Isn’t There Some Other Way?

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

Isn’t There Some Other Way?

People often seem offended by claims that Jesus is the only way to God. This attitude shows that they simply don’t understand the nature of God. We can see the core of their misunderstanding in a question they ask: “How can a loving God allow anyone to go to hell?”

The answer in a nutshell is that God doesn’t send people to hell; they go because of their own choices. From the time of Adam and Eve, mankind has had a self-willed, grasping, prideful nature we call sin. And sin cannot survive in the presence of God, who is loving, but also holy, righteous, and just. His very nature would destroy sinful mankind. This is why the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). So how could God resolve this dilemma and save us?

The Godhead—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—made an astounding decision. Jesus, God the Son, would take upon himself human flesh. He would become the God-man. In the Gospel of John it says, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14, NASB). When Jesus was executed on the cross, God accepted his death as a substitute for ours. It is as if a judge were to sentence a convicted man (because justice demands it) and then take the place of that man to serve the sentence. At the cross, the just and righteous nature of God was satisfied, and the penalty was paid for our sins.

At this point many people ask the natural question, “Why couldn’t God just forgive without requiring any payment?” They don’t realize that forgiveness always has a price. For example, let’s say my daughter breaks a lamp in my home. I hug her and say, “Don’t cry, honey. Daddy loves you and forgives you.” People who hear that story might say, “That’s exactly what God ought to do.” Then comes the question, “Who pays for the lamp?” The fact is, I do.

This is what God has done for us: he has said, “I forgive you.” But he paid the price for the forgiveness himself through the Cross. It’s a payment that Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, or any other religious or ethical leader cannot offer. No one can pay the price by “just living a good life.” It is true: there is no other way but Jesus.

Doubt are satin's seeds

Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

Acts 5:42

Of all the credentials Jesus had to support his claims to be the Messiah and God’s Son, one of the most profound is often overlooked: how his life fulfilled so many ancient prophecies.

The Old Testament, written over a period of a thousand years, contains sixty major messianic prophecies and approximately 270 ramifications that were fulfilled in one person, Jesus Christ. Using the science of probability, we find the chances of just forty-eight of these prophecies being fulfilled in one person to be only 1 in 10157.

So how can people still believe that he was not the messiah?

Satin has a plan and that is to plant seeds of doubt in your mind.  The same way he did in many before Christ’s crucifixion.  Satin wants us to have doubt that God exists & even more that Christ wasn’t really the messiah.  Those seeds of doubt sprout, grow and can even mature if we allow them to.  We allow them to mature the results are devastating. 

The good news is that we can kill satin’s seeds of doubt before they ever sprout.  The best way to do that is to stay strong prayer and read the bible often.  Another great way to stop doubt is to surround yourself with people who are believers.  I can tell you from experience that when you allow yourself to be around negative people too often then you start to become a negative person.  The same thing happens when we surround ourselves with positive God-fearing friends.  We become more positive and work together to be more Christ like in our own lives.

I encourage you to look at your actions and who you surround yourself with and ask this question, If you were put on trial for being a Christian what would the verdict be?

Lord we come to you today with a greatful heart.  We are greatful that we have the choice to kill satins seeds of doubt.  We are greatful that you give us the tools to make it easier to make sure we don’t allow those seeds to mature.  Lord we also ask that you help us to make sure to squish those doubts as soon as we recognize them.  we ask that you place people in our lives that help give us the strength to be more like your son. We are so thankful that you sent your son to us and gave us ample evidence that he is the messiah.  Thank you for everything that you give to us every day!

Amen

Doubt

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9

When was the last time that you had doubt? 

You are not alone my friend.  I have doubt every single day.  That doubt is Satan working his crafty magic.  The same as the Egyptian magicians worked their magic when Moses talked to Pharaoh. 

Satan loves to make us doubt God’s plans for us.  He loves to make us have doubt in ourselves.  He loves it when we give up because we get discouraged. 

Here’s the good thing.  God still loves us.  He loves us so much that he continues to give us support, even when we doubt his plans.  There is one thing that you can count on, God never gives up!  No matter the cost. 

A few things that you can do today to help keep your courage is to believe that whatever happening right now, IS happening for a reason.  If you just lost job, God has your back and is going to open a better door.  If you just got a promotion, give that credit to God.  No matter what is happening God deserves credit for it. 

What if Joseph would have lost his courage when Potiphar’s wife all but begged him to sleep with her?  Would he have been able to save his entire family throughout the famine?  What if Daniel’s friends would have doubted God’s ability to keep them from burning to death in furnace?  A whole kingdom would have not been able to see how mighty and powerful our God is. 

Life if full of “truths” like these.  If you look back at your life, can you see any?  Do you find any times where you wanted something other than what you received but still didn’t loose courage.  You continued to persevere God’s knowledge and wisdom.  A time where it cost you so much, or so you thought, but in the end it really happened so that you would be in the right place. 

