Category Archives: Salvation Message

Some thoughts on Psalm 40

Faith, Family History, Life, Salvation Message, Uncategorized
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Been on a spiritual journey. Want to share some of my thoughts on my favorite Psalm 40. A psalm of David I identify with. A look at some versus, not necessarily in verse order.

Seeing is believing. Or is it hearing?

“And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.” Psalm 40:3

Paul says in Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  And the old expresssion says ‘Seeing is Believing.’ And yet the children of the children of those led out of Egypt had such little faith in both what they saw and heard that by the fourth generation they were fallen away from God. So is it hearing or seeing? Besides: don’t believe everything you see. Even salt looks like sugar. 

Curious. You would think many would HEAR the song or praise. But King David said many would “see it.”  I pondered on this a lot. And after I read one of Paul’s accounts, I think I understand David’s words better now.

I’m sure people do hear praise and especially in song. In fact God says “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17).  So we expect salvation from hearing. So David threw me for a loop with his, “many shall see it and fear.”

But I think you can see what I did if you’ll look at Paul’s experience in Thyatira just outside Phillipi at Macedonia. Paul and Silas were preaching in the streets the good news of the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But it wasn’t until Paul loosed a ‘spirit of divination’ from a woman possessed that things got ugly. Those whose income depended upon this ‘psychic’ stirred up the Jews and Romans in the city, and sent the magistrates after Paul and Silas. And without even hearing a word in defense commanded to have them beaten. They laid many stripes on Paul and Silas then threw them in jail. Not just in jail, locked in stocks and sent to the innermost cell in the dark. (Acts 16:16-24)

But did they cry, or curse or moan in anguish or pain? Did they complain or protest or condemn their abusers or jailers?  No. They rejoiced. They sang hymns and cried out praises to Jesus. Paul as joyful as he was may have even explained salvation in his selections of song and praise. Everyone in the jail: other prisoners, guards, jailers all heard the joy and enthusiasm that lasted well past midnight. (Acts 16:25)

Then it happened. The singing was interrupted by an earthquake that shook the whole jail apart, loosened bars and stocks and gates. The jailer who was about to lose his life with the escape of these prisoners prepared to take his own life when Paul called out to cease. He told the jailer they were all there that none had fled. (Acts 16:27)

It was then that the jailer could “see,” Paul’s praise and his peace. He heard salvation with his ears and saw love and peace that transcended pain and placement. He dropped at Paul’s feet and wept “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:29-30).

The jailer and “his whole household” heard the gospel message after that and were saved and baptized. Because he “saw” the reality of it in Paul, and feared. There is much more to this story; the magistrates feared as well, and it would be great if you could read this with spiritual vision and see as I did, how some “show praise and song” with much more than their voice. 

I would hope, like David, many could one day say of me, there was a new song in his mouth, even praise. I saw it. I trembled and then called on the Lord. That is the greatest thing one could do, show a real Jesus so clearly that others can see him in your praise and call after him. 

Gratitude

“Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” Psalm 40:5

God does so many wonderful works in my life, I barely recognize them sometimes. In the last week here in Central West Virginia we have had nothing if not abundant sunshine. It did rain and we needed it. But rain came only in the middle of the night. I can’t remember a time I ever thanked him for perfect weather. It is a wonderful work and a gift. Often, David says, we don’t even know the things he blessed us with today. He turned a drunk driver down another road before he encountered one of my family members. An inconvenient delay we want to moan about might be the very moment he led us away from a tragic event or purposely into the path of another he needed us to meet. And then there are those things we are aware of: things we know He did for us. If we contemplate them, thanking Him for everything that occurs to us today: our salvation, the salvation of our spouse and children, grandchildren and great grandchildren (for me this is 50+) naming each, them moving on to our health, our home, our resources. I could be more than all day at this. David rightly said they are more than can be numbered. One last memory on this subject. In 1993 when daughter Lorna married Aaron Frye I bought a wedding gift for them from Pilgrim’s Progress in South Charleston. It was a book titled “10,000 Things to Thank God For.” It was the closest I could come to a similar book I read in the Marines in 1972. It was the four day Labor Day weekend and having drawn the short straw I was the only one on base at Camp LeJune North Carolina that weekend. Got kind of quiet. Lonely. Boring. Guarding the base alone. However there was an advantage. I had the keys to the kingdom. I let myself into the library and spent an hour or more “guarding” or better yet, “inspecting” row after row of books. I found one that fascinated me, and I ‘borrowed’ it for the remainder of the holiday. It was titled “5,000 Reasons to Thank God.”  Let me tell you, if I were wallowing in self pity, two pages in and I was suddenly grateful. It started out by saying that the first thing that separates man from his creator. The first thing to go is gratitude. Sometimes out of ignorance. Sometimes because we don’t want to retain him in our thoughts. The first page of 5,000 reasons read something like this:

“You had the wisdom to select this book. Second, you can read. Third you can understand what you are reading. You are intelligent, educated and share a small amount of wisdom. Fourth I suspect you were aided by a living mother who gave birth to you. Fifth you had a loving father as well. Just as sixth there is a loving God who is directing you to this now. Seventh you likely had a teacher, who with your parents taught you to read. You have, if all this is true, or just most of it, beaten the odds for most of the world. More than half the world cannot read, some forbidden too. They don’t have the freedom to read or inquire about a living God. Governments separate children early and use them as labor or to supplement armies. And we haven’t even identified freedoms you have to read, to select, to follow or not. Page One. You have much to thank God for already. Please take a moment to put this book down. And Thank Him.” I Have never forgotten the book that got me through a holiday weekend with such joy. Got it back to the library. Never saw it again. Made me grateful. David was right. Our blessings are more than can be numbered. By the way in the book I gave Lorna the last line reads: “It has probably already occurred to you that there are more than 10,000 more reasons to thank God. I don’t need to list them hereafter. Thank Him as they come to you.”

No longer stuck in a rut

“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” Psalm 40:2

Have you ever seen West Virginia clay? When wet it looks mild to nearly fully red and kind of like glue. It sticks to everything. Rather it sticks you to everything. It makes even the best tires spin or get stuck. Even a brief rain can turn a short piece of road into a navigational horror. That is what miry clay is. Clay that sticks you to the ground and makes it difficult to even raise your legs. 

I have never been in a horrible pit. Joseph was. I’m sure he was terrified down there in the dark perhaps listening to what his angry brothers intended to do with him. I’m sure he prayed fervently. (Genesis 37:24-28) 

Daniel knew. He was thrown into a lion’s den. (Daniel 16:6) Can that get any more horrible than that? Well maybe. Friends of Daniel: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were cast into a firey furnace, and with courage and conviction spoke these words: “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Daniel 3:17-18. 

King David had been in a horrible pit many times in his life. He pulled a lamb out of a bear’s mouth (1 Samuel 17:34-36). Nothing stood between him and the giant Goliath except Goliath’s armor and some rocks, gravel and rubble (1 Samuel 17:45). He was hiding in the very same cave where Saul his father-in-law stopped to use the bathroom as he and his army sought to find and kill David in the wilderness (1 Samuel 24:2-8). There were other pits too. The death of his first son Absolom who tried to tear his kingdom from him (2 Samuel 18:33) ; the death of his first son with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12: 16-17).  

I have had horrible pits in my life.  Some of my own designing and digging. And for years I was stuck in a miry rut trying over and over again to do things MY WAY and questioning why He wasn’t helping me do what was right. I am so ashamed of myself for that now. As I turned that around and sought after Him and His way, He lifted me out and set me upon the ROCK Jesus and led me down a new path. Why?  Because after decades of failure I finally did this:

Call upon the Lord

(To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” Psalm 40:1

The hardest thing in the world to do is wait. So. I wasn’t waiting. Instead I spent hours reading the Bible (especially directed by aquaintences who know what they were doing) I started attending church and praying even as I let go of trying to control everyone and every thing in my life.

One night after midnight while jogging between the Elkhurst Bridge and Hartland. I collapsed on the ground. All I could do for the longest time was weep. I was crying out to Jesus and yet I couldn’t even articulate what I wanted. I had been saved as a child but in the intervening years had not only had I stepped out of fellowship but had seized control of every aspect of my life, directing it as I saw morally fit. Here I was a humbled heap. Weeping. Calling out for help. He heard me. As I gained strength to stand and cross the bridge and jog back home, everything was different. Beginning thereafter miraculous things began to happen to me and members of my family and I wasn’t even involved in their occurance. I was no longer the controller. Instead I learned to be grateful. Beginning with my wife, who saw a peace in me, wondered what it was. I gave her a copy of the Gospel of John. She called me later that night to say she had decided to set down the bottle for good (she was self treating bipolar with alcohol and drugs). A few days later she told me she had seen Pastor Ralph Davis and said she was going to his church Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Maysel Sunday and would I come with her. I had been going to a church in Elkhurst close to home, but I said ‘Yes’ and took our children with us. Joyce and my two daughters got saved that day and eventually so would our boys. We were all baptized together as a family in ice cold water (the baptismal had forgotten to be heated) on January 9, 1993 by Pastor Ralph Davis. Life for our family and the three generations that followed, changed forever. Joyce had initiated an avalanche that swept our entire family into salvation. He heard my cry. He heard hers too. Joyce sought treatment for bipolar and did very well to manage it for the next 29 years until her death. She never picked up a bottle again to self treat, just as she said she wouldn’t. The Holy Spirit worked mightily in her. And he continues to bless me.

