Saturday January 21, 2017

Psalm 138:8 "The Lord will work out his plans for my life--for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don't abandon me, for you made me" NLT

Psalm 138:8 "The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever--do not abandon the works of your hands." NIV

Psalm 138:8 "The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, endure forever--forsake not the works of Your own hands." AB

Today I wrote the 3 verses to show the different wording of the same verse. And to better illustrate for you the love and mercy of Jesus Christ.

The Lord does have plans for each one of us. But our sinful nature, at times, overrides God's plans. Let me explain, if we are led by our sinful nature then we are not listening to what God is telling our hearts. We go off and "Do our own thing." And as we are doing our own thing, and we fail, what then. What does our heart tell us? How do we feel? Is it possible that God allowed that failure to happen in order for us to realize that we are not following Him? I truly think that is the case.

Look at the beginning of those 3 verses. "The Lord will work out." "The Lord will fulfill." "The Lord will perfect." When we begin to understand that the Lord is Almighty and that He will not fail, we will begin to read those words and see that our failures, at things, are because we are not living the life that God has for us to live. Notice that I said "has for us to live." The life we may be living may not be the life He has for us to live. If we are feeling defeated, anxious, a failure, then you are not living the life He wants. None of those words are in the Lords vocabulary, period! He has plans to prosper us and give the blessings He so desires us to have. Living for Jesus was, and still is, never easy. But because of that, when we succeed, we can give praise to Him that has walked beside us the entire way. Opening the door for us to live an ever increasing life filled with the love of  Jesus and then acquiring an even greater amounts of blessings and joys at our obedience to Him.

Lets look at the next part of these verses. "your faithful love." "Your love." "Your mercy and loving-kindness." No matter our pasts, let me say that again, no matter our pasts, God is faithful. Even when we are not following Him, He loves us. Even when we are not on the "road" He designed for us to walk, He walks with us. The Holy Spirit is continually calling out to us. It is called "our conscience!" Because when we are not walking on His path, our conscience cries out to us. God's plan for us is for us to walk on the road of His design. Being led by the Light of His mercy and grace. Allowing it to illuminate our way so that the "potholes of life" are easily seen and we can avoid them. Those feelings of defeat, hopelessness and despair are not what He wants for us to feel. His plans are for us to have peace, joy, and the feeling of His forgiveness. Now don't get me wrong, life will not be a bed of roses. But when the hard times come, Christ is there to run to, to shout at, to lean on. Because as the rest of that second part of the verse goes "endures forever," then no matter where our lives are at, the Lord's love for us will never end, it goes on and on. Jesus endured the cross, so that we would be saved. So His love for us, and in us, will enable us to endure the hardships that this world brings. The evil in the world goes about happening, but we are able to endure just as Jesus endured. Just think about it. Jesus arose the third day from the grave, you could say that He endured death, and concurred it, He overcame it. So by following Christ we too can overcome our troubles and hardships and fears. We will be able to endure, because in our hearts is the power of Jesus, when we are following Him.

Again realize that if we are not following Jesus our plans will fail, we will be defeated, we will suffer, because we are not living the life that Christ planned for us. But if we truly are "Living for Jesus", then we will succeed because His plans NEVER fail! There will be ups and downs, but in the end we will prosper. And that prosperity will enable us to endure the next trial with an even greater spiritual strength than before.

So now lets look at the last part of those verses. "Don't abandon me, for you made me." "Do not abandon the works of your hands." "Forsake not the works of your own hands."  Right here we read that God made us, He formed us in our mother's womb. So we can rest assured that what He made, He WILL NOT ABANDON!!!  Just as we would never think of leaving our own children, neither will Jesus leave us. Again no matter what we have done He is true to never leave us or forsake us. Just as we look past the faults of our own children, but love them un-conditionally, the same it is with Jesus!

In conclusion, know this. If we follow Jesus, He sets our feet on the solid path that He has made for us. The Lord is always about His business, and He WILL SUCCEED!!!! His plans for all of us is to live with an inner peace even in the face of the storms in our lives. His love for us endures forever and He is faithful to love us forever. And He will not leave those He has made, and since He made you, you are included no matter what road you are on at the present time. So if you are having troubles, hard times, doubts or fears, take them to the Lord. Express to Him, through prayer, your feelings. Allow Him to take your burdens and carry them, the cross has given Him this strength. Accept Him as your personal Savior, begin to humbly follow Him and allow His love for to carry you through your trials and hard times, bringing you out the other side stronger, wiser, and more spiritually filled.

Friday January 20, 2017

Matthew 4:19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

I could say that when I was a fisherman, or thought I was, my net was full of holes. My "net" was ineffective in catching anything. Sin in my life had created those holes, and made my "fishing" very un-productive, to say the least.

But my net was able to catch something, and that was me. I was caught in the net of lies and deceit. My net of sin had wrapped me up in itself. And as desperately as I tried, I could not get out of it. I floundered in the water, barely able to keep my head above the water. Satan kept lying to me saying "You can do it. You got yourself into this and you have the strength to get out of it. At other times Satan lies told me that I would never be worthy of God's love, "Look at your life." "You have sinned for far too long, the Lord won't accept you. You are filth to Him." were the lie I heard. It wasn't until I had been "caught" for some time, struggling as I was that the Lord Jesus came into my life on Tuesday August 26th 2009 at 8:40 AM when I audibly heard my Savior say "Todd, I love you" and released me from my tangled mess. It was then that I realized that all Satan had told me were lies. It was right then that Christ started helping me to "prepare" my net.

My sins led me to prison, but it was there, that I had the time, if you will, for Him to work out His plan that He had for my life, even before I was born. The life that I had continually run from. He made it so that, now, when I cast my net, I would be able to catch others. Those who were sinning and to bring them in, to the family of Christ.

The old proverb goes like this, "Give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a life time." In my past life I would go to church and be fed for that day. I was looking to others to give me fish, so that I could eat, even if it was just for today. But I would return to my sinfulness on Monday. During the week I was hungry, desolate, alone inside. But my incarceration was God's way of showing me that I was a fisherman, and that my sinful life, that He saved through the shedding of His blood, was in my past and could now be used to lead others to Him. You could say that out of the ashes has come beauty. James 5:20 reads: "Let the [latter] one be sure that whoever turns a sinner from his evil course will save [that one's] soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins [procure the pardon of the many sins committed by the convert]." Amplified Bible.

I share my story, so as to share with you what Christ did for me and what He can do for you. Just as Jesus continually walked with me, even as I sinned, and called out to me. He calls out to you also. I want others to find what a great and awesome God we have, without having to hit rock bottom, like I had to do. I want others to see that no matter what was, or is, God loves you, and desires to have a relationship with you. I want you to know that what you may feel about yourself not being worthy to be in the presence of Jesus, is a lie perpetrated by Satan to discourage and demean you both mentally and spiritually. I pray that you read what I have written and know that Jesus died on Calvary's cross for your sins. He died so that you too can enter into His courts with thanksgiving. Christ wishes for you to have a life full of peace, the inner peace that only He can provide.Tonight I am throwing my "net" out there, in hopes of catching someone for Christ.

Tuesday January 17, 2017

Thoughts on Psalm 27:1, 5, 8

Psalm 27:1 The lord is the stronghold of my life- Of whom shall  be afraid?

Psalm 27:5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling;  he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 27:8 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face Lord, I will seek.

We all have sinned and fallen short. And for many, their sins are burden that they carry for many years. But this is not the life that our Heavenly Father wants you to live. I carried the heavy chains of a sinful past life. A life lived for what I wanted, not worrying who I hurt in the process.

I lived in the darkness of my sins. I felt comfortable in the dark. I lived a lie. I lived in the dark because I did not want others to see the real me. But I finally fell into the hole that I had been digging for a long time. Even in the bottom of that hole, God came in and His Glorious Light shown all around.

