How I came to know Jesus

benotashamed
By: Ron M. of Aurora, CO, USA

I was not married at the time my oldest daughter was born.

My girlfriend and I broke up, and I missed my daughter very much.

I would go into the bathroom and pray that God would return them back to me, and He would remind me of how I would cry and pray. Then He allowed me to remember the pain I suffered when I lost them.

He then asked me, “Do you want to go through that again?”

And, I said “No.”

“Then you need me!”

I ignored that conversation and went on with my life.

One day, a friend of my wife’s came over to update her life insurance policy, because she wanted to put me on it.

I offered him a beer and he said, “I can face reality!”

My thought was ‘what are you trying to say, that I can’t?’

The more I talked to him, the more I didn’t want him in our house.

He told me, “Without the Love of Jesus, you won’t go very far.”

I told him that I had work to do and then he invited me to go to his Church to see a play. I told Him I would go.

I went outside to do the work I had to do.

Just then, the Holy Spirit reminded me of how I used to cry to him and ask him to return my family to me.

I will never forget the last time that I asked God to return my family to me and He didn’t, so I asked Him to either return them to me or send somebody that will love me just for who I am.

To top it off, that day I met my wife! We have now been married 38 years now.

The day came for the play, and I went. They gave an altar call to come and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior and I didn’t go. I told the Pastor after the service that I wanted to go down there, but he didn’t ask me If I wanted to accept Jesus as my personal Savior.

We left the church and went home.

A few months had gone by, and my wife invited me to go to her Church. I told her that I would go on Easter Sunday morning.

I was impressed by the church; it was very nice inside. I didn’t see any saints along the walls. I was a Catholic, so it was definitely different than the inside of their churches.

When the Pastor of the Church started preaching, he said, “What if Jesus would ask, ‘What are you here for? To show off your new clothes? If you are, get out of here, and don’t come back until you are ready to serve me for the rest of your life!’”

After the service was over, my wife asked, “What did you think?”

I said, “I won’t go back there again.”

The following year was one of the most difficult times I had gone through in my whole life. I quit my job and tried working for myself, but God saw to it that I couldn’t get any work. I could not even get a job, and I had very good working skills.

My wife told me to go apply for food stamps, and I said, “No!”

She said that I needed to swallow my pride and go apply the next day. We went, and we were rejected for any public aid.

What a shame that was to me!

As time went on, I was driving down the road and I got a very sharp pain in my blind eye, so I pulled over, got out of the car and laid on the grass.

I went to an eye doctor shortly after that and he said that I would have to have my eye taken out because it would cause more problems down the road for my other eye.

I left there in tears just thinking of losing my eye.

I called my wife and tried to tell her what was going on, but I couldn’t speak, because I just started to cry.

She said, “Don’t worry, God will take care of you.”

That night I went to bed and I fell apart inside and started to remind God of all of the things I had gone through. I said, “Why did you even create me? First, I lit myself on fire, then I had a dart stuck in my eye and went blind in that eye. I couldn’t look at anybody without being put down. I couldn’t even take off my shirt without somebody saying how gross I was, because of my burns.”

I told God to just take my life, because, “I don’t want to live anymore, but,” I said, ”I am sorry for everything I said, I am sorry and that I tried to live life my own way and I need a new life. I want Jesus to take over my life, now.”

Praise God, He gave me a new life!

The next day, my wife called told me to call this other doctor so I did. I explained to him what had happened and he said to come in to his office.

He examined me and said, “Let me relieve you of your heartache. I can save your eye but it will require surgery.”

I had the surgery done and had to spend the night in the hospital. The doctor came to visit me that night to tell me that it appeared to be okay. The next day I was taken down to get the bandages removed.

He said, “Let’s see if you can see.”

After he removed the bandages, I told him that I could see, and it was like the Lord was hugging me, and He and I were watching the doctor working on me. The doctor removed the bandages and I was able to see for the very first time in 25 years!

I am reminded now about how the blind man, in Mark 8:22-26, came to Bethsaida, and the disciples brought a blind man to Jesus and asked Him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Can you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes, and his eyes were opened! His sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

That is what I am looking forward to, the day I can see Jesus with both eyes!

Praise THE LORD for the blessings he has given me.

