Dear God,

May my blogs lead someone to You today! I ask that many will seek You today, while their breath is still found.

Each breath we take could be our last. Will our last breath find us in eternal life or eternal damnation?

Lord, let my days be filled with planting the seed of Your Word.

Please visit the blog sites below. I encourage you to seek God today.

Sue

www.fishermensline.blogspot.com

www.victorygardenofprayer.blogspot.com

www.TheWordIsNigh.blogspot.com

The Is No Other Name!

6/6/2013 2:17:47 PM

Jesus, Son of the living God

Many thousands of years ago, in a land not yet created by the creator, God, began a true story. God, who existed from before time as we know it, created all things that exist. He saw that His creation was good and beautiful. It was perfect, in fact.

God then created a man to care for His perfect world, all the animals, birds, trees, flowers, and all that existed in His perfect garden, called Eden. Man lived alone for a period of time and walked with God. God saw that man needed a soul mate or helper to walk beside him and love him, so God created a mate for man. God created woman from the man. God created them in His own image. He gave them a soul, body, and spirit. He also gave them free will to make their own decisions in life.

Man and woman walked with God in this perfect garden, enjoying the fruits of the beautiful trees, basking in the sunshine and smelling the sweet fragrance of flowers.

God knew beforehand that man would eventually choose to disobey Him, so He had a plan to restore man back to fellowship one day. God told the man that he could eat of any tree in the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Evil is sin and sin is disobedience to God, our creator.

One day the woman was walking through the garden and saw a serpent. The serpent appeared very wise and said to the woman, “Did God tell you that you could eat of any of the fruit?”

The woman replied, “God said that we may eat of any of the fruit except the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

The serpent then tempted the woman, who saw the fruit was beautiful. She wanted to be wise like God, so she ate and gave to her husband to eat the fruit.

That evening while walking through the garden in the cool evening mist, God called to the man and woman and said, “Where are you?”

The man and woman hid themselves in the bushes and said to God, “LORD, we hid because we are naked!”

God knew that they had disobeyed Him. He had given them everything. They had a perfect world, but they disobeyed the one thing God had commanded, and so they were sent out of the garden forever.

God has a Son. This Son existed from the beginning of time as we know it. He was always. He was with God in the beginning, and He is God. God planned for His Son to make an atonement for the sin of all mankind, the sin that came through disobedience. Jesus would be a pure, obedient, final sacrifice for the sin of all.

Many years passed after the man and woman left the perfect garden. They had sons and daughters and multiplied upon the earth. The earth is what God called the world where he created man and woman. The earth was filled with people. The people began to sin more and more as they multiplied. It seemed that they had completely forgotten the very God who had created them. All they cared about was their own pleasures, no matter how self-destructive these pleasure.

Man began to curse God and even to blame Him for their troubles, sicknesses, and death.

God looked down upon the earth and was filled with sorrow toward His creation. He decided to destroy the evil, rebellious, and wicked men from off the earth. Yet he found one man who was worthy of saving. This man was called Noah. Noah found grace in the eyes of God, so God saved Noah and his entire family. God had Noah build an ark for his family and some creatures chosen to re-populate the earth. God was sending a deluge of water upon the earth. The great flood would cover the earth and take about one year to abate, so great was the depth of waters covering the earth.

Noah obeyed God amidst laughter and mockery by the sin-filled people. The day the flood waters came, they begged Noah to let them come into the ark, but it was too late.

The earth began to be populated again, and many years later, God called another man to follow Him. His name was Abram. Abram had a wife named Sarah. Abram and Sarah, along with many others followed God’s call to a strange new land that God would give them and their descendants. God promised their descendants would be more than the stars.

God promised Abram, who God now called Abraham, a son by his wife Sarah, who was now too old to have children, that she would have a son in due time. Sarah did not conceive a child as soon as she hoped. She wanted to hurry things along and told Abraham to sleep with her maid, Hagar. Abraham listened to Sarah and slept with Hagar. Hagar conceived right away and gave birth to a boy called Ishmael. Ishmael would be the father of many nations, but he was also an illegitimate son, because Abraham was not married to Hagar.

