Be Encouraged Today!

Have you ever, as a child of God, sat back and wondered, “Why am I here again?!” or “Why am I going through this again?!” Have you ever had something that kept reoccurring in your life and not know why? You love God, you want and have a desire to do His Word and Will, and you know His Word — and yet you find yourself at the same crossroads (or similar) over and over again. We pray, we repent, we seek God’s face, we stay in His Word, and yet the same thing — or something similar — keeps popping its head up; it keeps coming back again. The problem is we often repent and truly mean it in our hearts, but we only address the symptom. We deal with the outward sins committed through the members of our bodies — our words, actions, or thoughts — without addressing the root cause that produced them. Where Is Our Faith Placed? The real problem is that we have our faith, our hope, and our trust in the wrong thing. We look to something other than where our faith should be — and that is ...

Before the fall of Lucifer, he was perfect, beautiful, and full of wisdom. There was no other angel or creature wiser than he. And please understand — he still has that wisdom, but it is perverted, and NONE of us mere mortals can outsmart him. We, within ourselves, are easily manipulated and persuaded by him — blown to and fro by the winds of change, doctrines, ideas, and opinions. With this wisdom, though perverted, he has corrupted our world and the lives of untold billions of people who are and will be eternally lost. In his wisdom of manipulation and persuasion, he is artfully cunning and dishonest. We don’t even realize it — we’re deceived. This deception evades even some who say they name the Name of the Lord. This is the reason sin is so subtle; it is elusive to us mere mortals. This is why we all need Jesus. This is why we must have our Faith rooted in the Cross of Calvary. Only then can the Holy Spirit help us see and understand the wiles and tricks of the ene...

The Grace of God is the goodness of God that has been freely given to us by what Jesus has accomplished on the Cross of Calvary. As believers, we can fall from grace. But what does that mean? Many people think that falling from the Grace of God means that one has simply sinned. No. In Galatians, Paul was addressing the demand that Gentile believers be circumcised. The Judaizers were teaching that circumcision (and the Law) was a requirement for salvation. Paul responded that if you add circumcision as a requirement for salvation, then what Jesus did on the Cross is rendered ineffective for you. Galatians 5:1–6 (AMP) 1 It was for this freedom that Christ set us free [completely liberating us]; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery (sin) [which you once removed]. 2 Notice, it is I, Paul, who tells you that if you receive circumcision [as a supposed requirement of salvation], Christ will be of no benefit to you [for you will ...

Faith in the Cross Before I start, I want to say that EVERYTHING that Jesus did and said is of the utmost importance! He did everything that the Father told Him to do. He was obedient even unto death for the remission of our sins. What He accomplished on the Cross reconciled us unto our Father God and made us His children. So why isn’t Jesus’ dying on the Cross of Calvary our source of Faith? Why isn’t our faith in that which took our sin away and set us free? Now, I can hear you saying “My faith is in the Word of God. Jesus is God and in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word is God”. In the beginning before the foundation of the world, The Plan to redeem mankind was formulated; that plan is Jesus dying on the Cross of Calvary. God put in place the Sacrificial System as His way, but the sacrifices of bulls, lambs and/or rams only covered sin so that man could commune with God. All the “types and shadows” were examples of He who...

Everything from God Comes to Us Because of the Cross Everything from God Comes to Us Because of the Cross I know the title is long—it reminds me of some of those long anime titles—but it’s true: everything we receive from God comes to us because of the Cross of Christ. It doesn’t come because we attend church every time the doors are open. It doesn’t come because we read our Bibles and pray every day. That’s not why we receive anything from God. The reason we, as Christians and true children of God, receive anything is because of the Cross. I want to look at this truth from a couple of scriptures: Hebrews 13:20–21 and Ephesians 2:13–18 . These two, among many other scriptures in the Bible, tell us this very thing—everything we receive from God comes to us because of the Cross, because of Jesus’ great sacrifice on Calvary. Hebrews 13:20–21 20 Now may the God of peace [the source of serenity and spiritual well-being] who brought up from the dead ...

I promised to share my thoughts on the Cross of Christ and Sanctification, so I want to address that now. As believers, if we do not understand the Message of the Cross—our faith should be in the Cross of Christ—then we will not be able to live sanctified and holy lives as God intended. Let me explain: if we do not grasp the significance of the Cross of Christ concerning sanctification, we will revert back to living under the law. What do I mean by that? If our faith is not rooted in what Jesus accomplished on the Cross at Calvary for us, we will attempt to live our lives before God by adhering to laws. A law is anything we put in place to live holy and sanctified before God. It can be the Law of Moses, the moral Laws of Moses, or any self-imposed regulations we believe keep us holy and aligned with God’s will. These laws might be created by churches or by ourselves to keep us in check and live holy before God. Sanctification is about living our daily lives before God, and...

The Plan – John 3:16 The Plan – John 3:16 It’s been some years since I’ve posted to this blog. God was dealing with me on some things. I am grateful to Him for chastening me which shows His love for me. I want to speak a little on God’s Plan – Redemption. Redemption is a gift; it cannot be earned, and it involves our turning away from sin and towards God. God made this task simple for us—the offering of His Son, Jesus. I want to come from the verse of John 3:16. I know, I know… We all know this verse; we could probably recite it in our sleep. This verse is one of the first scriptures we all learned in Bible School/Children’s Church. I think that was by God’s design, but not fully realized. In this, I want to bring to full fruition of God’s Plan by breaking down this scripture. It is so simple, but sometimes things can seem too simple… “Surely, it can’t be this simple?!” It is just that – simple. By having our Faith ONLY in God’s Plan, Jesus...