Does God Exist, And If So, Have You Ever Seen Him?

 What evidence do you have that He doesn’t exist? Objections to Christian conduct or church history are not enough to debunk Christianity. Christians make mistakes and the church has learned from its mistakes. There are multitudinous arguments for the existence of God that are philosophical, scientific, historical, and literary. Books and volumes have been written and philosophers have dabbled in the subject including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle who all believed in Him. I will not even attempt to go there because no one can prove His existence beyond a shadow of a doubt.

But no one can disprove God either. Philosophically you cannot prove a universal negative. It takes faith both ways and both believers and naysayers are people of faith. To place your faith in science is also faith. To say that you only believe what science can prove is foolish and cannot be proved as a valid option even scientifically because that itself is a truth claim and made in faith. No amount of evidence will convince a person to believe who doesn’t want to believe. There is no “smoking gun” evidence either way! So we must have faith.

The existence of God according to God (per the Bible) is self-evident and there’s enough evidence in nature to convince anyone but a fool. God says that no one has an excuse and will be judged according to the God they did know. The problem is not intellectual but in the heart of man that is stubborn and rebellious against God. The heart of the matter is that it’s a matter of the heart then!

Now whether I’ve seen Him. That’s why God sent Jesus to show us Himself. The Bible says no one has seen Him but to see Jesus is the same as seeing God. Jesus came to show us, God, in the flesh as His Son. He is the express image and likeness of God—His icon. All of the fulness of deity dwells in Christ. The disciples asked to see God and Jesus told they have seen Him because He is God. We believe in many things we don’t see but we see their effects: air, electricity, thoughts, love, etc.. People who are blind often “see” better than those who are not.

We have spiritual eyes and God can open them to see Jesus in the Bible on every page in every book in every theme through many of its characters. God opens our hearts to believe and helps us to see spiritually. I do not believe in the wind because I can see it but because I see its effects and what it’s doing. If I don’t look at the sun, I can still believe in it because I can see everything else. God is light and dwells in unapproachable light that no man is capable of beholding. We do not see light but its effect: colors. God is spirit and spirit is unseen. God is also love and love isn’t seen either but is felt and experienced. We can taste God with our emotions, for God challenges us: “Taste and see that the LORD is good.” You see, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Is It Logical To Believe In God? ...

Yes, the maxim goes: “Out of nothing, nothing comes”. Matter can't arise from pure nothingness, (as some who study quantum physics believe) and by the way, a vacuum is not “nothing” because it contains space) God created space too. The fact that something exists proves something must have always existed or be eternal; namely, God. Nothing, and that includes all matter, can create or cause itself. Everything that exists in the time-space continuum has a beginning and therefore a cause. And that’s because everything that begins to exist has a cause.

It all goes back to the First Cause that is responsible for everything. Even the creation (Big Bang) had a beginning and therefore a Beginner. The beginning of creation had design and purpose and was not chaos. Logos (logic) cannot arise from chaos and without Logos is no cosmos. This shows signs of ID or intelligent design from an Ultimate or Supreme MInd at work.

Pure energy would be nothing but chaos and isn't organized; it takes logic and design to make it useful energy (random to kinetic). That comes from a master Designer or Creator. When Carl Sagan said, “The cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be,” he forgot about ID or the intelligence in the cosmos as the missing ingredient necessary for creation. It seems like creation was pre-programmed with universal constants or the laws of nature.

NOTE: Logos means many things including law, order, design, purpose, expressed thought, and logic.

Nothing To Offer Christ

Christ offers salvation to the lowest bidder, not the one who thinks he's qualified but the one who humbly acknowledges he isn't.  Paul saw himself as the chief of sinners! We must realize that we cannot do enough to impress God or make ourselves worthy.  We cannot earn, deserve, nor pay back God but must realize salvation is a grace-transaction, not a works-transaction.  They say it is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and this is the best way to see it because religionists add merit to grace, works to faith, and the church or tradition to Christ.  We must also realize that Scripture alone is our rule of faith and final authority or arbiter of truth, not tradition or any church leader.   We must realize though that we can never be good enough, in fact, we can only realize how bad we are when we try to be good and trying to be good. 

When we realize we are saved by grace through faith we realize our works do not merit salvation.  We are not saved by any work, but we cannot be saved without them either for faith without works is dead and cannot save.  If we have no works, our faith is suspect and we certainly are not producing fruit as Jesus said we shall be known by our fruits. James said he could show his faith through his works (cf. James 2:18). Likewise, our works validate or authenticate our faith. As the Reformers taught: "We are saved by faith alone, but not be a faith that is alone!'  By definition, grace is getting what we don't deserve, but mercy is not getting what we do deserve; this means God would be perfectly just to condemn everyone to hell and save no one!  If God had to save us or was obliged by our deeds, it would be grace but justice. 

We are humbled when we see that even a great preacher like George Whitefield said, "There but for the grace of God go I, "after seeing a condemned man to the gallows. Paul had similar thoughts when he said, "I am what I am by the grace of God," (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10)  As Paul nearly wreaked havoc on the early church Christ chose him to be a light to the Gentiles. We come to the realization that all we have to offer Christ is brokenness and strife, a contrite heart of repentance as a sacrifice. 

We don't have to do anything to be saved; no pre-salvation work.  God opens our hearts and kindles or quickens faith within us, even making the unwilling willing and turning hearts of stone into hearts of flesh (cf. Ezek. 11:19). We when we realize Christ is the way it all is clear and we surrender ourselves to Him in faith.  That's the gist of it, exercising faith in some way: It differs for every individual; just because someone walked an aisle for instance to receive Christ doesn't mean that it's necessary or the only way.  There may be prefabricated prayers of salvation and the common one, the sinners' prayer  from Luke 18:13 ("God be merciful to me a sinner)") but none is perfect and certainly not the only valid one. For there can be no perfect, foolproof prayer to grant salvation for God sees the heart and reads the motives.  Then salvation would be by lipservice or going through the motions: religiosity. 

This is what I mean:  we need to know how bad we are to be saved, and we don't know how bad we are till we try to be good or repent of our badness!  In other words, we are never good enough to get saved but bad enough to need salvation! We all have a dark side, a side no one sees but God and we all have feet of clay or apparent flaws that are not visible or known by others. This means we are not basically or inherently good but bad or evil without Christ in our hearts. When we really see ourselves for who we are we realize the picture isn't pretty.   We are "dead in trespasses" and "by nature children of wrath," "sold under sin."  God needs to open our eyes to have faith (cf. Acts 26:18) and especially the eyes of our hearts to see Jesus (cf. Heb. 2:9) in the Bible, which testifies of Him (cf. John 5:39).  

When we realize what great sinners we are, we thank God that He is a great Savior! And we are humbled by grace to say, "Why me Lord," and "a wretch like me?" But thanks to the restraining power of the Spirit, we are not as bad as we can be; we are only as bad off as we can be in respect to our ability to save ourselves and therefore need a Savior. Recognizing that God doesn't grade on a curve and has concluded all slaves of sin and spiritually dead, we realize our need for grace for there could be no other way to qualify for salvation in our own right. 

In the final analysis, we must be willing to stand up for what we believe (cf. Jer. 9:3) in and that means confessing Christ as Lord or verbalizing our faith, not privatizing it.  "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so," (cf. Psalm 107:2).   "I  believed, therefore I spoke," (cf. 2 Cor. 4:13).  And if we don't stand firm in the faith we will not stand firm at all. (cf. Isaiah 7:3).  NB:   We have nothing to bring to Christ but the sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving, and of a contrite heart (cf. Heb. 13:15; Lev. 7:12; Psalm 51:17).   Soli Deo Gloria! 

If God Is The Universe By Definition, Does Anyone Know The Real Definition Of God To Debunk This?

 God is infinite, meaning He cannot be defined, limited, or described exhaustively or adequately, but only known truly. ‘Canst thou by searching find out God?” “The finite cannot grasp the infinite” is an old maxim. God gives no definition of Himself neither does the Bible but only reveals Himself to us so we can know Him and have a relationship with Him. It’s not whether you can define Him, but whether you know Him that counts. Describing God won’t save your soul but trusting and believing in Him will.

