Are You Good Enough?

You think you are not good enough to go be forgiven by Jesus and go to heaven? You drink everyday to excess. You had an abortion. You live a life full of wickedness. You have an anger problem that causes you to hit and curse others, maybe your spouse or children. You are a criminal, or were a criminal, who committed horrendous acts of violence or acts against others.  You do illegal drugs. In general you think you are a bad person because you did or are doing something that you know is wrong against the law and morals of society. 

 

Maybe it isn’t as bad as above.  Maybe you have a gossiping problem. Your heart is bitter. You are full of hate and anger. You have mental health problems. You suffer within yourself for things you think were wrong that makes you not good enough.  Your mind tells you that you are not good enough for Christ.

 

You get the idea right? You think you aren’t good enough for Jesus. You think the things you are doing or have done exclude you from ever being a Christian.  You think you are damned by your deeds and deserve to suffer in Hell for what you have done or are doing. You are wrong. 

 

Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”  

 

Romans 8:1says there is no condemnation for those with Jesus.  No condemnation means that you are not condemned; you are not censored from the promises of Christ if you are of Him, if you believe in Him as your Lord your Savior. You can be blameless before the Lord. All you have to do is ask for forgiveness and accept Jesus as your Lord and you are clean.

 

Isaiah 43:25: “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”

 

Isaiah says that Jesus, if you accept Him will blot out your transgressions, your sins, and he will not remember them at the time of judgment.  How can this be? How can your horrible sins, your life of ill living, be forgiven for all the horrible things you have done?  It is simple. We are a fallen race of human beings, destined to commit sin for sin is in us since Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden and sinned, went against what God told them not to do.  To amend this fall you just need to accept Christ.

 

Since Adam and Eve sinned, sin has been part of our nature since their fall at the beginning of creation of humans.  We cannot help but sin and we get caught up in sin. Just because you have done bad things does not exclude you from the promises of Jesus as long as you accept Him as your Savior.

 

Don’t be fooled by the Devil or the world at large. We all sin, even Christians sin. We cannot help but sin in action or thought.  We all made and make mistakes and feel bad for them. But…if you accept Christ as your Savior, those sins ARE forgiven.  No matter what you have done, how little or how great you think the sin or horrid thing you have done would exclude you from Christ, you CAN be forgiven and begin to lead a life of promise from Jesus of heaven as your final destination. 

 

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

 

Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

 

Since the fall of the human race, God made a way for us to escape death and have eternal life. This life is through Christ.  God loved us so much that he sent His only Son to us in the world to walk among us and show us the love of God. Jesus had to die, and knew He would, for the sins of all humanity. 

 

He was persecuted and killed in the most horrendous way and in the process took upon Him the sins of all the world, including you, so that if you accept and believe in Jesus as your Savior you would not go to Hell but have eternal life with Jesus.  Once Jesus died, he arose from death three days later and then shortly after ascended to heaven, awaiting the predetermined time to come back to Earth to take back His children, those who believe in Jesus as their Savior.

 

When Christ died for our sins he didn’t die for just “small” sins or specific sins, he died for ALL sins. Whether you gossiped or murdered, your sin was forgiven by Jesus as long as you accept Jesus as you Savior. 

 

Do you see a theme here? I do.  The theme is that no matter what you have done or what you are doing, the forgiveness is there for you to take. You can live forever blameless before the Lord as long as you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior.  You can be set free from the bondage that is hanging over your head from what wrongs you have done, regardless of how bad you think they are; they are forgiven by accepting Christ.  Do this and you are a child of the Most High: Jesus Christ. 

 

This isn’t very hard to do. It is rather simple. You have to, in your heart of hearts, pray and ask Jesus to be your Lord and to forgive you of your sins.  You can’t just say it, you have to want it, really want it. You can’t just say this as if in casual conversation or a prayer not heartfelt.  You have to really believe that this Jesus is real, that He died for your sins, was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven awaiting us to arrive to be with Him.  You have to be ready. You have to want it like water in the desert after days without water. You have to want it more than anything else you desire right now.  It’s that easy. But for some of you this will be hard.

 

Why will it be hard? Because you are stuck in first gear of your sins. You still think, that regardless of what is said, that Jesus would not accept you. This is not true. Jesus will accept you, no matter what you have done.  You are good enough to be a child of Jesus. You are good enough to join the ranks of those who will spend eternity in heaven.  Regardless of what you think, Jesus loves you and wants you. All you have to do is accept Him.

