Keep Your Eyes on Jesus

Many of us have heard the following phrase: "Keep your eyes on Jesus." Do we really know what it means? How do we keep our eyes on Jesus if we can't physically see Him?

We have an example to follow. Jesus Christ is our example by His life, death, and resurrection. We are to walk in His ways. We are to live to please God.

First, we need to recognize the difference between living in the Spirit and living in the flesh. “That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature [who] are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8). Our sin nature abides within our flesh. When we are saved, The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us. Then our life can be different. “You are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)” (Romans 8:9)

So, how do we keep our eyes on Jesus? We do so by daily crucifying our flesh and living in the Spirit. When we die to sin, we can be resurrected to a new life in the Spirit through obedience to God.

How else do we keep our eyes on Jesus? By reading His Word, the Holy Bible, daily, mediating on it both day and night, and obeying it. (Joshua 1:8). It is equally important every day to: “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Is there more to keeping our eyes on Jesus? Yes! Of course! See Deuteronomy, Matthew, Mark, and Luke in the Bible for how important it is to always love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. In the New Testament of the Holy Bible, we also learn that it is equally important to love our neighbor as we love our self.

We also need to daily obey God by seeking Him to fulfill His purpose for our life. We may need to pause to forgive others and ourselves (when we slip up). Our focus should be to “seek those things above” (the eternal). (Colossians 3:1)

In keeping our eyes on Jesus, and living by His example, we will glorify God and His peace will rule our hearts (see below).

“... [Jesus] Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us [who are saved]. Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” (Colossians 3:11-15)

Most importantly of all, it is by faith that we can keep our eyes on Jesus and believe that He is the Savior of the world. He is our Savior because we have believed, repented, and accepted Him into our hearts through faith.

“It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the One who is invisible.” (Hebrews 11:27 — my emphasis in bold)

“... I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

Until we virtually meet again, may God call you to Himself.

God’s Word for Today: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people, then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.” (Hebrews 12:1-4 — my emphasis in bold)

Copyright © 2014 by Patricia Shehan

All scripture is quoted from various translations of the Holy Bible (God’s Word) and is set in italics and quotation marks.

In Memory

Considering world events across the globe, I am writing this blog post in memory of all persecuted Christians everywhere, especially those who have been brutally murdered for their faith.

Please excuse me for missing a month’s blog post, as I have been attempting to continually blog at least once per month. However, as I contemplated the horrific news that has been spreading across the world, I could not continue with my normal blog post last month or this month either. I knew I must pause and pray.

This blog entry was difficult to express, but I hope it will bring you comfort in the face of evil.

I am dedicating this blog in memory of every Christian everywhere who has ever been under persecution or is under persecution right now, and to every Christian everywhere who has ever died for their faith.

The most recent shocking news of the children who have been murdered for simply being Christians is appalling. The methods of those pursuing the Christians are so savage and so wicked that we can’t help but be in shock, to say the least.

Please pause with me in memory of all persecuted Christians everywhere, particularly those who have lost their children to death.

Now, let’s not forget the brutal death that Jesus Christ endured to save each of us. Yet, we can also rejoice in His victory over death through His resurrection.

If we are not aware of this Bible scripture, we need to be now. God’s Word tells us that “… we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:2)

Our enemy is “… The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.” (Ephesians 2:2)

The "children of disobedience" are those who have been taught from a very young age to persecute and murder those who follow Jesus Christ and the Jewish people. Yes, these children are now adult enemies of God, and some probably not yet adults. They believe they are doing this for their god, but their god is certainly not our God.

Although our God does allow evil to exist, even to the extent of these brutal murders of Christians around the world, please don’t let this turn you away from God. For God has warned us that:

“… The time will come when whoever kills you will think that he is doing God a service.” (John 16:2) – Although the first part of this scripture (that I did not cite here) also includes that people will be put out of their synagogues, in reference to the Jewish people, as with most scriptures, I believe this also applies to the Christians.

 

The Bible also reveals to us that there will be the “... souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast.” (Revelation 20:4)

 

We need to know that all Christians who have gained salvation may have lost their lives here on earth, but now they have gained eternal life with God in His amazing peace and love.

