I wish you believed....

Have you ever found an amazing thing? A great product...something that once you tried it wholeheartedly and witnessed the amazingness of it, you were convinced that you were deprived up to the moment you found it...and that you will never be without it again...and you want everyone you know to have it too?

What was it?

Did you tell your friends about it when they came over? Did they go out and get one?
Did you let your mom try it out, your dad? Do they have one? How 'bout your brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, cousin, grandma, grandpa, neighbor, best friend?

I am one of those people. If I find something that is proof positive everything it claims to be and it is amazing and life-transforming, I shout it from the rooftops.

If you read my stuff, you know where I'm going with this right?

The best thing I've ever came across was the story of Jesus Christ. Eleven years ago I heard of the most amazing opportunity. The best thing I bought into and have never cashed in for my 30-day money back guarantee.

The amazing, life-transforming part about His story is that it's really real...when you just believe.

NOTE: Faith is not skepticism.

I have some friends here and there who say they gave Jesus a chance...but they didn't do it WHOLEHEARTEDLY with FAITH...and WITHOUT SKEPTICISM. So quite frankly, they didn't give Him a fair chance...they didn't quite believe.

I would love to sit down and have coffee with those friends of mine and tell them something like the following (with duct tape over their mouths to avoid a debate and a rebuttal because that's not my heart or intentions.):

I wish you believed...I really do.
I wish you believed that I am not a liar.

I wish you believed I'm not trying to convert you to something that will rip your life off and waste your time. I wish you believed that I truly do care about you and where you will be for eternity.

I wish you believed what the Bible said is true and that it had ultimate authority in your life (...oh how simple life can be if you just stick to God's opinion on stuff ).

I wish you believed Jesus is who He says He is, and I wish you believed all the accounts of people who witnessed His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection...and the witnesses who saw His pierced hands.

I wish you believed that an amazing almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent God created you into the unique masterpiece that you are....and that you're not a fluke by-product of ocean matter or apes evolving.

I wish you believed that God made you in His image to love you and have a day by day connection of relationship with you.

I wish you believed that Jesus is the truth, the life, and the way.

I wish you believed me when I said that the entire story of Jesus Christ is real, and the very fact that I can hear God's voice and you could too transcends any self-serving, self-elevating, man-made religion.

I wished you believed that I care so much about you that I am telling you the truth!

That's what I would say. I am so concerned for so many around me who really truly believe in their own thing. 'As long as I do good'....they say. See it's not that easy.

We all can't do good 100% of the time. Think about it: are your thoughts, words, actions 100% perfect & good...100% of the time?

It's not this life I'm living for. It's eternity. What I believe today will impact me later and forever.

I'm not sure why people just can't believe with a pure heart that Jesus is God and God is pure. He won't hurt you. People who are fallen and not perfect will...but God won't.

Jesus is so purely love and forgiveness, grace and mercy for those who believe in Him. It's amazing - the story of what Jesus did for us on the cross! And it's for everyone to believe!

I wished you believed...

I warned them: "Don't get me preachin'....."

I really have come a long way than where I was when I first got saved. I'm still on fire - just not burnin' up everyone around me....intentionally. ;)

However...I think my favorite thing about the reading the Bible is sharing what it ACTUALLY says. I love the rebuttal: 'Well, that's your opinion'. Really, it's not. I don't have an opinion anymore. I only believe and repeat what the Word of God says.

The interesting quandry they find themselves in is that when they disagree with me (even 'believers'/religious people) they are really disagreeing w/ God. What's great is that I don't have to take their words personal. They aren't offending me at all because my source of belief is the Word of God - The Holy Bible. So see, they're disagreeing w/ HIM.

What is sad is that so many claim to be believers...but have no idea what the Bible even says about a variety of things that affect their walks/salvation. I could spout out some topics that would make anyone squirm...but it's not my place to judge - it's God... and that's why He sent Jesus Christ. And that's why He gave us the Word...to see what He says!


Now, while I'm not yet equipped to give the "theological" break down...but in a nutshell:
"...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; ¹⁰ for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." - Romans 10:9,10

You can't do anything else but believe & confess. Works is not the saving factor. Our outward action will change because the Word says you will know them by their fruit. But is the work of the Holy Spirit working through us. We can't boast in what He does. We can only be grateful & thankful...and show up the next day for Him to use us and love others through us.

The sad thing is that so many don't go directly to the Word to get fed. They depend on the guy on Sundays to give it to them...and while there are wonderful Bible-teaching, truth-sharing, Jesus-loving, humble churches out there...there are those who have mixed in so much personal opinion that people are judging others based on the judgment from the pulpit. These will never last.

The truth is what sets people free...and the truth is what feeds people...anything less than this is unnecessary & ineffective.

----These thoughts were inspired thru some conversations I had tonight at a birthday get together. And I promise, I forewarned others (who brought up this topic) - Don't get me preachin'! Needless to say, I got to preachin'...and I preached to the Lord on the way home, I was preachin' while I brushed my teeth...and so here I am unloading on you. But isn't it the truth?

Now, for the record, I am not perfect, but I am a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ & study the Word. It is so wonderful to know what that Book says. It is the truth - it says so! :)

You read things in it like: 'God does not change His mind'...and so I don't serve a wishy-washy, indecisive God.  What it really is...people missing God & not being be humble enough to say so. Personally, I don't think that God expects me to hear Him 100% of the time on 100% of everything. I wish that I could. Man, I'd be set wouldn't I? But I miss Him too...and if you ever have (once, twice, over and over) - it's okay. People don't expect you to be God. Take that pressure off yourself. You can miss Him...just chalk it up and start from where you are & go for it again.

You read things like 'Don't look at a woman with lust'...but many believing Christian men do. Heck, many believing Christian women are looking at men w/ lust. We just got to recognize it in time before we let that thought life carry us away into adultress relationships...and we do that by going straight to the ONE who can help you, Jesus Christ. The true Mediator who put His life on the line for you personally! He can help you in every temptation and through the Holy Spirit, give you the strength to press on through the temptation. He really can!

I know that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, my sins are paid in full, however to hear Him clearly and be led by the Spirit....I have to walk by the Spirit & not by my flesh. I'm really not making this stuff up on my own...it's what the Book says.

All this to say - "if you see me somewhere and you don't want to hear the 'truth'...please don't begin the conversation". The only thing you will get out of me is what I've read in the Bible...and for me, that is the ultimate authority. The beauty of it is that it takes so much pressure off me...I don't have to have all the answers...but I know the One who does!

Got inspired tonight & thought I'd share! God bless & have a great Sunday!