Category: Today’s Truth

Some people only see God as a God of wrath. They see the bad things that happen in the world or they read about the destruction and how He had to tear the people down. Other people only see God as a God of love. They think that His love covers all and there are no consequences. They think that they can live however they want because God loves them. Both of these types of people miss the point and do not understand the God of the Universe.
This was a lesson that God taught the nation of Israel throughout the Bible. He delivered them from the hands of Pharoah and out of Egypt because of His love. However, the people griped and complained when Moses led them to the wilderness. They thought God had led them there to die and they began to make their own gods and idols instead of trusting in the Lord. So a whole generation of people had to die in the wilderness before God led them to the promised land. Then, out of His love for them, He helped them defeat the people who were living there. It wasn’t long before the people disobeyed again and turned to worthless idols. God had to destroy the nation, but out of His love for them, he delivered them into the hands of their enemies. God’s ultimate act of love was sending His son to die on the cross for the people.

This is what discipline looks like. It is a combination of love and accountability. There are consequences and restoration. This is the God of our fathers and the God of Christians today.

God intended us to follow Him and live a life in His will; however, sometimes we go astray and pursue another way. We think we know better, or we try to do it on our own. We fall down on our faces, and He picks us up again. He puts the pieces back together and leads us down His road again. Still, we choose the broken road again and again. God is a loving God who disciplines us and restores us when we go astray.

A parent’s goal with their children should be to train them up to be adults who love the Lord and contribute to society. However, the road to this goal can often bring heartache, bad decisions, and restoration. But a good parent does not disown their children when they make mistakes. They restore them, teach them, and help them get back up on the right track. This is what God, the Father, does with us as His children. He restores us back to our right relationship with Him, He teaches us in His Word how to follow Him, and He leads us down the right path again. Just as a child does not always know what is good for them at the time, we as Christians do not always know what is good for us until later.

It is a wonderful thing to look back and see what God has done in our lives, how He restored us, how He taught us, and how He led us back to Him.

Sanctification is the cleansing process that God uses to grow us in the face. It is the transformation that continuously takes place from the moment of salvation until we go to heaven. Sanctification is an act of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. We must trust God in the sanctification process and know that everything we experience is to grow us spiritually and bring us closer to Him.

Look at the life of Peter. Jesus sought Peter out and made him a disciple. He wanted to train Peter up so that he could face anything after He was gone. Peter walked with Jesus for many years before His death on the cross. Even though Peter knew the words of Jesus and loved Him with a fierce love, he still failed Jesus before He died and denied Him three times to the people around him. Yet, Peter learned from his denial and became a great missionary for the cause of Christ after Christ’s ascension into heaven. In our Christian lives, we will fail sometimes; however, God can pick us back up and start again if we trust Him. It is all part of the sanctification process.

God can restore us and reconcile us back to Him. Not only that, but we can learn from our mistakes and become stronger Christians for it. Sanctification is not always a pretty process, but it is a necessary process to grow us in our faith.

There are many verses in the Bible that speak about how God is close to the brokenhearted and cares for His people in their time of need. In this life we will have troubles and sorrows. We will have great moments of grief, but God is faithful and will tend to His flock. He is a good shepherd. Look how He cared for Ruth.

Ruth lost her husband and father-in-law and had a choice to make. She could stay in her own land and possibly find a husband of her faith and culture, or she could follow her Christian mother-in-law back to Judah and the God of her husband’s family. She chose to follow Naomi and she even said, “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” (Ruth 1:16-17). She loved Naomi and her God and wanted to follow them into the unknown. She showed great faith and trust in the Lord. God took care of her and led her to Boaz and the two of them would be part of the line of Jesus Christ.

Sorrow and grief can weigh on the soul, but God always tends to His flock and cares for His people. If we continue to follow Him through our grief, He will lead us back to the promised land and a life of great blessings.

One area that can be difficult for the Christian is allowing God to be in charge of their future. They would rather try and control the outcome of some situations than trusting that God knows what is best for their lives. In a world that tells you that you control your destiny, put your hope in the God who sees the future and acts on your behalf.

Abraham is one example of someone who wavered in his trust of the Lord. He knew that God had promised him he would be the father of nations, but his wife was barren. He could not see any physical way for this to happen, so he and his wife Sarah decided to take matters into their own hands and he slept with one of the maidservants. She became pregnant and bore Abraham a child. Sarah treated her poorly, so she ran away. However, God saw her and told her that he would take care of her and he did. He saw her future and she trusted him. God knew Abraham and Sarah’s futures as well. Soon after, Sarah bore a child as well and Abraham became a father again, but this time to the promised child. This would be how he would become the father of nations, not the way he tried. Abraham may not have shown faith then, but he trusted in the Lord after when God asked him to sacrifice his child. God spared the child because of the faith of Abraham.

God is trustworthy; he knows our futures and will work for our good if we allow Him to be in charge. Trust Him with your future today.

Romans 12:2 tells us to not conform to the patterns of the world, but instead be transformed by the renewing of our minds in Christ Jesus. Dictionary.com says that the word conform means to “act in accord with prevailing standards, attitudes, and practices of a society or group.” So when Paul tells us not to conform to society, he is saying do not act according to their standards, attitudes, and practices. So what does this look like?