 

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

 

Now, may we have some comfort in knowing this.

 

We must pray for the persecuted Christians who are yet alive, particularly refugees who have lost everything. Please pray for them to find their strength and comfort through God.

For we need to know: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or [the] sword?” (Romans 8:35)

“As it is written: ‘For Your sake [God’s] we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:36-39)

 

Until we virtually meet again, may God call you to Himself.

God’s Word for Today: “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Titus 2:12)

Copyright © 2014 by Patricia Shehan

All scripture is quoted from various translations of the Holy Bible (God’s Word) and is set in italics and quotation marks.

We All Have a Purpose

“If we don’t have a purpose or a direction in our life, we may be floundering like a fish in the sea.” I wrote this sentence for a book I’m writing. Will you please pray for me in this endeavor? God provides us with talents to give us purpose. Mine is to write about Him in service back to Him and to others.

Do you believe that God has a plan for your life? Do you believe He has a plan with purpose for your life? You should because we all have a purpose.

God had a plan and a purpose for His own son, Jesus Christ.

The purpose of God was the plan to have Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, take on all the sins of every person in the world and die for those sins and be raised from the dead to offer us forgiveness and salvation.

Believe in your heart and accept that: “… According to the eternal purpose which He [God] accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ephesians 3:11) — For “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)

Among all of us who call ourselves Christians, I must ask: How many of us have read the entire Bible? I know of many who have not. So, if you have not, you should ask yourself "Why?"

If you are not a Christian, may I encourage you to read The Bible? I guarantee you that if you read The Bible and let God work through you, your life will change for the better and it will be so much more rewarding.

The Bible is also called The Word and it is alive! “For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

We need to have good intentions of our heart and determine our purpose in life. We need to purposefully begin by reading our Bible every day. Pray that God will reveal your God-given talent(s) to you and seek His power to know what your purpose is to be able to fulfill it.

Because “… We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

When I was old enough to reason (to begin to understand), I questioned the reason for living. I began to wonder what my purpose was here. I really had no idea what it was or how to accomplish it if I did know it.

Eventually, we all begin to think about our purpose in life. So why in the world are we here? There must be a good reason.

Although some people believe we live and then just die and become nothing, there would be no purpose in that. Don’t fool yourself or let anyone deceive you into thinking there is no purpose. Why would people question it so much if it weren’t so?

When I was younger, I asked my mother the question as to why we’re here. I asked her what her purpose was in life. I figured she’d have a wise answer for me. She just told me that she believed her purpose was to be a mother and a wife. My parents did have six children, but I thought to myself: “There has to be more.”

I remember learning that no snowflake is ever alike! If we can just compare ourselves to snowflakes for just a moment, then we can realize that we are also very unique, and yet we are also very alike in many ways. There is no one else exactly like you or me, but we are similar.

Because “… God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God, [He] created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

Although God created us each differently and yet similar, he had a purpose in doing so. We were each created to find and fulfill our purpose in life. What is that purpose?

I questioned this for a long time, until I read the whole Bible! I pray that you will read the whole Bible, too. I promise you that if you let God, He will transform you into a Christ follower and reveal His purpose in you. It is unique, just like you because only you were created for a time such as this.

Let me say that every human being has three basic purposes of God, and then we have our own individual purpose in life.

The first basic purpose of all mankind is to realize that God loves you so very much that He wants you to receive His love and salvation, and He wants to receive your love back. “We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” (1 John 4:16)

“ ‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.” (Mark 12:30)

Just think, when someone loves you they hope you will love them back. God loves you. He wants your love back, too, but He won’t ever force you. So, the first purpose is to realize how much He loves you and accept His free gift of salvation, and then love Him back. (Please see the previous blog entry titled “Salvation.”)

“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:8).

The second purpose for all mankind is to love others as you love yourself.

“… ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31)

The third purpose for all mankind is to spread the Gospel (that is, The Bible), the truth of God and of Jesus Christ for all to be saved!

“And He [Jesus Christ] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

Finally, we need to find our own, individual purpose. The reason you are here on this earth is to use the talent(s) God has provided to you to help others see Jesus Christ: the truth, the life, and the way.

