Sorry

I am sorry I have not been on here forever.....There is a good reason however. I am writing a book about deliverance. All my writing has been focused on this book. Please pray The Lord will bless it. After the book I plan on blogging regularly again. I covet your prayers! Please pray for me, that The Lord would use this book to help His children out of bondage. There are so many Christians who are in bondage and therefore have lost all their power and have become useless for the kingdom. I hope my book can make a difference for eternity which is all that matters.

Thanks for subscribing to blog and keep me in your prayers.

God Bless!
Paul

Dancing

During another Merkt family jam session (this entails some music and me dancing around like a fool while my kids gracefully dance in our living room) I noticed something. You see I got tired in the first 10 minutes and had to stop. I sat down and watched my 3 youngest raise the roof. What did I notice you ask? I noticed that while my 9 year old daughter did her pirouette she was staring directly at me, eyes locked on mine. While my 4 year old son did his super punch fanny shake he stared right at me, again his eyes locked on me. While my 2 year old daughter did her herky jerky super groove she also stared right at me. You see this was all for me. If I was not watching their dance did not serve a purpose. It was all about pleasing me. I managed to work a bobble head swivel staring at one of them with each beat giving them the feel I was watching their every move.

If only they were girded with their linen ephods I am sure they would have looked much like King David in 2nd Samuel chapter 6. Their eyes sparkled amazingly. Like David dancing before the Lord, they danced with all their might before their father. It was all to please me, and if I happened to get distracted and look away they lost their vigor.

What a picture that is. I could not help but feel inadequate to my own Father. If only I danced with all my might expecting God to be watching my every move and want nothing more than to please Him, to see His approval; how much more could I accomplish for Him? If I spent every breath trying to please Him, expecting Him to watch me; what could I accomplish? I could be doing things that really matter, things that will last for eternity. However the world manages to grab my leg. My dance becomes a struggle, a self indulgent zombie walk through Satan’s land. I find myself trapped in his games when I could be dancing for my Father and see His smiling face back at me. A Father who would never get distracted and look away; rather one who is faithful to the end.

Let us dance before The Lord (with or with out our linen ephods) trying to please Him with our every move, every minute of every day for the rest of our lives. How could we go wrong with that being our goal?

God Bless America

I was flipping the channels when I noticed a no-hitter was being thrown in the 7th inning of a Major League Baseball playoff game. Well when I was a child baseball was my best friend so I just had to watch to see if a piece of baseball history would be made.

To my surprise after the top of the 7th inning when they normally go to commercial, they did not. Instead they stayed with the broadcast to show the singing of God Bless America at the stadium. At first I was impressed. Instead of making the 5 or 6 figures they could have made during that commercial break they played a song asking our Holy Creator to bless this country.

That’s great……right? Well they panned through the crowd with the camera and I couldn’t help but notice there was no reverence for our Lord Jesus Christ in the crowd. I realized that although the song to me meant “ Lord please let this country come to repentance bring revival and bless us. Let them see that you have a free gift of eternal life if only we would humble ourselves, obey You and see that You only want to give us Your very best. If only we would trust in You, by being obedient, rejoicing in Your free gift of salvation"! The way heaven sounds I could be content being a lamp post their. But yet You offer us to sit beside You eating food we cannot imagine. With perfect bodies that feel no pain. No sorrow, no tears. Oh how I would love to be a lamp post in Heaven, howerver You will build me a mansion. Can you imagine the music we will hear in Heaven. Having ears to hear amazing music, many songs at once and able to enjoy them all. Colors we never saw, and things unimaginable.

However the song at the baseball game was not reverence toward God. It was simply a shallow song between innings. Why is the world blind, happy with their lusts, proud, and not concerned that they are all knocking on death's door? They have the ability to defeat death it's a gift and they don't want it. Maybe if more of us were truly concerned and warned them of the danger they are in (showing we care more about them, then what they think of us) then God could bless America. But with yet another state allowing sodomites to marry (Connecticut), heterosexuals creating thousands of babies out of wedlock, some being murdered in the womb and the lucky ones landing in single parent families, we have to wonder why we haven't been judged already. You can't help but wonder if this financial crisis is the beginning of the end. Thankfully the Lord is longsuffering not willing to let one perish that is willing to repent. How many are left that are willing to repent?

