Studying God's Word

This is part two of my Friday affirmation series, “Eyes on Jesus.” This will be my final blog about Bible affirmations. The Bible is God’s commandment (singular), which means every verse in the Bible is a commandment from God as long as it makes sense when reading it. So we can make affirmations using most Bible verses. When we speak Bible affirmations before God in prayer we’re offering up the seldom-used prayers of rejoicing to glorify God. My old affirmations were all over the place. My new affirmations have a narrow focus that covers the five pillars of faith I’ve identified that will help me glorify God and maintain a deeper relationship with God. I plan to shuffle my new affirmations and offer up my prayers of rejoicing a couple at a time, but three times a day instead of all at once. I figure if I spread out my Bible affirmations it’ll keep me on track and help me maintain my fellowship with God. I’m listing my five pillars of faith below:

(1) “Eyes on Jesus” – At all times so I can emulate my Lord and Savior.

(2) Continuous prayer – Speaking to God so I receive his instructions and his blessings.

(3) Reading the Bible daily – Listening to God so I receive his instructions and his blessings.

(4) Witnessing for Christ – Sharing the gospel message of Jesus Christ with nonbelievers to save them to heaven. I will receive honor, glory, and riches from God on the last day for my “good works.”

(5) Obedience – Pleasing God by obeying all his commandments to the best of my ability.

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

Galatians 4:4-5 – But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Hebrews 10:36 – For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.

2 Thessalonians 2:14 – To which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Long ago someone helped save me by witnessing Christ to me. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and became a son of the Most High God. I owe it to my God and all the nonbelievers out there in the world to share the gospel message with them so that some might receive salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior the way I did. Lord, help me to run my race before God with endurance; saving many lost souls to heaven by my testimony. Lord grant me the promised honor, glory, and riches in heaven on the last day for my obedience.

NOTE: Because of Adam’s original sin in the Garden of Eden, his sin was imputed to all men who came after Adam so that all men are born on the path to eternal death in hell. Only the shed blood of a sinless man could atone for our sins before God. No sinless man could be found so God came off his throne in heaven and took on flesh; becoming a human being like the rest of us. Jesus Christ, the son of God, fully God and fully man with no mixing of the two natures. To all those who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God gifts to them eternal life in heaven. To those who witness for Christ and save lost souls to heaven, God will give them honor, glory, and riches in heaven on the last day.

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

Psalm 23:4 – Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 31:15 – My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

Joshua 24:15 – And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

MY AFFIRMATION:

God made us and put us on this earth so we could make a free will decision whether to serve God or Satan. Not making a choice is a choice for Satan. I will serve only the Lord my God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Daily will I worship my God, giving him the praise of my lips. I will offer up honor and glory to Almighty God who sits upon the throne of grace in heaven. My times are in your hands. Deliver me from my enemies. I walk this evil world in service to my God by witnessing for Christ. I will fear no evil because I am indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. Your rod and your staff comfort me.

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Ephesians 4:10-12 – He who descended is also the One who ascended far above the heavens, that He might fill all things. And He Himself gave some to be Apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Revelation 19:16 – And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Thank you Jesus for descending from heaven in the incarnation of Jesus Christ to die on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins. Thank you Jesus for rising from the dead on the third day and ascending back to heaven. Your resurrection indicates that all disciples of Christ will be resurrected in like manner when we die. Thank you Jesus for eternal life in heaven. Jesus Christ will be coming soon to rapture his saints in the air, where he’ll give them their glorified bodies before taking them home to heaven. Exactly seven years later Jesus Christ will be setting foot on the Mount of Olives at the Second Coming, to defeat Satan and judge the nations for their sins against God. All the saints in heaven will be coming with Jesus, along with all his angels. Jesus will then set us his millennial kingdom on the earth. My mantra is always, “Eyes on Jesus.” Lord, I watch for your coming, so come quickly

Jesus Christ descended from heaven and died on the cross for the sins of all men, past, present, and future. On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead and ascended back to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God as our Mediator. God the Father has made Jesus heir of all things and he has appointed Jesus as the righteous judge of the living and the dead on the last day. Jesus appoints a ministry to each believer so they can edify the body of Christ and share the gospel message to save souls to heaven. It’s up to each one of us to discover what Jesus wants us to do with our lives. The Holy Spirit within me gave me my ministry a long time ago. My ministry of reconciliation is studying God’s word and giving my testimony; which I do on this Christian blog site and also through my Christian tract ministry where I donate gospel tracts to my seven prison ministries.

The word of God in Hebrews 4:12 is Jesus Christ. Jesus came to earth the first time as a suffering servant but the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth will be as the King of kings and Lord of lords, wielding awesome power to defeat Satan and establish his millennial kingdom on the earth. Believers will be there to see it all unfold just as God says it will in the Bible. Nonbelievers will be in hell for all eternity because they rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. They blew their chance at heaven. Before the Second Coming, Jesus is coming in the air to rapture his saints to him so he can give them their glorified bodies before returning to heaven with them. I recommend all believers keep their “Eyes on Jesus” at all times because Jesus is coming soon!

1 John 5:7 – For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.

Matthew 28:19 – (Jesus) – Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

John 14:26 – (Jesus) – But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

John 10:30 – (Jesus) – I and My Father are one.

The topic of my Friday affirmations is, “Eyes on Jesus.” Our Christian faith teaches us we have a triune Godhead, which is confusing for a lot of Christians who don’t abide in God’s word. I’m not an expert but let me try to explain it. There is only one God and Jehovah is his name. We have a triune Godhead consisting of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost. One God who exists as three separate persons, all of whom are divine and all of whom are God. Each member of the triune Godhead has a distinct function within the whole. This is a difficult teaching that puts some people off, but to me it has the ring of truth and makes perfect sense. I know the truth of God when I see it and when I feel it in my soul. I’m a believer who reads scripture daily and I’ve studied God’s word for the last twenty years. The divine persons of the holy trinity are mentioned dozens of times; and often all three in one verse like the ones shown above. The existence of the triune Godhead only corroborates, or validates, my faith that Jehovah is the one true God of creation.

Look, if someone wanted to create a fake religion they would need to start with a god that was both simple and easy to understand; a god that does not speak and has no tales to tell. Someone would not start a fake religion with anything as difficult as a triune Godhead; therefore the triune Godhead of our God must be the truth. To create a fake god he’d have to be aloof so nobody could get close enough to spot the fake. A fake religion would have to be spread by conquest and anyone who doesn’t join the fake religion would have to be put to the sword. Forced conversion is the key ingredient. You would need to brainwash your new converts by making it mandatory for them to say prayers to their false god at least six times a day. Anyone who dares to question the fake religion would be labeled as a blasphemer and put to death. Anyone seeking to leave the false religion would be deemed a traitor and marked for death by any follower of the fake religion. A fake religion has to be enforced or it would fall apart. The fake god would need to have an impressive god-like name to complete the deception. An illiterate camel herder in Saudi Arabia figured all this out in 610 AD. By 622 AD Mohammad had his fake religion (Islam) up and running. It just so happened that one of the local desert tribes had a moon god named “Allah” and this name was conveniently borrowed for the name of the new false god Mohammad created for Islam; his fake religion.