When we define God it’s like putting Him in a box and making Him one-dimensional (the man upstairs, the Great Spirit in the sky, Father Time, the Cosmic Killjoy, the Celestial Policeman, our Father Figure, the Force, etc). The only useful description of God I’ve heard of is by St. Anselm of Canterbury who said, God, is that perfect Being above or beyond which cannot be conceived or imagined; whatever is greater to be than not to be He is.

God is the Creator and the universe is part of creation, not part of God who created it and is separate from it or transcendent. Something logically cannot be both created and the Creator. The universe had a beginning; the Big Bang and is not eternal; God did not!

Also, God must be immutable and eternal as well as immaterial to be God for God is not in flux but changes not and is not the slave of time or anything in the time-space continuum. Anything subject to change cannot be God. Being the Creator of time, He is not bound by it or limited by it but all things in the time-space continuum had a beginning.

But God who is eternal with no beginning or cause but is that First Cause that is a necessary being. Something has to be necessary or nothing would exist. God's name means “I CAUSE TO BE.” His name also means: “I AM,” or that He is self-existent and dependent or contingent upon no one or nothing unlike us.  Soli Deo Gloria! 

Doing A Great Work Part III, The Servant Of All

 "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD pondereth the heart," (Prov. 21:2; cf. 16:2).

"The LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts," (cf. 1 Chron. 28:9).  

To be great in God's kingdom, we must be willing to become the servant of all. But some aren't even willing to work or be servants but think labor is beneath them when Jesus didn't excuse Himself from getting down and dirty with working, ordinary-class men in their daily tasks. We must not strive for the most visible, most rewarding, most important, most prestigious, most self-serving, or most profitable, but the most humbling!  The goal is to have a heart of a servant as Christ did who took up the towel to wash feet (a foot-washing ministry) and gave us the example of the order of the towel or doing what is without any inherent dignity.  All work has dignity!  Our dignity is in serving Christ and doing His will no matter the task.  

We must recognize that in God's economy the way up is down!  As John, the Baptist, said, "He must increase, but I must decrease."  this is the way to be filled with the Spirit, to empty yourself first.  We must remember that we are co-laborers with Christ who was our example and showed the way of humility and doing God's will. God sees the motive why we are doing something and tests the heart, for we must be more righteous than the Pharisees who were out to make a good impression as people-pleasers. We are to be collaborators with the body of Christ to accomplish God's will, not our agenda.

The church must have a mission and a vision ("Where there is no vision, the people perish") in order to be focused on God's will and to do be motivated. We must do God's work God's way.  We all have a gift and must not envy that of another, we are to work together as one body in the same Spirit, though we have diversities of ministries.  This is a way of walking worthy of our calling.  We are doing God's work because God chose to use us as vessels of honor to do it, not because we are worthy or can do anything on our own, for apart from Christ we can do nothing. Paul said that he would venture not to boast of anything but what Christ had accomplished through him.  All our good works and our fruit are from Him who enables us. Our righteousness is not our gift to God, but His gift to us.

We ought not to focus on what others are doing and look to our labors in the LORD without judgments.  We are not the fruit examiners of everyone's fruit! In the end, it's not about us, but all about Jesus as we must first say "No" to ourselves before we can say "Yes" to Jesus. To be good leaders as many aspire to be, we must first be good followers.  It is said, that we must not strive to be a person of success, but a person of value! Knowing this, that our labor in the LORD is never in vain but will be rewarded.

We must acknowledge that God sees the heart and motive of all we do (cf. 2 Chron. 16:9; Prov 21:2).   Knowing this:  Each of us does our part but it is God who appears front and center in directing all events for His glory as the main event, we must remember it's all about Him and forget ourselves.   In the final analysis, it's not what we are doing in or labors for the LORD that defines us but how well we do it (a task well worth doing is worth doing well, as unto the LORD!) it all matters whether we are doing it as unto the LORD and in the name of the LORD,  and to the glory of the LORD.  Soli Deo Gloria! 

Doing A Great Work I

"...' I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?''" (Neh. 6:3, NIV).
"But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded" (2 Chron. 15:7, NIV).
It's all in a nutshell by a sermon William Carey preached, titled "Expect Great Things From God, Attempt Great Things for God."

Mother Teresa of Calcutta said that we don't do great things, just little things with great love. It's not our achievements that God is pleased with, but our faithfulness. Mother Teresa also said that God doesn't call us to success, but to faithfulness. Indeed, he who is faithful in little will be faithful in much as Jesus said. We are all to give an account of our stewardship and will be rewarded according to our works--not our faith. Jesus said that He had finished the work God gave Him and was ready to enter His glory in John 17:4. Nehemiah boasted that he was engaged in "a great work" for the Lord and wouldn't be interrupted. Jeremiah warns against doing the Lord's work with slackness (cf. Jer. 48:10)!

Some people are performance-oriented and will say at Judgment Day that they did great works in the Lord's name, even casting out demons; however, their faith was in their works, not the Lord! Misplaced faith, though big, doesn't save--it's the object that matters. All achievements are eventually outdone and eclipsed, all records will be broken, all reputations will fade, all tributes will be forgotten, and trophies will be lost or decayed, but what we do in the Lord's name in His power (that are ordained for us to do per Eph. 2:10) will not go unnoticed nor unrewarded. These good deeds will not be in vain. Isaiah said in Isa. 49:4, NIV, "But I said, 'I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand, and my reward is with my God.'" Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:58, NIV, "...Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

There has been much evil done in the Lord's name (the Catholic Inquisition, the Salem witch hunts, the Crusades, and the Thirty-Years War et al.) but what is done in the Lord means in the right spirit and in the power of the Spirit. I'm not against good works, just those done in the power of the flesh.

In the final analysis, no one will be able to boast of his works that God did through him but will give glory to God for being a vessel of honor, as Paul said in Romans 15:18, KJV, that he would not "dare to speak of any of those things Christ hath not wrought by [him]..." or venture to mention anything but what God accomplished through him." In sum, we're all "doing a great work," if it's done in the Lord, and we ought not to belittle anyone's task or gift for without Christ we can do nothing (cf. John 15:5). Soli Deo Gloria!

Doing A Great Work II

"LORD,  ... all that we have accomplished, you have done for us," (cf. Isaiah 26:12, NIV).

"... your fruitfulness comes from me," (cf. Hosea 14:8, NIV).

"But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for the finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus--the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God," (cf. Acts 20:24, NLT).

"But none of these things move me, neither do I count my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus," (cf. Acts 20:24, KJV).

"I venture not to speak of nothing but what Christ has accomplished through me," (cf. Romans 15:18).  

 Nehemiah was not a prophet, nor a priest, nor a king, and he did no miracles, in fact, he was like any of us (he was only a cupbearer to the king), and did what we can do when the LORD blesses our work and we are called to do His will and we realize and fulfill our mission.  The book has no miracles, prophecies, nor great teaching, revelation, or wisdom, or poetry, but it shows God's quiet hand at work behind the scenes in the everyday work of the LORD.  Things we can do if we have a work ethic like his! 

But he was in a funk because he mourned for the city of David, Zion, the Jewish capital of Jerusalem, that it was in ruins. His depression became known to the king and he had the audacity to ask permission to take a leave of absence to repair his beloved city.  What do you know? His request was granted. The Jews were in exile but soon to return to the Promised Land and Job One was to rebuild the Wall. We see in this book of Nehemiah that he is the greatest motivator in the Bible, for he got results and the people worked for him with godly zeal. When we dedicate our work and effort to the LORD, we also get blessed in the fruit of our labors. 

We can see the hand of God upon him throughout the book even though it is not mentioned in particular. The one time that it does seem to give God the glory is when it says that the wall was rebuilt in only fifty-two days, a miracle in itself. Nehemiah was not a micromanager but he knew that when people believed they were doing God's work that he would get results.  He probably thought that if he didn't do it, that it wouldn't get done  He saw a need and fulfilled it; a key to success!  Thus the value and necessity of the work.  He saw that it was God who opened the doors for him to even get to first base and this was obvious: the LORD was with him from the get-go. He knew to abide in Christ so to speak or to walk with God as they said in the Old Testament. Though he was obedient to the heavenly vision, he knew he would get and did get opposition. He had enemies!  

