Our lives are not measured by what we possess

What is your most favorite possession?

Most of us own things, most of have possessions. In fact some of us are very protective of the things we own. What are you most protective of? What is the one thing you don't want to live without?  Look around you wherever you are. Look at the things you own. Maybe you're in your home and everything you see is yours and you see a lot of things. Maybe you're in an internet café and the only possessions you have are your clothes. Maybe you're in someone else's home and you can see a lot of possessions but very few are yours. We have things. Yet answer me this one simple question- is there ANYTHING you own worth more than eternal life?

Luk 12:15  And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

So many people love to reveal to others all the things they own. The more expensive, the nicer, the more they want to show them off. They want others to see that they are successful and they measure that success in their possessions and their ability to have numerous and expensive possessions. On the other side of the coin, people tend to view themselves as failures when they don't have possessions, or the ability to obtain them.

Our lives do NOT consist in owning a lot of things, or owning expensive things. We are STEWARDS of all we possess and in our possessions we cannot find eternal life, not in a single one. 

We need to BEWARE of coveting THINGS, any and all things!

Coveting the smallest of things is just as bad as coveting the biggest of things.

Our LIVES are not measured by what we possess, but by who we possess. 

Christ can live in us!

Col_1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

Christ in us is the HOPE of glory.

Christ is all we need!

All by HIS GRACE!

Total Surrender

Joh 13:13  Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

Joh 13:14  If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

Joh 13:15  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

Joh 13:16  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

Joh 13:17  If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

Jesus said HAPPY are we when we SERVE OTHERS, NOT SELF.

Rom_14:22  Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

FAITH before GOD. Being able to NOT condemn ourselves before GOD in the things we do- these are those who are HAPPY.

Jas 5:10  Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

Jas 5:11  Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

Enduring suffering, enduring affliction as all who are God's will do, WE count them as happy because they DID endure to the end, keeping their faith in God so that when the resurrection comes they will rise to meet their Christ in the air! Yes, we say they are happy because they ENDURED this life and all it's hardships. They did NOT go about their own business concerned primarily with their own happiness, they desired God's will above their own.

1Pe_3:14  But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled

SUFFERING for righteousness sake-- this is HAPPINESS!  Not giving into self serving sin!

1Pe_4:14  If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

REPROACHED for Christ- this is HAPPINESS. SERVING our SAVIOR!

Php_4:11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

Being content in CHRIST no matter what STATE we find ourselves in! 

1Ti_6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

Food and raiment- NOT RICHES- NOT personal pleasure- these things should make us content.

Heb_13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Content with what we have NOT coveting what we don't, this is what we should be.

Do you see the BIG picture here? We are to be happy in CHRIST our SAVIOR, NOT the things of this world. Yet we SCREAM that we deserve to be happy in so many things that aren't of Christ at all. We want happiness anyway we can find it and we'll do all sorts of things in search of that happiness. We'll live in the sins that give us happiness until we are so fully entrenched in self, that we never look to Christ.  Or, we'll tell ourselves Christ WANTS us to be happy. CHRIST wants us to do things that make us happy, He doesn't want us sad and we justify our self-serving desires.  I've done it! I know what I'm talking about! We convince ourselves that we must do the things we are tempted to do simply because they are our temptations and we are weak and can't help ourselves.  It's true, we can't save ourselves, but we sure shouldn't tell ourselves that we have to give into our temptations. We need to fight against our temptations and by fighting we must SURRENDER to Christ! We must surrender SELF to Christ!

We can't ask Christ to take all of us but this little piece that we want to cling to because we get pleasure from it no matter how fleeting that pleasure may be.

We must ask Christ to take ALL of us! To help us surrender ALL every last bit of who we are to Christ.

We must REPENT!

We must CONFESS!

We must SEEK FORGIVENESS!

And our desire has to be a total surrender to God's will.

We must desire our will be what God wills- ALWAYS in ALL things!

We must COME out of BABYLON- who holds all the temptations we could ever face.

Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 

Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 

Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities

PLEASE FATHER we do NOT WANT to be partakers of the sins of Babylon! We do not want to receive the plagues of Babylon!  PLEASE save us from ourselves!