For Jesus said, “I am the truth, the life, and the way.” (John 14:16)

God gifts us various talents to serve Him. I hope to begin discussing these talents or gifts in the next blog posts to follow. God’s purpose is to use us. We are His vessels when we allow His power through the Holy Spirit to work through us to bring others to Him.

Seek God for your purpose! We all have a purpose! Fulfill it with everything that is in you!

God is waiting on each of us to fulfill our purpose. How long will you make Him wait?

Just ask God and seek Him, and you will find Him! “If you seek me, you will find me if you seek me with your whole heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

Until we virtually meet again, may God call you to Himself.

God’s Word for Today: “Who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began…” (2 Titus 1:9 my emphasis in bold)

Copyright © 2014 by Patricia Shehan

All scripture is quoted from various translations of the Holy Bible (God’s Word) and is set in italics and quotation marks.
 

Trials and Pain

First, let me say that I’ve had my share of trials and pain. I’m sure you’ve had your share, too.

In fact, I’ve endured plenty of trials and lots of pain, but they haven’t stopped me from living and gaining wisdom. In fact, wisdom is what God provides if we are open to Him and His Word (the Holy Bible).

As difficult as it was going through a divorce for me, even though I had not really started reading the Bible at the time, I recalled this scripture song and began singing it in the shower every morning, forcing myself to believe it: "This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice, let us rejoice, and be glad in it, and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made!" ~ Author of this hymn/song is unknown, but the words are based on Psalm 118:24.

I began to feel better as I knew that God was going to be there for me, and I began to read the Bible with open eyes. No longer were there contradictions when reading The Word. No longer was the enemy able to keep me from sticking with it. This was the day I could begin to rejoice through trials and pain.

There are several reasons why we must endure trials and pain in this life. One reason alone is that it can bring us to our knees so that we will call upon the Lord and seek Him. (Please see my first blog entry called “Are You a Christian?") — The evil that exists in this world causes pain. This is a lack of God in our lives, and it is the result of free will. Yet, God provides us with free will to choose Him or not, and to choose to reciprocate His love or not.

Trials come in all sizes and in all kinds of packages. We may find ourselves in deep pain when they occur. It’s what we do with the trials and the pain, and how we respond to them that is most important. 

God watches us to see if we are open to His work through us in these times of brokenness. He sees all! How will we respond? 

Escape is not the answer to pain. Facing it head on will get you through it, but you cannot do it alone. We were not meant to handle it all alone. 

Trials are certainly not enjoyable, but if we are open to having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and if we allow Him to be our Savior, we can get through any trial here on this earth by leaning on Him through His strength. We don’t have to understand why at the moment. In fact, we may never know the reason for the trial, but most times we will discover the reason later on because it will help us in the future.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do and He will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

When problems come, and they will, who do we call on? Do we call on our friends first for answers? I used to do that. The better option, that I do now, is to reach out to God first. Who do you think is better equipped to handle your problems? Is it the Creator of all? Or do we possibly think that other frail humans like our self are better able to help us? Do we really think this? Who do you think can pull you up from out of the depths of pain the best?

It’s God! He really is the only One who can do this best. He knows best what we need, and we need Him! He will hear us and help us.

“… I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.” (Psalm 77:1)

Problems that are difficult to solve cannot always be resolved by humanity. We must turn to God for resolutions, and one resolution may be to just get through it stronger. Then the enemy cannot prevail.

The Bible tells us that: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.” (Romans 5:3-5)

What an amazing God we have to help us. Wow! Why wouldn’t you want Him in your life? Because you think you can do it yourself? Because you think He is a crutch? What is the reason that we don’t come to God through Jesus Christ?

It’s really very simple. God does not make it hard to accept Him.

The Bible tells us that: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:6-8)

Did you know that?

I finally called on God in a very different way than in the past. This time, I was willing to learn about Him through His Word (The Holy Bible) and follow Him, too.

So whether we are broken and finding God for the first time in our lives, or if we are coming to a better understanding of knowing Him, we are going to be tested. God will build our character until we come into the light of His love and go out and share that light and love with others.

