The Benefit of Appreciation, Romans 5:8

My pal

Buddy came into my life 4 months after my beloved grandmother died, who was my best friend. I know that she would’ve adored my furry pal as she loved animals.

My grandma had a way of making people want to serve and help her. I loved to visit Grandma on the weekends. One day I started laughing to myself while pulling the familiar objects from her wooden coffee table to dust them and also dust the table’s surface and its metal legs with the curly scroll pattern. Somehow, Grandma had tricked me into doing the vacuuming, dusting, floor and window washing for her many times besides other tasks. I tried to figure out why I was not only doing most of her housework, but doing it gladly.

It was because my grandma was always so appreciative of anything a person did for her. She always expressed her thankfulness through words or other demonstrations of gratitude.

I wonder if God is the same way. When we gladly open up our hearts in gratitude for the blessings He freely bestows on us, does that impel Him to want to bless us more to hear us express our love and appreciation?

We are made in God’s image, given emotions so that we can relate to Him, others and His creation. If human appreciation can compel us to want to serve someone we love even more, perhaps God loves to hear us give thanks for His good gifts and wants to give even more.

However, God is far superior to us. Jesus healed 10 lepers yet only one turned about to give Him thanks (Luke 17:11-18). Knowing the future, Jesus could’ve chosen just to heal the one man He knew would give thanks, but He healed all ten anyway. He healed everyone who asked, without requiring them to make vows or promises to turn their lives around.

Jesus stated in Matthew 5:44-46 that we are to “love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you…for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?”

God sent Jesus to die for our sins “while we were enemies (Romans 5:10)” of God, rebelling against His authority.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).” Jesus died “once for all (Romans 5:10, Hebrews 10:10).” He sacrificed His life for everyone: for those who hate Him, for those who disobey Him, for those who mock Him, for those who harm His believing children. Because “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).”

Christmas season is when we celebrate the gift of Jesus. God the Father sent Jesus to live among us, heal us, encourage us and love us—as a gift.

Isaiah prophesied more than 600 years before the birth of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem: “For a child will be born to us, a son will be GIVEN to us;…and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).” I emphasize the word “given” because God gave His Son as a gift of love to all of humanity to reconcile us to Him through the death of His Son on the Cross, to everyone who will believe—as a gift.

Still, I cannot help but think that God wants to give us good things because He loves to hear our heartfelt thanks.

Just as I loved helping my Grandma who loved me so much.

God bless.

Much love from Dawn and Buddy

***

Did you catch that? Sin separates us from a holy God. But He loves us so much, that He had to find a way to bring His rebellious creation back into fellowship with Him.

It’s impossible to be good enough to earn God’s love. He freely gives it to us. But we have to be willing to receive the gift He sent to earth to reconcile us back to Him: Jesus.

You think you’re not good enough to earn God’s love? Congratulations. You’ve got it right.

Since we can never be good enough, and sin must be punished, Jesus lived a sinless life to pay for our sins “once for ALL”. We just need to humble ourselves to acknowledge to God that we’ve screwed up, and will continue to do so, and need Him to be our Lord and the Good Shepherd. We ask Him into our lives. We cannot earn His love or our salvation: it’s a “gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).”

If you’re ready to receive this good gift of forgiveness to be reconciled to your Creator, please recite the below prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, I’ve screwed up too many times to count. I need You in my life. I call on Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. Please forgive my sins. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I give my life to You. In the wonderful name of Jesus, amen.”

If you prayed with sincerity, congratulations, you are a born again child of God. But just as your body needs proper nutrition to function properly, your soul needs supernatural food—the Word of God. Please find a Bible-based church or Bible study. Avoid any teacher who claims that you can pick and choose from the Word of God. That’s acting as your own god and not acknowledging Jesus as your God and Savior.

If you cannot attend church or Bible study in person at this time, I recommend these three ministries, which also have apps for your convenience: http://www.LTW.org, http://www.InTouch.org and http://www.BasicGospel.net.

There are so many wonderful truths for you to learn. I can only barely scratch the surface in a blog post.

Buddy and I will see you in heaven one day.

God bless you this Christmas season.

“Singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19).”

Have A Blessed Thanksgiving.

Much love from Dawn and Buddy. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I appreciate it greatly and am thankful for your support and good wishes. God bless.