God took me out of the hole and into the Light of His love and grace. I began to truly believe and understand that what He had said thousands of years ago, that He would not leave me or forsake me. He took the chains of my sins and set me free. Today the Lord is my stronghold. My past sins have been forgiven, and I am a new person. I now see the Lord Jesus Christ as my stronghold. Staying in His word and daily speaking to Him through prayer only strengthens Jesus as a stronghold in my life. I can look at my past sins and no longer be haunted by them. So I do not have to be afraid of them any longer. Even when Satan comes and tells me I am not worthy of God's love, I can rebuke him. With the Lord as my stronghold I have the power to rebuke Satan and his lies!

Many times our sins bring us to a place, because of the heavy burden, that we confess them. And we pay the price for those sins. But even in those times, God takes us into His loving arms. Our confession brings about freedom and an inner peace. Our whole demeanor changes. When I finally confessed my sins, it brought about a prison term. But even in prison, behind the fences, I was free. I was safe inside His dwelling of love and grace. He set my feet upon the rock. The rock of His protection.

In prison He allowed me the time to more truly understand and worship Him as I should. At every turn Christ was there to lead and direct my steps, blessing me all along the way. The time in prison was the time that the Lord took to prepare me for freedom, life outside the fence. And He continues to guide my steps. He is there for me anytime, all I need to call out in prayer. By the Lord living in my heart, my heart desires to commune with my maker. My heart aches each day to hear His loving voice, and that voice quiets the storms in my life.

Now you may wonder where I am going with this. My desire is that you too come to a place where God is the only answer for you. That you call out to Him and allow Him to enter into your heart so that He can set your feet upon the rock of His love and mercy and grace. I was lied to by Satan, telling me that I would never be worthy enough to come to the Lord. But, again, that was a lie. Your Father in heaven is saddened by the fact that you feel that you need to "get better" so that you are worthy to come to Him. We will NEVER be worthy trying to do it on our own! His safe "dwelling and tent" are His mercy and grace that He has for you. Knowing that you can never be worthy, on your own terms, to come to Him, just lay down your sins at His feet and allow Jesus Christ to take you in.  Allow the Rock of His love for you, unconditionally by the way, be what He puts your feet on in order to follow Him without any fear or trembling. By living in His tent, Satan's power will no longer have any control over you. Your past sins are separated from you. Think about it, if are sinless in Gods eyes, Satan no longer has a leg to stand on when it come to condemning you.

By reading His word daily, the power that comes through those words will also be your rock. Putting your trust in those words, their peace and calmness invade your heart and create a loving relationship with the Lord. And you will begin to understand that what you thought about God is not true. He is not the ruthless person that you may have thought Him to be. You will start to enjoy life, because your heart will be dwelling with the Lord on a daily basis. He does love you. Allow His power to overcome the devil, and his lies that he has been spewing from his mouth. Just remember that we CAN NEVER OVERCOME OUR SINS BY OURSELVES! You can only overcome by accepting the Lord as your Savior, and allow the blood that He shed for you on Calvary cleanse you. Jesus died for the world, in which you are a part.

Thursday January 12, 2017

I keep thinking about what God has done for me. I continue to realize that the blood that He shed has taken the weight of past sins off of my shoulders. His grace and love for everyone allowed Him to do that.

How long did I take a look at who I was and what I had done and think that there was no hope for me? A very long time. Not knowing Christ intimately kept me in the dark, not fully seeing the love that He had for me. Satan also kept whispering in my ear that I was no good. That what I was doing, and had done, God would never forgive. The dark was such a comfortable place for me. I was lacking something, but "why get out of my comfort zone?"

I had tried to change, in the past, but my heart was not in the right place. It followed the world, the world was a "safe" place. The world was an easy place to live. The world told me that I could do anything! And so with the lies from Satan, and an "easy" life, I continued to sit in the dark. Hiding a shameful past. Chained to the wall of my sins.

But events in my life allowed the Light of His glory to finally shine into my dark world. I heard His voice, and it sounded so much different than Satan told me it would sound. I could not mistaken the true love that I heard. All I knew, because of Satan's lies, was that I would hear condemnation and rebuke. Hearing His loving voice, the chains that had bound me to the wall of my past sins were no longer there. They were gone. Jesus stretched out His hand and helped me to my feet. What was He doing? Where was the hate and distain that I was told would be there? Then came the actual words, "I love you!" What! Love me!