©2018 Mark Davis

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Riding in Tandem with Jesus Christ

I’d never heard this story until last week in church, our Pastor read it to us, and at that point in time, I knew that I just had to share it with you! It might not be ‘exactly’ the way I would have written it, but it seems to come from the same place where many of us either are at or have been, so I left the integrity of the story where the author, as I know it, meant it to be to reflect their story. So, sit back, and read the story… Oh, and, don’t forget to ‘Pedal’!

The Road of Life

At first, I saw God as my observer,
my judge,
keeping track of the things I did wrong,
so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell
when I die.
He was out there sort of like a president.
I recognized His picture when I saw it,
but I really didn’t know Him.

But later on
when I met Christ,
it seemed as though life
was rather like a bike ride,
but it was a tandem bike,
and I noticed that Christ
was in the back
helping me pedal.

I don’t know just when it was
that He suggested we change places,
but life has not been the same since.

When I had control,
I knew the way.
It was rather boring,
but predictable . . .
It was the shortest distance between two points.

But when He took the lead,
He knew delightful long cuts,
up mountains,
and through rocky places
at breakneck speeds,
it was all I could do to hang on!
Even though it looked like madness,
He said,
‘Pedal!’

I worried and was anxious
and asked,
‘Where are you taking me?’
He laughed and didn’t answer,
and I started to learn to trust.

I forgot my boring life
and entered into the adventure.
And when I’d say, ‘I’m scared,’
He’d lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts that I needed,
gifts of healing,
acceptance
and joy.
They gave me gifts to take on my journey,
my Lord’s and mine.

And we were off again.
He said, ‘Give the gifts away;
they’re extra baggage, too much weight.’
So I did,
to the people we met,
and I found that in giving I received,
and still our burden was light.

I did not trust Him,
at first, in control of my life.
I thought He’d wreck it;
but He knows bike secrets,
knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners,
knows how to jump to clear high rocks,
knows how to fly to shorten scary passages.

And I am learning to shut up and pedal
in the strangest places,
and I’m beginning to enjoy the view
and the cool breeze on my face
with my delightful constant companion,
Jesus Christ.

And when I’m sure I just can’t do anymore,
He just smiles and says . . . ‘Pedal.’

— author unknown”

Excerpt from Holy Sweat (page 51) by Tim Hansel

Tim Hansel didn’t actually write the story but it was included in the book he wrote called Holy Sweat. If you’ve never heard of Tim Hansel, that’s ok, I hadn’t either up to this point but I took it upon myself to find out something about him. I googled him (and the story) and came up with a wealth of information. I’m not going to tell his story here today because I’m here to talk about Jesus taking control of our lives, but I will tell you that if you are anything like most of us, you have had some circumstances happen to you that you feel shouldn’t have because you don’t know what you’ve done to anger God and draw His wrath upon you. That isn’t always the reason that things happen to us.

Let me tell you something, friend, Tim Hansel was a prime example of being handed a truck full of lemons and making lemonade out of it, and then selling it! Most of us would do extremely well to just be able to make lemonade.

I’m sure Tim would tell you that when you feel like you can get no lower or any flatter on your back and you feel that, if there is a God, He has totally forgotten about you, to lift your eyes a little bit higher than the highest mountain that you face and see the God that created the mountains and created you, and see that He is ultimately in control and that, as you most likely have recently realized, you are totally out of control!

So, keep pedaling! Let God do the steering, and let Him have control of the things that you don’t have control over.

In the time that I have personally been disabled (that, now being about 18 years), and having been also slammed onto my back, flat, with no physical control of any part of my body from my mid-chest down to my toes, and then eventually, after having been told that I would likely never walk or move again, I was able to learn how to move the bottom half of my body, although I still don’t feel much there, then later to be diagnosed with an incurable, inoperable, terminal, Stage 4 Carcinoid Cancer, which thankfully is very slow growing and hasn’t advanced much in the last 10 years but always stands ready to threaten my life once again at a moment’s notice.

I knew God and was ‘saved’ before all of this happened to me, but He has a way of using those low points in our lives to wake us up and get our attention (if we are really paying attention to our circumstances) and let us know that He is still there and wants to lead us on to bigger and better things.

Even though I was never fully ‘healed’ of my infirmities, I have learned that God has allowed these things to happen to me so that I can be used of Him.

