A popular topic people debate about is can you lose your salvation? Many Christians debate this and debate it quite fiercely. When we do, we just cause confusion, and the world looks at us and wonders if we know what we are talking about.
Many come from the point of view that God will never take your salvation away, thus you can’t lose it. I completely agree! God will never take away His gift of salvation. Once He gives it to you. It is your gift forever. You cannot lose it by God taking it back.
Now it is a gift, and like any gift you can give it back. You don’t have to keep it if you don’t want to. God does not want you to give His gift back, but He will allow it, because He loves you. I don’t suggest doing this.
We are in a relationship with Jesus. In that relationship Jesus puts up with a lot from us, because we will still be messy. I John 1:9 was written because God knew we would mess up even after being saved. God gives us great grace and will never stop loving on us.
God does love us, and God does practice what He preaches. When you love someone, you give them the freedom to love you back or not. Love is also completely vulnerable, because the other person can break your heart at any time without your permission. God says He will always love you, and if you make the choice, that you don’t want to love Him anymore, God loves you so much, God respects you so much, that God will allow you to make that choice.
Romans 8:38-39 says that there is nothing in this world that can separate you from the Love of Jesus. It means nothing the world does will cause God to stop loving you. However, in that verse the only thing that is not mentioned or alluded to is you. You are the only one who can make that choice.
If you don’t want to be with Jesus, Jesus will not force you. I bet Jesus would love to, like I would love to force everyone I meet to accept Jesus, but we can’t because then it would not be love. Jesus is love, I John chapter 4 great chapter. He loves you so much that you have the choice.
You don’t lose your salvation, per se, people choose to walk away.
Some will say well they were not saved in the first place. First you have no idea what is in the mind of someone else. Second, remember this is about a relationship. If you are reading this you have had a relationship, family, friend, business, or romantic where at some point things changed and they did not want to be in a relationship with you anymore. Everyone has experienced that. The point is that at some point they were truly in a relationship with you, all in, not looking to end it. So don’t be so quick to say that that person was not saved in the first place.
The good news with those who do walk away from Jesus, is Jesus still loves them, they still have that past experience with Jesus, and they can always come back no questions asked. Praise the Lord.
So why do people walk away? Why would they give up heaven? Relationships take work. Jesus will always do His part and more for you than you can ever do for him. The key is Jesus important enough to you to work at it and is Jesus still special to you. Those two things are necessary for someone to stay in a relationship.
If you know someone who has walked away from Jesus pray for them. Remember that they came to Jesus for a reason, He was important and special at some point. Then try to help them find that again. The worst thing you can do is get down on them, it will only push them further away.
Jesus still loves them and so should we. Sometimes we think reaching out is only for those who don’t know Jesus. Don’t forget that sometimes people get lost in their relationship with Jesus and need help to. Intentionally look to help them rediscover the spark in their relationship with Jesus.
You want to see revival, I think the world wants to see how we help our own before they give us a chance, and that makes sense. I also think Jesus wonders that too.
Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are awesome!
God doesn’t seem to be listening to me. I hear that a lot. People use that to say God is not real. God says He always listens, the real question is are we listening to Him?
How do you know if someone listened to you? By allowing them to respond to what you said. Do we give God a chance to do that?
I often ask people, “What is prayer?” The response I usually get is, talking to God. Sounds like a good answer, but that answer is the problem. Have you ever been talked to? Of course you have, it is when the other person does not allow you to get a word in at all.
We pray and ask God all kinds of things, and then what do we do? We say amen. What happens when you say amen? The conversation with God is over. It is like hanging up the phone. We don’t allow God to say anything and then we conclude God doesn’t listen.
Imagine you meet your friend for lunch and talk about your life and about your problems. Then you say well I have to go before they can say anything. Later you complain that your friend was no help at all. That they don’t listen. But the real problem was not the friend but that you did not give them a chance. We tend to do that with God. And then we wonder why nothing happens in our lives.
What really is prayer? The correct answer is talking “WITH” God. When you talk with someone you give them the chance to talk back. With infers a back-and-forth conversation.
God is listening. God listen very intently to all that you have to say. God is also ready and willing to talk back and have an amazing conversation with you. However, most times we don’t give God the chance to have His say. The question is will you give God the chance to do so?
If you are a Chrisitan and you wonder if God cares, give Him the chance to show it. When you do, your relationship will go to a whole nother level.
If you don’t believe in Jesus, why not give Him the chance to speak for Himself to prove He is real and that He does love you. What do you have to lose?
How do you do that? Start a conversation with God and then don’t hang up. Don’t use the word amen. Stop ending your prayers with amen. I have a question why would you ever want to stop the lines of communication with God in your life?
Communication is the key to all good relationships and God wants to communicate with you. He is a great communicator, but we have to give Him room to talk with us. When you do you will see the God really does listen and has something special to say to you all the time!
You want God to be real in your life, talk with God, not to God. and don’t hang up too early. Don’t hang up at all.
Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are awesome!
Sometimes it doesn’t really seem that God cares about my situation.