 

The world, and I mean the world as in those things and people contradictory to God, as well as Satan, the Devil, will have you believe that your transgressions will make you ineligible to be a Christian.  The world will do it’s best to keep you in this thought and will not quit. Even when you become a Christian, the world and Satan will always fight against your heart and mind to make you think contrary to the promise of Jesus’ forgiveness of you sins.

 

Revelations 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

 

You may think you are not good enough but Jesus thinks differently. Once you accept Christ, you are saved. You salvation, being saved, means that you will be blameless at the end of the world and during judgment. Your sins will be covered, forgotten about, not seen, washed clean, and you will enter eternity with Jesus. 

 

Jesus is ready for you. He won’t ever turn His back on you if you accept Him. He is at your door, knocking on the door of your heart, waiting for you to open that door to Him to change your destiny, to be with Him and spend all of forever in heaven.

 

After reading this, or if you have heard about Christ before, or are thinking about becoming saved, you have a very important choice to make: to accept or deny the salvation offered through Christ Jesus.  If you don’t accept him now, you may never get the chance too. When you’re older may be too late. Next year may be too late. Next month may be too late, tomorrow may be too late. Later today may be too late.  You don’t know when you are going to die, do you? You may be in an accident that kills you on a drive today or tomorrow. You may have a heart attack or stroke that kills you. You may miss the rapture of Christians. 

 

Regardless, you still have a choice to make and you need to do this. I urge you to pray about this and open your heart to hear the voice of the Jesus. The tugging of your heart is the sound of Jesus knocking at your door.  Open that door and be with Christ.

 

Don’t be afraid of this. Your past is not important, your right now is important. Your future is what is important. No matter what you have done, no matter how bad you think you are or were no matter what you have done and think you are not good enough, you ARE GOOD ENOUGH for Jesus. You are good enough to spend eternity in heaven. You can change your destiny and spend eternity with Christ. Just pray and accept Jesus into your heart and life. This choice is life changing, not only for this time we are in the world right now, but for eternity, forever.

Make the right choice now. Accept Christ. YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH!

 

 

Listening

I’m a stubborn man.  I like to do things my way and don’t like to be told what to do by others. Am I a jerk? No, I am a very likeable guy who gets along with all people and am enjoyable to be with. Well, that’s my perception at least. Yet when it comes to listening to God through the Holy Spirit, I’m not so good at that for, again, I’m stubborn in that part of my life and is a weakness I have which I’m a work in progress with Jesus.

I’ve gotten a lot better, but I still need a lot of work, some fine tuning, per say, to get me right. Will this take a long time or months, or days? I don’t know but listening to the Holy Spirit is a struggle for me because I’m not sure whether it is me talking to myself or if it is the Holy Spirit guiding me. I guess I’m just not in tune completely. Yet sometimes the Holy Spirit is very clear to me and I do listen. Right now I can think of two major examples of when the Holy Spirit spoke to me very clearly and I listened and everything turned out just fine. 

The first example was when I was a police officer in Las Vegas, NV.  I was married at the time to my now ex-wife. She was a preacher’s daughter from a small town where we both grew up.  Shortly after I finished my bachelor’s degree in law enforcement I tested and got hired by the Las Vegas Metro Police Department in 1997.

We packed up and moved.  Shortly after leaving a small town in Oregon to the big city life of Sin City Las Vegas, my wife fell into the Vegas lifestyle. She got into drugs, had multiple affairs and became a stripper. Needless to say, within three months of us being there the marriage fell apart and she left me and our two year old daughter. I could rarely find her and she would pop in and out every once in awhile to see our daughter. I was in the police academy when this happened. 

Shortly after graduating the academy I was assigned to the worse part of town with a training officer and worked until 1:00am four days a week. There was an incident that happened that really got to me and made me realize how dangerous police work was in that city and my mortality. 

The gist of the story was that after a shift, I and another officer in training went to a bar and grill to relax and go over our stories for the day.  Fast forward about an hour and six gangbangers came in to rob the place.  We took action and it was six against two.  We got our butts whooped and there was a gun in play by the bad guys and a car that tried to run us over.  I could have easily been shot because the guy I was wrestling with on the ground had the gun and I wasn’t armed at the time (off duty). He got away from me because two of his thug friends were kicking me and hitting me while I was wrestling with this guy on the ground.  The other group had my partner on the ground beating him pretty good. They knew we were police officers because we announced it to them. He was armed and they while they were beating him they were trying to get his gun.

We could hear sirens coming towards our direction and so the group ran to their car, tried to hit us and pulled a gun on us as they were driving by. Thankfully there were not shots fired but we were beat up pretty good. This incident made me realize that if I got more seriously injured or killed, who would take care of my child?  Her mom was nowhere to be found and we didn’t have family in town.

