.
Princess: If I call, I know what she’ll say.
So, I’m not calling.
Princess demonstrates, what I call, binary thinking.
Her assumptions became her truth as she chooses what she thinks will
become the outcome. Binary
thinking inhibited her friendship.
Soon they may become enemies.
Binary thinking doesn’t allow for the inclusion of other
alternatives. Problems become
insurmountable, like giants, even though they were never actually explored.
Binary thinking doesn’t allow for God alternatives.
Jesus said
"A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved
you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My
disciples, if you have love for one another.'' (John 13:34-35)
Just as God wants us
close to him, He desires that we would not be distanced from our spiritual
brothers and sisters. He
requires love between believers.
He also affirms that love becomes the demonstration, the outward
sign, of your union in Christ.
As an apple is a fruit on its branches, love is a fruit of Christian living.
Do you attend church now, but you don’t see the demonstration of
love? Conversely, are you
capable of loving a stranger?
1.
And so, dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God.
Let them be a living sacrifice, holy--the kind he can accept. When
you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask?
2.
Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and
different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will
learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you.
3.
As God's messenger I give each of you God's warning: Be honest in
your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has
given you.
4.
Just as there are many parts to our bodies, so it is with Christ's
body. We are all parts of it, and it takes every one of us to make it
complete, for we each have different work to do. So we belong to each other,
and each needs all the others.
6.
God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if
God has given you the ability to prophesy, then prophesy whenever you
can--as often as your faith is strong enough to receive a message from God.
7.
If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a
teacher, do a good job of teaching.
8.
If you are a preacher, see to it that your sermons are strong and
helpful. If God has given you money, be generous in helping others with it.
If God has given you administrative ability and put you in charge of the
work of others, take the responsibility seriously. Those who offer comfort
to the sorrowing should do so with Christian cheer.
9.
Don't just pretend that you love others: really love them. Hate what
is wrong. Stand on the side of the good.
10.
Love each other with brotherly affection and take delight in honoring
each other.
11.
Never be lazy in your work but serve the Lord enthusiastically.
12.
Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble and
prayerful always.
13.
When God's children are in need, you be the one to help them out. And
get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need
lodging, for the night.
14.
If someone mistreats you because you are a Christian, don't curse
him; pray that God will bless him.
15.
When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share
their sorrow.
16.
Work happily together. Don't try to act big. Don't try to get into
the good graces of important people, but enjoy the company of ordinary
folks. And don't think you know it all.
17.
Never pay back evil for evil. Do things in such a way that everyone
can see you are honest clear through.
18.
Don't quarrel with anyone. Be at peace with everyone, just as much as
possible.
19.
Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has
said that he will repay those who deserve it. [Don't take the law into your
own hands. ]
20.
Instead, feed your enemy if he is hungry. If he is thirsty give him
something to drink and you will be ``heaping coals of fire on his head.'' In
other words, he will feel ashamed of himself for what he has done to you.
21.
Don't let evil get the upper hand but conquer evil by doing good.
(Romans 12: 1-21
Living Bible Translation)
Romans 12, above,
contains instruction about doing everything with excellence.
It may seem a foreign concept to be good to your enemies.
Is there a spirit inside of you that just said, “I can’t do that?”
Tell that spirit to be quiet because you can, and you will do it.
Your very life depends on it.
There are some key points to come away with.
To become a Christian there were no tasks that you were asked to
accomplish. God’s words require
changes in your heart, your attitude, your disposition which are not
measurable by man. Only God can
tell that you are no longer self-seeking, arrogant, short tempered or
demanding revenge. You no
longer believe you are entitled to anything, but blessed instead.
Your new goal is love that comes from the heart.
A judge may require that a person serves food to the homeless as part
of his court sentencing, but a volunteer will do it as part of his heartfelt
desire to help people in greater need than himself.
You are part of a body of people who know Christ.
Some know Him today; some will know Christ one day in the future.
Unfortunately, some people may never know Christ.
It’s not for you to judge.
It is for you to serve with a joyful disposition.
Churches can become
weak. This happens when people
who were willing to seek God are met by people who have shut down God.
It causes friction which leads to distress in the church, so it is
weakened. Some Christians just
set a bad example. They don’t
realize the calling on their lives from Romans 12.
Instead, their bad example can sway the development of a
baby-Christian. It’s as if
someone bad-mouthed your house-party and no one showed.
Would you be mad? In a
similar way, a bad emotional experience can weaken the church.
You see, God makes
the offer to everyone. You have
to get out of the way of someone else who is seeking if you issues within
the church body. Don’t keep a
brother from finding God; otherwise, you’re guilty shutting him out.
God’s willing to help you change for the better, if you are willing
to accept His wisdom and follow.
“For
the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He
catches the wise in their own craftiness.''
(1 Corinthians 3:19)
Read that again.
God considers the brilliance of Einstein, Plato, Socrates, David,
Job, Mohammed, Peter, Henry Ford, and every other man as foolishness.
Are you so bright that you have it all together, or is there room for
improvement? From the cross
Jesus declared ‘"Father, forgive
them, for they do not know what they do.’’
(Luke 23:34). We are not
too smart to need guidance from the One who made the heavens and earth.
We may be, perhaps, too stubborn to accept that fact.
In the example of binary thinking, selfish Princess was full of
pride. She wasn’t willing to
try to make amends with her friend.
She didn’t seek other suitable outcomes to the dilemma.
Instead, fear of what her friend would say became her obstacle.
Her desire to not be hurt by her friend was fulfilled, at the cost of
losing her friend. Was her
binary conclusion the only outcome?
Could God step in and change a losing situation into a winning
situation?
If selfish Princess were suddenly taken ill, she may have wanted the
company of her once dear friend beside the hospital bed.
Instead, there will be no phone call.
Pride got in the way.
Princess’s friend may have been sorry however, unwilling to offer
forgiveness unless Princess took the first step.
There would be no reconciliation for Princess, only a long standing
hurt. In God’s family, if you
are willing to give selflessly, there is someone ready to receive from you.
Your actions of love, to an enemy, cause him to pause and reconsider
his action. He’s taken aback
wondering if he should continue to hate, or to accept your offer of
forgiveness. Because you were
obedient, God’s focus is shifted to engaging the enemy.
What will his next move be?
A true follower of Jesus is not a back stabber, gossiper, liar,
accuser, or deceiver. He
instead exchanges his infirmities in life for God’s blessings.
He tries to emulate the values of Jesus every day, even if it should
be to his own peril.
On the other extreme, some people fail to even try to be like Jesus.
They lie to avoid punishment.
They gossip to puff themselves up, wanting to look “better” than the
person they persecute. People
accuse because it’s easier than taking the blame.
A follower of the Jesus may know the truth enough to gossip, accuse,
back stab, or deceive but chooses not to.
With his mouth under control, he becomes a pleasure to be around
always speaking positive. With
Jesus, choosing His method of handling issues becomes superior to what seems
natural. Natural is the same as
carnal, meaning of the flesh.
God’s people overcome the natural of the flesh and seek first the Spirit of
God. They allow themselves to
be led of the Spirit.
“Beloved, do not believe every
spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false
prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)
I ministered to a
woman who considered herself Hindu.
She watched TV preachers.
She had a booklet of the Daily
Bread scripture, one of those “free” booklets in the lobby of the
church. Yet, what she missed in
the booklet, and from the TV ministries, was the love of Christ up close and
personal in her life. When we
talked, she came to see Christianity was not about rules and regulations,
but about God’s love for us. I
explained that God loved her so much that He sent Jesus to pay the price for
her sin. It became personal to
her. She accepted Christ as her
personal Savior. Love overcame
her questions. His love
welcomed her in. Praise God.
Jesus sees you
perfected, and not who you are today.
You are an investment to His kingdom, a promise for the future.
He isn’t hung up about your present day circumstances.
He sees the result, the person you will become.
A gardener understands that planting seed is for the purposes of
obtaining fruit or vegetables.
A tomato plant that produces no tomatoes is as worthless as the seed that it
came from. The value of the
tomato plant is its fruit.
Jesus values your life not by your growth, but by your fruit.
But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control.
(Galatians 5: 22-23a)
God is looking for
your fruit, the good stuff that will come from your new Christian life.
Using His analogy, He knows it takes time for a Christian to grow and
produce fruit. Seedlings have
to be planted; stems and leaves must grow.
Perhaps you need some spiritual support along the way as you grow in
the Lord. An accountability
partner can help you. If you
never produce fruit, have you accomplished what God desired of you?
This is something you must ponder in your heart.
God views you as who
you will be. Your end is better
than your beginning. Your life
becomes a testimony of what He has accomplished.
Consider this; a pile of nuts and bolts with sheets of metal seems
useless. However, after it is
formed into a machine, it is quite useful for exactly what it was designed
to be. In a similar way, when
you come to Christ, you are nothing but a pile of parts waiting to be
assembled into something greater.
God sees your final purpose.
When a machine is functioning and useful, it serves man.
When a person is functioning as a Christian, he is useful to God and
he serves others. We serve God
by bringing the message of His kingdom, with love, to other people who are
in the dark and have no knowledge of Christ.
Now when He was
asked by the Pharisees when the
According to Jesus,
the
Love is the
expression of the kingdom of God on earth.
Love is evidence of your walk as a Christian.
People are perceptive of your heart.
They are sensitive enough to know if you have a secondary motive.
Be true to yourself, true to God, and true to others.
Who you are today is
not who God perceives. God sees
His result in you, the person you are becoming.
He sees the finished product, a resume filled with the highlights of
your accomplishments for the kingdom on your life’s journey.
His hand reshapes you at the beginning of your journey, the middle,
and the end. We usually think
of ourselves as perfect, but the person He sees is not as cute and adorable
as you perceive yourself. He
sees us as dirty rags. He also
sees the spirit inside of you changed into the likeness of Him.
In the Garden of Eden, God created Adam in His image.
We were made with the good stuff and with His Spirit alive inside of
us. Only when Adam sinned did
we lose the Spirit of God within and became the ordinary.
We became the natural man without spirit, and without hope.
All Adam’s descendants were created in the image of man, not the
image of God. Operating in the
Holy Spirit, we once again are in the image of God.
God’s changes are immediate, and He carries you through His process
to perfection. Your route to
Him is not the same journey as your brother, your mother, or your friend.
Your objective, however, is the same.
Jesus said, “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
Have a desire to love one another, and do it well.
One final point on
who you are:
“But
you are not in the flesh but in the
Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not
have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” (Romans 8:9)
I am Yours, save me; For I
have sought Your precepts.
(Psalms 119:94)
For whoever desires
to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will
find it.
(Matthew 16:25)
When you come to
Christ, and ask Jesus to be Lord of your life, you become His.
Comparing this to a property exchange, you no longer have claims to
your old self. Dead men have
claim to nothing; property is for the living.
The old person is dead, though not physically, to become alive in
Him. By being with Him, you are
alive. You were dead and are
now alive; therefore, your feelings within your job, family, and society
will change because you have changed.
Your life is being handled by Jesus.
That’s what it means to have a Lord.
You have become His. He
becomes your burden bearer.
Because you are not dead, He becomes the guide to resolving your burdens.
The qualifications
for belonging to Christ are stated clearly; you must have the Spirit of God
within you and you must listen to that Spirit allowing yourself to be led.
One thing about the Word of God is that is doesn’t contradict itself.
If you think you are being led by the Spirit of God and the spirit
leads you to steal, curse, hurt,
fornicate, and blaspheme then you are in error.
You are not being lead by God’s Spirit but by your own untrained
mind.
When you ask Christ
to be Lord of your life, you declare Him as your Savior.
When you are humble, you provide an entry point for Jesus.
You open your gate to accept Him as your hope and redeemer.
If you still have not truly asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior,
now is the time. Consider that
He loved you yesterday when you were a sinner, and He loves you now.
Say this with me,
“Jesus, I need a Savior. I
choose you. Who I am is yours.”
Copyright 2015 - William
Kassler
All rights reserved
This book is available on our website
http://SearchingForJesus.info
The book is available directly at this link: It's Jesus You're Searching For