Many go where is God in all of this? Why would God allow this to happen? This is a common question that many of us wrestle with, and we sure wish we had a good answer. I hope to give that to you today along with a solution.
The absolutely joy of being a real Christian is that no matter the situation you don’t have to really worry about it or give it much thought. That is tough concept to wrap our heads around, because we think if God loves us, why does He allow those situations to occur in our lives.
Everyone in this world will face some situation where they just are overwhelmed. No one is exempt. You can tell someone all the time how great Jesus is, but for most of the world, they just don’t get Jesus. What they do get are the problems that arise in their lives that they need solved. They want someone or something to help them. They don’t trust Jesus yet, so Jesus allows us to face issues, as a living example to them that Jesus really does care in a way they can absolutely relate to.
Jesus even said we would face trials in this life. What Jesus said next is when you go through them if you are with Jesus, it will be so different for you than the rest of the world.
We do that by overcoming our doubts and fears (and you will have them) and just go on with life like nothing is wrong and give the problem to Jesus. That is hard and we will wonder is God there? Does God care? As we go through our situation. We, like everyone else, want things taken care of right away and the way we think it needs to be done. So, we wonder, the key is can we continue to trust God even when it looks bleak. When we do, Jesus shows up in so many ways, because He is in a relationship with you. When you are in a relationship your partner doesn’t want harm to come to you, but sometimes they can’t do anything about it. Jesus can and is ready willing and able to come through for you.
His way might not be your way or even in the time frame you want. God does say is He will take care of it and in the end, it will always be good for you (Romans 8:28). Sometimes it takes patience and understanding. A couple of things most humans have in short supply. When we chose to do this then God can do things for us that will completely blow your mind because you gave God your trust and freedom to do whatever it takes. Jesus promises to do for you things that will blow your mind and in turn affect those around you.
This is hard work, and Jesus says in 2 Timoty 2:6 that the hardworking farmer is to be the first to partake of the crops. This means before God helps anyone, He will be there to help you first.
When you are in a quote “troubling” situation now you can look at it differently as an opportunity to serve Jesus. Those around you will relate to what you are doing though. Then when Jess shows up for you, they will say how did that happen for you. That will open the doors to the hardest of hearts.
One last thing. Many people say they want to see miracles. In order to see a miracle you have to be in a situation where you need one. When we are in that situation stop looking at the problem and start expecting the miracle! The sooner we do that the sooner Jesus will respond and the more of an impact it will have on you!
Jesus says give Him all the stress and worry. Not a bad idea for a better quality of life!
Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are awesome!
Have you ever heard the phrase “Just give it to God.”
Many people say that and then they are disappointed because nothing happens. Then they begin to question if God is really for them and some even then wonder if God is a liar, because they gave it to God, and nothing happened.
The problem is when people say this phrase “just give it God.” They then sit back and wait for God to do something, but nothing seems to happen. We wonder, does God not want to help? The thing is God really does want to help! He can’t wait to help you.
When people say this phrase, they tend to hinder God moving in their lives by doing the following.
When we just sit back and wait for God to do something. The problem is that the issue is still there in front of us. We begin to dwell even more on the problem because we continue to look at it. This then causes us to doubt if God will do anything. It is like watching a clock just tick away and it seems like time does not pass.
We also tend to give God only one option to fix the problem. God has many ways to solve the issue. When God does move, we tend to say, “Well, God I don’t think this is the right thing to do.” It is like putting God in a box and limit what God can do. When He is in the box, He can’t do what you need done.
When we sit back and just wait for God to move, we become a sitting duck for the devil to continually go after us. It becomes easy to do down the dark roads of doubt, depression, anxiety, and woe is me. We create an atmosphere that God cannot move in.
Another reason why God doesn’t seem to move when we just wait, is that where we are waiting is the worst place to be. God needs to get us out of the way so He can do something amazing. God is saying, move, so that I can really take care of it.
How do we really “Just give it to God”? Give the issue to God and then DO something. Get moving. You want the devil to leave you alone, remember it is hard to hit a moving target.
You want God to be free to do what is absolutely best for you, get out of His way, don’t meddle, and stop dwelling on the issue so God can get to work right away for you.
When times are rough, we tend to just wait around. God says press in closer. Get more involved in the services, go deeper in worship, deeper in the Word, and go to the altars. Get involved in serving others. Find a ministry to do. Do something to show God, you have totally given it to Him to deal with it.
That is what you want, right? You want God to deal with it, not you. God says, so live that way. Jesus sees that type of effort, and it does take effort to go on with God when you are experiencing these tough times. This shows Jesus that you love Him more than words can say. Isn’t that what we are looking for in our lives? Don’t you think Jesus is looking for that as well? He is, and Jesus will respond in miraculous ways in your life.
The next time you need to “Just Give It to God,” do exactly that and leave it behind.
Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
The key word in this verse is cast. When you give it to Jesus, cast it as far away from you as you can. Take your mind and hands off of it and then go do something else and watch Jesus move in your life like you have never seen Him move before.
Once you do it once, and see the results, it will get easier and easier. One last thing. When you truly learn to do this, the devil will leave you alone more because the devil will see that picking on you does him no good.
Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are awesome!
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