December 10, 2016

Greetings My Friend One of the biggest questions I had as a new believer was to know if I was in God's will. I came up with the idea if things were moving forward not backward and if my attempts at lining my life with God's then I was moving in the right direction. I was never fully sure if I was "hearing" God's voice much less if I was truly forgiven. For me I have grown through the years and at some point I started feeling confident in my journey with God. I have learned the most important part of the journey is believing God is God, His Son Jesus has come into the world to open the door for all who will believe God and accept Jesus as our Savior that we have a place in heaven. We come to faith in Jesus by believing right where we are right now and then God grows us to look more like His Son for the rest of our life of faith which ends at death. If we have worked with God with all of our heart not only in words but in action. 1 John was teaching that I can believe that I am indeed going to heaven if I am following the Bible and believing Jesus' death for our sins. I learned also that false spirits abound trying to take our focus off of the Bible and Jesus which used to scare me more than it does now because 1 John was teaching us to test the information you are hearing with the Bible. It is so important to know your Bible because false teachers and preachers abound. Some people are always quoting what their preacher's say and they take them at their word instead of seeing if what they are told matches with God's Word. The more I read and study the Bible the more I am able to catch honest mistakes along with things that are so far away from what God says. Satan knows God's Word and uses it all the time to take our focus off of what God truly says. Jesus was tempted in the desert by Satan and he used God's Word to tempt Jesus. Satan does this today so it is important to read the Bible all the time. I choose to read through the Bible in a year and have done so for the last 18 years or so. In recent years I have started writing a journal which helps me absorb more. Junior reads his Bible but picks a book and reads it most days. He will read the same sentence or paragraph many times until he feels he understands the message in that passage. Our church has Sunday school lessons called a quarterly, we move through this quarterly much like a Bible study lesson that we can buy. I enjoy learning with other believers consisting of new believers, believers who have a few years of faith journey along with long time believers. It helps to mingle my learning with others so I can grow deeper in God's Word. For some reason I keep finding my way back to "Those that have ears let them hear what the Spirit says." If we are astute we "hear" God's Word speaking to us then we can be certain we are "hearing" God's lessons on our heart. Some minister's teach a name it and claim it theology. If we truly know God's Word we know that anyone who is a true believer will encounter persecution in their faith journey. If we are encountering a rough patch more than likely God is allowing the struggle to grow us and strengthen us so my Parkinson's Disease does not necessarily mean God is punishing me, He may be slowing me down so I will be available to minister to others instead of being my usual self being involved in so many things that I won't have time to minister to people. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet