FollowingJesusUS.com

Do Not Fear!

“For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish”-Isaiah 60:12

With the American election unresolved and Europe’s efforts to silence those who would speak God’s Truth, two thoughts come to mind upon reading this verse.

The first is, that the “nations and kingdoms” that refuse to serve our Lord will perish. Some quickly, some eventually. But they will not stand.

The second is, we need not fear. No matter what happens in the coming days and years. Our Father will look after us. No nation will be allowed to persecute those who follow Christ forever.

Whatever difficulties we as Christians may face-They are Temporary!

Trusting God: When Bad Things Happen To Good People!

When bad things happen, a friend often tells us-Trust God. I often struggled with that idea when I was young. How does one trust God when really bad things happen? Trust God for what? To “fix it”? Because bad things don’t always get fixed.

But with Trust comes Acceptance. And that means accepting the bad with the good. This isn’t Heaven. Bad things do happen here. And they happen to us. That’s just part of life on earth.

IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT GOD DOES NOT LOVE US! GOD LOVE US ALWAYS!

So here is what we can “Trust”. God hears our prayers and will use anything bad to the good of those who love Him. God will never leave us. Whatever difficulties we walk through, God will walk through every step with us. When we run out of strength, God will provide it. And God will Never stop loving us.

When we are in trouble, will God answer our prayers? Always! Sometimes He will answer by providing for our needs (whether they are healing, financial or heart driven…), but sometimes God will answer our prayers by giving us the strength, courage and faith to overcome the difficulties we face. And that is where acceptance comes in. When we pray for God’s Help, we need to be willing to accept His decisions for us.

And that is what it means to trust God’s Love for us. It is to know that whatever He decides, whatever He provides, it’s what we need. Because the God who loves us will always provide us with what we need, but perhaps not necessarily with what we want.

Trust=Acceptance. Trust God ?

Entertaining Angels :)

^“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”-Hebrews 13:2

One of my very best friends once said to me that “you never know when you are entertaining angels”. What a beautiful image! I asked her what she meant and she explained ?

She said so often as we rush through our days, we forget to take the time to smile at someone who really needs it, or to truly listen to someone. To help that elderly person with their groceries or thank someone for their kindness.

She said not only could angels minister to us; they minister to others and that sometimes while performing their service they can take on the shape of a human being temporarily. So anyone we might meet in the course of our day could be an angel.

I thought about that one for a long time. And I realized she was right. Really, how would I know if any one I met was an angel?

But It also made me think about how I treat others period. How many times had I raced into the grocery store, stood impatiently in line and failed to reach out to anyone? How many times had I seen an elderly person struggle to put their groceries in the car, and felt to busy to help them? How many times had I listened to someone with only half an ear? How many times had I failed to thank someone?

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”-Matthew 6:19-21

And I resolved then and there, with God’s Help, to change.

And “With God All Things Are Possible” 🙂

Sin & Prayer

“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”-Isaiah 59:1-2

Iniquities are defined as “grossly immoral or unfair behavior”. Sometimes these sins are ones we commit; sometimes they are sins of omission. Sometimes we don’t even recognize that we have sinned, but that doesn’t mean we have not.

This is truly a difficult subject to understand. And sometimes a subject we don’t want to understand. But “God is not a God of confusion”.

The above verse is pretty self-explanatory on its face. Our sin does separate us from God. There’s no getting around that. When we choose to lead a sinful life; we choose to separate ourselves from God. After all, it’s not like we don’t have access to Bibles in this country ?. So knowing what behavior is sinful and what behavior is not – is a pretty easy task, if we choose to read the Bible. And that’s the thing-God gives us that choice, for God gave us that freedom!

But there are a few things this verse does not refer to. It does not refer to the person who has previously sinned and is calling out to our Lord both for forgiveness and help in Jesus’ Name. He is so happy to hear from you and He loves you! To learn more read the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.

And it does not refer to the person who commits a sin and asks for forgiveness in Jesus’ Name. That sin is already forgiven! God hears you and God loves you!

In the coming days, regardless as to who wins the election, we will face much evil. In fact, we already do; we are surrounded by it. “War may be at the door, but Jesus already won!”

Which is exactly why we need to walk closely with God-every day! For Our Hope & Our Help Comes From The Lord. Pray. Be The Light. ?

Our Hope, Our Help Comes From The Lord!

Isaiah 61: 1-3

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

²To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

³To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.”

We live in difficult times, but God will make them right. We just have to trust Him. In Isaiah 61 it talks of God’s Great Mercy on His people. His mercy on us.

Beauty and joy will be ours, not ashes and despair.

So don’t give up, focus your eyes on Jesus, our time is coming 🙂

Walk With God :)

“For we walk by faith, not by sight”-2 Corinthians 5:7

Sometimes it can be hard to keep going. We look at the news, the world, the growth of atheism and witchcraft. It can seem dark indeed.

But we do not “walk” according to what we see in this world; we walk according to what we “see” in God’s world. And what we “see” in God’s world has not changed. Heaven still exists, it always will. And it is still our forever home and always will be. God will still answer our prayers; He always will. And He will still rescue us-even if it is sometimes from ourselves.

There’s no doubt the upcoming election concerns us all. But we also need to remember that God still loves us. God always will. And nothing that occurs in this world can change that!

So walk with God. Be the Light 🙂

Make Every Day Count!

In Psalm 90:12 it says, “So teach us to number our days”

We don’t often think about that, in fact, some of us actively avoid thinking about it, lol. But the truth is each one of us has only so many days on this earth.

So we only have so many days to share God’s Love & Mercy. To share the Good News about Jesus Christ! And to share our knowledge of how to get to Heaven and just how important that is!

Because make no mistake, Jesus is the Hope for our world, today and everyday, and we are all looking for that 🙂

Make Every Day Count!

Be the Light :⁾

If Our Nation Becomes Covered In Darkness, Be The Light :)

In Daniel 12:3 it says, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the fimament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.”

Recently, millions of Christians participated in The Return. Some in person, even more through the telecast. During The Return, Jonathan Cahn talked about God’s Judgment, and the fact that it could be occuring soon.

Is this the Last Days we often read about, or is it the Judgement of our nation for the many sins we have commited? Only God knows.

Millions of babies have been murdered and gay marriage has become the law of the land. Netflix’s “cuties” has pushed the boudaries of all that is decent and right. Our inner cities’ are poverty sticken and violent. The list is endless…

Make no mistake, forgiveness for all of those who have sinned is available to all through Jesus Christ. And let’s face it, we have all sinned. We have all fallen short. That’s why this Bible verse is such a comfort to so many:

“as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”=Psalm 103:12

But a nation that does not repent and seek forgiveness is not forgiven.

We really don’t know if our country will turn back to God in time-or not

But one thing we do know, is that -should our country and it’s people be covered in darkness: God will shine a light. And the Holy Spirit will shine a light through us to reach out to others. If we let Him.

Let Him. Be the Light 🙂

Putting God First :)

What does that really mean? What does that look like in a person’s life? When we see a pastor or a missionary it’s easy to see that they are putting God first. But what about for us regular folk? For we are not all called to be Pastors or Missionaries.

It’s easier than it looks. We can reach out to our neighbor. Talk to the person at the grocery. Hug someone. Be nice even when someone is crabby. Reign in the desire to be right and let someone else be right. Be quiet. Give to the Homeless. Go to work on time. work hard and be nice. Read the Bible and share it with others. The list is endless.

Stand up for Father, for Christ and the Holy Spirit. Pray both privately and publicly. So often we hear that we should only pray in private. But the world needs us to pray in public too. Because there are those in the world that need the encouragement right now of seeing others turn to God :).

And don’t be afraid to share your short-comings. We all have them and knowing we have a few and are still following Christ might encourage another to keep going.

We live in a time where many are falling away from faith. The most important thing we can do right now, is encourage others to keep going. To hold to their faith in Jesus.

Time grows short. we need to help each other as much as we can now!

God’s Love Will Give Us Courage!

“You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah”-Psalm 32:7

We live in difficult times. Truly difficult times. And fear is a completely understandable emotion when one looks around the world in which we live. But courage is not the absence of fear, it’s the facing of it.

And that’s exactly what God’s love enables us to do. Have great courage in the face of great fear. Because no matter what happens on this earth, because of Jesus, our future is in Heaven. It’s a fact. And nothing can change that. Nothing.

So when the going gets tough, and it will, remember that and hold on to it. We will not struggle forever. We will dance with joy forever 🙂

Heaven awaits us. God loves us. And nothing can hurt us-not really. For because of Jesus, our joyful triumph is already assured 🙂

Be the Light :)

Be the Light :⁾