The next day was my day off and I couldn’t get it off my mind so I prayed and cried out loud from the bottom of my heart to God and asked what I should do. Then I was surrounded by a voice that told me to “Quit and leave Las Vegas.” I, of course being stubborn, argued with this voice and then the voice told me again, “Leave Las Vegas or you will surely die here!”  I said okay and the next day, with great angst and tears flowing down my face, I turned my badge and gun in and quit and moved back to small town Oregon again.

The only job I could find was working at Wal-Mart. I went from making about 40k a year to minimum wage.  I couldn’t afford a place so my daughter and I lived with the ex-in laws for about a year. During that year I met my current wife (married now 15 years).  I then sold insurance for a few years and then joined the Army as an officer.  During my time as an officer my daughter saw her mom sporadically for years. Then I got assigned and unaccompanied tour in South Korea.

 

While in South Korea, my ex-wife came and parentally kidnapped my daughter (she was 10 then) and the judge said that since I was out of country, they could not stop her from taking my daughter. I asked for a reassignment from the Army and thankfully through God with a slim chance of getting it, I was reassigned back to the states.  I went to where my daughter was, with the court papers in hand showing I had exclusive custody and brought here back home to Oregon where I was assigned at a recruiting battalion. 

 

Needless to say a large custody battle ensured and because her mother and her new husband had more money than me, they fought for custody until I ran out of funds and I lost custody of my daughter.  This is where God, through the Holy Spirit guided me very clearly again and I listened.

 

I was in my seventh year in the Army. I had planned to make it a career and was a captain by then, waiting for company command.  The Holy Spirit put it strongly on my heart to resign my commission and leave the Army. I asked why for I didn’t know why He wanted me to do so but this time I didn’t get an answer and without arguing I resigned my commission and was out of the army six months later.

 

I stepped out in faith that God would take care of me and He did. I was blessed with a job offer that moved me from Oregon to El Paso, TX, where I have been now for nearly seven years.  About four years later from moving to El Paso, the reason of the Holy Spirit told me to leave the army came full circle. 

 

My daughter was visiting me (she was then 14) and spilled the beans on what had been going on for the last four years while living with her mother. Long story short is that her mother and step father had taken out of school to “home school” her. She did some school work but most of her time was spent working in their illegal marijuana farm in Northern California and in a house grow operation in Las Vegas. I of course called child services and the police. They busted her mom and step father on Federal drug trafficking. They are now both convicted felons and I have had my daughter since she was 14 years old and she graduates, with honors, this summer. 

 

The point was that I didn’t know what and why the Holy Spirit moved me to resign my commission, but years later, when my daughter stayed and lived with me, I realized through retrospect and by the Holy Spirit, that was why He wanted me to quit the military and get a stable job in one location: to be there for my daughter.

 

You may be wondering why I told you these stories.  The point I want to make is that the Holy Spirit is there to guide us to our plan Jesus has for us and to guide us to make decisions that will affect us in the future.  It may be immediate or it may be years, like in my case, to discover what the intent of the Holy Spirit’s guidance is for you.  If I hadn’t listened in both above examples, I may be dead or my daughter may not have been rescued from her circumstance.  You have to be patient and sometimes not expect an answer right away, but must trust the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

 

The Holy Spirit is here to guide us. Small decisions, large decisions, and daily interactions with people and situations; He is there to guide us.  This lesson is for me too. If you are in tune with the Holy Spirit, He will not lead you astray for He knows what you need and what you don’t need. He knows what is best for you and will guide you to the right decision and the right things to do in your life to keep you safe, alive, and on the path to salvation. This may not be immediate, but may take time to understand why the Holy Spirit has moved you to do something.

 

The Holy Spirit has spoken to me as if He was in the room with me. He has spoken to me through putting a heavy feeling in my heart, and he speaks to me by that little voice in my head that tells me “no, that isn’t a good idea,” as well as strong feelings about things when I’m faced with a decision I am having a hard time making until I pray about it.

 

Another example is that I am ready to leave El Paso, TX and move on to progress my career. I’m content here, but my own desire has me wanting to leave to move up the ladder of career progression. Through one of my recent articles on being content, I have this strong feeling that we are to stay in El Paso for a time to be determined.  I will be content until He moves in me again.

 

I’ve applied to jobs that I am totally qualified for that are out of El Paso, but I never get an interview. With that “feeling” the Holy Spirit has given me to be content where I am, I have stopped applying for jobs outside of El Paso with the Federal Government I’m employed by.

 

Why He has not allowed me to leave, I don’t know, but I have learned that He knows what is best for me and my family and for now, I am to stay in El Paso until it is His time for me to move on, if He ever lets me and that is in the plan for me.  I don’t know Jesus’ plan for me, but it is obvious that my work in El Paso is not done yet.

 

How about you? Do you listen to the Holy Spirit? Are you stubborn about it like me? Do you choose not to listen to the Holy Spirit? I know when I don’t listen to the Holy Spirit, but do things my way, those things always fail or turn out bad.  Then I look back and tell myself that the Holy Spirit had told me not to do what I ended up doing anyway and I feel pretty bad for not listening in the first place. Then I’m stuck picking up the pieces of what I messed up on to make things right whether it is with people or situations. 

 

Listen to the Holy Spirit. He will guide you to what is right, just, and holy. Through the Holy Spirit Jesus will guide you to where He wants you to be and what He wants you to do or don’t do. 

 

Like I’m lacking, try to tune into that inner voice, the Holy Spirit that will guide you to no wrong, but only goodness and blessings. I find that when I do listen to Him, things always work out in the short run or the long run. When I do listen, I am blessed in ways that are amazing. I’m not talking about money or material things, but with life in general, relationships, and personal growth in my walk with Jesus my Lord and Savior.

 

I urge you all to tune into the Holy Spirit. It takes practice and you’ll make mistakes along the way, but the more you are in tune with the Holy Spirit, the more easily it will be to distinguish His voice and guidance.  Listen to the Holy Spirit and you will be blessed beyond your understanding and will not regret it. 

 

Psalm 25:4-5: “Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day” (KJV).

God Bless You All and may the Holy Spirit take over your lives and guide you to truth.

Are You Scared?

Are you scared right now? Something is going on in this world and it isn’t good.  Things are going bad in this world and seemingly get worse every day.  Look back ten years ago, was there as much turmoil, weather problems, violence, social debasement, or general hostility during that time? If you think about it, each year until this moment, things are getting worse by the day.

Materialism and political correctness are the name of the game now.  Conforming to the world is the mainstay for the population at large. Possessions, life, friendships, are all superficial. People are lost. They are the unsaved. They are people who don’t know about salvation. They are people who don’t know Jesus.

I have unsaved friends (working on them) who have the same feeling we saved folks have; that something is amiss, something is coming, but they don’t know what it is, to them it is a feeling of coming despair; a feeling of the unknown future and a fear of what is coming, though they do not know what that is. To the unsaved it is a feeling of an impending doom, that fear you feel when you almost rear end someone on the road, that moment you realize the car in front of you stopped and you didn’t. 

The unsaved, those that don’t know Christ Jesus as their Savior, don’t understand what is coming. They don’t understand the things happening in the world are suppose to happen this way. They don’t get that events must unfold as prophesy has announced. They don’t get that the end is near, very near. They watch the news, read the newspapers and are in awe of what is happening in this world. Some, I must say, don’t care, but those that are unsaved that I know are troubled by what is going on with our world and have a sense that something is afoot.

Their inner being is telling, no, warning them that something is going to happen, but they don’t know what to do about it. They don’t know that Jesus is the answer. They don’t understand and so they go on with life, with an inner fear, trying to distract themselves with worldly things and consumed with worldly desires and debauchery that Satan has to offer to keep them distracted from what is inevitably going to happen: The rapture of the saved; the whisking away of those who accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior who believed in his crucifixion and resurrection. 

I truly feel sorry for these people in a compassionate way. These people are not just those who don’t go to church but they are Sunday morning Christians as well.  These Sunday morning Christians are just that, they are only “Christians” on Sunday mornings, gloriously saved for the couple of hours that they are in church, then leave.  I’m not saying there are those that aren’t truly investigating the Lord and have a heart to be with Him and to be saved, but there are many who go because they feel that is enough; going to church and singing and listening to the message of the pastor is good enough to go to heaven. 

They may raise their hands during worship, may say “amen” when everyone else does, may shake hands with everyone and give great big greeting smiles, but when church is over, they go home back to their regular routine, without a thought of what was said in church or a thought about God. They just want to get home so they can watch their favorite team with a beer in their hand, go shopping at the mall, or whatever. 

What a surprise they will have when the rapture comes and they are left behind.  “Woe is me” they will think and say. They thought going to church was enough. They thought being good people was enough. What wasn’t enough was that they didn’t accept Christ, his blood, his sacrifice for their sins. 

John 14:6 says: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (KJV).

How simple is John 14:6?  Jesus is the way to salvation, the way to heaven. All one has to do is accept that Jesus is their savior who forgave their sins and washes them clean of uncleanliness.  I don’t know why this is so hard for people to do. Once I figured it out, it was the easiest and best choice I ever made. 

