Tag Archives: heart

Devotions Psalm 3- 6/1/21

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Salvation belongs to the LORD. Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah Psalm 3:8 NKJV

Here is the end of Psalm 3. (Wow, it’s really the end of 3..?? I will check to make sure… yep, haha!) It seems to give a beautiful send off to the “Song” or ‘Psalm’ which here it is about the Lord and tough stuff and just seeing the wonderful power and love from the Lord.

Have you ever seen police, firefighters, or just emergency workers in the middle of situations? In tough stuff, even in danger, but they were still out there in the “fire” or living against what even their selves would normally be against?

In so many ways, that is Jesus! It was Christ who went and died for not just people who were physically hurting but for altogether the sum of the people who would die with no hope.

No chance of being saved? For mankind if they were tested, there was a 0% chance of heaven. That is horrifying even if you even just start to think about it!

So Jesus was kind of like a firefighter. He saw no hope in the situation, saw that if He did nothing, people would perish in the fire (hell) and went in and saved.

Did Jesus die in that fire? No. He had the world’s evil laid on him and took the wrath of God on Himself. But then He rose again, showing that even in eternal punishment Jesus had power over death!

Did he rescue people from the fire? Yes He did. In two different ways though (maybe I will get tot hat part in a future article. Right now if I did this article would get theologically heavy and I want to keep it in simple words for this time) but before I digress, yes he pulled people from the fire.

The “fire” being eternal punishment. Eternal and the “Second Death,” which is if someone is eternally separate from God’s love.

To be like a loving female bird and try to draw all people towards the parent and yet be rejected by so many was heart-breaking to Jesus. He loved everyone! Yet people still rejected the love that existed not just in Himself but as he would say the “Father” who he always wanted to glorify, especially if He was praised for something Himself!

It is good to if you are a Christian to glorify God and Jesus and not yourself. Boy have I got stories about being prideful! Gosh… awful.

I once was writing a big movie project and kept saying over and over “It’s amazing what I will do for you…” Oh, man. That’s terrible.

I should have kept in mind it was the Lord that brought all those things together. I was the messenger to deliver a story. It was Jesus working though me, and not myself!

Over the years though I am slowly learning to be humble and not the opposite (though pride grows in me yet again and again).

One time I happened to be wearing a shirt at work that looked like I was a lifeguard. I said in sharing though a brief bit about the subject when asked about it “I am a Christian and this shirt means something like this: Jesus is my lifeguard.”.

Jesus can pull people out of horrible worlds. He can rescue people from lives of thievery, deep and self-abating from pornography, “unaccountable” lives, people who think the only thing they can do in life to “live” is to be on drugs, struggling ones who think God doesn’t love them because they simply struggle in general, the “criers”, the easily emotional, the ones hopelessly and seeming ceaselessly depressed, the ones in deep regret because they changed but realize the change was now permanent, the ones who not only can’t afford a home- but to live every day and have food…. God can bring people to a loving state in their lives and “rescue” those people spiritually!

God can and He does because He is awesome!

He not only loves and is love but He impacts lives so personally You will be surprised the day He does.

God is blessed if we have things to share with others especially if it is to tell others of the faith because of the giving of Christ’s life.

If you’re hurting because of mistakes you’ve made, know that no matter what God still loves you! He loves you no matter what has happened.

He loves you every day. All He asks is simply to know Him by an intimate relationship through Jesus Christ.

And He can save you from the “fire” today!

Pray like this if you feel led:

Lord, I am so sorry about what has happened in these past few days months, maybe more. I realize that God your love is deeper than I thought. You really gave Your life through Your Son so that You could place Your wrath onto Him? I realize that God sending His son to die from the world’s sins is such a huge thought. But I realize He died even for my sin as well! I thank You for the chance to know Him. I pray that I will experience this new life to follow You. Please be in my life and live in my for the rest of mine. Thank you for learning that Jesus really died and then He rose again. I want to experience that life in and through Christ.

Amen. Thank you for the privilege of prayer.

