How I wish I could give you the gift of faith that would last you not only through this Christmas season, but ALL through your life. I speak of what I have experienced, what I personally know. It is my greatest frustration that I CANNOT give my faith in God away! That I CANNOT “make” you choose Jesus’ gift of salvation. It HAS to be your decision! God has blessed us with free-will which depending on the choices we make – is NOT always freeing!
Listen to me dear reader!
THERE IS NO GREATER DECISION YOU WILL MAKE IN THIS LIFE THAT HAS ETERNAL VALUE THAN CHOOSING TO ACCEPT GOD’S GIFT OF SALVATION AND REDEMPTION THAT CAN ONLY BE FOUND IN ACCEPTING JESUS AS YOUR SAVIOR, CHOOSING HIM TO BE LORD OVER YOUR LIFE! THERE IS NO OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN IN WHICH SALVATION CAN BE FOUND!
We turn to EVERYTHING other than God for answers! But TRULY I tell you – He IS the Way, He IS the Truth and He IS the Life!
BUT YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE HIM FOR YOURSELF
There is a thirst within you that we try to fulfill with EVERYTHING other than the One Who can satisfy that thirst!
Please – if you don’t read and digest any other post on my site – I pray you will contemplate and truly think on this one! God wrote you a love letter – it consists of EVERYTHING you will encounter in life! It IS the Living Word of God and it is meant to GUIDE you! The Bible IS God’s precious message to you! The names and the stories and ALL the situations you read in it are HISTORY! We are to learn from others mistakes, lessons and faith! We are to be encouraged and guided through our life with what God says to us through it! Hey – I accepted Jesus as my Savior, made Him LORD OVER my life 37 years ago. To this day, reading the Bible is a conscientious decision I have to make! And EVERY time I am obedient to doing so – I am blessed! But at the same time, we have a powerful enemy – satan (who though is powerful is NOT more powerful than the One Who defeated Him on the Cross!) and he tries time and time again to distract us from reading the Word of God. Why? Because he knows that when we do, we drawer nearer to the One Who loves us and created us! And the Living Word of God JUMPS off the pages of the Bible and enlightens us, strengthens us, teaches us, guides us! So, reading the Bible and GROWING in Christ becomes a CONSTANT decision. Remember that the battle that is going on ALL around us takes place on the battlefield of our minds!
THERE IS NO GREATER CHOICE YOU WILL CHOOSE TO MAKE IN THIS LIFE THAN ACCEPTING GOD’S GIFT OF SALVATION AND REDEMPTION! IT IS THE ONLY ETERNAL DECISION THAT YOU WILL MAKE IN THIS LIFE!
If you choose to live a life without God – He will honor your choice (though it pains Him…. YES God FEELS!). If you choose to live this life without accepting God’s sacrificial gift of salvation, please know that you are ALSO choosing an eternal life WITHOUT God. It is YOUR choice… And it is NOT God’s will that you should choose that – but you have free-will… But your choice to reject God in your life is BIGGEST mistake you can make. And many don’t realize the truth of these words until their physical life is over. This is WHY I am telling you now! This is WHY God has called me to be a Scribe for Him! I speak of what I have experienced – personally. If you haven’t read my testimony of how I came to know Jesus, please click on my testimony in pink below:
HOW JESUS MADE HIMSELF REAL TO ME
There is a calling on your life! God has a plan for you! It is BETTER than ANYTHING you could choose for yourself! Oh I am not saying it will be easy (it won’t), but I AM saying it will be worth it! Choosing to become part of God’s Called Remnant (a follower of Christ) WILL cost you! But the cost is nothing that Jesus’ did not experience Himself (and He is experienced WAAAAAY more) but the cost is high for a reason! Souls will be saved!
PEOPLE MUST KNOW!
Let me share my experience with you –
So much has happened since I accepted Jesus as my Savior, made Him LORD OVER my life- so much that I didn’t know would – because the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:9-12:
“For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”
I was the ONLY person in my family to share God’s gift of salvation. I was SO excited about what Holy Spirit had revealed to me! If you read my testimony, you know that I grew up in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. Most of my friends were Jewish! (How I LOVE that I was able to learn about the Jewish culture! God’s chosen people! But we as Gentiles have been given the gift of being GRAFTED into the body of Christ!). Anyhow – my new transformed life was met with disdain and even animosity and critiqued and rejected by my close knit family. They thought I had lost my ever-lovin mind! Close friends and family treated me like the “black sheep” of my family. Many people I know called me a “Jesus Freak” –
AND THAT REJECTION HURT
It’s a crazy thing when you are sharing the BEST news of all and you are met with disdain. You are met with insults. You are met with animosity. You are poked fun of and ridiculed. I didn’t understand! How could I share the BEST news of salvation (which I hadn’t known, hadn’t heard of) and instead of it being celebrated by those I loved most – it was rejected! I hadn’t expected that reaction…
Many of you reading this, who have accepted Jesus as your Savior, made Him LORD OVER your life may be experiencing what I experienced by being ostracized and rejected for your decision. You may be going through WORSE than what I went through. You may be experiencing serious life-threatening persecution in one of the countries where you live to a degree I can’t EVEN fathom – but I say to you –
PERSEVERE!!! DON’T TURN BACK! DON’T GIVE UP! CONTINUE TO GO FORWARD IN HIM WHO HAS CALLED YOU FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!
The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 4:12-13:
“Beloved, do not be astonished at the fiery trial which is to try you, as though a strange thing happened to you, But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”
1 John 3:13 says:
“Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.”
James 1:2-5 tells us:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
Even Jesus Himself said in John 15:18-27:
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of My Name, for they do not know the one who sent Me, If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates Me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both Me and My Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’ “
This applies to us as well – if they hated Jesus, they WILL hate US Who follows Jesus…. SO what did I do as I experienced rejection for my faith from my spiritually blinded family and friends?
I CHOSE TO KEEP FOLLOWING JESUS –
Even through my pain of that rejection… You see, once you personally enter into a relationship with Jesus, He reveals Himself to you – there IS no going back.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:37-39:
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me, And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Jesus also tells us in Matthew 10:28:
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Here is what I want you to know – the pain of rejection of Jesus in my family hurt me deeply… I even had one person in my family seething say to me:
“I HATE your God!”
That was like a dagger in my heart, for I deeply LOVE my family. DEEPLY. But I do not love them more than I love God. Their decision made out of spiritual ignorance and spiritual blindness, their so-called “free will” has got to be THEIR decision. And as much as it hurt me to see the One Who I love MOST in this life rejected, I know that it hurt God MORE. Remember, the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4:
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us:
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
If you are being rejected for your faith in God, please don’t hold it against them that are rejecting you FOR your faith! We are in a spiritual war! Their eyes are blinded! Even Jesus said as He hung on the cross in Luke 23:34:
“Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.”
Forgive them dear reader! Through the pain of rejection you are experiencing for your faith – forgive them!
FORGIVE AS JESUS FORGIVES!
And here is another nugget that always gets pushed to the sidelines for you – one that I have found is your MOST powerful weapon in this warfare!
INTERCEDE FOR THOSE YOU LOVE! WAR FOR THEM THROUGH PRAYER! BELIEVE GOD THAT THERE EYES WILL SPIRITUALLY OPENED! THIS IS LOVING THEM IN A HIGHER FORM THAN WHAT THEY WILL EVER KNOW! THROUGH THE PAIN! THROUGH THE REJECTION! THROUGH THE PERSECUTION! PRAY FOR THEM! PRAY! PRAY! PRAY!
INTERCEEDING THROUGH PRAYER FOR SOMEONE IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF LOVE! AND ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT AS MUCH AS YOU LOVE THEM – GOD LOVES THEM MORE! DON’T GIVE UP! DON’T GIVE IN! KEEP PRAYING!
God HEARS your prayers! It IS the will of God that you intercede on behalf of others! Keep letting the light of Christ shine through you!
Matthew 5:14-16 says:
““You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Ephesians 5:8 says:
“For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
1 Peter 2:9 tells us:
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
You *MAY Be* the ONLY Light of Christ people see! Honestly, when Holy Spirit comes to reside deep inside your heart – there is NO way you can’t choose to radiate His love! You realize ALL that God has done for you and your heart rejoices! How can it not????!!! God Himself CHOSE to leave the glories of Heaven and come down in human form, born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary – to walk this earth because HE DESIRED to REDEEM you to Him! Jesus BECAME the sacrificial PERFECT Lamb! He lived a sin-less life and CHOSE to die a horrible death on the cross taking upon the sins of the world (yours and mine!) so that we could be redeemed to a RIGHT relationship with the Father! He rose from the dead, defeating satan and death and sin! And dearest reader – He RIGHT NOW sits at the right-hand of the Father INTERCEDING on YOUR (and my) behalf! There is NO way you CAN tell me that intercession doesn’t work! It is OUR duty! It is OUR purpose! We NEED to pray unceasingly for minds to change, spiritual blinders to be removed! Hearts to accept God’s gift of redemption that is ours for the accepting! Jesus’ redemptive work done on the cross!
GOD’S GREATEST GIFT OF ALL!
It’s NOT God’s will that ANY perish! He has done EVERYTHING He can to restore us to a right relationship with Him! The WHOLE reason we were created in the first place is to be in loving fellowship with the One Who created us!!!!