When they tried to interrupt him while at work, he said, "I cannot come down [from the wall] for I am doing a great work."  He saw the LORD's work as a great and grand one and that it brought Him glory. The point is that he was obedient for faith and obedience are linked: Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes."  And he was like Habakkuk, who said, "The righteous shall live by faith [their faithfulness]."  (cf. Heb. 10:28; Romans 1:17).  We must see that faith and faithfulness are the same Hebrew word and they cannot be separated, only distinguished; they go hand in hand!   

This great motivator and leader of men knew how to inspire as well; to give the men a work ethic! "The people had a mind to work!"  That's what you call having the mindset for the LORD's work.  When the people faced opposition and enemies on the wall, even as they worked, he told them: "Fight for your families..."  People have to be able to put things into perspective and have a reason to fight. Remember the words of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem Charge of the Light Brigade that goes:  "Ours is not to reason why is our to do and die." That kind of attitude seems glum and depressing but that is often the only motivation the world will give you. 

We must see that God's work is our privilege and we can take part in accomplishing His will to bring Him glory.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever."  We are to "trust in the LORD with all our heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths."  (cf. Prov. 3:5-6).  We must understand that all that we accomplish is by God's working in us and He did it through us as His instruments of glory or honor; as Paul said, in Romans 15:18, "I venture not to speak of nothing but what the Lord has accomplished through me." 

In sum, nothing can give you the doldrums faster and more seriously than knowing the will of God and not being able to do it, and nothing can bounce you out of it faster than getting to work doing His will and making yourself useful in the kingdom work and God's will or completing the calling and mission God gave you; therefore, if your calling is to climb rocks, hope for rocks and even that you will die doing God's will and what you enjoy, just like they asked Saint Francis what he would do if only he had one hour to live while he was doing his gardening at the convent, and he said that he would finish his gardening!  Soli Deo Gloria! 

Is My Jesus The One You Know?

Right off the bat, John says He is the Creator and that He is the Word that became flesh; the whole point of our faith.  Some imagine the Trinity as Jesus the nice one, the Father the stern one, and the Holy Spirit the mysterious one!  But Jesus is Mr. Nice Guy!  What about when He chased the moneychangers out of the temple?   He knows how to be stern too and to rebuke with all authority.  There is essentially no difference in temperament in the triune God.  They all can be mysterious, nice at times, and stern.  We must not put Jesus in a box and limit His personality to what we can imagine.

His incarnation is a mystery how He God can become man, and the hypostatic union [of His deity and humanity] is another profundity.  We must refrain from confusing, dividing, mixing, or separating these natures, as He is two natures in one divine Personhood. Each nature retains its divine attributes.  Jesus is not only truly and fully God, but truly and fully man or He could not be our Mediator and Savior. Only God could die for the sins of the world and be perfect.  He has three offices for us:  Prophet to show us our sins and the truth as Savior from the ignorance of sin; as  Priest to save us from the penalty of our sins and be our sacrifice, and King to be our sovereign and ruler to save us from the power of sin and give us victory.   

But Jesus was not a man with divine powers like a Popeye figure, or even a God in human disguise as Superman, nor a demigod (half God, half man) like Hercules.  Nor is He a Cosmic Killjoy or Mean Judge.  Everything that makes us human is in Him and everything that makes the Father God is also in Him.   We cannot put Jesus in a box and limit Him for He is infinite and beyond definition or understanding.  We cannot know Him exhaustively, but we can know Him truly.  That's the whole idea of salvation: knowing Jesus personally.

His favorite title for Himself was "Son of Man" because He related to the human race and wanted us to know He is a man and not a ghost or humanized god or deified human!  This title was uniquely Messianic and the fulfillment of Dan. 7:13 and what condemned Him at His trial when He claimed it.  He was insulted and persecuted for calling Himself the Son of God.  But He was this because He had no human father and was God's Son equal in deity, attributes, holiness, powers, and eternity.  He always was the Son of God and used this title (in fulfillment of Psalm 2:7), the eternal Son, which means He is God because only God is eternal.  He claimed to be "one with the Father," and that the "Father is in Him and He is in the Father,"  and in effect made Himself [out to be] God, as the Pharisees saw it.