Later Sarah conceived a son as God had told Abraham that she would. Sarah and Abraham named their legitimate son Isaac. Isaac would be the father of many nations also. This son would be the legal son because Abraham and Sarah were husband and wife.

Many sons and daughters were born over the years. There were many tribes, many different languages, and many different opinions and beliefs. Wars broke out among brothers. Many were killed. Tribes began to form allies against their brothers, scattering people all over the earth, into faraway lands.  People began to build cities, great beautiful cities filled with false gods, rather than the one true God.

God saw the worship of idols and His heart was broken. He looked down at His creation and mourned for His children. He chose one people group from among the nations to be His representatives for the nations. He chose a descendant of Abraham. God had told Abraham many years before that His people would be slaves in a foreign land for over four hundred years and they were. God always tells His creation what He plans from the beginning and He keeps His word. God is the creator, so He can not lie. He is perfect and He makes the rules. He is judge of good and evil. His promise to Abraham was being fulfilled.

God called Moses, a Hebrew, out of Egypt, to lead His chosen out of the bondage of slavery to Egypt. God chose the Hebrews as His vessel to teach the world about His great love. He wanted them to teach about His commandments, and about sin, sacrifice, and salvation. He had great work for them to do, so He promised them a land called Israel. Israel was a land flowing with milk and honey. It was also a protected land, surrounded by mountains and water, so that they could see any enemies coming from afar.

The Israelites were winning every battle they fought. This created jealousy among the nations and they began to hate them. The Jews are people of Israel, God’s chosen nation to be priests and ambassadors for His kingdom. God blessed the Israelites at every turn. He gave them all their heart’s desires, yet they chose to disobey Him and follow after the pagan gods from the lands they had conquered.

God became very angry with the Israelites. Here he had given them everything, blessed them and chose them above all other nations and peoples, yet they rejected Him!

God sent many prophets to Israel to warn them, and they did. Israel still chose to reject God and His commands. They wanted to worship a god they could see and touch. They set up idols and killed God’s prophets.

Oh this earth, so filled with wickedness all through the land! God knew it was nearing the time to send His Son, Jesus, to restore the people back into a relationship with Himself.

How much more evil could He endure? God was silent for about four hundred years. He had warned and warned His people that the day would come when they would cry out to Him and He would refuse to hear them, just as they had rejected Him. That time had come.

Silence! Then one day, God sent an angel to a young virgin named Mary. The angel told Mary that she had found favor with God and that she would conceive a child by the Holy Spirit. This child would be called Jesus. He would be called the Mighty God, Counselor, Prince of Peace, and the world would be on His shoulders. He would redeem God’s children back to Himself by becoming a man among men. He, God in the flesh, would give Himself up as the perfect and final sacrifice, once for all mankind. He would walk among men one day, but for now, He would be born in a manger, in a stable.

Mary was obedient to God. She listened to the angel and said that she was God’s servant and be it according to what was told her. Mary was to be married to Joseph. Joseph was a very kind man and accepted Mary’s story. In his heart, he was afraid for Mary. God sent an angel to speak with Joseph in a dream, to confirm to Joseph that Mary was truly with child by the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph and Mary were married but did not consummate the marriage until after the Son of God was born. Jesus, the Son of God, or God in human flesh, was born in Bethlehem, as foretold by the prophet Micah.

There are many true stories surrounding the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. One is of his cousin, John, called the baptizer. John baptized people who heard his message of salvation through the coming Lamb of God. Jesus, the Messiah of the world, would baptize with fire from the Holy Spirit.  John told those he preached to that the Messiah was coming and that he would teach them about the kingdom of God.

The earthly rulers of that day were just as today, filled with every kind of rebellion and evil doings. They did not want to lose their positions of power and wealth. They wanted to kill John, the baptizer, and Jesus, the Messiah. They spread rumors and lies. They devised a plan to ‘murder’ Jesus. Jesus told the people that he lay His life down willingly for the sins of the people. He told them that no one could take His life from Him. He told them that He came to the earth to do God’s will, and that was to die for the people so that they could have salvation through His blood on the cross. This atonement for sin would allow mankind to choose. They could choose eternal life with Him or they could choose, yet again, to reject His free gift of salvation. God would never take away the gift of free will.

