Posts Tagged With: Jesus

The Name

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Tamar

What IS it about a name that can get people so riled up? Why is it that when I say “Obama”, hackles start to raise, or if I say “Mother Theresa”, you might start to calm down. What about “Hitler” or “Mickey Mouse”? I think it’s because there are a lot of things attached to any name. Just like keys attached to a key ring, ideas, a face, statements, and ideals are attached to names. The name of Jesus gleans many different reactions depending on the person’s relationship with Him and the statement just made about Him. Someone who doesn’t know Him may be curious or cautious. Someone who’s had a bad experience with a Christian in the past may express anger or resentment. With myself, at the mention of the Name of Jesus, an intense sense of peace and joy washes over me and a smile usually creeps across my face – if the statement is simply His name or His truth. But when I hear His name used in a derogatory way I have an intense anger and a defense reflex rises up in me. Hmmmmm…… you want to know how I picture the Enemy’s response to the name of Jesus? I picture them with looks of absolute fear and terror on their faces as they flee in seven different directions!

In John 15:20-21 Jesus tells us to “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of My name, for they do not know the One who sent Me.” There is POWER in a name. (Jeremiah 10:6) Moral of the story, when you take a step, any step, into Enemy territory in the name of Jesus, expect a battle!

The Enemy will use whomever he can to get to you too, the closer the better! Three years in a row, at harvest time, I have had 1) a very close friendship shatter, 2) a close family incident, and 3) another slightly more distant family incident all because of my bold faith. The past two years it’s been my family concerned for my sanity of all things. Because they’ve thought that I’m too overboard with this “God-thing”. It’s interesting to me, when the first incident with my family occurred I played a bit of Bible roulette (Pray about your situation and ask God for advice then open to a random page and see where your eye falls), and God gave me Mark 3:21. “When His family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.” Now, if Jesus’ family, who was present on the day at the wedding when He turned the water into wine, and His mother was quite present on the day of the immaculate conception, would think Him crazy enough to feel they needed to come “take charge of Him”, then of course my family will do that too when I start preaching and ministering in His name! In fact, how could I expect anything less?

Jesus tells us in Luke 12:49-53 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” Jesus didn’t come so that everyone would agree… in fact His death caused even more arguing on the earth. And it’s certainly been that way ever since! The life of a disciple of Christ is not going to be like a ride on the lazy river at Holiday World, it’s a battle in the War of Words!

Jesus warns His followers while traveling one day that “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty-thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-33) Jesus is telling His followers both then and now, that we MUST put Him first ALL the time or we can’t be His disciples. We have to be willing to leave absolutely positively EVERYTHING to be with Him and follow Him every single step of the way, all the way to the cross and beyond. Following Christ, costs some people their lives!

But Jesus also gives us some reassurance too. Peter starts the conversation in this instance, saying to Jesus, “We have left everything to follow You!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Mark 10:28-31 I can not tell you how closely I have lived this verse! I am still on good terms with my blood family members, but I’m not in nearly as close contact as I used to be with them. But the loss I had with my blood family I have more than doubled in the sisters that I have gained in Christ! The Lord has completely surrounded me with more love from people that I now call family. Some of them I’ve never even met in person before, but yet there’s a tie, a bond there that you simply can’t see or explain other than, we have the same heavenly Father. It’s simply amazing!

Listen to “At Your Name” by Phil Wickham

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If God has used this post to touch your life, please prayerfully consider giving a gift of love, and/or sign up to be a prayer partner by emailing Prayer@TamarMinistries.net.

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The Mouth of the Lion

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Tamar

“At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully  proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” 2 Timothy 4:16-18

Well, standing on this side of the last three days I can honestly say I was delivered from the lion’s mouth! In 1 Peter 5:8 it tells us to “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” And that is precisely the lion I have been delivered from. The roaring lion of lies and deception, the accuser. And boy was he accusing me! My ears from morning till night were filled with accusing thoughts that my spirit knew weren’t true but my flesh was being tempted to entertain them! He accused me of all kinds of things: “You’re a horrible mother.” “You don’t spend enough time on your kids or your house.” “You’re not spending God’s money according to His will.” “You know you’re crazy right? You should give up this ‘God-thing’, it’s not doing you any good.” “Your ministry’s not going anywhere, what’s the point in going on?” “No one reads your posts anyway, this is just a huge waste of your time.” The battlefield of my mind was a buzz of swords flashing and shields sparking as my armor started growing heavier and heavier, and I started to almost believe some of those statements enough to even say a few of them out loud!

Now, I’ve been praying the prayer of Jabez off and on for the last 11 years (“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.” 1 Chronicles 4:10), and every time my territory is enlarged I am stepping across the enemy lines and have to attack the current resident of that territory in order to claim that land as my own. Now, just like Joshua’s battles, the battle IS mine when the LORD is with me. But that doesn’t mean that the current resident is going to flee in his shaking boots the moment I set my foot across the border! No, the Enemy’s going to fight for what is currently his. Be it a person, a generational curse, or especially a ministry field. Like the internet and posting the Word of God daily!

In Acts 5 we find the story of the apostles performing miraculous signs and wonders, believers meeting together and many new believers being added to their numbers. The apostles were making GREAT strides across the Enemy’s battle lines, ones that had been drawn for centuries. Can you guess what happened next? Yup! You guessed it! ATTACK!!!!! The roaring lion and all his beasts of the field came charging at the apostles in the form of the high priest and all his associates (Acts 5:17), ready to go in for the kill all because the apostles were doing all this in the Name of Jesus.

In John 15:18-21 Jesus has just finished teaching the disciples about the principles of the Vine and the branches and then shares with them “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. This is why the world hates you. Remember these words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of My Name, for they do not know the One who sent me.” You see, there is power in a name, any name, but the Name of Jesus, well, that name breaks chains! In the next section of Acts 5 we find the apostles arrested and placed in the public jail. An angel of the LORD breaks them out of jail, and the next morning they are preaching in the temple courts again. But then they are of course, surprise-surprise, arrested again and brought before the Sanhedrin for questioning. After much deliberation the verdict is cast down and the apostles are flogged and ordered not to speak in the Name of Jesus again. But did the apostles leave battered, bruised with their heads hanging low and depressed? Nope! “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” (Acts 5:41) Well, OK, but they obeyed the ruling authorities who had punished them and commanded them to stop preaching the name of Jesus though right? Nope! “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” (Acts 5:42) We can’t stop, we can’t give up, we can’t falter or lose faith in preaching the good news of the deliverance of Jesus Christ! The suffering for His Name is a reward! It’s not a fun reward, but it Is a reward none-the-less, and it is worth every tear, every scar, every hurt. Because God NEVER wastes a hurt, He uses every one of them down to the very last drop! And what does God do when He delivers us from the roaring lion’s mouth? He places us ever-so-gently into the loving and tender mouth of the Lion of Judah, where He carries us back to His den like His precious little lion cub.

“I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand – I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’” (Isaiah 51:16)

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If God has used this post to touch your life, please prayerfully consider giving a gift of love, and/or sign up to be a prayer partner by emailing Prayer@TamarMinistries.net.

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In the Garden

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Tamar

040712_1524_IntheGarden1.jpg“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” (John 15:1)