He then put His arm around my shoulders and we began to walk, along the road that He had for me to walk. He told me that this precious moment was what He had died for. To take away those chains that had bound me for all those years. To free me from the sins that I had let define me. He lifted me out of the hole that I had dug, and eventually fell into. "But Jesus, look at what I have done!" As He turns and looks at me and asks, "What sins?" I looked down and instead of the dirty clothes that I had had on, now I was clothed in white, clean clothes! "This is the outcome of my death on the cross, the shedding of my blood!" "But Lord I'm not worthy." But I was. Christ came and sacrificed Himself on my behalf. He came as a sacrifice for the sins of EVERYONE IN THE WORLD!

We get the clean clothes by becoming followers of Him. By humbly  coming to Him and allowing HIM TO REMOVE the chains that bind us. See, as much as I had ever tried to take the chains off, I couldn't. I did not have the power or strength to do it, PERIOD! But by coming to Jesus, and submitting to Him, His power was sufficient. His strength was more than enough. He freed me from the lies Satan had put into my head, and heart.

My sinful life has had it's consequences. There have been storms. But what I have learned is that Christ is steadfast! He walked, and walks, with me during those times in order that when I came out the other side, I realized that it was true! Christ will never leave us or forsake us. His hand held me the whole time and through it all! And so my trust in Him has only grown. My heart has the desire to follow only Him now. What this world has to offer is rubble compared to what I have now, and what I will have when I am reunited with Christ when I die.

So my mission, now, is to express what Christ has done for me to others, like yourself. To tell you what He did for me, and desires to do for you also. Now you may think that there is no hope for you, that your sins are way to awful, that you may have walked so far away from God that He could never find you. I pray that you can finally stop listening to the lies of Satan. Christ has walked next to me ever since I was born, and He continually called out my name, saying "Follow me." He walks with you. And since He created you, He knows you better that you know yourself, trust me.

Come to Him now, allow Him to liberate you from the sins that have weighed you down long enough. Cling to Him in your storms, because He is the Rock that is solid. His voice will be the loving and caring voice that you have needed to hear all your life. Trust me, His voice is loving, true, and always there speaking peace into your heart. Allow Him to give you the "Peace that passes all understanding."

The God of the universe does love you unconditionally. Again, I pray that you will seek Him out, because He is seeking you right now. Allow Him to take from you the struggles and pains that have haunted you long enough, so that you too may enjoy the life that He desires you to live. Your life is of concern to Him that created you, and His desire is for you to have the assuredness that you will live with Him in eternity! Run to Him because you will NOT have far to run, He stands right beside you. And always has!

Wednesday January 11, 2017

The book that I am currently reading "The Power of a Clear Conscience" by Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer, is very liberating. I find it very helpful even though I am not as guilt ridden as before. His words, given to him, by Christ, to write are meaningful and have made me stop and think about what guilt I still beat myself up with.

I have a better understanding of just what Christ did for me on the cross. And I am starting to become more at peace with myself, knowing that my past sins have been covered. I am able to walk into the throne room of my Savior and speak with Him directly, through prayer. Having a better understanding of His love for me, enables me to walk closer with Him. Knowing that my sins are forgiven, enables me to shed those sins and begin to live a life that He predestined for me to live and work for Him, through this life He has so graciously given me.

Saying that, you too can live a life that is free from your past sins. Just as I no longer carry all the weight of my past, so can you. There are rough times in my life, but now I have a reason to live. It is because Christ DIED for me, and you. Just as Jesus does not want me to carry any burdens from my past, He desires that same thing for you. I am sure just as I was, carrying the weight of condemnation around for years, you may be doing the same. And just like I did you too can unload your past burdens. Truly accepting Christ, as your personal Savior. I guarantee that once you do, the weight will be lifted off of you. Personally knowing and trusting Christ is so liberating, so freeing, you will wonder why you hadn't done it earlier, I thought that.