Christian, how often do you think about Heaven. I mean simply seeing Jesus Christ and hearing “Well done thou good and faithful servant”. I can’t think of anything more amazing. It should be the focus of every day. It should be the answer to every sin that comes calling. Moses gave up the pleasures of Egypt to serve God, well we have the pleasure of Heaven waiting for us, how much easier should it be for us, Moses only gave up sin that would make him happy for a season to serve God. We have eternal happiness knocking on our door; how can that compete with any sin for any season here on this Earth.

We are called to be pilgrims, a stranger in a strange land. Our home is in Heaven. Financial crisis….so what, America’s collapse? Maybe luckily I am a pilgrim here. Obedience, walking directly in the will of God will sustain any of it. If you are a Christian stuck in sin and it’s robbing you of the peace of God which passeth all understanding, than just stop it. Make your hope and joy the thought of The Lord coming in the clouds to bring you to eternal paradise. Suffer any pain that might be caused by abandoning sin on this journey. Put your trust in Christ, cry out to Him non-stop if you have to; He will deliver you. Your home is in heaven and this life is but a vapor. Put all your eggs in one basket, and make sure you can get as many people as you come across to put their eggs in it as well. Every eye you look in while traveling this strange land is a soul that could not only miss the joys of heaven, but spend eternity paying for their sins in Hell.

There are only 2 kinds of people on this Earth

The first are those trusting in their own goodness, the second are trusting in Christ's. You take all the religions, including Darwinism and secularism (yes they are religions) and they fall into one of these two categories. Funny thing is those trusting in their own goodness all believe they are great people, pretty convenient! Proverbs 20:6 “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?” Even the unrepentant murderer has justified his crime and thinks overall he is a relatively good person. The facts are even the church going, bible reading, Sunday school teacher is just as vile as the murderer with out Christ's goodness imputed to their account.

By the grace of God I was able too see how my thoughts and actions are truly despicable. That being said; I think one of the worst things we can do is to start telling people about the glorious Gospel, until they see they are in serious transgression of the law and in danger of judgment. Go ask 10 people on the street if they think they are a good person. You will get 10 people to say they are. Very rarely will someone say they are not good, just like The Bible tells us, everyone is proclaiming their own goodness. Why in the world would anyone want to submit to Christ to wash away their sin when they are not a bad person? They won't.

If I gave you a strange looking beaker containing a steaming blue liquid and said drink this before you die you would look at me like I am nuts. Now if I said it's clear you have a horrible disease, I pointed out the symptoms and showed you the cure from a medical encyclopedia you would drink it up. It's no different with salvation. Without seeing the danger they are in; people will either tell you no thanks because they don't need it. Or even worse they will say the prayer with you for a number of different reasons (to be nice to you, to get you off their back etc) and you have just created a false convert. Now they have received the word; and Satan will come to ridicule them to shame their decision or pour lots of temptation to choke the word out (see parable of the sower in Matthew 17). Now that they "tried Jesus" their latter end is worse than their first because they already know it's a bunch of nonsense. We have to be real careful to make sure people see the disease they have before we give them the cure, otherwise we won't make any sense and no one will repent, and therefore never get saved. It would be better that we don't reach out to them at all, rather than make a disillusioned bitter "backslider" that will be much harder to reach than the man who was not reached at all.

The simplest way to make people see their sin is using God's word. Ask them if they have lied, stolen, lusted, blasphemed His name, always honored their parents, coveted, hated. If they have then tell them God sees them as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, coveting, dishonoring, murder/adulterer at heart (see Matthew 5:20-28). Then when they see they are guilty and learn that God is just (has to punish sin or He would not be good); they are glad to learn that He is also loving and came to pay the price of their sin debt. When they learn that Christ took a torturous brutal death to pay the fine of your sin they become a tear filled convert that truly loves The Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember everyone is ready to proclaim their own goodness. No matter what religion/world view they have, if they do not have Christ's blood covering their sin, they are trusting in their own goodness. Whether it's because they believe it’s what it takes to get into heaven (pretty much every religion but Christianity) or to be reincarnated as something good, or if they claim not to believe in God (they really know there is one but trust evolution to quiet their conscience they still try to be a good person as fire insurance just in case there is a God and they believe they will still be ok if God exists). Plain and simple there are only two types of people those trusting in their works, and those trusting in Christ. If we can point out their works are filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.) than we can get them to turn to Christ.

And just like breaking any other law it's important to remind them that no amount of good deeds can ever free them from the penalty that has to be paid on breaking the law, so if they see their sin but say they have made up for it over time remind them that a murderer has to get punished no matter how years have past and no matter what amount of good works they have done, justice has to be served. There is no scale that weighs your good deeds verses your bad and if you have more good you get in. Plain and simple even one transgression expels you from Heaven; God is perfect and he can’t have sin in His presence; luckily for us He is willing to give us Christ’s perfection to cover our filthy rags. Romans 3:[23] For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; [24] Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: [25] Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; [26] To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. [27] Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. [28] Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Willingly ignorant, the blind lead the blind

Waking up this Sunday morning with stomach cramps and other details I will spare you, I sent my lovely family off to church, and I proceeded to drive myself completely insane. What did I do that caused me to pull all my hair out? I went to msn.com and read some of the articles. I am convinced The Bible is the thing that is most talked about (with conviction) by people who have no idea what they are talking about. Based upon what they hear even though they have never check out what they are spouting, they don’t read The Bible they just regurgitate what they hear from other proud fools. These “experts” are willing to be quoted in national articles and say things that are just plain wrong. I am a simple lay person, not a theologian by any means, yet with my limited knowledge I see so many errors that are printed as truth. The reason all these lies get through is because none of these secular people study their Bible, they just believe whatever they hear and start repeating it. How frustrating, if The Bible itself did not warn me of this mass ignorance I would be going absolutely bonkers! Aside from the ignorance of God’s word, the other thing unavoidable by sampling a few articles is evolution; the earth being billions of years old is now treated as fact. I remember as a child, articles would always say “an estimated” 350 million years ago… I have now noticed the “estimated” part is being dropped altogether. These articles are being written like they were actually there to witness these things. The simple truth is there dogma is being repeated by everyone so loudly and so often that the blind people of this world simply throw up there hands and say it must be true.

Let’s explore this. In article about science and “religion” (I put that in quotes because Christianity is not religion, it is a personal relationship with Christ, creator and Lord of this world. Yet they always lump true Christianity, Catholicism, and apostate Christianity together under the title of religion, which makes it very easy to make us look like fools, but I digress). Here is a paragraph from the person supposedly defending the side of Christianity:

Expecting to hear a further defense of his faith, I ask Coyne what effect science has had on religion and, in particular, on the Bible. “There is no science in the Bible. Zero, none,” Coyne says. “The Bible was written in different times by different people. Some of the books are poetry, some of them are history, some are stories.” “Are you saying that the Bible should not be held up to scientific scrutiny?” I ask.“That is correct,” Coyne says. “Absolutely.”

What? No science in The Bible? I say hold The Bible to the highest scientific scrunity, do your worse and come up with one example where it’s wrong. You want some science in The Bible? Ok, here is a small list of things The Bible knew and scientific men did not:
The earth is a sphere(Isaiah 40:22).
Free float of earth in space(Job 26:7).
Light moves(Job 38:19,20).
Air has weight(Job 28:25).
Winds blow in cyclones(Ecclesiastes 1:6).
Blood is the source of lifeand health(Leviticus 17:11).
Ocean floor contains deepvalleys and mountains(2 Samuel 22:16;Jonah 2:6).
Ocean contains springs(Job 38:16).
When dealing with disease,hands should be washedunder running water(Leviticus 15:13).

Absolutely none, zero? Well this catholic priest apparently does not read his Bible.

In this next paragraph we have another person the media presents as being on our side. This “Christian” says the following:

“A hundred years ago we didn’t understand the Big Bang,” he says. “Now that we have the understanding of a universe that is big and expanding and changing, we can ask philosophical questions we would not have known to ask, like ‘What does it mean to have multiverses?’ These are wonderful questions. Science isn’t going to answer them, but science, by telling us what is there, causes us to ask these questions. It makes us go back to the seven days of creation — which is poetry, beautiful poetry, with a lesson underneath it — and say, ‘Oh, the seventh day is God resting as a way of reminding us that God doesn’t do everything.’ God built this universe but gave you and me the freedom to make choices within the universe.”