Go with me to the garden for a moment. It’s first thing Sunday morning. The sun has just broken over the eastern horizon, the dew is still on the roses, the birds are singing their morning praise songs and we are crunching along the stone path to Jesus’ grave to anoint His body properly. It was a holiday weekend, the biggest there is, but it certainly didn’t feel like a holiday weekend! None of the food tasted any good; it was filled with tears of mourning. Everything we had ever hoped for, dreamed of, talked about, loved… died on Friday afternoon. We have nothing to celebrate right now. But, as much as we dislike it, life goes on, and there are things to be done; dishes to wash, laundry to fold. But there is one small bright spot to our day this Sunday. We get to go visit Jesus’ body one last time. Touch His hands and His feet – anoint Him. So here we are on the path in the garden on what is by far the most beautiful morning we’ve seen in ages. Everything seems alive and vibrant and fresh today, I wonder why. I turn to you in concern, “Oh no! How are we going to roll that huge stone away from the tomb? There’s no way we’ll be strong enough to do it! Those are next to impossible to move!” But you reply, “God will make a way for us. Have faith.” “Just like Mary,” I think to myself, “always faithful. God bless her, she’s right, God will bless us in our efforts, He will make a way for us to honor His son and anoint Him.” But then we see it! His tomb, it’s already open! “Wow! God REALLY made a way!” But as we approach we start to sense something amiss, where’s Jesus’ body!?! As we become a flurry of confusion and grief and anger and voices, two men with clothes like lightning appear standing next to us, startling us to silence and immediate prostrate positions of humility with our faces to the ground. (It was either that or faint I think!) The angels questioned us, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He’s not here! He is risen!…” As an unexplainable joy floods our souls and brings us back to the living, the angels remind us of Jesus’ words “…crucified and on the third day be raised again.” Oh how could we have forgotten? We run the entire way back to the house where the disciples are, the birds’ songs cheering us on, urging our feet to move faster. When we arrive our excitement streams through our lips as fast as we all can speak, causing dazed, shocked, confused, angry and hopeful looks on everyone’s faces. None of them know what to think, could it really be true? Can our hopes still be alive? What is happening? Was it thievery or a miracle? Can it really be true? Peter, not wanting to be left out of the action I’m sure, returned to the tomb to investigate, running the entire way. Breathing heavily he entered the tomb to find all the wrappings of death discarded carelessly, and the napkin from His head folded carefully, signifying that He was not finished and that he would return. Not quite knowing how to deal with all this extraordinary information Simon Peter went away to think and pray, but you, Mary, you stayed. You couldn’t bear to leave could you? Your grief and confusion is so complete so consuming that you simply couldn’t leave the last known residence of your Lord and love Jesus of Nazareth. He saved you from a horrible life of torment didn’t He? Those demons had plagued you night and day, filled your head with criticisms and self-doubt, fears and pain unimaginable. But then Jesus came along didn’t He? He freed you from all of it! The pain, the shame, the torment, the fear, all gone the instant He touched you. It must have been amazing! Obviously it was because you haven’t left His side since, even in death, you’re still here at His grave – waiting. Crying because you don’t know what’s happening. But more than that, because you don’t know where He is. All you know is that He’s not with you and the pain that that is causing you is worse than anything the demons ever did. Your love for Jesus is so pure that nothing can stop you from wanting Him; His presence in your life, His love in your life, His grace in your life. You miss Him like nothing you’ve ever known. And as you’re standing there wailing beside the tomb, you just have to look upon His last resting place one more time. But this time there are two angels sitting there. And right now you are too grieved to care that there are two supernatural beings speaking to you. “Woman, why are you crying?” they ask. You sob, “They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put Him!”

Mary, when everyone else left Him, you stayed. When everyone else pondered, you grieved. Maybe you didn’t understand what was really happening, or maybe you understood better than anyone else. Either way, I can’t imagine what it felt like to be there that morning. In that new day air, your eyes brimming with tears saw a man standing near Jesus’ grave. “Maybe he knows where Jesus is.” Perhaps that’s what you thought when you asked Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him and I will get Him.” Perhaps, at that moment in the garden, Jesus looked so much like His father that that’s why you mistook Him for the gardener. Oh, but no tears or choking sobs of grief could disguise His voice from you could it? No. Just as the sheep know their shepherd’s voice, all it took was for Him to say one precious word, your name. “Mary”. And reality came crashing through your tears. He is HERE! He is ALIVE! He is speaking YOUR name! He knows your grief, He knows your pain and He came to you first to end that anguish in your soul and replace it with joy and hope and fire. All with a single word, your name. Because He knows your name, it’s written on the palm of His hand.

Oh how desperately you wanted to cling to Him, to talk to Him, to hang on His every word and bask in His luminous personality. But alas, just as you could not hang onto your grief this morning because you had work to do, that same is true now. You can not hang onto your joy because there is work to do. OH! But the work that there is to do! It too is joyful. “You Mary”, Jesus explains, “have to tell the others. You must spread the good news! You (a woman, which means they may not believe you) must tell everyone that I am alive, you have seen me, and that I am returning to My Father and your Father, to my God and your God. No Mary, you may not stay longer here with Me, I know you want to, but there will be plenty of time for that later. Right now, people need to know what has happened and what will happen. I will come again, and we will be together, so be patient. Until that time, tell everyone the good things I have done for you for My glory. O blessed one.”

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Day 16: Time

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Tamar

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8

As a parent of 2 children I know how it is to love my children.  I absolutely adore them both equally, and I want to dote on them constantly.  Unfortunately I can only do that when they are behaving properly and obeying me.  If they are acting up in the store the last thing I will do is reward them for their undesirable behavior!  God is the same way.  While He truly wants to bless us with our hearts desires, He can only do that when we’re acting in obedience to His word.  Now, here’s the kicker.  How can we obey rules that we don’t know?  We spend time learning them!