I believe people are scared to be saved. I think people are scared because they will have to give up the worldly ways, give up their autonomy to do what they want without consequences to their conscience because once you get saved, there is a new standard to live by: that of Christ and what the bible teaches. 

These people are scared because they think they will lose their freedom. What they don’t realize is that they will be released from bondage and will be freer than they have ever been when they accept Christ.  Ask any believer this and they will tell you that with Christ they feel freer than they did before they knew Him. There is freedom in Christ, a fulfillment of love and hope. 

To those that do feel scared about accepting Christ, don’t be scared. Don’t be scared of losing your freedom, for when you accept Christ, you will lose your old self and will become a child of God, a marvelous and wonderful thing.  You will be free from the bondage of the world.

What I mean by the world is that which is not of God. The world is what is against and opposed to Christ’s teachings. The world is full of temptations, of ungodly acts, and Satan uses the worldly things, like money, sex, drugs, fads, etc. to distract you and keep you away from God.

Satan and the world are opposed to God. The world is revolved around things that are not of God and is designed to keep and distract you from God.  The world keeps you in bondage to the world. It’s like a circular pattern that never ends. You live in the world and get stuck in it, going around in circles without hope, without a way out, without God in your life. The only way to break this cycle is to become a child of God through accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior. 

The world and Satan will do their best to keep you away from Christ.  The world offers all sorts of things and temptations that are so keen on keeping you away that most of the time the world is effective at doing so: it and Satan has had thousands of years of practice and refinement in their effort to sway people away from Christ.

I urge you to break that cycle by accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you are scared to do so, know that it isn’t you that is making you scared, but the world and Satan’s influence on you has planted that seed in your mind that accepting God is not fun, is not the only way to heaven, and will take away your freedom.

Accept Christ and you will be set free from the bondage of sin and death. By death I mean hell. Christ is the only door through which you can enter to heaven. Just being a good person isn’t good enough. You have to accept Christ in your heart and live for Him. Do so and you will be a changed and saved person.

You know what the world fails to do to distract you from Christ? It is your heart. If you are not of Christ, there is a sense in your heart of dissatisfaction with life, and emptiness that just can’t be filled. Just sit for a moment and think about this.  Does your heart feel empty? Does your life feel like it is lacking something? The world and Satan will have you believe you can fill that void in your heart and life through the world and not Christ by tempting you with material things, sinfulness, and other distractions that you may seek to fill that void in your heart but never will.

The one and only thing that can make your heart feel fulfilled, to take that emptiness in your heart away, is Christ. It isn’t about feeling good, but it is about fulfillment of your heart.

Even when you accept Christ, you will still face troubles of everyday life and will face challenges. The things that will be different will be your heart filled with Christ and you will be able to face those troubles and challenges with a different, godly attitude that you didn’t have before because you will know that God is with you and will support and take care of you, regardless of the situation, His love will never end for you.

Don’t be scared of Christ. Embrace Him. Turn from your old ways and become a new person with Christ as your central focus. By accepting Christ, you will not lose anything but will gain everything, specifically, a heart full of love and eternity in heaven. 

God bless all and take care.

Being Content

Being Content

By John Lysaught

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The world is against us on all sides. The devil and the world are in battle with us on all fronts; spiritually, physically on all levels every day, every moment. One of the ways that the world and Satan try to snare us is by using the world against us in our contentment with what we have.

Are you content? Being content is being satisfied with what you have. Pretty simple concept, huh? But do we really live that way? Are we truly content with what we have in this life?

Whether you are rich, middle class or poor, are you content? Designer clothes, the latest fad, wanting a bigger house, a nicer yard, that perfect job, that perfect family, etc., is this what we are looking for? I would say that most people, yes, even Christians are not content with what they have. It seems to me that a lot of people are always trying to keep up with the Jones’ (with material things in life instead of focusing on Jesus and being happy with what they have).

The Bible says in Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

But do we live that way? No. I’m guilty of this and only today realized that I should be content with what I have. I have been caught-up in the world of wanting more and more, bigger and bigger, this and that, that and this. All of that really doesn’t matter to my spiritual well-being or my walk with Jesus. My worldly desires are just that: worldly desires. And you know what? I’m ashamed of myself for this. 

Having worldly desires is a tool that Satan uses to drive a wedge between us and our spiritual walk with Jesus. The world and Satan wants us to have desires for the latest fades, clothes, etc. to distract us from what is most important: our relationship with Jesus. Want a bigger house? You have to work harder, longer, get a job you don’t like but pays more, just so you can pay for a bigger house that costs more in the mortgage, bigger utility bills, more maintenance and such which takes away from you and your walk with Jesus. 

