experiences

February 14, 2020

“We Can Know By Experience”

​20 And we know that the Son of God has made our understanding come alive so that we can know by experience the One who is true. And we are in him who is true, God’s Son, Jesus Christ—the true God and eternal life! – 1 John 5:20 TPT

1 John 5:18-21 NLT

Once we have received Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are a new creation. We aren’t the old creation painted over, we are changed from the inside out. Will we still sin? Yes, as long as we are in these tabernacles of flesh, we will fail. But we will not adopt a lifestyle of sin. If we say that we have no sin then we make God a liar and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. It is not our faith or our holding on to Jesus that makes us secure, it is His faith and His holding onto us. No one can take us out of His hand. This is the fellowship and relationship that we have with Him and in Him. Being saved is a rational decision, not an emotional reaction. Once we make that decision, God places His Holy Spirit within us. Where there is Light, there can be no darkness. So our commitment to Jesus is that He is all we need, but we need all of Him. God doesn’t want to be in first place, he wants to be the only one in the race!!!! Let us keep our hearts pure and our eyes focused on Jesus!!!

14 You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you. ​ – Exodus 34:14 NLT​

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

Post 02-14-2020

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September 9, 2019

“You Will Be Made Complete”

 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.  — Ephesians 3:19 NLT

Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT

It is impossible for us to even imagine the glory, power and strength of our God. His power is unlimited and we have access to it all. If we ask Him, He will come live with us in our hearts. We can never fully understand His love for us. He is the beginning and the end. We are incomplete without Him. He makes us complete with all the fullness of life. We are not even able to ask Him to do for us all the things He wants to do. These human bodies would explode if God just dumped all His power upon us. Our finite minds do not have the ability to conceive all the things God is capable of doing for us. “To God be the glory, great things He has done” , is doing, and will continue to do.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 09-09-2019

May 29, 2019

“I Want to Know Christ”

10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death — Phil 3:10 NLT
Phil. 3:7-11 NLT

Can you imagine the power that was manifested when Jesus was resurrected from the grave? There must have been tremendous spiritual warfare occurring around that location and that time in history.  We have that same power available to us to use for God’s glory today. Our mortal bodies are rotting away, but our Spirits should be getting stronger each day as we allow God to renew them. Paul says the problems we have today are trivial and temporary compared to the glory they will produce. When we endure small problems here, they produce a greater glory that will last an eternity. So, each day we should be focusing on Jesus and looking forward to the things that we cannot see now, but God says when they are manifested in the future, they will last forever. So, when troubles seem many and satan is trying to defeat you at every turn, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face and the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”  We need to learn to walk in that glory and grace and experience that power.

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 05-29-2019

January 29, 2019

Repent-Turn From-Turn To

31 Jesus answered, “So now you believe?— John 16:31 NCV

John 16:25-33 NCV
If Jesus asked us that question today, could we truthfully answer “Yes, Lord, I truly believe.”?  The disciples had spent the better part of three years with Jesus. They walked with Him, talked with Him, ate with Him and yet, it is only now that they confess that they believe that Jesus came from God. We might think this to be very strange.  Yet, how many times did we hear the story of Jesus from people that we believed and respected, yet we did not accept Him as our Savior?  In my teenage years, I went to the altar and had a very real emotional experience while I was kneeling there.  Yet, when I left that building, my thought patterns and lifestyle were unchanged.   Looking back at that experience years later, I realized that I had not truly accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord.  It would be years later before I truly repented and turned to Jesus with all my heart.  True repentance will make a change in our thinking and in our lifestyle.  Will it keep us from ever sinning again?  No, the flesh will win some battles, but our response to the conviction of the Holy Spirit  will always be to turn back to Jesus and ask for His forgiveness.  And He will always be there with open arms, waiting to forgive us and restore to our salvation and His peace and joy.  

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 01-29-2019

April 30, 2018

Rehearse What God Has Done For You!