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Sin interferes with self-serving so we no longer all it sin

'For her sins have reached unto heaven'

We live in a world that does NOT want to believe there are sins. Seriously, we do.  We live in a world where OTHER people are sinners, the really BAD people are the sinners. This world is a mess because of the awful people in it. This world is a mess because of the sinners, not us. I've got news for everybody…

Not only DOES sin exist, but we are ALL sinners and ALL of us fall short.

Rom_3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

SINS are very real. And to the naysayers concerning the validity of sin as a reality we live in, I pray your eyes are opened before it's too late, because there will come a -TOO LATE.

Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 

Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 

Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities

We must come out of the sin acceptance people have sank down into like a very warm comforter on the coldest of nights. People have wrapped sin around them and they nurture it, they don't abhor it at all. They REFUSE to call sin- sin! 

Sin interferes with self serving.  Sin is a huge hindrance to self serving and people do not like ANYTHING interfering with their ability to serve themselves whatever it is they desire.  Heterosexuals hate not being able to satisfy their lusts with fornication, with self-gratification, with adultery.  Homosexuals hate not being able to satisfy their lusts with the same- only with the same sex. People hate not being able to live with the MANY various defects we are born with and there are numerous defects in all forms, physical, mental, emotional. We are FLAWED from birth because we cannot be this ideal person in all ways we know deep down we were INTENDED upon creation to be. Even the person who seems to have it ALL together in all ways is lying to themselves and other and if they believe they have it all and are perfect without any flaws that in itself is a flaw. People do not want to be told they cannot indulge their birth given flaws. They were given these flaws by birth, they are natural flaws they had no hand in creating on their own so why shouldn't they be able to make the best of them- enjoy them because being happy, finding pleasure, finding joy, these are the things we are told are our rights. We tell ourselves these are our rights- happiness. But is it our right to find happiness for ourselves? Is it? Really? Is this the message of our Savior? No. We are to SACRIFICE ourselves for others, for God. This is TRUTH, and it's a TRUTH the majority of people do not want to believe, they REFUSE to believe it and when it is told to them, they ridicule those with the message. They ridicule them and hold fast to believing they know best and those saying these things are stupid and fools. They believe lies to serve their self serving.

God help us please, help us to choose YOU over ourselves! Please God, help us! We would serve YOU and others, not ourselves!

Please, Father, bless us! Keep us in YOU heavenly Father, all by the mercy and grace of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Amen.

                       

'Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins'

Come out of her my people.

Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 

Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 

Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities

Come out of her my people.

The plagues will fall make no mistake about it, they will fall. And when those plagues fall everyone will have had their fate decided by THEMSELVES. No one decides if you are saved or not saved.  God is not picking and choosing, God is not flipping a coin. Everyone decides for themselves. NO one will be able to say in all truthfulness that they were treated unfairly and are undeserving of the plagues, they are undeserving of eternal death. People might lie to themselves and believe they have been misunderstood but GOD knows the hearts of everyone.

We need to surrender ourselves to God and His will, holding nothing back. We need our sins to be revealed ALL of them, so we may repent of them and seek forgiveness.

These truths spoken of in God's word are for OUR edification. We must LEARN from them.

COME OUT OF HER, BE NOT PARTAKERS OF HER SINS!

There WILL be a people who belong to GOD and they WILL come out of all the evil in this world that is trying so desperately to snare as many as possible.

More on this tomorrow by the grace and mercy of our LORD as HE WILLS.

In HIS LOVE ALWAYS and FOREVER!

Amen

This world will NOT get any easier for Christ followers

Could we live without any laws?  Could even two people live together without having agreed upon ways of behavior?  No.  Every society has it's laws whether they are called laws or not, they exist. There are standards, there are rules, there are the ways of things that must be adhered to in every single relationship.  Put just two people together to live with each other for a year and see how long it takes for them to have agreed upon behaviors assigned. 

To live means to have to engage in activities of living.  You don't live unless you engage in the activities of living in one way or another. There are many people kept alive today by people using artificial means to enact those activities of living that they cannot do for themselves.

The necessary activities of living- eating, drinking, sleeping, elimination.

We eat, drink, sleep, eliminate waste from our body or we die.