Whether you live in a 5,000 square foot house or a 500 square foot apartment, you should be content with what you have and your place in life. Does that mean you shouldn’t seek higher education or that promotion? Not necessarily, but be content with what you have and if the Lord blesses you with the opportunity to seek higher education, or gives you a promotion at your job, then accept those blessings, but don’t seek them out because you are not content with your possessions or your place in life. Don’t seek these things to just keep up with the neighbors or to get worldly possession or to make your life easier, just be content with what you have and who you are.

God didn’t make a mistake when He made us. He knew you before you were born. He knows what kind of person you will become, what job you will have, what things you have, your desires, your wants, yet all he really wants is for you to be content and to love Him. Is that so hard? Is it so hard to be just content with life and love Jesus? Yes it is—for some.

Some people want all the things the world has to offer, even Christians. Their priorities have been skewed by Satan that seeking more and more worldly things (nice cars, fancy houses, all the toys, etc.) is okay. Is it a surprise that that average credit card debt in America is so high? People are spending outside of their means to get the things they want like bigger TV’s, nicer cars, newest clothing styles, the best shoes, etc.

I’m as guilty as the average Joe on this. Until today, I didn’t realize that I was not content with what I have and because of that I’m in debt. I have toys I don’t need, and things that I could do without. Now that I realize this, my attitude will change. I am now content with what I have and believe I have too much stuff now. I resolve to not seek out the best of the best or more stuff just to have more stuff that I don’t really need.

Philippians 4:11-13: “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every- where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

I grew up very poor. I remember finding a bag of groceries on our doorstep on Thanksgiving mornings and I remember getting toys from charities for Christmas and using duct tape to fix my shoes that were too small for my feet. Some of you can relate and some of you can’t, but as a kid I was content with what I had, even though it wasn’t much.

Throughout the years God has blessed me with a good job with a great income and I am no longer poor, but I’m not rich either; I’m just a bit higher than average middle class. I should be content right? But I haven’t been. I wanted my kids to have all the new stuff, my wife to have the latest Coach purse, to have the new car, the 5^th wheel trailer for the truck, all these things I really didn’t need— but bought anyway—because I wasn’t being content with what I had. I wanted more and more stuff because I wanted them, not because I needed them.

Shouldn’t we be content with what we have? Shouldn’t we have contentment of who we are and our place in life? Regardless of your standing or your possessions, the most important thing is to be content with those things and who you are and seek Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We should be seeking Jesus, not the latest iPad.

We should be seeking Jesus instead of working longer hours to afford that BMW that you have dreamed of having. We should be seeking the Lord instead of seeking all the worldly things the world has been stuffing down our throats that the world says we need to be “happy” in this life. Happiness is found in only one thing and that is our relationship with Jesus.

Seek out Jesus and you will receive blessings from Him. They may or may not be material things or wealth, but he may bless you with better health, a softer heart, a love for others, and most important, he will bless you with eternal life. 

1 Timothy 6:6-8: “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.”

Being content is also being strong in the Lord, for he strengthens us. Not being content, shows us that we are still affected and driven by the world and not by Jesus our Lord. We must seek the Lord and be content with our lives as they are now and be patient for the plans the Lord has for each of us. What those plans are may be revealed to you already, or they may not have been revealed. We must remain content with our lives and wait patiently for the Lord’s direction.

Being content in what we have and what we are is also tied to loving ourselves for whom and what we are. If you don’t love yourself, as the Lord loves you, how can you have that full relationship with the Lord? For not being content with yourself will affect your walk with Jesus. If you are content with yourself then kudos to you, you are ahead of the game. 

At times I’m not content with myself and don’t love myself as I should and when that happens I do feel a separation from the Lord. For me that lack of love comes from the chemical imbalance in my mind that causes major depressive disorder.

When I have a “flare” of that depression, I feel worthless and not worthy of myself or the Lord. I pray earnestly for that feeling to dissipate because logically I know I am wrong for feeling that way but emotionally, at the time, I feel as I do: I don’t love and am not content with myself. 

 believe that there are a lot of people out there who don’t love themselves as they should, as the Lord want us to. He loves us unconditionally and we should love ourselves unconditionally. This is a lesson I’m working on in myself and for those of you out there that feel this way, know that you should love yourself as the Lord loves you: unconditionally.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that contentment of our life and us is important in our walk with Jesus. He is our life, He is our hope, and He is the way to eternity in heaven. Be content with what you have and what you are. You are a child of the Most High God who loves you and only wants your heart; not the things you have, not the material things you want, but your heart and your love for Him. Don’t let what you have define your relationship with Jesus, but let your heart for Jesus define you and be content with yourself, your place in life, and most important be content in the Lord, for He will provide what you need.

