Christmas

I John 3:16 we learn that ; "God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son . . ." that we all should have life and have it abundantly through Jesus. Not only do we have life we have a chance at life everlasting in heaven with God the Father and also with Jesus, IF we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. December 25th is the day we as Christians choose to celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus. I really doesn't matter what day he actually was born. We can argue that point forever. What really matters is that God loves us and sent His Son. The words in the Christmas story proclaimed by the angels that we "FEAR NOT" should be words that we hold dear to our hearts all year long. Fear not, for the Lord is with thee! Fear not . . .because God is always with us. Think about that . . . God is always with us! No matter what we do or what we say, no matter what trials and tribulations beset us . . .GOD is always with us. He holds us and our lives in the palm of His hand. We have nothing to fear . . .EVER . . . AS BELIEVERS IN Jesus Christ. If you don't know Him as your personal Lord and Savior NOW is the time to call upon His name. Accept Jesus as Lord! 
 MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU!

FORGIVENESS!!

We must all learn to forgive. Not just others who have harmed us or hurt us, but also how to forgive ourselves. God wipes away our sins the minute we are "born Again":

Ephesians 1:6-8 (King James Version)

6 "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;"


Matthew 18:15-22

15 "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

The problem is, that even though the Lord has removed our sins from us as far as the East is from the West . . . ( Psalm 103:12: "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."
Psalm 103:11-13(Context)
. . . we have a hard time forgiving ourselves. Satan has a way of knowing our weaknesses and our "soft spots" in our human nature and he will use them at every chance he has! And if Satan can keep our mind on our sins that means he is successful in keeping us from concentrating on the Word of God and the purpose that God may have in store for us. The other thing is, that as long as he can keep us thinking about our own sins, he can keep us from forgiving others. Forgiving others is the only way that we can be truly free. And, that is truly free to love others. Love and forgiveness goes hand in hand. We need to forgive ourselves before we can really love ourselves and until we can really love ourselves we cannot truly love another. One of the other things that I had found difficult to do, was to forget my sins and to forget the harm I had felt from others. The old saying "Forgive and Forget" is much easier to say than it is to do. We MUST learn to do this if ever we are to mature as Christians. Being "Born Again" brings a great responsibility with it. Growth in the gifts of the spirit is what we all must strive for. It is imperative that we grow in our spiritual walk.
 
 Ephesians 5:9-10;  9 "(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)10Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord."
 
The way that we can do this is to strive to walk closer and closer with Jesus every day. We seek that perfection of the spirit that is Jesus Christ, and, unfortunately, we can never really attain that perfection, BUT we must strive daily to be more and more like Him. We must learn to surround ourselves in prayer every day and every hour that we are alive. It is like Paul said, that we must "pray continuously".

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (King James Version)

16 "Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

We must also learn to "walk in love" just as Christ loved us we must learn to love one another.
 
John 13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." John 13:33-35( context)
 Ephesians 5:1-2  1 "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour."

We must also learn to be wise, and wisdom comes only from study of the "Word of God."

 Ephesians 5:15-21; "15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God." 
 
I have been using a lot of scripture references in this entry and, I have meant to do just that. We are nothing without God, and the only way that we can learn about God, and learn about Jesus Christ is by study of the scriptures!  
 
2 Timothy 2:15
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
2 Timothy 2:14-16 (Context) 

 
Romans 10:16-18 (King James Version)

16 "But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world."

1 Peter 1:22-24 (King James Version)

22 "Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:"

Ephesians 6:17

"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: "
Ephesians 6:16-18 (Context)

Hebrews 4:11-13 (King James Version)

11 "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

So back to forgiveness! In order that we may learn to be more like Christ, and learn more about God we must study scriptures. In order to learn how to be forgiven and to learn how to be forgivers of others we need to study scripture! Do NOT just count on the preacher to tell you about the "Word of God" or tell you what the "Word of God" says; get a Bible and study it for yourself. Try to read the whole Bible, cover to cover! After you have done it once . . .do it again, and then do it again. Make notes, underline things that "move you" or things you don't understand and then look them up or ask someone you trust as a Christian to help  you understand it. Pray, pray every day. Pray that God will give you wisdom and understanding. Pray that God will show you how to forgive yourself. God bless you all, and I will pray that you learn how to forgive yourself.      

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

Howdy y'all; it has been a couple of months since my last posting so an apology is in order. I have been pretty busy, but I have to say that some of it is procrastination! How many times have you used or heard the words in the title of this posting? I know I have used it a lot and I even made a bunch of buttons with my button machine that said it. I also made a bunch that said "Merry CHRIST mas" on them. Our society here in the good old U.S.of A. has, in recent years, tried to "numb" us to the Christ in Christmas. For years we have been bombarded with all of the commercialism, and "politically correct" desensitisation to this special time of the year. I remember when I first saw "Xmas" when I was a kid. I thought the people were just to lazy to write out "Christmas" and didn't think too much about it! The "wrongness" of it finally hit me when I experienced my first Christmas as a born again believer. Suddenly it ALL seemed so wrong. I looked around me with the new eyes of a true child of the Living God and really SAW all of the world's commercialism, all the "hype" for toys, cards, expensive gifts for your "special someone" and decorations that left Jesus out of the picture. I was actually nauseated by all of it. We, as believers, must take a stand and say a loud "NO" when we hear of someone calling it a "holiday tree", even though some really fundamentalist Christian's believe that the Christmas tree is a pagan symbol, and that it wasn't popularized in this country until the 18th century. From a certain perspective it's history does hearken back to pagan, or at least "non-Christian" roots. It really doesn't matter! What really matters is what it has come to represent with it's star or angel tree-topper that symbolizes the night when the star shown over Bethlehem and the angels proclaimed the good news of Christ's birth, and the lights that represent the good news that the "light" of truth and Jesus Christ has come for all of mankind. Granted a lot of folks over do it a bit, but it is still Jesus that is to be worshipped and recognized as the true and everlasting truth and light for all of us. It is a shame that "Jesus is the reason for the season!" has become so cliched. It has lost some of it's punch. Freedom of religion is one of the fundamental "RIGHTS" provided for us by the constitution of this great country, and I stand by it and believe it deep in my heart. Some people have perverted the right to freedom of religion to mean every other religion EXCEPT Christianity. I had a teacher in my high school civics class (it was called "Problems of Democracy" at that time) who taught us that my rights end where another persons begin and their rights end where mine begin! I took that to heart. Everyone in this country is guaranteed the right to worship as they desire, or NOT to worship anything if that is their belief. I don't have a problem with any of that. Really. I believe that they are wrong not to worship Jesus Christ or to believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and that God was, is now and will be for ever and ever, or that God created the whole universe. BUT. . .I will never try to cram Jesus down their throats or condemn them for not believing. I must confess that I would, and do, talk to non-believers about Jesus. That is really one of the main reasons why I started this blog; to try to introduce folks to Jesus. I find it a bit odd that in some communities it is okay to display a Jewish menorah   or other symbols for other religions but it is against the law to display a Manger scene, Creche or other Christmas decorations. It is okay to display Santa Clause in some cities but it is considered a religious symbol in others. There are a lot of other religious blogs out there in cyber space and they have a right to run them just as much as I have the right to run this one! Back to the title of this posting. Jesus IS the reason for the season. When you say it . . . mean it! When someone says "Happy Holiday" to you , don't be offended; just say "Merry Christmas" to them. I love Jesus! I love Him for going through all of the torture, the punishment and finally going to the cross to die for me and my sins! Without Jesus I believe I would have been condemned to hell for all of eternity. With Jesus in my heart and being born again. I believe that I am saved from that condemnation and that I will be in heaven with my loved ones who were born again believers, and better yet I will be in the presence of my creator, God and with His only son Jesus Christ! How wonderful is that!? The only way that can happen is if you are truly "Born Again"; and the only way to be born again is to accept Jesus Christ as you personal Lord and Savior.  How do you do that you may ask. First, you must truly repent of your sins (". . .for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"). Second, you must ask Jesus to come into your heart and to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Finally, you must confess that Jesus is the only Son of the ONLY Living God. It is one of the hardest choices you can make and also one of the easiest things to do. Pray this prayer:
       "Lord God I know that you are the creator of all things and that you sent your only Son Jesus Christ to die for me and that His blood was shed to wash away my sins. I confess that I am a sinner and I do truly repent of my sins. I thank you for sending Jesus for me and the rest of the world. I believe that He is no longer among the dead, but that He was resurrected to sit at Your side to rule in heaven. Please, Lord God, send the Holy spirit into my heart and give me the strength to turn away from my sinful ways, my evil thoughts and wash away any doubts you may find in my heart. Please, Lord God give me the knowledge, strength and faith to stand up for you in the world and to spread your word by teaching others about your Son Jesus." 
            God is ALWAYS faithful and true. He always keeps His word, and He  promised that if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and truly believe that Jesus is His only Son sent into this world to die for our sins that we would be "saved".  Without Jesus we are not worthy of being in God's presence or going to heaven when we die. God's grace is a free gift! It is only by our faith and by God's grace that we can be saved. I don't know about you . . . but as for me I want to go to heaven and be with God; and I want to be with Jesus through all of eternity! I also want see my brother, dad, mom, grandma, great grandma and the rest of my family that were/are believers! To be with all of those believers that have gone on before me, Moses, King David, Peter, Paul and the rest of the disciples. I want to see and reside in that heavenly home, that mansion not built by human hands. Thank you God. Thank you Jesus! I truly love you and want to please you Lord.
 YES; Jesus IS the reason for the season! AND, He died for you and me, He was raised from the dead to rule in heaven with His Father  so that we could claim eternal life and so that we could be washed clean and worthy of that place in heaven!                   

