I AM FREE!

I AM FREE!

 “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

John 8:36

             I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t long for more freedom.  Teenagers want freedom to make their own decisions more than anything else; older people hate being tied down by illness or disability and want to be free to move around better; even toddlers want to be free from someone hanging on to them so they can’t take off running and Moms and Dads would love to break loose from their jobs and responsibilities at times and be free to spend their time as they wish. 

            There are some who actually put aside their moral and physical responsibilities and go for the freedom by leaving their families and head out away from all they know.  The fact is that no matter how far you run, you can’t find the freedom and peace that you long for.  Some are filled with unhappiness and restlessness and want to escape, but it doesn’t help.
            There is an answer; you can have peace, joy and freedom, but it comes with a price.  The price is this: give yourself to God.   I have always been looking for an adventure and had many of them, but still was unfulfilled and not feeling free. Then I met Jesus and turned my life over to Him and through Him I found real freedom.  “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:36

            One of my favorite songs is called, “I Am Free”.  It really speaks to my heart.

 

Through You, the darkness flees
Through You, my heart screams
I am free, yes, I am free

I am free to run

                                                                     I am free to dance
                                                                     I am free to live for You
                                                                     I am free, yes I am free

            Since becoming a Christian I have had the most exciting adventures of my life.  I have done things and traveled to places I never dreamed were possible.  There is nothing that can compare with a life of walking with Jesus.

            This week we celebrate Independence Day (4^th of July).  In 1776 the United States received their freedom from the Kingdom of Great Britain, which is now called the UK, or United Kingdom.  We were a free country and we still are.  We are free to come and go as we please in the U.S.; we can go to church, read the books we want, carry a weapon for protection and so many other freedoms we take for granted.  However, the time will no doubt come when we can’t enjoy all the freedoms we have now.
            The book of Revelation tells us of a time coming when our freedom is over and we will be ruled by the Antichrist.  We won’t be able to buy or sell; go to a doctor or dentist, etc. unless we have the mark of (the beast).  We won’t be able to go to church, because there will be a one-world religion and that won’t include believing in God Almighty.  When that time comes and it seems freedom is lost, remember a Christian’s freedom cannot be taken away by any man.  Our freedom comes from following Jesus and he will provide for us.  We must have faith in God and never take the ‘mark’ or we will be cast into the Lake of Fire with Satan.
            As we celebrate America’s freedom on the 4^th of July, also give thanks to our God for the freedom he has given us.

I am free to run,

                                                                    I am free to dance,
                                                                    I am free to live for You,
                                                                    I am free, Yes, I am free.

 

 

A WASTED LIFE

A Wasted Life

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”                                                                                                          Matthew 6:19-21 

 

            Over the years I have often wondered if the things I have done counted for anything to the Lord.  Since I gave my heart to Jesus many years ago, I have been very active in ministry.  I played piano for church, taught Bible classes, directed choirs, produced a television program and had a radio program.  Wow!  It makes me tired when I think about it now. 

            If I gave myself points for each thing I’ve done, it might add up to a fairly high number, but when I stand before the Lord someday and ask him how many points I have, he might say zero!  You see, He doesn’t look at the things we have done – he looks at the heart.  I must admit that there were times I did things in self because I wanted to impress people. (Remember, pride can cause you to fall away.)  Then the Holy Spirit would whisper quietly in my mind and remind me without Jesus I am nothing.  I realized I had to put self away keep my eyes on him if I were to do anything for the Kingdom of God.

            My husband, Jerry and I used to travel a great deal and minister to different Christian groups.  One time we were speaking at a meeting in Indiana and we had an outline on what we were going to say.  We felt pretty good about it as we walked up to the podium.  A short time later we realized a couple of people were sleeping and the rest looked pretty bored.  We looked at each other and realized we were trying to do this by ourselves.  We folded up the paper and told the people we were changing our talk and letting God take over.  We began to minister from the heart and with God guiding us, people came forward and gave their hearts to Jesus.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”  (Proverbs 3:5-6)  We are warned to not attempt to do things for God by figuring out what we should do, but trust God with our whole heart to lead us in the direction he wants us to go.  Then don’t try to take credit for any of it, but acknowledge that it was the Lord that gave it to you. 