In so many words, He did claim to be the great I AM (cf. John 8:28, 58).  He didn't always beat around the bush but would ask people to believe in Him for His very work's sake  He didn't just make claims but assumed the authority of  God by judging, doing miracles, and forgiving sins.  Usually, you don't believe someone who claims to be born of a virgin but if one had the character, witnesses, works, and credentials of Christ it would carry some weight in a court of law as admissible evidence.  

He was an itinerant teacher who never traveled more than about one hundred miles from his home base in Capernaum. Known to some simply as the Carpenter, He was what one would respect in a man as one who got down and dirty with men when calling them to follow Him.  To call Him a good teacher is an insult, but The Teacher. He is not the greatest anything as one would say Jesus the Great, for this is unworthy of Him and doesn't do His greatness justice.  He introduced a new preaching style using object lessons and parables as well as teaching sermons and doing miracles to illustrate the point.  He taught mainly just the Twelve (disciples) but did it one-on-one and did such a good job that it was all the size He needed to change the world with His teachings. 

His ethic raised the bar and is considered one that cannot be lived, but Jesus lived what He preached and preached what He practiced. His disciples referred to Him as Lord or Rabbi and this was a sign of reverence. His disciple Peter confessed Him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  He commanded respect and confounded all those who challenged His authority, for He didn't teach as the Pharisees or religious leaders, and not by authority, but with authority, not as any man ever spoke!  Finally, when He answered all their questions, they dared not to ask Him anymore.  

The Father is the eternal Father meaning there never was a point in time when He wasn't the Father; He didn't "become" the Father. Jesus was called the Son of David also, which was Messianic and didn't deny the title.  He was the rightful sovereign of the throne of David and the rightful King of the Jews.  He fulfilled the Law of Moses perfectly without flaw or sin and was born with the one purpose in mind: to die for us. He challenged His critics to accuses Him of sin. Usually, when you get to know someone you see flaws, but not so with Jesus: the idea that familiarity breeds contempt didn't hold water as Peter said, "Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man."   The only charge that stuck and that He was crucified for in the end, was one of insurrection, that He claimed to be a King.  

Jesus was par excellence a man on a mission!  He came to die.  He could've taken the throne of David but His prioritized purpose was to die for our sins as the Lamb of God and Savior.  He resisted efforts to establish His kingdom at the time and would not even die before His time.  He prophesied His crucifixion and knew what He had gotten Himself into and what He signed up for.  He even prayed to be delivered from the Passion, but relinquished to God's will and suffered in our stead. He would first be our Savior and then our priest, then our King.  Right now, I believe in and understand Jesus as my Advocate and Intercessor when I go astray and the Good Shepherd who keeps me on the right track and in God's will. 

His mission was Job One:

Jesus came to save sinners and set them free from themselves, God's wrath, their enslavement to Satan, and sin. His message only has something to say to those who are lost, sick, and unrighteous and see their need for a Physician to heal them. Sin is a virus that must be healed and we cannot approach God while affected--He must cleanse us or He will have no part of us. He saves us despite ourselves and our own efforts, for there is no pre-salvation work we can achieve or preparation we can make to qualify for grace--that's why it's grace and not merit-based. In fact, the only qualification for salvation is to realize our need and bankruptcy in God's tribune. Jesus is on a rescue mission and meets us in our deepest need--the effects of sin.

Sin is both alienating and enslaving, it estranges and separates us from others and God. Jesus is the Great Reconciler and has done something about the sin question on the cross by shedding blood. Yes, He owns us because He purchased us with His very own blood was shed voluntarily on our behalf. Our greatest need was to be forgiven and made righteous, both accomplished at the cross. We are forgiven for our sins (what we've done or called being justified) and delivered from what we are (sanctification or from our sin nature). The cross is a great rescue operation! "If our greatest problem had been ignorance God would've sent an educator, or if it had been technology, He would've sent a scientist, but our greatest need was the restoration of our relationship with Him" (source unknown).

That's what salvation is: the healing of our relationship with God and getting back into fellowship with Him, for sin precludes and prevents that. We were in no position to save ourselves or salvage our souls, in fact, we needed divine intervention to meet our needs and do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. Jesus raised the bar on love and sacrifice, giving His all for us and pouring out His compassion on the cross when He was suffering the most--the ultimate sacrifice.

