Author: Clay D.

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

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… so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:10-11

There’s not much in life that you can count on with certainty, except for death and taxes as they say. 

However, as surely as we’ll die and as surely as we’ll be taxed by the government, there is something else that we can be certain of—and it’s that every single one of us will acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord.

You don’t have to agree with that statement; however, you’ll still be wrong. Even if you don’t believe in what the Bible says, it doesn’t make it any less true. 

As I pointed out in a recent post about salvation, if the Christian is wrong and you’re right about what happens after we die, then you’ve lost nothing. 

However if the Christian is correct about the afterlife and you’re wrong, you’ve lost a whole lot. So, just using plain old logic and nothing else, it’s better to err on the side with the least possible loss.

Therefore, with the thought in mind that every human being who has ever lived will someday confess that Jesus is Lord and came in the flesh as God’s Son—what do you choose to believe today?

The real question is this: Will you choose to accept Christ as Lord now while you can of your own free will?

Or will you do it when Jesus comes back to earth—though not by choice but by submission and fearful respect paid to the almighty God?

The choice is yours as to when you acknowledge that Jesus came as God in the flesh, was crucified for your sins, and was resurrected by the Father.

I hope that you’ll make that choice now, willingly. 

Because, if not, when you do recognize Christ as Lord, it will be too late for you. The time will have expired and your eternal destiny will already have been sealed—a destiny forever cut off from God and His everlasting love.

Today—right now—it’s not too late. Accept Jesus into your heart as Lord. Acknowledge your sin and brokenness, and ask Him for forgiveness.

Repent and make a change in your life to live in service to Jesus—loving God and doing good to others.

Don’t wait to make a decision as important as eternity. 

You don’t have to be perfect to become a Christian. That’s what Jesus is for. He wants you right now, just as you are. He’ll work on you later on, forming you into the person He wants you to become. 

Pray and ask him into your life, acknowledging him as your Savior and the only true path to God the Father. Works won’t get you into Heaven; only faith in Jesus will. 

And today, you still have that choice. Tomorrow may be too late.

Wait For God’s Timing

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Has God ever come through for you? 

Has there ever been a situation in your life when you needed Him to do something that only He could do—so you prayed and God did exactly what you asked him for?

If so, then you know from this past experience that He cares for you and hears your prayers.

It was a faith-building experience. Through it, you gained just a little more faith that God is good and does only good things. 

Now you have that much more faith to carry you through the rough times. If God came through for you once, then He’ll do it again.

The thing you have to keep in mind is that the next time God shows up, it may not be in exactly the way you think He should. 

God has a particular way of doing things. It’s His way, and that may or may not line up with what you have pictured. 

You probably have an answer all laid out in your mind about your situation. You know how it should work out. Or, at least you think you do.

God may have a whole different idea about it, and you have to be flexible and patient. 

When it comes to waiting on God and His timing, patience is important. He usually doesn’t work in the same timeframe we do. 

We want an answer yesterday when we’re faced with a problem. God’s timing may not give you an answer for quite some time. 

And when He does answer, it may look totally different from what you expect.

But one thing is for certain—it will work out for the best. We’re assured of that in Romans 8:28.

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

We just have to wait on God to do His thing. And we must remain prayerful during this time, because we don’t want to miss anything He may be telling us about His plan. 

If there’s something we need to do, He’ll let us know. That’s why we need to stay connected to Him in the meantime. We have to keep the lines of communication open so we can hear Him.

He wants to come through for us—never forget that. But we need to wait patiently in faith for Him and His timing.

Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Hebrews 11:6

Faith and patience are the keys. 

He WILL come through, because He said He would in the verse from Romans. 

Just don’t get ahead of God and try to work things out on your own. Doing this can often make a tough situation even worse.

Wait on God and you’ll eventually see what He has in store for you.

You’ll be glad you did.

Can You Lose Your Salvation?

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Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

Do you believe in “Once saved, always saved?”

Most people probably come down firmly on one side or the other of this age-old debate.

Either you believe that once you’ve accepted Christ and His salvation, you can never be lost again—and consequently never end up in Hell after you die; or you believe that it’s possible for a Christian to lose their salvation if they fall away from God.

I’ll say up front that this is a complex issue and not one that I’m going to resolve in just a few words here.