There are times the Lord calls you to do something that you don’t want to do and you have a choice to make.  God gives his children gifts and he expects us to use them. In fact, in I Timothy 6:14 “Do not neglect the gift that is in you….”  God has a plan for you and lays it out before you.  What you do with it is up to you; the only thing that matters is where your heart is in this matter.

 The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”  This is when you will know if you have lived a wasted life or a life lived for Christ.  Praise God for being a merciful and forgiving Father who loves us.

If this teaching has touched your heart, stop right now and ask the Lord to forgive you for not using the gifts he has given you and for the times you did, but not with your heart.  I know I ask God to forgive me and help me to use my heart to minister in his power and not mine.  Who knows what lives will be changed because of your obedience? 

Don’t let it be said of you, “He, (or she) lived a wasted life.

 

Are You On A Wanted Poster?

Are You on a Wanted Poster?

 

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”  John 15:16

 

            I love this scripture that tells me God wants me; he chose me for a purpose.  He has always wanted me and he wanted you.  I only had to say “Yes”.  We are all on ‘Wanted Posters’ and God’s eyes are always looking for us.  It is another way that shows how God loves us and wants us to turn ourselves in and give our hearts to him.

 

            Once our heart belongs to him, we have a purpose to fulfill.  In 2 Peter 1:10-11, God shows us what to do.  “So, dear friends, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Doing this, you will never stumble or fall away.  And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”   This is our reward if we give ourselves to the Lord.

 

            If we choose not to answer God’s call, these are the results:  “I called you so often, but you didn't come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention.  You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered. So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you.”  (Proverbs 1:24-26)   This is nothing to ignore.  If you are struggling to answer the call of God, here are some answers to help you.

 

Like the title scripture, Jesus said, “Whatever you ask the Father in My name, he may give

You”.  How do we go about that?  Go to Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”  Here is the beginning – God Wants You!  He has such wonderful plans for you; things you have never heard of, or hoped for.

 

If you want to answer God’s call, you must understand this:  “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 NIV)  You see not only does God want you, but he wants to bless you with everything good thing.  Turn yourself over to God and look at this great reward waiting for you.

 

If you’ve ever made any mistakes in your life (didn’t we all?), God knows each one of them. There is only one thing you need to do and it is so simple.  Just ask God’s forgiveness and it’s done!  The Bible clearly tells us that “He will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”  (Micah 7:19) That means he won’t ever remember those sins because they are covered over by the death of Jesus on the Cross at Calvary.  He already paid for your sins.

 

It seems like we tend to make things so difficult when they are really simple.  You may be on a wanted poster, but you have to respond to it by deciding if you die you want to go to Heaven or Hell.  God wants you, but do you want him; that’s the decision you have to make.  Your mother or dad can’t make it for you; your pastor can’t do it; being confirmed or baptized isn’t going to save you.  Get serious; who knows if you’ll still be here tomorrow.

 

Just remember, you’re on a Wanted Poster and you can’t hide from God.

DON'T FENCE ME IN

DON’T FENCE ME IN

 

Revelation 3:15-16

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.

So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth.”

 

       To put it in simple terms, it’s called, ‘sitting on the fence’.  I believe too many ‘Christians’ today are fence sitters.  They don’t want to make a full commitment to Jesus, because there are some things in the world they don’t want to give up.  They don’t want to be fenced in.  We are going to talk about some of the things in the Bible that you may need to change in your life if you want to get off the fence.

