The 3 Callings of Jesus....

When we take the time to search the Scriptures, it seems to become evident (at least to me) that Jesus issues three calls to us that we must either heed or otherwise disobey. Let's take a moment to consider each call and see where that puts your relationship with Him?

The first call is the call of CONVERSION. It is the call that the Savior issues to each of us, living in our life of sin. He calls us to lay down our heavy burden of sin and repent and believe on His name and the saving power that comes from His shed blood at Calvary.  We all know that John 3:16 tells of God's great love for each of us...a love so great that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice to take away the sins of the world. However, it is John 3:17-18 that gives us a complete picture of God's love for us and the consequences for rejecting His Son. It says, " For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son."  So if you answer the call of Jesus to believe in Him and you do...YOU ARE SAVED AND READY TO HEAR THE NEXT CALL.

The second call from Jesus is the call of COMMITMENT...the call that puts you on the front lines in the war that every true believer faces each day as they do battle with the Deceiver, the Liar, the Evil One known as the Devil. Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:38-39 "Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." Jesus is calling all those who believe to lay down what matters most to them and take up what matters most to God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. And what is that you ask?

God calls us to obedience which leads to holiness, sanctification and justifications...and tunes our hearts to be like us as we seek to commit our lives to live for Jesus. Yes, in our commitment to follow Jesus, we will do our good works so that others might come to know our Heavenly Father and give to Him the honor and glory He is due. A life that answers the call to commitment is a life that lives in the abundance of the Father who will meet our every need and be with in every situation.

And the third call is the perhaps the most joyous of them all...it is the call to COME HOME! Jesus told His disciples on many occasions that He had come to seek and to save; but that He would not always be with them. He reminded them that He must return to the Father...that He was going ahead to prepare a place for them so that where He was, there they would be ALSO and ALWAYS. We need only read Acts 1:8-9 to know that Christ's call will be to come with him. It says. "After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.  “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Yes, some us may very well be living our abundant life when Christ comes to issue His call to COME and receive our reward as we have lived out our lives as a "good and faithful servant"; however, for many of us, we will receive our call to COME as we close our eyes in death and take that step into eternity and into the arms of our Savior....the One who is waiting just the other side of this realm to welcome us home as we begin our FOREVER LIFE in continual praise and service to our King of Kings...King Jesus!

So where do you stand in hearing and answering the 3 calls of Jesus? Have you called on Him for salvation? Have you answered the call to living a committed life for Jesus? And most of all, are you eagerly awaiting and ready to hear His call to come home? If you have not said "YES" to His first call, my prayer today is that you will ...before He issues His third call to come and stand before Him at the Great White Throne.

Without Him, trust me...YOU DO NOT WANT TO HEAR THAT THIRD CALL...for then it will be too late to call on His name and be saved...don't put this off...

Today He could issue His last and final call!

WPQ

Poem for the day....

Today, Jesus is calling

To everyone who will hear;

He's pleading with your spirit

To let Him draw near.

To call on His atonement

And the blood He shed for you;

So that you would come to know Him

And believe His word is true!

For He gave His life on Calvary's tree...

He died and rose again;

So that everyone who believes in Him

Will be saved from a life of sin.

So heed His call to follow Him

And live for Him each day;

For soon He will be coming back

To take us Home to stay!

WPQ © January 2019

R U Calling God a Liar?

As believers, we have put our faith in a righteous and holy God who is above reproach...and that means, HE CANNOT LIE. However, the way some people live their lives, you would thing that they believe God IS A LIAR!

Christ told us in no uncertain terms that He was the Good Shepherd and that He gave His sheep eternal life and that none of His sheep would EVER perish. In John 10,verses 29 and 30, He says; "My Father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are ONE!" (my emphasis)

In Christ's first sermons on the Mount, He said; " For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:32-34

In simple terms, Jesus was saying, " Don't worry. You can trust my Heavenly Father for He is God..He is Sovereign...He doesn't change His mind and He cannot lie. He doesn't alter His promises or renege on His Word by changing the conditions of His words. No; when we come to Him by faith and accept what Jesus did on the cross, our salvation and our lives are  forever secure in His hands...and NO ONE nor NOTHING can snatch us from our Father's mighty hands. Our salvation rests on the immutability of God and the impossibility for God to change.