Gratitude in Practice

“Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.” Psalm 40:6

King David recognized that those things we traditionally expect God wants from us falls way short of what He wants. You know many people think they ‘sacrifice’ if they show up in a church for a few hours. Sacrifice their time, their sleep even their money if they fork over a few bucks. What arrogance. They don’t know the sabbath  was created for their benefit. That the time they spend in church gives them fuel and more to survive out in the world. I have an article on this blog site WHY REAL CHRISTIANS MUST ATTEND CHURCH and I will not relitigate it here (look it up and read it) 

Paul in Hebrews tells us God covets our praise. “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” Hebrews 13:15.  God tells us over in Psalms: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Psalms 51:17.  “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Psalms 34:18. Even Isaiah says God resists the lofty but saves the humble and contrite (57:15).  Praise him. Thank him daily. Now that is real sacrifice if sincerely meant. 

King David also spoke on the need and joy of going to the House of the Lord (Psalms 122:1). I myself am pulled there every Sunday. Why?  Gratitude in action. After all he blesses me with, how could I not show up to worship him. To learn what he wants me to learn, be fed spiritual food and find encouragement from my church family or offer love and hope in times of joy or great sadness. You cannot out give God. First: He gave the only sacrifice that counts. He accepted the blood of His only son as the ultimate sacrifice that ANY who would believe on him might have eternal life. (John 3:16).  Trust him. And you too will be blessed. 

Change your world view

“Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.” Psalms 40:4

I am a blessed man. I trust in the Lord. He sustains me even in adversity, trials or journeys through the Valley of Death. Some trust in the government. Some trust in education. Some trust in scientific unproven theories. Some trust only in themselves. All these worldviews, God laughs at. He proves them all false ‘lies’; some already, others in times to come as man learns more and more about things he thought once was true. (Psalms 2:4, 59:8, Proverbs 1:26).  If you are not being blessed: reconsider your worldview. Trust ONLY in him. 

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God Doesn’t Make Mistakes

Faith, Salvation Message, ,
Pass it along

God creates man and has dominion over him. Painting by Michelangelo from the Cistine Chapel in Rome, Italy.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Let me define ‘which’ God. I don’t mean Ra, Zeus, Odin, Dagon, Baal or any of the various pagan gods. I don’t mean any of the cult gods of ‘isms:’ Buddhaism, Mormonism, Islamism, etc. I mean the one-true and only living God of the Judean and Christian Bible. And before I get any ‘ism’ objections: there is no other ‘bible’ in the world where prophecy has been fulfilled: Not the Mormon bible. Not the Quran.

Judeo/Christian biblical prophecy has been proven fulfilled. The Old Testament writings ended 470 years before the birth of Christ. 120 years before the birth of Christ, the Essenes buried copies of this scripture in sealed jars in caverns along the Dead Sea. Rediscovered in 1947 these ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ are (with the exception of Ester), a complete version (albeit translated from Hebrew) of the Old Testament EXACTLY as it has come down to us today. So those 360 prophecies of Christ fulfilled 120 years after these scrolls were buried is proof positive that scripture regarding details of Christ was fulfilled (i.e. Isaiah Chapter 53 which is often called the ‘fifth gospel’ in its detail written 400+ years before its fulfillment).

If you want a modern fulfilled prophecy how about this: in 1948 after nineteen hundred years of being a fallen nation that disappeared in history, Israel suddenly became a nation again. In the same location, speaking the same original language, worshiping the same living God just as many of the Old Testament Bible prophets predicted that it would.