Ignoring God’s Warnings, Galatians 6:7

Muddy path

It finally cooled down enough here in the Arizona valley to take Buddy for his first walkie of the Fall season. But for some reason he was frightened and I often had to pull on his leash to keep him from turning around to head back to the car. As a result, my attempt to bless him was cut short as I let him have his way at the end of the first block and we went back.

But, conversely, when we entered the parking lot, Buddy kept pulling me toward the sticky mud in the lot. I had to tug hard at his leash to get him to stay on the relatively clean and dry path enroute to my car.

For some reason I was meditating on one of my favorite movie scenes, which is the killer rabbit scene from “Monty Python And The Holy Grail.” This weird looking character warns King Arthur and his knights to be wary of the vicious animal they are about to encounter. But what the group comes upon is a seemingly benign, fluffy white rabbit. Ignoring the warning to beware, one of Arthur’s knights pulls out his broadsword and advances upon the bunny rabbit. In one of the film’s most surprising scenes, the rabbit leaps up and bites the knight’s head off.

What seemed like a harmless little rabbit was actually a vicious killer, residing amongst the skulls and bones of its victims.

God promises to guide us and warn us if we stray off the correct path (Psalm 23:3, Isaiah 30:21). Just as I was trying to protect Buddy from the mud and bless him with the walkie in cooler weather, so God tries to protect us with guidance from His Word—the Bible—and the Holy Spirit indwelling us.

However, God also warns, if we remain obstinate and refuse to listen to His guidance: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man does, this he will also reap.”—Apostle Paul, Galatians 6:7

The prophet Isaiah, in the Old Testament, issues the same warning in Isaiah 1:19-20: “‘If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.’ Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

God loves us and promises to forgive if we repent (1 John 1:9), but sometimes the repercussion of disobeying God’s warnings have consequences that cannot be reversed.

God gives us His Word to instruct us for our protection because He loves us and doesn’t want us or others in our lives to come to harm. No one is perfect and sometimes He will minimize the harmful impact of our actions or bring undeserved healing and reconciliation, keeping His promise to:

“God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”—Apostle Paul, Romans 8:28

But isn’t it better not to get your paws muddy?

God bless you.

Much love from Dawn and Buddy

***

You might be feeling that your “paws” are not only muddy but that your entire body is caked in mud. This is not a bad thing because you’re realizing that your current lifestyle and decisions have not been beneficial to you. Don’t despair. God loves you. The Holy Spirit us convicting you of your sins to draw you into fellowship with Him.

We are all made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) and meant to be triune beings. God is the Father, Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit, one God in three persons. We were meant to be body, soul and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. When Adam and Eve rejected God’s authority over their lives, the Holy Spirit left the human race. Therefore, every person born since then is incomplete.

But if you’re willing to accept God’s love and authority, to invite the indwelling presence of God into your life, you will become the complete human being God intends you to be (1 Corinthians 6:11).

If you’re willing to shake off that mud of the world and the mud of sin, please repeat the following prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, I’m tired of living life my own stubborn way and failing. I call on Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. Forgive me of all my sins. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I give my life to You. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

If you prayed with sincerity, congratulations: You’ve become born again and are a new Creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). However, you must fellowship with other believers to grow in a knowledge of God. There are also two important acts of obedience as a Christian that require fellowship with the Church: “gathering together (Hebrews 10:25)” and water baptism (Romans 6:4). You must publicly declare* your faith in Christ (Luke 9:26).

Please find a Bible-based church or Bible study to attend. If that’s not possible right now, these are my three favorite ministries, which also have apps for your convenience: http://www.BasicGospel.net, http://www.LTW.org and http://www.InTouch.org.

Please don’t be that lone zebra, which separates from the herd and becomes a lion’s meal. Enter into Christian fellowship soonest.

If you’re truly born again, Buddy and I will see you in heaven. God bless you.

And if you walk in the mud, run to Jesus, confess your sin and experience His cleansing and healing power. Don’t be embarrassed as He already knows what you did. He wants to help you get life right.

*I realize that some live in countries where a public declaration of Jesus can get you killed or beaten. Hopefully you can communicate with at least one other Christian so that you can encourage each other in your faith.

