Buddy’s veterinarian has nicknamed Buddy “The Energizer Bunny” because he’s quickly adapted to being lame. In the photo above he’s acquired a stance that stabilizes him while eating.
Despite the critics, I have found Pastor Norman Vincent Peale’s books very helpful and inspirational. When I ran Cross Country in high school, a teammate gave me a copy of his book, “You Can If You Think You Can.” I wasn’t raised in a Christian religion, so the book was not only the first Christian book I’ve ever read, but was also the first book that presented Jesus, and God, in a friendly light.
But I believe his broadly applied application of Philippians 4:13 is not quite correct.
“I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.”
I can repeat this verse out loud as my own personal mantra, but in my heart of hearts, I know that not only I cannot do all things, but God hasn’t designed me to do all things.
I not only have limitations, but God has created me with certain skills and heart desires to guide me in a particular direction. And no one person can do all things. The Church praises the superstars, but most Christians are part of a group accomplishing great things for Christ.
I think Pastor Andrew Farley has the correct interpretation, based upon verse 12, preceding the oft quoted verse 13:
“I know how to get along with little, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.”
Pastor Farley says verse 13 is not about being enabled by God to accomplish a particular goal, but is about God walking alongside us to face every circumstance of life.
The Bible has multiple verses about our Great Shepherd leading and guiding us, the most famous being Psalm 23:4:
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.”
When interpreted correctly, Philippians takes the pressure off of me that God has the expectation that I can be a Super Christian and accomplish spectacular results with Christ’s help.
It’s freeing to realize that Christ actually promises to help be through whatever circumstances this life throws at me.
And as we know, “The truth sets you free (John 8:32).”
I think this takes the stress off our shoulders to accomplish spectacular deeds or achievements, and reassures us of God’s attention to survive or thrive during our sojourn here.
Hope this helps you as it did me.
God bless.
Much love from Dawn and Buddy
***
The best thing that’s ever happened to me was to give my life to Jesus, to accept Him as Lord—God in the flesh (Matthew 1:23)—and Savior: Who died for all our sins.
Won’t you please give your heart to Jesus now? And experience the joy of knowing that the God of the Bible is real?
If so, please repeat the below, out loud if possible:
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask You to forgive my sin and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. I’m sorry for my sin and want new life in Jesus. I ask Jesus to be both my Lord and Savior. Please give me Your Holy Spirit. I give my life to You. Please teach me how much You love me. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.
If you’ve prayed sincerely, congratulations, you’re born again. Please start reading the Bible as it’s your soul food and the main way God speaks to you. I suggest starting with the book of Matthew and reading forward.
Also, please join a Bible believing church or Bible study. And get baptized. If that’s not possible right now, I suggest these two ministries, which also have apps, if that’s your preference: http://www.LTW.org (Leading The Way) or http://www.AndrewFarley.org (The Grace Message).
God bless you as you start your new walk with Jesus. May Buddy and I meet you in heaven one day.
Buddy is 16.5 years old and his eyesight has weakened, so his depth perception is off. He cannot climb down a staircase without risk of a misstep and tumbling down the stairs. He’s fine with me carrying him down the exterior stairs which must be scary looking to him, being pebbles set into concrete.
But he sure gets quite upset when I pick him up to carry him down the interior stairs. The photo above shows how it must look to him. But unless he permits me to carry him, Buddy is not guaranteed a safe journey to the lower floor.
After the arrest, merciless beating, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus Christ, his apostles were terrified of the future. The man they thought would establish God’s kingdom on earth and rescue them from oppression under the Roman Empire seemed utterly powerless to protect Himself from death.
They went into hiding, fearing the same, brutal death.
The future looked terrifying!
Maybe they wondered if they were wrong to believe He was the Christ. He died just like anybody else. Those who hated Him “without a cause (John 15:25)” had won!
“Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’”—John 20:19
Although Jesus had told the disciples on multiple occasions that He had to suffer but would rise again, they either didn’t believe or understand what He was really saying.
Even after His resurrection, the apostles still didn’t get that Jesus was establishing a heavenly kingdom, not an earthly one (per my Pastor Jon Bjorgaard this AM, thank you).
“Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him saying, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’”—Acts 1:6
Just as Buddy gets scared and doesn’t trust me to carry him safely down the interior staircase, so, too, we often get terrified at what lies before us. The unknown future looks frightening! We don’t realize that Jesus has total control, not only over our lives, but over history and the universe!
