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Staying On The Narrow Path

“The Narrow and Wide Gates”

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it”

There is a tendency among Americans to think that the vast majority of people go to Heaven. Sadly, this is not true. Jesus told us in the above verses that only a few find the way to Heaven. And while we want to tell everyone we love that they are going to Heaven, no matter what choices they make in this life, if we truly love them, we will tell them the Truth-their choices matter!

God sent Jesus to Save us, but we have to choose whether or not we want to be Saved. In other words, we need to choose to accept Jesus as our Savior. For a Gift, no matter how wonderful, is not received unless it is accepted!

So many will say, “I accepted Jesus so I can do anything I want”. This is not true. For if we truly believe in Jesus, if we truly accept Jesus as our Savior, than we will Follow Him. And to Follow Jesus means to Follow the teachings of the God’s Word! And we don’t get to change those Teachings!

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” – Revelation 22:18-19

If we wish to go to Heaven, we need to accept Jesus as our Savior and Follow God’s Word as it is, not as we sometimes wish it were…

Call on Jesus today and Follow Him to Heaven 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Being A Member Of God’s Family

Being a member of God’s family is such a Gift :).

It’s hard to describe just how wonderful that Gift is. To never be alone, to always have someone that we can turn to for help, to have someone in our life that always loves us and always forgives us; it just does not get better than that!

I think of God’s love and I am in awe of it. It’s like a huge hug that never ends :). Can we truly say that we have that complete confidence in any one on earth-that they will love us no matter what we do. For God’s love is truly unconditional.

The other thing that I love about being a member of God’s family is that I don’t have to know the “right” answer when I pray. God knows what will help a person more than I do, it is such a comfort and relief to pray “May God’s Will be done” and I end every prayer that way. I may think I know best, but God does know best.

I love knowing that there is nothing I can do that will lesson God’s love for me. No mistake, no sin, no failure, God loves me always! It’s not a love I have to “earn” or “hope to get”, because God loved me first! Before I even loved God, He loved me. And no matter what I do, God will still love me.

Without God, who would I turn to when life becomes difficult? Who would I ask for the strength to keep walking-no matter the challenge? Who would bring me to Heaven? And who would teach me to love? Only God can do all those things. And I have to admit, I feel so much safer, so much less afraid, knowing I have God to turn to.

There is my Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit. There is Mary our Blessed Mother. All who love us so much and who are always ready and willing to help us 🙂 So Never give up! Just keep Praying 🙂

How can I even thank God for such a huge gift? By loving Him too! And by Following Him 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Compassion For The Lost!

“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!” – Oswald J. Smith, Evangelical Preacher, Missionary & Hymn Composer, Born in Toronto in 1890

Sadly, there are those who do not realize just how truly sad Jesus is when even one soul is lost, for Jesus Loves each one of us with a love that is truly beyond our understanding. When even one soul is lost, Jesus mourns that loss deeply.. His anguish at their suffering is more than we could ever bear. And His compassion for not only the lost, but those who love the lost, is incredible.

Praying that the Love for the Lost will fill our hearts the way it fills the Heart of Jesus is a really worthy prayer. To have a deep compassion for each one of the lost and those who love them, is something we should all seek to obtain. For it makes us more like Jesus Himself 🙂

Pray for the lost and those who love them. Be kind to all of them. And maybe, just maybe they will find their way 🙂

Be The Light 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Repentance

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”-Isaiah 59:1-2

Repentance is truly important. It really has two components, sorrow for the sin that we have committed and change (in other words, a true commitment to not committing that sin again!). Jesus will always forgive those who are truly repentant.

But what is a true commitment to not committing that sin again? I will tell you what it is not. It is not necessarily never committing that same sin again. We are human and we fail. That is just the way it is. And if we fail, we just need to turn to Jesus and ask His forgiveness and get back up and try to change again :).

I will share with you what it is. Perhaps our sin is drinking too much. Stopping at the bar on that way home may make it very hard to avoid that sin!

Another thing we may want to avoid: fatigue. Perhaps our sin in being crabby and too critical in the evening. Being “too busy” and “too tired” may not help us to avoid that sin. So avoiding being too busy and too tired may be helpful.

How about lying? Avoiding any action that we would feel that need to lie about may be very helpful. How about white lies? Remembering that it is sometimes just easier to tell the truth may be helpful. For example, telling someone who invites us somewhere that we are too tired or need to stay home, may just be easier than claiming a prior commitment that does not exist.

Sin separates us from God. So we do not want any more sin in our lives than we really can’t seem to avoid. So we need to ask Jesus for Help and avoid them where we can!

There is a reason that the Our Father, which Jesus taught us to pray, ends with:

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”-Matthew 6:13

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Jesus Will Meet Us Wherever We Are :)

There are many who think that they need to wait to ask Jesus to be their Savior until “they have cleaned up their lives”. Perhaps there are some activities that they enjoy and that they fear they may not be able to enjoy anymore (if they ask Jesus to be their Savior). Perhaps there are some that lead(and often enjoy) a really sinful life, and they feel they are not quite ready to give that up yet. Whatever the reason, sadly, without Jesus, we can not enter Heaven.

But the truth is, Jesus will meet us wherever we are! He loves us that much :). There is no life style, no amount of sin, other than blaspheming the Holy Spirit, that can keep us from Jesus and that Jesus can not help us defeat. For Jesus has already won that battle and God forgives us through our relationship with Jesus :).

All we need is to ask Jesus to be our Savior, and ask Him to help us Follow Him, and He will 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready 🙂

Stay On The Path!

We often talk about the Narrow Path. And it’s all true and it is so important.

But today, I just want to talk about the “Path”. All of us who are Following Jesus are on that Path – somewhere.

There are those who are new to the faith. And we need their enthusiasm and insights so much! And their willingness to put Jesus first is a refreshing example to us all 🙂

And then there are those who have been on the Path for a very long time. We often hear them referred to as “mature” Christians. We need them too! Their wisdom and their knowledge of God’s Word teach many. And their life experiences can help us all!

And sadly, there are those who are on the Path, but are lukewarm. Jesus said in Revelation: “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”-Revelation 3:16. We need to help them soften their hearts and strengthen their faith:)

These are just a few places on the Path. Some places are filled with Joy, and some with Despair. Some places are filled with Energy and some places are filled with overwhelming Fatigue. Wherever we are on the Path, we need to stay on the path and keep walking it!

And should we start to struggle, the answer is always the same.

Ask God for Help 🙂

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

The Love Of God :)

It’s hard for us to understand just how much God loves us. I think the closest we can come is when we think about how we love our children. There is nothing they can do, no mistake that they can make, that would make us love them less.

There is no amount of time that they can be gone, no amount of distance that they can travel, that can change the way we love them. For our joy when they return is immeasurable 🙂

And if they have made choices that have had negative consequences; we are overjoyed when they decide to make better ones! For there is no choice that they can make that will make us love them less.

When they succeed; we applaud! When they are happy; so are we :).

And when they cry; we cry with them…

God loves them, and us, even more. We can’t imagine how He possibly can because we are not capable of that kind of love. For God is always Faithful, always Loving us more than we will ever love ourselves or anyone else.

The world may change, it may even change a lot, but God never will. For God is always the same. Now, Always & Forever. For this is who God is 🙂

And God Loved Us First 🙂

So when tough times come, we need to remember just how much God loves us.

God’s got us-always and forever!

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

The Roadmap!

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.“-Matthew 23:23-24

Attending church and listening to a Pastor preach a sermon is supposed to lead us to God, not away from God!

So how do we know if we are in a church that is leading us to God, not away? Especially with so many churches splitting!

Read the Holy Bible. If we ask the Holy Spirit to help us to read it, it is not as complicated as one might think! God is not a “God of Confusion”. He gave us His Word as a Roadmap for living. We need to use it as such and obey God’s Word: exactly as it is written!

“Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord.”-Jeremiah 23:1

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!

Keep Praying!

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get. ’But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner !’I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”-Jesus (Luke 18:10-14)

Keep Praying and pray humbly and with gratitude!

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready

Heed God’s Warning

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, ²⁹but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— ³⁰so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”-Luke17:26-30

Need more be said?

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!