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Thanksgiving page 002Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Many people have an amazing tradition of going around the table and saying thank you for something in the last year. I think that is amazing.

Question, do you ever thank Jesus for loving you and giving you eternal life? That is the only thing in the end that matters. Many of you will have people at your Thanksgiving table who don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus. Why not use this as an opportunity to show them how great Jesus is.

You don’t have to get too religious with this, and if you do, it will probably turn them off. Here is a suggestion.

“I am thankful for the past year for the family and friends that are in my life. I am also so thankful that Jesus calls me friend and that I have an amazing relationship with Him.”

For some reason, sharing Jesus seems hard and awkward. We can talk about everything else, politics, sports, news, our family, our kids, the latest gossip (However, Jesus does not want you to do that.), and so much more.

Find a way to bring Jesus into the conversation this Thanksgiving. Without Jesus, you would have no hope for a future, no matter what man does here on earth. It was paid for you by Jesus Himself, and we don’t have to do anything but accept Jesus.

Romans 10:9 explains that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

That is something to be truly thankful for. That no matter what you have done, God forgives you and wants, let me repeat that, wants, to be with you forever!

Thanking Jesus at your dinner table in a meaningful way could lead to some snickering and laughing, but it could also lead to a meaningful conversation that results in another person punching their ticket to heaven. The best way to show Jesus thanks for all that He has, and is still doing for you, is to share Him with others.

By the way, if you would like Jesus to do more for you, there is a simple way for that to happen. Keep sharing Jesus and Jesus will be sure that you are taken care of so that you can continue to do so!

Have a great Thanksgiving and Remember Jesus loves you, I love you, and you are awesome!

Standing on the Promises page 001Have you ever heard these sayings? Standing on the promises. Standing in faith. Waiting on the Lord. I have heard these most of my life. Many Christians use these phrases. They especially tend to use them when things don’t seem to be going well. Many then wonder what good is it to be a Christian. It doesn’t seem like our life is better than theirs and it should be?

God has called us to be part of His army, but so often we fight a defensive war. We want to stand our ground.  The problem is, when you stand in one place, and defend one place, eventually the enemy will wear you down and you will surrender.

The devil has some powerful weapons at his disposal, but God says that He will protect you. He gave us a shield, the shield of faith. The thing is, God never said that the shield is for defense only. It is actually given so that we can move forward. So many times, Christians just stand in one place, and it becomes all too easy for the devil to continue to hurt us. Eventually, the devil wears down our faith. The shield of faith always works, but it only works if we hold it up, and sometimes, we get tired of holding it up.

If you want victory in your life, if you want to see the enemy stop attacking you, and see those fiery darts quenched once and for all, as Jesus says in Ephesian 6:16, then we have to move forward behind the shield of faith.

When we move forward towards the enemy, yes, the enemy will still do his thing, eventually, you will get to where the enemy is and crush him. When you do that, you won’t have to worry about his attacks anymore, because you will have stopped the enemy once and for all. You also get to move past your enemy, and out of his range. When that happens, you can relax.

We are in a spiritual war, and like any war, it is tough and tiring.  God gave us this amazing shield of faith so that we can move and get to the place we want to be.

The shield was not given to keep you safe where you are, or where you think it is supposed to be safe, but to allow you to move forward, to crush the enemy, and to get to the place of your destiny, where real safety and peace reside. God has a place for all of us.

However, too many Christians put their shield up and just wait, hoping that the enemy will give up. The enemy will not give up.  What happens is, we give up on our faith and put our shield down. God wants you to have an amazing life, but we need to use our faith as God intended us to, to allow us to move forward and tread down our enemies and arrive at our place of destiny.

When we do that, we will see God move in so many ways that will bolster our faith. We will wonder if it can really work, and God is OK with that.  God just says to trust Him and move forward. As we do, we will see the miracles of God in our lives that we need to see, and we will then advance as God intended, with all the signs following.

Then others will ask how you did that?  They will want to know, and then you can open their minds and hearts to the One who wants to do the same for them.  Then revival begins!

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

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!