Let the things of this world go and don’t get pulled into the belief of the world that you need stuff to be happy. Be content with what you have, not want you want and your relationship with Jesus will grow, will be refreshed, and will be filled with love and blessings.

I’m in the same boat as a lot of you out there and this article is not just for you, but a lesson for me as well. I intend to strive to be content with I have and will be content with who I am. I will turn my ways around and will focus more on my relationship with the Lord and not the material things in this world. There is a difference in our needs and wants: I want the Lord.

Proverbs 14:30: “A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.”

John_lysaught@yahoo.com

All Scripture citations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

What is Important

I failed. I didn’t listen to the Holy Spirit about 10 weeks ago. I was getting bored and began to consider going back to school for a second master’s degree.  I received my first one prior to being saved and figured this would be an easy endeavor again because I wouldn’t have to take all the classes required and would finish in less than a year. My gut, the Holy Spirit, told me not to do this, but me being my stubborn self listened to my mind and signed up as a full time master’s student.  It was only two classes for a nine week term but it was a great mistake; I should have listened to the Holy Spirit instead of my mind.

Anyway, the gist of it was this: School interrupted what was most important to me which is learning and studying about Jesus.  The school work, reading, stress, and anxiety of school took first place in my life when it shouldn’t have been there at all. The Holy Spirit knew this would happen to me and that is why he urged me not to do it, but again, I didn’t listen.

It was a horrible time in school. I have finished all projects, papers, and reading so I am now getting back into His word and look forward to reading books and the Bible again instead of a text books about human resources.

I totally felt like a failure to God.  I thought to myself that I was only taking a short break from my walk with Jesus and that short time would have little effect on me. It did though. I missed Him. I strayed from the path. I put God on the back burner and it hurt. It hurt deep inside my heart and soul. Yet the course was paid for by the Veteran’s Administration and I couldn’t afford to withdraw and reimburse them so I suffered through the time, all the while yearning to get back to God. I am not going back to school for any other terms. I’m at peace with this and the Holy Spirit has confirmed this in my heart.

This got me thinking about what is important. I talked it over with a good friend and spiritual mentor mine, Bishop Al Brown, when I began to feel the emptiness of my heart getting enlarged by not being in the Word like I should have been. He told me that anything that takes away or is not focused on my walk with Jesus is not worth the time and effort at this time in my life.  Wow. How simple a statement that was but it hit me hard about what was important to me. I guess I just got so used to being in the Word and reading books about Jesus that I took it for granted that straying from that would not affect me. I was certainly wrong.

I think we all do this in our lives: listen to our minds instead of the Holy Spirit because we think we know best and/or we are not in tune to the Holy Spirit, or as I did, I just plain ignored him. Matthew 6:33 says “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (KVJ).  I didn’t seek the kingdom of God first. I was seeking worldly knowledge that I thought would add to my resume and make me look better to the world. What a mistake. I don’t need to look good to the world, but only to God and by failing to stay on path with Him, I failed myself in this walk. He is always there, but it was me who put Him on the wayside.

Proverbs 4:25 says “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee” (KJV). My eyes were twisted, to say the least. Have your eyes ever been off a bit, even slightly from the Lord? Maybe it is like me, seeking something worldly like a second master’s degree. Maybe you’ve gotten a new distraction like a new TV show that has taken your eyes from the Lord, or maybe just a simple hobby that takes all your spare time away, especially from the Lord?  I did, and if you’re like me, then you will understand that feeling.  Let it go. Draw back on your hobbies, DVR that TV show, do whatever it takes to keep your eyes straight on the Lord, not looking away from Him in your walk with Him ever. I learned the hard way and I hope by reading this you can see or avoid doing what some of us do that takes us off the path of the Lord. 

By no means am I saying you shouldn’t seek to self-improve or to have hobbies. What I’m trying to impart here is for you to think about what is important to you. Is there something getting in your way with your relationship with Jesus, your true Lord and Savior, even a little bit?  If so, a course change may be called for. A readjustment of priorities needs to be looked at. Adjusting the trim on the wings of your life needs some adjusting.

Matthew 6:24 says “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (KJV). I’ve always took this verse for granted and never thought it would apply to me. Only after being in this degree program have I realized that I was trying to serve two masters, but I could only serve one and at the time it was not my true master, Jesus, but the master of the world through a fruitless and needless endeavor for me. 