Warnings About Evil People In The Book of Proverbs, Proverbs 1:4

Some critter was crawling through my air vents last night, spooking me. Sadly, Buddy could not hear its rustling and scrambling noises as he’s 14 years old—his hearing is not as sharp as it used to be. It’s been quiet since late last night so the creature might have moved on. If I hear it again, I’ll try to find a nonlethal pest control company. (I called the local humane society for recommendations but they had none, but said I could find one.)

Before I knew Jesus, I was naive about evil. Yes, my family members and I sinned but did not plot or plan evil. We enjoyed that spontaneous kind of ungodliness! However, if I’d been a student of the Biblical Book of Proverbs, I’d have been far wiser about the true nature of people. Like most youth, I thought people were good at their core.

Unfortunately, some pretty hard life lessons knocked that notion out of my head.

The author of Proverbs (likely King Solomon) bluntly declares in 1:4 that the one purpose of the book is “To give prudence to the naive, to the youth knowledge and discretion.”

So what warnings does Proverbs teach about wicked people (NASB translation)?

1. The will entice you to do evil (1:10).

2. They hasten to do evil (1:16).

3. They hasten to shed blood (1:16).

4. They ambush their own lives (1:18) bringing about their own death (1:19).

5. They refuse God’s counsel (1:24-25, 30).

6. They speak perverse things (2:12).

7. They walk in darkness (2:13).

8. They delight in doing evil (2:14).

9. They are crooked and devious (2:15).

10. They are treacherous and lose their inheritance/land (2:22).

11. They are violent (3:31).

12. Their dwelling is cursed by God (3:33).

13. Are not content till they can cause someone to stumble morally (4:16).

14. They can sound good but can turn quickly to cutting words (5:3-4).

15. Are unstable and do not ponder the path of their life (5:6).

16. Can cause someone to lose their physical health and vigor (5:9).

17. Can lead someone into poverty (5:10).

18. Can cause someone to die whom they lead astray (5:23).

19. Are liars (6:19).

20. Can be very charismatic or attractive, but can cause you great heartache (6:24-26).

21. Will lead you into sexual immorality (7:13-22).

22. Their sexual enticement can give you an STD or deadly disease (7:23).

23. They are proud and arrogant (8:13).

24. They scoff at, insult and dishonors others, particularly those who try to reprove them (9:7).

25. Are hateful (9:8).

I could go on as there are many more warnings. But in summary: Not everyone you meet has your best interest at heart. There are selfish, hateful people in the world who delight in doing evil and want to drag you down into the mud with them.

So be cautious. Not everyone you meet is good-hearted.

God bless you.

Love from Dawn and Buddy

PS. There are 31 Proverbs. I recommend reading one for each day of the month, doubling up on those 30 day months by reading both 30 and 31. If you have teen or college-aged students, encouraging them to do the same could make them more wary of choosing the wrong crowd to run with—if they’ll heed Solomon’s warnings.

***

You may feel convicted after reading that list of the attributes of the wicked. But do not despair, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).” One of the greatest Christian apostles, Paul, who wrote a large portion of the New Testament of the Bible, used to persecute Christians, rejoicing in their deaths, till an encounter with Jesus changed his heart.

God knew that we could never be good enough to earn our way into heaven, so He sent His Son Jesus to earth to die for our sins. As God in the flesh (Matthew 1:23), only Jesus lived a perfect life, earning the way into heaven for every person who is willing to humble themself to admit they need someone to pay for their sins.

Your moral failures prove that you need the Lord in your life. No one is worthy of God’s mercy. It’s a gift for anyone who wants to receive it (Ephesians 2:8-9). You don’t need to clean your act up first to ask Jesus into your life, because it’s impossible to clean our act up without His help. Sure, you can do better, improve a bit, but that inner emptiness won’t go away because you were designed to be filled with God’s presence. Until you admit you need His guidance, His presence, your soul will remain incomplete.

If you’re ready to invite God into your life, please repeat the following:

Dear Holy Father, I call on Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. Please forgive my sins. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I give my life to You. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

If you prayed with sincerity, congratulations: You are born again. The Holy Spirit has come into your life. Please start reading the Bible daily, which is your soul food. Also, find a Bible-based church or Bible study to grow in a knowledge of Jesus and to understand the new life you’ve just begun. If that’s not possible right now, these are my three favorite ministries, which also have apps: http://www.InTouch.org, http://www.LTW.org (Leading The Way) and http://www.BasicGospel.net.