When we get together with others to live we all have our own ways of doing these things.  How awful it would be if there were two people living together where one insisted upon being awake and active to the point of keeping the other  from sleeping when they desired to sleep.  What if one ate all the food for the day without allowing the other any? What if one used up all the water for the day? What if one decided they could eliminate their waste anywhere they desired?  Would this result in a happy living environment? Absolutely not. I'm talking about a situation where people are unable to NOT live together.

As soon as people start living with each other their behaviors have to be amended to an agreed upon way of life.   When this happens rules are formed, spoken or unspoken.

Throughout our world every society has formed their own rules.  Where a society form rules that are in opposition to another's often there is a push to get the societies to form basic rules of humanity. We have the united nations in our world that is supposed to be a worldwide rule maker deeming what is and what isn't an acceptable society.  We go to war to correct societies that live in opposition to those universal rules. We want everyone alive to have the right to a peaceful way of living. We desire worldwide peace, there is a fight for this elusive thing.

We live in such great opposition to one another on grand scales- country wide scales and individual- much smaller scales.  There will NEVER be worldwide peace as long as we are flawed human beings prone to non-peaceful acts. And as soon as someone tries to FORCE peace they are committing an action contrary to peace.

People who believe that the world will one day straighten itself out are deluding themselves. The natures of flesh we are born with prevents world wide peace.

It is OVERCOMING those natural flesh tendencies through JESUS CHRIST that is necessary.

We can't overcome them on our own, but with Christ we can. We must put ourselves in HIS hands daily, hourly, minutely, unendingly.  We must recognize our eternal, infinite need of HIM to be our righteousness. 

We are NOT called to take our evil flesh natures and call them good.

I am NOT called to take my selfishness and justify it so I can continue being selfish. I am not called to excuse away my selfishness or any other sinful way in myself, but I am called to confess it and forsake it on a daily, hourly, infinite basis.  When I succumb to my flesh nature I must CONFESS and once again forsake. And if this seems like an endless cycle of sin, confess, forsake, sin, confess, forsake that's because it has to be until my Savior seals me as His. Forever we are dependent upon our Savior. Forever we must live fighting the WAR against sinning without calling sin good and therefore giving up the war.  There is NO easy way out of this, not one single easy way out.  It's a FIGHT, your life is a FIGHT.

If people get together and decide they no longer want to fight against certain sins, that is their right, I can't stop them. If whole societies get together and make a universal sin no longer sin, I can't stop them.  Just because they've done that doesn't mean that sin no longer exists. It just means the majority of the world has accepted the sin as being good and they no longer will fight against it. They will label themselves enlightened and pat themselves on the back.  We were warned this would happen. Sin would be call good and good things sin.

No, I can't stop writing about this yet, it's heavy on my heart.  People want me to call evil good, and if I don't, I'm the evil one.  This is what it has come to and I cannot call evil good.

EVERY single one of us fights our personal propensity towards various sinning, some of us have a multitude of flesh weaknesses. We can sin in our minds without ever sinning outwardly and it is STILL sin! We all have our battles to wage, there isn't a single person alive who does not.  My battle might be easy to you, and yours easy to me.  But we ALL have the battles to war with over that which would keep us from accepting Christ as our Redeemer. 

Your battle might be in the newspaper headlines, mine  hidden where no one can see.  Mine might be in the headlines, while yours remains unseen. 

Satan wants us all equally and will fight for us in our personal ways. He has a personal battle plan for every individual.  Some people are easily won, others will never be won and I PRAY to GOD I am NEVER won by SATAN so that he determines my eternal death.  I pray I cling to Christ MY RIGHTEOUSNESS, never putting any hope or trust in my own filthy rag righteousness.

Isa_64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags

I have been wrong about many things in my life, many, many things. I must confess I have called various sins good and even tried to get others to do so and I can only beg for forgiveness.  Please….my Savior forgive me!

Christ followers everywhere, be prepared to continue to live in a world where more and more evil will be called good and you will be called hateful because you refuse to call evil good. 

This world will NOT get easier for Christ followers.

May we only ever follow Christ's TRUTHS and love HIM first and foremost, loving God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit- these three Gods must be loved first and then through their love we can LOVE ALL OTHERS, all while hating sin.

