LOVE COMES ONLY FROM GOD, GOD IS LOVE

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (NIV)

The reason God wants us to love is because he

is love, and he created us to be like him - to love. The

only reason we're able to love is because God loves us: "Love comes from God ... because God is love"

(1 John 4:7-8 NIV).

We were created in God's image to do two things on earth: Learn to love God and learn to love other

people; life is all about love.

But love all started with God. He loved us first and that gives us the ability to love others (1 John 4:19).

The only reason you can love God or love anybody else is because God first loved you. And he showed

that love by sending Jesus Christ to earth to die for you. He showed that love by creating you. He showed

that love by everything you have in life; it's all a gift of God's love.

In order to love others and to become great lovers, we first need to understand and feel how much God

loves us. We don't want to just talk about love, read about love, or discuss about love; our need is to

experience the love of God.

We need to reach a day when we finally, fully understand how God loves us completely and

unconditionally. We need to become secure in the truth that we cannot make God stop loving us.

Once we're secure inside God's unconditional love, we'll start cutting people a lot of slack. We won't be as

angry as we've been. We'll be more patient. We'll be more forgiving. We'll be more merciful. We'll give

others grace.

But you cannot give to others what you have not received yourself, and so my hope is that, as you learn

how much God loves you, you'll also let him heal your heart so that his love can flow freely through you.

It's impossible to love others until you really feel loved yourself.

LOVE IS AN ACTION

Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. 1

John 3:18 (NLT)

Love is something you do.

You show love by what you do, not just by what you feel.

Love is more than attraction and more than arousal. It's also more than sentimentality, like so many of

today's songs suggest. By this standard, is love dead when the emotion is gone? No, not at all. Because

love is an action; love is a behavior.

Over and over again, in the Bible, God commands us to love each other. And you can't command an

emotion. If I told you right now "Be sad!," you couldn't be sad on cue. Just like an actor, you can fake it,

but we're not wired for our emotions to change on command. Have you ever told a little kid, "Be happy!"

I'm trying, daddy!

If love were just an emotion, then God couldn't command it. But love is something you do. It can produce

emotion, but love is an action.

The Bible says, "... Let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions." (1

John 3:18, NLT) We can talk a good act: 'I love people.' But do we really love them? Do you really love

them? Our love is revealed in how we act toward them.

LOVE IS A SKILL

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is

born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7 (NLT)

Love is a skill that can be learned. In other words, it's something you can get good at and that means you

get better at love

by practicing love.

You may think you're a good lover, but God wants you to become a great lover, a skilled lover, a master

lover. Yet, most people never learn how to love. You can become an expert at relationships.

Wouldn't you like to become known as a person of extraordinary love? When people spoke of you they

might say: "He doesn't care who you are or what you look like." "She doesn't care where you've been or

what you've done or where you're from."

The only way you get skilled at something is to practice at it. You do it over and over. The first time you

do it, it feels awkward, but the more you do it, the better you become.

The same is true with love (1 John 4:7). Let's practice loving each other. As the Bible says, "Practice

these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all." (1 Timothy 4:15, HCSB)

LOVE IS A HABIT

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love

them. Luke 6:32 (NIV)

If you only love on and off, like a light switch, you're not loving like God wants you to love. Jesus said, "If

you only love those who love you what credit is that to you?" (Luke 6:32a, NIV)

His point is - anybody can love those who love them. Becoming a master lover means you learn to love

the unlovable. It's when you love people who don't love you, when you love people who irritate you, when

you love people who stab you in the back or gossip about you.

This may seem like an impossible task and it is - that's why we need God's love in us, so we can then

love others: "... We know and rely on the love God has for us." (1 John 4:16a, NIV)

When you realize how much God loves you - with an extravagant, irresistible, unconditional love - then

his love will change your entire focus on life. If we don't receive God's love for us, we'll have a hard time

loving other people. I'm talking about loving the unlovely; loving the difficult; loving the irritable; loving

people who are different or demanding.

You can't do that until you have God's love coming through you. You need to know God's love so it can

overflow out of your life into others.

Love must become your lifestyle, the habit of your life. Through [the magazine, bundled material] we're

going to learn the habit of love and you're going to become one of God's master lovers.

But it starts with a decision. Are you ready?

Your life is worth far more than you think, and by learning to love others with the love God gives you, you

will have an influence far greater than you could ever imagine. If you will commit to this, you will

experience love as God means it to be, filled hope, energy, and joy.

My prayer for you is "that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and

understanding with your love ..." (Philippians 1:9, NCV)

LOVE IS A CHOICE

... That you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is

your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 30:20, NIV)

Love is a choice and a commitment. You

choose to love or you choose not to love.

Today we've bought into this myth that love is uncontrollable, that it's something that just happens to us;

it's not something we control. In fact, even the language we use implies the uncontrollability of love. We

say, "I

fell in love," as if love is some kind of a ditch. It's like I'm walking along one day and bamm! - I fell

in love. I couldn't help myself.

But I have to tell you the truth - that's not love. Love doesn't just happen to you. Love is a choice and it

represents a commitment.

There's no doubt about it, that attraction is uncontrollable and arousal is uncontrollable. But attraction and

arousal are not love. They can lead to love, but they are not love. Love is a choice.

You must choose to love God; he won't force you to love him (Deuteronomy 30:20). You can thumb your

nose at God and go a totally different way. You can destroy your life if you choose to do that. God still

won't force you to love him. Because he knows love can't be forced.

And this same principle is true about your relationships: you can choose to love others, but God won't

force you to love anyone.

HEART

A man's heart reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19 (NIV)

The Bible uses the term "heart" to describe the bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams,

and affections that you have. Your heart represents the source of all your motivations -- what you love to

do and what you care about most. Even today, we still use the word in this way when we say, "I love you

with all my heart."

The Bible says what is in your heart is what you really are, not what others think you are, or what

circumstances force you to be (Proverbs 27:19). Your heart is the real you. It determines why you say the

things you do, why you feel the way you do, and why you act the way you do.

Physically, each of us has a unique heartbeat. Just as we each have unique thumbprints, eye prints, and

voiceprints, our hearts beat in slightly different patterns. It's amazing that out of all the billions of people

who've ever lived, no one has ever had a heartbeat exactly like yours.