Many books have been written on this subject, and yet the issue is still debated fiercely. Nothing I write is going to resolve that.

However, I do believe that there’s a workaround to the question.

The issue in the debate is whether it’s possible for a person who has genuinely accepted Christ to fall away from God.

Since I don’t have an answer to that question, the smart thing seems to be to never fall away.

Accept Christ and His grace every day. Acknowledge you’re a sinner, but do all you can to stay away from sin. Ask God for help overcoming besetting sins, or sins that you continually struggle with.

Renew your commitment to Jesus every day. Walk in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. After all, He is the one who convicts us of our need for Christ. Never give God a reason that He might be inclined to cut you off.

I’m not saying He would or He wouldn’t rescind your salvation if you are a professing Christian, but since the question has been so hotly debated for so long, why take any chances?

Stay far away from anything that might put your eternal security in jeopardy.

Photo by Malcolm Lightbody on Unsplash

This argument is no different than the one evangelists have used with non-believers for over 2000 years. 

It’s like a believer saying, “If I’m right and you’re wrong, you’re in big trouble when you die. However, if you’re right and I’m wrong, then you’ve lost nothing. Therefore, it makes sense to believe in Christ’s saving power while you still can.”

So, following this logic, the best thing would be to assume that there’s a chance you could lose your salvation.

Therefore, keep your hands out of the tiger cage as it were by staying far away from sin.

You’ll be just fine if you do and you’ll have nothing to worry about. While the rest of Christendom argues over this question, you can rest easy, knowing your salvation is intact.

What could be better than that?

Is the Bible Still Valid?

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Can the Bible be trusted as a reliable source of wisdom for today’s modern world? 

Society and culture are vastly different from the way they were when the Bible was written. 

People from biblical times could not have imagined the world we live in, with all our modern conveniences and technology—no more than we can imagine with any accuracy what life on this planet will resemble 1000 or 2000 years from now. 

The question is a valid one because the whole Christian faith hinges on an accurate rendering of the Bible and a solid belief in this accuracy. If we don’t have the Bible to rely on, then we really don’t know what truth is. 

We have to be able to answer the question to our satisfaction so we can continue to lean on the Bible as our anchor and truth.

The problem is, if we start to question any part of the Bible as far as its accuracy and truth, then we have to call into question the entire Bible. 

Photo by Magda Ehlers from Pexels

Simply put, either the Bible is true or it isn’t. It can’t be partially true; we can’t accept sections of the Bible as fact and conclude that other parts of it are false.

Some people will probably say that I’m over simplifying a very complex question. I disagree, however. 

On the contrary, I believe that God intentionally makes some aspects of His kingdom very simple. 

After all, we’re told in the Bible that we must have the faith of a child if we expect to make sense of it all. Jesus says in Matthew 18:3 (CSB),

Unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

To me, this means that we simply must believe. 

Believe what God tells us. Believe that He created us in His image. Believe that Jesus is His Son and that He was crucified for our sins.

No, none of this makes any logical sense. After all, if God created us, who created God? 

At some point, however, we have to stop with the questions and simply rest in faith. God is God and we aren’t. 

He gave us the Scriptures to guide us through life, which as we know can be treacherous. The Bible is meant to give us hope, strength, and wisdom. 

If we can’t trust the Bible in its entirety, we can’t trust God in His entirety, because the Bible is

breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. 

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

I chose the English Standard Version for this verse because it renders God’s role in the formation of the scriptures as “breathed,” rather than merely “inspired,” which other versions use. 

The Bible comes literally from the mouth of God and was given to us to help us become the strong, solid Christ-followers He wants us to be. 

We can’t pick and choose what we believe is true in God’s word. Either it’s all true, or it’s all a fallacy. 

I side with the former conclusion, which means I believe that the Bible is as valid today as it was 2000 years ago. 

We can still turn to it to find wisdom and truth, just as our ancestors have for generations. Unlike fashion, the Bible never goes out of style.

What about you? Do you believe the Bible is still valid?

Photo by Wendy van Zyl from Pexels

You Have a Choice Every Moment of Every Day

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Every day you have a choice of how you want to approach life. In fact, every moment of every day, you hold within yourself the power to decide whether to be happy or not.