Which leads me to my question...R U CALLING GOD A LIAR? You see, whenever we as believers allow WORRY to take control in our lives, by our actions and our shaken beliefs, we are failing to trust in the Word of our God and in essence, calling Him a liar. And the worst part of living in a state of constant worry;  it eats away at our faith like a crippling cancer and tells those that know us as believers that God can't really be trusted to do for us and take care of us as He has promised in His Word.

Yes, worry can rear its ugly head in the simplest of circumstances...a loss of a job can put us on the road to Worry; a unexpected emergency room visit can cause us to worry about the ailment and how we will pay for the treatment;  a late notice from the bank about a missed car payment...and the list can become endless. But God has promised that He is able to take care of us from His limitless storeroom of bounty and blessings...if we just chose to trust His Word by faith rather than trusting our eyes and what we see.

When we worry, we allow FEAR to take a foothold in our life...and once it begins to build a foundation, it is very hard to tear down and return to a life of trusting the Good Shepherd to care for us as a member of His Flock.  Yes, FEAR can be described as Faulty Evidence Appearing Rational and it can become a tyrant as it pushes out our faith and takes the throne of our life. But that throne is reserved for the one true ruler and that is our Heavenly Father who holds us SECURELY in the palm of His hands.

So, the next time you begin to worry and the monster, FEAR, begins to raise its ugly head...stomp it out with your feet, shod in the Word of God and put your FAITH to work as you believe in the Words of Jesus who said; "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and they know me- just as the Father knows me and I know Him- and I lay down my life for my sheep..."

Surely, a God that was willing to give His only Son so that He could save you can for an eternity with Him is a God who can be trusted to help you in the trenches of life...so don't worry about tomorrow; just seek to serve your risen Lord today and all that you need will be added to your abundant life in Him.

Blessed and Worry Free...Thanks be to the Good Shepherd,

WPQ

Poem for the day....

We are called by the Shepherd

To live a life that shows

That we trust in His directions

As we follow where He goes.

For we are not to worry

Or give into fear at all;

If we believe in the Shepherd

And heed Him when He calls.

For our everlasting Father

Is a righteous, holy fire

And when we choose to worry

We are calling God a liar.

So put your faith and trust in Him

He will expel your every fear.

For our God is our source of power

And He is ALWAYS near!!!!

WPQ © January 2019

Bearing Good Fruit....One Good Work at a Time!

In our last post, we took a brief look at how Jesus related to His disciples regarding their desire to follow Him and how they were to relate to His Lordship over their lives...THEY WERE TO PRODUCE GOOD FRUIT...and good fruit only comes from healthy trees.

So if we consider ourselves to be "good trees," then the fruit that we see manifested in our lives should be good. In practical terms, our "fruit" is our good works...a thought, attitude or action of ours that God holds in high esteem because it glorifies Him. In essence, the fruit from your life is how God receives His due honor on earth. Jesus said it best in John 15:8, "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit."

I have found that I bear inner fruit when I allow God to nurture a Christ-like quality within me as in the fruits of the Spirit...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, humility...the list can truly be endless. On the other hand, I bear outward fruit when I allow God to work through me to do a good work that will bring Him glory...and that would certainly include sharing my faith with someone...believer or unbeliever.

So how important is the "fruit bearing" to Jesus? In John 15: 16 Jesus said, "I chose and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain." The good works that we do in Jesus name have a permanent place in Heaven and they are one of the main earthly reasons that we were saved...if you are alive and reading this, then God has a unique purpose for your life and it will be wrapped up in the good works that He has prepared for you to do.

God's greatest dream for you is really quite simple...You will bring Him glory by the remarkably abundant life that you live...and you will find your GREATEST personal fulfillment, both now and in eternity, by producing an abundance of good fruit through the good works that you will do for Jesus.

So whether it's chopping wood for a senior citizen, taking a friend to her chemo treatment or spending a lifetime in service in the foreign mission field, you have been called to bear fruit...much fruit...and even more fruit, so that the hallways of Heaven will be filled to overflowing with the good works that you have done...and God will have been well praised, love and adored because of you and the "fruit" you have borne for His Glory.

Harvesting for the Savior...Bearing Much Fruit,

WPQ

Poem for the day...

When we live each day for Jesus

We are called to bear much fruit;

And if we truly seek to serve Him

Bearing fruit is our one pursuit!

So don't seek after glory

Or fame from those you meet;

For you've been called to bear GOOD fruit

To lay at the Master's feet...