Thanksgiving & Fall Posting

Howdy y'all; I know it has been a while since I last wrote and for that I apologize. I was doing a study in the Muslim faith and the impact it is having in the world, and I want you all to know that all around the world Muslims are impacting life, laws and the way of life in England, Germany, France, Switzerland and Spain. They are moving in to all of the countries in the European Union and are bringing court cases to the forefront for rulings on Sharia Law. They are trying to push for Muslim women to be forced to follow Sharia law and wear complete veils, and to be able to punish women if they break any of the rules put forth in the Koran! So far ALL of the countries have been successful in blocking their efforts, thank God! IF they are ever able to have their laws passed into national legal systems we are all one step closer to being attacked and killed because we are Jews, Christians or any other faith but Muslim (Islam). I urge you all to keep praying that all of their efforts to get Sharia Law into ANY country. Especially the United States, fail. We are in danger because we have a president (for a little while longer anyway) who is very supportive of the Muslim faith, and has even put them into positions of leadership in some of our Federal departments.
We have a lot to be thankful for as this year comes to a close! We are still very blessed even though we are heading for financial ruin as a country. God will continue to bless us and protect us, BUT it is our responsibility to keep OUR religion and our beliefs in God and Jesus Christ lifted up, and to keep reminding our senators and representatives that we need to keep our country ". . .under God,. . .". We are a christian nation even though it is not specifically entered into our Constitution and Bill of Rights. More than half of the framers and signers of the Constitution were ordained clergy! Many of their private letters and writings support the Christian faith and the importance of keeping it part of what we do in the world and in this country. See for yourselves if you feel so inclined. Google the writings of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, John Hancock, George Washington and the other founding fathers and you will find out just how much they valued their Christian beliefs. Even Benjamin Franklin, who was a professed agnostic, still valued the "Golden Rule" and the Christian Faith. They did want to keep a separation between "church and state" ; BUT that was only because they wanted to guarantee that EVERYONE was able to worship as they pleased! Freedom of religion was the promise and yes, that goes for everyone; Jew, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Bahia or whatever. The RIGHT guaranteed by our Constitution was to guarantee our worship as we pleased; but NOT to keep others from the practice of their faith or to demand that all signs of their religion be destroyed or removed from public view! Long ago I had a teacher who taught us that; "Our rights end where another one's right begins." What that means is that I do not have the right to infringe or prevent another person's rights and that they do not have the right to infringe upon or prevent their rights! Kind of a different way of saying; "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Jesus Christ's greatest commandment was; "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind and spirit and to love your neighbor as yourself." we are all commanded to do so and the Ten Commandments are also a directive to Christian and Jew alike. One of the other things we should do is to continue to pray and to pray continuously as Paul directs us. Pray for our loved ones, pray for our country, pray for all of those we know who are not "Born Again", pray for our military, pray for every person who asks us to pray for them and also to pray for our enemies!
Now IF you are not "saved" or "Born Again" I ask you to pray this prayer; Dear Lord, Father God, I believe that Jesus Christ came to earth to be your representative and that He is your Son. And that He came to suffer and die and then be raised again for my salvation. Lord, I repent of all of my sins and I ask that you cleanse and purify me and my heart and take away my sinfulness and my sinful nature so that I may be more like Jesus, and be worthy to enter your kingdom when the time comes. Lord God, I ask that you fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you God for your Son Jesus Christ, thank you for your forgiveness and you grace. I praise you and worship you! In the name of your precious Son Jesus I pray; Amen.
