Tag: salvation

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The journey has begun

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.” Luke 2:4&5 NIV

Mary and Joseph, along with a lot of other people, begin their journeys to the towns they were originally from. Research shows that Bethlehem was a 4 to 7 day walk from Nazareth. For those who have been pregnant, please remember what it was like when you were 9 months pregnant. For those who have not been pregnant, please imagine, if you will, carrying around a 20 pound bowling ball around in front of you everywhere you go. Your back hurts, your feet swell, you become hot then cold then hot again. You are tired and just want to sit down.

Now I would like everyone to imagine being told that you have to go on a journey to a town around 90 miles away. Remember that there were no cars, buses, trains or airplanes to take you, you were going to have to walk or ride an animal if you were lucky. There were also no luggage racks to carry your belongings that you would need while you were gone, so most likely it was packed onto the animal you owned so you didn’t have to carry it. That is why I wrote that if you were lucky you could ride the animal you were taking since it was probably packed down with your belongings and not able to withstand any more weight.

So, let’s look at Mary and Joseph again. Mary is 9 months pregnant, which means it was probably a slow and long journey. She probably walked as much as she could and then Joseph most likely carried what needed to come off of the donkey so Mary could ride on the donkey for a while.

Throughout the years, between when Mary and Joseph made this long journey to Bethlehem and now, we have created this idea of a simple journey from one town to the next. This may have been because we were given very few details about that journey. However, I encourage everyone to think about what the landscape looked like in that time and how difficult a 90 mile journey was on a woman who was 9 months pregnant.

Nothing about the birth of our Savior was easy. He gave up a lot to come to earth, and His earthly parents gave up a lot to have Him and raise Him just as God the Father had planned. As we are now one day closer to Christmas, please keep in mind what Mary and Joseph went through in order to fulfill God’s will in their lives and bring the Savior in to the world.

My question is……Are you fulfilling God’s will in your life?

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The census is ordered

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3. And everyone went to their own town to register.” Luke 2:1-3 NIV

In Mary and Joseph’s time, the government would randomly require the citizens to gather in the towns where they were from to take a census instead of going door to door as they have done in our time. There is a lot of history behind how Caesar Augustus came to power, so the short version is that he conquered all of his enemies and allies, yes I said allies. So now he was the ‘one’ in charge.

The ‘entire Roman world’ had seen war for many years and the war had produced disastrous results in the lives of it’s citizens. So once Caesar Augustus came to power, he ordered that a census be taken so he knew how many people were left and how many he could tax. As it is stated in verse 2, this was the first time in about 12 years that the government had required it’s citizens to gather for a census of this kind.

In verse 3 Luke tells us that everyone followed this order and began traveling to the towns where they were originally from. This is where I want to now focus on Mary and Joseph. Joseph was from the town of Bethlehem. Prophesy recorded in Micah 5:2, stated that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. Jeremiah 23:5 records the prophet Jeremiah prophesizing that the Messiah is to be born of the line of David and Joseph is from the line of David. King David was raised in Bethlehem as was Joseph, so off to Bethlehem they went.

During this time of year, I encourage everyone to read the account of our Lord and Savior’s birth because it can remind us how much He gave up to come to earth to save us.

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Our lifeline

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:12-13 NIV

The prophet Jeremiah was completed his book during the time that the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon. They were in a foreign land and could not perform their religious ceremonies. Yet God was talking to them through Jeremiah and wanted them to know that when they call on Him, come to Him and pray to Him, that He will listen.

At that moment, the ceremonies and rituals didn’t matter. Their desire to be connected to Him is what mattered, so He was willing to listen to them if they sought Him, came to Him and prayed to Him. Their commitment to wanting to be connected was important in this relationship.

As we celebrate Christmas and remember the first arrival of Jesus to earth, we are not bound by religious ceremonies or rituals either when it comes to seeking God, going to God and praying to God. We can be connected to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit when we genuinely seek God.

God knows our hearts and when we place value on our relationship with God, going to Him, He will listen. I am not saying that having traditions is a bad thing, it is a great way, but don’t let the idea of not being able to complete a tradition, ritual or ceremony get in the way of connecting with God. This is the time of year when we are to remember that Jesus left His heavenly kingdom and came down to us as a helpless babe who would grow up to save the world.

Remain connected to Jesus, He is our lifeline.