He told His people many times throughout history they could choose life and blessings or choose death and cursing. Most love the darkness and choose to reject this so great love.

God also told His people that He has a plan for them, a plan that will prosper them and never harm them. Yet they choose to reject His wonderful plans for them.

Jesus, the Son of the one true and living God, will forgive any and every sin. All we have to do for this free gift,  that cost God beyond measure, is to accept the truth that Jesus came in the flesh, was born of a virgin, died on the cross, arose the third day from death, and ascended back to the Father in heaven, and that He sent the Holy Spirit of God to be our guide, teacher, convictor, and comforter.

One day Jesus, the Son of the living God, God in the flesh, will return to remove His church, His chosen children, Hid bride, to live with Him in eternity. How are we chosen? We’re chosen by repenting of our sin. Repenting means to turn away completely and go the other way. The Holy Spirit will come to live in your heart and show you the way. Living for the Jesus who willing died through crucifixion, is the only way to have eternal life with your creator, God. Remember God’s plan from the beginning? He planned a way for us to be back in fellowship with Him after the original sin (disobedience) in the Garden of Eden. His plan was that Jesus, His Son, would be the perfect atonement for our disobedience.

When Jesus chose to die for us, it wasn’t a normal death. He suffered more than any human ever suffered. He was beaten beyond recognition before being hanged ruthlessly on a cross. The God of all creation was beaten, spit upon, laughed at, mocked, ridiculed, and scourged. Imagine the love! The God of all creation was willing to leave His home in the vast heavens, His throne, His kingdom, His father, His glory….all to die for you and me.

Salvation is free to us, but it cost God untold sorrow. Who can imagine the pain suffered that day in history? Who can begin to think how God must have cried….and oh yes, the God of all creation cries! Jesus was there at the creation of the world and mankind. The Word of God says that everything was created by Him and for Him!

Salvation is not just a prayer of repentance. Salvation is living a life for Christ with Him as your example. But you don’t have to worry about how! The Holy Spirit will immediately come into the heart of every true believer and teach you-little by little, day by day.

You are being sanctified (made holy) a little each day. Every sin you ever committed was wiped clean the moment you truly repented! But each day of your new life is a journey-an exciting journey with Jesus, the Son of the one true and living God. Each day is a new experience. Some days may be so joy-filled you will want to dance and shout-then do!

Some days you may feel downtrodden and discouraged. Talk with your live-in guide, the Holy Spirit. He will lead, teach, and comfort you. If you don’t know how to pray, or what to say, just get alone and ask Him to intercede with God for you. He will intercede on your behalf even when you don’t ask, because He always knows what is in your heart.

God will never leave you-so don’t ever leave Him! If you find that you are weary and confused, need answers, need wisdom, ask God. He will lead you every step of the way.

Share your new faith with others! Jesus, the Son of God, commands us to go and tell the world about His free gift of salvation. It’s our duty and honor to share His love. In this world we will have trouble. The world is overwhelmed with hunger, starvation, pestilence, poverty, sin and evil on every corner. The world is spinning out of control. Satan, that evil serpent that deceived the woman in the Garden of Eden, is working his evil and rebellious ways on mankind. His goal is to deceive all that he can and turn them away from God and eternal life. He wants to destroy man, steal their joy, and kill them. He is called the father of lies and that he is. The only way to defeat him is through salvation in Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus is not just a man or a good teacher or prophet. He is the Son of the living God, the creator of the universe and everything in it. He is the only way. He is the mediator between God and man. He is fully God and fully man. He is the divine savior of the world and there is salvation in none other but Jesus the Christ.

Seek God today and you will find Him. Do not wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow may never come for you. Only God knows when we will breathe our very last breath. I have seen many people die. In one split second the breath goes out, never to breathe in again! One split second and you are in eternity….heaven or hell. Which one will you choose? The choice is always yours alone. Choose life. Choose blessings. Choose Jesus, the Son of God! Only you can choose for yourself.