The catch is that that’s easier said than done. It’s quite easy to say you have all the power in your hands, but it’s something else to actually live that way. 

There are many reasons why this is so. Each day, there are a myriad of forces that come against us and make our decision to rest in joy and happiness more difficult. 

These forces can come in the form of unexpected car repairs, challenges at work, relationships that become strained and nearly unbearable, troubles with your kids, physical ailments, and the list could go on and on. 

While we might have every intention of maintaining a positive mental attitude, when we end up on the side of the road with a flat tire in rush hour traffic, that intention is easy to fly right out the window. 

No amount of positive confession is going to make the tire patch and inflate itself without your lifting a finger. 

So, what is the answer when we’re faced with unforeseen challenges? 

I’m not going to pretend to have all the answers. All I can pass along are techniques that I’ve come across and have put to use in my own life. And certainly I haven’t always been successful at doing this. 

I believe that one of the keys to success in maintaining a positive outlook during even the most trying of times is to JUST DO IT.

You may be saying to yourself right now that that “advice” is not very helpful at all. And I certainly couldn’t blame you for thinking that. 

You see, however, that your approach to your day, your week, and your life actually begins with your mindset. You have to have a burning desire, a deep-seated need to realize joy in your life no matter what. 

When you truly want to live a positive-minded life, a life that recognizes and takes in joy from the world around it, then you’ll transform your existence. 

A deep longing to see joy and hope in your life will take you far along your journey of actually realizing that joy. 

In fact, this desire forms the platform for all other efforts needed to live a joy-filled life. Without this passionate desire to see joy, you’ll fall flat in your efforts at the first sign of trouble. 

When you get a phone call about a bill you forgot to pay, your mood will go sour and your whole demeanor will change. You’ll say to yourself, “I knew it wouldn’t last. I knew something bad would happen sooner or later.”

You may even take a little satisfaction in the fact that you “knew” it all along. However, this is exactly what you don’t want to do. 

Don’t give yourself the satisfaction of saying, “I told you so,” to yourself. Your demeanor and state-of-mind will only snowball downhill from there. 

Instead, maintain your resolve to find some kind of joy in the situation, no matter how small it might be. Determine that this situation will work out for the best no matter what. 

You have a choice, every moment of every day, which way you want to take your attitude—either in a positive direction or in a negative one. It’s totally up to you.

No one else can make this decision for you, as it totally rests in your hands. What you decide to do will determine how the next minute, the next hour, and even the next day will go for you. 

Make the most of every opportunity—whether it seems at first negative or positive. Determine to find joy in the moment. 

It will take some practice to follow through with this habit, but the long-term results will be well worth it. You’ll slowly but surely experience more true joy in your life.

What Is the Meaning of Life?

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We’ve all asked the meaning of life; we’ve all wondered what our purpose is for being placed on this big ol’ ball of mud to live for a few decades. 

There are many ways you could try to explain the meaning of life, but I think the best one is to simply go to the Bible and read what God has to say about it. 

Rather than everything happening by happenstance, there is a method to the supposed madness. God planned everything out way before any of us were ever here. 

He knew exactly who was going to be on this planet and when. He knew everything that was going to take place with each of us. Some good, some bad, but He knew it all beforehand. 

Why, you ask? Now I certainly don’t know the full answer to that, but I believe I can answer it in part. 

Simply put, we were put here to worship God. We are an outpouring of His love. 

God IS love, so He created human beings so He could bestow His love on them and we could, in turn, love Him back. 

Of course, this is all in preparation for the eternity that He wants each of us to spend with him. He wants us all to spend forever with him in Heaven/The New Jerusalem. 

The meaning of life on this planet is to prepare us for that, at least in part I think. 

However, our lives in eternity will be so vastly different from anything we can fathom now that there won’t be any real comparison. 

Personally, I can’t wait to get to eternity. Many days I’m so done with this life that all I can think about is how much better life in eternity will be. This life here is just a trial run after all. 

THAT is what the meaning of life is, as far as I can tell anyway.

Who’s Really in Control?

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I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.

From “Invictus” by William Henley

Many people will agree with the above quote from a famous poem, especially in this day and age.

This is especially true in the United States, as Americans tend to guard our freedom and autonomy fiercely. Most of us grew up learning to place high value on these concepts.