He thought of us to the very end and would rather die than live without us! His love is unconditional and sacrificial and costs something! We can give without loving, but we cannot love without giving! In the final analysis, Jesus knew what His mission was--to do the Father's will and be subordinate to it in all things (that was His mission statement or motto of life--to do God's will!), which would bring about the salvation of His sheep, by laying down His life, for whom He shed His blood and poured out His very life. 

He rose from the dead to give us hope of a resurrection and to prove the reconciliation and redemption for our sins to the Father. His resurrection was the final sign He would give of His deity and divine mission as our Savior.  His kingdom was not to be of this world, but as the Emperor of Love, He would reign in the hearts of men and conquer kingdoms and turn the world upside-down and topsy-turvy.  His influence changed the course of history as the biggest revolutionary of all time and the central figure of Western Civilization or what is called Christendom.  The pagan and barbarian world of Rome was to become Christianized or converted by the year AD 313 with the Edict of Milan by Emperor Constantine, who became a Christian.    Soli Deo Gloria! 

Results In Prayer...

"And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it," (cf. John 14:13-14). 

"If you believe you will receive whatever you ask in prayer," (cf. Matt. 21:22). 

"And this is the confidence that we have, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us," (cf. 1 John 5:14). 

Note: God doesn't give us carte blanche or a blank check that we get literally anything according to our whims and wish list, but it must be in His name or according to His will that He may be glorified.  You could rightly say that we are praying for what God is already predisposed to do: His will. Thus prayer changes us, it doesn't change God! But there's nothing wrong with trying to get results and answered prayer!  We ought to aim for efficacious prayer and a continued and fulfilling prayer life. 

Christians ought not to just seek the practical or pragmatic, but prayer works and for obvious reasons, there's a God who hears them.  Some would say you can never know the truth of something only its consequences and the test of an idea is whether it works, not its truth.  But this is anti-Christian.  Prayer is not true because it works; it works because it's true--viva la difference.   Our goal should not be just to get results or our will done on earth but God's will done from heaven.  The most perfect prayer we can pray is one of relinquishment: Thy will be done.   The sake of prayer is prayer (per se), not to get what we want from God, but to seek fellowship and dialogue with God.  Sometimes it may seem our prayers are not getting through and are falling on deaf ears. Prayer is a matter of fellowship and sometimes restoration is in order. 

"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear me," (cf. Psalm 66:18).   Sin always separates us from the holy God.  We must first confess our known and convicted sins before we even attempt to boldly come before the throne of grace.  Many things can hinder our prayers and we may need to be honest with God about it first.   We must be willing to wait for our renewal and reconciliation as we seek God's face in prayer and confession. 

We should never give up on our prayers and always persists for God is listening: He may be answering unawares, like in other ways. He may have something better for us.  Our prayers may lack resolve, purpose, faith, sincerity, or even humility We must always prepare our hearts first before we pray!  In God's economy, the way up is down, emptying comes before filing and confession before restoration.  We must not assume we are in a state of fellowship but humbly acknowledge our weakness and lack of worthiness before the throne. 

In the Bible, we are exhorted to boldly come before His throne and yet approach Him and enter His gates with thanksgiving and praise.  That gives us the right mindset as we have the right priorities. When we realize that prayer is the serious business of heaven and we are entering into His labors and the work of God, we become all the more fucuses and determined in our prayers with purpose. 

Also, we must realize that in prayer it is God's Spirit working His will in us and we can do nothing apart from His grace and power working in us. "I will not venture to speak of nothing but of what Christ has accomplished through me," (cf. Romans 15:18).  When we do get success, just like material success, we must give God all the glory and credit and not our prayer or persistence.  We have entered into His labors as a privilege of being used by God as a vessel of honor.    Soli Deo Gloria!

Are You God's Blank Slate?

"So he will do to me whatever he has planned. He controls my destiny" (Job 23:14, NLT).
"My times [future] are in your hands..." (Psalm 31:15, NIV).
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you" (Psalm 32:8, NIV)

"So he will do to me whatever he has planned. He controls my destiny" (Job 23:14, NLT).
"My times [future] are in your hands..." (Psalm 31:15, NIV).
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you" (Psalm 32:8, NIV).