You’re starting the adventure of a lifetime. God bless you. Buddy and I will see you in heaven.

And don’t forget to read your proverb for today!

Are You A Christian Enslaved to Satan? Hebrews 2:14-15

Buddy and I just returned from a trip to Lake Havasu, Arizona. During that time, Buddy often took a protective stance, guarding me from danger. But the truth is, he is too little to truly protect me from harm, other than to bark out a warning. When we walked down toward London Bridge and the lakefront, I picked Buddy up and carried him several blocks to protect him from the oncoming traffic, which was heavy in that area.

Buddy probably still felt like he was my protector.

Christians do the same thing—and I’m no exception. We think we’re in control, that we can take care of things, but the truth is: Life events are often too big to handle and are out of our control. We forget that we need Jesus to protect us from those big objects hurtling towards us.

There is one big object hurtling toward every person in which many Christians are faltering in their testimony. Hebrews 2:14-15 describes what that is:

“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself (Jesus) likewise also partook of the same (Matthew 1:23), that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all of their lives.”

To restate: God came in the flesh to take the punishment for our sins so that those who become His children through faith no longer need to fear death, because believers will go to heaven to be with Him forever.

Apostle Paul also stated that heaven is so wonderful that it’s beyond our wildest dreams to imagine.

Because of my faith in Jesus, I don’t fear death. My sin is forgiven so I don’t need to be afraid when I stand before God on Judgment Day (2 Corinthians 5:10). “As far as the east is from the west, so far as He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12).” Death is a release from this life of sorrow and loss into eternal happiness (Revelation 21:4). However, I do fear the manner of death. Only masochists relish slow death from cancer or the sudden crushing pain of a heart attack.

Yet how many Christians really act as if they don’t fear death? How many Christians don’t seem to behave any differently than unbelievers regarding their potential demise?

And, therefore, give a poor testimony of their faith.

According to the book of Hebrews, anyone who fears death is still living under Satan’s influence.

That’s not a great place to be.

So if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, yet fear death itself, please ask yourself why. Confess your fear and ask the Lord to reassure you of your salvation, His love for you, and the great reward that awaits you in eternity.

“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”—James 4:7

God bless you.

Love from Dawn and Buddy

Also, note that life is a gift from God. We are made in His image. Though we should not fear death, we are not supposed to actively seek our death through careless behavior or suicide. If you are struggling with dark thoughts or addictive behaviors, please tell a Christian friend or family member and seek godly counsel. Don’t fight this battle alone. God will help you as He wants you to be free.

PS. My blog writing was just interrupted by Buddy asking for cuddles. We are emotional creatures. I believe God is OK with us asking for reassurance of His love and presence in our lives. He wants us to stand strong and not fail in our faith walk with Him. He values honesty.

***

Maybe you fear death because you don’t know Jesus. Sin separates us from God because He is 100% holy and cannot tolerate evil, even a tiny bit. But Jesus came to earth—God in the flesh (Matthew 1:23)—to take the punishment of all the evil deeds and thoughts that humanity has committed (Hebrews 10:10) so that we can appear before Him as holy in His sight (Jude 1:24).

“For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”—Hebrews 10:14

When you confess that you are a sinner and accept Jesus’ death on your account, the barrier of sin is removed and you can have fellowship with God. But this takes humility. You have to admit that you aren’t good enough to earn your way into heaven. That someone else had to be good enough to buy that ticket to heaven for you.

If you’re ready to humble yourself to enter into God’s kingdom, please pray the following:

Heavenly Father, Thank you for loving me enough to send Jesus to die for my sins so that I can live with you forever. I call on Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sins. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. I give my life to you. In Jesus’ mighty name, amen.

If you prayed with sincerity, congratulations, you are born again. The Holy Spirit is now present within you. But just as the body needs food daily to be healthy, your soul needs daily and regular soul food—the Bible. Start reading the Bible, beginning with either the book of Matthew or John. Also, please join a Bible-based Church or Bible study. Avoid any teaching that picks and chooses from the Bible, in other words, a self-styled buffet Christianity. If you can’t meet in person right now, these are my three favorite ministries, which also have apps: http://www.BasicGospel.net, http://www.InTouch.org and http://www.LTW.org.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”—Jesus, Luke 12:32