John 16:33 Jesus is speaking about the times of tribulation and how the way is already prepared, how it plays out both good and the bad.
It’s not something we get to change, it was done on the cross.
However this is the hope of salvation and because we live in a sin filled world it will be hard, however the Lord prepared the way for us to overcome it.
It is His will that we know He has defeated the evil one and has overcome the great conflict, therefore He does not want us to be intimidated and discouraged by the assaults of the serpent.
He being Christ Jesus has won.
We must learn this truth to accept the peace He supplies – He who made us all equal, He wants to bring together in one body – the body of believers of God’s son Jesus Christ the Lord.
Putting away hostility toward each other at the cross.
It is in Christ we have access to God the Father – through the Holy Spirit, this means we are no-longer stranger or foreigners living outside the will of God and with out hope.
Because of Jesus we can be in one accord.
We don’t need to look any farther then Jesus the son of God for peace of mind – there is no other who has laid down His life in love who gives forgiveness not earned.
There is no other who has the Creator God divine authority to be our Lord and Savior. No other who will rescue us from this place.
The battle today is over your belief system – your mind.
So what do you believe is true, is it from traditions or is it reasoning of what you have seen or heard?
The truth is Jesus will explain Himself in the Word (His Bible), He will reason with you – the real battle is will you believe Him or will you listen to the spirit of the enemy?
What you believe and whom you believe will decide your own fate.
Abiding in the Spirit of truth is peace and safety.
Friends – Yes ! God loves His children and wants to save all, there is only one way – through Christ Jesus.
My grandmother on her dying bed said these words from the book of Isaiah 55:6 to me..it was the best advice I’ve ever been given, and now I counsel you all to take it as well.
Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
To believe in the story of creation in the book of Genius and how this whole world became you need faith in the bible.
To understand why you need a Savior who is the Lamb of God, The Word, Jesus, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Messiah you need to have hope and love and faith in the bible.
To look forward to the coming of CHIRST in the clouds with great glory also a multitude of shining angels who will attend Him.
You need to seek Him.
When He comes, He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
He will come to honor those who have loved Him, and kept His commandments, and to take them to Himself. In the clouds, not on the earth, not in secret.
Those who sought Him, He will come for.
He has not forgotten them nor His promise in John 14:2 there will be a relinking of the family chain.. a little longer and He will wipe all tears from our eyes. Our faith will be rewarded.
No one knows the day or the hour, but of that day and hour only the Father knows, not even the angels of heaven know.
Read Isaiah 55 – if you need to understand how to seek Him and then purpose to follow throughout the Word to know Him.
Friends, a great tribulation is coming to the doorsteps of our lives, we have never experienced anything like this because the world has never known this and yet we are warned and admonished in His word to seek Him, as those in the days of Noah only eight souls believed and obeyed God’s word through Noah who preached 120 years in righteousness. He told them to seek Him, He warned the world of the coming destruction, but his message was rejected and despised. Just as it will be now..
Don’t be caught unaware when sudden destruction comes.
And I can personally attest to the benefits of trusting the Word of God to help me in times of uncertainty.
But did you know the acronym for fear?
“future events appearing real” – it’s not actually true, it has the appearance in our mind that it is- but it’s yet to happen.
When I lose sight of this and forget that I have the answers, I am just like those who followed Jesus and yet witnessed great and mighty miracles He did only to forget this because trouble came.
Instead of remembering the promises of Gods word, I get fixated on the problems in my life.
Check out this example in John 6:15-21 Jesus walks on water.
Do we understand why He did this?
The men in the boat were in need of help and are focused on the problem at hand, but Jesus walks up.
This is my take away, He showed them He was always near, and yet they forgot to ask for help from Him.
They lost sight of what they just experienced at the hands of Jesus, He fed five thousand with five little loaves of bread and two small fish. John 6:9
They forgot who they belonged to, they were focused on their problems not their miracle working Savior.
I’m guilty of this, all of us are but the next time if we would stop with our self doubt and the fear – and instead pray for help – it could be as easy as Him walking up. But no matter know we are never alone, He is always near.
We must not lose sight every time things go side ways. Problems are a part of life but in this life we have a helper, His name is Jesus.
Instead of living on shaky ground – remember our Salvation is Jesus, He is the rock on which we stand.
And that friends is how we don’t lose sight, we focus on The One who walked on water.
Was your first thought of what you’ve done or what others are doing wrong?