But is it true that we are actually masters of our own fate?

I would propose that to a certain degree we are. We make many choices each day about mundane things in our lives—what clothes to wear, what to eat for lunch, whether to read or watch TV. The list could go on and on.

However, I believe the major facets of our lives are different. Do we really determine our course in life, or is God the Master who’s in control? 

The Bible gives us a pretty clear answer:

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Proverbs 19:21

God’s will trumps all, even when it comes to kings and leaders:

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

Proverbs 21:1

It’s pretty easy to see even from just these two examples (and there are many more to be found in scripture) that nothing happens that God doesn’t allow. Everything fits into His divine plan. 

So, as great and noble as Mr. Henley’s verses ring in his poem, he is not altogether correct in his assumption. Certainly, we cannot say we are “the captain of my soul.”

This may be true to some small extent, but the entirety of our souls is a whole other matter. 

We ARE the determinant of where we spend eternity, as that depends on whether we’ve chosen to accept Christ as our Savior.

However, even making that choice is dependent on God opening up our hearts and willing us to come to Him (1 Corinthians 1:9).

As Americans, we may not like to think that we don’t have complete control of our destiny, but I don’t believe we can objectively read the Bible and conclude that we are. 

God is firmly in control, not only of our destiny, but that of our nation and our world. Even in the craziness that our world is facing at the moment, He still sits on the throne. 

Remember, nothing that is happening today, or will happen in the future, comes as a surprise to God. He foresaw every act by every human long before Adam and Eve were ever placed in the Garden of Eden.

So, it should actually be a relief to us that we are not masters of our fate, because surely we would mess things up.

The often-poor choices we make on a daily basis should show us well enough that we’re not capable of completely handling our own destiny. 

Thank God that He’s in control and that nothing happens apart from His will. I know that makes me feel better. 

Even the evil in this world He allows so that His ultimate purposes will be fulfilled. Those purposes I know are for the best, for

we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

So, don’t worry about having it all together every day. Be thankful that God is in control and you aren’t. Things will definitely work out better that way.

Simple Faith Will Change Your Destiny

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And many believed in him there.

John 10:42

The above verse is so simple that we might tend to read right on past it. It contains a key truth, however.

In this passage we learn that a great number of people became followers of Jesus after He had crossed over the Jordan and remained there for a period of time. These people believed He was their Messiah because of the signs He performed and the words that He spoke.

We don’t have Jesus physically with us today like the people in biblical days did. How then can we get to the point where we also believe? 

The answer lies in the Holy Spirit. He convicts us of our sin nature and lays it on our heart that we need Jesus for our salvation. 

Without the work of the Spirit, we would never reach the point where we feel empty without Jesus. It is the Spirit’s interaction that allows us to see that we need Jesus. Those who have never felt the conviction of the Spirit do not fully understand that their lives are not complete without Jesus.

That’s why I’m thankful for the Holy Spirit’s work. He is the Teacher and Comforter who prepares our hearts to accept Jesus into our lives. He is who made it possible for all those people to believe in Jesus as described in John 10:42. 

Without a push, a slight nudge from the Spirit to let Jesus into our lives, we’ll never do it on our own.

If you’ve already believed in the Lordship of Jesus and accepted Him as your savior—congratulations! You’re part of the family of God and will live with Him for all eternity.

However, if you’ve never taken time to really think about Jesus and what He did for you by suffering and dying, then there’s no better time than now. 

The Father loves us so much that He sent Jesus to earth in human form so that He could ultimately pay the price of salvation for every man, woman, and child.

You have to accept Him, however. Just like the masses of people who allowed Jesus into their lives while He was physically walking the earth, we have to do the same. 

He’s still alive today. Right now, He is sitting at the right hand of the Father inviting you to let Him be Lord of your life. 

Doing so will put you right with God. It’s the only way. Works won’t set the record straight between you and the Father. Giving money away won’t do it either. 

The only path to eternal salvation is through Jesus. Won’t you invite Him into your life?

Here’s the Perfect Solution If You Want a Worry-Free Life

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No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

Matt. 6:24-25

How many of us are guilty of the sin of worrying about our finances? (Yes, it’s a sin to worry—whether it’s about money or anything else.)

It’s so easy to slip into the old familiar pattern of fretting while looking over our monthly bills, or of getting discouraged when we’re trying to balance our household budget. 