He has allowed me to be put into circumstances that, if these things had never happened to me, I would never have been able to run into people that He wanted me to be talking to about Him, or to be in places where I would be able to console someone in similar circumstances (in one way or another, but I doubt and hope that no one has the same situation as mine) and to listen to their stories. Sometimes they are in need of guidance that I can give them and sometimes I am the one in need of guidance from them. But either way, I am always blessed to be able to talk to those people and hopefully be a blessing to them.

I learned many years ago that regardless how I feel at the time or whatever condition/circumstances that I find myself in, there is always someone in a worse way than myself and, because of that, I have no right or reason to feel sorry for myself. It may not make all of my pain go away but it puts me in a state of mind where I am not concerned with my own infirmities but rather in tune with others and wanting/willing to help them, even if it is nothing more than just a prayer – which, possibly, might actually be the best ‘help’ that I could be to them because, much like them, I have no more control over their circumstances than I have of my own.

I have also learned that He keeps me in a position where I am always reliant on Him and I can’t make it without Him, whether it is through pain and my physical problems or through my finances. He always keeps me right on the line so that I am always looking to Him for support.

You have probably heard the saying, ‘barely able to keep my head above water?’ I picture someone in water deeper than they are tall and they have their head bent back so that their mouth and nose are barely able to gasp for air, but something else that I see in that picture is the person’s eyes. They are also above water, even though sometimes the water may splash over them and blind them for a second or two, they are above water and which way are they pointing?

They are pointing UP!

I wonder why that could be… maybe to be able to look in the direction of the Creator – the ONLY ONE that has any control to either drain some of the water from the ‘pool’ (for some of us almost all of the water drains out) or to build up the ground beneath us to give us a better toe-hold below them.

But either way, God, our Creator, the only One that can control the winds and the seas or make the hair on our head grow (if you happen to have any), but in any case, He even knows how many hairs you have on your head. He is the one that puts the wind under the wings of the birds of the air or the air in your lungs.

He is the ONLY ONE that has ANY control over your particular situation.

He may keep your head ‘barely above water’ so that He can use you to be the example to someone else to show them how you are able to breathe and ultimately look to God in your time of need and so that they can see how God actually meets your needs!

A dear friend of mine told me this week about how he had been feeling a bit down and he was grumbling to God and others about things going on in his life. He had looked on his phone (that is how he gets his reminders of what to read for his ‘time with God’, otherwise known as ‘devotions’) one morning and saw the link to his daily reading. As he opened it up the top of the page read: “QUIT WHINING!”

Friend, are you missing something in your life right now? Do you feel like someone is just walking all over you and you can’t take it anymore?

Read the story again!

Let Jesus take control of your life right now. If you don’t know how to do that, please let me know on my ‘Contact Page‘ and I will get back with you and we can chat about it, confidentially. But ultimately, friend, please talk to God about it. Turn your life’s controls over to Him and let Him drive your tandem bike on this wonderful ride we call ‘Life’.

If you feel like you want to read some more about this subject, I’ll leave you some more links at the bottom of this page to take a look at. Don’t just let this go though, friend! You can’t do it all on your own.

© Mark Davis 2017

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Do You Have Questions About Salvation?

For those of you that truly do have questions

regarding true “Salvation” vs. false.

Many of you have seen street evangelist Ray Comfort and have seen his valid method of pointing a person toward the Lord (Jesus Christ) by comparing people’s lives to the original 10 Commandments that God gave Moses nearly 4,000 years or so ago, also found in Exodus 20. While Ray uses this tactic he is very confrontational and will normally end up pushing a person away from God rather than drawing them toward God – While I could use the very same approach, I prefer not to due to the conflict that it creates, so I choose to use the friendlier approach and I like to show people right from the Bible just how God laid out His special plan of “Salvation” to save us from a future eternity in Hell. This being said, I will try to spell out for you as easily as I can God’s plan of Salvation as follows:

  • Back at the beginning of our earthly time (not eternity past), God created Adam and Eve (Genesis 1).  While in the Garden of Eden, God told them that they could eat from anything in the Garden except the fruit of one particular tree – the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. For some strange reason, God gave man (and woman; “man” is being used here as a reference to the collective whole of the human race, moving forward) a “free will”… The ability to choose for themselves what they would do. (Genesis 2:17)