The question is not “who does sin”- it is “what is sin” ?
If I am right in how you answered, then you will soon be relieved to know that the Word of God explains simply what sin is. Especially for those seeking the truth.
And if you don’t agree with the answers below, then I challenge you to bring “receipts” show me where the Word says otherwise.
Because what I will share is not what the world believes ~ but what the Word says of the true children God who believe.
He did all perfectly and because of His strength, we can give our free will to Him, offer our lives in surrender to do His good will, and become stronger daily.
Friends the only way to not transgress against God- is to abide with Him. This is the only strength we need to be concerned with.
Make Him your first choice daily, He made you His ultimate choice.
In Christ love, amen
Daily writing prompt
What’s a moment that made you realize you were stronger than you thought?
It’s said “you can’t walk forward looking back” and while this is true I can’t help but look over my shoulder at how I used to live.
Deceit; envy; lying and foul language was something which held me back for years as a young adult. It caused all kinds of drama and mistrust. Romans 8:5
So I can say with certainty that getting rid of this type of living gave room for me to experience more goodness.
When His Word at first was preached to me and it begin to transform my understanding, reaching me where nothing else could. It sounded like a sermon on Grace. <Video link>
So reading the Word of God eventually became a daily habit.
At first I’d read it to try and find out what I needed to do or what it was saying about me.
It was His Word that called me to truth and clean living.
To letting go of bitterness and shame.
No more looking to be better then others but instead praying for them, as He did. John 17:20
No looking for acceptance in others because Jesus accepted me, even with all my imperfections He became my new habit.
His Word fed my soul and it changed my thinking.
Every misplaced longing for love and acceptance was met by His Word. He showed me what it means to have loyalty and serve others as He did. He changed me, it was Him working out my salvation in me. Eph 2:10
And then He served me the best news; I was forgiven and loved forever.
He has taught me to stay close and feed on His Word daily.
It grows you spiritually strong and when you feed on the Word of God ~ you will find out how good God really is!
He represents everything good, and even though the world’s hatred of Him happens – He would do it again.
He died for salvations plan – He saves those who believe He says who He is.
When He arose the Heavenly Father gave Him all power and He then gave us His Spirit- He gives us a helper to guide us in making good choices and finding joy.
Even right now He is helping me to write to you – whom I don’t know.
But He knows you.
He wants you to know your sorrow will turn to joy, if you trust and obey Him. His words are given to you to overcome the world.
He is your best choice. He will never leave you nor forsake you.
His kingdom is not of this world. He came to witness of the truth of God – and when we listen to His voice and heed Him. We are saved.
He is the Lord of Lords and King and Kings,
He is Jesus Christ the Son of God.
Daily writing prompt
What’s a simple pleasure in life that brings you joy?
Soon this place we call home will not be habitual.
Not a comforting thought I understand but it’s the truth.
The signs are sure that life here on earth is wrapping up.
You don’t have to agree but you should at least look around and consider what the world is doing, saying. Life on mars? No, thanks.
If you are good at timelines and dates you should find this interesting, did you know that the 6,000 year anniversary of Jesus baptism is in 2027 or that His death and resurrection anniversary is in 2031.
You may be wondering what this means, well if numbers play any role. The number six is biblically the number “of labor” and the seventh number means “completion or rest”.
The book of Revelation talks about a 1000 year period or rest in heaven with the saints.
This would be I imagine where a 1000 year of completion would likely begin but it’s just me piecing the puzzle together.
Meanwhile, throughout the Word we are told to be ready for the day of judgment, no one knows the day or hour but stand ready.
This book is the most under read book in the world today, but it has the lessons and keys to being ready.
So how can we stand ready about what we don’t know?
The best and only way to be ready is to trust and obey God’s Word.
We need to have a confidence in the Son of God so strong that even in times of hardships and disappointment we can endure due to the hope we have in Christ.
To abide in Christ means you look forward to His coming and can stand before Him unashamed. You believe in your heart that Christ is righteous and that learning to live by His standards makes you partakers of the truth of His word.
The way to sin is by breaking the laws of God, as you know Christ came to die for our sins, not His, He had no sin. Because of this selfless love of His, we are given a path to follow after Him knowing that even when we fail, He will help us to make it right.
He will still love us because that is who He is.
To receive His love, is to chose to not continue living selfishly but instead draw closer to Him.
These are the ones who love Him, those who abide with Him.