John 1:1,14 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Colossians 1:15-17 – He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

Philippians 2:9-11 – Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on the earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Isaiah 9:6 – For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be on His shoulders. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

As you can see from the above verses, many Christians underestimate Jesus. Believe it or not, some Christians still don’t understand that Jesus is God in the flesh. Jesus was the burning bush on Mount Sanai that spoke to Moses and delivered the Ten Commandments. Jesus was the twenty foot tall pillar of fire that went before the Israelites out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea. God the Father was the architect who designed the universe but it was Jesus who was the builder. Jesus Christ created the universe, the earth, and us. The Holy Spirit was also involved in creation. All three persons of the triune Godhead are actively involved in God’s creation from beginning to end. It was the invisible God who came off his throne in heaven and came to earth in the incarnation of Jesus Christ the man. It was Jesus who died on the cross for our sins so we could enter heaven. Because of Jesus’ sacrificial death to save us from hell, God the Father has appointed Jesus Christ to be the righteous judge of every person who has ever lived, and every knee will bow before him on the last day. Every angel and every demon will also kneel before Jesus on the last day and confess him as Lord. Because I’m a believer who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I look forward to that day because I have been gifted eternal life in heaven in the presence of Jesus. My number one priority in life is keeping my, “Eyes on Jesus” at all times so I can focus on being obedient to his commandments to the best of my ability.

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

2 Timothy 4:1-2 – I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

Hebrews 2:10 – For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.

2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Thank you Jesus for making me and putting me on this earth you have created. Lord, thank you for dying on the cross in my place so I wouldn’t have to suffer eternal death in hell. I’ve accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior by my confession of faith, and as a result, I have been given the precious gift of eternal life in heaven by a merciful and loving God. I will share this “good news” from heaven as I witness for Christ with passion and endurance all the days of my life. O Lord, my times are in your hands. Lord, help me to effectively share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with nonbelievers so that many are saved unto eternal life in heaven by the gospel seed I have sown before the throne of grace.

Note: 2 Timothy 4:1-2 are the best two verses in the Bible when it comes to God telling all believers that his top priority for them is to “witness for Christ” with conviction, passion, and endurance, to save nonbelievers to heaven. When God says “I charge you” it’s not a suggestion. It’s a command from the Lord, our King, to us, his humble servants. God is commanding that believers work in his harvest field (the whole world) to help him save nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven through our witness for Christ. Jesus is coming to the earth twice more before the end of time. At “His appearing” Jesus will come down from heaven on the shekinah glory cloud of God to rapture all his saints, both dead and alive, to him in the air where he’ll give the saints their glorified bodies before returning to heaven. “His kingdom” means Jesus is coming back exactly seven years after the rapture to set foot on the Mount of Olives, destroy his enemies, and judge the nations for their sins. This is the last day. This is also referred to as the ‘Second Coming” of Jesus Christ to the earth. Jesus will then set up his millennial kingdom from Jerusalem and rule the earth for a thousand years.

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

Acts 10:42 – And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead.

2 Timothy 2:15 – Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

1 Timothy 2:5-6 – For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified un due time.

MY AFFIRMATION:

In obedience to God, I will share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with all nations and all people. I will study God’s word for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom so I can do a better job of saving nonbelievers to heaven. The Lord called me and saved me unto eternal life in heaven so that I can save others by my testimony. When I go to heaven I want my good works done here on earth to be pleasing to God. On the last day, when I stand before the bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ I long to hear the Lord say, “Well done good and faithful servant.” I desire to save many nonbelievers to heaven by my witness for Christ.

All believers are commanded to witness for Christ and testify that Jesus is our Lord and righteous judge. What has Jesus done to be worthy of our devotion; so that we keep our “Eyes on Jesus?” In the beginning, Jesus spoke the universe into being and one day he will speak again and the earth will burn up and dissolve into nothingness. Jesus is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last (Rev. 22:13). Jesus Christ came down from heaven and died on the cross in our place so that God could forgive our sins. Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead on the third day before ascending back to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God the Father as our Mediator. By accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior by a confession of faith we are saved unto eternal life in heaven. What we’re saying is that Jesus saved us from going to hell and then he turned around and saved us to heaven. Jesus is the wisdom of God and our redemption. Jesus led a sinless life as an example for us to emulate. Believers will be in the presence of Jesus forever. Only God is worthy of our gaze and Jesus is God. Believers are both blessed and wise when they keep their, “Eyes on Jesus.”

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

John 14:6 – (Jesus) – I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Matthew 10:28 – (Jesus) – And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

John 14:9 – (Jesus) – He who has seen Me has seen the Father.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. Jesus is my Lord because he is the one true God of creation, and on the last day all creatures will kneel to their King. Jesus is my Savior because he died on the cross for my sins so I wouldn’t have to suffer eternal death. Jesus saved me from going to hell for all eternity when I die, and when I leave this world Jesus has saved me to heaven forevermore. Jesus is the truth and wisdom of God, and the only path to heaven is through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God made Jesus judge over the earth so only Jesus can condemn a soul to hell and save a nonbeliever to heaven. Jesus is God in the flesh and we’ll be in his presence forever. Praise God for his love, mercy, and grace!

NOTE: If God’s word were to suddenly disappear and I could only keep one verse from the Bible, John 14:6 would probably be my choice. It tells us Jesus is the son of God and the only ticket to heaven is by believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Liberals in our humanist world like to say there are many paths to heaven but they are sadly mistaken. Those who have taken on Christ have life, and those who have rejected Christ do not have life. A lot of people are afraid of the devil for good reason, but he cannot send you to hell. Satan can take you to hell when you die because of your unforgiven sins but only Jesus Christ can send you to hell for your sins on the last day because he is our righteous judge. You have to understand that Jesus is God. Jesus Christ is the one you should fear because he can keep you out of hell. Therefore, you need to keep your, “Eyes on Jesus” at all times to make sure you stay out of hell. Keeping your, “Eyes on Jesus” to make sure you enter heaven. You need to make sure you’re obeying the commandments of God to the best of your ability at all times and you can best do that when you have your “Eyes on Jesus.”

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

Colossians 2:9-10 – For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

Colossians 1:17 – And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

2 Corinthians 5:18 – Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Jesus Christ is the bodily representation of the triune Godhead. Jesus was, is, and forever will be Almighty God; awesome in power. Jesus made the universe, and he upholds all things with his mighty right hand. Jesus is God in the flesh and his death on the cross reconciled us to God the Father, for those who believe in his name. Believers who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are gifted eternal life in heaven. Believers are given the ministry of reconciliation, which is another way of saying we are commanded by God to witness for Christ to save nonbelievers to heaven. God will reward us for our obedience.