All in the name of Jesus Christ my Lord, my Savior! My Redeemer! My Hope!

Amen.

Will you be known as a truth hater?

We ALL have the right to CHOOSE our beliefs. NO ONE can choose our beliefs for us.

Christians- if you truly are a Christ follower-  know that this is NOT our world. Jesus did NOT tell us that we will be able to make THIS world ours. Jesus did NOT tell us that will we be able to get the whole world's population to accept Him. In fact we are told FEW will find the way to Him.

Mat 7:13  Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Mat 7:14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

As Christians - as true Christ followers- we KNOW that our Savior would have us LOVE ALL others.  NO THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE ACCEPT THE SIN OF OTHERS. Those are totally two different things-  accepting sin and love.  If a person believes we must accept their sins to love them, then they do NOT know what love is!

Most parents comprehend this reality, not that it means they accept it on a broader level. Very few parents can say they've always accepted every single thing their child has done and never thought them wrong in any way. Most children will behave in ways we call 'acting out'.  They act out to get attention, they act out to see how far they can go with things, they act out doing things that parents will considered UNACCEPTABLE and then they are reprimanded for that acting out to guide them to the acceptable way to behave.  What parent in their right mind would allow their child to write on the walls with permanent marker throughout their house anywhere they choose to do so? Wouldn't the parent find it UNACCEPTABLE and therefore the parent is not accepting that act of their child, the child was in the wrong.   When that parent did not accept that wrong act of their child did they STOP loving their child? NO!

You can LOVE a person without accepting their actions. 

Now, if that child yelled at their parent and said they didn't love them anymore because they didn't accept their writing on the walls, furniture, and everything else in the house, would it be true?  NO!  Could the child believe it to be true? YES. The child can choose to believe whatever they want, but it won't make it true.

The truth is we all have our own beliefs and sometimes two or more people believe the same thing, sometimes whole groups believe the same thing. Everyone believes their own particular beliefs are the truth and therefore if another believes differently they aren't believing in the truth.

Jesus did NOT tell anyone to try and FORCE the truth on others.  Jesus wants us to be willing to voice the truth as we are Spirit led to do so and let others believe it or not believe it.  As Christians we are to voice the truth, our beliefs, and leave it to the Holy Spirit to convict the hearts of others.

What truth are we to voice- the GOSPEL. What is the gospel- the GOOD NEWS of SALVATION IN JESUS CHRIST.  The GOOD NEWS.

We will NOT as Christians - as TRUE Christ followers- be on the side of the majority. We will NOT be on the popular path.

HOWEVER- as we live in this world of rapid decay into sin so pronounced it will be as it was in the days of Noah- Gen_6:5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.   -  we must NEVER stop loving others as God would have us love them, NEVER. We must be willing to lay down our lives for the worst of sinners, not abuse them. If we are caught up in any profession that would have us SIN, or ACCEPT SIN, then obviously God would have us in another profession because the WORLD is owned by Satan and the majority of the WORLD will accept sin. And if God doesn't want us in another profession He may want us in another location where we are NOT called to ACCEPT sin.  It's a frightening thing to find your life turned upside down, to be called to forsake all for Christ in a very literal way.

If I have to agree to accept SIN before I can love the one sinning (by their standard) then I will keep loving the one sinning, while NOT accepting sin. If that means I can't make it perfectly clear I believe a sin is being committed even as I love the sinner, if I am compelled to silence and serving and that is being taken as a silent assent to accepting the sin the sinner is committing then I will have to be thought of as one who doesn't not love. God will KNOW the truth. God will know my love is real- it's HIS love. And if the sinner who accuses me of NOT loving them because I oppose their sin wants to believe that, I cannot stop them. I cannot compel them to accept my very real love of them while not accepting the sin. 