But to keep living sinfully is to deny His ways, and chose not to abide in Him. This is because of the influence of the devil, who from the beginning has been sinning and influence God’s children to do the same.
However if we are born of God~ there is a seed that grows as we nurture it with the truth of God’s word, it’s then His Holy Spirit which gives us power to overcome sin because of what Jesus Christ did.
The Lord in His Word has promises which gives me protection. This is because I have hidden His words in my heart. What this means is, I look to His word and believe that He is whom He says.
I learned to trust Him even when I didn’t understand. I decided to look deeper, spend more time and be more intentional in my searching out the truth.
Sometime during my investigation I believed that He was who He said He was, and that He was my God and apart from Him I could do nothing good for myself.
It is because of this I have found favor with Him as He values His devoted people.
When we don’t look to Him but instead other things to bring us joy it is like looking to idols. When we try make a great life here without seeking out God. We are destined to bring trouble on ourselves. That which has your devotion will also have your heart.
Through His Son Jesus Christ we are given life eternal and a joy complete with forgiveness of our sins, this makes all happy and secure that no matter what happens – death isn’t an issue. He keeps what is His.
I am secure in my hope, this gives me the promise of joy.
Do you have the promise joy?
Friends, the truth of Gods Word is the beginning of wisdom and understanding. Don’t lose out on the one investment that is life changing.
Seek His Word and you will find, ask for understanding and it will be given to you, these words are just one of the promise of the Lord God and He never breaks His promises.
I’ve raised two boys and girl. All are a blessing to me.
Today I’d like to share a memorable moment I had with the middle one, he was always independent natured, who mostly internalized everything and goal oriented. He was the one who loved to participate in every sport.
This began in elementary and continued every year till he received a football scholarship, so needless to say I’ve sat on the sidelines of this kids life for many years, cheering and watching him grow up a team player.
His senior year he decided he wanted to pursue criminal law I wasn’t surprised it has a team like environment, but when I asked why he would choose this, his reply was one I could never argue with. ” I figure if I can help someone have a better day, it would be a good job.”
So instead of questioning, I prayed.
After high school, he decided not to go the college route but work his way up through training, when he was old enough to go into the academy, he did very well, never regretting his decision to pursue this career.
This praying mom continued to ask the Lord to direct and protect.
As I watched on the side lines again, this young man transitions into a roll where major responsibilities became daily habits. I knew he would do well, as he had been trained to suit up and show up.
After graduation from the academy which was in the big city, he moved back home for a few months to get situated in his new career.
The night before his first day was here and I was questioning for the first time, “is this going to be ok Lord?”
I remember going to bed that night feeling like maybe I should get up early to pray with him before he left, but at the same time I didn’t want to hover.
So I prayed “Lord, if you want me to wake up and pray with him. Please wake me up.”
And went to sleep without setting the alarm. My eyes popped open at 4:48am just a few minutes before he would leave.
I stepped out of my bedroom and as looked around the corner at the exact same moment a completely suited up and armored police officer was stepping down the last step from upstairs.
My son looked ready for game day. You could see the excitement in his posture and face. He looked reliable and ready.
I told him that I was awakened to pray with him before he left.
I remember placing my hand on his shoulder and asking God to give me the the words which came and were not my own, they flowed seamlessly and were a badge of protection over him and his mind. I know in that moment it was a blessing to witness the Lord use my son as one of His own.
Afterward it was time for him to go, he collects his gear to carry out to his truck which is about 50 yards away from the house.
It’s still dark out and he has to make several trips so I decided to pick up his outer bullet proof vest and walk it out to the porch.
It was a heavy load and in that moment it felt real.
If he was wearing this added vest..it meant danger.
My heart felt just as heavy.
As I was watched him walk out into the darkness the reality of his choice began to sink in.
Even though I knew the Lord was hearing my prayers, I saw and felt the realness of this new chapter in front of me.
Our driveway has a parking area at the end of it, there’s a hill that separates the house and yard from it. I was looking out in the darkness beyond that hill for his figure to come back into the light when all the sudden a bright light comes on out there in the darkness.
It was the light given to him for his armor.
My son was not in the total darkness but had a light for his path.
I stood there watching the spiritual implication unfold, as he was walking towards me.
Inwardly praising God for this spiritual reality.
Here’s the truth of the matter -we are all living in a very dark world, filled with uncertainty and potential danger at every corner. But God.