Anyone else feel like there head is about to explode? The seventh day is poetry? The big bang? Wait, I really have to make sure I get this. The whole point about the 7 day creation account is to remind us that we have freedom to make choices? I guess I missed that in my modest study of The Bible. And these people are the people being presented to defend the religion side of the argument. With defense like that we don’t even need intellectuals like Dawkins coming at us, we can destroy the truth of The Bible all on our own. However, the author of this article still decided to let Dawkins have his say in the debate as well. I am glad they did, believe or not, this God hater was our best defense in this article. Below is a quote from Dawkins in the article, and he is dead on is what he says:

“Science cannot tell you what is right and wrong. When it comes to really interesting questions, like ‘Where did the laws of physics come from?’ or ‘How did the universe arrive in the first place?’ I genuinely don’t know whether science will answer those deep and at present mysterious questions…” Here Dawkins admits the conscience (God’s law written on your heart) cannot be explained by science. There is no explanation for the beginning of the universe in science, or how the laws of the universe (gravity, thermodynamics etc) cannot be answered by science. The Bible of course does. Backed with tons of scientific, historical, archeological, and prophetic evidence anyone willing to humble themselves, remove their pride, can open The Bible and see if for themselves. Of course we have the ultimate evidence, when you do submit to God he reveals Himself to you, and no argument can convince someone they did not experience something that they did. Skeptical? Do it for yourself. Think of all your sin, your thought life, your actions. Apologize to God for taking Him for granted and admit you have lived your life for yourself and not for Him. Repent of those sins and ask Jesus to pay the penalty a just God has to put on sin, trust in Christ’s payment for your sin and you won’t have to pay your own fine (with life in Hell). If you do this you will pass from death to life, and a have a new heart with new desires, and you won’t have faith anymore, you will have an experience that you cannot be talked out of.

After two pages of that article I needed a break so I clicked on a link about a new species of fish being found. Ok I admit I was pushing it because I knew I would find something else to increase the pressure on my head, and I was not disappointed. This one however I found extremely funny because the author began it with the words of a fairy tale. I have always said that evolution and millions of years is a fairy tale for grown ups that allows them to live in their sin, quiet their conscience, and not have to be judged by a holy God some day (in their own mind of course). Here is what the article said:

Once upon a time, about 3.5 million years ago — before the Caribbean and the Pacific were separated by present-day Panama — they were, in fact, the same species. Now, DNA tests have revealed the two populations have distinct genes, indicating they likely evolved into two separate species after their ocean homes were divided by Central America.

“Once upon a time” I am sure the author was not trying to point out evolution is a fairy tale, but I thought that was classic. They write like they were there to witness this event. 350 million years ago, give or take a few million this fish evolved into two species. Well if one evolved from the other why do we still have both of them around? And what new traits that are better did one evolve over the other? What we really have here is some natural selection, small scale (pun intended) changes within a species. The fish is still a fish, it never became a reptile, which became a bird, which became a monkey, which became you. However it makes for an interesting fairy tale.

Well this is just a small sample of what you will encounter if you decide to jump into the secular media. Be careful the amount of willingly ignorant people who love their sin so much that they believe this stuff can become quite frustrating and depressing. Do not dive into this without the full armor of God or you may even end up using this nonsense to quiet your own conscience. My advice, crack open your Bible, or spend some time spreading The Gospel, the ultimate truth of this world before reading this nonsense.

A gift for me? No thanks I'd rather work for it.

Hello everyone. First I would like to apologize for my lengthy absence, I had been with out internet for 5 weeks or so, and I rather enjoyed it.

I had a witness encounter yesterday that left me with a strange feeling. Something was missing and after some pondering, I put my finger on it. This girl was quite content with earning her way to heaven. She had created a god in her own image that would never send someone to hell for lying, stealing, lusting or blaspheming. Don't get me wrong I see that all that the time. There was something more that left me scratching my head. This girl seemed quite content in earning her way to heaven. Why in the world would anyone want to strive for something that is being handed out freely? That was the question I pinpointed that left me with the empty feeling of our conversation.

So now that I pinpointed the question. I needed to find the answer. I reached for my 2 default answers that seem to always reveal why someone rejects Christ. #1) Pride and #1a) Love of sin. Ding ding ding, pride seemed to take the cake with this one and my defaults proved correct again. However just throwing the default answer was not sufficient for this question. I wanted to make sure The Lord agreed with me. Where do we go when we want God's opinion on something? Well The B I B L E of course. Let's see if God's Word agrees. Is pride the reason someone would rather work and labor for something that is being handed out freely?