However, God doesn’t want us to worry—at all. Over and over in the Bible, we find that truth.

In fact, right in this passage, He tells us how to avoid worry and anxiety about our everyday needs. 

You see, if money is what drives us, we’re naturally going to worry. If money is your chief goal, then there will never be enough of it to satisfy you. 

For example, if you’re short on money, you’ll worry about how to get more. And if you’ve got plenty of money to pay your bills, you’ll worry about losing your income and your standard of living. 

It’s a NO WIN situation when you serve money. 

On the other hand, if we’re serving God, we can relax free and easy. That’s right—we can go through life without money worries. He will provide us with everything we need—food, clothes, and shelter. 

As we’re told a few verses down the page, God already knows what we need anyway. By the time we get around to asking for help, He has already put His plan into action for our provision. 

But the key is to seek His kingdom first—you’ve got to give Him 100%. Not 90%…not even 99%…but all of you.

We have to put serving God and His purposes at the very top of our list. Everything we do must be geared toward living with God as the #1 priority in our lives. 

I, for one, have too often been guilty of trying to serve both God and money. I mean, surely it can be done, right? 

I’ve thought, I can put in these extra hours at work and still keep my focus on God. I can squeeze a little time in for God here and there during the day or just before bed. That will be fine, won’t it?

WRONG. There is no person on the planet who has the means to put both God and money at the top of their list of priorities. It will always be one of the two, to the exclusion of the other. 

It’s much wiser to take God at His word and make Him the priority, as you’ll receive all the rewards of serving Him AND have your needs met at the same time. 

However, try to make money the object of desire in your life and you’ll miss out on a fulfilling, enriching relationship with God, as well as many of the blessings He has in mind for you.

Our Father wants us to make the wise choice, so He lays it all out for us in these two wonderful verses. 

He tells us flat out that it’s impossible to serve both Him and money, so don’t even try. “Therefore…” He says (and this is a big “therefore”), we can live without worry and anxiety.

He’s saying first of all that it’s pointless to try to put Him and money at the head of our lives, AND as a result of this truth, we don’t have to worry about “things” because He will take care of all that—so long as we seek His kingdom first.

So, if you want a life that’s free from worry, anxiety, and stress, seek God first. Everything else will fall into place. 

He’s waiting for you to make the right choice.

9 Verses About God’s Love That Will Lift Your Spirits

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Perhaps you’re like many people in today’s hurry-scurry world and you feel completely all alone. If it’s been a while since you really connected with anyone else, you may feel like there’s not a single soul on the planet who cares about you. 

While it could be true that you don’t have anyone else to call a friend, who you can go to for advice or just for a hug, you always have God. He loves you unconditionally, no matter how bad you think you are. He’s always there and is longing for a relationship with you. 

Below are nine of the best verses that detail the depth of God’s love for us, in no particular order:

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

This is one of the most, if not the most, famous verses in the entire bible. The reason is because it describes God’s deep love for us, so much so that He was willing to allow His Son to be tortured and killed before resurrecting Him. His punishment paid the price for the sin we all commit every day.

1 John 4:9

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

This verse also details the depth of God’s love for us, explaining that He sacrificed His son so that we might live eternally.

1 John 4:16

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

In this verse, we’re told that God is in fact love Himself. Wherever there is true love, that represents the very essence of God.

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Here we see that Jesus loves us so much that He willingly gave His life so that we might live.

Ephesians 2:4-5

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions–it is by grace you have been saved.

God loves us so much that he gave us new life even when we were mired down in our sin.

Psalm 86:15

But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

God always acts with compassion because His love is overflowing toward us, His creation.

Psalm 136:26

Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

So strong and powerful is God’s love that it will indeed last forever. Nothing you do can stop Him from loving you.

Psalm 36:7

How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

God’s love is an ever-present shelter for us during all the trials and tribulations of life.

Romans 5:5

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

God gave us the Holy Spirit so that we could experience the full measure of His love for us.

This is just a starting point, as these verses only scratch the surface of all the verses in the Bible that demonstrate how much God loves us. Whenever you’re feeling down or blue, spend some time meditating on these verses. Then dig deeper and find more passages that speak to your heart about God’s deep, everlasting love for you.