Long story short, Eve, then Adam (in that order according to the Bible – Genesis 3:6) chose to eat of the fruit of the only tree that God told them not to, under penalty of death (Genesis 2:17). This death turned out to be an eternal death and the eventual physical death of their physical body as well. (The serpent, otherwise known as Satan, or the Devil, was the one that approached Eve with the temptation to eat of the fruit originally. Revelation 12:9; 20:2) — Satan, or previously known in Heaven as Lucifer, led a rebellion of the angels in Heaven before the Earth had been created and, again, long story short, had a following of nearly one-third of all of the angels in Heaven, and Lucifer said that he could be just as good as God, if not better, and God could not stand for the rebellion (being sin, as it was against God) and threw Lucifer and his following angels out of heaven and eventually gave them the Earth to roam upon until God’s final judgment which is to happen at some future distant time.

We learn later in the Bible that God created a special place for Satan and his angels called the Lake of Fire, or some even call it Hell. Since there will be people which will choose to follow God and some that will follow Satan, God chose that, after the Judgment, for all of the non-God followers to spend the rest of eternity with the Devil and his angels in the Lake of Fire. (Revelation 19:20) – You can figure that it will not be a party, but rather it will be a place of severe torture and pain and it is said that it is a place where “the worm dieth not“! (Luke 16:19-31) There will be no physical death even though people will want to.
— This story could be very long so I am trying to abbreviate it for you where I can. The whole story and more can be found in the Bible.

God wanted man to spend the rest of eternity with Him in Heaven (“I go to prepare a mansionJohn 14:1-3) after His physical death, but since God is perfect and man is sinful, there was no way in our present state for man to enter into the kingdom of Heaven to be with God. So, God could no longer allow man into His PERFECT Heaven. (Habakkuk 1:13)

The Roman's Road to Salvation

The Roman’s Road to Salvation

  • Because we (man) inherit our “sin-nature” (Romans 5:12)– the propensity to sin or break the 10 Commandments in one way or another – some of us worse than others, but all still the same in God’s eyes – Fallible! – and God still cannot let sin into Heaven, none the less! Even if it were only for just a little white lie and that was it… it is still sin nonetheless!
  • God made a way for man to escape the final punishment of eternity in Hell. He chose to come to earth in the form of a man, to be born like a normal man (not an alien coming out of space), to grow up just as a normal child would grow up, and to die the worst death known to man at the time – the death upon a Roman cross, for accusations that were totally untrue and unfounded. (Philippians 2:8)
  • The only real difference between the way He grew up and the way we grow up is that He grew up totally flawless – without sin – none at ALL!!! (Hebrews 4:15) Even though He was tempted just like we are, He never “chose” to sin. (Luke 9:22) This God/Man’s name was Jesus. It is a proven fact, through historians, not listed in the Bible, that He did live and He started what we call today as “Christianity”. The word literally means “Christ-followers” or “Little-Christs” – in other words, we try to emulate what Jesus would do in all situations and actions.
  • One thing that Jesus told His followers was that once He died, He would not just stay in the grave but He would rise again to new life 3 days after (Luke 24:3-8). He died and not just disappear, but He was seen again by more than 3,000 men (not counting women and children) and that was when God allowed us to have His Holy Spirit after we received Him as our Savior. Remember that we are talking about God and that, being God, He can do anything He wants to do – except sin!
    Once we are Saved, He gives us His Holy Spirit to live and dwell with us in our soul (heart as it is known in the “circles”) until we die and are accepted immediately into Heaven. (This is going to be AWESOME!!!!!)
  • The way we know these things is that it is all recorded in a compilation of 66 books together that make up what we call today as the Holy Bible. The way that we know that the Holy Bible is true is that down through the ages – nearly 4,000 years to be nearly exact – there were some people known as “prophets” that God told certain things would happen through history (the advent of Jesus’ birth, His life and His execution included) called prophecy and many of these things have come true as the “prophet” foretold and there are still some that have yet to be fulfilled in the future from now.
  • I will list a few Bible references here (not the only verses that back up these topics but just a few to show we are telling the truth) that will show you some of what I have explained:
    • All men have sinned and are not worthy of going to Heaven: Romans 3:10 – “For there is NONE Righteous, no not one.” and Romans 3:23 – “For ALL have sinned and come SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.”
    • There is a penalty for our sins: Romans 6:23 – “For the WAGES of sin is DEATH”
    • God provided a contingency plan for those of us who WANT it: Romans 5:8 – “But God commendeth His LOVE toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
    • There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that we can do as a “work” that can “buy” our way to Heaven: Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by GRACE are ye saved through FAITH, and that not of yourselves, it is the (FREE) GIFT of God. Not of WORKS lest any man should boast.”