"Verily, I say unto you, whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein," (cf. Mark 10:1),.

John Locke said that all children are born with a blank slate, a tabula rasa, that is amenable or conformable to become virtually anything the child desires or is taught to be.  That is to say with virtually unlimited potential!  CAVEAT:  We are all potential depraved criminals too! It's not by accident that we aren't for Paul said, "I am what I am by the grace of God," (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10) and George Whitefield said, "There but for the grace of God go I."  (He said this upon seeing a condemned man go to the gallows!)   It's merely a matter of grace that we are who we are.  

God enables us to be good and all our good works are a matter of God using us.  All our own righteousness is as filthy rags. In fact, our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to Him (cf. Isaiah 45:24; Hosea 14:8; Romans 15:18).  Have you discovered your spiritual potential in Christ?  You must realize your gifting first but you start that by serving God wherever He calls you and willingness to do His will as a servant. If we have faith, God will fulfill His purpose for us; be sure to complete the calling or ministry you have received from the Lord (cf. 2 Tim. 4:5).  "But I count my life of no value to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God's grace," (cf. Acts 20:24). 

Salvation is a matter of realizing we can do nothing of ourselves; it's all a matter of grace from beginning to end.  We can do no pre-salvation work to prepare ourselves but are at the mercy of God: He controls our destiny.  Jesus made it clear we can do nothing in our own right:  "Apart from Me you can do nothing..." (cf. John 15:5).  That means we cannot believe nor repent of our sins on our own merit but depend upon the grace of God to do a work of grace in our hearts. That is, we sue God for spiritual bankruptcy in a sense, realizing our utter helplessness!  

We must cease trying to save ourselves.  This is akin to discovering our own inner chile whereby we realize that we are dependent and need God; salvation is of the LORD (cf Jonah 2:9).  That means it is not of us alone as if we can work our way to please God, nor it is a joint venture or cooperative effort between us and God, but only by virtue of grace alone.  Both faith and repentance are gifts.  We do not conjure them up nor catch them by osmosis around other believers.  

Salvation is not about doing God a favor or deserving it, if so, then salvation would be a matter of justice, not grace. God is under no obligation to save anyone and would still be holy if all were condemned.  Grace is undeserved, unearned, and unrepayable.  We must realize that we are at God's mercy: "God be merciful to me a sinner,' (cf. Luke 18:13). The closer we get to God and salvation, the more we realize our sinfulness as Paul called himself the "chief of sinners," and Peter said, 'Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man" 

The whole point of salvation is to realize we aren't qualified or good enough to be saved, but bad enough to need it.  But the good news is that no one is too bad to be saved!  That is why we must become as a child to enter the kingdom of God; displaying the positive elements of a child-like dependence, faith, humility, and wonder or awe. Just like children are in a state of dependency and need, we must realize this as our spiritual condition.  

As long as we hold a high estimation of ourselves we cannot be saved; we must humble ourselves and come clean from all our sins.  Children are willing to do what they're told as following orders and we are to be willing to do all of God's will for our lives, not leaning on our own understanding (cf Prov 3:5-6).  

Remember how children have dreams of success and becoming someone great like an astronaut or a doctor or even president!  We must expect great things from God and attempt great things for God in the words of William Carey, father of modern missions. But notice that one day children grow up!  We are to put away that which is childish when we become mature in the faith: When I became a man, I put away childish things, as Paul says in his love chapter (1 Cor. 13). Remember that it is to children that the kingdom of God belongs and that we can become child-like ourselves as believers embracing all the good things of their personalities. 

In sum, the genuine believer seeks and desires God's will and yoke (submission to whatever His plan for our lives is); we don't have to go by rules or regulations but everything in compliance with the rule and law of love:  "All that counts is faith expressing itself through love, (cf Gal. 5:6).   We may not be called to do something but God expects us to be willing, even to the laying down of our lives. The example of becoming a man after God's own heart is King David who did "all God's will," (cf. Acts 13:36).   Soli Deo Gloria!