ALPHA AND OMEGA

In the last book of the Bible, God speaking as the glorified Son (part of the triune nature of this one living God) identifies himself as the alpha and omega (being the beginning and the end of the Greek alphabet) thus declaring himself the beginning and end of all things. (Revelation 1:8 and 22:13) Indeed John calls Christ the ‘Word.’ The living embodiment of the father’s declared word from the beginning. (John 1:1-4) So it is that the Bible declares itself the infallible, inerrant and God breathed word of God. (1 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21) If this claim is true, then final weight must be given to God on any subject on which He has revealed His will. The first being: as creator who created and sustains all things even now (Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:16-17) His word is final. And because it is inerrant, He does not make mistakes.

LET GOD BE TRUE AND ALL MEN LIARS

If there are mistakes, they are made by men. Even Holy men like Abraham, Moses and Jacob made mistakes. That’s why God uses their mistakes and the inspired words of multiple men to show us both his inerrancy and his will. We are required as his progeny to earnestly study that word and follow his will. Life not only goes better for us in this world but is NECESSARY to enter into life in the next. Along the way, we can sometimes be led off the path by others or even our own misunderstanding. The mistakes are then our own. Not Gods.

FOR THIS CAUSE: ONE MAN ONE WOMAN

God calls all the shots here. His game: His rules. In fact, He tells mankind to reproduce and fill the Earth and subdue it. Two people of the same sex cannot reproduce (more on this later). One male, one female forever unified as ‘one flesh’ two halves of one whole in God’s sight. (Genesis 2:24, and for those who believe Jesus did not address this: Matthew 19: 4-8) As I said: His rules. He even says they become one flesh: one whole person. To ‘shop around’ making yourself one flesh with a dozen other people is an abomination to Him. You can’t wish away forever any more than you can ‘put away’ your other half of your flesh.

Many say, “Our marriage was a mistake.” Many do. God does not. In fact, God says: “Men love your wives and be not bitter against them .” (Colossians 3:19) and another place He says: “Men love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.” (Ephesians 5:25). See the pattern? Your love for your wife is a sacrificial one, even if she treats you unjustly. Divorce is NOT an option with God. That is why “till death” is part of the wedding vow. Many children today are raised by a single parent. And while many do the best they can, this is not the way God intended.

And it shows in a corrupt culture that no longer honors fathers or parents, lives selfish lives, have multiple sex (not love) partners, have multiple pregnancies that often end in abortion, live with instead of marrying spouses and often partnered with the same sex. God is not honored, not worshipped and people live as they come to believe and pass on to surviving children: there are no rules and they can do ANYTHING that pleases them. Instead of subduing the Earth, they are conquered by it, losing not just faith, but their very lives. All because they choose not to do things God’s way, because they think he is wrong, mistaken. God doesn’t make mistakes.

SUBDUE THE EARTH, NOT WORSHIP IT

Subduing the Earth is opposite of submitting to it. And the Earth changed after God called it “good” and had to curse it when sin entered the world. It changed drastically after God flooded the world and started again. So while we all admire the beauty of the world around us, it is His, created for Him by Him. His rules. And while it is ridiculous to suggest that man can do anything to cause or affect any weather related event, or produce any man-made gas that would change the temperature or toxicity of the climate, God is still in control. The curse still reigns and cannot be lifted by man: only God.

That does not mean we are given license to pollute. But eliminating sulphur or soot from fossil-fuel plants is a far cry from calling carbon dioxide, a necessary live-giving gas necessary for all living plants, a ‘pollutant.’ Science has proven over and over again that nature, often by the oceans, regulates all carbon dioxide in the Earth. Nature’s God does not do this by accident. It is not by accident that God has proven all past environmental extremists’ predictions to become false. God had already declared how the Earth ends, which does not involve any pollutants, atomic bombs or any other human manufactured device or failure. Those who insist so, do not believe there is a God who created the Earth nor that He sustains it without human help. God is still in control; He does not make mistakes.

MEN ARE MEN AND WOMEN AREN’T

Only men are fathers. No woman can be a father. Neither can she procreate a child without a man. God identifies himself as our father. Fathers are the beginning of the family and the first of the institutions He created: the family. Research has proven over and over that no matter how well single women raise children without fathers they fall far short of those raised in families with fathers. In fact, research shows even after grown, those raised without a father long to discover and foster a relationship with him. It seems to be innate.