— I have to explain this just a little to make sure that it is totally clear: Grace by definition is: Receiving something that you do NOT deserve. Mercy defined is: Withholding something in the form of punishment that you definitely deserve.

We are saved by the Grace of God – He is offering us something that we don’t deserve because He also knows that there would be absolutely no way that we would be able to actually earn it. We MUST have FAITH that God is real; that Jesus did come to earth and lived and died as He said He would (and did – as the prophets foretold) and that He is in Heaven right now preparing a place for us (John 14:2-3) so that when it is our turn to go, we will have a mansion with streets of solid Gold… I’m getting ahead of myself now. But, returning to the subject, God wanted it to be this way so that there would be NO ONE that could stand up to you and say that they did one thing or another in order to get to Heaven because that would be PRIDE and that in and of itself is a sin… again, it can’t be in Heaven!

God made this entry into Heaven to be FREE – but instead of just letting everyone in that says they are going, He wanted only to have people who really appreciated what He did on the cross and that he took our sins to the cross with him and when He died, He went to God in Heaven and said, now I have paid his/her debt in full – He bought our entry tickets but we have to go to the “will call” and pick them up.

That is the point of a Gift… one has to receive it before it becomes theirs. That is why not just anybody is going to make it into Heaven…

  • In order for us to receive the FREE GIFT of eternal life in Heaven, we MUST ask for it:
    — Romans 10:9-10, 13; “For if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, thou shalt be saved.”

— Again, I think a little explanation is appropriate, but this is somewhat self-explanatory. I don’t know if you have any Catholic background or not, but if you do, you might remember having to go to the priest and make your confessions every so often.

  1. This is something similar to having to do that but much less painful. This means that you first MUST believe that what the Bible says is true
  2. and that Jesus DID come to earth to live and die for us and raise the 3rd day
  3. and took the weight of the sin of the world on Him at the time He was crucified and paid the debt for the whole world to enable them to be able to go to Heaven when we die – and we are never guaranteed another tomorrow, so you better do this sooner than later.
  4. This is what you do – and only do this if you want to receive this free gift of Eternal Life offered by Jesus Christ. Read this prayer with me and mean it with all of your heart:

Pray: “Dear Jesus, I know I’m a sinner. I know that I don’t deserve this free gift of salvation, but I want to go to Heaven when I die instead of going to eternal Damnation and torment in Hell. Jesus, I thank you for dying in my place so that I could go to Heaven and for paying for all of my sins and I ask You, right now, that You would forgive me of all of the terrible sins that I have committed. Thank you, Jesus, for Your forgiveness and enabling me to go to Heaven. Amen.”

The last thing here is not a requirement for entry into Heaven, but, I strongly recommend that you find a good Christian Church and be Baptized according to the Bible (Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:27; Baptism Lesson); and be clear that Baptism does NOT have anything to do with becoming saved, but rather it is to come after salvation and then by being baptism by immersion as the Bible teaches, shows obedience to God and it puts you in front of “your peers” to show that you are taking a stand to do what is right and follow Christ and be obedient to the Bible and what God instructs us to do. This is also the first thing you should do to show that you are willing to be conformative to the instructions of the Holy Bible and the Holy Spirit.

If you feel that you can do this later, please DON’T wait. None of us are guaranteed another breath. Tomorrow may never come. I’m sure that you’ve known someone that has passed away (died) suddenly, as do I, and I know that if something like that might happen to me, I’d be in heaven in the next second. Don’t you wish you had that assurance that you could be in Heaven if you died today? I beg you to pray the prayer above to make sure.  If you still have questions, please don’t leave this site until you have your answers. There are additional articles at the bottom of this article that might tell you in a slightly different way that might give you more information that would clear up your questions. If that doesn’t do it, press the button at the button and you can email me personally your questions and I will do my best to give you the answers you so desperately need in a timely manner.