I love learning but my learning priorities got mixed up. I sought the love of knowledge of the world, not my true love of learning of the Lord.  Did I despise the Lord when taking these courses? Of course not, but the gist is that I had a choice of two masters to serve and by default, I choose at the time to serve the world with hopes of improving my resume and my place in life. I was mistaken. I am not poor by any means, but choose unwisely to seek worldly gains, so by my own argument, I can attest that by default (hurts to say this) but I was loving mammon and despising God by my own ignorance. 

What a great mistake. I keep saying this but it is so true.  Only recently did I realize my mistake and made a turn back to God. Near the end of the term I put God before my homework for I no longer cared about school. I begun going through the motions at school and have been getting good enough grades, and am glad it is now over. I’m the type of guy who likes to get “A’s” in everything and so to let that ambition go was hard but an easy choice. I’m back to my true love of learning about Jesus, a subject much more worthy with greater rewards than any secular school can ever give me. 

Proverbs 16:3 says “Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established” (KJV). I didn’t do this. My work at school was not for or to the Lord but for selfish means to an end that I have stopped doing for it is not worthy of the Lord nor will it lead to the plans He has established for me. What those plans are, I don’t know, but it didn’t include a master’s in human resources. 

What is important is to follow the Lord’s will for you and to love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind. 2 Timothy 2:15 says “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (KJV). Are you doing this? I didn’t but I am working towards it again.  I am washed clean by the blood of Christ and am a saved sinner, destined through all hope, to go to eternity with Jesus. To be a child of the Son of God, Jesus, is to be approved through His sacrifice on the cross for our sins, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. 

In our lives we must make time and ensure we spend time with Jesus through the study of His word through the Bible and, like me, through books written about Christ written by people that are a lot smarter and have better insight than I have so we can get closer to Him and keep us on the right path to Glory. 

Proverbs 2: 2-5, “So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God” (KJV)

We must know what is important to us and that should be first and foremost the Lord. Everything else should be in second place in our priorities.  Proverbs 2:2-5 (above) says this clearly that we must be attentive to the wisdom of the Lord and seek and search for it. I didn’t recently and I lost time with God, time lost in understanding Him and time lost on my precious walk with him.  We must find and listen to the knowledge of God as put forth to us through the Bible and as inspired and lead by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is our guide on this world that will keep us on the straight and narrow path to salvation, but we must listen. I learned this lesson greatly, and still fail a lot to not listen to the voice and guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit will let you know what is important. Listen to that voice in your head, gut, or heart that tells you what to do or not to do.  I’ve learned this lesson over and over again. I will not listen to that voice telling me not to do something and then as expected, after I did it and I failed or it turned out to be a mess, I then only could look back and say to myself that I knew the Holy Spirit was talking to me and I didn’t listen to him on what was important. 

I have a hard time admitting this because I want to be the best Christian out there, but I am human and I live in a fallen world as a sinful creature full of selfishness and selfish desires that get in the way of my walk with Christ all the time.  I know I’m not alone and if you think you don’t do this, then I question your honesty in yourself. I’ve tried to fake it, but I find that being honest about my failings with Christ is therapeutic and only strengthens me with Christ.  I know that He is my center and my most important part of my life, even when I fail, He is always there to help me back on track.

I implore you, I beg you, to evaluate your life and look at it and take an honest examination of yourself and figure out what is most important to you. Is it Christ? Is He the center of your life and being? Is He the reason for getting up every day? Is He the reason for your life and do you rely on Him to guide you through each day? If not then it is time to change this. Christ centered is the way to go. Is this hard and do we fail at this? Yes, all the time. Don’t give up though. If you fail and if you fall, get back up, take Jesus by the hand and get back on the path of salvation to eternity with Him in heaven. 

I can tell you that having Jesus out of my life for that short period had a profound and negative impact on me. I feel into old habits that were not good for my body and soul and I had gained that emptiness that I felt prior to being saved. It was miserable and I don’t want this to happen to you or me again.

You are important to Chirst and He loves you and wants you, all of you and your heart. You need Him too, we all need him.  He IS the way the truth and the life. He is our access to forgiveness and our way to salvation to gain entrance to heaven.  If you are saved, you know this already and you know the importance of having a Christ centered life, to have him as the most important thing in your life above all else.  He is our life and our being and He is our way to salvation.

It took a short time away from Him for me to realize how important He really is to me. If you were like me, or are like I was, it is okay. You can regain that relationship with Christ again. All it takes is that first step. That first step can be hard, but once you make it, the next step and the next step is easy and then you will find yourself running to Christ, to be with Him as the important and center of your life.   

I’ll leave you with this to think about what is important to you: Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (KJV).

With all blessings and love.

John_lysaught@yahoo.com