Before we do that indulge me with this analogy. The sad thing is how content she was in her view. Not realizing how insulting it is to reject the gift and place her hope in herself was the real tragedy. Think if you sacrificed your time and effort. You poured your sweat and blood into a wonderful gift for me (by the way tomorrow is my birthday if you feel inclined to do this). You come gleaming as you present me with this wonderful gift. You say Paul, I love you brother, and that is why I sacrificed my nights for the last 3 months to give you this wonderful gift! I say, "this is wonderful, I can't just take this, please take this nickel for all your effort". Can you say insulting? Let me tell you offering your own vile goodness in place of God's blood filled gift to you is exponentially more insulting than the nickel I offered for all your labor.

Now let's get back to God's word. Is it pride that makes people want to work for something offered freely? Psalm [10 :4] says "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." This is a good start, this person I witnessed to believes in God (probably due to evidence of creation and conscience) but yet pride will not allow her to seek God in all her thoughts and therefore she will rely on her own goodness. Proverbs[20:6] says "Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?" Seems by default she will proclaim her own goodness, and her pride is preventing her from seeking God. Counting on her own goodness, to meet her own standards to earn her way to heaven seem right to her because she is not seeking God. But again we are warned in Proverbs [14:12] There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. How sad so many people base their view on God on feelings and not on His word. It is so frustrating to have the key to eternal life and happiness and people not willing to take it!

The discussion ended nicely and Laura said she would think about what I told her. Let's pray her pride was working overtime while talking to her, and afterward when she was alone God's law humbled her and she cried out for forgiveness. Please pray for Laura.

Suffering

For those of you subscribed to my old blog you will find you read this already. I have updated it after my pastor read it so please read it again.

We are going to look at different aspects of suffering and how it relates to the word of God. How non-believers use it as a reason to be ignorant. How with out the sufferings of this world The Bible would be wrong. How suffering is the call of the Christian. Christ’s suffering. How pain and suffering is used by God to draw both Christians and the lost to Him. The sufferings caused by sin. The suffering of a Christian stuck in sin and how to overcome it.

Suffering is evidence and proof The Bible is the word of God! You simply CANNOT use the suffering of the world as a reason God does not exist. However many surprisingly do. Throwing out intellect they war against their Creator and say an all loving God would never let the horrors of this world go on; therefore He does not exist. Sadly they are right, an all loving god does not exist. The fact is God is not ALL love like so many people are being taught in the church today. When you apply a bit of reason and read His word, you see that all this suffering indeed is part of His plan. A plan from a loving, righteous, holy, and just God; who made us for His glory. It's very clear for anyone to see, yet they choose not to. This spiritual blindness seems unfathomable, unless you read The Bible and find that these things must come to pass. It’s says men will become willingly ignorant before they will humble themselves and give up sin they love. 2Pet.3[5] For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Now you may ask, "for what are they willingly ignorant"? You just go back two versus to find out. 2Pet.3[3] Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, You see nothing covers up the suffering Christians are called to go through like the pleasures of sin for a season. If you are a Christian living in sin and struggling against it I am not talking to you, I do address you later in this writing. To those that are willingly ignorant walking after their own lusts; you are just quieting your conscience so you can have a good time on the road to hell. I know it sounds harsh, but in fact it is the very harshness of this that inclined me to take my time to write this to you. The motive is love and I am most sincere. The lusts a lost person indulges in are simply a painkiller. However the pain being killed is your conscience; and your conscience is alerting you that you are on the broad path to hell that so many take. It is the exact same suffering you are called to endure that you are turning off with the pleasures of sin. What would you say to someone who put a piece of tape over his check engine light and said "now I don't have anything to worry about"? I tell you brother if you love your sin so much and still believe you won't be sent to hell for your rebellion you have created a God in your own image. You have a created a god that won't judge you, that will not uphold justice and you are just as willingly ignorant as the man putting a piece of tape over his check engine light.

Just like most other excuses people use to not submit to Christ, the “suffering in the world” excuse is based on partial information. The sufferings are not some out of control thing that proves God does not exist. Suffering is a pivotal part of God’s plan. Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: Sin brought death and death mixed with sin and the fear of death brings suffering. Sinners create their own suffering and God uses that to try and draw men to Him. Psalms 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me. Psalms 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. Psalms 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. Jonah 2:2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

Suffering for a Christian can truly be understood and even praised. If you truly trust Christ and His plan, you accept the suffering, because you know what comes out of it. What is that you ask? Something wonderful! Being made perfect, being established, strengthened and completely settled. 1Pet.5[10] But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. If you want to partake in Christ's glory, you must follow in His footsteps. The call for a Christian to suffer is a clear message of The Bible. In fact the contrast of not suffering for Christ is actually denying Him and that is very serious.

Christ suffered greater than any of us ever could. Getting a small taste of that suffering will make you more Christ like than any other means. It is no different than if you wanted to emulate any person on Earth; you do what they did. Like precious metals being purified by fire; going through the trials and fires of this life purifies us. You see God wants us to partake in Christ’s glory, He knows that we can't truly partake in the fullness of His glory with out experiencing a form of His suffering 1Pet.4[13] But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Here is some background information you may be missing from this puzzle and why suffering is the only answer. God has to judge our actions or He would not be just. He couldn’t ignore our sin and still be righteous. He must punish transgression or He would not be good. I for one am glad for this; I would not want to serve an unrighteous, unjust God! It would be horrifying. God cannot change; He is and always was. He did not create Himself and has certain qualities that He cannot change, not the least of which are being holy, good, loving, righteous and just. Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

How would you reconcile all that? If it were you would you have bothered to make anyone at all? Would you have made a race of puppets that cannot sin? There is no glory in that, for us or Him and remember the whole reason of our existence is His glory. What would you have done? You, having to remain just over a group of free-willed creatures that denied your authority and rebelled against everything you say? Would you have suffered and died for these rebels? Would you, being all powerful, come as a lowly servant and suffer and die for them? It pleased God to lay the punishment that has to come down on sin on Him, a brutal and torturous punishment. Would you have done that? You break His laws every day. Every time you have lied, stolen, used His Holy name to show disgust, looked with lust (you think that’s not so bad? imagine someone looking at your mother, daughter, sister, or niece the way you have lusted). Why did He do it? It was the only way He could reconcile Himself with us. We broke the law, and for him to remain just, good and loving, He paid the fine. He suffered and died for us while we were shaking our fists in His face. He does not need us, yet He decided to rescue us. If you were all powerful and could have anything you wanted, would you have bothered? Rom.5[8] But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now if you want to partake in His glory than you to have to pick up your cross and follow Him all the way to Calvary. Repent of your sins (turn from them and apologize) and trust Christ. God will reveal Himself to you and your life will never be the same.

For those of you who have suffered tremendous loss and you don't know The Lord. You have hope! Trust in Christ now and repent of your sins. You will see one day how your suffering is part of a perfect plan and you are promised to have exceeding joy when it’s all revealed. All your tears will be wiped away it's a promise from God. If you decide to be bitter about your trials than it's a double loss for you. It's the ultimate tragedy. Don't pile on your earthly pain with eternal death. I beg you to consider what I am saying. I have no motivation other than the thought of you rejecting Christ's plan terrifies me greatly on your behalf. Your suffering will work together for good if you repent and trust in Christ! Rom.8 [28] And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. It's never to late to love The Lord; be called according to His purpose and claim His promise that ALL things in your life, even suffering and tragedy, will be used for a greater good.

While some sufferings are obvious. Death of loved ones, loss of income/jobs/your home, your health. All of these things can bring great suffering. One that is often overlooked is the battle of sin. Sin is a law that resides in your members. People who truly love The Lord and struggle with sin often suffer greatly as well. The guilt, filthiness, failure and one’s struggle with the assuredness of their salvation can all be tremendous burdens on their soul. Christian, rejoice, it's part of God's plan for you! 1Pet.1[6-7] Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: The key is heaviness through temptation. When temptation calls suffer yourself not to partake, and if you do partake than suffer yourself that you did and repent of the action. Then you will be found unto praise and honor at the appearing of Christ. Stop fighting these battles in the flesh they will destroy you. You will not overcome sin with your own will. Eph.6 [12] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

We are saved by grace through faith, you hear that a lot, but do you believe it? Eph.2 [8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. You cannot overcome your sin with your works. For starters if you were able to conquer your sin by reading the Bible more, praying more etc; than you would get the glory. It's God's victory not yours. His glory He let's you partake in it when you have faith and submit to His plan. If you have been trying to eradicate your sin by your will you are fighting a battle you cannot win. Don’t get me wrong Bible reading and prayer are the most important thing in spiritual growth. First you need to establish why you are reading and praying more. If it’s only to impress God then it’s an act of pride motivation. If it’s to gain spiritual strength from God to fight the battle with lust or drink or any other sin then it’s a good thing to do. REMEMBER THE BIBLE WILL KEEP YOU FROM SIN AND SIN WILL KEEP YOU FROM THE BIBLE.

There are many reasons a soldier of Christ can be left behind enemy lines. One is you are being left in until you realize you can't do anything about it, and only Christ can deliver so he gets the proper credit. Sin is a law that abides within you Rom.7 [21-23] I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. The only thing that overcomes a law is a stronger law. Yes the law of sin lives in us, how do you overcome it? Rom 8[2-4] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The question is not “can you overcome your sin?”, the question is: “are you walking after the spirit?” Do you have the law of the Spirit within you which is greater than the law of sin? Your sin is overcome when you truly believe your sin was nailed to the tree with Christ and is dead. Have you ever pondered that the fact that your sin is still controlling you; not due to your lack of strength, but it is your lack of faith leaving you in bondage? Do you have the faith of Peter walking on water, or of him sinking? Would you die for Christ, or would you deny Him thrice?

It takes some longer to realize their freedom from sin than others. If you have been living in sin to the point where you are doubting your salvation let me encourage you. In caution I need to make a distinction first. If the thought of being left in sin sounds good to you so you can have your cake and eat it too this encouragement is NOT for you. You need to examine yourself to see if you are truly in the faith, and I suggest you stop reading this and do it right now. The Apostle Paul, dealt with a Christian, (calls him brother) that was having sex with his step-mother, Paul finds out that this Christian man wouldn’t repent of his sin and prayed that his flesh be turned over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. He did not lose his salvation but do you feel Satan would kill this man quickly or take years of AIDS or some other disease? No one ever gets away with their sin. Christians need to understand that they are not exempt from a Holy God’s judgment.) 1 Timothy 5:24 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. (But be sure your sin will find you out)

However if you are broken by the law of sin, if you find yourself powerless to it. If you regularly find yourself weeping and crying out to The Lord to rescue you. Perhaps it even feels like there is no hope and God does not want you. The suffering that your sin will bring is strengthening and perfecting you. You also need to examine some other possibilities for being left in sin. God may need you to realize that there is nothing you can do in and of yourself to solve the problem. All pride has to be removed before he can rescue you. Another reason is you have yet to see the sinfulness of your sin; and until you do you are in danger of correction from The Lord. Rejoice, The Lord corrects those whom he loves. Prov.3[12] For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. Repent and suffer with out the sin now and you won't have to suffer the correction, nobody ever likes a spanking! Being left in a losing battle of sin also helps you appreciate God's grace, love, longsuffering, patience, His sacrafice. It brings forth the reasonableness of Hell and your worthiness to go there. If you can't overcome your sin, do you honestly believe you are a wicked sinner that deserves to be tormented in Hell forever? But only thanks to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ you won't have to? If that thought bothers you, and "you really aren't that bad" you have some pride in your way, 1Pet5[5] ...Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.. The Lord may not be rescuing you until you can truly appreciate His gift and rejoice to the fullest with Him. Is it reasonable for you to agree that you are deceitfully wicked and on your way to hell with out Christ?

Rejoice in your sorrow. Use this time to appreciate an all powerful God who cares so much for someone as unworthy as you to actually die for you so you could share His kingdom and be a part of His glory. In the meantime every time you sin or are debating to partake in sin lay it at the foot of the cross! Say NO, and if the war and self sacrifice causes strife, struggle, depression, no peace; than gladly accept that fate and bring it to Calvary. Be patient, longsuffering, wait on The Lord and He will deliver you, it's a promise. Psalms 24[14] Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Let me tell you, what a victory it is to go from being double-minded with no peace; to being like minded with Christ and have more peace and strength that you ever dreamed imaginable. It's not just something you can hope for. It's a reality, it's a free-gift for all those who want it and repent and trust in The Lord Christ Jesus.

You see suffering is quite a complex subject. Seeing the death and suffering of this world is clearly not a reason to think the God of The Bible does not exist. It simply reaffirms what The Bible says. Christians are called to suffer. All pain and suffering will be used for good. If you are not saved and are stricken with the suffering of this world, give it to Christ. Trust Him, repent from your sins, read The Bible and do it what it says. You will not be let down. If you are saved and are afflicted with suffering, rejoice. It likens you to your Lord Jesus Christ, and you have the promise that all the tears will be wiped away. If you suffer as a Christian lost in sin than examine yourself. How do you know you really believe? Stop using your own works, and trust in Christ's death where God said he crucified sin. Your sin died with Christ, and now you can live in the newness of life through His resurrection the defeating of sin and death. Rom.6 [3-11] Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.