NOTE: It’s a no-brainer we need to keep our “Eyers on Jesus” because Jesus is God in the flesh; the only God we can see with our own eyes. We can’t see Father God or the Holy Spirit. Human beings are visual creatures and we tend to handle things better when we can see them. In heaven, Jesus will forever remain in his glorified human body, which will be just like the glorified body that all believers will receive once we get to heaven. Jesus will be before our eyes during the millennium as our King and in heaven for all eternity. Colossians 1:15 says, “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God. That says it all. Colossians 2:9-10 – tells us Jesus is the bodily representation of the triune Godhead of heaven (God, the Son, and the Holy Ghost). As God, Jesus had no beginning and no end. Jesus created the universe and he upholds it by his power. Jesus died to save us and he has given us the ministry of reconciliation; which is the same thing as witnessing for Christ. The whole world belongs to Jesus and he’ll be our King, both on earth and in heaven, for all eternity.

I’m amazed that every single person on the planet doesn’t understand that we’re here to find God and then give our testimony to help nonbelievers find the way to heaven too. It’s just so obvious to me. I understand Satan has put blinders over the eyes of nonbelievers so they cannot see the truth of God. That’s the reason but it’s not a good excuse in the eyes of God. God expects every person to use their mind and find their way back to heaven. We’re all creatures made by the hands of God and he has put eternity in our hearts, so we would seek out our creator. Some people just get lost along the way. When we look up at the moon, the sun, and the stars in the night sky we see God’s handiwork, which is confirmed in Psalm 19:1. We know deep down in our souls there’s a God in heaven whether we want to admit it or not. I’m amazed that Satan and his fallen angels (demons) have been successful at hiding the truth of God from man. Satan has put blinders over the eyes of nonbelievers so they cannot see God without the help of believers witnessing Christ to them. Every day roughly 16,000 believers are dying in the arms of God and returning to heaven to be in the presence of Jesus Christ forever. On the flip side, approximately 160,000 nonbelievers are also dying daily and going straight to hell for the lack of a witness for Christ. Nonbelievers in hell will be in the presence of Satan where they’ll be in pain and agony 24/7 forever.

There are approximately eight billion people on Earth, and 2.5 billion of them claim to be Christians. How many of these Christians are saved unto eternal life in heaven? All of them think they are because they know Jesus, but I’m guessing maybe only 50% are truly saved to heaven by a profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I’m amazed that most self-proclaimed Christians do not read God’s word regularly. How can they be in fellowship with God if they aren’t immersed in his word? Only 10% of Christians who attend church regularly have read the Bible in its entirety. That is a travesty! Even fewer Christians than that have taken the time to study God’s word for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Those believers who do abide in God’s word know that to please God they must obey the commandments of God contained in the Bible. You cannot “do” until you know what to do. The number one commandment of God is for believers to witness for Christ to save lost souls to the kingdom of heaven.

Believers become saints in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Believers still go to heaven even if they don’t save a single soul to heaven. 90% of the saints in heaven are in that category. You have to understand that if you don’t witness for Christ and save at least one person to heaven you won’t please God and you’ll be on the lowest rung of heaven forever. You might be okay with disobeying God by not saving anyone to heaven but I’m not. You might be okay with being a worker bee in heaven for a billion trillion years but I’m not. My mantra every day is to, “save one more for Jesus” by my witness for Christ. My goal is to save a minimum of one thousand lost souls to heaven during my lifetime. Is that going to be difficult to achieve? You bet it is. Is it going to be impossible? No, it isn’t. With God’s help, nothing is impossible. Pick a goal that works for you and run your race before God to achieve it. Dream big because you can do it. Never forget God is inside you as your helper. In 1 Corinthians 9:24, the Apostle Paul says believers are to run their race before God so they receive the prize. What is the prize? It can’t be eternal life because we already have that. Our prize from Jesus Christ on the last day can only be honor, glory, and riches based on how many people we save to heaven.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

2 Corinthians 5:20 – Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God was pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

Matthew 13:23 – (Jesus) – But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

MY AFFIRMATION:

The purpose of my life is to witness for Christ to the nonbeliever in obedience to the commandments of my God. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I’m a representative of God on this earth. I’m duty-bound to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with all nations and all people. My goal is to produce much fruit for God by saving as many lost souls to the kingdom of heaven as I can during my lifetime. Lord, I ask that you guide me in this task, and strengthen me so that I have the wisdom, determination, and perseverance to finish the salvation plan you have for my life. Praise God for his love, mercy, and grace toward his servant!

In Corinthians 5:20, when God begins the verse with the words “now then” it indicates something has to happen before the verse is applicable. God means that after believers have been saved unto eternal life in heaven by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; at that very moment; God appoints them as ambassadors for Christ. An ambassador is defined as, “a diplomat sent by a state as its representative in a foreign country.” The kingdom of heaven is a state not of this world ruled by God. God made us and put us on this earth (a foreign country) and the moment we’re saved to heaven we return home spiritually to the God who made us. God makes it clear in the Bible that believers are in the world, but not of the world. Furthermore, believers are strangers and aliens on the earth. Those are God’s words, not mine. Philippians 3:20 tells us, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The second part of this verse indicates believers are waiting for Jesus to come in the air to rapture his saints to himself, so they can receive their glorified bodies in the air, before returning home to heaven.

Ambassadors for Christ are saved believers and they have just one job, and that job is to witness for Christ to save nonbelievers to heaven. In Matthew 13:23 Jesus uses the metaphor of “fruit” to represent nonbelievers saved to heaven. Jesus makes it clear all believers are to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ, but some believers will be more successful than others. Obedience to God is more important than how many people you save for heaven. Everyone who saves at least one person to heaven will receive honor, glory, and riches from God on the last day. The more you save the more you receive from God. One of the spiritual truths of heaven is, “You reap what you sow.” Only 10% of the saints in heaven will have saved at least one other person to heaven. Some believers will produce much fruit by saving 30, 60, and even 100 people to heaven. The Lord says a hundred lost souls saved to heaven is a good harvest. Only 1% of the saints in heaven will have saved at least one thousand nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven and they will shine like the stars in the firmament on the last day; like it says in Daniel 12:3. I plan to run my race before the Lord so that I save “many” nonbelievers to heaven (at least a thousand) so that I’m in the top 1% of the saints in heaven when all is said and done.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Acts 1:8 – (Jesus) – But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Holy God, Lord of Heaven and Earth; at my conception, you gave me a part of your divine essence, my eternal spirit, so that I might fellowship with you forever in heaven. You knit me in my mother’s womb. Help me find my way back to the God who made me. I have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. As a result, your Holy Spirit indwells me. My body has become God’s temple. The blood shed by Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary has made me a slave of Christ and my body is not my own. Lord, I give my body back to you as my reasonable service. I will glorify God by praying continually before the throne of grace. I’ll continually witness the gospel message of Jesus Christ to all nations and all people to save nonbelievers to heaven, in obedience to the commandments of God.