Thinking that you are able to save yourself takes so much of your time, because you are constantly concentrating on living a life that you feel God wants you to. That only takes away from the time that He is wanting you to spend with Him. Time in prayer and His word. By humbly coming to Him, you are allowing yourself to be freed from the guilt and pain of your past sins. You begin to finally see what His blood can do for you. Everyday I am seeing more and more of that. Better understanding not only what He went through on the cross, but what that obedience to the Father can do for me. To live a life, that is not centered on what I can do to save myself, which I can't, but centered on Jesus and what He did for me, and does for me on a daily basis.

Knowing and following Christ, has eased the burdens of everyday life. Knowing that I can throw off the weight of the burdens, onto Him, allows me to live a more productive life. I am able to concentrate on living for Him and doing His will, such as writing this blog. The daily struggles that I have are lessened, so I can keep my focus on Him.

I pray that you will come to know that this life does not have to be lived carrying the weight of past sins any longer. Give them up to Jesus instead. Begin to live the life that God so desires for you to live. Knowing, and accepting, Him is life changing. A change for the better.

The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people's conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 (Amplified Bible)

What a wonderful passage! I am so glad that the Lord waited for me to finally come to Him, so that I now can have life, and the assuredness that I will live with Him in eternal peace when I leave this earth. Have you walked away from Christ? Are you caught up in the lies of Satan that you are not worthy to come to God, because of the depth or your sinfulness? Did you understand what I just wrote? The LIES of Satan! He is a deceiver, twisting the words of the Lord, in order to make you feel that there is no hope for you.

I listened to Satan. I lived my life to benefit myself. I tried to make the things I wanted happen. I was living a life striving for the pleasures that this world said I needed, failing miserable. I became hardened to the fact of what this verse tells us. "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people." Romans 10:21 See God was holding out His hand to me, to guide and direct my steps, so that He could shower on me His blessings, that He had for me even before I was born. The Creator of this world has the same desire to give you His blessings. But Satan does not want you to receive these blessings because when you do receive them, he knows that he is defeated. So Satan will tell you any lie, so that you do not take hold of the Lord's blessings for you.

The lies of Satan tell us that we can enjoy any pleasure we want to, it doesn't matter who walk on or what you throw away, as long as you get what you want. You can do it on your own. "We do not dare to classify  or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise." 2 Corinthians 10:12 By living the life that Satan said I needed to live and looking to my own power to live that life, I was not wise because I was relying on ME to do it. And, as I know now, I do not any power outside of Christ.

The point that I am trying to make is that by listening to the LIES of Satan, you are living a life under your own power and that life will only be filled with turmoil, disappointments and heartache. And Christ did not give Himself up on the cross for us to live that type of life. Jesus died to give ALL OF US true life. One that is lead by Him, so as to give us the blessings that He truly wants to bestow to His children. But remember that God will not wait forever. He will return and judge ALL the world, believers and non-believers. The believers will be the sheep on His right and the non-believers will be the goats on His left. The goats will be cast into eternity separated from God. Believers will be gathered to God and live in peace daily, being by His side continually.

Now really understand what this next verse says! "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. " 2 Chronicles 7:14 See that "My people." God created us and we, yes you and I, are His people. We are all children of God, no matter what you think! He created us in our mothers womb. All Jesus asks is that we turn from the wicked ways we have traveling on, and begin to walk on the ways He has made for us to walk on. Those paths have been created by Him for us, and He is faithful to walk with us, continually, never forsaking us. Lets look at this verse, "Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon," Isaiah 55: 7. Lets think about it for a minute. I walked in my ways, and was constantly trying to bring peace and contentment into my heart, and was always failing. I was not willing to give up my "wicked ways" or my "thoughts" in order to gain the forgiveness that Christ wanted so desperately wanted for me. It was not until I hit rock bottom that I could even humble myself and come to Him and ask for forgiveness. When I did, though, He was faithful to His word, He did have mercy on me, and He did freely forgive me of my sins. That is because He died on a cross for me, He had already taken my sins, past and present and future, away from me and saw me as a spotless child.

