FollowingJesusUS.com

Reading God’s Word (The Bible)

Have you ever noticed how you can read the same verse in the Bible one year, and then 20 years later get something completely different out of the same verse.  Both True!  I think that is God’s way of giving us the information we need-at that particular moment.  Because He loves us.

Many people have asked, “How do you understand what the Bible says?”  The answer is simple really.  It’s prayer.  I ask God, in Jesus’ name, to send the Holy Spirit to help me read it and learn whatever God wants me to learn.  This is the best way. Let no man interpret God’s Word for you, ask God to interpret it.

And just so you know, if it doesn’t make sense that moment, it will at some time in your life!

Heaven Part Two

I wish I had the words to describe Heaven for you.  City of Lights has often been used, and yet it seems so trite.  You know that the streets of gold that the Bible talks about isn’t a street of jewels.  It’s streets filled with a golden sunlight, a golden light so beautiful, we simply just can’t imagine  how beautiful it really is.  And rainbows, beautiful, vivid rainbows, for God’s Promises fill the land.  Each more beautiful than the next.  Rivers with the sun shining on them, so crystal clear, that you can drink straight from the river.  Trees and meadows, mountains and flowers, fruit everywhere, just waiting for you.  Shining seas.  Picnics, and walks.  Running like the wind and never growing tired.

It’s simply amazing!  Just like God’s Grace and Love for us.

Imagine a world where every wish is taken care of.  There is no pain, no worry and no fear.  No fatigue, no medicine, no rushing, no illness, no struggle. Only Joy and Peace.  And beauty.  A beauty so amazing that you could just spin and spin around and spin around some more, drinking it in forever.  And if you only did that, it would be enough.  But there is so much more to see and do!  Grand adventures, spending time with those you love.  Being fearless, not courageous in the face of fear, but truly not having any fear!  It’s hard to even imagine, but this is Heaven.  I have seen it and God has told me.  🙂

And there is work in Heaven, if you can call it that.  For it is work that never tires you, never rushes you, and always contributes to something that you really care about and enjoy.  Work that you want to do.

And there are friendships in Heaven.  Real ones.  The kind that fills you up until you are overflowing.  And they will never cause you pain or heartache.  Only Joy.  And strength.

Many people think that Heaven is just some mystical place up in the clouds.  But it’s not.  It’s as Real as the ground upon which you stand.

You will walk, you will run, you will have fun.  And you will see the people you love and those who love you.

You will never be cold or tired again.  You will fly like the wind, with the sun warming you all the way through.

Get ready for absolute and complete Joy, for that is what Heaven is.

Accepting Jesus

People often confuse faith with emotion.  Faith is a choice.  Faith has never been about how we “feel” on any single day, but about who we choose to follow every day!  We don’t have to “feel” that Jesus is there in order to accept Him.  We just have to choose to follow Him.  There’s a difference and it’s an important one.

Heaven Part One

Heaven is so amazing and wonderful.  And yet so hard to describe.  But there is one thing I can promise you. Heaven is as real as the earth on which we stand.  It’s a real place.  And just on the other side ?.  It’s not on some cloud or some misty place.  It’s the Garden of Eden.  There is life, there is laughter and there is love and joy and peace.  There are deep friendships that last forever.  There are rivers and hills.  There are flowers and fruit.  There are puppies!    There are things to do and no one ever feels sick or tired.  It is the grand adventure with all of the fun that implies, but none of the fear or hardship.

The closest I can come to describing it in this world’s terms is like all of your firsts combined, with all of the joy and none of the fear.  The first time you rolled down a grassy hill, the first time you spun around in the falling snow, the first time you jumped in the pool.  The first time you rode a bike down a hill with the wind in your face, the first time you slid down the slide.  The first time your husband held you and the first time your child smiled.  All of the joy, none of the fear ?

How anyone or any place can give all of that love, joy and peace at the same time is beyond me, but that is what Heaven is like.  That is what Jesus offers.  Forever. 

Heard a great sermon this week.  I liked it because the instructions were simple and some thing we can all do ?.  Declare one thing and do one kind thing for someone else.  For declaring one thing, you could choose anything.  Jesus is my Savior, I am Worthy, are just a couple of the examples the Pastor gave us.  I decided to declare “I am Worthy”.  I already believe and “declare” that Jesus is my Savior, but so often I “feel” unworthy.  Instead of seeing the good I do, I tend to see what I haven’t done yet! You would think I would know better by now, LOL, but I don’t…

And the thought, “I am Worthy”.  It leads to so many good places.  For if I am Worthy to be loved by God Himself, am I not worthy of love both from myself and those around me.  Worthy to be loved by God!  What an awesome thought.  So often we focus, or at least I do, on how UN-worthy I am, but God says I am Worthy!  Because God loves me just as I am, and God loves you just as you are!  So for this week at least, I am going to rise everyday and remember that I am worthy simply because God loves me.

And as for the “one kind thing”, well that’s the easy part ?

I am always amazed at how much God loves us!  That He loves someone like me is truly a miracle!  Because no matter what we do, our Lord never gives up.  He is there for us always ?

So if you ever worry about how to pray, don’t.  God is so happy to hear from us, it matters not what we say ?

God is Faithful, even when we are not ?

Do you every hesitate to call upon the Lord for help because you feel bad about something you did (or didn’t do)?  Because let’s face it, Charles Spurgeon was right!  “The Holier a man becomes, the more he mourns over the unholiness which remains in him”.  But Jesus isn’t like us.  He is Faithful to us, and our needs, even when we fail Him.  

And just a reminder, whatever failure we mourn, Jesus has already forgiven and paid the price for!

So please, don’ hesitate to Pray ever!  Jesus wants to hear from us, Always!

Q UOTE OF THE DAY: “When fear knocks at your door, send faith to answer it, and you will find there’s no one there.”, sent from Christian facebook site. What a great quote!

^“26Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. ²⁷What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. ²⁸And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. ³⁰But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. ³²Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.”-Matthew, God’s Word

Do not fear!  There may be difficult times ahead, but our help comes from the Lord!  And nothing can stop that!

” 1 Corinthians 10:3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;”

“Exodus 16:3-4 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.“

Is there something about miracles that makes them forgettable? Or is the problem with us? After journeying for a season the children of Israel were faced with hunger — another test. This time, naturally faced with starvation, they murmured against the Lord, AGAIN! You’d think they might begin to put it together that God truly wanted them to trust Him. Apparently not yet. The dire circumstances attacked their mass cerebral cortex (memory) and once again they went into attack mode, bitterly complaining in unbelief. The Ten Plagues, the pillar of fire, the Red Sea walk, the Egyptian chariot soup, none of these connected to the present hunger pangs. Nature trumped super-nature, and sadly, God Himself.

But “YHVH, YHVH Elohim, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness”, what did He do? He poured “angel’s food” down upon them (Psalms 78:25); once again providing supernaturally! Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah, representing our Heavenly Father, exhorted us similarly: “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? Yeshua said to seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness — and He promised that all of these things will be added unto you!

My Friends, lack of food can and very well may be a test for us in the coming days, and it is one of humanity’s greatest fears. Hunger may test us during this uncertain season. Will we meet it with faith? I am certain, myself, that the Lord’s word concerning provision is and will remain sure: that if I will seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, He will not fail to feed me.”

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George, Baht Rivka, Elianna & Obadiah, Isreal