This is why no same sex partnering with another woman will never replace the role of a father. It is also why a parade of revolving male partners will never replace a father figure who ‘anchors’ the family as its spiritual and physical leader. Children raised without this anchor cannot understand the ‘fatherhood’ that God describes of Himself throughout the Bible: His permanent presence and support; His discipline and expectations of His children; His strong arm of defense and protection; His love and mercy and generosity even when unmerited and undeserved. To children with fathers (however imperfect as humans) indeed understand these things as God gave them an example and they learn that God is far more perfect than their own father.

Children raised without fathers often find a substitute role model for one. In today’s environment this can lead to involvement in gangs, or cults, drugs and worse. And for young men who are raised entirely without male roles additionally run the highest risk of becoming effeminate. God’s institution of the family, anchored by a godly father was his insurance that parents would make fewer mistakes. God doesn’t make mistakes.

WOMEN ARE WOMEN AND MEN SHOULDN’T BE

Some young men raised without good strong fathers; or raised in families where the mother has usurped the male’s role as leader, tend towards effeminacy. They want to become their mothers; or find they can obtain their life goals by emulating the strong women they see as their pseudo-father. Whether cross dressing, homosexual or full on transsexual: these ‘pretend’ women can never fulfill roles as real women, wives or mothers.

God calls both men and women abominations (Lev 18:22, 20:13, Roman’s 1:24-32) when they have and desire same sex relations. This is a strong word and probably encompasses these words too: liar, unbeliever, sinner, adulterers, and idolaters. Yes liar: because they think God made a mistake when He created them in the sex they are and should disregard Him on this matter. Unbelievers because they would prefer a lie to the real truth, thus believing they are right and God is wrong. Sinners because they pursue their thoughts, which become desires, which become imagings, which become actions. Each of these steps being a sin. Adulterous because God has declared these things abominable and yet they continue. Idolaters because they have now put themselves, their lifestyle, and continuing identity above both their creator, and the original purpose He intended for them. Worse. They have turned their nose up at God, saying they know better than Him what their purpose and course in life should be.

Others have been convinced God still accepts them in this identity and overlooks their sin. That God, through Christ, accepts them blindly out of love. They have been taught in error that their continuing abomination is covered by grace. They have never heard or forgotten that grace and salvation comes when they acknowledge sin and ask for forgiveness of their sin. Then they ask Christ to come into them and change them to His likeness. And at that moment Christ sends the Holy Spirit, (that third part of the triune Godhead) into them who begins to make that transformation. He changes desires; He instructs and leads one to the scriptures and helps in their understanding of them, and their desire to read and study them. He convicts when old desires and sins come calling and brings scripture to remembrance.

No REAL Christian can continue to live an abominable lifestyle and yet claim to be transformed. Not possible. Christ says you will know the tree by its fruit. Christians without fruit aren’t Christians (Matthew 12:33) Sorry. His rules; His way. Those who CONTINUE in their sinful nature have not actually been transformed and thus not saved; they are still on a path to an eternal hell; even if they believe a lie otherwise. You cannot wish, dream, pray or pay your way into God’s acceptance of an abhorrent behavior contrary to his word. His rules; His way. God doesn’t make mistakes.

MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY

Frank Sinatra brags in his song that ‘I Did It My Way.’ And that appears that is the new cultural montra even among the American population, the great majority of which claim to be Christian. And yet across all denominational lines church attendance is down. Apparently even most who call themselves Christian think they can do things their way too. “All things work together for good to them that are the called according to HIS purpose.” (Romans 5:8, all caps my emphasis). And some Christians wonder why their lives aren’t blessed. “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” (James 4:1-2).

Worldly Christians living ‘their own way’ miss out on his blessings too: not just the lost. After all, you are to conform to His likeness, go His way not petition him to accept your likeness and bless your route. About that highway you want to be on: “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: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14, and the words are a quote from Christ).

You’d be better to stay on His road than be on your own highway to hell. Hell isnt’ a mistake. God did not create it for men. He created it for Satan and his angels. (Matthew 25:41) But it enlarged itself for men because, foolishly, while men are offered an escape, they CHOOSE to go to hell, rather than Him. Men make mistakes; God does not.

OBEDIENCE BETTER THAN SACRIFICE

Unfortunately even some Christians see obedience as sacrifice. They think it a burden to read their bible. Worse to actually follow the path it sets before them. To actually spend two or three hours a week sitting in Sunday school, under the conviction of a sermon or in prayer or worship. They imagine this is adequate enough sacrifice for a good life that God has promised them. They are easily excused from services if other obligations demand it and just as easily indignant when unexpected bad times come; as though what little faithfulness they had shown was payment for avoiding it.

