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Jesus vs the devil page 001 1A popular reason why many people don’t come to Jesus is that they believe that Jesus and the devil are equal adversaries in their mind. This is also a reason why many who come to Jesus get discouraged in their faith, because they wonder if they are really on the right side.  It is most probably the main reason why Christians don’t access the power we are supposed to have, because many think the devil has great powers to come against them.

We are taught in our modern culture that evil and good are equal forces opposing each other. Ying and Yang. There are even religions who say that Jesus and the devil are brothers.

If you believe that, you are setting yourself up for failure, and you will miss out on the opportunities that Jesus has for you.

First of all, the Bible says that the devil is a fallen angel. This is important, because in John 19:10, John falls at the feet of the angel and the angel tells him to stop doing that because he is a fellow servant.  Angels and humans are both created beings of God. The devil is the same as us. The difference is that the devil has more experience because the devil has been around more.

I John 4:4, Jesus solves that issue by saying, that because the Holy Spirit is inside of us, we have the right to be stronger than anything that is thrown at us.

John 1:3 says that everything was created by Jesus. That includes the devil. Creative power is the ultimate power, and the devil simply does not have that, and neither do we, but Jesus says that He will give it to us to use against the devil if we want it.

I want it, but in order to want it, you have to realize that there is no competition between the devil and Jesus. The devil is defeated.  It is over.  The devil never had a chance.

The world needs to know that there isn't a battle between good and evil.  Jesus won that battle once and for all.

How will the world see that, when we who are true believers start giving the devil the credit for things? Well, that will happen when we realize that we are on the winning side and Jesus has won in a landslide.

We don’t have to fight the devil. We just have to remind the devil that he is defeated and when you mess with me, you are messing with Jesus, and that should make the devil run.

We say that we want the victory. Everyone loves a winner. So, don’t just say it, do it!  Walk in victory. Remind the devil that he lost, and it wasn’t even close. 

Then you will see the miraculous follow you as Jesus says in Mark 16:17-18. Things will just happen because you realize you can’t lose.

The world is looking for that sure winner. The problem is, often times those who say they believe, aren’t really so sure. Walk in the victory and allow Jesus to clear the path of the obstacles.  Allow the miraculous to happen so that others can see how great this is. Don’t be afraid of the devil’s attacks, and rest in the assurance that Jesus does not just have your back, but He goes before you and will take care of everything head on for you.

The devil vs Jesus is not even a contest. Believe that, live that, and see what happens in your life! Because for Jesus to show the world this is true, Jesus has to work it through you, and therefore you get the benefits first.

Remember Jesus loves you, I love you, and you are awesome!

Jesus Ambassador page 001Tuesday was election day and Trump won. What that means is, there are about 100 million Americans who are unhappy and who are scared of what comes next.

Two things are very certain. No human has any idea what is going to happen for the next four years. We can speculate all we want, but we really have no idea. So don’t do that.

The other thing that is certain is, Jesus is still the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. If you put your faith in Him, Jesus says that you won’t have to worry about all those things you think might happen.

When you come into a relationship with Jesus, Jesus takes you to be with Him, and you become His child (Romans 8:14-15 and John 1:11-12). God offers you the blessing of being a part of His family, not just part of His kingdom. When you become a part of someone’s family, you also then become a citizen of the country of your new family that took you in. We are no longer Americans who are Christians, but Christians who happen to live in America.

Jesus then gives us a job. Jesus says that we become His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). You know what is great about an ambassador? They live in a foreign country, but the place where they live is considered part of their country. In Washington there are foreign consulates, and when you go to one of them, you are actually in that country even though you are still here in America.

Ambassadors are to respect the country they are living in, but they are not subject to that country’s decisions. As Christ's ambassadors, we do not have to be affected by what happens in this world. Praise the Lord!

Now, an ambassador can lose all of these privileges when they are not acting as an ambassador for their country and do things that bring shame to their country. If we want all that God has for us, we have to take our job as His ambassador very seriously.

I have lived on this earth for 52 years now. I can say that this is absolutely true, because there was a time when I did not live for Jesus like the ambassador I should. When I didn't live as His ambassador, the things that happened in this world had great effect on me. Since I have made the change to be a real ambassador for Jesus, I don’t worry about the economy, my safety, any pandemic, etc., because as His ambassador, He takes care of me.

I am not saying I am perfect, or that I have not been in some scary circumstances. What I can say though, is that since I decided to act as Jesus’ ambassador all things, every time has turned out for good for me like my favorite verse says in Romans 8:28.

So, no matter what you think of the election, know this, that as long as you are Jesus’ ambassador, you can relax and realize you will be fine, more than fine, because Jesus will take care of you always!

Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are awesome!

What is right page 001Today is Halloween.  It is a day where it is taught to us that it is OK to be scared, to scare others, and to celebrate the darkness. I want to talk to you about what is really scary, not knowing if what you are doing is right. A case can be made where no one really knows what is right anymore, and that is very scary, because that is where anxiety, depression, and evil come from.