I also do request that if you have any questions or if you did pray this prayer with me that you would visit my website and let me know. There you will also find many materials including an excellent Bible Study, Growing in Grace by Dr. Ed Nelson, designed for those who have just received God’s free gift of Salvation, but please let me know that you took the time to read this and follow the steps. I can also give you some additional links to more supportive documents that can help you through your new walk in Christ.

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Sincerely,
–Mark Davis

©Mark Davis 2017

 

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Temptation 2

1 Corinthians 10:13
“There hath no temptation taken you
but such as is common to man:
but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that ye are able;
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape,
that ye may be able to bear it.”

Matthew 26:41
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

– James 1:12-16
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:
for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life,
which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

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

Hebrews 2:18
“For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted,
he is able to succour them that are tempted.”

– Ephesians 6:10-12
10″Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might. 
11″Put on the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12″For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Matthew 4:1-11
“Then was Jesus led up of the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil.” 

Ephesians 4:27
“Neither give place to the devil.”

– Mark 14:38
“Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.”

James 1:2-4 
2″My brethren, count it all joy
when ye fall into divers temptations; 

3″Knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience.

4″But let patience have her perfect work,
that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing.”

Luke 4:8
And Jesus answered and said unto him,
Get thee behind me, Satan:
for it is written,
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and him only shalt thou serve.

– 2 Peter 2:9
“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly
out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust
unto the day of judgment to be punished”

Proverbs 1:10 –
“My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.”

– Luke 22:40
“And when he was at the place,
he said unto them,
Pray that ye enter not into temptation.”

Revelation 3:10
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience,
I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation,
which shall come upon all the world,
to try them that dwell upon the earth.”

Hebrews 2:17-18
17″Wherefore in all things it behoved him
to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful
high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
18″For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted,
he is able to succour them that are tempted.”

– Hebrews 4:15-16
15″For we have not an high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;
but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin.

16″Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of need.”

John 16:33
“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.”

©2016 Mark Davis

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Assurance Of An Eternal Heaven

Can I really be sure that I will be in heaven when this life is past? That seems to be the question that concerns us most. I know that various religious people and groups tell me a lot of things and most of what I hear is in conflict with what others say. Is there a way that I can be absolutely sure that I will be in heaven? I don’t want to hear more of man’s theories or philosophies on the subject… I want to be sure… as soon as possible!
Then, I would submit to you that we consult with the One who has set the qualifications for entrance into His heaven. Surely, if He wants us in heaven He will tell us how to get there. Amazingly, God has already given us the rule book (The Bible). The rules are simple and to the point. He has preserved the rules for us through many centuries by giving the message of redemption to special men so they could record God’s Word so we may have it today. There is a battle on right now between God (the Creator and author of the rules) and Satan. Satan supports and distributes lies. He tries to get people to fall for the lies that he promotes. That is why it is so very important to consult the Book of Truth– The Bible. A good reliable translation is the KJV (1611)

Let’s look briefly at the facts that we should know, then we can progress from there…

Fact #1 All people are sinners…

Romans 3:23;
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
Ecclesiastes 7:20;
For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.”
Romans 6:23;
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Death means you will not be in God’s heaven. There will be separation from God for all eternity in hell.
Simply stated, we are kept out of heaven and doomed to be in hell because of our sin problem. Something had to be done to provide forgiveness and cleansing of those sins. Heaven is a perfectly prepared place for a prepared people. So then, no sin can possibly go into God’s perfect heaven.

Fact #2 God loves you…

John 3:16;
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Romans 5:8;
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus shed His perfect, sinless blood so that we can have the forgiveness and cleansing from the guilt and penalty of sin.
Ephesians 1:7;
In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace;“

Fact #3 We must repent and believe that Jesus paid the complete price for our sin.

Acts 16:31;
“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
Romans 10:9-10,13;
9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
John 1:12;
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
John 5:24;
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (note: this is present tense; RIGHT NOW!!!)
John 3:36;
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
I John 5:10-13;
10He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
John 10:28;
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Believing is simply… putting your whole trust in Jesus as the One who died in your place for your sins. On the other hand, it also means that we dare not subtract from His finished work on Calvary’s cross. We must come to Him as a guilty, defiled sinners and receive by faith the gift of eternal life in the person of Jesus Christ, thus making us his blood-bought children and forgiving us the guilt and penalty of our sins.
Ephesians 2:8-9;
8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Some have tried to add to God’s plan of salvation by telling people they must do certain good works or keep certain church ordinances. Works of any sort can never help. Titus 3:5 tells us: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” Nothing can be added to, or taken away from what God has already done to secure our salvation. Our salvation does not become more, or less, secure by what we do or do not do. If it could be of works, then we have not really trusted Jesus by faith as our personal Saviour from sin.