How we spend our time determines who we are and how we react to the world around us.  Luke 6:45 explains that The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. What we spend our time doing gets stored up into our minds and hearts and is exactly what comes back out of our mouths and attitudes.  For example:  If you’re spending your time watching R rated movies filled with foul language you can almost guarantee that you’ll be thinking about and possibly using that same language later.  If you’re reading a book about witches or vampires you can almost guarantee that later you’ll be thinking about witches and vampires, instead of thinking about good things like… GOD.  If you’re listening to music filled with foul language and the message of the songs is all about sleeping around and drinking and drugs, what do you think you’ll be thinking about and more tempted to do later?  What are you storing up in your heart; things to build you up and encourage you or things to tear you down and destroy your morale?  You may like a song because it’s got a good beat, but what are those lyrics saying to your soul?  What subliminal messages are you sending yourself, and your children, every day?  While you may think that those lyrics or lines aren’t any big deal, I beg to differ.  They have a much greater impact on you than you would think.  Our words, spoken, sung, and written, have power in them and even more so when set to music.  Music is the language of the soul, there’s a reason all movies have music; it sets the tone and makes you feel the moment.  Remember, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

In Luke 10 there is a story of two sisters, Mary and Martha.  One day Jesus was teaching at Martha’s house.  Martha was busy preparing the meal and the house while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to His teaching.  Martha became frustrated with Mary for not helping her in the kitchen, at one point she became so frustrated that she went to Jesus and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?  Then tell her to help me.”  But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Did you hear that ladies?  Jesus said that working in the kitchen (or the house) is not the better choice.  It’s not the most important thing, THANK YOU GOD!  When given the choice between spending time with Jesus and spending time doing anything else, everything else pales in comparison!  Right now you might be thinking, “How can that be, if all I ever do is spend time with Jesus I’ll never get anything else done?”  Not so my friend.  You see the beauty of living in a post-resurrection era is the fact that instead of Jesus sitting in the living room teaching while we’re in the kitchen working, we can take Him with us wherever we go.  Remember, we’re the Holy of Holies now!

The key is, are you willing to change your habits?  I’ve been trying really hard lately to eat healthier.  Not to lose weight, just to take better care of my temple.  I’m noticing something; I am still able to eat a lot of the same foods I was eating before just different healthier versions of them.  It’s a lot of swapping this for that.  Instead of eating canned fruit in sugary syrup, I eat fresh fruit.  Instead of eating plain white bread I’ve swapped it for healthier whole grain versions.  The same is true for our daily activities and learning more about Christ.  I like listening to music while I cook.  So instead of listening to secular country or hip hop music, I’ve downloaded hours and hours of every different genres of Christian music, there’s a lot out there to choose from.  I love reading fiction (when I have time), instead of reading about the romance of a vampire and a teenage girl, I read about the romance of a Christian woman and her struggle to find faith and a husband that shares that faith.  I am so blessed; the Christian/Inspirational fiction section is packed at our library.  Instead of watching movies filled with violence and foul language or TV shows with sexual content, I opt for things that make me laugh and have an uplifting message, or I just turn off the TV and read.  I’m not saying you have to change everything overnight, I’m just suggesting that you be mindful of the choices you make on how you’re spending your time, and the things that are filling your hearts.  James explains that we should be putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save [our] souls. (1:21)  God cares the most about your heart, He wants you to keep it healthy and full of: whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on (and spend your time doing) these things.  We can always find time to do the things we love.  Show Jesus how much you love Him and MAKE time for Him in your life.  When you make time for Him, He makes time for you too.  Homework for today: sit down and make a list of all the things in your life (yes the list can be a mental one) that you could “swap out” for healthier versions, then start swapping!

Christian’s comments:

Have you ever heard the expression “Garbage in, garbage out”? If we spend all of our time filling up our hearts with garbage, whether it be from TV, movies, radio, etc., where will we find time for Jesus? We have to MAKE time for Jesus. What does that mean? Give Jesus His time first, just as your tithe is the first to come out of your paycheck. As soon as you get out of bed every morning, start praying.

It doesn’t matter how or where you pray. Tamar lays down face first on the floor next to the bed. I actually pray in the bathroom. I know it may sound weird, but that is the room where you are the most humble.

“How much time is needed?” you might be asking. I don’t know. There is no definitive answer to that. Every person and every day is going to be different. Some days you may only need five minutes. Other days you may get an hour or more to bask in his presence. He knows what you need and will make sure that you get it. If you give Him the time that is needed, before anything else, your heart will be filled with His goodness. That means that there won’t be any room for the “garbage”.

I also suggest you give God time at the end of the day.  Again, it could be five minutes, or a couple of hours. Just thank Him for the day and the blessings it held. I have actually fallen asleep while praying to him at the end of the day (I do this prayer in bed). This might seem a little disrespectful, but that is when I’m the most relaxed, and my mind is clear, so there is no clutter to get in the way.