In the same way, God has given each of us a unique emotional "heartbeat" that races when we think

about the subjects, activities, or circumstances that interest us. We instinctively care about some things

and not about others. These are clues to where you should be serving.

Another word for heart is passion. There are certain subjects that you feel deeply passionate about and

others that you couldn't care less about. Some experiences turn you on and capture your attention, while

others turn you off or bore you to tears. These reveal the nature of your heart; listen for inner promptings

that can point to the ministry God intends for you to have.

When you were growing up you may have discovered that you were intensely interested in some subjects

that no one else in your family cared about.

Where did those interests come from? They came from God!

God had a purpose in giving you these inborn interests. Your emotional heartbeat is a key to

understanding your shape for service. Don't ignore your interests; consider how they might be used for

God's glory. There is a reason that you love to do these things.

Listen for inner promptings that can point to the ministry God intends for you to have.

How God Changes Us

From time to time, we all see areas in our lives that we struggle with; areas that we wish could be different. It might be moral failures or habits that have us discouraged. How does God want us to approach those areas? Is there a way to find freedom and real change? Yes. What I have come to understand about God’s grace has made a powerful difference in my life. And I believe it can make a powerful difference in yours.
When you hear the word grace, what comes to mind? I think the best definition I’ve found is by author Joseph Cooke who wrote, “Grace is nothing more nor less than the face that love wears when it meets imperfection, weakness, failure, sin.”¹

What is grace?

It’s that quality in the heart of God that causes Him not to deal with us according to our sins, or to retaliate against us according to our iniquities. It is God’s faithfulness to us, even when we are not faithful. In fact, it is what love must always be when it meets the unlovely, the weak, the inadequate, the undeserving, and the despicable. God is willing to respond to need without reference to merit. It is unmerited favor.
God’s grace pours out love, kindness, favor to all who will trust Him. You don’t have to earn it. You just have to be in relationship with Him to receive His grace.
We most need God’s grace when we become aware of aspects in our lives we know are wrong—things like: poor decisions, habits, behavior that we are ashamed of, areas we want God to change, but where we may fear His condemnation. If we have received Christ into our hearts, we have been declared His own, forgiven, and now under His grace. It is His grace that frees us and changes us. This is why it is so important to know what Scripture says about God’s grace.
We are all aware that inside of us, we have a good part and we have a bad part. We have a part that we want the world to see—when we are on our best behavior. And then we have a part we would rather hide—things we are ashamed of.
We live in culture bent toward self-improvement. We spend a good deal of time and energy analyzing ourselves and trying to figure out how to make the bad part better. We go shopping or to the gym focusing time, energy and money on improving what we consider to be the bad part. And the part we can’t improve, or we haven’t improved yet, we tend to hide.

Hiding in Shame

Have you ever been in a situation where you are getting to know someone, and way down deep inside you say, “I hope they don’t find out this about me?” Or you may tell a good friend, “Please don’t tell anyone this about me.” When we enter our relationship with God, we may think that He is like we are. We think that we need to hide our bad part from Him. However, if we try to hide unacceptable portions of our personality, we can lose touch with our real selves and we can lose touch with God.
God is not like this. His ways are not our ways. He doesn’t accept our good part and reject our bad part. He sees us as a whole person. He doesn’t see us as a split personality. He says, “Don’t try to make your bad part better. It’s impossible on your own. No matter how much better you can make it, it will never be good enough, because I am perfect. Give me your good part and your bad part and let me make you whole.”

How can we experience God’s grace?

It’s difficult to understand grace without understanding the law. We see God’s perfect law, His commands, how He wants us to live…and frankly we often don’t measure up. What do we do with the law, with God’s commands? The law is like a mirror for us. When you look into a mirror you may see a big smudge of dirt on your face that you didn’t know was there. The mirror can’t get rid of the dirt, but you’re really glad you looked at that mirror before you walked out the door. In the same way, God’s law reveals our shortcomings, our sins, and we are thankful to see them, so that we can bring them to God, and God can deal with them through His grace. Galatians 3:24 says, “The law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ that we may be justified by faith.” When we come to Christ we know we need a Savior. The fact is, for the rest of our lives, we will always need a Savior.
Hebrews 4:13-16 says: “And there is no creature hidden from His sight but all things are opened and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore, draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Come in Truth and Humility

We can experience grace when we come to the throne of grace, in truth and in humility. The opposite of coming in truth is when we try to hide and we don’t come to the light.
I’m going to be candid and share an area of my life that I needed to bring to the Lord, to His throne of grace. The whole area of food has been a difficulty for me most of my life. I don’t ever remember being heavy as a child, but I do remember when I was about in 10th grade my friends (who weighed less than I did) complained about how fat they were. And I thought, “If they think they’re fat and I weigh more, I must really be fat!” I think at that time I weighed something like 118. I remember that’s when food started to become an issue in my life. And I would think about what I shouldn’t eat, which made me want to eat it all the more.
And my mother would say things like, “I think you would look better in your clothes if you wouldn’t eat that. Why don’t you try to lose weight?” She even took me to a weight doctor.
When I went off to college, knowing I shouldn’t eat certain things, I would get food and then I would hide it. I would hide Hershey bars in my drawer. One time I had a whole pound cake under my bed. And if someone said you shouldn’t eat that, it would make me want about 10 of them. We had two hamburger places close by to campus. I can remember going to one and ordering a cheeseburger, fries and a coke and eating that. Then I would get in the car and go down to the next hamburger place and I would order another cheeseburger, fries and a shake. I was too embarrassed to get that much food in the same place so I would get it in two different places. And if my time was a little shorter, I would go to one place and say, “Let’s see. I want a cheeseburger, fries and a coke.” Then I’d say, “Now what did he want? Oh yeah, he wanted a hamburger and a coke and fries.” I would act like I was ordering for two people. And I would go out and eat it all. But I hid. And I lied.

Freedom from Hiding

When I came to Christ, He accepted me as I was and gradually through the years there has been a measure of healing in the eating situation. Back then I was a compulsive eater and through the years the Lord has taken most of the compulsion away from me.
But occasionally I will struggle, especially with my thoughts. For example, I knew I was going to speak at a large singles conference at Keystone, Colorado, and I thought, “I’ve got to lose weight by the time I get to Keystone.” I would try and I couldn’t quite do it. So I thought, “Okay, next Monday I’ll start.” And the time was getting closer so about two weeks before I went to the conference, I still wanted to lose about 10 pounds. The more I tried the less I could do. I confided to a dear friend, “You know Kay, I’m really discouraged about my weight. I’m just not doing very well. I’d like to lose about 10 pounds before I go to Keystone.” I told her what I weighed. And she looked at me and said, “Ney, do you think they are going to love you more at that conference if you weigh less?” And I got choked up. And I said, “You know Kay, I think there is something in me that does think that.” And she looked at me and said, “Ney, I love you just like you are. I don’t care how much you weigh.” And I started to cry. My friend Kay demonstrated grace to me as I humbled myself and told her the truth. And you know what? I found a new internal motivation and lost some of that weight.
What the law could not do grace did. In Hebrews 13:9, it says, “It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.” God will do the same for us, if we will come to Him in honesty.
Look at Luke 18:9-14, where Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up into the temple to pray: one, a Pharisee and the other a tax gatherer. The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, ‘God I thank Thee that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers or even like this tax gatherer. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all I get.’ But the tax gatherer, standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift up his head to heaven, but was beating his breast saying. ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exults himself shall be humbled but he who humbles himself shall be exulted.”

Come with Honesty and Faith

If we refuse to humble ourselves and receive His grace, then there is no relationship. As we come to the Lord and tell Him how we are falling short in those areas then He will meet us in that need with His grace. God is not demanding that we change ourselves. Instead He asks us to come to Him in honesty and faith, and cast all our cares on Him. (1 Peter 5:5-7)
The healthiest people are the people who are aware of where they fall short and instead of being defensive, they are able to say, “Lord be merciful to me, a sinner.”
The Pharisees tried hard to be holy, to keep the law, but their motivation was to impress others. Jesus called them “white-washed tombs.” They appeared fine on the outside, but inside they were dead and their hearts were bitter toward Jesus. For example, they went to the extreme to enforce the law “to do no work on the Sabbath.” When Jesus, out of compassion healed someone on the Sabbath they criticized Him for it.
Sometimes it’s easier for us to have a relationship with the law than it is to have a relationship with the Lord. And Satan would much rather we focus on the law (God’s commands) than for us to focus on the Lord.
Do we want to experience God’s grace? We need to come in truth and humility. James 4:6 says, “God is opposed to the proud but He gives grace to the humble.”
Some years ago, a young woman came up to me at the end of a seminar. Her face looked full of darkness and she seemed very weighed down and condemned. As we began to talk, I realized that Christ was in her life, but she had a habit in her life that she was very ashamed of. She had tried and tried to get rid of it, but to no avail. She couldn’t stop it. In spite of all of her vows and effort, she couldn’t stop it. And when this thing happened she felt awful, and she felt condemned. I explained to her that Satan loves for us to sin and he loves to beat us over the head with it and to condemn us. And I asked her if she had ever brought it to the Lord. And she said no. She was so ashamed of it that she had never brought it to the Lord.
I said, “The next time this happens, instead of staying isolated, instead of staying condemned, I want you to use your sin to remind you of God’s love.” I told her the next time she was in the process, she should bring it to the light, saying something like this, “Lord I thank you that I belong to You. Lord, I thank you that You love me. Lord, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin. Lord, I acknowledge my sin, but I cannot do otherwise unless you enable me. Lord, I put my will; I put myself, on the side of You and Your Word. Will you do in me and through me by Your Spirit what I cannot do for myself?”
I prayed with her and together we thanked God for His grace and peace. It was very evident to me that she wanted to turn and repent of this sin and she had. A couple months later I got a note from her because I asked her to write me to let me know how she was. In her letter, she said she had done what I told her to do and she said, “Ney, I am amazed how in these couple of months, everything that was troubling me has dwindled way, way down compared to what it was before.” She had been in the grips of sin but she was outside grace. When she humbled herself before the Lord and before me and she brought her sin into the light of God’s grace, He met her there.

Believe It to Receive It

Hebrews 4:13, “There is no creature hidden from His sight but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Romans 5:20 says, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.” God’s grace is there but we must believe it to receive it. We must take God at His Word that His grace is there, in order to be able to receive it. Someone has said there is absolutely one inescapable condition that must be met if grace is to change a person, which is that God’s grace must be believed. We have to respond to God with an answering trust. And He will act.
If I can know that God is absolutely trustworthy, if I can know that His love is absolutely real, that His kindness is utterly sincere, that His concern for me really does mean an abundant life, then He will do what is His very nature to do. He will reach me way down deep where I really live. His grace can transform me. It can touch the very deepest motivating drives of my heart and He can make me a new person. And this is the very thing that God is committed to doing for us. He says, “I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Hebrews 8:10) God will do in our lives by His grace what the external law could never do.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Transformation is a process. When we trust God and take Him at His Word, He will be free to transform our hearts and minds. But it needs to be understood that this change does not happen all at once. It is a process.
Lewis Sperry Chaffer wrote a very comprehensive book on grace and he says, “The overwhelming testimony of the Word of God is that every aspect of salvation, every blessing of divine grace, in time and eternity is conditioned only on what is believed.”

God Transforms Us by His Grace

How then do we experience God’s grace? We come to the Lord in our weakness, in our inability, in our sin and in our failure. We choose to believe His love and ability to change us, as we rest in His grace. The result is that we grow.
2 Peter 3:18 says, “We grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In the story of the Prodigal son in Luke 15, the Prodigal son left home, squandered his father’s wealth, finally realizing his need and his father’s possible kindness. (vs. 17) “How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread but I am dying here of hunger? I will get up and go to my father and I will say to him, ‘Father I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men.” He humbled himself and he got up and went towards his father. He was truthful when he came back to the father. But you know what? The older brother didn’t like it a bit. The older brother who chastised the father for extending grace to this son represents legalism. Because that older brother was saying, he didn’t keep the laws, he doesn’t deserve your grace. But the father still loved that prodigal son no matter what he had done.
A relationship with God is more powerful than the law. Satan would rather have us be connected to the law in legalism so we will walk around guilty and condemned all the time. But the Lord says in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Under grace we have more than our own resources. We have God’s Holy Spirit enabling us to do His will. The Spirit filled life is moment-by-moment realizing His grace. The Spirit filled life is acknowledging it when I fail and keep bringing it back to God. It is when we take personal responsibility for our sin, and ask God to change us that brings the growth.
On the cross, Jesus died for our sin, for our badness. We were guilty and He paid for the guilt. When we confess our sins, we are taking care of what is wrong and what the cross already pays for. Being a man or woman of God is a matter of being humble and truthful about our sin and accepting His grace and growing.
John Powell said this, “We think we have to change, grow and be good in order to be loved. But rather we are loved and we receive His grace so we can change, grow and be good.”
The only limit to healing in our lives is the degree to which we don’t reveal ourselves. To grow we must hold a commitment to what is true. God’s grace gives us the freedom to face God and face the truth about us in the light of God’s Word. Knowing we are fully loved and accepted by Him, He calls us to come to Him with everything so that He can help us experience freedom (John 8:32) and a more abundant life (John 10:10).