So when at last we are gathered home

At the setting of life's sun...

The Father will recount the fruit we bore

And say to us...."WELL DONE!"

WPQ © JAN 2019

Praying for Crop Failure?

There is an old saying that says, "Be careful where you sow your wild oats, you can't approach judgment day and pray for crop failure." Of course that saying follows on the heels of  "You reap what you sow."  Jesus, however, taught a different message by instructing us to live within the will of our Heavenly Father and produce "good fruit."

As He is winding up his eloquent teaching known as the "Sermon on the Mount," He tells all who are still listening to beware of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing ...and how we will recognize such charlatans? He says, "You will recognize them by their fruits."

Throughout Scripture we are told to bear good fruit; even to bear much fruit...and what is good fruit? Is it bringing more lost into the presence of a loving and forgiving God so that they may seek His forgiveness and be assured a eternal life with their Heavenly Father and His Son...Of course, I think we would all consider that "good fruit".

However, I believe Jesus is teaching us to be known by the good deeds that we do so that others may see our good works and be pointed to our Father so that He may receive the glory that He is due. So giving to a family in need after a natural disaster with no thought of reward would be a "good fruit"; helping a elderly widow with her yard work at no cost...a "good fruit"; adopting a child from another country so that they may have a life that they never expected...a "good fruit"...and the list is endless.

Why? Because God has ordained each of us to bear "good fruit"...and if we are truly trying to live up to our calling to bear His name as a Christian, then we must be about the Father's work and that means bearing "good fruit."

But what if we fail...Matthew 7: 19-20 reads, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."  So does that mean we can lose our salvation if we fail to produce "good fruit"? I think not; however, we will lose the opportunity to be used by God, to be recognized as His child and to share in the glory that comes to Him when we do good works. Simply put, our influence goes up in smoke because we have been cut off from the power of the Holy Spirit for God's Word says, "So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree good fruit. Matthew 7:17-18

So, what kind of fruit are you producing ...or maybe the more important question, "What kind of tree are you...good or diseased?

Come back tomorrow and let's see if we can dig deeper to know what kind of fruit we should be producing?

Pruned by the Father to Produce Good Fruit,

WPQ

GPS for the New Year…

This is a reprint of a former post...May You Be Richly Blessed in 2019!

It was Christmas a year ago that my wife gave me a Garmin GPS system. Now, as any red-blooded American male would do, I thanked her profusely for her unselfish gift and thought to myself, “I don’t need some computer gizmo giving me directions…I can find where I need to go and how to get there ON MY OWN!”

Well! Here it is a year later and boy, was I ever wrong….this thing has been great. Over the first three months of 2009, I had a new job calling on businesses in the greater Greenville, SC area …going, or trying to go, to places I had never been before; some, in fact, probably did not even show up on a map. I was intrigued that every time I typed an address into the GPS, it gave me turn by turn directions to that specific location. This was nirvana for a manly man such as me….getting directions without having to ask someone.

You know, a lot of us treat God like that….we want to go where He wants us to go; we just don’t want to ask for His directions. Scripture says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes (directs) his steps.” Proverbs 16:9  We say that we want to be “in the Father’s will,” but then we set out to follow the desires of our hearts and hope that at some junction along our journey, our will and God’s direction will mesh in perfect harmony. Unfortunately, it hardly ever works out that way.

We become lost in life’s journey to serve a risen Lord when we fail to consult His GPS….God’s Placement System…..His Holy Word. God is ready, willing and totally able to direct and establish the roads that He wants us to take if we will only consult Him and read His word. The more we read, the more He directs, the more He establishes the way that is right ….the more we enjoy the journey. Proverbs 3: 5-6, a favorite verse that was given to me as a young man from one of my spiritual mentors says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path (steps).”

So don’t try to make it along life’s highway with just your understanding….tap into God’s GPS and acknowledge that He and He alone knows best. Read, study and ingest His Holy Word … let Him guide you and follow the path that He has set before you. And if, at some point, the directions seem fuzzy or you have gotten off course, do what my GPS does for me each time I make a wrong turn, miss an exit or travel too far down the road past my desired destination…..it screams at me,

RECALCULATING,RECALCULATING!!!!