NOTE: In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 God tells us that as believers, we belong to God because we were purchased by the shed blood of Jesus on the cross. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior God sends his Holy Spirit to indwell us as a sign of his ownership. God has set his seal on us and nothing can separate us from God or keep us out of going to heaven one day. The Holy Spirit will never leave the body of a believer. When we die the Holy Spirit will take our eternal spirit back to heaven and when we receive our glorified body from God the Holy Spirit will indwell that body too, for all eternity. The Lord reminds us that our body and spirit came for God and we are slaves of Christ through his death on the cross. God tells us our primary mission on earth is to glorify God through continuous prayer and by using our bodies to go forth into the world and share our witness for Christ with nonbelievers so that they might be saved from hell and saved to heaven.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus commands his disciples to witness for Christ to all nations and all people. Jesus is not just talking to his original disciples; he’s talking to every believer from that moment in time until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth on the last day. I’m a believer and a disciple of Christ, so I’m being personally commanded by God to give my testimony of him to the nonbeliever. Shall I disobey the God who made me? Certainly not! Shall I make a weak attempt to share the gospel message and then back off when I feel rejected? The answer is no! God tells us in his word that following him won’t be easy. If it was easy everybody would be witnessing for Christ. God says many are called but few are chosen. Make sure you step forward when your name is called. God doesn’t let you go into battle for him alone. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 tells us the gospel goes forth not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and much assurance. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation and we are simply the messenger. We see this confirmed in Acts 1:8. You cannot effectively witness for Christ unless you have the Holy Spirit inside you and with you, as you witness to the nonbeliever. Only the Holy Spirit can save someone to heaven.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

1 Corinthians 15:58 – Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain.

Matthew 6:19-20 – (Jesus) – Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I can do nothing on my own, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I will obey the commandments of God as I keep my eyes on Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. My trust in God and my love of God will never wane. I will seek to please God always by my good works. Lord, bless me as I sow the gospel seed of Christ bountifully so that I will reap bountifully on the last day. My goal in life is to please the God who made me by my work on Christ’s behalf. When I stand before the bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ on the last day I long to hear him say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

The word “vain” means unsuccessful. So if what we’re doing is “not” in vain that means we’re being successful. In the Bible, our work for the Lord, our labor, is defined as sharing the gospel message of Christ with all nations and all people. That’s what we mean when we say “witnessing for Christ.” God is speaking only to those who believe in Jesus (believers) in 1 Corinthians 15:58 because he refers to us as his “beloved brethren.” Immovable means, “not able to be changed or persuaded.” The word steadfast is defined as, “completely unwavering in one’s attitude or aims.” God is making it clear in this verse that if believers witness for Christ often (abundantly) they will save nonbelievers to heaven abundantly. How could it be otherwise? Two spiritual truths of heaven are, “You reap what you sow” and “If you sow bountifully you will reap bountifully.”

Every day we need to remind ourselves why we’re here and what our job is. “One more for Jesus” is my mantra and I say it every morning while I’m drinking my pot of coffee. Our job as believers is to be unwavering in our determination to serve God by witnessing for Christ at every opportunity for as long as we’re able. We’re the bearer of “good news” and it’s up to God to save whomever he will through the gospel seed we cast before him. If we do our part God will do his. On the last day, when we’re in heaven, we need to make sure we have no regrets and that we have given our all in service to our God. God is fair and just to all. God will remember us and our work. God will shower us with honor, glory, and riches in heaven. We can’t take our money with us to heaven but we can pay it forward by using our time and money to help save nonbelievers to heaven. God will bless us tenfold when we do this. I witness for Christ because I love God and my fellowman, and not for a reward. If no rewards were forthcoming for my service to God my witness for Christ wouldn’t change one iota because every soul is precious in the eyes of God. I love what God loves and I hate what God hates. God is generous to a fault and if he wants to give me anything on the last day I’ll graciously accept it and so should you.

The topic of my Thursday affirmation blog series is, “witnessing for Christ.” God’s salvation plan for man calls for believers to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with those who are nonbelievers so they too can be saved unto eternal life in heaven. That’s how God plans to populate heaven with his saints. When God refers to “good works” in the Bible he’s talking about witnessing for Christ. Every human being was made by the hands of God with the intention that they might fellowship with God in heaven forever. God never made anyone with the express purpose of sending them to hell. Everyone has an equal shot at heaven and the free will to choose to serve either God or Satan. We’re all equally loved by God and we’re all equally priceless in his eyes. There is no partiality with God. Therefore, witnessing for Christ to save lost souls to heaven is the thing dearest to God’s heart. How could it be otherwise? Jesus Christ is the son of God sent from heaven to die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. There’s no greater proof of God’s love than that. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day to show that we too will be resurrected if we believe in his name. Before Jesus ascended back to heaven from the Mount of Olives he commanded his disciples to fulfill the Great Commission, which is to share the gospel message with all nations and all people. All believers are disciples of Christ and the Great Commission falls on us as well. It’s the number one reason why we’re here. Otherwise, our lives have no real purpose down here and we might as well go home to heaven once we’re saved.

The word redeem has a couple of definitions that are important to us. Redeem can mean to, “save someone from sin, error, or evil.” This definition applies only to God because only God can forgive our sins. One of the many names of Jesus Christ is “Redeemer” because he is the one sent from God to, “save us from our sins.” Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden was imputed to all men who came after Adam, so all of us are sinners destined to suffer eternal death in hell the day we’re born. One of the spiritual truths of heaven is, “the wages of sin is death.” Somebody had to die because we sinned. God, because of his love, mercy, and grace, sent his son to die on the cross in our place; so our sins could be forgiven. The words Savior and Redeemer mean the same thing. The death of Jesus Christ on our behalf was the “act of redeeming” us, which we refer to as redemption. Jesus is our redemption.

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

Hosea 13:14 – (God speaking) – I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.

Luke 1:68 – Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people.

Colossians 4:5 – Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.

Ephesians 5:15-16 – See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Galatians 3:13 – Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I bless the Lord my God for allowing me the honor of working alongside my King in his harvest field. And I pray for more workers because God’s harvest field is great and the workers are few. I will redeem my time on earth by diligently spreading the gospel message of Jesus Christ to all nations and all people. I will sow the gospel seed bountifully so that I will reap bountifully; by saving many lost souls to heaven through my testimony. My time is short and there is much good work still to be done on Christ’s behalf. My mantra every day is to save, “one more for Jesus.” I desire to harvest as much fruit for God as possible, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I will run my race before the Lord with fear and endurance.

NOTE: The entire Bible is the revelation of Jesus Christ coming from heaven down to earth to save (redeem) us from our sins. Variations of the word redeem appears 162 times in the Bible; sometimes about Jesus and sometimes about man. A second definition of the word redeem means to, “repay or clear a debt.” This definition applies only to man because God cannot owe a debt to anyone. Jesus has redeemed us to heaven if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior (i.e., Redeemer). Believers are supposed to emulate Christ on this earth by redeeming nonbelievers, by witnessing Christ to them. That’s what “redeeming the time” means in the Bible. It’s very simple. Someone once helped save us and, as believers, we owe a debt to God and other nonbelievers to help them find salvation unto eternal life in heaven. Once we become believers, it’s our sacred duty to repay our debt to God by witnessing for Christ during our brief life on earth. The Bible says we need to diligently pursue this “good work” while we are able to work because the day will come when we’re no longer able to work.