No More Condemnation

I remember a young woman who came to me for counsel. By her description, her stomach was tied in knots, her guilt was overwhelming, and she wasn’t sleeping. She was full of condemnation and incredible fear and humiliation. The reason she was feeling this way was because she had been involved in immorality. She knew God’s word said she wasn’t to be involved in that way. She was caught in a web and she was afraid to tell anyone because she was afraid of rejection. With her head lowered she blurted out the whole story. She didn’t leave anything out because she needed help. She was truly remorseful about her sin. She was repentant. In my presence, she confessed her sin to the Lord and she received His forgiveness and His grace. She told me later that when she came she was in an internal emotional prison. And what she found when she came, instead of rejection, was love and acceptance of her.
A few months later I received a letter. She said, “My chains fell off, the dungeon door flew open, a thousand pounds lifted off of me. I had a sense of freedom and freshness. When I was in your presence I didn’t do anything. It was what you did. It was who you were. You demonstrated His love and acceptance and forgiveness to me.” I asked her at that time to be accountable to me and she later told me that the accountability never felt like a burden. But it felt safe because she was accountable to the person who had extended grace. She went on to get additional help and came to understand her own needs more. She said grace became more than theological when she experienced it.
The law that is good, holy and perfect had revealed her sin like a mirror. She humbled herself. She confessed. She told the truth to herself, to me, to the Lord. And it was in the coming that she received the grace for her in time of need. Bringing her sin to the light and to the Lord in humility and in truth allowed her to receive His grace and set her free to grow.
Think of your own area or areas where you feel condemned or you fear rejection…where you don’t feel like you are perfect. We need to come to Him in humility and truth where we are falling short of God’s law. There is no need to hide. There is no need to lie. There is no need to be condemned.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do…God did by sending his own Son…in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4)
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1Peter 5:5-7)
“If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?….Is it Christ Jesus…who indeed intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?….For I am sure that neither death, nor life…nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-39)
¹Free For The Taking – The Life-Changing Power of Grace, by Joseph R. Cooke (out of print)
Excerpted from a forthcoming book with WaterBrook Press. Copyright © 2004 by Ney Bailey. All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission. The sharing of this article with another individual is permitted, if accompanied by this copyright notice.
Ney Bailey is the author of Faith Is Not a Feeling. WaterBrook Press.

Getting Into Grace

Getting Into Grace

      A family from a remote area was making their first visit to a big city. They checked in to a grand hotel and stood in amazement at the impressive sight. Leaving the reception desk they came to the elevator entrance. They’d never seen an elevator before, and just stared at it, unable to figure out what it was for.

An old lady hobbled towards the elevator and went inside. The door closed. About a minute later, the door opened and out came a stunningly good-looking young woman.
The Dad couldn’t stop staring. Without turning his head he patted his son’s arm and said, “Go get your mother, son.”
It’s just a joke, but transformation is what we’re dealing with today. Not just change, but more than change, transformation, metamorphosis; the conversion of our hearts and minds and souls.
That’s where Paul takes us in Romans. After receiving God’s grace there is still the struggle of living in a holy manner. In Romans 7, Paul discussed the difficulty of receiving grace and not living by grace. “I do the things I don’t want to do and I don’t do the things I know I should do.” As long as we continue to live in the flesh, we will have that struggle. What’s the solution?
Let’s start with God and the beginning of all things by going back to creation. God made everything and this is God’s estimation of it:

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” Genesis 1:31. (NIV)

“It may seem obvious at first, but this statement is actually quite radical. By claiming that creation is good, the Bible places itself in contrast to a number of religions and philosophies that hold that this earth upon which we live is, at best, irrelevant, or, at worst, evil.
Biblical faith however, declares that the world God has made is good. Creation is very good, not evil.  It is the environment in which God created us to prosper and thrive” (Mark Sayers, The Vertical Self); this is the home that God created for us to live in with him and the whole of creation. Yet, sin removed us from the good and moved us into the bad and as Romans 9:19-22 tells us, the creation is suffering because of human sin as well.
Things were good until sin entered the world and corrupted everything. As we said before, you weren’t born with sin. Sin is not your natural way it’s not in your spiritual or physical DNA. You didn’t inherit it from Adam and Eve, but like Adam and Eve, you had a choice and you chose wrong. You sinned by choice and that is how sin entered the world and how sin became a part of your life, by each and every individual’s choice.

In Christ, through his death and resurrection and by means of your faith, you are freed from sin, and set apart able to live a holy and righteous life pleasing to God. But until we get to heaven, we still struggle with temptation and sin and don’t always accomplish the will of God in holiness.

Paul gives us the solution beginning with chapter 12 through the rest of the book. It’s here that he gets really practical.
CLIMB UP AND BECOME A SACRIFICE – Romans 12:1 “
We are to be “living sacrifices.” That’s kind of a contradictory term. The sacrifice is usually killed and prepared before it is sacrificed. The life of the sacrifice was the sacrifice. Its death was the substitution for the person’s sins it was sacrificed for. But we are to be living sacrifice. What’s that mean?
Begin with this thought: Reconciliation rarely occurs without sacrifice. By giving his one and only Son, God took the initiative in healing our broken relationship with him. He made the supreme sacrifice for us that we might be reconciled to him. Jesus’ death was the sacrifice for your sins, yet he lives. His death makes it possible for you to be saved, to be reconciled to God, to fix the broken tie that sin caused between you and God.
Remember, you were dead in your sins, but in Christ you have life. You were dead and buried in baptism and coming out of the water came out alive, reconciled to God. You are now his child, you have been saved by God’s grace. You gave your life to God; you are a living sacrifice, pure and holy – holy and pleasing to God (as the verse tells us).
That is a decision, an attitude, and a determination.
You can’t be a living sacrifice unless you choose to be. It is your decision. You have to choose to be holy to God. As we will see, he will enact the transformation with your decision and your effort and you will become this living sacrifice and will show God’s holiness.