The start of this New Year is a great time to recalculate where God is directing you in service for Him…or to confirm that you are firmly implanted on the path that He has directed you to travel. Either way, it’s a great time to get into His Word and become a better you. Yes, God’s Holy word is your GPS and it will direct you to where He wants you to go. The question is simple ….Are you too manly (or womanly) to ask the God of Creation for directions?

I pray that 2019 will be the best year of your life thus far as God directs your steps and you follow His heavenly directions…..and if you have a moment; from time to time, drop me a line and let me know how goes the journey…..

Traveling Life’s Highway ….Following His Directions,

WPQ

Poem for the day:

The start of a New Year

Is exciting for most of us;

As long as we're don't become mired

In the hoopla and all the fuss.

So set your sights on progress

As you contemplate your road...

And prepare for the journey

By lightening your load.

Just trust the Father's guiding hand

So that in his hands, you'll rest...

Spend time with Him in His Holy Word

And let it be your G P S!

WPQ  © Jan 2018

The Secret to a Happy New Year…

Just about everyone starts off the New Year by making a few, well-thought out New Year’s resolutions. In fact, I would venture to guess that most of us reason that if we will remain true to our vision of a better “you” and will commit ourselves to the fulfillment of our resolutions…we will enjoy a truly HAPPY New Year…..

The sad fact of the matter is that RARELY EVER HAPPENS.

So, in order to insure that you and my other faithful reader enjoy a blissful and extremely HAPPY New Year, I have decided to share my secret with you; although in truth, it really belongs to the apostle Paul. He wrote in Philippians 4:11-12 the following, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. In any and EVERY circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”

And there it is, my friend….in a few simple sentences, the great apostle Paul tells us the secret to happiness….for life, health, wealth and everything else. We need to learn contentment….whether in good times or bad, whether happy or sad, in plenty or want or abundance or need…..LEARN TO BE CONTENT AND YOU WILL BE HAPPY!

Now, I know that sounds almost too simplistic and as you stand there scratching your head, think on this….We learn contentment when we abandon comparison….It is the constant use of comparison that leads to discontentment. If we buy a new car that meets our needs, we have reason to be happy…. until we compare our ride to that of our boss or neighbor or anyone else who has a newer, sleeker model. The bloom of comparison leads to the seeds of discontent and there goes the joy and happiness that was once ours.

Time after time after time, when we compare what others have with what we don’t have, we tear down our foundation to happiness. We need to see what we have as sufficient for our needs…as God’s measured blessing to insure our happiness and to keep us focused on doing His will.

Whenever you trade your contentment for discontentment, you become myopic in your vision for the Lord’s work and in His will for your life. You become so self-centered in looking at what you don’t have that you are rarely thankful for what God has given….this is more than just seeing the glass as half-empty or half-full….it is a greater truth that speaks to the heart of who you are and who you want to be in Jesus Christ.

Contentment is a learned response to the actions of a loving God….you can choose to be happy with little or with much…with great wealth or abject poverty….with exceptional wellness or poor health….the list is inexhaustible ….but the choice is always yours ….and the correct choice will lead to contentment and happiness that is often inexplicable to those who view your life from outside the faith.

So, learn this invaluable lesson that Paul sought to teach each of us….in EVERY SITUATION, in EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE….don’t look around to see if others have more or less than you…learn to be content in your situation….then you will be able to live in the fullness of verse 13 in Philippians 4 that says, “I can do all things through Him that gives me strength.”

Choose today to be a person that lives with a flexible cup that is always ready to expand or contract  based on the Lord’s provisions…it is a mindset that will lead to contentment and one step closer to living a life that will honor your Heavenly Father….get started today; and oh, by the way, this is a secret that is okay to share with those you love….I know that’s what I intend to do.

Go On…..Make it a Happy New Year,

WPQ

Poem for the day:

Every year about this time,

The calendar begins to shrink...

And we are left to wonder,

To ponder and to think.

I am happy with what I have

Or am I a discontent...

That squanders all my blessings

Wondering where my money went?

For when I trust in the things I have

I'm left feeling empty and wanting more.

My joy and happiness come and go

Like living life in a revolving door.

But when I give my all to my Master;

My Savior...My Lord...My King!!!!

My heart is overflowing and

My soul will shout and sing...

Hosannas to HIM in the highest

I'm thankful for whatever comes my way.

I'm always blessed beyond measure

And thankful for each new day!

Make this new year your BEST ever...and give your Heavenly

Father the praise and adoration that He is due!

WPQ © Dec 2017