If I post a sign saying I'm against THIEVERY based on my BIBLICAL belief that stealing is wrong, a thief might take exception to that sign and say I hate them and that hate is itself a crime. They might say I have to accept their thieving ways to accept them.  I could NOT do that! I may still serve them as my SAVIOR would have me do if they NEED my help, but in that serving is NOT acceptance, and will never be acceptance to their thieving ways.  If that thief says I must write upon a sign for them that thieving is good and right, and serve them in this way- I CANNOT.  They are not in any real life threatening need- they don't need food, clothes, or shelter from me, they don't need my aid in any way for them to keep their life- something I would NOT withhold from them. They are desirous of my services to promote their thieving, and that is wrong.  If the LAW of the land becomes such that I HAVE to serve them in their sin, then I need to change professions because I’m sure not going to be able to change a world run by Satan and Satan's many, many, many followers. 

The world is SATAN'S.

I am GOD'S.

I have to be willing to LOSE ALL, and that's a LITERAL ALL, not figurative. I have to be willing to LOSE ALL if that's what I am called to do in my walk with God. I cannot cling to a single worldly thing, not even my own life, if I am called by God to relinquish it in service to HIM - in LOVING HIM and LOVING OTHERS- in that order and no other.

Many people have decided that evil is good and good is evil, and as the majority accept this and are completely and utterly convinced of its truth, they will see those who understand that evil is evil and good is good as being hateful people, haters. And the chief of HATERS will be the GOD of the haters.  A better GOD will be one who accepts evil is good and good is evil, and it is that GOD, that FALSE God they will cling to and hold up as a standard high, and they will call that false God the God of LOVE, they will make that false God the God of the majority, they will make those FALSE Christians appear as TRUE Christians, while the others will be a minority of truth haters.

Satan has done His work very well making it all but impossible for any one to believe the real truth. There will be a few that find the real truth, and I PRAY that I am among those few, and I pray any who are reading this are among the few as well. I pray all those I know and love are among the few, I pray that ALL will find the WAY, the TRUTH, the LIFE in JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, OUR SAVIOR NOW AND FOREVER! AMEN! 

LOVE your enemies!

What does it mean to choose God?  I'll tell you what it doesn't mean first.

It doesn't mean you are superior to any other human being in existence.

You don't have the upper hand over any one.

You are NOT more important than the person people would label the worst of sinners.

Your secret, silent sins are just as deadly as the most blatant of sins committed for all the world to see.

You do NOT get to judge a single person's eternal life!

What it does mean to choose God, is…

You are a SERVANT to all! You don't get to pick and choose who to serve, you don't get to interview  people to determine if they are worthy of your service. You do get to choose how YOU act.

You do get to choose how YOU participate with those around you.

You do get to choose whether or not you commit sin.

Our SAVIOR taught us to love ALL.

Did our SAVIOR love those He said this too--

Mat_23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Mat 16:11  How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?

Mat 16:12  Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Did Jesus LOVE these people?

Luk_6:27  But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you

Jesus LOVED His enemies! 

Jesus did NOT rouse people to kill those who were against Him.

Jesus did NOT inspire hatred of others!

Jesus did NOT take the worst of sinners and tell us to shame and berate them!

Jesus did NOT tell us to ridicule and abuse anyone!

Jesus did NOT tell us to judge another's eternal life!

Jesus did NOT ask us to point our fingers and label others for all to see!

Jesus LOVES people!

Jesus did NOT tell us to love sin in any way.

Jesus told us to love the sinner.

Jesus us told US not to sin.

We are responsible for our OWN actions not the sins of another unless we encourage them in sin.

When we love others that doesn't mean we have to sin or participate in sin to show that love. 

If people want us to do something that goes against our principles and we refuse does that mean we don't love them?

NO!

It means we are an individual just as they are and we choose to BELIEVE differently than they do. 

We should not be FORCED to do anything and we should not FORCE anyone to do anything. When we are FORCED to do something it is wrong. 

I can LOVE someone WITHOUT approving of their actions.

I CAN LOVE without participating in sin to show I love.

If someone asks me to participate in sin to prove my love for them, then they are in the wrong.

If someone wants to force me to participate in something I CONSIDER SIN, it is WRONG.

I will NOT force anyone to accept Christ as their Savior! I will NOT force anyone to believe in GOD!  I will NOT force anyone to believe in MY BELIEFS.  I will not force them to say something is sin.  I WILL NOT FORCE anyone. And I shouldn't be forced either.

More on this tomorrow…

By the GRACE of GOD!

In the name of MY SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!

Amen.