Salvation Means God Loves You

Salvation means God loves you. If you have doubts that God loves you, He sure has gone to a lot of trouble to make it easy to spend eternity in heaven with Him. That is a long time for Him to want to be with you. If you are not saved then you need to know that the Creator of the universe wanted you to be with Him forever and so He sent His one and only Son, Jesus to die on the cross for you because He loves you. Not generic you, take a number and get in line you, but YOU specifically whom He knows down to every wonderful and awful detail of your being. You were created for a purpose and a plan and He wants to help you fulfil it. First you start by asking Jesus into your heart (life) and  He will come and help you to be the person you were created to be. If you are saved already and you still have a hard time believing that the Lord always loves you then read the rest of my posts. Read the beginning of the New Testement again and keep reading until you really get that Jesus IS the "Lover of your soul." That is what I love to call Him, "The Lover of my soul"  Just keep saying that to yourself and to Him. Soon you will get it! You will feel more joyful and have a closer relationship with the Lord. Be Blessed!  www.squidoo.com/scottiedoggie     

Let's Get Serious With God

Let's get serious with God. I am talking to born-again believers in Jesus. It is time to get down to serious business with the Lord. If you think that I only blog about this subject, all of my other posts clearly want you to know about God's love for you and how He can give you the victory. That being said, we don't have the luxury of sitting around and listening to everything the world has to say--especially about christians, Israel, or Jesus. Like I have said in the past," They don't know what they are talking about." Their opinion is not what is important; it is Jesus's opinion that matters first and foremost. If you call yourself a christian, then you have no business voting for men and women that support abortion. If you do, the blood is on your hands too. Sorry if that makes you mad at me but what you do in the ballot box really does matter spiritually. If you vote for someone because of the color of their skin, their gender, or party affiliation, and not the content of their character and they continually vote for every form of abortion; you have to answer to the Lord for that. Sounds harsh? So is your voting record. So if you don't like what I am saying (this is to believers) then have a talk with the Lord and see what He has to say about this. Also, read the Word and get some revelation. God hates the shedding of innocent blood. Just to make it clear the beauty of God is His love and forgiveness. If you have voted foolishly in the past or you have even had an abortion and have never taken it to the Lord then it is very important for you to go to the Lord with it and ask His forgiveness and he will not turn you away but cleanse you as white as the new fallen snow. He not only will forgive you but will never remember your sins. Don't bring it up again, go on with God, and fulfil His calling on your life.
Back to being serious with God. We can no longer straddle the fence or try to hang out in the middle of the road. You have to take a stand. You can't live like the rest of the world all week long and then go to church and act like some spiritual bigwig. Don't expect to get blessed doing that. If you're thinking like the world, then you need to acquire the mind of Christ. If you go to a church that just "plays" church and there is a lot of gossipping especially by those in charge, (I don't care if you have been going there all of your life), you need to RUN not walk to a bible-believing,Spirit-filled, people-loving, Jesus-loving (get the picture?)on fire for the things of God-church! Get set free of a world-centered life to a Jesus-is-everything-to-me-life. Then you are on the road to victory. AND remember- there is nothing the Lord can't forgive, set you free from, bring you to your calling if you just give it all to Him. Don't listen to the voice that says, "You can't or give up or forget it." That is just the voice of the devil (the defeated one) trying to get you to quit...to give up on yourself. Don't do that because Jesus never will. Go deeper with Him. Receive more from Him than ever before. Go to Him not from Him. You have nothing valuable to loose and every good and perfect gift to gain. BE BLESSED!

GOD IS WITH YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY

Did you know that God is with you every moment of every day? He isn't there to see what you do wrong and then write it down in his book to keep score and then at the end of your life if your bad "doings" outweigh your good "doings" then you go to hell and vice versa ;if the good outweighs the bad then you get to go to heaven. According to the Bible, it doesn't work like that. If you ask Jesus into your heart, ask him to forgive your sins so you can be born again then you can go to heaven. There is a book for that and christians refer to it as the Lambs Book of Life. When you are born again, the Lord writes YOUR name in it with everyone else who has ever accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.Now some people want to continue to run their lives the way they always have and expect to get blessed. When you get born again you don't want to stop there you want to also make Jesus Lord of your life. What that means is you give your life over to Jesus as well as get born again (or saved which means saved from hell). Don't be afraid to put your life into the hands of the master, the creator of the universe. He is so much more than that. He would do what is best for you; not what YOU think is best for you. Guess what? What He has for you, for your future is much better than you have planned. His word says that He has a plan for us that is a plan of hope and a plan to prosper us and not a plan of harm us. Don't believe the lie that says that God wants to beat you down and for you to fail. Now God will let you fail in the things that aren't good for you but he will have you to succeed at things that will bless and benefit you and give glory to Him. So the Lord is with you every step of the way, whether you are not doing such a good job at making good choices, or totally messing your life up. He wants to encourage you and be there for you every step of the way and see you through to victory in your life choices. Remember, His mercies are new every day and He is full of loving kindness and He is also L O N G S U F F E R I N G with you and me. That means He gives us chance after chance to get to where He wants us to be. He totally loves you and wants a great life for you. He is saying to you that you should want a great life for yourself too. Let Him give you one and let His love come into you and change you with a joy and peace you have never known or haven't known for a very long time. The time is now. Be Blessed!

God Wants You To Be A Success

God wants you to be a success. For some of you that is almost impossible to believe. Many of us think in financial terms when we hear the word success. That is just a portion in the "success pie." Believe it or not, God actually wants you to be a success in EVERY area of your life. Now it is different for each person because we all have different interests and talents which is how God created you. The first area that God wants you to have success is your spiritual life because you need to know Him in order for everything else to come into a place of success. Some of you think that so many unbelievers are successful so why do I need God? Well, here is their dirty little secret; they just appear successful but they aren't. Look at Hollywood and all of the actors that get divorced. What must their home life be like to have such unsuccessful marriages? Many of them have substance abuse problems and others to put it frankly, just have ungodly lifestyles. Actors can act happy that is why they are A-list actors. Acting is being skilled at pretending to be someone or something that they are not. Many are successful in the acting world and they do produce lots of money but they are very unsuccessful at life. You can't put a price on peace or joy or love. If you don't know Jesus as Savior and Lord you don't know what it is to be at peace with the Creator of the universe, the Lover of your soul. When you know Him, that is true joy and security and success. Is living in fear of what is to come in this world being successful? Many are worried about the economy , global warming stories, health care,etc. but seem to shove aside a relationship with God who created them and loves them.
God does want you to succeed in your finances. When you do, you can contribute more to the kingdom of God. If you are a believer and I am making you mad by stating this then what I simply state to you is if you don't want to be financially blessed then I ask the Lord for your portion to come to me. I say, "Why let it go to waste?" Let God bless you in every area of your life. Then you can be a greater witness to the goodness of God. People will see you full of the joy of the Lord, peace, love, family blessings, spiritual blessings and yes, financial blessings. They will want what you have. This is who God is...a God who is in love with people and wants to give good things to them. These are things you can ask God for however, He is the most wise God and let Him say when, how, and all of the specifics. Let Him give to you exactly what you need, who you need, when, etc., tailor made especially for you. He created us and knows our needs, our desires, and what is best for each of us. If you get the impression that I am calling God some kind of butler that we boss around then you have misread and misunderstood what I am saying. I will restate that God loves you and knows you personally and therefore He knows what is best for each of us. He gives us all different gifts and talents and we are to use them for His glory. To whom much is given, much is required. Life is never perfect but you can trust the Lord to see you through each day of your life with many successes along the way. Be Blessed!