I remember in the past I applied for an awesome job.  It had great pay, great benefits, great work environment, and to top it off it was local.  God knew that if I had gotten that job then I would have not been motivated to move to where we are today.  I would have never started writing devotionals.  We would have never created the God First, Life Next website.  www.GodFirstLN.org  He knew where I needed to be.  All I had to do was trust in him and not lose courage that he should guide me to where I really needed to be. 

The next time you start to get discouraged, take a moment, and look around.  What has God given you? 

I encourage you to stay strong and not loose courage.  Don’t doubt God’s plan for you. Don’t let Satan win.

Lord we come to you today asking for help.  We ask for your help to keep us strong, help us to have courage, and also to help us to not have fear.  Lord, we know that YOU have a plan for us.  We know that you knew us before we were ever born.  We know that you are awesome.  Help us to know that we are awesome too.  God we pray that you would help to open our eyes, heart, and mind to know that your plan for us is so much bigger then we could ever imagine.  We thank you for never losing sight in us.  We thank you for giving us the strength and courage to move forward, throughout every situation.  Lord we thank you for the sacrifices that you have made for us.  Thank you for everything. 

Amen

The power of belief

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”  He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.”  Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”  Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:4-6 NIV

Some of the most successful people in this world will tell you that believing is everything.  Walt Disney said “When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.”

Abram had this belief in God’s promise.  He was 100 years old when Sara became pregnant with Isaac.  I don’t know about you but I think that I would struggle being a 100 & believing that my 99-year-old wife conceive.  Science and world was against this completely.  She had already been through menopause and was “no longer in her childbearing years.”  There is no possible way that this could happen.

That didn’t stop Abram from having true belief in God’s promise though.  He put science &the world in the back seat and made the conscious decision to trust God. 

Have you ever had to make that decision?  The one where you know that God is telling you that this will work.  He is saying JUMP, NOW, but the world is saying “no way!”  I think that we all have all been there. 

How did you handle the situation? 

Personally, I have gone both ways.  There were times where God would speak to me and I chose to listen to the world and science.  I chose not trust that it will work.  Then there were also, times where I consciously put my earplugs in so I could NOT hear the world telling me how this couldn’t happen.  Every time I chose to listen to God, we have prospered.  Sometimes those came in the form of lessons learned, but we always prospered.  We always gained exactly what he need me to.

Next time you hear God speaking to you, what will you do?  Will you choose to be like Abram, Joseph, Daniel, Samson, John, Ester, & all the other leaders throughout the bible, or will you chose to follow science and the world and tell God that he is NOT capable of making it happen in your life? 

Lord, we come to you today with an open heart & especially an open mind.  We ask that you help us to have the faith of a mustard seed or even the faith of a Redwood seed, (one of the largest trees in the world yet also one of the smallest seeds).  God we ask that you help us to know deep in our hearts that you have this all under control.  Help us to tune the world out and turn you up.  Increase our faith and prove the world wrong.  We know that you can, and do every day.  We pray that you open our eyes to see all of the mind-blowing miracles you do every day.  God thank you for the ability to have belief so strong that we know beyond a reasonable doubt that it will happen.  Thank you for giving us the courage to go out in the world and spread your word!  Thank you for all of the encouragement you have spread throughout the bible. 

Amen

Listen and Communicate

Listen and Communicate

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:  Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. James 1:19 

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29

If you’ve ever been around a person who has to be constantly talking and doesn’t allow anyone else get a word in edge wise you know what it feels like to not have the opportunity to share or be heard.

Communication is when two or more people share thoughts, concerns, ideas and they listen to each other.  When one person dominates the conversation and doesn’t stop to listen there is no communication.

I’m sure that God wishes we would all just stop and listen to him.  Too often we praise Him, Thank Him, ask for forgiveness and ask him to bless us and others, (All good), but we fail to Listen.  The Old Testament is full of stories where the people didn’t listen and God repeatedly asks the people to Listen.

Listening is a verb, it requires action and sometimes that action is to stop talking and use one’s ears and heart to hear what God wants to tell us and others.

Prayer

Lord help me to Listen to you and to others each and every day. Help me to remember your words about listening.  Amen

Will you Pray with us?

Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation

All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel 

For all military personal serving our country and their families 

Those in Leadership positions throughout the world

Devotional Written by Cindy Greer

Being a Humble Servant

Being a Humble Servant

In the past, we have talked about how God wants you to succeed in everything you do.  He also wants us to be servants.  The word servant is mentioned in the bible at least 2337 times.  Coincidence?  I don’t think so.  God new that we would be reluctant to be a servant that’s why he tried to pound it into your head.  Over two thousand times!

What did Jesus mean when he said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”?  Mark 9:35.  He wasn’t saying that you shouldn’t try.  He definitely wasn’t saying to give up and be last at everything you do.  He was saying that you should be putting others in front of you.  Making sure that they are taken care of before you take care of yourself. 

What I think of is ever since I was a young child I can remember that at family gatherings, there always seemed to be a fight for who would be the last one to go through the line to eat.  Would it be grandpa, dad, my uncle, or my grandma?  They were all waiting to make sure that everyone else made it through at least once before they would fill their plates. (Of course there was always enough food, my family likes to be prepared to feed an army, or a couple of teenagers they seem to eat about the same amount of food.  Lol). 