It is so refreshing to begin and end the day with the Lord. He is, after all, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

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Day 13: One and Only

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Tamar

A ruler questioned Him saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  Luke 18:18

Through the years I think everyone has asked that question and there are a lot of different answers to it.  While I can’t claim to know for certain the one true answer, remember I am not a theologian, I can tell you what Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good?  No one is good except God alone.  You know the commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother.’”  And he said, “All these I have kept since my youth.”  When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” Luke 18:19-22 The man hadn’t broken a single commandment in his entire life, he was a “good person”, and yet he still “lacked one thing”.  That one thing was a relationship with Jesus.

So many people think that being a good person and doing good things is enough to declare them worthy.  No one is completely sinless and deserving of heaven (Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God).  There is NOTHING you can DO to earn a ticket to heaven.

Romans 4:24-25 says: but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. You see, it’s kind of like each one of us has our own spiritual credit card.  Every time we sin it “rings up” a debt that has to be paid before we can get into heaven.  Because Psalm 5:4 tells us: For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with You. While still sinful we cannot live in heaven with God because we have no way to pay that debt.  Nothing we DO can ever change the balance.

However, God loves us and He made a way.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)  For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) Jesus lived a completely sinless life -zero balance on his “card”, and yet He CHOSE to die on the cross to pay for all of our sins.  (He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21)  When Jesus died He paid our debt, the whole thing.  It’s like; He called the credit card company, requested a balance transfer, and said “I’ll pay it all for them.”  So here we stand today with a balance on our cards and Jesus on the phone saying He’ll pay it all off IF we want Him to.  Hmmmmm…. let me think; zero balance on my sin card AND eternal life filled with His love…. Um, YEAH! I’ll take that deal.

Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.  And you know the way  where I am going.”  Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?”  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.” (John 14:2-6 emphasis mine)  Jesus is THE way to God the Father in heaven.  He didn’t say that He was ONE of the ways; He is THE ONE AND ONLY WAY.  We don’t get to heaven by who we are or what we’ve done.  We are forgiven and able to go to heaven because of who JESUS is and what JESUS has done.  Period.  If you don’t believe me, look it up for yourself, it’s all right there in black and white and red.

You see it’s all about belief:

[Y/N] Do you believe in God the Father?

[Y/N ] Do you believe in Jesus His Son?

[Y/N ] Do you believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father?

[Y/N ] Do you believe that Jesus died for you on the cross?

[Y/N ] Do you believe that His death was enough to pay for your sins?

[Y/N ] Are you sorry for the sins that you have committed in the past?

[Y/N ] Have you prayed and asked forgiveness for those sins?

[Y/N ] Have you prayed and accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as payment for those sins?

[Y/N ] Have you prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to come live in your heart and help you not to purposefully sin in the future?

[Y/N ] Does someone else know about your commitment to God yet?

If you answered yes to all of the above then you are a beloved Child of God and fellow follower of Christ.  I look forward to meeting you in heaven my sister.

However, this is not the end, this is just the beginning!  It’s the beginning of a NEW YOU, a NEW LIFE in Christ.  One where Christ lives through you and you – love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37).  To do that, you love your spouse more than you love yourself.  Because love requires sacrifice & love requires obedience.

In John 3:36 it says that Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Notice, the words translated “does not obey”, in the original Greek is apeitheo which means “to refuse belief and obedience”.  With the meaning of this one word, all of salvation is explained.  Belief and obedience are tied together as one.  To believe in Jesus is to obey him!  We’ll go over this a little more tomorrow.

Christian’s comments:

I used to work with a guy that said he thought he would go to heaven because he “lived a good life”. Sure, he was a good guy. He donated a little to charity. He helped people when he could. However, he didn’t have Christ in his heart. He also didn’t go to church or tithe. I asked him, once, why he didn’t go to church. His answer? “I like to sleep in on weekends.” I tried to explain that there were services throughout the day, even in the evenings. He explained that he was “too busy”. I worked with this man for almost two years and could never convince him that “leading a good life” wasn’t enough to get into heaven. He was living with Jesus as his savior, but not as his Lord. You have to live your life according to God, for Jesus to be your savior.

It scares me to think about all the people in this world that think leading a good life will get them into heaven. If I had longer time to work with and minister to my co-worker, I might have brought him to Christ (I like to think that I could have anyway). However, my work time with him was cut short, and I had to move on.

I’m praying that the change this fast has made in me will lead my friends, derby buddies, and coworkers to Christ. I pray that they will see me living with Jesus as my Lord and not just my Savior and want the same things that are happening to me.

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