Unless you are holy, you cannot be a sacrifice to God . . . at all. We see this in the story of Israel. God called his people for a special purpose.  Israel was to be a holy people whose embodiment of God’s values would speak to the nations of the world. He called Israel to be a living example of the way he wanted the world to be.

Christians, the church is spiritual Israel and we have the same purpose in this world, to embody God’s holiness as a witness to the world. Yet, we have to decide to become what God has wanted to do in us all along.
At the same time you have to want to be that way. You can decide something all day long, but if you don’t want to do it or be that way, you either won’t or your heart won’t be in it. And if you do it, you are just going through the motions. It has little or no meaning to you.  You’re just “doing it,” not “being it.”
Your attitude, your motivation matters. It is so much more than doing the right thing, it is having right attitude, the correct motivation just like the Sermon on the Mount teaches us. See if these words capture the right attitude?

• Thankfulness and Gratefulness
• Joy
• Peace
• Harmony
• Hope
• Mission and ministry
• Calling
• Who you are in Christ

And with the elements of choice, attitude, and determination to become who God wants you to be and calls you to be, while he works in you – you also work through his strength, his gifts, his Spirit, and as we shall see from verse 2, his word.

BipolaR DisordeR!?

Wanting to Share the following article by Marja Bergen who suffers from Bipolar Disorder: Finding meaning in a life with bipolar disorder

By Marja Bergen Mental illness is not all bad. I have lived with bipolar disorder for over forty years and have found it has many benefits. I couldn't imagine living without it and am not at all unhappy with my life. In many ways, I value what this illness has made possible for me. With effective medication to keep symptoms under control, people with bipolar disorder can live a close-to-normal life. Yes, moods will fluctuate and cause occasional problems, and treatment will need adjustment. Suffering will always be part of my life. But I accept the way God, the Great Potter, made me. I am rich on many levels. Like many people with this disorder, I am very creative. I receive a lot of pleasure from photography and using my imagination. The deep emotions I experience, although painful, are a source of richness; I feel completely human. My frequent hard times have helped me appreciate the good times and I make the most of them. Spiritually, I'm stronger for having had to deal with great trials. The fires I've passed through have refined me. Most of all, I appreciate the compassion I am able to have for others who suffer from depression and other mental health issues. Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 1: 4 hold true for me. I praise God �who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received.� God has shown me his love, and I want to pass that love on to others. Over the past few years, I've been fortunate to be part of a church community that has supported me and helped me grow spiritually. With the Christ-like love they have shown me, I have come to understand how great God's love is. In turn, I now help others through a support group and one-on-one, in person and through my blog. I feel fulfilled. The language of suffering I've learned helps me connect with people in trouble. I am able to understand them in a way many others could not.

I feel a bit like Patch Adams in the Robyn Williams film. While Patch is a patient in a psychiatric hospital, he discovers his ability to connect with people. He learns to understand his severely disturbed roommate to see the person behind the illness and helps him through his problems. Not only does this delight Patch, it makes him a well man. Patch eagerly tells his doctor he is well and needs to leave the hospital. I connected to another human being, he said. I want to do more of that. I want to learn about people. I want to help them with their troubles. I want to really listen to people. Connecting with other people gave Patch joy. It gives me joy, too. When God places you in this role a role he made for you joy happens. Walking with people through some of their toughest times is rewarding and a privilege. Bipolar disorder will always be with me, and I suffer many high and low moods. But, I don't feel I'm a victim of the disease. God has helped me find a way to make my illness work for me instead of against me. 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' (Jeremiah 29:11) God has a plan for each of us. Though we might have a severe illness such as bipolar disorder, God has work for us to do. Eventually, we can use what God has given us even the bad and turn it into something good. Marja Bergen is the author of Riding the Roller Coaster: Living with Mood Disorders (Northstone, 1999) and a new book for Christians about living successfully with bipolar disorder (to appear). She is the founder of Living Room, a faith-based Mood Disorders Association of BC support group. Her blog, marjabergen.blogspot.com, deals with mental health and faith issues. She can be reached at info@candidsbymarja.com.

Suicide??

Question: "What is the Christian view of suicide? What does the Bible say about suicide?"
Answer: The Bible mentions six specific people who committed suicide: Abimelech (Judges 9:54), Saul (1 Samuel 31:4), Saul's armor-bearer (1 Samuel 31:4-6), Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23), Zimri (1 Kings 16:18), and Judas (Matthew 27:5). Five of them were wicked, sinful men (not enough is said regarding Saul's armor-bearer to make a judgment as to his character). Some consider Samson an instance of suicide (Judges 16:26-31), but Samson's goal was to kill the Philistines, not himself. The Bible views suicide as equal to murder, which is what it is—self-murder. God is the only one who is to decide when and how a person should die.

According to the Bible, suicide is not what determines whether a person gains entrance into heaven. If an unsaved person commits suicide, he has done nothing but “expedite” his journey to hell. However, that person who committed suicide will ultimately be in hell for rejecting salvation through Christ, not because he committed suicide. What does the Bible say about a Christian who commits suicide? The Bible teaches that from the moment we truly believe in Christ, we are guaranteed eternal life (John 3:16). According to the Bible, Christians can know beyond any doubt that they possess eternal life (1 John 5:13). Nothing can separate a Christian from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39). If no “created thing” can separate a Christian from God’s love, and even a Christian who commits suicide is a “created thing,” then not even suicide can separate a Christian from God’s love. Jesus died for all of our sins, and if a true Christian, in a time of spiritual attack and weakness, commits suicide, that would still be a sin covered by the blood of Christ.

Suicide is still a serious sin against God. According to the Bible, suicide is murder; it is always wrong. Serious doubts could be raised about the genuineness of faith of anyone who claimed to be a Christian yet committed suicide. There is no circumstance that can justify someone, especially a Christian, taking his/her own life. Christians are called to live their lives for God, and the decision on when to die is God’s and God’s alone. Although it is not describing suicide, 1 Corinthians 3:15 is probably a good description of what happens to a Christian who commits suicide: “He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”

I get asked this question quite often. This is not a question that is easy to answer without going deep into theology. The reason for that is simple. If the person who commits suicide does not know Jesus Christ as their Savior before they commit suicide, then they are lost. (Hebrews 9:27 NIV) Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment - There are no second chances. The state you are in when you die is the state you will remain in for eternity.

If the person who commits suicide has previously accepted Christ as their Savior then you come to a deep theological question. Can a person who is at one time saved ever come back under judgment?

Let me explain right up front that I don't believe a person can lose their salvation. In other words I don't believe anyone who has truly placed their faith in Jesus Christ will one day wake up and realize that they are no longer saved. That may sound like the standard Calvinistic belief but it is not. I am not saying that I don't believe a person who accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior cannot turn from life and again choose death, I am saying it won't happen and then be a surprise to the person.

People who believe that a person once saved cannot ever come back under judgment usually believe this because they say that when you are saved your sins are forgiven past, present and future. Okay, I might even be convinced of that, although I wonder what the purpose of 1 John 1:9 is? (1 John 1:9 NIV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. This passage was written to Christians.

My premise for believing that a person once saved can still fall into judgment at the hands of God, is that God gave us free will. I don't believe that God takes away our free will when we are saved. I believe we have to choose each and every day whom we will serve; ourselves or God.

Let's look at another passage: (John 10:27-30 NIV) My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. {28} I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. {29} My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. {30} I and the Father are one." Notice that Jesus says no one can snatch us from His hand. But is that the same as saying I will never let them go? I don't think so. I don't think Jesus is saying that we cannot choose to leave our position, I believe He is saying that Satan nor anyone else can cause you to lose your salvation. We are secure as long as we want to be secure.

I will get into more verses in a few moments, but I want to just look at this logically for a moment. If a person truly comes to faith in Jesus Christ and then finds that they don't want to continue to serve Him. They don't want what God has offered them any longer. Maybe they even come to a crisis in their life and decide that they don't believe anymore that there is a God. In essence they reject God one way or another. When they die, will God force them into heaven because they believed at one instant in time but not after that? I don't believe so. Why would God force anyone to live with Him for eternity if they have decided that they don't want to?

I am not a theologian, I am just a former street cop and that is how I view the scriptures. I have prayed for wisdom and discernment and asked God to open my eyes to what His word really says. I must admit He has helped me, and to my surprise what He has shown me is that His word says exactly what it means and means exactly what it says.

How were the Old Testament saints saved? By sacrifices? No by faith in God to provide a Redeemer to take away their sins. The sacrifices were just a visual manifestation of that faith. How are we saved today? By faith that God did send that Redeemer to take away our sins. His name is Jesus Christ. So you see we are saved exactly the same way the Old Testament believers were. Since we know that to be true and we know that God never changes: (Hebrews 13:8 NIV) Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Then we should be able to see from both the Old Testament and the New Testament how God treats those who willfully turn from Him.

First let's look at the Old Testament. (Ezekiel 18:23-28 NIV) Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? {24} "But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die. {25} "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? {26} If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die. {27} But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life. {28} Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die. God does not pull any punches at all, He clearly says here that if a righteous man turns away from Him, He will not remember the righteousness any longer. He also states that He does not take pleasure in death, but wants everyone to come to Him.

Many people try to claim that because the Old Testament was written under the old covenant and because we are under the new covenant you can't take passages like the one in Ezekiel and use them. However, it is very interesting to hold that up to the light of Scripture. I am sure most everyone has heard of the Bereans. Look closely at this passage about them: (Acts 17:11 NIV) Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Now my question is this; what Scriptures were they judging what Paul said by? It had to be the Old Testament, since the New Testament was not written yet. So for instance if Paul preached that once a person was saved they could never turn away and come back under judgment wouldn't the Bereans have read Ezekiel and denied what Paul said?

Now let's go to the New Testament and see if God has changed: (Hebrews 10:26-27 NIV) If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, {27} but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. If a person deliberately keeps on sinning, would it not stand to reason that they have made a choice to turn away from God? This is not the same thing as being caught up in a sin and stumbling, it is making a choice.

1 John 1:10 makes it clear that we all stumble and sin and that God is faithful to forgive us, but verse 9 clearly shows that we must confess those sins. If we choose to continue sinning, then we are not truly confessing our sins, which implies remorse and turning from those sins.

I don't believe that God has the book of life open on His lap at all times with a bottle of white out waiting for us to stumble. He knows our flesh is weak, yet He loves us. Remember He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. On the other hand I don't believe you can make a fool of God either. I don't believe you can accept Christ as your Savior and then go back to living like the world day in and day out, rejecting everything which is holy and pleasing to God and God has no choice but to allow you to enter heaven upon your death.

When a person contemplates suicide they are standing at a cross roads. Down one road is living on in the pain and depression they feel, but it also includes realizing that God is sovereign and our days are ordained by Him alone. It also leads to help through God's promises. He does not want us to be depressed and in pain, but He does want us to come to Him and ask for His help and then believe that He will help us. Down the other road is death on their timing not God's. It is saying that the person doesn't care what God wants, they want what they want, when they want it. It is also saying that they don't think God cares enough to help them through this time of hurt and pain, or maybe it is that they don't think God is powerful enough to save them.

The point is that the cross road is a choice that they have to make. Do they reject God and His plan for their life in favor of their own, or do they get on their knees and accept God's plan for them and His help which He has promised over and over again to give them?

Don't let Satan fool you into thinking that just because you have accepted Christ as your Savior you can take your own life and God will welcome you with open arms into His presence. If God chooses to do just that, then it is His decision and He is just, but would He be any less just to deny you entrance? I don't think so and that question alone should be enough to stop you cold. The other thing that should stop you cold is your love for Christ. If you truly have the relationship you think you have then you should be putting His feelings and His will above your own.