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3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. — Titus 3:3-​5a ​NIV

We are often reminded of the things we did in the past. The thing that causes us to remember can be a single word, a song, a picture, a place, a taste, or a chance meeting with someone we used to know.  Even though there is no situation that can ever be duplicated exactly as we remember it, the memories sometimes cause a great longing in us for “the good ole days”. But, as Christians, we need to be very selective in the memories we hold onto. Very few memories are neutral, they remind us of good times or bad times.  They also remind us of the evil that was in us before we accepted Jesus as our Savior and hopefully, as our Lord. If we can use our memories and experiences to glorify God, that is a wonderful thing. But we should be careful that when rehearsing our memories that they don’t give more glory to a sinful way of life than they do to the one who gave His life that we might have a glorious future with Him.

38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. — Luke 8:38, 39 NIV

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 04-30-2018

August 25, 2016

Up to This Point

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5 I am counting on the Lord;  yes, I am counting on him.
I have put my hope in his word. — Psalm 130:5

Psalm 130 NLT

Our hope as Christians is that when we leave this world we will be with Jesus for eternity.  This hope is not only built on the Word of God, it is guaranteed by the death and resurrection of His gift to us, His Son.  We receive assurances that this hope is true in our own life experiences.  As a child, my Mom told me “Son, you are going to have problems in life because you don’t take other people’s word for things, you have to experience them all yourself”.  That prophecy came true, much to her regret in a lot of cases.  And looking back on my life much to my regret in a lot of cases.  But looking back also gives me confidence that my hope is built on Jesus and His Word because of the many times He has rescued me and brought me safe this far.  


12 Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!” — 1 Samuel 7:12

My life is strewn with Ebenezer stones and the remembrance of those times assures me that God’s word is true and that He is faithful all the time.  What a great hope we have because our salvation is based on His word and His faithfulness.
Post 08-25-2016
July 24, 2016

An Oasis of Love

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8  But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who gives me life. — Psalm 42:8 NLT
Psalm 42 NLT

This Psalm was written  by the descendants of Korah.  Korah, a cousin of Moses, was the one who led the rebellion against Moses during the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.  He was the leader of the group that was killed when the earth opened up and swallowed all of the rebels.  Not all of the sons of Korah rebelled.  There was a remnant left to carry on the family name.  This family had experienced both the wrath of God and His loving kindness.  From these experiences, we can deduce that they understood that it is okay to complain to God as long as it is done in a respectful way. Just as this Psalm begins with how much they long for the goodness of God, then it proceeds to alternately complain and remember the blessings of God. 

When we are complaining to God, it is good to mix in a little worship with the whining.  It is good to recount the times He has blessed us and thank Him for those times.  The writers of this Psalm question themselves.  What reason do they have to be sad and discouraged ?  We need to ask the same question and arrive at the same conclusion they did.  If we put our faith and our hope in God, we won’t be sad and discouraged, but we will be filled with joy and praise for God and His goodness.   We will long for His presence just as a thirsty deer longs for a drink of cool water.  God’s presence is like an oasis in a desert of depression.  Spend time in that oasis, drink deeply from the healing springs and thank Him for His goodness.
Post 07-24-2016
July 20, 2016

Giddy-Up Go

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10 “I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’  “And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are to do.’.   — Acts 22:10 NLT

Acts 22:10-16 NLT
Saul used to sit at the feet of Gamaliel learning about the Old Testament and the Jewish traditions and laws.  He became very zealous in defending the Jewish customs even to the point of putting Christians to death.  I think we can be very sure that in those times, he never considered the fact that Jesus was training him for a specific purpose.  It probably never crossed his mind that he would be the missionary of the ages and the man responsible for writing most of the New Testament.  The transition from Saul to Paul took over three years.  Our salvation experience was probably not as dramatic as that of Paul.  Nevertheless, it is just as necessary as that of Paul for the spread of the Gospel and the increase in the Kingdom of God.  Let each of us look at our lives and experiences.  What do those things tell us about what God has trained us to do to add to His Kingdom here on earth?  We cannot come to the conclusion that we are trained to do God’s bidding, that would devalue the work of Jesus on the Cross and our value to God.  Every person God has called to salvation has a part to play in the Kingdom here on earth.  Ask God to show you what that part is and then, giddy-up go.
Post 07-20-2016