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach [disapproval or rebuke], and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:1-9)

So, whenever we face a trial, we must remember that the test or the trial (that God allows into our life, and He does and will allow it), will cause us (if we are a Christian) to have to put our faith into action with God to get us through the trial. But while we’re in the trial, and while we are waiting, our faithfulness in God helps us gain endurance to get through it. We have to pray about the trial, put it in God’s hands, and leave it there. We have to have the faith that He will take care of it (whatever it is) and keep us strong while we wait. Then as we show that we have faith in God to handle the test/trial, we gain greater faith as we go through it until the trial is over. The hardest part of the trial is leaving it in God’s hands and not taking it back. The other difficult part of the trial is to have strong faith and not doubt that God is handling it on our behalf. However, we should be in obedience to God all the while that we are waiting to get through the trial.

God’s Word tells us to: “… patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind.” (2 Corinthians 6:4)

It’s inevitable for us to receive God’s truth. The result afterward: We can’t contain ourselves until we share God’s great love with others!

Do you really think God would leave us broken and in deep pain. No way! As long as we don’t reject Him, He will be there to help us. 

All we simply have to do is call out to Him. In truth, it’s God that actually does the calling!
 
“By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the One [God] who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence.” (2 Peter 1:3 — my addition in bold, too) 

In living a godly life, we won’t concentrate on the temporary pain or trials in this life. No, we can concentrate on the hope of Heaven, knowing that once we have received Jesus Christ into our heart, we won’t be so consumed with this earthly life. Instead, we should be doing what God tells us to do in His Word: 

“Set your mind on things above, not on the things on this earth.” (Colossians 3:2)

Even “the righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.” (Psalm 34:19)

 I tell you the truth that Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father, unless it is through the Son of God [Jesus Christ].” (John 14:6)

 
Until we virtually meet again, may God call you to Himself. (Now maybe this statement I always end with makes more sense!)

God’s Word for Today: “In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So that after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.” (1 Peter 5:10)

Copyright © 2014 by Patricia Shehan

All scripture is quoted from various translations of the Holy Bible (God’s Word) and is set in italics and quotation marks.

Today!

"Behold, now/today is the day of salvation [to be saved]." You have no promise of tomorrow here in the land of the living on this earth. For you do know not when you will breathe your last breath and die. God breathed His life into us in the first place! He also gave the life of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ for us.

There is only 1 Savior! Jesus Christ is the 1 and only Savior who gave His life for you to receive forgiveness and for you to be saved. Saved from what? From Hell! From everlasting separation from our Creator!

Jesus Christ took on all the sins of everyone, and ultimately, He rose again to live. Who other savior is there? Do you know of any other who has risen from the dead? What religion or spirituality offers a confidence of salvation? There is none. There is no religion that can save you. There is only a relationship with the true Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Father God.

Why wait? Do you not understand that It may be too late if you do not choose now! For today, and right now, at this moment, is the day of salvation! Behold, as the scripture begins with this word that is defined to mean: "to be able to perceive through apprehension."

You may not believe today, but if you die tomorrow, it will be too late! Choose now to believe and live in the newness of this life and through death into everlasting life. It will ultimately be either an everlasting eternal and wonderful life with God in Heaven or it will be an everlasting eternal death in terror with Satan. But it's your choice! I pray you won't reject God!

God won't force anyone to accept Him because He gave us all free will! Yet, He loves us all so very much, more than you'll ever really know. God will never force anyone to love Him back! He gives us the choice. This is true, unconditional love!

As we are given in The Bible: "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved." (Romans 10:9-10) — "... Indeed, the 'right time' is now. Today is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2)

If you have not received Him into your heart, I pray that today — now — you will accept His love for you! Then you may realize that there is purpose in this life, and it's all worth it in the end!

I'll take the risk that you may reject this message. Instead, I hope you'll embrace it if you haven't already done so. I am praying for you and sending you my love, in Christ, Patty

Until we virtually meet again, may God call you to Himself.