Often this is just a level of Christian maturity. Mature Christians, understand that reading and obeying the word is no burden but a joy and a safeguard for stumbling or falling into temptation. They know assembling together is the second institution God gave them for their protection. That similar to the family, this larger group offered opportunities to read and understand difficult scripture wisely and inerrantly. It allowed them to meet their own needs and those of other families and share all this with bigger communities. And to do this while praising and worshiping the Heavenly Father. And it helped them to share burdens as times of testing came upon some or even all of them.

To these, obedience was neither a burden nor sacrifice, but a joyful willingness to service out of gratitude to their creator. (1 Thes. 5:18). To those grateful for the real promises of salvation, forgiveness and eternal life, ten hours in service is not enough; ten percent of their income seems not enough; they praise and sing to him throughout each day they draw breath; they not only read scripture they memorize it and perpetually share it; and they pray, incessantly, for others and themselves even in the face of great loss, grief, pain or at the point closest to death. These have discovered obedience is no burden. Indeed it is joyful gratitude in practice, and it comes with the best perks in the world. Sure, rain falls on the righteous and the lost, but a life lived with the Savior is abundant with riches: joy even in the face of death; peace that passes all understanding; understanding of His love and role for you in this world; the assured place reserved for you in eternity.

And if these are just some of the perks of obedience, then what is sacrifice? God said that even a cup of water given in love and in His name to one who needs it deserves a reward in Heaven (Matthew 10:24). He says the praise for Him out of our lips is a sacrifice He covets. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). God did it first. Many still do. Many more are willing. You may never get the opportunity to make THAT sacrifice. Still, if a reward is earned just for sacrificing a little time and effort to give a cup of water, how much more incentive do you need to join a local church body and lend a hand. And here is one more incentive, Christ said: “Insomuch as ye have done this unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25:40). Serve your Savior: He takes it personal. These promises for rewards in Heaven for small tokens of love and sacrifice. These are promises, not mistakes. God doesn’t make mistakes.

ONE LAST SIMPLE THING

if, after reading all this, and it occurs to you that you might not be saved and have the assurance that you are heaven bound, you can indeed be saved and have this assurance. What follows below is God’s salvation plan. Sometimes it is called the Roman’s Road because the Apostle Paul laid out this great, yet simple plan mostly in the book of Romans in the New Testament almost 2,000 years ago. Read through this plan and think about each scripture, then at the end you will be led through a simple prayer.

Realize that you are a sinner that has transgressed the Holy laws of God.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

And you have ‘earned’ punishment for sin that is just

“For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)

But, God has provided you an escape.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life is through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

And what must one do to receive this gift?

“That If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Roman’s 10:9-10)

Sound simple? It is. It can’t be that simple? Yes it can. All the heavy lifting has already been done by Jesus who took the punishment for you, if you will accept him as Lord over your life.

Paul, even in his day, had skeptics of the simplicity of this plan. He said “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18) and “But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)

If you want to receive Jesus as Lord of your life, be embued by the Holy Spirit, and saved into Heaven for all eternity, all you must do is ask:

From your heart, in all earnestness, pray a simple prayer something like this:

“Lord Jesus. I know I am a sinner. I know you died to pay for my sins, and was raised again on the third day, seen of men and later lifted to heaven, to eternal life for all who believe. I believe. Please forgive me of my sins. Send the Holy Spirit into me and transform my life and grant me eternal life in Heaven. Amen”

The words matter less than the intent. I’ve seen children eternally saved by simply asking: “Jesus save me.”

If you weren’t saved before, you are now. Don’t discount the power of the Holy Spirit to do the work He promised he will. May I suggest a place to begin? Find a local God-fearing, Bible-believing church and attend services this coming Sunday morning. Before then, do this: out of the New Testiment read The Gospel of John, Romans, Ephesians then the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit will not only provide you the incentive but guide you into understanding. After this you can tackle all scripture, especially the old testiment. Begin there with First Samuel. Oh, and welcome to eternity. If I don’t meet you in this life, I certainly will in the next. And if you are saved I WILL see you in Heaven. It is a promise of God. And he always delivers. Men may make mistakes, but God does not.

NOTE: If there are mistakes in this article: spelling, grammatical, factual or otherwise they are all mine. God and his doctrine are inerrant. 

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