If you prayed I hope Jesus is now your lifeguard. And one day you will live for Him in ways you never thought possible!

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Honor the one who is everything-11/16/14

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In church we are going over the book of Obadiah. Wow the parallels he briefly made with Edom and other countries reflect what is going on with us today as well. I hope we can get a deeper understanding of this book as well as explain the context which is a little more important as well.

Going to a Christmas bazaar at a Catholic church has always been both encouraging and also other things as well. One thing I noticed lately in the past years is the contests they have for the people. Anyone can sign up and apparently the workers like to attache their names to these raffles in hopes that they will win these games. Kind of sadly, many times they have. While people go and have fun and try to win many of the raffles and cash prizes there are workers who try to get into the contests and their names are called seemingly every year. I wonder what exactly their hearts are when they sign up.

Do they think that they “deserve” these gifts since they took the time to serve in the area? Have they felt that they must win because contests are fun? Or have they joined them just because they hoped to help bulk up any baskets that hadn’t many entries, they assumed?

I signed up a few tickets to one because I was hoping to give it as an early Christmas gift but that didn’t work out. Oh well. Next year if this tradition continues.

Now that I think of it I guess I was honoring my mother.

Let’s think of that word “honor.” When I was speaking of God’s “glory” I said that it meant exalted honor. What is “honor?”

According to an online dictionary loosely it means the state of being morally upright, honest, noble, virtuous, and magnanimous.

That sounds like something that cops or military would do. They would be morally grounded on what is right honest and be noble.

But I am talking about another definition.

Profound awe, respect of someone usually for being morally upright and/or competent.

Because of God we have been given many wonderful things like the endless creations on this earth, the air we breathe, and the people we have come to know and love.

But God commands us to witness and evangelize with others and sometimes we do not do what God wants though He deserves to be respected on that commandment.

If we do things for God because His word says so, it is like we are honoring Him. The Lord deserves everything we have to give for Him. His “competence” is that He gives us grace and the amazing ability to speak the gospel no matter how far or early our walk with Christ is.

Some people in countries like the one I live in have amazing blessings. So many luxuries at our fingertips but do we praise God for any of them? Sometimes not.

Therefore if we don’t think of God and what He has done for us, does that make us ungrateful. I think so.

Is that honoring Him?

You know I feel convicted by the many I grew up in the church with. Though it seems I have grown up only under the roof of a house of worship all my life, I have not been doing well all of those years. I feel that I have represented and feel responsible for, in a way, the people who I went to youth group with because I was not following the Lord all the time. And it seems a lot in my circle have fallen away from church.

Was I honoring God by not reading God’s Word and being “comfortable” where I was for a good amount of years? I think not.

I wish that I could keep close contact with many as some are in other parts of my country. I guess the sometimes only honorable thing to do is to pray for them. Also just to be involved outside of the church (something I used to be very uncomfortable about) and be a witness to people around me.

Another thing I hope both you and I do is be grounded in God’s Word the Holy Bible. That is where you really get to honor Him because you get to discern more of what He wants for you and to know Christ’s heart to grow in Him more.

We are as princes and princesses to the King of all Kings Jesus Christ.

What an honor! To be considered a part of God’s plan and be loved and be blessed by Him. Also it is amazing to know that God doesn’t need us to be part of His kingdom but He wants us. He really likes us! He wants us to know Him more so we can, as in a relationship, become close and journey on in this world together with Him.

Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection we can access the God who should be everything in our lives. He should be all we could ever need or want. God should be the one who is everything to us so that we are grateful to share Him.

Do you want to help lead people to Heaven? Then honor God by doing this commandment of telling others how good God personally has been to you… and maybe He will honor you with a reward the day you stand in Heaven.

Let’s all be like ones together, united in His love, bound to His will, and serve Jesus the wondrous Christ with all our hearts ’till He comes! Amen.