God's Word for Today: "And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord; it shall rejoice in His salvation." (Psalm 35:9)

Copyright © 2014 by Patricia Shehan

All scripture is quoted from various translations of the Holy Bible (God’s Word) and is set in italics and quotation marks.

We Must Forgive!

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15)

As Jesus Christ was sitting on the mountain teaching the crowd of people, He explained that we must forgive others so that our Heavenly Father God will forgive us.

So why is it so difficult to forgive others? Most of the time, it’s because we’ve been deeply hurt, whether we’re on the receiving end of words that cut deep or experience rising anger. It does not matter what the circumstances are when we feel we can’t forgive someone. If we believe the other person is guilty of wrongdoing, even if they are not, we need to forgive them — always — no matter what!

Your life will wreak havoc if you don’t forgive others. When we hold back our forgiveness for another person, we can become sick, we may remain in pain and anguish, and/or we are stuck with an inability to move forward. Forgiveness is actually more for us than it is for the other person.

 
How many times do we get hurt, upset, or angry? How many times do we hurt someone else (whether or not it’s intentional)?

What’s going on? It doesn’t matter!

Plain and simple, we need to seek our Heavenly Father God. We need to call on Him for help. We need to forgive others as soon as we possibly can (immediately is best). We can always forgive through the power of God. He will help us.

In fact, we ought to stop right now and pray to God for His help to forgive everyone of everything, and furthermore seek God’s help to remember everything at this time. We need to forgive everyone right now with the power and strength of God!

We may find out, as I did, that we still don’t recall everything. There are time frames of “as soon as possible” or “immediately” that don’t always happen when it comes to forgiveness. Sometimes, we seem to simply forget all about forgiving someone. We may be still holding onto “unforgiveness” in our heart against someone and not even realize it until something changes.

 

In my case, just a couple weeks before I received the news that my aunt was suddenly dying, I was confessing my unforgiveness to her son. Wow! I didn’t realize that the incidents in which she had hurt me were buried deep inside of me. I had actually thought that I had said a prayer to forgive everyone of everything and asked God to reveal it to me at that time, but I realized that I had still forgotten this. I now needed to forgive her — immediately — and I did. Thank God it was prior to the news of her impending death.

 

It would certainly be best to forgive a person immediately, and seek humility and forgiveness from Jesus Christ for ourselves! If it is possible, we need to forgive quickly and forget easily. We need to be right with God at all times.
 

The simplicity in our being able to forgive others, and even ourselves, is that no matter what the offense is, whether it's anger and/or pain we have endured, or it’s our own regrets, it will never, ever be comparable to what Jesus Christ did for us.
 

Jesus Christ endured a horrible, extremely difficult, and nearly indescribable road to death. He suffered beatings, whippings, excruciating pain, and humiliation on the way to and on that cross, as the Son of God in the flesh. Why? To take on all the sins of all the people everywhere (yes, each and every single offense past, present, and future of each and every single person of all time from the beginning and until the end of time as we know it), and to offer forgiveness to each and every one of us for each and everything, with only one exception, and that is, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. This sin is the only sin that is never forgiven, with an unclean spirit as the cause.
 

This is a warning with severe consequences. You will not be forgiven if you hold on to unforgiveness for someone else, and you may even suffer the worse kind possible (in an eternal separation from God)? Is it worth it? No! So we must forgive and forgive now. Why wait?

Pray to God and seek His healing by quickly forgiving others always!

 

I don’t know who said this, but when you forgive, you don’t change the past, you change the future! Let’s move on and truly be the best Christians we can be by giving our best to imitate Jesus Christ and follow Him.

Two more things, I must share. First, I received an e-mail from someone (after 4 years of silence), asking for my forgiveness. Funny thing is that I had already forgiven that person long ago. God is so good to us!

Second, we must forgive because if we don’t and we should die, we won’t have another opportunity to be forgiven by God. It will be too late!

Until we virtually meet again, may God call you to Himself.

God’s Word for Today: [Jesus Christ said], “I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal condemnation.” (Mark 3:28-20)

Copyright © 2014 by Patricia Shehan

All scripture is quoted from various translations of the Holy Bible (God’s Word) and is set in italics and quotation marks.