In Hosea 13:14, God is saying he will save us from eternal death but not physical death. Our frail physical bodies will die because they are full of sin but when we become saved our original sin-filled inner spirit from God is replaced with a new spirit without sin. Our inner man is the real us and the one who will go to heaven in our new glorified bodies and live forever with Jesus. The exception is those people who are still alive when Jesus Christ comes in the air to rapture his saints to the clouds to receive their glorified bodies before returning to heaven. Those individuals will never suffer physical death. The dead in Christ will rise first to meet Jesus in the air, followed by those who remain alive at his coming. God refers to believers as being “inside” the family of God; which means those not saved (nonbelievers) are considered to be “outside.” We see this reference in Colossians 4:5. God uses the term “wise” to describe believers who witness Christ to save lost souls to heaven. In Colossians 4:5 God is making it clear all believers should be actively sharing the gospel message with nonbelievers because our lifetime is short and there is much work to do.

I chose five examples from my index card file of scriptures containing the word “redeem.” I usually use no more than three scriptures to illustrate my point but I couldn’t help myself this time because there are so many good examples to choose from. God makes it pretty clear what we must do with our life. If you’re a nonbeliever God considers you to be a “fool”, and if you’re a believer, who also witnesses for Christ then God calls you “wise.” Go be wise before God! In Ephesians 5:15-16 God is again commanding believers to share the gospel because his harvest field is great and the workers are few. The days are evil because the world is full of demons and nonbelievers going to hell. Satan is trying his best to hide the truth of God from man so he can drag them down to the pit with him. In Galatians 3:13 we know that the curse of the law is eternal death for man; but Jesus Christ died for us, so God could forgive our sins if we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You would be wise to take God up on his offer of eternal life in heaven while you yet live.

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

Mark 16:15-16 – (Jesus) – Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

2 Corinthians 9:6 – But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Before ascending back to heaven, Jesus commanded his disciples to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ, the good news of our salvation, with all nations and all people. As a believer, I’m a disciple of Christ so I’m also commanded to fulfill the Great Commission. I will give my testimony of Jesus one-on-one when the opportunity arises. I will continually witness for Christ “passively” through my Christian blog sites and my Christian tract ministry. I will sow the gospel seed of Christ bountifully all the days of my life so that I’ll also reap bountifully on the last day.

NOTE: The word gospel means “good news.” And what is this good news? Jesus Christ, the son of God, came off his throne in heaven and died on the cross for our sins; before rising from the dead on the third day and returning to heaven. If we believe that the shed blood of Christ paid our sin debt to God then we are saved unto eternal life in heaven. That’s what it means when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We acknowledge Jesus is God and he saved us from hell. In the Bible, God often refers to us as his creatures because he made us. When believers are saved they’re baptized by the holy water of God, which is just another way of saying we’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Nonbelievers are” “condemned”, which means they’re going to hell when they die. One of the spiritual truths of heaven is, “you reap what you sow.” If you witness for Christ a lot you’ll save a lot of people to heaven, and vice versa. That’s just common sense. God makes it clear in his word that believers who save lost souls to heaven are “wise” in his eyes and they will be rewarded on the last day with honor, glory, and riches based on how many people they save to heaven.

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

Romans 12:1 – I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Hebrews 12:1 – Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Lord, you gave me an eternal spirit at conception. You have given me my body, this tent, as a temple for the Holy Spirit. By your presence inside me, you have made me holy and acceptable to God. Therefore, I present my body back to you as my reasonable service to the God who made me. I will do good works before the Lord in his harvest field by witnessing for Christ to save lost souls to heaven. I will run my race before God with endurance, trying to save, “one more for Jesus”, every day of my life. Lord, bless me with forty years in your service; if you are willing and there is time before the rapture comes. O Lord, help me to save many as I fulfill the salvation plan you have for my life.

NOTE: God’s salvation plan for man calls for believers to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with nonbelievers so they can be saved unto eternal life in heaven. If you happen to be a nonbeliever, you’re of no use to God because you still have your original sin-filled spirit, which means you’re still on the path to hell where you’ll be in pain and agony 24/7 for all eternity. Sin cannot enter heaven. On the other hand, believers are saved unto eternal life in heaven because they’ve accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Once believers are saved they’re given a new sin-free spirit by God and they’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit from that point forward, for all eternity. At this point, the believer’s body is deemed to be holy by God and a fit vessel for his use. As believers, we’re slaves of Christ and our bodies belong to the God who made us. Nonbelievers are slaves of Satan whether they know it or not.

Believers are expected to use their bodies to witness for Christ. It’s their reasonable service expected by God. God often refers to our reasonable service to him as our “race” before the Lord. Notice in Hebrews 12:1 that God says our race is, “set before us.” That means God has an individual salvation plan for each of us and it’s up to each one of us to find out what that plan is and then go out and fulfill it to the best of our ability. 90% of the saints in heaven are there through faith in Jesus Christ alone; never having saved even a single person to heaven by a witness for Christ. These are the worker bees of heaven. However, believers who save at least one person to heaven will please God because every soul is priceless in God’s eyes.

Those who save at least one person to heaven will be rewarded on the last day. How could it be otherwise? There is a pecking order in heaven and your rank will depend on the number of nonbelievers you save to heaven. How do I know this? One of the spiritual truths of heaven is, “You reap what you sow.” Scripture also says, “Those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly and those who sow bountifully will reap bountifully.” Furthermore, the honor, glory, and riches each believer will receive at the bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ will be directly proportional to the number of people we have saved to the kingdom of heaven. It’s as simple as that. Our good works for God can only occur here on earth and not in heaven. Whatever we receive from God in heaven will be based entirely on our body of good works done on earth. In heaven, we get to keep what we earn down here forever.

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

2 Timothy 2:21 – Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter (dishonor/sin), he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

1 Peter 1:17 – And if you call on the Father, who without penalty judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.

Hebrews 6:10 – For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit since the age of twelve when I accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. My body, this tent, has been cleansed and is now a holy vessel useful for the good works God has given me to do. I will share my witness for Christ with believers and nonbelievers alike; exhorting them to save lost souls to heaven. I will worship my God always, asking for his help in saving nonbelievers to heaven. My time to do “good works” for God on this earth is very short, therefore my mantra every day is to save, “one more for Jesus.” On the last day, when I stand before the bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ, I pray that my body of work on earth will glorify God in heaven and be pleasing in his sight.

This is the second part of my revamped Wednesday affirmations exhorting believers to, “study God’s word.” Every believer talking to God knows we’re to pray for solutions, the end result, without whining about problems. To do otherwise is just giving Satan a foothold in your life. Remember, praying for the solution and thanking God for it, even if it hasn’t occurred yet, exhibits faith in God and faith is what makes prayer work. No faith (unbelief) will result in unanswered prayers and it’ll give Satan power over you. God can do anything he wants to do and the Bible assures us that God hears the prayers of believers. God promises to answer our prayers and God cannot lie. The secret ingredient in all prayers is we that must “believe” in God and that he will answer our prayers. I’ll tell you another secret. The cure for unbelief is prayer, studying God’s word, and obedience to the commandments of God. Affirmations are prayers of rejoicing to God. The more we say our Bible affirmations out loud to God in prayer, the greater will be our belief in God and our fellowship with him. Our brains are a funny thing. We have to be careful what we feed our minds. Our mind believes what we say if we say it over and over long enough.