Know this, God views you in the same way! His Son gave Himself for you in order for your sins to be forgiven. He crushed Satan, taking eternal death away from us, but only if we accept Him as our Savior. My walk has been stormy, at times, but I now know that God was, and is, walking with me through those times. I no longer need to live a life by my own means. By living a life that Christ has set before me, I can confidently call out to my Lord for help and He will hold my hand and lead me through my storms and trials. Using my time to pray to Him for help, frees me from having to be so overly concerned at trying to live by my own power.

Again, God does not wait forever, He will return. I pray that you will take the time, NOW, to call out to Him. Allow Him to heal you of your sinfulness. Placing you on a path that He has created. A level path, where He walks and speaks with you daily. Take if from me, speaking to Him on a daily, or hourly, basis only brings life to your heart. A life that you will not want to leave. It will also bring to you the "keys" to the kingdom of God, enabling you to live with Him for eternity. Don't allow Satan lie to you any longer! Humble yourselves and come to the Father. The Father that knows our EVERY need, before we ask. A Father that desires to have a personal relationship with you, guiding and directing you to live the glorious life that Christ died on the cross for!

Tuesday January 3, 2017

Isaiah 42:6,7; "I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. o will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives form prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness."

Are you at a place in your life where God seems so far away, that there is no hope? Has your past continued to haunt you? Has Satan used your past to condemn you, saying "God will never love you because He detests your past and there is no way that you will ever be worthy enough for His forgiveness." First, allow me to say that ALL Satan says are lies! He ONLY PURPOSE is to keep you from coming to the One that loves and forgives.

As you may know by now I led a sinful past life, delving into porn in order to escape the life I was living, thinking that it would make me happier, more fulfilled. It didn't and what I was viewing led me to prison. It was in the brokenness of my life, after the discovery, that had me crying out to the Lord. I knew that my brokenness could never be repaired by what I could do. It would take more than I could ever do. It was at that moment that my Savior sent the Holy Spirit and had it enter into my heart in order to mend me, to take away the sin that had festered for all those years and brought about my destruction, and the destruction of my family and relationships.

Christ entered in and began the amazing change that I have today. He began to correct my thinking and would show me, through His word, that I was His child, and that no matter what my past was He had always continued to love me unconditionally. I finally understood what His death on the cross had brought to me. So He then put a passion in my heart to proclaim His love to the whole world.


So, I now use this medium to proclaim that. I use my past to bring to light to others that what Christ did for me on the cross, He did for the whole world. So then that includes you also. Christ opened my eyes to the see the lies of Satan. And as I grew in Christ, I began to see my past as one lived to glorify only myself. Porn was my god, the one that I bowed down to daily. Even so, God told me that what Jesus had done on the cross, He did for me. I destroyed the god of porn and replaced it with the God of universe. The one who, with just a word, created ALL we see today. I hope that you will take what I write to heart and know that what Christ did for me He also did for YOU!

I have also come to know that Jesus walks with us daily, calling out to us to follow Him, unconditionally. To humble ourselves and bow before Him in honor and praise. Giving up is never an easy task, it wasn't for me. But in doing so I have a life now that I could never have imagined before my incarceration. The journey to this point has had its tough times, times when the storms that raged around me were fierce. But as my faith in Christ grew, I was able to withstand the storms, clinging to the Rock. And as I weathered the storms, I came out on the other side to a glorious Light. The Light of His glory and unconditional love for me, and that only made my faith in His word more real and believable. With that, I found myself clinging to the Rock even more. I found myself going to the word in even greater amounts of time to be filled up with the life that flows from its pages.

My Savior, your Savior, wants that for you. He does desire a closer relationship with you, lovingly guiding and directing you in your life. To give you His power to know that His death on the cross, the shedding of His blood has washed you clean, clean of your past mistakes, pains and struggles. He wants, desires, you to live a life free from the lies Satan whispers in your ear. His sacrifice has separated your past from you as far as the East is from the West, now that is some distance!