In a world that celebrates sin as differences and culture, we should be acting according to the Word of God. Lost people only use what they think they know about right and wrong as their standard. It is purely based on opinion and can change from person to person. The Christian uses the Bible as their standard, and the Bible does not change. Which would you rather follow, something that changes all the time or something that has stood the test of time? For example, when society tells you that love looks different from person to person and that it is acceptable to be in a relationship with the same sex, this goes against the Word of God. God created love to be between a man and a woman. We see evidence of this beginning in Genesis and carried out throughout the Bible. So with this issue the believer has a choice to make. They can either live by the society standards and accept the love that they have created, or they can live by the Bible’s standards and God‘s view of life.

This doesn’t ever mean that as a believer we should hate anyone who is living by society standards, attitudes, or practices, but instead it means that we should love our neighbor and share the message of the gospel with them so it will change their lives.

When a believer comes to know Christ, he/she immediately becomes part of the family of God. This is a powerful thought because it means that he no longer needs to feel alone. There are now people he can lean on and trust. This can be especially difficult for those who have been wronged by others, especially those in the church. God meant for Christians to be unified, and when they are, they can accomplish great things.

Look at Acts 2. The believers in the Acts 2 church were on fire for the Lord. They met together everyday. They devoted themselves to the teaching of the Word and shared all they had. They sold all of their possessions and gave the money to the poor. They praised together, ate together, and loved others together. Their witness and testimony spread throughout the land and God added to their numbers daily. This is God’s purpose for believers. He desires that we live as a family and actually do life together. These believers were not just meeting with their families and friends, they were not excluding anyone! They wanted all people to come to know him and as a result, they were seeing the family of God expand.

When we obey God and His plan for believers, we will begin to see unity in our churches and in the body of Christ. Seek Him out with other believers and watch Him do great things just as the Acts 2 church did.

We hear the phrase “follow your heart” all the time and movies, social media, and in the world today. But is this phrase accurate for the Christian? If we follow our hearts, are we truly following God? What does the Bible have to say about the heart? Let’s look at all of these things together to better understand what God‘s will is for our hearts.

First, the Bible says the heart is evil above all else (Jeremiah 17:9). If this is true, then following it would lead to disaster. This could mean that we are following selfishness, pride, and any other sinful quality that lives in our hearts. That does not sound like it would give us the happiness that we want in our lives. Second, the Bible says the heart is the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23). From the heart comes everything about us: our character, our thoughts, and our actions. So if we know that our hearts are the beat of our lives, then we should make sure that what we are putting in them is from the Lord and not from ourselves. Third, the Bible tells us to guard our hearts in Proverbs 4:23. It is not something to take lightly, but instead be very protective over our hearts. Do not allow the outside world to corrupt the inside of our souls.

This tells us that rather than trusting in ourselves and our own hearts, we should trust in the Lord. He will never fail us. He is trustworthy to lead and guide our hearts in the way we should go. We cannot see what is ahead of us, but God can. He will handle our hearts with care. So give your heart over to him, and trust that He knows what is best.

Evangelism has many faces and looks different with every person. The most important attribute of evangelism, though, is exclaiming to those who are lost about a Savior who will rescue them. Whatever method you use, the end result is the same: sharing the gospel. However, evangelism is something that every believer should pray about so that they can be effective in the gospel ministry.

Let us look at two different examples so you can see which one is more effective. The first person was excited about sharing his faith. He wanted to tell the world about his newfound faith! So, he began talking about all the Lord had done for him in every conversation he had with someone. There was no question he was a follower of Christ. He built relationships with nonbelievers so he could share his faith. As a result, some of his closest friends came to know the Lord. Another person had known Christ for many years but wasn’t quite as loud about her faith. She went to work everyday and did not engage in vulgar conversations and when the rest of the office went out after work, she did not so she didn’t taint her witness. However, she never really spoke about her faith, so her coworkers just thought she was a “goody-two shoes.” Both of these people lived out their faith and made sure they did not engage in worldly conversations, but only one of them really shared their faith.

Sharing your faith is more than just the way you live, it is about telling the good news to those around you. As a believer, you need to make sure you speak about the truth of Christ. You can do this by sharing Scriptures or your testimony. Pray and ask God to help you live out and SHARE your faith!

The gospel is needed everywhere. The more strife we see in the news and in our current events, the more we know how much the message of Jesus Christ is needed. We see destruction, hatred, and brokenness everywhere we look. So, when we say that His message is needed across the world, that means it is needed in our communities, in our nation, and in countries all over the world.

Take a look around your community. What do you see? Do you see evidence of the work of God all around you? If not, then His message is needed. It doesn’t matter if you live in a rich community or a poor community; the gospel is needed just as much. Our nation is also in great need of revival. History has proven over and over again that revivals can spread across a nation and change it for the better. Christians everywhere need to pray for our nation as it says in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” Another responsibility is to bring the gospel to the nations. There are still countries in our world that are unreached: the gospel has never traveled to the country. The people have never heard the Good News about Jesus. It is our responsibility to GO as it says in the Great Commission. If going is not a possibility for you, then you need to be involved by giving and praying for others who can GO.

People are lost without the Lord and in need of a Savior. Begin praying about how you can be involved with missions today in your community, our nation, and the world.