It’s what we confess with our lips that dominates our inner being, which is why our Bible affirmations are so effective and why they’re important to keeping our faith strong. If you pray continually to the Lord your fellowship will automatically become stronger which will also please God. Our confession (prayer) is the battleground on which we fight Satan. Our prayers are the only thing we have that reaches across time and space and into the very throne room of God. The Bible is the sword of truth and the only weapon we need to resist and defeat Satan in our lives because we can bring God on the scene to protect us. At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days and he was tempted by the devil three times. Each time Jesus defeated Satan by quoting the holy scriptures. That’s the perfect example for us to follow when we’re dealing with Satan. When Satan oppresses us we need to cry out to God in prayer for his protection. The Bible says if we resist Satan he will flee from us and God cannot lie.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

Proverbs 1:7 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 2:6 – For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 23:23 – Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I live in fear of the Lord my God. The Lord talks to me through the pages of his word and gives me knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. God has given me his wisdom and his truth. It will not depart from before my eyes because it is health and healing to all my flesh. I will read my Bible every day and meditate on the magnitude and majesty of Almighty God. I will worship my God daily. I will always give the Lord the praise of my lips in prayer. I will continually offer up honor and glory to God in heaven because he is worthy of worship. God is good and God is great and this my spirit knows very well.

NOTE: There are dozens of holy scriptures where God commands all men to study the word of God for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. This is especially true in the books of Psalms and Proverbs, which are classified as wisdom literature of the Old Testament. I just pulled the verses shown above from my index card file because they are good examples of how important it is to study the Bible. The word “fear” in Proverbs 1:7 means we are to look upon God with awe, reverence, and deep respect. You can’t even begin to know God without that frame of mind. Nonbelievers are fools according to God and they “despise”, or look down upon, the Bible because they think it’s just a book. Nonbelievers fail to see the wisdom and instruction in God’s word.

The Bible is God’s wisdom and there’s no other source of wisdom that compares to it in the entire universe. Not even close. The amazing thing is this; God gives away his wisdom free to all who come to him and read his word. God wants us to know him and what we must do to enter heaven. God wants to share his commandments with us so we can accomplish the “good work” he has planned for us to do (i.e., witnessing for Christ). God wants us to understand that we must turn from sin, reject Satan, and choose God so we end up in heaven instead of hell. God wants us to have the wisdom to obey God and emulate Jesus Christ in our daily lives. God encourages us to purchase the truth of God (wisdom) by studying God’s word continually. We’re to never let the word of God depart from our eyes for any length of time for any reason. It’s our protection from the evil of this world.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

Proverbs 23:12 – Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.

Proverbs 8:34 – Blessed is the man who listens to Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors.

Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I have an unquenchable thirst for God’s word which was given to me by the Holy Spirit as part of my ministry. I blog because God wants me to give my testimony of him. I will listen attentively to what the Lord has to say so that I can obey his instructions. My heart yearns to please my God. I want to know God and his salvation plan for my life. Daily I will seek out knowledge, understanding, and wisdom from God through the pages of my Bible. I will speak to God continually in prayer and ask him to reveal his truth to me. I am truly blessed by Almighty God because of my obedience to his commandments. Lord, your word shows me the way to heaven and what I must do to please you. With the help of God, I’ll save many lost souls to the kingdom of heaven through my witness for Christ.

NOTE: In Proverbs 23:12 God makes it very clear to all men that we’re to attack, or devour, God’s word with intentionality and purpose, whether we read the Bible or hear it spoken. Approach God’s word like a hungry man would a steak dinner. We’re to absorb the wisdom of the Bible as if our life depended on it; because it does! In Proverbs 8:34 God says he’ll bless those who obey his commandments in the Bible. If you don’t read the Bible you can’t obey God. You have to know what to do before you can do it. Look, we’re all born into this world in total darkness. And by that I mean we don’t know where we came from and what we’re supposed to do. The theory of evolution has been debunked. We also have no idea where we’re going and how to get there. Everything is pitch black.

And then suddenly, we see a point of light. And, as we approach the light out of curiosity what do we see? We see God’s word, our Holy Bible, and out of its pages shines forth the light of God that gives us knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. The brightness of God illuminates the way back home to heaven where we’ll be in the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forever. If you abide in God’s word you’ll have the flashlight (or torch) that’ll light up your way to heaven. In Matthew 7:13 Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate; because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Jesus has a message for all the leaders of the fake religions in the world in Matthew 15:14, when he says, “Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” Make sure you don’t fall into a ditch.

There is only one true God, which is Jehovah, and only one true word of God, which is the Christian Bible. Jesus Christ is the son of God and the only way to heaven is through faith in him. In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” God can’t be any clearer than that. Therefore, all other gods are false and all other religions and their holy books are fake. Let me be clear, if you’re not reading your Bible daily or hearing God’s word spoken regularly you’re probably not going to find your way to heaven. If you’re not earnestly studying God’s word for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom you’re probably going to stumble around like a blind man all your life, never knowing how to please God and accrue honor, glory, and riches in heaven on the last day from the hand of God.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

Proverbs 13:13 – He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.

Ephesians 1:17-18 – That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory on His inheritance in the saints.

Colossians 1:10-11 – That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with you.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I thirst for the word of God and I’ll be rewarded on the last day for my obedience. I read my Bible daily and I thank you for the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom it contains. I bless you Lord for opening the eyes of my understanding so I can see the truth of God, the salvation of your calling, and the honor, glory, and riches that you will give me on the last day. I pray that you will strengthen me Lord so that I may walk worthy of you; saving many lost souls for the kingdom of heaven.

NOTE: In Provers 13:13 God says those who look upon the Bible with awe, reverence, and respect (i.e., fear) will be rewarded. If you fear the Bible you’ll read it, study it, and do what it commands us to do. At which time God will bless you on this earth and later on in heaven God will shower you with honor, glory, and riches. You would be wise to abide in the word of God. Notice that God refers to the entire Bible as his commandment (singular). Every positive statement in the Bible should be viewed as a commandment from God if it makes plain sense to do so. When I see the word “rewarded” in Proverbs 13:13 I think of salvation unto eternal life in heaven in the presence of Jesus. That’s God’s greatest reward to man.

I love Ephesians 1:17-18 because in these verses God tells us exactly what’ll happen to us if we study his word. God will give us wisdom. How good is that? God will reveal his truth to us. God will open our eyes so we can see him and our salvation unto eternal life in heaven. And lastly, we see the honor, glory, and riches the Lord will give us on the last day. When we look at Colossians 1:10-11, we see that God gives us a different twist to studying his word. God is promising we’ll be fruitful in every good work, which is another way of saying we’ll save many lost souls to heaven by our witness for Christ. On the flip side, if you don’t study your Bible you will not be fruitful and probably won’t save anyone to heaven. If we’re fruitful we’ll please God and if we’re not fruitful we won’t please God. I don’t know about you but I desperately want God to be pleased with me.

