We All Need to Be Rescued!

Today, lives are once again forever changed. In an instant the decisions of one, now will impact the lives of many. Once again we are reminded that our lives are never guaranteed a tomorrow. They are mere vapors in the light of eternity. Today, once again being a day of change, we have the choice in how we talk about what has happened, how we move forward in our own lives, or how we will place blame and resolve the situation in our own minds.

The end result in all of it is that lives were taken, not just the plus 50 people who were gunned down by an armed man locked away in the safety of his hotel room for the time being, or the 500 plus people who were injured, but reach beyond that number to see the impact of the ripples being generated world wide. Today once again America is attacked. The once "united" states will be pulled apart from both those inside and outside the country. We are talking about the extensions of the family members that will have to deal with the loss of a loved one, family member or friend. Perhaps it was someone they worked with or just some random stranger that they stood next to when the hail of bullets began to fly.

There are those lives who will be forever changed by that moment in time. The first responders who ran in while others ran as far away as they could. Moments captured by cell phones and tablets that make it difficult to watch but those ripples now reach us as well. This will be a day remembered and not a day we will want to remember. There are those who will be tragically impacted forever and it is time as believers to pray. It's time to pray because now more than ever, our country will be divided by those who will place blame on what could have been done to prevent this attack at the heart of a popular tourist destination, not 3 hours from my home. They will once again raise the issue of gun control, or tighter security measures or perhaps now guests will now have to pass screening measures when staying at a hotel. None of this solves anything but to divide us.

We are a nation divided more than ever before, race, culture, gender, religious beliefs, political affiliations, you name it, continue to divide. So where does the blame go? Not to the one that should take the heat for all of this. The one who has been dividing kingdoms since the beginning. It's not God, but Satan. He is the one who comes to kill, steal and destroy and lately it seems as if he is having a field day at not only causing chaos, but also getting people to turn away from God, shaking their fists at Him wondering why He couldn't stop this before it began. But you know what, God is big enough to deal with the blame even though He isn't directly responsible. The actions of a man's willing and sin filled heart is. You can take away every gun in the world and destroy them, but unless you get at the heart issues, people will just use whatever they want to take a life.

Look at Cain and Abel, the Bible's first recorded murder. One brother killed the other one simply because perhaps his sacrifice to God was less than accepted. The motive began in the heart. There were no guns or assault rifles then. We need to understand that despite the chaos and destruction happening all around us as never before, the Bible predicts that in the end of days, things would begin to unravel. For violence to increase, for earthquakes and natural disasters to increase, for turmoil to increase in our workplaces, families and homes. Everywhere you look, we are a divided nation, even world wide and what we need more than blame is prayer. It is the one thing the enemy wants us to put out of our minds and will tell us, what will that do? Would have changed anything that happened today or tomorrow?

Just like the ripples of what happened span out and affect us all by what happened today, prayer does the same thing. It affects everyone we pray for. It affects everyone who is connected to us. It reminds us that God has a plan and a purpose and it is not one to harm but one to give us a hope and a future. I believe God is trying to tell us that the solution to our problems it not in the governments hands, not in our own hands, not in placing blame, but can only be found in Him. I pray that lives will be changed and at some point, God will bring about good from this tragedy. That people will see that heroes rise up in the midst of tragic circumstances, people who put aside their own safety and cared for the life of another, simply because they are humans, not of who they are or who they are affiliated with.

Let us put down our divisions and find hope again. Let us not try and figure out who is to blame, but instead lift up those who are struggling to come to terms with what has happened. Let us show the world what the love of Jesus looks like in times like this. Let us first begin with prayer above all!

"When God's people are in need, be ready to help them." ~ Romans 12:13.

Are We Cursed?

 image courtesy of gpbnews.org

Are we cursed?

The Bible says that everything is this life is under the curse of sin. Our thinking, our living, our eating, our breathing, the world, the animal life, the universe, this earth, everything is under the curse of sin and it's all messed up. Looking around at the things in this life, it is easy to see that. With the recent shootings in Orlando, people are still trying to make sense of it all. It's simple, we are under the curse of sin. It doesn't mean God's not involved or that it happened because we are living in a cursed world, and God is simply letting things run its course, but we can forget that we now live in a sinful world filled now with the curse that began in the Garden of Eden when disobedience to God caused sin to enter a perfect place and into perfects hearts of His created beings. That means that people now have a choice, to follow God or to follow their own sin-filled hearts and the outcome of those choices is played out right before our very eyes.