When one is born-again (John 3:7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.), there is a difference. There is new joy, new goals and a new determination to do what pleases our Heavenly Father. We also become aware of those around us that are lost and begin praying that they, too, would soon trust Jesus as their Saviour. The Bible tells us that we are a new creature in Christ by trusting Jesus by faith as our Saviour.
II Corinthians 5:15,17,18;
15And that he died for all, that they which henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again… 17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new… 18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;”

Assurance of salvation can only be a reality when we have been “born-again”.
John 3:3;
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The Holy Spirit now bears witness with our spirit that we are right now, the children of God.
Romans 8:16;
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”
Assurance is based on the promises of God. (not on feelings or emotions). God always tells us the truth. God wants you to have a settled confidence of salvation. Take Him for what He has told you in His word.
John 20:31;
“But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
Romans 8:35-39;
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ephesians 1:13-14;
13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

Claim it by faith. “God said it and I can believe it”. Since you now have Jesus, you are a child of the King. Rejoice, be glad and walk close to your “new-found” friend who will never leave you nor forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5b; “for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”) Get into a good gospel preaching church, be baptized by immersion, and study your Bible, and pray. Grow in the things of God, and serve Him until you are actually in the very presence of the One who planned it all. If you still have not believed on Jesus Christ as your Saviour, I would urge you to settle the issue today. Pray and invite Jesus to be your Saviour and begin that new life. You will be glad that you did.
R.L.D.
©2014 Mark Davis

Continued Reading:

When I Say, “I Am A Christian”!

kneeling in prayer sunset

When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I’m not shouting ‘I’m clean livin’.
I’m whispering ‘I was lost,
Now I’m found and forgiven.’

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I don’t speak of this with pride.
I’m confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I’m not trying to be strong.
I’m professing that I’m weak
And need His strength to carry on.

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I’m not bragging of success.
I’m admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I’m not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

“When I say… ‘I am a Christian’
I’m not holier than thou,
I’m just a simple sinner
Who received God’s good grace, somehow!”

Author: Unknown

©2014 Mark Davis

Read More:

Nominal Christianity

I AM a Christian

I AM a Christian

This is a great write-up on Christianity and what people think are Christians and what makes us a Christian. Many people figure that they have been a good person (generally) and so deserving of Heaven.  Others think that going to church every week – maybe even 2-3 times a week – will get them into Heaven. And yet others believe that being sprinkled as a baby or even baptised as an adult into their particular religion will get them there.

What is it that makes you a Christian — or are you a Nominal Christian (meaning a Christian in name only but not truly on their way to Heaven)? Read this article to find out. If you have any further questions, you can read any of the articles that I feature on my blog that I actually wrote.

Continue Reading:

©2014 Mark Davis

Don’t forget to follow the link and read the story that brought you here in the first place — I’ll know if you don’t… 😉

Reliable Strength

Be Strong and of a Good Courage...  Deut. 31:6

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Deut. 31:6

 

An out-of-towner drove his car into a ditch in a desolated area. Luckily, a local farmer came to help with his big strong horse, named Buddy.  He hitched Buddy up to the car and yelled, “Pull, Nellie, pull!” Buddy didn’t move.

Then the farmer hollered, “Pull, Buster, pull!” Buddy didn’t respond.

Once more the farmer commanded, “Pull, Coco, pull!”

Nothing.

Then the farmer nonchalantly said, “Pull, Buddy, pull!” The horse easily dragged the car out of the ditch.

The motorist was most appreciative and very curious. He asked the farmer why he called his horse by the wrong name three times.

The farmer said, “Oh, Buddy is blind and if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn’t even try.””

Maybe, you might be feeling like Buddy of the story above… You are in a situation (could be anything) and you feel like you are the only one that it is affecting or that you are alone in the situation.

Where are you searching for help?

From Whom are you searching for your help?