“The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.”—Psalm 103:19
The apostles were afraid of the future because they didn’t understand God’s plan.
Just as you and I can be fearful when we look around at our deteriorating culture and the evil in our world.
But even though we don’t always understand how His plan is unfolding, we don’t need to be afraid.
Just as I won’t let go of Buddy and will get him safely down the staircase…
…God will carry you safely through the unknown future into Heaven.
He’s got this!
God bless you.
“You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.”—Psalm 139:5
Much love from Dawn and Buddy
***
PS. I’m human just like you. I get scared as I see prophetic events unfolding, so I recall the psalms above to calm myself, remembering God’s power.
When Buddy ran off last year, he was too quick to capture. I couldn’t run fast enough. Fortunately, he stopped to sniff a bush and I was able to convince him to jump into the car for a ride.
The Lord Jesus told His disciple, Peter, during the Last Supper before His arrest that:
“Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.
“But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail;…”—Luke 22:31-32
If Jesus prayed that Peter would not lose his faith after falling away for a brief time, do you think He isn’t willing to do the same for you?
Indeed, there are two clear promises regarding the faith of God’s children.
For Jesus is:
“the author and finisher of our faith.”—Hebrews 12:2
And:
“He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”—Philippians 1:6
Rest assured that the Good Shepherd doesn’t bring sheep into His pasture and then allow them to wander away.
He’s going to continue His sanctifying work within His children till the Return of Christ, His Second Coming.
Christians’ opinions vary about celebrating Halloween. Some see it as a time for diverting attention to church harvest festivals to encourage church attendance, while others view it as a celebration of evil to be avoided at all costs.
As you can see from my blog titles this month, I view it as an opportunity to draw attention to the Word of God.
Of course, many people see it as just a time to party, eat candy, and wear fun costumes. They don’t attach any particular meaning to it.
Or to dress up their long suffering dogs and cats in costumes.
(Buddy doesn’t suffer long as he doesn’t like to cooperate, unlike his predecessor, Buster, who would do anything to please me.)
Unfortunately, there are many people who dress up in costumes every day and not just during one or two holidays a year. They pretend to be Christians, but their hearts are far from God (Matthew 15:8). They wear the “Christian” mask but are not born again of the Spirit of Christ Jesus.
So, how do we as believers gain discernment as to who is truly born again or not?
Because we can be influenced by bad teaching and influence, or unaware of someone’s need to be witnessed to, assuming they’re believers when they aren’t.
Now, we cannot know someone’s heart. Only God knows a person’s heart (Romans 8:27).
But neither are we to fellowship with false believers (Matthew 7:15). Jesus warns that we need to be wary of accepting people at face value.
You’re likely an honest person like me, so you’d like to believe others are too. But life experience demonstrates that not everyone is who they claim to be. So these are some pointers to help you differentiate true from false believers.
Now, we are saved by faith, not works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Not everyone starts at the same point in the race toward the finish line. But the following are pretty reliable indications of false believers.
1. They claim to love Jesus but hate, or are continually critical of fellow, born again believers.
“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
“And this commandment we have from Him; that he who loves God must love his brother also.”—Apostle John, 1 John 4:20-21
Someone who is always contemptuous of fellow believers, particularly someone who follows the authority of Scripture, does not have the love of Jesus in their heart.
Someone who shows no interest in the welfare of suffering believers or who claims they’re “bitter clingers, clinging to their guns and Bibles,” is not born again.
2. They reject the deity of Jesus Christ.
“By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God.”—1 John 4:2-3
Anyone who denies that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, God in the flesh (Matthew 1:23), is not born again. Jesus made this abundantly clear, according to the Apostle John in John 8:24:
“If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
3. They reject the authority of the Word of God.
Anyone who rejects the moral authority of the Bible is rejecting God’s authority.
They might have a dispute with a particular denomination’s interpretation of a Scripture passage or a pastor, but they accept the Scriptures teachings.
It’s natural for a new Christian to thirst for God’s Word, having lived in a spiritual desert all their lives. Someone who claims to have had a conversion experience but has no interest in growing in their faith likely is self-deceived or lying.
The devil and the demons know that Jesus was manifested in the flesh, lived amongst humanity, then died on the Cross. They also know that He rose bodily from the dead. They know that He is God, party of the Trinity. But they do not willingly submit themselves to God’s moral authority (James 2:19).
I’m not referring to temporary backsliders or those who rebel temporarily due to suffering or being deceived by bad teaching.
But if someone claims to love God, yet doesn’t feel the Holy Spirit convicting them, making them miserable for their rebellious spirit, then it’s unlikely the Spirit of God indwells them.
Because God hates sin and “leads us in the paths of righteousness for HIS name’s sake (Psalm 23:3, emphasis mine)”.
4. They deny they’ve sinned.
There’s no true repentance without an acknowledgment that Christ needed to die for our sins so that we can have fellowship with the Father through the Son.
“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”—1 John 1:8
Because Who is the embodiment of truth?
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”—Jesus, John 14:6
I have listened to preachers who believe in Christ as Lord and Savior, and in His sin sacrifice for humankind and our need for repentance. Yet deny that we are born sinners. This is a dangerous position to take, as any teaching not founded on the Rock of Christ is slippery sand and can cause our lives to crumble when the inevitable hurricanes of suffering hit our life (Matthew 7:24-27).
5. They encourage you to sin or disobey God.
In other words, they don’t submit themselves to God’s authority, as per point #4 above:
“For certain men have crept in unnoticed,…ungodly men, who turn the grace of God into licentiousness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.”—Jude 4
(I strongly urge reading the entire Book of Jude which is only one chapter.)
6. They claim there are many paths to God. You don’t have to believe that Jesus is the only path to Heaven.
But Jesus claims this is false.
“No one comes to the Father except through Me.”—Jesus, John 14:6
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the ONLY true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”— Jesus, John 17:3 (emphasis mine)
7. Most of all, pray. Because we can all be deceived, particularly Christians, because we usually want to believe the best of people. And pride keeps us from heeding God’s warning signals.
I try to pray this every day. I suggest you do so, also, in your own way:
Lord, please sift everything coming through my mind, ear, eye and heart gates through the Holy Spirit. Help me test it against your Word. Help me discern truth from error, fact from fiction. Help me not to jump to conclusions or slander anyone. Help me know if someone is deceiving or misleading me intentionally or intentionally. And help me not to deceive others. Thank you in Jesus’ name.
God promises to answer that prayer.
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”—1 John 5:14-15
Please, every day beware of false prophets and fake sheep (Matthew 7:15). And remember:
“Bad company corrupts good character.”—1 Corinthians 15:33
There are many other Biblical verses to support the points above. The more you familiarize yourself with the truth, the easier it’ll get you spot lies.
God bless you.
Much love from Dawn and Buddy
***
It’s OK to admit you’ve been deceived. It’s humbling, but we’re human. We make mistakes. We sin.
But the worst sin or big mistake is to assume that tomorrow will come and that we can wait to ask Jesus into our hearts.
I hope that the unexpected, recent pandemic brought a new awareness that life brings surprises, including ugly ones.
Why continue putting off a decision that, in my opinion, is the best one you’ll ever make? I have zero regrets giving my heart to Jesus.
Beware of false prophets who claim coming to Christ guarantees prosperity. We come to God because He’s God and we’re not. And to reverse the curse of the Fall, we have to admit that Jesus is the Lord—we’re not—and need to repent of our willful disobedience.
Cone on! If you’ve read this far, then you know Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart, waiting for you to invite Him into your life (Revelation 3:20). Don’t delay!
Please pray the following, out loud if possible:
Dear Heavenly Father, I‘m sorry for my sin. Please forgive me. I invite Jesus into my life and heart. Please grant me Your Holy Spirit. I give my life to You. And teach me how much You love me. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.
If you prayed sincerely, congratulations, you’re born again. Please start reading the Bible daily as it’s your soul food. Just as your body needs daily nourishment to be healthy, so does your soul.
And join a Bible believing church or Bible study. (You’ve got some tips above how to determine a good church or study.) And get baptized. If that’s not possible right now, I suggest the following two ministries, which also have apps, if that’s your preference: http://www.LTW.org (Leading The Way) or http://www.AndrewFarley.org (The Grace Message).
There are other godly ministries out there, but it’s easy to be misled by legalism or false teaching till you know the Bible fairly well.
God bless you. May Buddy and I meet you in heaven one day.