Another thing I noticed in Colossians 1:10-11 is that when we study God’s word he promises to strengthen us with the power of God when we share the gospel message of Christ with the nonbeliever. We see this confirmed in 1 Thessalonians 1:5. We know the Holy Spirit is inside us as we witness Christ to the nonbeliever. If we pray for God to strengthen us before, during, and after we witness for Christ it will make us more fruitful. We will save more people to heaven with God than we will without God. You can have God’s strength but you must ask for it in prayer. In James 4:2, God says, “Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” By using the expectant word “yet” God is telling us he’s still waiting patiently for us to ask for what we need in prayer. God is glorified when we pray to him; so what’s stopping you? When God answers our prayers God is also glorified which should tell you that God wants to answer our prayers. Start asking and start receiving.

In my twenty years of serving the Lord, I’ve saved well over 100 lost souls to heaven and my ultimate goal is to save 1000 people during my lifetime. I can’t save anyone unless I’m sharing the gospel message while also praying for God to strengthen me and help me. Believers do 20% of the work of saving a nonbeliever to heaven while the Holy Spirit does the other 80%. The heavy lifting. Only the Holy Spirit can convict a nonbeliever of their sin if their heart is ready to receive God. Only the Holy Spirit can change a person’s eternal destination from hell to heaven and put their name in the Book of Life. God doesn’t need our help to save someone. There’s nothing God can’t do. God allows us to help with his salvation plan for man for our benefit because he wants to bless us with honor, glory, and riches on the last day. Praise God!

The topic of my Wednesday affirmation blog series is, “studying God’s word.” The two things every Christian must do daily if they want to please God is to pray and read their Bible. Every manufacturer on the planet who makes a product for sale that is complex or difficult to understand will always provide an owner’s manual so the buyer can derive the most benefit from its purchase. That’s a reasonable thing to do. It’s the common sense thing to do. The Bible says man is manufactured by God. We are God’s masterpiece of creation. Man is comprised of thirty trillion specialized cells organized into organs, tissues, and complex body systems. Man is a bio-mechanical marvel equipped with the greatest computer in the universe; our mind. Don’t believe all that crap about man evolving from apes or one-cell organisms from an ancient sea. Our humanist world had to come up with something to hide the truth of God from man and that’s the best they could come up with. Unfortunately, most of the world believes this lie because our education system has been indoctrinating us all our lives. There’s not a shred of evidence to support the theory of evolution. It’s all make-believe and wishful thinking.

God made us with his own hands and he put us on this earth he created for us. God has put us here to make the free will decision to serve either God or Satan. Choose rightly. God has given us seventy-plus years to do the “good works” he has planned for us to do. The only good work we do for God that has eternal consequences is “witnessing for Christ” to save nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven. I think we can agree that man is both complex and difficult to understand. I think we can agree God is reasonable and he has common sense. Isn’t it obvious to you by now that our God needs to provide an owner’s manual for man, his masterpiece of creation? Otherwise, God is just wasting his time and ours! If we cannot understand where we came from and what we must do then we’re walking around blind and we’ll never see heaven. Not to worry. God has thought of everything. God has indeed provided an owner’s manual for man, so we can find all the answers to life we seek. God’s word, our Holy Bible, is our owner’s manual and we need to read it daily and study it for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom to reach our full potential.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

Colossians 3:10 – (Believers) have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.

Romans 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of god.

MY AFFIRMATION:

When I was a nonbeliever I was conformed to this world. That’s no longer the case. I’m now conformed to heaven. I’m a “new” man because God has given me a “new” spirit. I have been saved unto eternal life in heaven by accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I’m still in the world but not part of it; my citizenship is in heaven. I’m constantly renewing my mind by studying God’s word for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. As I absorb God’s wisdom every day I’m transformed into an obedient servant of Almighty God, and I emulate Jesus Christ in everything I do. I will “witness for Christ” and save many nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven for it is the acceptable, perfect will of God.

NOTE: Most people reading the Bible don’t have a clue what God is talking about in the two verses listed above. Many see the renewing of our minds as something God does to us or for us. The word renew means, “to replace something broken or worn out.” We do the replacing not God. Our thought patterns are what’s broken and we have to change the paradigm. We need to stop thinking only about the world from our perspective and start thinking about the world in the spiritual sense; from God’s perspective. In Colossians 3:2 God says, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” That is what happens when we renew our minds. Don’t confuse “sanctification” with “renewing.” We do the renewing and God does the sanctification. Sanctification is an ongoing process whereby God makes the believer more holy during our life on earth so we become more like Jesus Christ. Justification is the act of salvation; a one-time event. Sanctification I’ve already covered. Our “glorification” is from God and it occurs once we go to heaven and stand before the bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ. The Lord will shower us with honor, glory, and riches, based on how many souls we save to heaven. If you save at least one person to heaven you become a warrior for Christ. The Bible, the sword of truth, is the only weapon you’ll ever need to prevail against the evil in this world.

The word conform means, “to be similar in form or type.” That means everyone is born with a basic understanding of our physical world through our five senses. We all “conform” to the world we live in. We see the world pretty much the same way. Renewing our minds is an individual thing; a personal thing; and it’s something each of us has to do ourselves at a pace that suits us as individuals. Some Christians will renew their minds faster, some will be slower, and some won’t renew their minds at all. How on earth do we renew our minds? We reprogram (renew) our minds one day at a time as we read the Bible daily and study God’s word for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. We start thinking about heaven more and more while thinking about our physical world less and less. We pray to God for his revelation of things to come. It’s a labor of love for me and a task that will take me a lifetime. As believers renew their minds through Bible study they will come to understand that we’re to obey God’s commandments, especially the number one commandment of God which is to, “witness for Christ” to save nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven.

It’s our primary mission on earth and the “good work” that is dearest to God’s heart. If we witness for Christ effectively God will shower us with honor, glory, and riches on the last day. Everyone who is born in this world has an eternal spirit from God that is tainted by the original sin from Adam’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. Since all of us descend from Adam his sin has been imputed to each of us. We are all headed to hell for all eternity unless God forgives us of our sins. We cannot enter heaven with the “spirit man” we were born with because of that sin. God doesn’t allow sin in heaven. Because of the blood Jesus Christ shed on the cross in our place, God can forgive our sins and give us a new spirit that is without sin; if we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This is what God means when he says believers have, “put on the new man.” Jesus died for all our sins, but it’s up to each person to individually accept God’s grace by “putting on the new man” by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. A brand new spirit from God that is sin-free is our, “new man.” Remember, our spirit is the real us and not this temporary tent we live in.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

Proverbs 4:20-22 – My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Holy God, Lord of heaven and earth, I will read my Bible every day so that my fellowship with God remains strong. I will continually study God’s word for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. The Bible is God’s truth and it will endure forever. The Bible is God’s wisdom and I will seek God’s wisdom every day through the pages of my Bible and also through prayer. O Lord, I will memorize and internalize your holy scriptures until they are locked within my heart and become an indivisible part of who I am. Lord, the promises contained in your word are health and healing to all my flesh. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

NOTE: Proverbs 4:20-22 is God’s clearest message to man that we are to abide in God’s word. One of the definitions of the word abide is, “lasting a long time.” After our salvation, we’re to immerse ourselves in the Bible for the rest of our lives so we keep our fellowship with God strong. By using the words, “my son”, God is acknowledging we are his children. God is telling us he loves us and he has some advice for us that will lead to a successful life. God is also telling us to read the Bible every day. God is telling us to hear the word of God spoken as much as possible. God is telling us to commit Bible verses to memory so we keep them in our hearts and they become an integral part of who we are as Christians. In times of trouble, I can recall a few Bible verses that helped me get through some difficulties I was facing. God is always with us and faithful to help us in our time of need if we ask him in prayer. God promises an abundant life and good health to all believers who pray daily for his blessings, read their Bible often, and obey the commandments of God.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

John 16:13 – (Jesus) – However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

James 1:5 – If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit since I was twelve years old. I was saved unto eternal life in heaven by accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior by my confession of faith and baptism before the congregation of the First Baptist Church in my hometown. I pray that the spirit of truth will guide me into all truth as I read God’s word daily and study my Bible for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Daily I will pray to God for his wisdom so that the Holy Spirit will tell me things to come. O Lord, make me healthy, wealthy, and wise!