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Building others up

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29 NIV

Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, addressed several things. Again they were a church body that was very diverse and struggled with unity due to customs that were centuries old. Apparently one area that they struggled with was controlling their tongues. This is a battle for everyone, some people have honed this better than others, but we all struggle with it just like the people in Ephesus. Paul wanted the members of the church in Ephesus to be united in Christ and to help each other grow in their faith, not tear each other down.

As members of the body of Christ, we are to love each other, forgive each other and encourage each other. Jesus taught love, forgiveness mercy, and as His followers, we should be living in that manner as well. This is not only for us, who give love and then receive love, who give forgiveness and then receive forgiveness, but also for anyone who is not a follower of Jesus because they are witnesses to what the love of God can look like.

At Christmas time, we are more inclined to be kinder to each other, we tend to say nicer things to each other than we do at other times of the year. Whatever the reason for this behavior change, I believe that if we can do this during the Christmas season, then we should be able to do it throughout the rest of the year.

I encourage everyone in your prayer time with God to ask for clarity to see if this is an area you can grow in. Even as much as I think that I build others up no matter what time of year it is, I believe I can grow in this area. My challenge to us all is to live our lives so that those around us who are not followers of Jesus are able to see what the love of God can look like.

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Choices

“As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done. “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.” Ezekiel 16:48-50 NIV

In this chapter of Ezekiel, God is addressing the Jewish nation and how they have been treating Him. In these verses He is comparing them to the city of Sodom, where sin and disregard for God were plenty. The Jewish nation had done worse things than the occupants of Sodom and God rained down fire on the city of Sodom as punishment.

In the city of Sodom, the ground was fertile and this resulted in the residents being very successful in the area of agriculture. They residents of the city who were involved in the wealth of the agricultural business had an abundance of everything, the city was an independent city, not needing assistance from other areas. However, there were some among them that had little and those who could share their abundance, did not. The people of Sodom did not worship to the One True God, they worshipped many idols.

The Jewish nation is being accused of worse things than not providing for their poor and needy, which God takes very seriously. As the chosen people of God, the Jewish people knew God and what He expected, the laws that they were to keep. The crime that they committed was to see what the citizens of Sodom were doing, know it was wrong, but do it as well.

God counted this against them, essentially twice. First, when they committed the same wrong acts as the citizens of Sodom. Second, that they knew what was right and what was wrong and chose to follow their fleshly desires and go down the wrong path anyway.

As we draw closer to Christmas and then to the beginning of a new year, I encourage everyone to take some time today and think about the choices you have made over the past week, month and year. Are they the choices you wish to continue making or are they choices you wish you could go back and change? Either way, I pray that you would allow God to be part of your decision making process because He wants to be there with you each step of the way. Have a great day.

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No difference

“For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him” Romans 10:12 NIV

Paul informs the church in Roman that there is no difference to God if a person was a Jew or Gentile, if they called on Him, He blessed them. That is wonderful to hear, that our Lord does not discriminate. He loves everyone no matter what our nationality is, what our skin color is, what our political views are, what our age is, what our gender is, what our physical or mental disabilities are.

It does not matter to Him, if we call on Him, He is there. What matters is what is in our heart towards Him. If we love Him, seek Him, He blesses us and if we listen to Him, follow His lead, He blesses us. This was difficult for some of the followers of Jesus to understand and accept because they had been taught for so long the laws and rituals that needed to occur to be accepted by God. This idea of loving Him and seeking Him and being able to communicate with Him even if they were not a certain nationality or religion took some time to be accepted.

Do you know that God loves you no matter who you are, where you come from, how old you are, what your physical condition is, what your language is or what your religious background is? He loves each and every one of us, you included.

Call on Him today and start a relationship with the Creator of the universe because He loves you and He wants a relationship with you.

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Grace upon grace

“Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” John 1:16-17 NIV

John is talking here about the new way of living that Jesus is introducing to everyone through His ministry, a way of peace, truth, love and grace. The law that was given to Moses was what was needed at that time but was very inflexible. If you broke one law, you broke them all.

Jesus came so that we could have life and life abundantly. Jesus replaced the Mosaic Law with the Law of the Messiah, it came through Jesus and His sacrifice. The law of Moses did not allow for any errors or room for growth through making mistakes. The way of life that Jesus offers is the opposite, it embraces that we are going to make mistakes. That is why there is grace.