If you’ve been reading my blog for some time, you know that Buddy ran off one fireworks streaked, July evening. I exhausted myself looking for him—to no avail. I took a nap for a few hours then drove around as the morning dawn spread into the early morning sunshine. I had no idea how many bunny rabbits hopped around my neighborhood till that morning. Fortunately, my cousin, whom I had just met at an 80th birthday party for her great uncle and aunt (same birthday) put me in contact with a neighborhood rescue that knew where Buddy was.
I honestly believe that Jesus introduced me to my cousin because He knew she’d be instrumental in helping me find my beloved Buddy one day.
Plus, I’m certain God protected Buddy that night he ran off. When I was running around on foot searching for Bud, I saw a van slam to a stop a block away. The driver of the truck behind the van angrily honked his horn because of the sudden stop. I’m certain the woman driving the van was avoiding hitting Buddy as that was the neighborhood where someone had taken Buddy in.
(Wish his rescuers had heard me calling for Buddy at the top of my strained voice, but at least Bud was safe, due to this kind couple.)
I wore myself out searching for Buddy because he is my pal, my furever friend.
Other neighbors helped search initially, but since Buddy wasn’t their family member, they didn’t persevere as long as I did.
Christians who claim that you can lose your salvation tend to camp on about three verses, while ignoring dozens of others that teach or indicate that the opposite is true.
For example, Jesus is recorded as saying, by His disciple Matthew, the former tax collector:
“‘Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father Who is in heaven will enter…I will declare to them, “I NEVER knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”’”—Matthew 7:21, 23
The emphasis on “NEVER” is mine to clarify the point I’m making: Jesus claimed He NEVER knew the person protesting that they should be permitted entrance into heaven.
He didn’t say, “You used to be one of my sheep, but you chose to leave the fold.”
No, Jesus said that the person was NEVER one of His flock.
What did Jesus teach about the shepherd who had a sheep who went astray? The shepherd had 100 sheep but one wandered away from the safety of the flock and the shepherd’s watchful care. The shepherd left the other 99 sheep and went in search of the one that strayed away until he found it (Matthew 18:12-13).
So, too, Jesus doesn’t turn His back on the lamb of His flock who foolishly wanders away because of listening to the world, the flesh or the enemy (Mathew 26:41, 1 John 2:16).
The Apostle Paul chastised the Galatians for going astray from the purity of the Gospel and rebuked the Corinthians for their sinful behavior, but he still considered them God’s people.
Because “Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:2)” initiates our faith and brings it to completion. He knows that the world, our flesh, and the devil are always working to discourage, defeat, and lead astray His people. It’s the power of the Holy Spirit Who convicts us when we go astray and leads us back into the security of His flock and obedience.
As the Apostle Paul confidently declared in Philippians 1:6:
“I am confident of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
WILL perfect the faith He initiates in the lambs of His flock.
Hope this reassures you.
Jesus always has His children enclosed in His arms, leading them safely home (Psalm 139:5, Psalm 23:3).
God bless you.
Much love from Dawn and Buddy
***
Would you like to be a member of Jesus’ flock? You don’t have to “clean up your act” first. He only wants you to ask Him to be your God and Great Shepherd, then He’ll take responsibility for guiding you into attitudes and behaviors that are healthier and life sustaining.
You just gotta be humble enough to admit you’re a sinner requiring His moral guidance and authority in your life—the opposite of what Adam and Eve did.
If you’re ready, please repeat the below, out loud if possible:
Dear Heavenly Father, I’m sorry for my sin and want to change my life’s direction. Please forgive my sin. I ask Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I give my life to You. And reveal to me how much You love me. Thank you for hearing my prayer. In the Mighty name of Your Son Jesus, amen.
If you prayed sincerely, congratulations, you’re born again. Please start reading the Bible daily as it’s your soul food. Just as your body needs daily nourishment to be healthy, so does your soul. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your understanding as it’s a supernatural book.
And please join a Bible believing church or Bible study, as sheep belong in a flock for protection. And get baptized. If that’s not possible right now, I recommend the following two ministries, which also have apps, if that’s your preference: http://www.LTW.org (Leading The Way) or http://www.AndrewFarley.org (The Grace Message). There are other godly ministries, but it’s easy to get misled by legalism or false teaching until you know the Bible fairly well.
God bless you as you start walking a new path in your life. May Buddy and I meet you in heaven one day.
Meditations About God and Buddy 