Deep Impact-11/2/2014

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Going to a class these past few weeks that have been encouraging while at the same time restricted. Can cause a huge impact on the worlds around us. I wish that we had at least 40 minutes to spare to have full effect. It is worth it though many people don’t seem to find it important or are intimidated at its subject. Hope they take the “risk” and try it out with the rest of us, our small number of people.

Happy November! I know I am a little late in wishing everyone well but I hope that people will not mind that much. It is probably one of my favorite celebrations coming up. Thanksgiving. I hope everybody here does not try to make this “holiday” alone but will stay with friends or family just for personal fellowship or for pure fun.

Okay off topic. Now I will try to hone in what I want to talk about.

If you lived during the 90’s as a young teen or younger like I did you might remember the movie. I am not sure which film ripped off of which other film, all I know is one movie aped another’s premise. Those films were Armageddon, a movie about a giant piece of rock headed toward Earth’s atmosphere possibly ready to take out any or all life on it.

And a second film released the same year called “Deep Impact.”

While slow-going in a way throughout the entire pace of the story Deep Impact is a pretty good epic, disaster movie. It is more but mainly about a huge piece of space debris slowly heading to earth and the people including the president of the United States fight with fervor to do ways to do away with this “evil” all-destroying rock.

The other part involves families trying to reconnect or reconcile past dysfunctions and some getting together or trying to as this doomsday scenario hangs above their heads.

Isn’t it great comfort (I know you do if you believe) to know this is not the way the world will end? To merely get along with others because everything is ready to be wiped out and work things out human perspective-wise before we all “bite the dust”?

It must be, person reading, that you have to know of real comfort. There are conflicts with family, there are spiritual battles, there are even deaths due to life’s circumstances happening every day. But do you also know there is Jesus who makes all the at times terrible things we go through worth it?

Christ can make the worst things that happen in and to our families worth living for. I can tell you I have not grown up in what observers would call a “Christian” household. At least as of my late understanding it was not what people would describe as high in morals or pure and always ready for church.

I grew up until the age of 8 years old not knowing Christ. Anytime my father tried his hardest to bring us to church in general there was a fit or certain family members deliberately lagging behind. That battle still goes on today. I hope to continue this habit but I can think of times my youngest brother watched me avoid church. And though that was partly his will to not go, I think I am to blame at least partially for why he does not go to this day.

I think it is possible if we give Him the chance through us to make great things. How? Not by our own power, no pride, or even sometimes not by the things we want. We must be small to make God great in our lives. We must realize that we don’t have God by our side because we don’t let Him in our daily growth. Just like milk is good for us, we must read His word and find out what He wants for our lives. We must “drink” it because it is good spiritually for our hearts and minds.

If you don’t know what Christ wants for your life ask yourself this first. Have you accepted Jesus personally into your heart? Did you ever reach the point in your life that you realized you could do nothing and could not live without Jesus? Did you pray so that this relationship could begin?

If you answered possibly all of these you must know that you might have sin in your life that is keeping you from reaching your goals for God. Or maybe He has another thing planned for you that you don’t know yet. Maybe a door has closed and a window of opportunity has been opened in effect.

And we must remember that Jesus Christ gave His life for all of us. We did not deserve what He did. The sin of the world had to be laid upon Him or else we would not find salvation through Christ’s sacrifice. Like a spotless lamb, he was crucified and after three days He rose again, showing God’s authority over death. He wants us to have life by the action of His Son Jesus because without Him we can’t live.

Well you might not agree with that but I know I can’t live without my Jesus. I don’t even think I’d be alive to this day if God altogether hadn’t existed.

And that’s what helps make the existence of God great. We can know Him, trust in Him, and because of that we can honor and show our love to Him just because He first loved us. Knowing God is in no way a “religious” thing (ew, you might hate that word…). It is a relationship, it is personal, it is individual, and while this world is going gray and heading slowly into darkness know that Jesus still loves you and you can either surrender to His love today or re-commit your love to Him for His glory.

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Because who knows what kind of deep impact you will have on other individuals if you just take up your cross and follow Him.

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