The truth is that’s not really, what Jesus meant.  The real servant here were the ones helping everyone else get their plates filled.  The ones who after dinner didn’t hesitate to fill the sink with water and start washing.  Those are the real servants.  They didn’t do it for the glory; they did it because it needed to be done.  In addition, they did it without complaining, most of the time. 

Being a servant doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to get down on your knees and scrub the floor.  You can be a servant at any stage in life and at any position, you hold.  Being a servant means that you put others first.  You make sure that others are taken care of before you tend to yourself.  Not only that but you help them when they need it. 

As a parent, being a servant might be cooking dinner, washing clothes, or taking your kids to their activities.  It also might be being quiet when your child is struggling so that they can learn how to problem solve on their own.  It might be not giving direct orders but allowing them to fall so that they can learn.  Of course, you will be there to help them get back up, dust off, and learn the lesson. 

As a Christian being a servant means that, you pray constantly.  Pray for God to help show you how he needs you to serve him.  We all serve in different ways.  For me one way I serve is by writing blogs and devotionals every week.  I serve by having scriptures at the bottom of every webpage.  By not being afraid to talk about God, no matter who am around.  We all serve in different ways, and that’s a GREAT thing.

There are many ways that you can be a servant.  Take a few moments and think of ways for you be a servant today.  What were they?  How can you accomplish them today even better than you did yesterday?  Do this exercise every day this week and see if it opens your eyes to just how you serve others.

Prayer

Lord today we come to you on our knees asking that you help us to see how we can better serve you.  We come to asking that you take a few moments out of your busy day to show us exactly what you need.  Then God we ask you for the courage to go out into the world and serve you the way you want is to.  We pray God for your guidance and wisdom in every aspect of our lives.  We are thankful that you allow us to serve others.  We are thankful that you give us those opportunities.  We pray that you would help all of those around us who might not fully understand what being a servant really is.  Help them to see how being a servant is the highest honor we could ever ask for.  Lord thank you for the wonderful title of SERVANT.  Thank you for your love.  Amen

Will you Pray with us?

Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation
All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel 

For all military personal serving our country and their families 

Those in Leadership positions throughout the world

God has A Plan For You

God has A Plan For You

The Lord doesn’t want us to fail.  In fact, he wants nothing but the opposite.  He wants us to succeed every time.  Nevertheless, he does understand that sometimes we need to fail in order to truly succeed.  He uses those hard times to help us grow if we allow him to. 

You can ask my parents, I was tough child to raise.  I was stubborn, loud, knew it all, couldn’t be told anything, lost my temper, got in trouble for everything, and took chances I shouldn’t have taken.  My parents had their hands full, to say the least.  God had plans for me though and they knew that.  (That’s probably why they didn’t give up on me.)  God never gave up on me either.  He knew that eventually I would turn around and truly accept him into my life.  He knew that I start writing devotionals to help others endure the same things I have in my past.  He knew that I would prosper. 

You see God gives us every situation we are in for a reason.  I didn’t understand most of the time why things happened the way they did.  I used to not accept that God has a plan as a reason either.  Now I know that God has a plan.  I know that he is helping me to grow.  I know that he truly wants us to prosper because he has plans for our future.  Plans that we know nothing about, yet.

Until I was about 31, I said that I would never want to work for myself.  I wanted the comfort of getting a paycheck and not having to worry about the other parts of the business.  God had blinded me to the fact that I was supposed to be an entrepreneur.  He made it to where I could not see that that was part of my role in his world. 

I could look back and think, God why didn’t you allow me to see this earlier?  On the other hand, I can look back and think, I am so grateful that you put me each and every situation that you did so that I could learn have hope for the future.  I'm grateful that you gave me opportunity to learn and meet a TON of people that I will be able to help now and in the future.  I know that God’s plans are bigger than mine, and I accept that.  I know that he never has intentions to cause me harm.  He loves me, just as my parents love me.  He wants nothing but to the best for all of us.

Things to think about

Is there something that happened to you that you didn’t understand at first, but later knew that God protected you?

Have you ever “failed” only to find out that you learned so much more through that process than you ever could have otherwise?

Do you trust that God is there for you every day in every way?

Prayer

Lord we come to you today with a humble heart.  We know that you love us and we are thankful for that.  Love is what keeps us moving every day.  We would than you for giving us opportunities to grow.  Even if we don’t see those opportunities right now, we know that you are here for us.  God you give us hope every day and encouragement.  We pray that you help us to give that same hope to others.  Help us to never give up on anyone just as you never give up on us.  We pray that you open our eyes to see you working in, not only our lives but also those around us.  Help us to stay strong and be the encourages you NEED us to be.  Lord, we thank you for your guidance, wisdom, and patience.  Thank you

Amen

Will you Pray with us?

Mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation

All Law enforcement and emergency response personnel 

For all military personal serving our country and their families 

Those in Leadership positions throughout the world