I Am

There is one verse which gives me goosebumps every single time I read it or think about it. It is so powerful to me and sums of everything that is God. Maybe it is just me. This verse gives me a sense of awe and peace at the same moment. It is from the KJV in Exodus 3:14, “And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus Shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.”  In this verse, it is the five words “I Am That I Am” that touches my soul so deep.  I Am is so beyond my comprehension, so deep in meaning, but so simple of a statement. 

The God of the universe is beyond my mere human mind. I can’t grasp even a fraction of Him and His all-encompassing power and might. To me, when I think about this, I feel so very small in the universe, but I’m not at the same time. To know and imagine God created everything known and unknown to us, and yet still knows little ole me, puts things in perspective.  My life is but a whisper in the wind in eternity. I’m just a cog in the machine called life, but I’m still so important to Him. He knew me before I was in my mother’s womb. He knows me deeper than anyone else. He knows my weaknesses, my strengths. He knows what I struggle with and how I can thrive. He used this world to shape me into the man I am now and will continue to work my life until it is time for me to leave this world. 

As bad as I can be, He has never given up on me.  He spoke the universe into existence and yet knows my personal life and heart better than I do. Through it all, the pain, the suffering, the joys, and the peace I have and bounce between, He is here with me through each moment.  Sometimes, I don’t listen for Him and even refuse to hear Him.  He doesn’t let go of me.  As much as I sometimes pull away and push Him away, He holds me tight. Sometimes I lose trust in myself and when this happens, I lose trust in Him. He still doesn’t give up on me.  When I stop to ponder this in the loneliest of times in life, I am greatly amazed He, the Author of all, cares for me and my eternity. 

When I’m at my best, I at times forget He was there helping me and I take all the credit. When I’m at my worse is when I cry out to Him in the deepest parts of my heart and soul. I don’t feel worthy. Logically, I know thinking this way is a farce, but it still happens. It is in these deepest darkest times that God is holding me the most.  I love Him so much.  If I didn’t have Him in my life, I don’t know what I would do.  He sustains me. He lifts me up.  He brings those into my life that make a positive difference. My wife, my kids, and friends support me through God’s divine plan for me.  He gives me hope when I’m hopeless. He pulls me back onto the ledge when I’m hanging on by my fingertips. His amazing ways of Himself and using others, keep me going each day.

I fail a lot too. I mess up so much, but He is God and in His infinite love, He gave me mercy and grace through His Son.  Amazing. Unfathomable to me.  I don’t think I deserve His mercy and grace, but He does because I’m important to Him.  I can’t take a breath without His grace to keep me alive.  I let myself down a lot and feel I let Him down too.  He still loves me though and has never wavered in this.  When my heart is in the right place, but the rest of me isn’t, I can only be thankful for Him caring about me regardless of my shortcomings and failings.  He takes me back each time, never turning His back on me, never. I’m the one who turns my back and when I come back around, He is still there, never changing but always welcoming me. 

In 1^st John, the Bible tells us we can’t live in both the light and darkness at the same time. There is no grey area, no in between.  I can admit I am pulled by both. When I walk into darkness, I’m only to blame.  I don’t like it and I come back to God. And the cycle repeats.  I hate this about myself.  He still loves me though.  I can’t thank Him enough for giving me the strength to recognize the errs of my ways and the strength to come back to Him.  He won’t let me leave Him and I’m in awe of this because the Creator of everything is looking out for me and desiring me to be with Him in the light. God is the light I want in my life. He is my Father. My Good Father. He is I Am.  He still wants me with Him.

In the darkest moments in my life is when He manifests Himself the most to me.  No matter how ever changing my life is. No matter how chaotic things become. No matter how dark my sadness goes, God is never changing and I can hold on to this truth.  I am who I am, and God loves me for me being me.  Only God can lead me to Him. Only He can be the calm in my storms.  He is the foundation I can count on when nothing else seems right or stable.  He is real and He is good. 

Some of you out there feel or have felt the same way I do. For those of us who struggle (which should be all in one way or another), we have our Savior. He died for us.  He was the sacrifice for our sins, our shortcomings that separated us from Him. While in this world, we will struggle and we will never be perfect, even if we pretend to be so.  Be yourself, because God created each one of us. He doesn’t want us to pretend to be something we aren’t.  He wants us only to draw near to Him. Do this and the rest will fall into place. 

God bless you all.

Trying Times

We are living in trying times. Events wrapped up in evil are seemingly exponentially worse each week, sometimes each day.  These events can cause both excitement and anxiety.  I feel both. Yet, we must not forget that until the day of redemption comes, we still have to live our lives to the fullest for Christ while looking up and working through our daily problems, facing our own turmoil to survive in this world.

In John 16:33 (KJV) Jesus tells us, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."  Jesus knew we would face trying times, holistically as humanity, and as individuals.  He knows the world isn't our real home, but only a temporary waypoint on the way to eternity.  The world is fallen and yes, we are stuck in it for now, but we have hope of being saved from this planet when God calls us back home.  We cannot hurry this; nor can we do anything to change this. God works on His timeline and when what happens happens, then He will move to claim us from the world.

The world as a whole is going through spasms, as the unsaved and evil try to purge followers of Christ from existence, to extinguish our light- but again, Christ overcame the world. Even though we know this, we still struggle with battles to fight through.  The world is targeting each of us and uses our weaknesses and other pressures to distract us from our first love- Christ.  This can be challenging but... we can overcome and stay steadfast in our relationship with Jesus. 

Psalm 119: 134 (KJV), "Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts."

Followers of God have been oppressed by man for thousands of years.  It is the same today as it was yesteryears.  The pressure of oppression from man can cause followers of Jesus to turn from Him. Oppression is used by the world to keep us down, to turn us from God. Sin, temptations, idols, money, etc. are used as repressive forces to keep us from getting closer to Christ, and the things we face today are the same as those in the past, they just manifest themselves differently. Instead of Roman gods, we today have celebrities. We are tempted to seek the riches of these times like the past- we call them material things like expensive cars.  We are tempted by the harlots of today like pornography or other sensual enticements. Our forefathers faced the same turmoil we do today and because they overcame we can too.

We all face turmoil. Some more than others. Sometimes it is spread out and sometimes many barrage us at once.  Turmoil doesn’t go away. It seems to keep coming in some fashion or another, right? Maybe it is relationship problems with your spouse. Could it be finances? How about work- a mean boss? People treating you different because you are a Christian? Knowing we have these problems does not make them easier to face or deal with and the comfort of knowing this is all temporary in the scheme of eternity is difficult to grasp in the midst of our problems. 

Trials are just a way of life. We trust the Lord to take us from these problems one day soon, but what about the here and now?  How do we face the day and tomorrow (if it comes, of course)? Through the strength of God!

I won't go into much detail, but I face tribulations mostly from my health. My health is what it is. God in His grace and mercy keeps me going. When and if He heals me, He will at His good pleasure.  I used to be angry at Him, but I'm not anymore. I have good days and mostly bad days but what is constant in my life is God.  My health concerns may change in intensity and frequency, but God is the same today and will be the same tomorrow- loving and full of mercy and grace. I accept we live in a fallen world and with it some of us win the lottery of illness or something else, but God is still God. What I have learned over time is I can lean on God to get me through each and every day and His mercy is greater than my issues whether it be my health or whatever.

Again, we all face troubles. What I have observed, and through personal experience, is most of the disorder we have in our lives is self-inflicted.  We try to blame others, Satan, society, etc., but really- come on now- it is our own doing.  Satan didn't force you to buy the car you can't afford because you didn't want to be seen driving that junker.  The office coworker didn't force you to the hotel at lunch in secret. Yes, the temptation was presented, but you took the bait.  And now, you have chaos in your marriage and wallet is in the negative.  Satan or society can never make us do anything we do that is contrary to God. We do it. We have only ourselves to blame and we have to face the consequences of our own devices. 

I know, I know, we are Christians and are not supposed to accuse ourselves of failings, of the situations we find ourselves in.  But... remember, we are man, bound up in a fallen world and prone to sin, to do what is contrary to God. This is a battle fought every day. When we let our guard down, we are more likely to trip and fall on our face and blame our failings on something or someone else.  We only have the person in the mirror to look at for this.  If we don't recognize this, we can't learn, and if we can't learn from our mistakes, our relationship with Christ becomes stagnant at best or in jeopardy.

Wait.  You may say somethings are not our fault but other’s evil like being discriminated against because of our faith or being marginalized by society- we become victims of evil actions. Whether we put ourselves in a predicament or the world is against us, we can rely on God's mercy, but this is another article.

Look, I can go on and on about turmoil and troubles and problems but really how do we deal with them? First and foremost, we must tune our hearts and ears to the voice of God.  That little voice in our hearts from God needs to be tuned and turned up as to be an overwhelming voice of thunder.  It is hard to the whisper of a trickling stream in the forest but it is easy to hear the roar of a raging river.  We need to attune and train ourselves to have God's voice rage in our hearts and minds so when faced with committing a sin or putting ourselves in not-so-good position, or find ourselves face-to-face with evil people, we can hear the guidance of God.  We just need to listen to His voice for truth. God will not send us astray. He will help us if we allow Him to- just wait, be patient and listen.

We are living in the last days of this known world. Trials and tribulations abound. Turmoil is present and evil surrounds us. The only constant hope we have is the promises of God. If we hold the course, we will reach our destination. Regardless of what is happening near us or thousands of miles away, God is still God and we are charged to be His ambassadors to others and introduce Christ to those who need Him. The world is using the chaos and troubles of the times to wear us down so we turn from our foundational beliefs. Don’t be fooled brothers and sisters.  Stay true to God, lay your worries upon Him, and do the works He wants you to do to further His Kingdom.  

Taking a Break?

Taking a break?

You ever feel like you need to take a break from life?  Life can be a challenge. It can be burdensome at times. It can be hell as well.  It’s not my faith that I need a break from- not even close. It’s the world I’m tired of.  Society’s goal of snuffing followers of Christ from the mainstream to the outskirts of society is wearing on me. It’s like battle fatigue and I’m worn out from it.  Yet, I’m pushing on as you all should as well. The enemy wants to wear us down. Satan wants to grind us so much with this world that our fatigue will lead to surrendering our faith- not a chance. The enemy is on our backs unrelentingly thrashing at us day and night. We can take it though. We can fight him.

Satan is trying to thrust his spear into our hearts and mind to get us to give up, if not to only take a rest from our battles with him. He is relentless in his efforts. We need to be even more relentless in our hearts and minds.  We know the outcome of the battle- Christ defeats him, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t casualties along the way for those whom can’t stand on their own or have never been told about Christ.

There is the holistic battle with evil that we fight against and there are the battles we face individually.  Individually, we each have our faults and weaknesses the enemy will attempt to capitalize on. He will poke and poke at us until we either shut him out or relent to his ways and give up. Some give up by stating that they just need a break from God. What!? I’m serious. I’ve thought of it before but the intervention of the Holy Spirit fixed that. People can reach a steep hill in their lives and instead of conquering the hill through persistence and hope, they take a break at the bottom of it and can be lured to walk back the way they came to find an easier way around that steep hill.  The easier way is the wrong way of course. Satan will deceive those in this mindset into believing there is an easier way in life, but it is all deception. He will twist and turn anything and everything to get people into believing his lies.  He’ll put thoughts in our mind to tell us it is impossible to continue our walk to the finish line, there is no hope for us or it is too hard to achieve- you get the point.

We all are human and fallible because of our condition with sin. We have weaknesses, doubts, fear, and as with everything else, we do need rest. God gave us rest on the seventh day of creation. So we may think we should get a rest from Satan every once in a while, right?  Wrong! Satan doesn’t take a day off. Satan’s workers of evil, spiritual and human, don’t take days off. Therefore since they never rest, we can never put our guard down. Will there be lulls in the battles with evil, and ebb and flow per say, as we fight? Yes, and we can take short breathers to catch our breath.  For those of you who have done sports and push yourself when you exercise know what I’m talking about. You push yourself to the limits and then when there is an opportunity for a small break, you savior it only to get back to pushing yourself just a little more.  This is how we are to fight evil. Push, push, and push and then push a little more each time and savior the small ebbs of battle to savior the rest.  Now, to be clear, I’m not neglecting the rest we always have in God. He affords rest to us at all times in his presence. We can of course dip our cups into the well of God’s rest, take and knee and drink, but the battle still rages on and we must jump back into it.  We are to never give up. We are never to take a break from our faith- that would be paramount to desertion.

In Psalm 31:24, those in the faith are encouraged to be strong and courageous. Romans 12:12 admonishes us to rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and always be praying.  Verse 12:12 brings about a good point of discussion. Patience is a lacking virtue in our times. Satan has used the world and society to keep us too busy. Because of this, we have lost our ability to be patient for things. We want things now, not later. Instant gratification is the name of the game.  Seems innocent enough but Satan uses this era of instantaneous information and fulfillment of our wants and needs in this world that we transfer this mentality to our spiritual lives. We have lost patience with our faith. In our society, when we face delays, we shift direction to find a quicker way to get a response to what we are looking for.  This mentality translates over to patience in tribulation by giving us an excuse of giving up easily.  Just as we want information and things right now, we too want tribulations to be resolved quickly. While we battle Satan, the battle may be drawn out deliberately because Satan knows that we want quick resolutions and if we can’t achieve them, we are more likely to give up and walk away from the fight.

We can’t give up. We can’t afford to walk away. Our souls and our eternal destination are at stake.  Walking away because it’s too hard or because we need a break is not the right mind set to have. Psalm 144:1 (KJV) tells, “Blessed be the Lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” When we feel like we need a break, when we feel like we can’t win or when winning seems like an impossible achievement, we need to remember that our lives are like being in overtime in a sporting competition- we’ve got to dig deep inside and hold onto that strength God has given us to keep going.

Notice that the verse says to teach, not to give. Some hold they will automatically receive the tools to fight without training. When taught we learn and with practice in conjunction with teaching, we refine and excel at the subject taught to us.  Not many people could be introduced to a calculus problem and be able to solve it on the first try. No, we need to be taught how to calculate the problem by going through the correct steps to reach the final solution to the problem. Same thing with fighting Satan. I’m not saying you won’t be able to fight right off the bat, but we need to tap into the strength of God and be patient when being taught by Him to refine our skills through prayer and study of the Bible.

If you keep the attitude of never giving up and never letting your guard down, you won’t feel like you need a break from the fight or from the faith.  God is our strength (Isaiah 40:31).  God is our power (Ephesians 1:19). He will never forsake us (John 6:37), nor will he place us in a situation that we cannot handle or cause us to lose faith in Him (1 John 5:4).  We can be successful in our battles. We can be the warrior God wants us to be. If we look at the short game, we can feel overwhelmed at what we will face. If we look at the long game, we know what the outcome is already- Satan is thrown into the lake of fire. He is defeated. He is squashed from our eternity with Christ.

What should we do then? Take a break from our faith because we feel tired of fighting for our faith in this awful world? No, I don’t suggest it.  Our faith and our eternity is more than our feeble need for rest because we are exhausted from evil tossed in front of us day after day. Not only are our souls are at stake, but others are as well.  If our loved ones see us step back in our walk with Christ, or if those that look up to us see us do this, we are giving them a bad example of having strength and hope in God. To some this is an undue pressure, but for me, I see it as an opportunity.

Showing strength and hope and not taking a break show the tenacity of our faith and walk with Christ. If you study the Bible, you know there are a plethora of examples of men, great and small, who held to their beliefs regardless of obstacles and continued on.  I know when I read of these people in the Book, I get energized and see my troubles and desire to just take a breather for a while very miniscule compare to the grand scheme and plans God has for me. This is the same for all of us. When things seem too tough or never ending, be assured taking a break from your faith is not going to solve any problems but will make them worse.  I don’t recall reading in the Bible anything that says to take a break from God. What would have happened with Job if he did that? What would have happened to the Israelis if Moses got tired of their rebellious attitude on the way to the Promised Land?  What if he gave up, threw his hands in the air and walked away to take a break from them?  I don’t want to know.

Don’t take a break from your faith. Hold fast to God. When exhausted from fighting against evil day in and day out, just remember all those in the history of our faith that didn’t give up, not even for a moment.  I’ll leave you with this from 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord (KJV).”

God Bless and be strong in the Lord.

John_lysaught@yahoo.com

Distractions

Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil,” Proverbs 4: 25-27 (KJV)

Busy life, shorter days, less sleep?  Do you live this way?  Are you so busy that you don’t give enough time for Jesus?  I’m guilty of this, but I’m getting back on track.  This was a trap that snared me off my walk with Christ since I last wrote.  It is my fault for falling into distractions.  I waivered. I fell.

It isn’t like I meant to, but it happened nonetheless. I know better than this but still it occurred, not all at once, but gradually.  I started on a slow slope to where I was only thinking about Christ once awhile and not living for Christ. 

I started another master’s program because I felt bored and that I needed something like a hobby to keep me busy (weird hobby, right?). This is one thing that that took me away from Christ. Another thing was I bought a new house and so we moved by ourselves (never will I do that again). The brand new house we bought has a lot of hiccups in it, as usual with a new house, so that has been occupying my time too.  Then my wife is going to have surgery on her neck and later on her back and so I’ve been concerned about that as we get ready for the surgery. Work has been work real busy lately and of course the kids have been occupying my time because they are teenagers. Hmmm, a lot of excuses, right?

So I’ve been pretty busy lately. This is no excuse to neglect my God.  No excuse to not pick up my bible nor to pray. No excuse to set Him to the side while I strayed from the path I was on.  I’m back and it feels great to have gotten back on track with Christ.

I think some can relate.  It was put on my heart to write this because of lot of you face similar things as I do: being busy, being distracted.  It is a device Satan uses against us to get us to turn from Christ. I fell for it and some of you have too.  I’m here to tell you that you can still get back to Christ.  You can find your way back to the path you were on in your relationship with Him. 

The whole time I was distracted, I felt the tug on my heart. I felt the Holy Spirit knocking on my heart wondering where I had gone.  I felt the blessings of the Lord slip away from me and I did not respond.  I left the Holy Spirit and Christ to my right and left, not straight in front me as I should have done.  I didn’t listen like I should have, I ignored the Holy Spirit.

The guilt I felt was strong.  There was a short time when I said it was okay to be distracted. I told myself that the next day I would focus on Christ again. That happened every day for quite a while until I stopped.   Every day my guilt grew until I wasn’t listening anymore and did not answer the knocking on my heart.  Thankfully, I woke up. 

How distracted are you from Christ? Is it concerns that keep you up all night but you aren’t praying?  Is it the TV shows you are sucked into that takes away from your time with Christ?  Is it that book you pick up instead of the bible with the little time you have?  What is it that is going on in your life that is keeping you from a full relationship with Christ?

Being distracted from God is not a good thing.  The separation put between us and Christ is nothing but a bad decision on our part.  I know we don’t have the intention to do so, but sometimes it happens.  We don’t notice until we are lost in the woods.  This is a ploy by Satan.  Satan wants us to be distracted.  Like he uses temptation and sin to get us away from Christ, he also uses sneaky things into the mix to get us to move off our path with Christ. Being distracted is one of his tactics.  It is a sly move on his behalf and it works on many. 

We must be leery of this ploy by Satan.  We’ve got to be on the defense all the time.  I thought by getting busy and subsequently distracted from Christ, that I would still be strong in my relationship with Him but I failed. Does that mean that I am a weak Christian? Yes.  I’m always weak and you are too because if we weren’t, we wouldn’t need Christ to help us through each day; we are human nonetheless.  Through grace and mercy though, I am forgiven for leaving Christ by the wayside, and so can you. 

Looking back on recent events that got me distracted, showed me how quickly I can get lost.  We are always lost without Christ in our lives and by not keeping him as our pinnacle of focus, we fall into the snare that Satan lays for.  Retrospect is always 20/20 vision yet at the time of being unfocused on Christ, I didn’t see that. Yet if we ask for forgiveness and ask our God to help us get back on the road with Christ, through His grace, we can. 

We have to get God back into our lives.  This action is something we can’t force ourselves to do because we need to ask Christ to help us get our relationship with Him going again.  We can’t let distraction rule our lives. We need to be fully focused on Jesus.  When we do this, we are on the narrow path and our relationship with Christ can only but grow. Freedom in Christ can be found if we stop the distractions and look to Him.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world,” John 16:33 (KJV).

We’ll all face tribulations and being distracted is a tribulation that distracts us from Christ. Are we behind it? Yes and no. Satan is behind it surely, but we let the distractions in life get to us.  We need to be stronger than this and keep our eye on the prize.  When we allow ourselves to slip, we can get back on track and reestablish our relationship with Christ, we just need to ask Him. 

What Satan wants you to do is to get off track. He wants to separate you from Jesus.  If Satan can, he will be successful.  He tries to keep your mind off Christ so he can put a chasm in your relationship that will get wider and wider until you can’t see what side Christ is on.  By getting us separated, Satan tries to keep us feeling guilty about this and tries to use the guilt to us from Christ.  If this happens, he has won, but this can be changed.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” James 4:7 (KJV).

Getting back to your relationship with Christ isn’t that hard at all. Through His grace and love, He is always there awaiting our return with our hearts and minds.  He is waiting for you now if life is a bit distracting and getting in your way.  How easy is it to get back to the path you were on with Christ? It is a matter of prayer, dedication, obedience, and desire from within to amend with Him.  In your heart you really have to want this, for if not, the prayers and efforts you do will be hollow and empty- it just won’t work.  Be honest with yourself and when you are really ready to leave those distractions behind, to aim your attention back to Christ, you will be able to.

Resist Satan. He is there to destroy you. He will use obvious tactics like temptations and committed sins, as well as others things going on in your life to sneak in an attempt to separate you from Jesus.  Basically, what you have to be cognizant of is what is going on in your physical world as well as your spiritual world.  If you notice that you’re swaying off the righteous path, reject what is going on and get back to the trail you were on. 

There are so many distractions aside from our spiritual relationship with Christ.  Pretty much anything of this world can be a distraction.  Aside from obvious sins, what comes to mind are the distraction from money and idols as traps we get caught in.  These distractions can and will take away from God and cause you to drift away, ever so sneakily, by Satan and his minions. 

Money is not a bad thing. It doesn’t have to be evil and is not a taboo or anything like that.  We need money to survive and get the basic necessities we need in life as well as to tithe and give offerings to God. What is bad is the love of money. 

“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows,” 1 Timothy 6:10 (KJV).

The love of money is seen and practiced in the world.  The world loves money more than anything, but money can’t buy peace, serenity, hope, love, or salvation.  Money can become an idol to people. Their focus when they wake up to when they go to sleep is money money money.  You don’t have to be rich to love money either.  Christians can be distracted with money and money issues so much that it encompasses their thinking and their life. 

For us, this may be a gradual thing that happens and then you come, unbeknownst, to a point where you don’t even realize that you have been enveloped by the love of money.  By doing so you have put a wedge between you and Christ.  Your love of money will take away from Christ and you will turn from Christ for money because you can’t serve to masters.  You must be conscious of this and be leery of what can happen if you begin to focus on money vice Christ. 

Idols can be anything you worship. Now I don’t mean you get on your knees and bow down to something. Having an idol is something that you covet or love that takes replaces Him in your life as the most important thing.  Anything can become your idol and will distract you to a point where things other than Christ become more important to you than Him. It is easy to slip into this, especially the young, for the world offers many idols for people to grab onto that takes away from Jesus.

If something other than God is on your mind, it is an idol for you. If your daily focus and thoughts are other than on God, it is an idol.  Idols can be people, items, work, etc. This distraction can be one thing or many things but the end result is they will take your relationship with Christ and throw it in the dump. 

Remember this: you can resist and you can overcome distractions in your life.  The wiles of Satan are many.  You can beat this through help from Christ.  Pray, read the bible, and pray some more.  I we do this, we will be able to get the strength from Christ to overcome distractions and get back to our growing relationship with Him.

Love the Lord with all your strength, heart, soul, and mind.  Doing this will help make Christ the center piece in your life.  Don’t let the world over take you and suck you into its darkness and void.  Focus on Jesus and don’t ever stop loving Him.  God Bless.

John_lysaught@yahoo.com

 

 

It's up to you

It’s up to you. It’s your decision. This is a decision only you can make. No one can make it for you. No one can force it on you. This decision will turn your world upside down. It will affect your life in all aspects. The decision you have to make has consequences, eternal consequences.  This decision you must make is to accept Christ or reject Christ.

I think it’s safe to say that most people, Christian and secular, have heard all or part of 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.” “Blah, blah, blah”, and “So what” is what secular people say. Some Christians don’t understand and so are on the same level as secular people too.

What Christ did for us was from unconditional love and of innocent blood.  Raise your hand if you would be nailed and hung on a cross for the wrongs (sin) of others so that they may live.  I don’t see any hands.  That’s okay, I didn’t expect any and my hand was down too. Look at it this way, would you take the punishment of death for a murderer so that he can walk free? I assume it would be no.

See the difference here? Christ laid His life down for all of us for all the sins we did and would commit so that we may have an opportunity to spend eternity with Him if we accept Him in our heart. This is the choice we must make, to accept Him or not- it’s up to you to decide.

Let’s say that you don’t want to believe, or have faith, that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose up after three days to give us the opportunity to have eternal life with Him. That’s okay I guess, for you. It doesn’t mean your life will crumble and it doesn’t affect my faith at all. You may still be successful in life, have a great family, a big house, etc.  Your life may be one of goodness and compassion for others. You may volunteer for the needy. You may do everything right in life. Then you get old and die and your spirit is released from your body and the decision you made here on Earth while alive determines where you go.

You may believe in God, but only as a notion of something greater than the world or yourself. You may feel that by living a good life it will get you through to the pearly gates.  So when you grow old and die, you will be surprised at what your eternity will be without Christ. 

In your life, right now or in the future before you pass, it is up to you to accept or deny Christ as your Lord and Savior.  It doesn’t matter how good of a person you are, were, or will be in this life. It’s all nil and as valuable as a peso unless you have accepted Christ into your heart and life. “Whoa- wait a second”, you may ask!  “Who are you to tell me what God to worship or what it takes to go to heaven?” Because I am a Christian who knows Christ is proven as true in the Bible, knows the truth and the way to eternity in heaven because I’ve accepted Him.

I made the decision to accept Christ in my heart and life.  I was like them, those secular and unsaved people, aimlessly wondering through life. Yet, when after many times of being introduced to Christ and denying Him, I finally decided to invite Him into my life.  I want to offend you and tell you that you are stupid if you pass up this opportunity with Christ.  You have been, at some point or another, introduced to Christ or have contemplated your destiny in the afterlife of where you will go after you die- to heaven or hell.  I will offend you some more- you will go to hell without accepting Christ. I know, I know, hell sounds like a harsh word to say in the politically correct world we live in now, but it is meant to be harsh. When you think of hell, you should have horrid images and feelings of fear.  Now you don’t want that kind of eternity do you? 

Your life without Christ may seem ok or you may think it’s great but I tell you that you are wrong.  I’m betting that there is something missing in your life. It isn’t a thing, but an internal thing you are feeling inside your gut or heart.  You may have an emptiness in your heart that you think can be filled with the things of the physical world, such as money, material possessions, life style changes (bad ones), drugs, etc., that you try to do to fill that emptiness and that internal thing you feel you are missing or are empty of.

I’ll tell you this, from personal experience and from the testimonies of others, that feeling of emptiness you feel inside, that thing you feel you are missing to make you life happy and complete, that is Jesus tugging at your heart. He is knocking at the door of your soul. This is clearly stated in Revelations 3:20 from Jesus:

“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.”

Christ is ever ready to come into your heart to fill the void you have that you can’t put your finger on. He is there knocking on the door of your heart, waiting for you to answer. That feeling you have that you are missing something in your life is Jesus knocking on your heart, just waiting for you to open and invite Him in. It’s up to you though to either answer the door to let Christ in or to keep and lock that door to keep Jesus away.  You can’t deny that He is real. You can’t deny that He exists, but you can deny his presence in your life. 

I often wonder why people don’t answer that knocking door.  Jesus never gives up knocking at your door, but yet people won’t open it. I believe people are scared to because they will have to give up their worldly pleasures and will have to change their lifestyle. This is absolutely true.  When you accept Christ and begin to live your life for Him, you will change. The change isn’t bad- though secular people think it will be.  You must ask yourself that if you accept Christ into your heart and life, would He make you miserable or give you peace and joy?