As I have been careful to say in this article I believe if you choose to reject God then He will allow you to do so. I have stated more then once it is a choice, so now let me address another issue. If a person is not able to make a choice then I don't believe any of this applies to them. What I am saying is that if a person is chemically imbalanced or mentally impaired in some way so that they can't make a legitimate choice, then I don't believe God would hold any actions they commit including suicide against them. But if you are here reading this trying to find a loop hole so that you can kill yourself and still be sure you will go to heaven, then you are showing the ability to make that choice and I believe God will hold you accountable accordingly.

If you are reading this and you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then none of this applies to you either. If you die whether by your own hand or by some other cause it does not matter, you will be lost for eternity. At judgment you will be judged first for not accepting the free gift of salvation that God offered you. Then you will be judged on what deeds you did while you were alive, good or bad, everything you have done will be exposed and you will be punished according to those actions. Nothing you have done will be good enough to get you into heaven. Only the saving blood of Jesus Christ can hide your sin so that you will be acceptable to God.



How To Help Someone Find God Without Them Rebelling

How To Help Someone Find God Without Them Rebelling

Many times it's easier to reach a total stranger for the Lord, leading them to salvation, than it is to reach one of our own family members. It's because the Holy Spirit has already been preparing them in their heart. When we work along side the Holy Spirit, planting seeds from God's Word into a person's heart, watering them and watching the Holy Spirit increase their faith, we see their periods of rebellion or lack of interest. Even though at times we become concerned we must speak words of truth as God sees the situation; holding onto our faith for their salvation. The process that the Holy Spirit takes to prepare a person for a secure, sound relationship with the Lord is based on each individual's background, personality, mental capacity etc. Therefore it's seems slow to us; much slower that our patience wants to allow. As long as that person will stay in your presence there is great hope. There have been cases when the person has left the relationship only to return as a new person. Never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit in what He is able to do with the godly seeds that plant; because as the Lord told Jeremiah: I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled." Jeremiah 1:12 When you talk to someone about the Lord to lead them to salvation, speak only of the greatness of God, the good things He brings to human life and what He has personally for them; things like good health, financial prosperity, God's will for their future, etc. Speak with thanksgiving to God for what you have, even for the fact that God has brought this person into your life. Let them know how He has released you from Satan's captivity and he will release them also. Let them know that God has always had his eye on them and has made wonderful plans for their future. Jeremiah 29:11-14 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon 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. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity. Speaking the positive things in the Bible gives a person hope. Never give a person the do's and don'ts that we all know the Bible is full of; it puts Christianity into what I call a "Keep the rules and God will love you" relationship with God. So many Christians promote this type of teaching instead of doing what they are supposed to do: preach the Gospel. Mark 16:15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. As a person yields to the love of Jesus, they will grow into a place of righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not something a sinner, or even a young Christian just starting out, should be burdened with. We're not to clean up our own sins before reaching out to be saved, and we surely will make many mistakes after salvation just because we're human and are easily influenced by the world. Isaiah 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. Learning to do the right thing is a process brought about by giving ourselves daily in devotion to the Lord along with the Holy Spirit's leadership to make us holy. He works with us instilling a desire to please God and to be obedient to His Word. When a Christian is having trouble with sin and temptation in their life they are simply not spending enough time with Jesus. People act like the person they spend time with. When trying to reach someone for the Lord, talk about God's love, how great the things were that Jesus did and how He helped people etc. Talk about heaven, its description starts at Revelations 21:1. Pull out some of the more interesting scriptures that could be entertaining to them and use them at fitting times. Even though it's not the Word you'd like them to receive, it gets them used to hearing scripture in a way that doesn't offend them. Proverbs has some that might fit a situation you are aware of. Proverbs 20:29 The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old. Proverbs 11:22 Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion. Proverbs 21:9 Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. You can find many stories that are interesting that have nothing to do with their life such as: Tax Money in the Fishes Mouth - Matthew 17:24-27 The Lord Made the Shadow Go Back Down Ten Steps (2Kings 20:8-11) The Ax-head Fell Into the Water and Floated (2KI 6:3-7) Elijah Proved To the People the Lord Is God (1Kings18:20-39) The Ark of God Destroyed the Philistines God Dagon in His Own Temple (1Samuel 5:1-5) Jesus Feeds Over Five Thousand with Five Loaves and Two Fish (Matthew 14:15) Getting scripture into a person is the best way for them to receive faith, but if a person doesn't respond to talking about God then give them short lessons about "life according to the Bible" without mentioning God. Take stories from your daily life and apply some godly insight, talk about how that situation should have been handled. The Holy Spirit will draw them through the message of righteous living. Pray about what you should say to people. It's the best way because the Holy Spirit knows exactly what will mellow their heart. Continually let them know God loves them because that is the real story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 12:30-32 Jesus said ...Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. When we present the Gospel of Jesus correctly, who he was and what he did, and everything that God designed for building up our faith through his overcoming power; then we'll draw people into a loving relationship with our Lord. We should never make a person feel condemned. Talking about their sins is not our job. As we lift up Jesus, planting seeds of goodness and mercy into people's hearts, the Holy Spirit will reveal their sins to them and lead them into salvation. A sinner already feels condemnation we don't need to point out their sins. What they need is the love and compassion of Jesus; that's something they don't receive from other people. John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. When We Act In Love It Draws People To The Lord We must act with the love of God when helping people enter and grow in His kingdom. We see the quickest results when we use patience, kindness, compassion and understanding; recognizing that their faults differ from ours and help them to overcome. Lifting them up and encouraging them to reach out for the things of God so the Holy Spirit can do His good works in their life. We are to use the Word of God to help others; building their faith just as we use it to build up our own faith. Romans 10:17.. .faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Faith is what pleases God and activates the movement of the Holy Spirit to make changes in a person's life. 2Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. As we learn God's ways we mature and get tough, desiring correction because we see the benefits it has brought to our lives. Many people, on the other hand, are tender and only feel hurt when they're corrected. We must be careful with them so they don't become discouraged. (Titus 2:1-8) 2Timothy 4:2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-- with great patience and careful instruction. The Holy Spirit Works To Draw Us Into All The Goodness Of God People do not have, within their human ability, the strength to obey rules that make them righteous. They can learn right from wrong, and many people do their best to do what's right, but God's rules are spiritual. It takes revelation and insight, which is given to a person by the Holy Spirit, to maintain the righteousness of God in their lives. It's the drawing of the Holy Spirit that brings a person to salvation, which is found only in Jesus Christ. John 6:43-44...Jesus answered. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Our next step in the process of salvation is water baptism. Jesus said water baptism fulfills all righteousness. Matthew 3:15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. When Jesus was baptized it was His obedience to the desires of God that John was already producing by baptizing others; which was rooted way back when God saved Noah. It was the beginning of his ministry. From them on Jesus began to show us a better way to live, not under the Law but under grace. He showed us God's love and how to live in God's righteousness. He taught us what was available to us from the Father and how to receive it by faith and living holy. Our obedience to the act of water baptism is like us putting a seal on the salvation Jesus has just given us. It's our pledge to God as well as the world that we have renounced the old sinful life and are beginning a new life in Jesus Christ; which will become our ministry. 1 Peter 3:18-22 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand--with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. When we're baptized in water, we're announcing that we have a new life and our old sinful nature is dead. Our standards have changed and we will think, speak and act according to God's way of living. We commit to continue in the righteousness which our Lord has given us. Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. Once we are established in our new life, we have a covenant relationship with God. As we study the Bible to find out what benefits belong to us the Holy Spirit gives us revelation, transforming our natural mind into a spiritual mind that thinks Gods way. Romans 12:1-2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will. As we begin practicing obedience from what we've learned and confess what the Bible says we can have, God fulfills his part of the covenant and we receive physical as well as spiritual rewards from our Lord. Hebrews 11: 6...without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. It takes the Holy Spirit working with a person to change their heart into a heart that will accept the things of God. We are to be helpers of the Holy Spirit, planting seeds that He can produce growth in the heart of another human being. Leading a person into righteousness is not trying to get them to give up their sins to follow God's rules. Most people are comfortable in their sin, and they don't realize that there's a better way because they've never experienced it. As we show someone the goodness of God, the Holy Spirit will convict a person of their sins and eventually lead them into a place where they desire to change their life and receive salvation. It may seem like a slow process, but it works. If we are consistent in planting small seeds and we let the Holy Spirit do His work while we stand by giving people love and encouragement, that person is less likely to rebel. It gives them a solid foundation of love for their salvation from us and God and they are less likely to backslide. When we show them God's love, it won't be long till they respond; no one can resist an abundance of love and compassion.

