March 11, 2017

Greetings My Friends, Sometimes the truth is inconvenient. It was in Jesus' day as much as it is today. We know what we should do, should follow or believe but it is a bother to pay attention to the facts that are staring us in the face. Jesus is a fact the world does not want to accept, the world thinks it is unfair that there is only one God and wants the idea all ways lead to God. God sent His Son to live a perfect life and then die for our sins, that is not convenient either because we like our sins and want to hold onto them even if they are destroying our lives. The Pharisees in Jesus' day saw that Jesus was upsetting the status quo when He rose Lazarus from the grave. "So the chief of priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said 'What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our place and our nation.' The religious leaders liked the role they had in their society, even though they could quote Scriptures and should have realized Jesus was the long awaited Savior they had gotten very comfortable. They knew these signs were reason to believe Jesus was who He said He was and they were willing to ignore these marvelous signs so they could go on as they were. They preferred to live for the flesh and eternity in hell rather live for their spirit meeting the Spirit of God and live eternity in heaven. Throughout my life I had my struggle with living and admitting that Jesus was who He said He was. I did not like being bold and declaring my faith because it might offend others. Today I believe that what God says is what God will do. He says if we will not believe He is God, that His Son is Jesus we are truly choosing our eternity in hell. We want to think that a loving God would never do this. Actually a loving God has set the boundaries and will make us choose Him or not choose Him. Adam and Eve chose to listen to the devil and God threw them out of the Garden of Eden, if God did this with Adam and Eve then I believe each and everyone of us will have to choose. The Bible speaks a lot on what God wants of us, about hell and heaven and we need to choose Jesus or not. I am amazed when I run into passages like this. I see that back in the time of Jesus people preferred to live for the flesh rather for eternity the same thing is going on today. I used to think we have come so far from those days, look at all that has been created since then like electric lights, cars and so on. Today I often think that we are getting dumber not smarter with each passing generation. Yes we have gadgets and with these gadgets we are further from our spirit. A walk in the woods or a quiet walk on a beach will open our spirit within us to long to connect with God. We walk further away from God by all the distractions in our day to day life. Living on our little piece of property where mountains and woods surround us has opened my spirit within me and I find it reaching up to God. I learn the simple life which is so much more rewarding than all the years I tried to fill my day with so much activity that at the end of the day wears me out and leaves me empty inside. Ultimately we all are searching for that inner quiet. Some fill their lives with activity and others are discovering to slow down and listen to the still voice of God whisper on their heart. I find I long to tell of this Jesus that loved us enough to open the doors of heaven to all who will believe and allow Jesus to bring them to the Father. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet