What If Tomorrow Never Comes?

What If Tomorrow Never Comes?

The enemy of our soul is sly and sneaky.   He will put anything and anybody in our path to distract us from what truly matters, knowing & following Jesus Christ.   And he will use innocent, honest things such as church, work, family, kids, kids’ activities, socializing as well as the obvious, alcohol, drugs, money and sex.

He, the enemy of our soul, convinces us that we always have tomorrow.   Tomorrow I will start going to church, tomorrow I will start reading my bible daily, tomorrow I will tell my neighbor about Jesus, tomorrow I will…, tomorrow I will…  Isn’t it so ever sly of that snake to slip yet another thing or person in our path when tomorrow comes … Soon tomorrow becomes next week, next month, and next year.

My question is, “What If Tomorrow Never Comes?”   What if today was your last day to get to know Jesus?  What if today was your last day to tell someone about Jesus, it could be their last day to hear about Jesus? 

What are you waiting for tomorrow to do?

I wish I could get a “do-over” for all those times when I was a bad witness or no witness at all.   I wish I could reach every single person in the world with my testimony.   I wish I could tell every single person in the world that a relationship with Jesus Christ is the difference between life and death.

If Tomorrow Never Comes, are you ready for eternity?

♥Saved by Grace, Changed by Love♥

Live Life Abundantly and Authentically

The world must see our struggles as well as our strengths.  They must see, be able to connect, identify with us,  our broken wretched lives that once was, where God brought us from as well as all He had done & doing within us.  It is Him that brings us out of trials and into triumphs.

We all have a story.  A story of brokenness, healing & redemption.  At times these stories need to be shared, not stuffed into a closet pretending like that past life did not exist.  Have we become so self-righteous that we have forgotten that we were once sinners also?  We must not ever forget where we came from.

It’s time to stop hiding and take off those religious fake faces – Stop suppressing the Glory of God!  It’s time to be real, to be transparent.   We must stop speaking Christianese and start speaking in a language that the world understands. 

When we live authentically, when the world sees that we are broken and useless, nothing without God, when the world can identify and connect to us, it is then that our ministry has begun.  It is then that true love is revealed and chains are broken.

 “Knowing who you are in Christ enables you to live authentically.”

♥ Saved by Grace, Changed by Love ♥

ARISE CHURCH !!!

Arise Church!!!

The time has come for the Church to Wake Up and Arise.   

It is the Churches fault that our Nation is in the condition that it is in.

America was a blessing from God for Believers not Sinners.    It was the Believers responsibility to care for the blessing that God so graciously handed to us.  But instead we handed over our blessing to sinners and expected them to care for the blessing the way God intended.  

How lazy, irresponsible, and just down right stupid.  Why would the church believe that sinners would run our Nation under God when they don’t know Him!!!

Pastors ARISE and WAKE UP!!!

Stop preaching denominational doctrine and Start preaching Jesus doctrine!   The time has come!

Show your congregations the love of Jesus and teach them to fall head over heels for the Man.  Stir up the gifts of the spirit in your congregations.  Teach your congregations how to get to know the Holy Spirit and how to hear God’s voice.   Teach them how to be watchmen. 

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the Gifts of the Spirit are for just the charismatic & holy rollers.  Jesus said ‘we would do greater things than He’  … Hello Pastors … get out of your traditional denominational safe zones and get on board with Jesus !!!

How in the world are the signs & miracles going to happen if the gifts of the spirit are lock up?

You see Pastors … It’s time to stop teaching them to be sheep and start raising them up to be Shepherds.   Don’t be afraid of losing control.  Raise your sheep up in the way of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Trust God.   If someone makes a mistake it’s not going to be too big for God to redeem.

I understand there has to be order within a church.  But it seems to me that the churches within all denominations have gotten away from God’s order to a business order.    Pastors have drilled into me to trust God completely with everything, but it was the very same Pastors that did not trust God with certain situations within the church. 

And what is with headquarters telling Pastors what they can & cannot preach?  Do they not trust the men & women that they have put into place, that God has called to the pulpit? Why do you need the Holy Spirit if Headquarters calls the shots.

Please stop suffocating the body of Christ with denominational legalism & religion!

And please stop sugar-coating the Word.  Jesus is love and we are to operate in love but He also wants people to know the Truth.  

It’s time for the church to break free from the 4 walls and start teaching the way of Jesus.  

It’s time for the Body of Christ to take back what is rightfully ours. 

ARISE

BE BOLD

BE KNOWN

AND SHINE FOREVER MORE!