Find God-Here's how!

Knowing God Personally

Find God - What does it take to know God? This will explain how you can personally begin a relationship with God, right now.

What does it take to begin a relationship with God? Wait for lightning to strike? Devote yourself to unselfish religious deeds? Become a better person so that God will accept you? NONE of these. God has made it very clear in the Bible how we can know Him. This will explain how you can personally begin a relationship with God, right now...

Principle One: God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life. God created you. Not only that, he loves you so much that he wants you to know him now and spend eternity with him. Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."1 Jesus came so that each of us could know and understand God in a personal way. Jesus alone can bring meaning and purpose to life. What keeps us from knowing God? ...

Principle Two: All of us sin and our sin has separated us from God. We sense that separation, that distance from God because of our sin. The Bible tells us that "All of us like sheep have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way."2 Deep down, our attitude may be one of active rebellion or passive indifference toward God and his ways, but it's all evidence of what the Bible calls sin. The result of sin in our lives is death -- spiritual separation from God.3 Although we may try to get close to God through our own effort, we inevitably fail. This diagram shows the great gap that exists between us and God. The arrows illustrate how we might try to reach God through our own efforts. We may try to do good things in life, or earn God's acceptance through a good life or a moral philosophy. But our good efforts are insufficient to cover up our sin. How can we bridge this gulf?...

Principle Three: Jesus Christ is God's only provision for our sin. Through him we can know and experience God's love and plan for our life. We deserve to pay for our own sin. The problem is, the payment is death. So that we would not have to die separated from God, out of his love for us, Jesus Christ died in our place. The Bible states that Jesus is "the image of the invisible God...by him all things were created...."4 Jesus was crucified for blasphemy -- for clearly identifying himself as equal to God -- which he was. On the cross, Jesus took all of our sin on himself and completely, fully paid for it. "For Christ also died for sins...the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God."5 "...he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy."6 Because of Jesus' death on the cross, our sin doesn't have to separate us from God any longer. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."7 Jesus not only died for our sin, he rose from the dead.8 When he did, he proved beyond doubt that he can rightfully promise eternal life -- that he is the Son of God and the only means by which we can know God. That is why Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one can come to the Father except through me."9 Instead of trying harder to reach God, he tells us how we can begin a relationship with him right now. Jesus says, "Come to me." "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me... out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."10 It was Jesus' love for us that caused him to endure the cross. And he now invites us to come to him, that we might begin a personal relationship with God. Just knowing what Jesus has done for us and what he is offering us is not enough. To have a relationship with God, we need to welcome him into our life...

Principle Four: We must individually accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The Bible says, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."11 We accept Jesus by faith. The Bible says, "God saved you by his special favour when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it."12 Accepting Jesus means believing that Jesus is the Son of God, who he claimed to be, then inviting him to guide and direct our lives.13 Jesus said, "I came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly."14 And here is Jesus' invitation. He said, "I'm standing at the door and I'm knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in."15 How will you respond to God's invitation? Consider these two circles: Self-Directed Life Self is on the throne Jesus is outside the life Decisions and actions are solely directed by self, often resulting in frustration Christ-Directed Life Jesus is in the life and on the throne Self is yielding to Jesus The person sees Jesus' influence and direction in their life Which circle best represents your life? Which circle would you like to have represent your life? Begin a relationship with Jesus...

You can receive Christ right now. Remember that Jesus says, "I'm standing at the door and I'm knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in."¹⁶ Would you like to respond to his invitation? Here's how.
The precise words you use to commit yourself to God are not important. He knows the intentions of your heart. If you are unsure of what to pray, this might help you put it into words:

"Jesus, I want to know you. I want you to come into my life. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin so that I could be fully accepted by you. Only you can give me the power to change and become the person you created me to be. Thank you for forgiving me and giving me eternal life with God. I give my life to you. Please do with it as you wish. Amen."

If you sincerely asked Jesus into your life just now, then he has come into your life as he promised. You have begun a personal relationship with God.
What follows is a lifelong journey of change and growth as you get to know God better through Bible reading, prayer and interaction with other Christians.