If you have put your trust in Christ Jesus as your personal Savior, you never are going through your situations alone again.  You constantly have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you; who never leaves you (Hebrews 13:5), never allows more to come across your path than you can handle (1 Corinthians 10:13), will supply everything that you need (Philippians 4:13). All we have to do is call upon Him – ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-11; Matthew 21:22; John 14:13-14; John 15:7; John 16:23-24)

As Christians, we are supposed to call on God’s name to help you with your situations.

Even though God wants the best things for His children – even the basic necessities that many of us take for granted – He wants us to look to Him for the source of our accomplishments, accommodations and finances.  And, even though God can just think something into existence without us ever recognising where it came from, He wants the credit, and sometimes, when we haven’t given Him the credit for a while, He might just have to wake us up by giving us challenges that we are not personally equipped to handle – but He is – and He just wants you to give Him the credit that He deserves and then to get back on track of looking to Him on a continual basis as He wants you to do.

Sometimes, those who are NOT Christians may be up against something that they are pulling their hair out over and maybe things are too much to handle… you have too much on your plate and can’t do anything about it. God can use those moments to make those who are unsaved to finally look to Jesus as the only thing that can help give him any relief, because everything that they do under their “own” power doesn’t seem to be working.

God is the ONLY strength – the ONLY power that we have, or need!

In our story above, Buddy was tricked to believe that he was pulling with other horses.  In our lives, Satan tricks us into believing that we are pulling by ourselves and that we have no other hope for help and that we have to handle our circumstances all by ourselves.  There couldn’t be anything further from the truth than this.

Jesus tells us to, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest“, in Matthew 11:28.  He actually wants us to let Him do the pulling for us.

God IS the ONLY strength – the ONLY power that we have, or need!

Let Him have control of the situation and give your troubles to Him, today!

©Mark Davis 2014

Continued Reading:

 

It’s Almost Time

Heb. 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:"

Heb 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

 

***A MUST READ***

A man of 32 years, was smoking:
While smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said: ‘God, that’s for you.’

He died at the age of 32 of LUNG CANCER in a horrible manner.

The man who built the Titanic: 
After the construction of the Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be. With an ironic tone he said: ‘Not even God can sink it’.

The result: I think you all know what happened to the Titanic.

Marilyn Monroe (Actress):
She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. He said the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said: ‘I don’t need your Jesus’.

A week later, she was found dead in her apartment.

Bon Scott (Singer from AC/DC):
On one of his 1979 songs he sang: ‘Don’t stop me; I’m going down all the way, down the highway to hell’. On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead.

He had been choked by his own vomit.

Campinas, Brazil (2005):
A group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend … The mother of the friend accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends, said to the daughter, holding her hand, already seated in the car: ‘My Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You.’ She responded: ‘Only if He (God) travels in the trunk, cause inside here…..it’s already full’.  Hours later, news was received that they had been involved in a fatal accident. Everyone had died and the car could not be recognized as to what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was intact. The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact.

To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none were broken.

Christine Hewitt (Jamaican journalist & entertainer):
Christine Hewitt said the Bible (Word of God) was the worst book ever written.

In June 2006 she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle.

Many more people have forgotten that there is no other name that has been given so much authority as the name of Jesus.

Many have died, but only Jesus died and rose again, and He is still alive….

I have done my part – by sharing this with you.

Jesus said:

Luke 12:8-10
8 Also I say unto you,
Whosoever shall confess me before men,
him shall the Son of man also confess
before the angels of God:
9 But he that denieth me before men
shall be denied before the angels of God.
10 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man,
it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth
against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.

Have you ever felt like you were drowning? Like the storms of life were raging, knocking you over, and you were barely able to get back up on your feet before the next wave came crashing in. There is hope for you.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; 
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; 
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, 
and the flame shall not consume you. “
Isaiah 43:2

©2014 Mark Davis

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The Burning Man

And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment -Luke 16:23 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal. - Matt 25:46

And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment -Luke 16:23
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal. – Matt 25:46

Have you ever thought about what would happen to you once you die?  It could be tonite, next week, next year… you never know when – and we aren’t guaranteed another tomorrow.

There are two choices… as the picture says: there is Hell, which is directly related to everlasting punishment.  The other option is life eternal.

How about you?  Are you going to Hell?  If so, or even if you have any question whether you will or not, click on the picture and it will show you how you can know for sure… one way or the other.

It’s your choice — What will it be?

©2014 Mark Davis

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