Having Christ in your life isn’t a burden as you may think. It’s freedom to have Him in your heart.  Some folks still ignore the whispers and knocking from Jesus because they love themselves and the world so much that they couldn’t imagine not being able to have the so called ‘freedom’ the physical world offers them.  They put their spiritual wellbeing with Christ second to the world.  Their priorities are backwards.

This isn’t limited to secular people only. Some people that claim to be Christians still live in the world and put their faith in Christ second to the world.  Sure they go to church, but that is where it begins and ends.  The only verses they see are the ones the pastor puts up on the projection screen. Some don’t even bring Bibles with them.  These so called Christians are only Sunday morning Christians.  After church they go back to their worldly lives and don’t even crack open their Bibles during the week. They don’t pray and worship the Lord, and don’t study the word of God; they are only Christians on Sunday.

So you secular people see these Christians and wonder what the difference between them and you is- not much. I’ll tell you that being a Christian isn’t just going to church.  It’s much, much more.  When you truly accept and have Jesus in your heart, you life will change and will be turned upside down from your worldly ways. Don’t worry, this is a good flip in your life. You will be awakened spiritually. Your thoughts and actions will change, as well as your priorities.

Accepting Christ is easy, denying Him is a conscious and purposely made decision that you make.  If you deny Him, you are denying He is the author of creation. You are saying that you don’t believe in a correct path to heaven. You, most importantly, deny your heart with the fulfillment of vast love and compassion for you from Him.

With Christ, there is power in Him for your life.  By denying Him, you are refuting his omnipotence in this universe and in your existence on this Earth.  Christ’s supremacy of grace, mercy, and love for you is something that secular people fail to recognize and therefore miss out on the greatest prize one could ever get: Love and forgiveness from Christ. 

Ultimately, the decision to get saved or not is yours.  Secular people and some misdirected ‘Christians’ have a choice to make- accept or deny- it’s up to you. If you aren’t saved (secular and those that only go to church and have never accepted Christ into their lives) it’s up to you to make the decision.  You don’t know when your life will end. You don’t know when the clock will stop ticking for you, so the importance of this decision is great and needs to be made now.  It’s an eternal decision you are making so choose wisely.

I gander that the world is holding you back- I mean the physical and fallen world we live in. As a Christian, you will be living in a world that is contrary to what you believe and what you know.  Everything the world has to offer sinfully will be seen through spiritual discernment that you’ll attain and grow into after you’re saved.

If you want to go to heaven, there is a tradeoff of accepting Christ. The tradeoff is the worldly pleasures and sinful ways that you have been living for endless love. This may make your blood pressure go up a bit because right now you are imagining giving up the joys and sinful pleasures in life that aren’t in line with a Christian lifestyle. This is the decision point for you. You’re at a fork in the road. One path leads to heaven with Christ and the other leads to hell without Christ.  Use your imagination a bit to see both paths.  Which one do you want to be on?  I don’t know of anyone who wants to choose hell and I gather most rational people would rather go to heaven. 

So… what are you going to choose? Which path does your heart lead you to?  It’s up to you to make that decision, but choose wisely: Christ or hell.

Sometimes...

Sometimes do you feel like a failure or worthless in your relationship with Christ or just life in general?  Joey was one of them.  His life was that of disheartening feelings of worthlessness and failures. Regardless of what happened, things never worked to his advantage. He was always left behind on the things of life that mattered most. He barely made it through high school. He dropped out of college after the first term. His life was full of failures because each time he tried something, it never worked out for him.

Joey couldn’t find a good paying job and either got fired for some frivolous thing or quit when things were starting to go well because of fear of getting his hopes up for something he knew would fail anyway in due time. So he floated along through life.

Still living with his parents because he couldn’t afford to live on his, he saw no future for himself, just another lump on the log of life waiting to decay into dirt.  Joey had no girlfriend, never did, and had only a handful of friends.  He never did drugs, but he did drink to help him escape the day he had and to numb his mind for the next day he would just get through again.

Joey was raised in a Christian home but never connected with God and never got saved. He still went to church with his parents, one of the conditions of living with them, but he never looked forward to it.  He felt so little and unrecognized in church.  He felt that what kind of God would make him feel as he did: worthless and a failure in life? Why did nothing ever go his way? Why did he just exist with no hopes of a pleasant future? Why, he asked, did God make his life so miserable?  Anyway, long story short, he felt like a failure to his parents, himself and God. ‘Worthless Joey’ is what he felt of himself and saw himself as.

Are you this guy on some level or at this time in your life? Maybe things aren’t going your way. Maybe you feel disconnected to Christ and His love.  Do you feel worthlessness or a failure to God? In your mind you may be think “ya, I am,” but I’m here to tell you that you are not worthless and are not a failure. 

You may have failed at things in life, such as college, a good job, finances, your family, etc., but that does not translate into a failure unto Christ.  The world will try to keep you down by showing you and leading you to failure, but Christ doesn’t think you are a failure.  You are the clay He is still forming in His hands to make you the man or women he wants you to be.  Don’t get into the mind set of being a failure or worthless to Christ.

The world is pretty darn good at making us feel worthless or failures. Satan does this because he knows if he can get you down in the things of the world, he can crack your armor and make you feel worthless and a failure to God as well.  I admit that this is still a struggle for me at times.  I totally feel like a loser sometimes and feel that I have failed Christ in some way in my life.

The reason this crack in my armor happens sometimes is because I let the issue get to me and I’m sure some of you feel the same.  I let Satan’s world get me down, and it is hard to get back up at times.  When I fail, for me, it makes me feel worthless.  When I feel worthless, I don’t feel deserving of Christ’s love for me. When I don’t feel deserving of Christ’s love, it begins to create a slippery slope of not feeling connected with Him anymore. 

When I feel this way, rationally, I know it isn’t true, but emotionally, I do feel like it is.  Am I a weak Christian? I’ve asked myself this many a time.  I’m not though- Christ is my center and my rock, but the world has on occasion gotten me to think otherwise. 

You know what I do when my rational mind kicks in and over powers the irrational thoughts of worthlessness to Christ? I get my good ole Bible out and I read 1 John. For me, the Gospel of 1 John calms me down and brings me back to Christ.  May be different for you, but it works for me.

When the world gets you down, it is easy to let it spread into your spiritual life. Yet we must do our best to remember that we are not failures or worthless to God. We may sometimes feel like we are but we are not.  Sometimes things in this world don’t go the way we want them to and so we sometimes let that slip into our relationship with Christ.  We just have to do our best to remember the promises and love that Christ has for us.

1 John 3:1 says: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”

Worthless? A failure? I think not.  If you are a lover of Christ, a Christian, then we are called the sons of God.  We are His children and what father would do harm to His children? None of the Christian parents I know of. So if we love our children, just think of how much more He loves us because we are His children. 

He loved us so much that He came down to us in the flesh to be the blood sacrifice for our sins so that we may be forgiven.  He spilled His blood for us. He was the lamb that has made us clean before God so that we may well know that we are His children and will spend eternity with Him in heaven. Because of this we stand apart from non-Christians. They see the world differently than we do. As Christians we must not feel worthless or like failures because we are set apart and do see the world differently than non-Christians.

When we sometimes fail or feel worthless because of the things of this world, we should fall back on Jesus to keep us strong.  We may fail in the world, but we can fight that worldly failure from creeping into our love and relationship with Christ. This is so encouraging, isn’t it! I mean, we should be stronger in our attitude towards feeling worthless or that of a failure because Christ is so good!!! What an awesome God we serve, praise, and worship!

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him,” (1 John 4:9)

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world,” (John 16:33)

Sometimes tribulation can also mean failures in the world that then lead to a feeling of worthlessness. We must keep this at the forefront of our minds: we may fail, we may feel worthless at times, but we have an advocate with us that can overcome those emotions and turn it around for us.  Tribulation is the opposite of peace and Christ wants us to have peace. So even if you fail in the world, you can still have peace in your heart. 

There are things that this world will do that will make it hard to get back from failures to peace. Take for example that the world temps you in one of your seemingly never ending weakness in the world. This can be the temptation to gambling your life away at the slot machines, extramarital affairs- you get what I mean- big things that happen that can lead you to guilt, feelings of worthlessness and make you feel that you are a failure as a Christian. 

You know what? God knows.  He knows your weakness and your shortcomings.  When you face these and feel like a failure in your marriage or your finances, or whatever, it will be hard to overcome these for they are tribulations of your temptations on steroids. Yet, as hard as it might be, as hard and high as the hurdle may seem, you can overcome to make it to peace in Christ. Christ’s mercy and grace, through His sacrifice for us, is something we should be thankful for, joyful of, and can drink of daily.

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong,” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

What should we do when the world makes us seem like failures or we feel worthless for our shortcomings in the world that we have to live in?  The above verse says it all. When we fail and fall into temptation, or fail in the world such as our finances or such, Christ is with us. When we get so caught up in the moment that we forget of Christ and what He teaches us and tells us about our life, He is still with us.

We are refined through the fires of troubles, tribulations, infirmities, and any other challenge we may face in life. When you are distressed because you think you failed Christ, don’t despair, but take joy in the fact that not only will you will overcome, but the test you are facing will refine you and your heart to Christ. 

Each trial we face, we have the opportunity to either be refined or feel failure or worthlessness in Christ. I’m striving for refinement.  Even though we may strive, we still sometimes fail because we are sinners in a fallen world.  We are surrounded by secular people who just don’t get it and do their best to suck us into the world as they see it. Yet we can and do overcome those trials in life that really do set us apart from others.

You ever notice the difference in trials between a Christian and a secular person?  We can go through trials and tribulations with a smile on our face, while the secular person looks at us like we are crazy because they are freaking out over the same thing.  We are the face of Christ in times of trials. We have the assurance of God’s love for us while the secular person does not and so does not understand our reaction because they don’t know Christ. This is why we must not let the failures and trials in life effect us: we are the face of Jesus to others, an example to them.

Spiritually speaking, we live in a world dominated by Satan and are strangers in the midst of chaos. Keep this on the forefront of your mind that the world and Satan want to take you away from Christ. He will do his best to persuade you to let go of Christ. He does this through a lot of means including worldly failures. He wants those worldly failures to seep into your faith.  He wants failure in the world make you feel like you are a failure to Christ.  Don’t fall into that trap.

Christ is love. He will never willingly let you go because of some perceived failure. He will draw closer to you, if you let Him, in the times of trials in your life.  He is there for you. He wants you to be close to Him.

Christ doesn’t want you to feel worthless either. In Christ you will have peace. You will have an assurance of love. You are worthy of Christ and His grace and therefore you should have no reason to feel worthless because you are precious to Christ and are His child whom He loves unconditionally.

No matter the failures you have had or the attitude of yourself that you have, it is no reason to be separated from Christ. Christ is here for us. He is here for us to lean on and to run to for comfort when we do fall and feel guilty about ourselves. His grace is enduring and His love is unfathomable.

Don’t let the world get you down. Let Christ lift you up and keep you joyful through the trials you will face. The prize at the end of every trial, every failure you have overcome, is the prize of a stronger relationship with Christ.

Turn to God for strength and assurance. For when you are assured of the love of Christ for you, you cannot feel lik3 a failure or worthless.  You will feel loved and cared because you have Christ in your heart, mind, and soul. Christ is faithful and never changing in His love for you and me. When we finish the race and are taken to heaven, the race of hills and valleys in this world will be worth it, for we will be with Him forever.