Also, God’s supply of grace is endless, He doesn’t give each person only so much grace and once they use it they are out of grace. No, God’s grace is sufficient for all because it is meant for all and it is for all time.

Have you accepted God’s grace? If you haven’t, do you want to accept God’s grace? If so, pray to God and ask for direction, find a friend who is a Christian and talk about Who it is that they follow, find a Bible teaching church and speak with the pastor. Do any of these or all of these, but please do it, your eternal life, where you will spend eternity, depends on it.

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Keep giving thanks

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 NIV

I have written on the 2 verses that precede this verse before. In Philippians 4:6-7, we are instructed by Paul to not worry about anything but with thanksgiving make all of our requests known to God and the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This verse naturally follows as what we are to think about instead of all of the challenges and problems were are facing.

As we end the week of Thanksgiving, many of us have been thinking about what we are thankful for from the big things in our lives down to the little things that we some times or most time take for granted. Having been focusing on the positive things in life for the last week may have changed the mindset of some. I know it always does me good to focus for a while on the positives and push the negatives far from my mind.

So if we listen to Paul at this time, I pray that we would keep our focus on what is true, what is right, what is pure, what is lovely, what is admirable, what is excellent and what is praiseworthy. By keeping our minds focused on these things, I believe that we keep our minds focused on God, because all good things come from God.

I pray everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that as we move forward to celebrating the birth of Christ, our Lord and Savior, that we continue to give thanks and keep our focus on God. Keep giving thanks!

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The Helmet of Salvation

“Take the helmet of salvation ” Ephesians 6:17a

The helmet that the Roman soldiers would have worn in Paul’s time would have been made of metal and covered their necks along with their heads. The helmet would have come across their cheeks leaving the nose and mouth exposed. As the design was to provide as much protection to the soldier as possible, it would have been made custom to fit each man.

When thinking about how a helmet can protect the brain, mind and head of a soldier, it seems appropriate to link the helmet to salvation. Protecting our brain and ultimately our minds from what the world tries to inundate us with is a large task. In Romans 12:2 it is written “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The devil knows our weaknesses and for most of us, those weaknesses have to do with our thoughts. If our minds are distracted, injured, or we lose focus, then our minds are on us, not God. That is the state that the devil wants us to be in because when we focus on ourselves we tend to follow our own logic which can lead to us behaving in ways we wouldn’t if our minds were focused on God.

Our salvation is directly connected to God, that is who gave it to us, so not keeping our thoughts in line with what He wants is dangerous for us as Christians. The helmet of salvation reminds us that we are saved by Jesus and that our thoughts are to be on Him and His will, not on what we think we should do. God has a plan for us that is far above and beyond anything we could ever imagine.

How do we keep focused on God and keep our thoughts from take us away from God? By capturing our thoughts as they happen and evaluating them. Do they line up with what God has said in His word? Are they leading us towards God or away from God? As we put on the helmet of salvation, we should ask God to help us with our thoughts so that we can free our minds from the thoughts that distract us from God and instead we can focus on God and His will.

Have a wonderful day.

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The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace

“and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” Ephesians 6:14c

The Roman soldier’s shoes were not shoes like we know shoes, they were spiked on the bottom and laced up over the calf with leather underneath the lacing to protect their legs as much as their feet. The spikes were for defending themselves if they fell on the battlefield, as they could kick the enemy. The spikes also served as traction while they were upright on the battlefield.

So knowing that the shoes were a weapon that could cause harm, it was surprising to me at first that Paul used them as the piece of the armor that talks about peace. I believe that he did so because as much as the shoes were for battle, they could also be wore by those who are bringing good news and peace to those around them. In Isaiah 52:7, Isaiah was talking to the leaders of Jerusalem and Judah when he proclaimed “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace”.

The good news that both Paul and Isaiah were talking about is Jesus. Those who were bringing the news of salvation and the peace that only Jesus could give to the people of Israel was a large task.

It is a large task now as well, but thankfully the church now is much larger than the church in Paul’s time. Salvation is the only way to have peace, the gospel brings the news of salvation to everyone. We need to make sure that we are carrying the good news and peace to those around us, even the ones who we find hard to be peaceful with. Everyone deserves the chance to choose for themselves if they want to follow Jesus or not, but they can’t really make that decision without having the information.

Who can you tell about Jesus today? Can you walk in peace with others today demonstrating God’s love? You can if you lean on Jesus. He will be there for you, He always is. Have a great day.