My purpose here is to tell you emphatically that God does love you and wants to have a closer walk with Him, through the knowledge of His word. The bible should not be a book that you feel you are unworthy to pick and read. The bible only brings life to those who read it. It opens the eyes of those who read its pages. It brings hope to the heart, and strength to the person, to walk in the confidence that what he has read is true. And that truth will set you free from the chains of your past, PERIOD! Now know that it will take some doing to get yourself to open it. But know that when you do, the life that Jesus Christ has ALWAYS wanted you to have, will begin to develop. And through that develop you will walk with a clean conscience, a new start in life, with the assuredness that Jesus did die for you, cleansing you with the blood that covers all of your sins, past and present, and that by coming to Him, through prayer, He is faithful and true to His word to renew you, so that your new life will be a continuing testimony about what He has done for you.

Acts 20:24  "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. (NIV)

This is my race, relating to others the grace Christ has shown to me and informing them that it is available to them also.

The race that I was running before my acceptance of Christ as my Savior, was one where I running to win the prize for me. I wanted what I wanted and no one else mattered. My selfishness was the driving force behind my running. But there came a time when I became exhausted. I was running a race that I could not win. Happiness and joy were always out in front of me, and I was unable to obtain them, no matter how fast I ran or how long.

So I fell by the way, panting and thirsting. That is when Christ came and offered me His hand. He lifted me, carrying me, talking with me. He told me of His love for me. Even though I objected to that saying "Lord I am too far gone for you to help me, put me and let me die right here." But the more He spoke to me, the more I heard His loving voice tell me otherwise. I suddenly knew that He did love me, that was why He was taking the time to carry me. That He died for me, on the cross, because He knew before hand that this particular time would come, and that I would need Him to comfort me and protect me.

So, here I am today. Writing about the un-measureable love that my Savior, my Creator has for me. I am now aware that what I thought was an un-surmountable distance that I had gone from Him, was in fact no distance at all because Christ walked with me the whole time. If as I sinned against Him, He was faithful and stayed by my side.

That brings us to the verse for today. I have the task, which I readily accept to do, to tell others through this media about the faithfulness of Christ my Lord, your Lord. Before I thought my life was worth something, but that something was trying to gain more for me and me alone. But since the Holy Spirit has entered in and taken control of my life, I hear a higher calling for me. To boldly tell others of the un-describable love and peace that knowing Christ has given me. And He desires to give you the same.

I understand the race that I am in today. It is the race to tell others before it is too late for them. To late meaning that they come to Him before they leave this world, or before they act in a way that will destroy others lives. I destroyed lives by my selfish desires. Relationships that can be mended, but they will never be the same. They will not be what God had planned for them to be. My race today does not tire me out, because I am fueled by the Holy Spirit, renewed each day to do the tasks that God has set before me. Before I came to Christ, I looked at others that walked in faith and was jealous of their lives. I saw peace and contentment, joy and happiness and prosperity. They had what I wanted. Their lives spoke of what living according to the word looks like. So this verse from Acts comes to mind, Acts 4:19,20; "But Peter and John replied, 'Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20) For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."'

So here I am, speaking of what I have seen, in other believers lives and what I have heard the Holy Spirit speak to my heart through the word of God. My spiritual gift, I feel, is using this media to proclaim what I know, that Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood to cover my sins and make me worthy to come into His throne room and speak with Him directly. And to have Jesus stand before the Father, on my behalf, to intercede for me, showing the Father my sinlessness because of the blood He shed on the cross. Christ's desire is to do that for you also. Take it from me, you may think you are too far removed for Jesus to help you, but your not! Again whether you believe it or not Christ walks right beside you daily. He calls out to you constantly, the only reason that you, or I at times, can't hear Him is the whispers of Satan in our ears. Your minds 'eye' has turned from looking for Christ to looking at the world and all the trappings that go with it. I was there, I know what I am talking about. Life is not a bed of roses for me, I struggle daily too. But I have the Holy Spirit in my heart, and look daily into the word of God. I fight the temptations daily, just like everyone else. But I have the knowledge that Christ loves me un-conditionally, that His blood has wiped away my sins and that the Father looks on me as holy and righteous. But know that it is because of what His Son did on the cross. Dying for the sins of the WORLD! And since you are part of this world, He died for you also!