Be with us

Walk with us Jesus for we need You more than ever. Now the time is unknown of Your return, but the season is here.  We need You to help us stay strong. We need You to lean on, to help us stay strong in this season of dire times.  What You mean to us is salvation and You help us to keep this on the forefront of our hearts as we tread and trudge through each day of this vile world.  You are our keeper, our grace, and we are Your sheep that need to be watched and cared for.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward You, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give You an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

We need peace in our hearts Lord. Peace and assurance of being taken of like a newborn baby.  We need You to feed us the milk of Your wisdom and the meat of Your knowledge. We need assurance of safety in these times of turmoil.  The world is against us but You are for us: let us not forget this.  As we face adversity, shine Your light on us, show us comfort and love, and give us peace of mind and heart. 

Every day is a day closer to Your coming Christ.  We are struggling to not be shut down by the world. We are surrounded by evil and the fight is hard. Sin envelopes around us like a pack of wolves, ready to pounce and feed on our hearts.  Be with us with our battles. Be our armor. Be our sword. Be our commander.  Help us to defeat temptation and give us an escape when it is seemingly unendurable for us to survive. 

“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16)

We need Your love oh God. We need it to survive and to prosper in Christ. We need strength and endurance to finish the race put before us in our lives. We need Your love to embolden us to resist Satan. We need Your love to share with others Your glory and Your ways.  We need Your love for we love You and our hearts need that comfort only You can give to Your chosen children.

We Christians dwell in Your love and cherish You more than anything in this world. You are above all things and are the creator of all, including us.  You know each of us. You know our thoughts, or desires, and mostly You know our hearts. May our hearts show You the love we have for You, All Mighty God. Our hearts are with You and help us to remain faithful and strong in You as the end nears.

You say that if we dwell in Your love, then You will dwell in us.  Please Lord, I pray that You stay in us. Your promises are true and Your ways are always right. This is a promise You have given us that You will dwell in us if we love You.  We believe in Your promises, all of them, and know that whatever adversity we face from the world, You will be with us in our trials and tribulations. You will help us overcome and will help us stay on the path of righteousness.

“That Christ may dwell in Your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)



You are the center of our lives Jesus. Nothing can separate us from You except ourselves.  Stay in our hearts Jesus.  Keep us strong.  Knowing that our knowledge of Your love is not comprehendible to us, gives us assurance of Your caring and want of our wellbeing and our salvation with You in Heaven. 



We have a stumbling block in us though Jesus that we need Your help with everyday of our lives: it is sin, from our sinful nature.  The world is after us, hell-bent on taking us away from You. Unfortunately, this happens. The temptations are too overwhelming for some and they don’t take the escape You provide. The fall, they fail, and they get so far from You that the world gets them to believe that they don’t need You or they are not good enough for You.



We face temptation every day. It is thrown in our faces endlessly. Temptation and sin are always around the corner and knocking on the door of our minds.  We fail for we are imperfect creatures, but give us the strength to learn from our mistakes and give us grace as we ask for it when we do sin. 

Remind us who we are on a daily basis. Remind us who we are to You and give our hearts comfort and strength to drive on. Help us to stay on the straight and narrow path leading to heaven.  Help us to not fail You, but help us to grow in our love and relationship with You as our days go on and Your reappearance draws near.  Keep us strong in You so we can overcome and resist Satan. Dwell in us Jesus. Keep us striving to keep You in our hearts every moment of the day.



“For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” (Isaiah 54:10)



Continue to have mercy on those of us that love You Lord.  You are our Rock and our Steadfast Love.  You promise that Your kindness will not depart from us and You have given us a covenant of peace.  Let us be faithful in these promises. Let us place them in our heart and lock them in our minds and souls.  You are the great I Am and let us never forget this. Let us never forget Your ever and unending love for us.  Your promises You don’t break and Your love is too great for us to ever imagine.



Give us peace in this world full of those things contrary to You and the turmoil that is happening around us every minute of each day.  Let us be thankful for Your promises of peace and kindness towards us.  Keep us safe in Your hands. Be our Rock when the oceans rage. Be our shelter when as the storm around us intensifies.  We trust in You and Your promises Lord. You are our peace and strength.



“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.” (Romans 12:9)



Lord, let our love for You be with genuine love, without dissimulation.  Teach us to avoid evil and to hold on to what is good in Your eyes. Some people who say they are Christians don’t have a genuine love for You. They just go through the motions. They go to church and that is it; they think it is good enough for You. 



Give those people a sense of needing more Lord. They are lost and help those of us who genuinely love You to help them find that true love for You.  Give us the strength and power to move these people. Give them the hope of a better future-a future of eternity with You.  Not everyone who thinks they are Christians are in the Book of Life, but let us add pages for You.



In the world we live in, we are surrounded by on all sides by evil. The world is pure evil and fights against us daily. We are hit on all sides by the world and Satan to break us from loving and wanting to be with You. Give us the insight to recognize evil for what it is, no matter how sneaky Satan and the world are with their temptations to us.  Help us to overcome and be our escape. If and when we do fail and give into temptation, be with us as we ask for Your forgiveness and pour out Your grace upon us.



“Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.” (Psalm 91: 14-16)



Lord, let us hold fast to our love for You. You are there for us and we need You more than any other time in history for time is shorter as each day passes. The world is in a mess and Your prophesies are being fulfilled in this season of eternity.  You are our hope and through Christ have covered our sins and have promised eternity with You in heaven if we believe that Christ died for our sins and offered grace to us for our sins.  We thank You for this and want nothing more than to be with You in heaven.



When we pray Lord, please heed our prayers and answer us in a way that we know it is You and You alone.  You are the light of the world and with You there is no darkness in us.  Keep us out of the shadows of the world. Keep Satan at bay in our lives and give us the power, through You, to resist Satan. 


You are our life and our hope. Keep us close to You and shepherd us to wisdom and knowledge of Your greatness and power.  Give us the strength to endure to the end and give us the hope and faith in Christ our Savior.