Discipline and Obedience

“Even though Jesus was God's Son, he learned obedience from the things that He suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8)

Have we learned obedience to God from own suffering?

We will suffer, too. This can develop our obedience to God or it may cause us to be bitter. It’s our choice to decide how we will respond. It’s our choice to learn discipline and obedience or to suffer in vain.

Humanity is strengthened through suffering or broken down until we may or may not learn that discipline and obedience are actually for our own good.

Jesus Christ is our example. If we want to know how to live a Godly life, and how to discern the truth to know what is right, we must follow Him.

If we can obtain a Holy Bible (and for anyone here in the United States, there’s simply no excuse not to do so), then we must actually read it, too!

How many people in the world would be so very grateful to receive a Holy Bible that would get thoroughly read? Just some food for thought, as I am encouraged by my readership of this blog from all over the world. Thank you very much and may God richly bless you with salvation and the joy of the Lord.

We will find everything we need to begin to learn discipline and obedience written and printed on the pages of The Holy Bible.

Growing up, most of us received discipline from our parents, and they would punish us if we did not obey them. However, some parents did not discipline their children or teach them to obey at all.

The reality is that kids really want their parents to discipline them. Without it, they flounder like a tiny fish in a huge sea of water and they suffer even more. (No pun intended with the word “flounder,” but it is interesting that I chose that word!)

The Word of God instructs parents to: “Discipline your children while there is hope. Otherwise you will ruin their lives.” (Proverbs 19:18) — This scripture is very clear, isn’t it?

“Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.” (Deuteronomy 8:5) (Bold emphasis was also added here.)

God loves us enough to discipline us. This is true love!

For the children: “A wise child accepts a parent’s discipline; a mocker refuses to listen to correction.” (Proverbs 13:1)

God disciplines us as adults, too. He is our Heavenly Father who loves us dearly.

“But consider the joy of those corrected by God! Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty when you sin.” (Job 5:17)

“Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:7)                                         

“People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life, but those who ignore correction will go astray.” (Proverbs 10:17)

Even when we are being obedient to God, sometimes we may still suffer. At times this cannot be avoided. Why? I believe it is the result of the evil and disobedience of others who reject God and live in sin.

God is just. There will be fairness. It may not be during our lifetime, but it will certainly occur someday.

Try to picture a loving and honorable Father who wants the best for you, then you can imagine the Heavenly Father, God, loving us dearly and wanting us to obey Him. We must see that suffering is not always bad because at times it leads to goodness and humility, and ultimately it honors and glorifies God.

As we obey God, and as we seek discipline in our walk with the Savior, we will see His goodness.

Jesus Christ became man in the flesh for us to be saved and to be reunited with God. We were born of God, and if we choose to honor Him, we will be reunited with Him someday.

Ultimately, Jesus endured suffering and felt severe pain in His flesh. He felt human emotions, and He knew what it was like to have choices.

Our choices can be good or bad. We can make excuses and justify our actions, but they will lead to death. We can make good choices and our actions will follow that route and lead us to eternal life.

Don’t we realize that we have moral codes and commandments from our Heavenly Father who loves us enough to show us the right way to live?

The Ten Commandments were set forth by God. Not one of us has been able to follow them without breaking at least one. Not one of us! We are all sinners.

For me to realize my disobedience, it took understanding by reading the Bible, and it took the realization of how much God loved me. The truth set me free. I began to seek His discipline and desire obedience to Him.

“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.” (1 John 5:3)

Oh, how our hearts can become hardened. Don’t let this happen. We must recognize sin for what it is and stop disobeying.

Seek God to teach us to obey and to desire His discipline. Seek God to walk in the ways of righteousness. Seek God through His Word, the Holy Bible for understanding and application in life. Seek discernment. Seek God’s power to be strong to live for Him. Seek the presence of the Heavenly Father. Seek to hear Him and to follow Him. Seek your purpose.

Until we virtually meet again, may God call you to Himself.

God’s Word for Today: “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known.” (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)

Copyright © 2014 by Patricia Shehan

All scripture is quoted from various translations of the Holy Bible (God’s Word) and is set in italics and quotation marks.