Jesus Christ

How close can you get to God?

The closest anyone can get to God is to have Him live within your heart. When I was a child we used to sing: “Don’t try to tell me God is dead, He woke me up this morning. Don’t try tell me He is not alive, He lives within my heart.” But before He can take up residence in yours or my heart, we must be born again. When an individual is born again, he becomes united with Christ and one with Him. The Holy Scripture says: “But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Therefore, if  we are one with Christ, we are close to Him. He has even promised that He will never leave you nor forsake you. So, this notion that He is far off is a trick the enemy use to convince us into believing that we have to do more to get closer to Him. Christian author, Gregory Dickow, calls this the ‘Illusion of Separation.’

Consequently, there is no separation between you and God. Jesus fill the gap created from the downfall of Adam and Eve. Therefore, if you bought the lie that God is far off,  and you have to do more to get closer to Him, you are actually saying you can earn God’s favor. And when you think you can earn God’s favor–you try too hard. Then, when that doesn’t work–you get discouraged until you either give up or assume your relationship with God is distant. This mindset ultimately affects your peace, your joy, and your confidence in prayer.

Brothers and sisters, your closeness to God is not earned, it’s a gift–made possible through the blood of Jesus. So, if we recognize that God lives within us, it will change how we look at ourselves and ultimately change how we live.

Why hasn’t God answered my prayer?

No one will acknowledge it, but we (Christians) question God more often than we will admit. Unlike non-Christians, some of whom question God existence, and especially after a natural disaster, such as hurricane Sandy or a tragedy like the Sandy Hook school shooting; we question God if we think He did not answer our prayers soon enough. But God doesn’t work in our time. The Bible  says God makes all things beautiful in His time Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Believe that prayer works

Consequently, when you pray, you must believe. “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Yet, lack of faith seems the dominant reason why we think God hasn’t answered our prayers. Often time the break through that we desire is within our grasp, but we need faith to claim it.

Prayer can move mountain

The woman with the issue of blood had a mountain size problem, but she also had extraordinary faith, which she exercise to achieve her desired outcome. She was one hundred percent sure if she touched the elm of Jesus’ garment, she would be made whole.

Another person who exercised extraordinary faith was the Centurion. One of his best servants was dying, so he requested Jesus to come and heal the servant. “And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed” (Mark 7:6-7). Jesus later commented, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

Throughout His ministry, Jesus emphasized faith. In fact–in one of His discourses with His disciples, He said, “Therefore I say unto you, Whatever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them” (Mark 11:24).

New beginnings

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:1-5)..

Happy New Year, everybody! Let us strive to walk in Jesus’ footsteps throughout the new year and beyond.

In addition, yours truly would like to take this opportunity to thank all my friends for supporting this blog. Your likes and comments mean a lot to me. Thank you, thank you. To God be the glory.

Are you the sheep among goats?

English: An image showing Ovis aries in field ...

English: An image showing Ovis aries in field with goats. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The parable of the sheep and the goats that Jesus told in Matthew 25:31-46 seems to convey a simple message. And why not. Jesus was and is known to make things simple. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Jesus used this parable to clear up any ambiguity in an earlier point that He made: “Love your neighbor as yourself”.

As you read through the parable (the sheep and the goats), you will notice that as Christians and as a society in general, we are charge with the responsibility to care for the less fortunate. Further, according to the parable, every crying voice for help that we ignore will be held against us when we stand before the righteous Judge.

 Matthew 25:31-46

New International Version (NIV)

The Sheep and the Goats

 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, He will sit on his glorious throne.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then He will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,  I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Do you live a good Christian life?

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Every good Christian dream of the day when you stand before Jesus Christ and hear Him say, “Welcome to my Fathers’ Kingdom, thou good and faithful servant. Unfortunately, not every so-called good Christian will see their dream turn into reality. As a matter of fact, Jesus, in one of His discourses made it clear, “Not every one that says unto me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). That begs the question. Is living a good Christian life enough to get you into heaven?

Anyone can seem to live a good Christian life, until the truth comes out.  The Scribes and Pharisees appeared good until Jesus exposed them for what they were; hypocrites. In one, instance, He referred to them as: “You blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also” (Matthew 23:26). This pious group was more concerned about outward appearance than they were about the heart.

Unlike the Biblical Scribes and Pharisees, we Christians, must not only seem to live a good Christian life, but our hearts, words and actions must be in sync with the teachings of Jesus Christ. In other words, we must practice what we preach in public and in private. “For I say to you, this is Jesus talking, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:21). The blue print for a good Christian life can be found in Jesus’ ‘Sermon on the Mount‘. (Read Matthew 5,6,7)