Archive | September 2020

Can you feel the storm brewing?

Sep24

Are you sensing the coming economic and spiritual storm? Is God strongly prompting you to get things right with Him? So many of our friends and fellow believers are being nudged to prepare for some dark days ahead. The pandemic has caused incredible financial difficulties in most countries. The fact that lockdowns and restrictions to businesses are continuing indefinitely do not bode well for any future economic turnaround. Churches have been closed and many remain closed. The ones that are open have multiple restrictions enforced. Rioters and looters, worldwide, show no sign of surrendering their rebellion. Many, myself included, believe we are heading into a new situation in North America. One that includes chaos, spiritual darkness and financial difficulties. One that many followers of Christ in other countries around the world are all too familiar with.

Though the future doesn’t look rosy and bright in all facets, it is no cause to fear or stress. Our GOD is still on the throne! He has and will always take care of His own! Psalm 91 is a powerful word He has given us to stand on, despite whatever is going on around us!

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
    will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
 This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
    he is my God, and I trust him.
 For he will rescue you from every trap
    and protect you from deadly disease.
 He will cover you with his feathers.
    He will shelter you with his wings.
    His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
    nor the arrow that flies in the day.
 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
    nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
 Though a thousand fall at your side,
    though ten thousand are dying around you,
    these evils will not touch you.
 Just open your eyes,
    and see how the wicked are punished.

 If you make the Lord your refuge,
    if you make the Most High your shelter,
 no evil will conquer you;
    no plague will come near your home.
 For he will order his angels
    to protect you wherever you go.

 They will hold you up with their hands
    so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
 You will trample upon lions and cobras;
    you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
    I will protect those who trust in my name.
 When they call on me, I will answer;
    I will be with them in trouble.
    I will rescue and honor them.
 I will reward them with a long life
    and give them my salvation.”

We can’t count on a lot of certainties when it comes to this world we live in but we can ALWAYS count on the one who holds it in His hand! If we stay close to Him, He will guide us through whatever is to come. His Spirit will prompt us to do that which He wants us to do to prepare. Myself and many others have felt nudged to simplify our lives. To try and get out of debts that have the ability to strangle us financially. To purchase those things we may need should the economy take a bad turn, things that will help sustain our families and others God may put in our path. To gather and pray with other believers to intercede for the lost. To support our brothers and sisters in Christ that have been displaced by church closures and most of all to stay close to Christ as the day of His appearance draws close!

Though things can look dismal, we are truly living in exciting times! We may well be the generation that sees the appearance of Jesus when He calls His church home to be with Him forever! Stay close to Him, study the Word of God, share the gospel and let your light shine in this world of darkness!

We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.  Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.  SO ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER WITH THESE WORDS. (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)

Blessings!

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No Time Like the Present

Sep22

There is such tension in the world today. We are seeing various forms of social media censoring things that just a few years ago would never have been censored. Main stream media are not reporting the news as it is actually happening but rather in the slant of what suits their current agenda. We see a decline in religious freedoms taking place. People in many places are still not allowed to attend church. If they can attend, they can’t sing due to the mask restrictions. More Christians, worldwide, are dying for their faith than ever before. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. (John 15:20) Things are becoming increasingly uncomfortable and there is no sign things will get better.

Having said all this, does that mean we should throw up our hands and crawl into our basements and retire? NO!! Absolutely not! God has called us to occupy until Jesus appears for His church. We are not to stay silent. We are to share the gospel, speak out against evil, defend the orphans and the widows and live each day as if it is our last! Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. (Ephesians 5:11) Those that are afraid to engage in our culture by sharing the truth need to grow a backbone. The days of quietly letting others speak up with the gospel are over. It is the responsibility of each and everyone of us. Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety. (Proverbs 29:25)

Our time here is short. We must use it wisely to further the Kingdom and help others escape the coming wrath. A wrath that we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemy! Too many Christians are sitting back and waiting for things to return to normal before they go about the Father’s business. Things will likely never return to the normal we once knew.

If you are struggling with fear of sharing the gospel, ask God for courage. Ask Him for wisdom in knowing how and when to share. Don’t waste another day simply living for yourself and your comfort! Time is short. Live so as not to be ashamed when He appears to take us home!

The Answer Isn’t Blowing in the Wind

Sep16

If you are observing what is currently going on in the news and the world around us, you can’t help but see society and it’s foundations are beginning to crumble. Lawlessness rules many cities. Abuses of babies, children and the elderly are at an all time high. Governments are continually extending limitations of people’s freedoms in the name of the “pandemic.” Suicide rates are up. Alcoholism is increasing. The world has become a much different place than it was even eight months ago.

The one thing that has not changed is God’s love for people. Just over 2000 years ago He sent His Son to earth as a baby. That baby would grow to become a sinless man willing to lay down His life in order to offer salvation to any that would make a decision to be born again, take up their cross and follow Him.

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ( John 3:16)

It is a wonderful thing to know that we can not only have eternal life after this one, but a life of peace and true joy despite the world that currently surrounds us by believing in and following Jesus Christ.

If you haven’t done so, today is the day of salvation for you! Don’t wait until it is too late. Jesus Christ is going to appear soon for His Church. He will be removing His church before God’s wrath is poured out on this world of ours. He could appear any day!

Don’t wait and miss His appearing! Today pray this prayer with me and ask Jesus Christ into your life.

Dear Lord: I am a sinner in need of forgiveness and cleansing. I have lived a life without You and today I ask for forgiveness. My desire is to know you as my Savior and my Lord. Please accept me as Your child. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit and enable me to live life with the assurance that one day I will live forever in eternity with You. Equip me here with the Comforter that I may learn of You and give me a hunger for Your Word (the Bible) that I may grow in my faith and learn of You. Prepare me for your appearance so that I may escape the wrath that is to come. I ask it all in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Praise God! You have been made clean and whole by the power and blood of Jesus Christ. You have become a new creation. Old sins are now passed away! Welcome into the family of God!

Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!  This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.  For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.  So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”  For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)

It is vitally important you begin to read the Bible. Perhaps begin with the book of Matthew in the New Testament. It is also important that you begin to associate yourself with other Christians and a church that will be able to help disciple you in your new walk with Christ. Pray and ask God to lead you to find both.

Blessings!