If you have prayed that prayer and REALLY mean it you are saved and you are "Born Again". PRAISE GOD!! I praise God and pray for His blessings on you and your life. If you have a Bible I suggest you start reading it every day. If you have been doing it, keep it up. I find that if I study a few verses in the Old Testament and a few verses in the New Testament every day you will find that you will be able to read it cover to cover in less than a year. God bless you all. In Jesus Name I pray! Amen.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Well here we are . . .another New Year. There are times when the past year seems like a dream, with things that just "happened' outside of any control at my hands. And other times it seems it is all blur that just sped by so fast I barely saw it all. Leona and I are so blessed! Like everyone else out there this year has had some very bad financial reverses, but so far (praise God) we still have a roof over our heads, food on the table, sufficient clothing and a bit of money for gas for the car and diesel for "Harvey". We have decided to try to travel around to the various arts & crafts shows and flea markets around Texas instead of doing the E-bay / Internet E-business to supplement our income. It is hard sometimes to stay positive when so much pounds down on you from the everyday cares of the world. The only thing I know of as being constant in life is change. Good times pass and bad times pass and the route we travel is thus filled with ups and downs. BUT . . .through it all I KNOW as sure as I know my name that God is ALWAYS with us. God never promised us that life would be easy BUT He did promise to be ever with us. Psalm 94:12-19, Psalm 119 is one of the longest Psalms and through out the whole thing is blessing after blessing for us. If ever you are feeling down go to the Psalms! Psalm 91 is another one. Psalm 146 speaks to us about not putting our trust in worldly things but to trust in God vs. 7 (God)" Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners." Many of us are prisoners, maybe not behind actual bars, but prisoners in our own hearts because of our doubts and fears. Fear has been defined as False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear is what Satan uses to cripple and imprison us. As long as we are gripped by fear Satan has power over us; our mood, our words, our actions and our reactions to the cares of the world that press in upon us. Once we break the bonds of fear we are free of his evil influence. The minute we put our trust in God the bonds of fear are broken . . .we are free. We are free to trust God and know in our hearts that ALL things are under God's control. God wants us to be free from fear. We can find freedom through His word. Turn to scripture when you have doubts or fears. In Timothy 3: 16-17 we find that; "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."
As believers in God through the blood of Jesus Christ we become sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:16-17 / Ephesians 3: 5-8 and many others). In Matthew 7:7-12 begins "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." and goes on to say that if your son asks for bread would you give him a stone or if he asks for a fish would you give him a serpent and we are human and weak yet we want the best for our children what then should God , as our eternal Father and creator, want for us !? Of course He, our God and Father, would want the very best for us. What is required of us is our faith and our obedience to His word. If we are obedient and try to live by His commandments and believe in Jesus Christ as His Son then we are most assuredly heirs to the Kingdom of heaven and we can also expect the blessings He promised us. God shall not be mocked. Neither will He be a liar. God does not lie . . . He promised us all blessings in abundance, full, packed down and overflowing IF we are obedient and try to live by His commandments. Knowing we are human and imperfect because of our sinful natures He sent His Son Jesus Christ to intercede for us the second we finally believe in Him. We all can be heirs to the kingdom just by praying a simple prayer: Lord God, I know I am a sinner and I am not perfect. I repent of my sinfulness and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe that you sent Jesus Christ to earth to die on the cross for me and that His blood washes me clean of all of my sins. I love you God and I ask for you to fill me with your Holy Spirit and guide my steps from now on. Amen. If you took the time to pray that prayer you are now marked as a child of God and as such you are heirs to the riches of His Kingdom now and forever. God loves you and wants the best for you