GOD WANTS YOU TO HAVE JOY

Yes, God wants you to have joy. Joy is so important for your life. The Bible says that, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." Joy is not the same as being happy. Happiness is dependant on circumstances in your life; if you have someone to love you, or a happy family, or you have lots of money or you are popular at school or work, or you have the best job in the world, a new car, or you are able to travel or meet famous people,etc., then you are happy. Joy is what you have, even when you don't have all OR any of these things. You can't get real joy anywhere except from the Lord. To expand that verse, it says,"In His presence is fullness of joy." Then it says, "The joy of the Lord is my strength." Every believer (in Jesus) should be full of the joy of the Lord. Then every believer would be strong in the things of the Lord and in daily life. We should be a shining light, right? The Word says to let our lights so shine before all men (mankind). What is the light inside of you? You should be shining joy being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. If you are always unsure of God's love for you and will He take care of you and basically insecure about the things of the Lord, you have not been feeding on the "meat of the Word," you have been taking in the milk of the word also known as "baby food." Now if you have only been saved a very short time, then this can be common unless you are going to a good "Word" church and are spiritually ravenous.However, if you have been saved a while and you have been going to a church that is more of a social club or only stories are preached and not the Word of God, you need to RUN not walk to a Bible believing, people loving, Spirit- filled church and start feeding on the WORD of the living God. Then you will begin to see that God loves you and wants you to have joy in your life. Maybe you already know about the joy of the Lord but you have put Him on the back burner and so you haven't felt the love or the joy of God. Just remember it is not God withholding His love or joy; He is always ready, willing, and able to give to you. Don't stand "afar off". Come back to Him, He has been waiting all along for you to return to your first love! God has so much for all of us who will receive from Him. In these days that are so uncertain for so many, we desperately need the joy of the Lord. Let's face it; stuff happens to all of us but we can face it and go through it with the love and joy and strength that God has for us. Now is the time to receive what you need from God. He loves to give good gifts to us because He is a giving God. Be Blessed!

TAKE YOUR GRIEF TO THE LORD

Take your grief to the Lord. God created us to love because He is love. That is why we grieve. It all has to do with loss of a loved one. It can be a faithful pet or a person that we hold dear, someone we loved deeply. It can be a friend or family member. The closer we are, the harder it seems to get over the loss. Grief is a God-created outlet like crying. When we do it we are able to let out the pain we feel inside. That is healthy and necessary for recovery. Key word - recovery. God didn't create us to grieve forever. That can be worse than not grieving at all. Some reasons people don't let the grieving follow the healthy course and let it come to a healthy end is they don't feel like they really remember that person if they still aren't grieving or they feel guilty that they don't feel bad enough and so they feel the need to continue it. Also, the person might feel that they didn't really love them if they are starting to feel better so they continue to perpetuate the grief. Some people develop very strong bonds together like the wonderful romances you see in the movies and very few people really ever have and so it is so hard to get over the loss to the point that some people die soon after a loved one. Some people are afraid that their loved one will be hurt if they don't continue to grieve. And this will sound cruel but I believe it is true and not meant to hurt anyone but some people like the attention they got when their loved one died that they continue the "poor me" for attention. Some people refuse to be comforted. Like I said, grieving is necessary but so is a healthy conclusion. Just so you know, I am not a counselor, a therapist, or a shrink etc. What I am is someone who lost my parents in 1992 within six months of each other from separate illnesses; my dad lung cancer and my mother complications due to diabetes. I come from a close, loving, christian family. I loved my parents deeply and missed them more than you know. I saw them weekly and talked with my mother almost daily. I say this so that you can see I know what I am talking about. I know the Lord as many things to me. At this moment in my life, He was my Healer; the healer of my heart but I had to make the decision to draw my strength from Him. I had to decide that I would be comforted; I had to decide to go to church and if I just sat there and cried, that was OK. I had to decide to enter in to praise and worship. I had to decide to reach out to the Lord. I had to decide to talk to friends and family and comfort them. I had to decide that I will allow the Lord to bring me through to a healthy conclusion of my grief. It is not hard. The Lord will meet you in your grief right where you are and put His arms around you and help you in your time of need. If you have been hanging on to your grief for too long, now is the time to Take Your Grief To The Lord. Know he wants you to be healthy in your mind and emotions. What good are you to the living if you continue to grieve for the dead. Your loved one would not want you to wallow in grief and misery, they would want you to remember them lovingly and go on in your life and touch as many people as you can in their time of need. Get your healing from the Lord and then reach out and bless as many as you can by showing them the way to being healed and then they can also do likewise. Remember your loved one by blessing others; they would be proud of you. Be Blessed!