FollowingJesusUS.com

Jesus Is All We Need-Now and Forever!

With all that is happening in our country and world, it’s hard not to be afraid sometimes. We frantically try to protect and to provide for our families. But the truth is, all we really need is Jesus. Now, and forever. And Jesus loves us all.

Pastor Jonathan (from Grace Missionary Alliance Church in Ohio) once said, “when we grasp that we are loved and forgiven without limit by Jesus, we realize that we have more than enough to share.” 🙂

And that’s so true. Sharing Jesus does not diminish our faith like sharing earthly material possession does! When we share our earthly posessions, they are lessened. But when we share our faith in Jesus, it grows and increases. We can never run out!

So Share Jesus with others. 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 🙂

Sharing Jesus :)

Oswald Smith, a great preacher who was born in 1890, once said: “Oh, to realize that souls, precious, never dying souls, are perishing all around us, going out into the blackness of darkness and despair, eternally lost, and yet to feel no anguish, shed no tears, know no travail! How little we know of the compassion of Jesus!“

The question that comes to my mind after reading this, is “are we as compassionate as Jesus is?” Although some in the media and political circles constantly put down people of faith, do we not have a responsibilty to share our faith with ALL of God’s people? For our Father loves ALL people. And especially since we know that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, do we not need to share Him with others?

Christ says in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”

And if we love ALL of God’s people, than that is what we need to do! If we believe in Jesus, we need to believe what He said. And we need to do what He commanded.

Leave no one behind. Be the Light 🙂

Be The Light :)

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”-John 1:5

There can be no doubt that these are difficult times in which we live. The news that both the President and the First Lady have been diagnosed with Covid 19 is frightening. Especially with the presidential election coming up. As I pray for both of them, I can’t help but be in awe of their courage and sacrifice on behalf of our country. We are indeed Blessed.

And I have to share with you that I feel we are all called to that same courage and sacrifice.

In Isaiah 60:1-2 it says: “rise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.”

Dark times may indeed come, but we are called to share Christ’s light and hope with all God’s people.

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 🙂

The Joy Of The Lord :)

“¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:12, NIV

A friend of mine told me that she was praying this verse, and it got me thinking. What is the joy of our salvation?

And I realized, it’s the way God loves us. It’s different than any earthly love we experience. It’s always there for us, surrounding us, no matter what.

On earth, we’d like to think that love is unconditional-but it’s really not. Imagine cheating on our spouse multiple times? Think they will still love and stay with us? Perhaps not…But when we mess up, God still loves us. And He stays no matter what 🙂 There is no mistake we can make, no amount of failure, no length of time in which we do not honor and love Him as we should that will stop God from loving us. For God is faithful to us, even when we are not.

And there is no time that we can not turn back to Him. Because He loves us and He’s waiting for us with open arms.

So close your eyes for just a moment and imagine this, God lifts you up and twirls you around. And both you and God are laughing with joy. The kind of joy that fills every part of you. Because you are finally home, safe and sound, in God’s arms as you were born to be.

Pray. Don’t wait. Be with God today 🙂

Taking A Stand For God!

Persecution of Christians is Growing, both here and abroad! We need to stand up before it’s too late!

In India for example, the main religion is Hinduism. India is not a country that we usually think of when we think of Christians being persecuted, but it is definitely becoming one! Those who follow Christ or who share their faith are sometimes murdered-simply because they are following Jesus. They are sometimes interrogated and beaten, while the government turns a blind eye to it all. There are 66,194,000 Christians in India. Please pray for them.

In America, we are so Blessed. And yet, how often do we fail to realize just how Blessed we are? In India, a person may lose their life for simply following Jesus. In America, all we really have to do is stand up to peer pressure, and yet how often we fail to do so?

There are many types of “bullying”. There’s the physical bullying as we see in India and there is the emotional bullying that we see in America. But how often did our parents tell us that “sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will never harm you.” We can take a stand now-or wait until the emotional bullying becomes physical.

After all Jesus suffered for us, should we not be willing to stand up to the bullies in our country?

We “were born for such a time as this! It’s our choice, we must pray that we choose wisely. Be the Light!

Take A Stand For Christ!

For those who don’t know, Jim Caviezel played Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ. (This video is well worth watching 🙂 )

Some of his great quotes include:

“Freedom exists not so you can do what you want; freedom exists so you can do what you ought”

As we pray today before the eve of the Prayer Day being held in Washington DC tomorrow, we need to realize that we, each one of us, will need to make a choice and we will need to live with the consequences of those choices.

We will need to choose between God and Satan. Between Good and Evil. Let’s hope as a nation, and as individuals, we choose wisely.

As Jim Caviezel said, “you were not born to fit in; you were born to stand out”. Stand for Christ!

“Be The Light”

Pray Without Ceasing :)

Sometimes, we just don’t feel like praying. Especially if we feel our prayers have not been answered “Yes”. But the truth is, sometimes God’s answer is “not yet” or even “no”. Why is that? Why doesn’t God just give us what we want?

Sometimes it’s simply because what we “want”, is not what we “need”. We only know yesterday and today, but God knows all of these, but in addition God knows all our tomorrows too!

Never give up on Praying! As a very wise Pastor, Pastor Richburg, says, “Prayer changes things”.

Although God may not always gives us what we want; He will always give us what we need 🙂