Every day you turn on your TV, computer, or phone, you are bombarded by people who want to tell you what is right for you. How do we know if what they are saying is right? For some, it seems right, and for others, it doesn’t, so confusion reigns. Because of this, many people give up and state, "Oh well, this is what is right for me.". This then becomes even more self-defeating. They think they know what is right, but then when they are in a certain situation, what they thought was right doesn’t work for them anymore.

This has led to a scary unstable world. If there was only a way to know for sure what is right. We need someone who is all knowing and all wise to show us what is right so that we can know for sure.  God is that person, and He has given us His Book, the Bible, to show us the truth so that we can know for sure what is right. However, instead of asking God, what do people tend to say?  Many Christians have decided to try to tell God what they believe is right. For example:

You have people saying that something was a sin "back then", but it is not a sin today.  You have others, like the largest “Christian” denomination in the world, rewriting the 10 commandments and eliminating the second one, and then taking the 10th one and making it into two. You have many cults that have risen up to say that the Bible is flawed because man wrote it.  As a result, we have new books, which are written by flawed men.

We wonder why the world is in the state that it is in. When we don’t know what is right, it allows the evil to win.  It allows others to mess with us mentally and spiritually, which then has a direct effect on our physical well-being.

God gave us His Word so that we could have peace of mind and be able to know in every situation what the right choice is. This is what is right, His book, the Bible.  It was not written by men, but God says He inspired every word, 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:21.

Trust me, if you wanted to tell someone the truth, would you let someone else tell it, or would you make sure it was written exactly as you intended. God did that.  He wrote the truth, and the proof is how the Bible has not changed at all since it was first written, because God wrote it and made sure of that.

We have to stop reading into the Bible to see what we want to see and allow the Bible to speak into our lives. The Bible is also very different than any other book because it is actually alive. (Hebrews 4:12, John 1:1).

When we allow the Bible to speak to us, we can know what the right thing absolutely is.  We will be able to make right choices which will give us peace of mind, and secondly, God says that He will bless us accordingly. Deuteronomy 28:1-14.

God wants to bless you, and He wants you to know what is right. However, you can’t just read the Bible, and you should also not try to just read it from cover to cover quickly. That won’t work for you or anyone. You need to open it and say, "God I will listen to what it says and change my thinking".

Isn’t that what love is? Sacrificing what you think, to be open to listen to someone else, knowing and accepting the fact that you may indeed be wrong.  When you do that with God, God will return that love on you in ways you could never imagine.

It is hard to do what is right in this world, simply because the world has no idea what is actually right.  So, this will not be easy, and God knows that, and that is why God will then show up in your life in mighty ways.  You will see what is right, and God will know that you really do love Him, and then you get to watch what He will do for you.

I promise you, the world will not be the scary place we tend to think it is, because when you are right with the One who has the only vote on where you will spend eternity, you can have perfect peace.

Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are awesome!

Is God motivated to bless you page 001As a pastor for 33 years now, I have seen a trend in America that answers why we don’t see God moving in our lives like we would like Him too. We want God to move in our lives, and I have great news, God wants to move in our lives too.

I tell people all the time that I hate religion. I want to have a relationship with Jesus. A relationship with God is key!

Religion is you A, B, C, and God then must A, B, C. It is like a formula, contract or a box. A relationship is when you do something for the one you love because you love them and then they are free to show that love back to you however they want. God wants to be in a relationship with you, and God really wants to move in your life in ways you never expected, to surprise you with His love.

The key in the relationship is deciding to spend time with Him. Time is something we all hold dear, and we don’t want to waste it. God wants to know what we will do with the time we have.

The so-called experts say that one hour is the best length of a church service. When it lasts over an hour, people are wondering when it will end.  Out of 168 hours in a week, we are only giving God one hour of it, and if it gets close to that hour and we are wondering when the service will be over, we are actually giving God less than an hour of our time.

On top of that, many people think it is okay to arrive 15 minutes late to church.  Wow, now we are giving God less than an hour of our time, and we are saying, "God, you are not important enough to be on time for".  

There's another trend that has sadly become a norm too.  People used to be considered a faithful Church attender if they attended 3 Sundays a month. Today, people are now considered faithful attenders if they come just once a month.  How sad is that!

Yet, we want God to move in our lives when we need Him, but our actions in the relationship don’t say, "God, we need you", and worse yet, our actions don’t tell God that we actually love Him.

God said that He wanted one day a week set aside for Him, and we have boiled that down to an hour, and in many cases less than an hour.  We even think that it is okay to skip that date for weeks or months at a time. Then we wonder why God does not show up in our daily lives.

In the early church, God moved mightily, and they spent that one day, not just an hour, a week together. Those two things are directly related.

In any relationship, time together is what proves love. Can you give up your time to the one you love? You can’t buy love. You can’t just say you love them; you need to show it, and that is why God gave us church. Not because we need church to learn about God, but because when we go and we choose to spend time with Him at His house, God realizes that we really do love Him, and then God is motivated to move in our lives, just like He did in the Bible.

I don’t know about you; I want to give God all the motivation I can for Him to move in my life! Don’t you?

Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are awesome!