It's not about gun control or terrorism, it's a matter of the heart. It is either filled with the things of God or the things with what man wants instead. In both situations in Orlando, the choices of the shooter is clear, they did what they wanted and what they felt was right in their own eyes, however wrong that may be. This is the outcome of living in a sinful world, but it will not always be the case. We need to place the blame in these situations where it needs to be and that is on Satan, not God. God merely lets things play out as He allows, and the fallout is what we experienced this weekend. Let's see how our study today, in the book of Revelation 22 will see what God has to say in these things.

There will be a time when we will no longer live under this curse of sin, and that is called heaven. As we believed in Jesus, repented of our sins, and now follow Him to the best of our ability, we moved from the curse of sin, which was lifted when we became born again in our spirits, and moved from judgment to eternal life. It's removed. It doesn't mean we won't get sick, have cancer, face unprecedented loss in some fashion, or dying in a shooting, because the world is still living under the curse of sin. Our spirit has been redeemed, our minds still need to be renewed, by the Word of God, but our physical body is still under the curse of sin. The last final stage of our removing the curse of sin, will be when as believers our body will be resurrected. It is a true benefit of going to heaven!

Jesus died for our sins on the cross, as an atonement, but He didn't stay dead. He rose again to guarantee our eternal life through Him. He was the perfect sacrifice. We don't need to do anything to better ourselves before Jesus

John 7:37-38 ~ "On that last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

Is this the same water that came out of the side of Jesus when the soldier pierced His side with a spear in which blood and water flowed? Living water?

From Jesus Christ, our eternal temple, forgiveness and His benefits flow continually. Our ability to live the Christian life is of God, and it's Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:7-9 ~ "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself."

God has provided more than what is needed - sufficiency.

2 Corinthians 1:20-22 ~ "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."

We need to fix our eyes on eternal life and the prerequisite of God by Christ.

Revelation 22:2 ~ "In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

Prerequisite, means the performance of something that is required for the next step to take place in order to fulfill a purpose.

Psalm 46:4 ~ "There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High."

This verse references the verse in Revelation 22. Fixing our eyes on eternal life because, God performed, by Jesus Christ, our redemption. The cross for us became the tree of Life!

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 ~ "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away' behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation."

The prerequisite of God by Christ, but what does that mean to me? It means that I was so without God and so unable to save myself and so lost and so in need of being found and so in need of being rescued, that Jesus had to die for me, if I were to be saved from eternal destruction!

We all still struggle with our past, even though we are saved and bound for heaven. We try and pray for our meals but get too excited by the food around us and the presence of others, we forget. We try and dedicate time to read our Bibles, but other things get in the way and we don't. We try and spend time with God each day, but we struggle to find the time. We try and focus on our prayers but our thoughts get out of control and we are lost in our prayers. We try and stay awake to read our Bibles, pray and spend time with God at the end of the night, but we get tired and fall asleep instead. Isn't that the truth of what all believers in Christ struggle with? The old residual is still present in our world, even though we are saved.

We have all heard the words, "Be still and know that I am God." But do you ever wonder what that means? Especially in light of all the turmoil that is escalating everywhere we look today? It means Yada, the word for know. It means to discover. It means whenever we are facing difficulties in our own lives or in the world where we struggle to come up with all the why's, God is asking us to discover Him. See Him in whatever we are experiencing, whatever it is, God will speak to You in that moment.

We've all had those times where we could have done better in listening to God, handling things better but we blow it. God is really great at saying, "Well you could have done better, and I believe you can get through this, let's try again later." and sure enough that same test will come around again. We have to learn to not panic and fail and trust in our own answers, but be still and discover what is it God is trying to say?

We need to set our hearts upon the presence of God because of where He is in reality.

Revelation 22:3 ~ "And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him."

Much of what is found being lost in the Book of Genesis is recovered in the Book of Revelation. What was lost is now found. What has been denied is now accessible. What died is now made alive!

"No more curse" the undoing of the will of Satan. From death to life; Satan has a death wish for your life.

It was Satan, through the flesh who said, "Come on Eve! Live a little will ya, and be your own girl. Do your own thing!"

It was Satan, through the flesh who said, "Come on Job! Blame God for all that is wrong in your life."

It was Satan, through the flesh who said, "Come on Elisha, kill yourself because you're all alone."

Listen, its been Satan, through the flesh who says, "There's no hope for you, God won't forgive you. If God is a God of love, why do all these bad things happen?"

There will be no more curse one day. There is the curse of sin and that is death! There is a curse of the law and that is condemnation. This "no more curse," is the curse against creation! The cursed creation is gone and there is a new creation.

Where will you be in eternity? The choice is up to you but you have to choose before you die, otherwise your choice has already been made.