So become a runner, enter into the race and run the course that Christ has set before you.1 Corinthians 10:24 says this. "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." Yes we are all running a race, but what is the prize that we are running for. Like I mentioned before I was running the race for me, to obtain what I wanted in life and did not care who I hurt getting it. Galatians 5:7 describes me before I surrendered to Christ. "You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?" It was the voice of Satan. It was the allure of what he was telling me, in actuality it was what he was lying to me. I was blind to his ways, as much of the world is.

 I pray that you overcome the lies he is whispering in your ear. The outcome of your sins will only be destruction. I learned that the hard way, and I don't wish for you to find out like I did. Remember that Jesus loves you un-conditionally, and desires to have a loving and eternal relationship with you. If you are hurting and lost and feel that there is no hope, Jesus is as close as a prayer. A heartfelt prayer that cries out to Him for help. He is faithful and will come to you and heal you. He will lift you up and continue to walk with you and be with you through all that you will go through. Call on Him and HE WILL ANSWER YOU!!!

From Wasteland to Fertile Follower

 

Jeremiah 17: 5-8; 5) “This is what the Lord says. ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6) He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7) But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8) He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream, it does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

           When you honestly look at your life, do verses 5 & 6 sound familiar? This described my life, before I opened my heart to the One that created me, Jesus Christ. Before that time, I not only trusted in myself, but looked to others for help. I thought that God’s ways were too stringent, there was no bend in His rules. So, I set off on my own path, have you done the same? My happy times were far and few between, material riches were never enough, my relationships were nose diving. “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his sores, then Ephraim turned to Assyria, and sent to the great king for help. But he is not able to cure you, not able to heal you sores.” Hosea 5:13 (NIV). Whether I called on others for help, or went it alone, the strength of my humanness NEVER overcame my sinful nature. Going it by alone only brought heartache, and eternal death, separated from the One that died for our sins. Until I surrendered to Christ, I lived a life in the darkness of my sins experiencing constant inner turmoil.

          As I continued my sinful ways, my eyes and ears saw and heard the ways of this world. I trusted who I heard and saw nothing wrong with gaining what I wanted no matter who I stepped on to get it. “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. Psalm 146:3 (NIV). “Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf, “Proverbs 11:28 (NIV). As my sinfulness continued, my walk strayed so for off course that Christ’s glorious light was but a speck on the horizon. My life was so out of control I was headed for the wall. “Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good.” Jeremiah 5:25 (NIV).

          Well I hit the wall. I was broken and my life, I felt, was destroyed for good. But Christ took a hold of my outstretched hand. He bound my wounds and began to heal my brokenness. I opened His word and the power of that word opened my eyes, mind and heart. I allowed the Holy Spirit to enter in, and heal me. Through the power of God’s word, I began to trust in Jesus and allow Him to guide and direct my words and actions. “The Lord is good, a refuge in time of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him” Nahum 1:7 (NIV). “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3 (NIV). As I healed, through the study of the bible, the inner turmoil begins to settle. The storms in my life that once swirled around me due to my sinfulness, subsides. I grow in Christ through His life-giving word. Just as the tree beside the stream grows because of the water that its roots can tap into, the living water that flows from Jesus, began to bring about a blooming in my life. I begin to be refreshed and grow. “His young shoots will grow. His splendor will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.” Hosea 14:6 (NIV).

          So, my hope in Jesus grew because my roots began to go deep into God’s word, that has become the firm foundation I now stand on “The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and sky will tremble.  But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.” Joel 3:16 (NIV). My attitude is now one of looking ahead because my past is over. Jesus’ blood has washed my sins away and I am filled with the desire to tell of my change. I am directed to try to spare others from a fate like mine. I now live to bear the fruit of salvation, through Christ, for others to see in my life, and hear through my testimonies. Christ Jesus works through me to bring others unto Him, so that His living water will flow through me, to water their souls, so that they may produce the Spiritual fruit needed to draw others to Him. “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Psalm 1:3 (NIV).

        So, I pray that you too will accept Christ as your Savior, so that the “water,” that is His love for you found in His word, will flow over you. If you allow that to happen His love will become evident to you and you will then be on your way to proclaim that love to others. Then they will see the change in your life and come to Jesus themselves.