      One of those things is found in Colossians 3:8 “But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.”  Let’s start with dirty language.  You may go to church and tell people you are a Christian and believe in God, but remember Satan also believes in God and what is he doing about it?  What comes out of your mouth defines who you really serve.  These are the words Jesus spoke:  “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.”  Matthew 12:34-35                      
      Do you really want your children or grandchildren to speak the things you do?  The verse above clearly says how we should be talking and if you aren’t you are a fence sitter. 
      Fences were primarily built to keep some things from getting out and other things from getting in. Fences are made for protection.  This is why God wants to keep us safe by keeping us off the fence.  If we are teetering on top of the fence, we are neither hot nor cold for Him.  There is a chance we will turn cold and eventually fall into Hell.  Being fenced in is for protection, love, peace, direction, joy and self-control.  When we can’t make up our mind whom we will serve makes us lukewarm and God will spit us out of his mouth; meaning to cast us away from him.
      This isn’t a game folks; you can’t play games with God.  Either you are for God or you are against him; Jesus said in Matthew 12:30 “He who is not with me is against me”.  You may call yourself a Christian, but without that decision to serve God and him alone, you are not under God’s protection and care.
      A line in that old song, “Don’t Fence Me In” says “I can’t look at hobbles and I can’t stand fences” and another line says, “Send me off forever, but I ask you please, don’t fence me in.”  It might as well read as ‘Let me go God, to do my own thing and take away your protection and love because I don’t need it.’
     Another thing in Colossians 3:8 tells us we need to get rid of anger and rage.  “I’ll just pretend I’m a nice person and no one will ever know what I really feel about certain things.”  No!  God knows how you feel and he knows the anger inside of you.  What if you lose control someday and hurt someone, could you forgive yourself?  The answer to getting over anger is to give it to God and you do that by getting off the fence and giving your whole heart to Jesus.  Half-heartedness never gets the job done. 
     Behavior really sums up which side of the fence you are on.  When you act like a crude, dirty-minded low-life, irresponsible idiot, you probably are.  If you stop to think about it, God is watching you.  There is an old Christian song that goes like this: “His eye is on the sparrow and I know he’s watching me.”  He sees all the good in you and me as well as all the bad; I don’t want to disappoint him.  
     “Don’t Fence Me In” is a fun song but if you are planning a future in heaven someday, don’t tell God that. It’s either all or nothing with the Lord and being a lukewarm Christian isn’t acceptable to God.  Get off the fence and get going for Jesus.  You will never have regrets.                                    

GONE FISHING

Gone Fishing

   “Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19 (NKJV)

            Have you ever noticed when people talk about fishing they think in terms of men (fishermen)?  That is not always true.  Personally, I love to fish and plan on doing that this summer.  I like nothing better than to be out on the lake in my son’s pontoon boat with a fish pole in my hand.  It’s so calming and peaceful.  

I remember how my father took me fishing for bullheads one night.  It was dark and we were sitting in the boat in a cove off McLaren Lake when suddenly my dad pulled in a big bullhead.  I don’t know how many of you have seen a live bullhead, but they are ugly and have little horns coming out both sides of their head; they try to sting you while taking them off the hook. In the dark of the night with only a flashlight or lantern, they were terrifying to me as a child.  I caught some too, but I sure didn’t touch them.  When we finally got back to the dock my dad got out of the boat, and then shined his light down so I could climb out, but as he held the light it shone down in the water by the boat. There, in the water was a huge black water snake.  I screamed and wouldn’t come out of the boat; it took a long time to convince me it wouldn’t come after me.  That was my first and last fishing in the dark for bullheads.  I must say the reward is eating them as they are delicious.

The Bible talks about fishing and many of Jesus disciples were fishermen and that was how they made a living.  Then Jesus came along and called them to follow him and they dropped their nets and went with him.  I don’t know what they expected they would do while they walked with him, but Jesus told them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  This was new to these rough, uneducated fishermen and when they had to put into practice what Jesus told them to do, I can imagine they were just as terrified as I was when I fished for bullheads in the dark.

‘Fishing for men’ is rather an analogy of ‘fishing in the dark’ in that you don’t know the person you are trying to tell about Jesus.  It can be a frightening experience for some people who have never witnessed before.  These people could turn on you with viciousness and you might even get hurt.  Yet, they may hear and believe what you are telling them and receive Jesus as their Savior.  There is no greater joy than to lead someone to the Lord. 

Most of the time, God will direct you to certain people who are open to hearing what you have to say to them.  I have found the best way to witness is to simply share what God has done in your life.  That should not be difficult; He provides your needs daily.  If you love the Lord it will be something you want to do.  Even if you have anxious times, don’t let it stop you.  The best job in this world is being a ‘fisher of men’.