Here is what I want you to know on top of all that – as you intercede for people that Holy Spirit brings into your life (and your family) in prayer, the warfare around you WILL increase. The very last thing the devil wants is for MORE people to accept God’s gift of salvation. You become “front-line” on satan’s list of people to attack, and attack you he will in EVERY way possible. But you need to remember that God IS greater! That the victory has already been won! That Jesus IS coming back! That You are MORE than a conqueror BECAUSE of His love! Our faith is NOT in and of ourselves, it is IN God! Stand steadfast in your promises that God has given you in His Word – the Bible! You are warring for those you love!!!! Don’t give in, don’t give up no matter what you encounter in life!
Now let me share the victory I have found in battling for those I love… Although it pains me that not all those we love will experience and walk in God’s love while they are healthy, while they are well, only God knows what it will take for those walls of disbelief, walls of pride, walls of whatever is keeping them from acknowledging that they need God in their lives to occur. That pains me to write… Don’t be surprised if it takes sickness, illness, disease or something else to bring someone you are praying for to fall on their face and recognize that the only thing that matters in life – is God, found ONLY in Christ to come to Him.
My father accepted Christ as His Savior, Lord over His life upon his death bed. I was there, I saw it and I know it. After 22 years of praying for him, he chose Jesus. One of my aunt’s 1 month prior to dying, years later did as well. As did my mother, who requested I pray with her. Three people I love most in this world, God allowed me to be part of their salvation experience, upon their own request and accord – even though it was at the very end of their lives, chose God. Listen, while I wish they had experienced God in health and in the prime of their lives – what matters is they chose Him! And those are only three that I can tell you Holy Spirit allowed me to be part of their salvation experience! I am SURE there are others that I do not know of! God gives us up to our VERY last breath to accept His gift of redemption and salvation, why?
BECAUSE IT IS NOT HIS WILL THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH!
This is WHY it is important to intercede and continue praying for ALL God puts in your life! You are to be a VESSEL for Holy Spirit Who resides IN you once you have made a decision for Christ! You have NO idea how many people God will use you to minister to – right up until YOUR very last breath to BE the light of Him Who has called you for SUCH a time as this!
I’m NOT saying it won’t cost you! Some it has cost their VERY lives! But I can honestly tell you – no matter WHAT the devil tries to throw your way – the victory has ALREADY been won through Jesus’ death and resurrection on the cross! This world is NOT our home! We are travelers traveling through it – our rightful place is being prepared in Heaven by Jesus Himself! Jesus said in John 14:3:
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
JESUS IS COMING BACK! AND IT IS PROBABLY SOONER THAN WE THINK!
Mark 13:32 tells us:
““But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
BUT HE IS COMING BACK! WE MUST BE READY!
The peace that passes ALL understanding resides in my heart. The joy that in spite of whatever I warfare I experience because of my faith in Christ, keeps me moving forward in Him Who has called me. The One Who tells me, ‘He knows me by name!” The Lover of my soul! The One Who David said, “He is after God’s heart” keeps me believing, keeps me praying, keeps me praising, keeps me wanting MORE in growing deeper and closer to Him. He HAS to become our reason! We HAVE to keep our eyes on Him – no MATTER our circumstances. No matter WHAT we go through in life, God is STILL on His throne and He SEES you!!!! He LOVES you! He REJOICES in your desire to go deeper with Him – and IF you allow Him to – He WILL show you great and marvelous things!!!
The only way you can know the truth of my words is to choose (with your own free-will) to experience Him for yourself. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you – and I absolutely 100% promises you – HE WILL. Just let Him in… Will you pray with me?
“Father, I thank You for bringing me to this post, something inside of me is bearing witness to the truth of Kelly’s words, even though I may not fully understand it… Father, I desire You to reveal Yourself to me… Make Yourself real to me, in the same way You revealed Yourself to Kelly. Something inside of me tells me there is so much more to this life than what I have experienced. What I am going through… I can’t go through life on my own accord – it’s not working for me. I am worried, I am troubled, I have no peace, I have tried EVERYTHING else, but THIS day of my own free-will I choose to try YOU. Jesus, IF as Kelly says, You ARE real – reveal Yourself to ME. If You LOVE me, SHOW me that You ARE real. Forgive me for my sins. Come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. I pray this FULLY meaning it. Thank You by faith for doing so. In Jesus’ precious name I pray, AMEN.”
This is the heart of CHRISTmas. This IS the greatest gift of all. This is the One gift that keeps on giving! Now watch and see what the Savior does in your life! If you prayed that prayer the “peace that passes ALL understanding” is unfolding in your newly transformed heart. Watch and see God do GREAT and MARVELOUS things in your life. I am rejoicing with you! For HE IS great! His mercies are new EVERY day! And He loves you BEYOND measure! Praise His Holy and Precious name! To God be ALL the glory, ALL the honor and ALL the praise! AMEN \0/ \0/ \0/
9
0
20