The Boy Scouts of America

Today 41 Action News posted -

BREAKING NEWS via NBC News

"The Boy Scouts of America, one of the nation’s largest private youth organizations, is actively considering an end to its decades-long policy of banning gay scouts or scout leaders, according to scouting officials and outsiders familiar with internal discussions."

Your thoughts?

I followed the comments and was sadden by the majority of the responses.   How can one live a life of anything goes?  Where are the boundaries?  Are there any boundaries?

If you do not use the Word of God as a standard for your life, where do you draw the line?  How do you determine the boundaries?  How do you discern the difference between right & wrong?   Who is acceptable and not acceptable to mentor your children?   Would you knowingly allow your children be mentored by a prostitute, drug addict, murderer?   Why would you allow one but not the other?

Do you decide what is right or wrong by how you feel or what is popular?   We all know that emotions are unstable and cannot be trusted.   As well as what is popular today will be gone tomorrow. 

One thing is for sure is the Word of God.  The Word of God does not change no matter how I feel or what I want.  Nor does it change with the trends or compete in popularity contests. 

The Word of God remains steadfast, it is the anchor for my soul, my Rock, and the TRUTH. 

For me & my house we will serve the Lord.

Leading to The Cross or Chasing Away?

I had to make a heartbreaking decision not too long ago.  A very dear friend, who I wanted so badly to know Jesus, told me that he was never going to church again and he wasn’t going to do the “God” thing and it was because of me.

WOW … what a blow.  The one thing I wanted most was never going to happen.  I was chasing one of the most important people in my life away from the cross!

I knew then I had to take a step back.  Nothing is more important, not my feelings, wants, needs, desires, than a person’s salvation.  I could no longer stand in the way of him finding his way to the cross.

Sometimes, and all too often, it’s the people closest to us, the ones we love the most, that we hinder.

Maybe it’s because they knew us before, or maybe they see us stumble.  Maybe they see us at some very ugly moments.  Whatever it is, you know the enemy is right there pointing out the worse in us to give our loved ones reasons not to go to the cross.

Why does the enemy target our loved ones?  Other than wanting to collect souls for his kingdom, he wants to shake our faith and ruin our witness.  He wants to point fingers and accuse us of being fakes.  He wants to destroy our relationships and what better way than to use “religion”.

When leading others to Jesus we must be very mindful about our words, actions and be wise to the enemy’s tactics.  Just plant the seed & love on people.  If they don't want to accept Christ that's their deal.  Our salvation is not based on their decision and we don't make a commission.  Yes, our hearts break for lost loved ones, but we just have to trust God.

The funny thing about this story is … all along he thought he was getting in the way of my relationship with God … as it turns out I was blocking his.  Strange how the enemy can use the love for Christ and the love for another person to pull three people apart.

I can’t change the world but I can change ME :)

The Man Died for Me !

The Man died for me!

 And it wasn't a quick death like a bullet to the head. The Man was beaten, mutilated and then hung on a cross, His hands & feet pierced with yucky rusted nails AND WITHOUT anesthesia!!!

 The least I can do for this Man is honor & praise Him ... I have to admit though ... I am awesome at the praise but when it comes to honoring Him ... I fall short everyday.

A goal for this year ... Work on honoring Jesus by the way I live my life EVERYDAY. 

I can't change the world but I can change me :)

Friend or Acquaintance?

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

What does this mean?  That I would take a bullet for a friend?  Well, yes I believe so.  However, I believe it goes much further than that.

I have a friend, (and maybe after studying this scripture, the term friend is being used loosely)

 this “friend” swore he would give up his life for mine.  I was flattered, for only a minute.  I quickly remembered all the times he let me down.  Times he didn’t honor commitments, times he betrayed my trust, and times he wasn’t there for me when I needed a shoulder. How in the world could I trust this person with my life when I couldn’t trust him to show up any other time?

You see, I believe, like so many others, that this “friend” had heard this scripture or something like it and thought how honorable & selfless it is to literally die for someone else.  So they “use” the scripture to prove their love for their “friends”, knowing that the likelihood of them literally dying for someone is not going to happen. 

I believe when Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”, He wasn’t just talking about literal death.  He was saying die to your flesh, your wants, needs, desires and serve your friends.  Serve your friends with love, compassion & consideration, with thanksgiving in your heart. Take care of your friends even when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable for you. Be joyful & glad to do it.  And if necessary protect them with your life. 

So my question is, if people really understood what it meant to ‘lay down one’s life’, would they be so quick to say, ‘yeah, I would die for you.’  My guess is they would not.  You see we live in a very selfish fallen world and for the most part a true friend is a rare find.

I do not set New Year resolutions, but I do set goals, and this year one of my goals is to become a better friend. I can't change the world but I can change me.

Are you a Friend or Acquaintance?

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.