NOTE: The Holy Bible is the truth of God. The Bible is the wisdom of God. The Bible is the key to understanding everything on earth and in heaven. It contains all the answers to every question we seek the answers to. The Bible is worth more than all the accumulated wealth of the whole world combined, and God is giving it to us for free. However, there is a catch. The Lord doesn’t let just anyone access the mysteries of God. Only those Christian believers who have been saved unto eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are allowed to know the mysteries of God. Those who claim to be Christians but don’t know Jesus personally don’t have access to the wisdom of God. Nonbelievers also have no shot. Giving the Bible to a nonbeliever is a little like giving a monkey a computer and telling him to go surf the internet. James 1:5 contains an important promise from God. Believers should be praying to God every day for his wisdom as they read their Bible. God will reveal the mysteries of heaven to believers if they ask him in prayer. God cannot lie.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

Psalm 1:1-3 – Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Holy God, Lord of heaven and earth; you have blessed me with eternal life in heaven and given me an unquenchable thirst for your word. The Holy Spirit has given me the ministry of reconciliation, which is to study God’s word and give my testimony. Lord, I will meditate in your law day and night and I ask for your blessing as I abide in your word and you abide in me. I will fellowship with other believers and pray daily before the throne of grace for you to bless me. I will be wise and seek the advice of other believers on important matters so God will bless me with wisdom. Lord, I’m grateful for the many blessings in my life that I have received from your hand. Lord, I thank you for making me prosperous.

NOTE: God doesn’t hear the prayers of nonbelievers. God will only bless believers. As we read our Bibles we should be on the lookout for Bible verses where God promises to bless us if we do something revealed in the verse. Whatever that “something” is, do it and keep doing it until God delivers on his promise to “bless” us. The word “blessing” means, “God’s favor and protection.” That sounds pretty good to me and God cannot lie. In Psalm 1:1-3, God offers us five blessings and three promises. When God uses the word “shall” it’s a promise from God. God says to not take advice from nonbelievers because they are fools and we are, therefore, blessed when we listen to the advice of other believers. God also says don’t keep company with sinners because you’ll be tempted to sin with them. The book of Proverbs has a lot to say on this subject. On the flip side, our blessings from God will come when we hang out with fellow believers, because we support and encourage one another in our faith. God says don’t be scornful (which is to say, a nonbeliever) or we’ll wind up in hell for all eternity in pain and agony 24/7. Our blessings from God come when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

We are blessed by God when we love his word, and doubly blessed as we read our Bible every day for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. In 2 Peter 1:3 God says his word gives us knowledge of him so that we have all things that pertain to life and godliness. All we need to have a successful life is God’s wisdom; our Holy Bible. The five things I’ve covered that God will bless us for are all pretty easy to do. Become a believer who prays to God every day. Love God’s word. Study the bible. Save nonbelievers. Avoid sinners. Seek advice only from fellow believers. How easy is that? The great thing about Psalm 1:1-3 is that God tells us what blessings we can expect if we obey him.

God uses a metaphor comparing us to a tree to explain the blessings we’ll receive from him for our obedience. We’re planted next to water so we’re nourished. We’re fruitful because we’re fulfilling God’s intended purpose. We have no disease or infirmity. It sounds like a blessed life for a tree, and it should be the same for us. We’ll have a long and successful life. Just in case we missed what God is saying, God makes his meaning very clear with the last statement in the verse when he says, “And whatever he does shall prosper.” The key to all the blessings God has to offer to believers is to study our Bible, pray without ceasing, and witness for Christ. The destiny of every saved Christian is to be in the presence of Jesus forever. The Lord will shower us with honor, glory, and riches on the last day if we’ve been obedient to his commandments, especially when we witness for Christ to save nonbelievers to heaven.

Tuesday Affirmations (continued):

God created us so he could fellowship with us forever in heaven. The word fellowship means, “friendliness and companionship based on shared interests.” We can’t share our interests with God and vice versa unless we can communicate with each other. In our time, God has chosen to communicate with us through his word, our Holy Bible. That’s why it’s vitally important we read our Bible every day and also we need to invest time in studying God’s word for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. For our part, we talk to God through prayer so it’s just as important that we pray to God numerous times a day to keep our fellowship with God strong. Look, you can’t read the Bible too much and you can’t pray to God too much. The more we talk to God the stronger our relationship is with our creator.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

Psalm 138:8 – The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy O Lord, endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Lord, thank you for saving me unto eternal life in heaven. I go where the Holy Spirit leads me because the Holy Spirit directs my footsteps to fulfill God’s pleasure. I’m a disciple of Christ and I walk in obedience to the commandments of God. I work in God’s harvest field to fulfill the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples, which is to witness for Christ to all nations and all people. My trust is in the Lord. I will obey my God always!

NOTE: Our mind believes what it sees and we cannot see God because he’s invisible. Yet we believe in God through faith and we trust in our salvation from God. We do this by not believing, or leaning on, what our eyes tell us or what the humanist world may tell us. That’s a bridge too far for some people so they deny God exists at all or they are fooled by Satan into following one of the fake religions and false gods the devil has sponsored throughout history. I have a hard time understanding how a person could reject the true God Jehovah because they can’t see him yet they’ll go follow after a false god that also can’t be seen. Praise God in prayer and ask him to direct your life and he will do it.

If you want to know if the Christian God Jehovah is the one true God I have the solution for you. For those of you who cannot see the truth of God because Satan has put blinders over your eyes, there is a simple way to ascertain the truth that our God Jehovah is the one true God of creation. I hereby challenge you to seek the truth. Read God’s word, our Holy Bible, in its entirety with an open mind and see what happens. There’s a 95% chance you’ll come face to face with God. When you do you’ll be dumbfounded. Gather yourself; fall on your knees and pray the sinner’s prayer to God and you’ll be saved. In December 2019, I posted blogs containing lists of physical proofs of God, Bible proofs of God, and Jesus proofs that he is the Messiah, the prophesied son of God. I created them as witness aids, so use them.

PRAYER AFFIRMATIONS:

Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Mark 11:24 – (Jesus) – Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask for when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I pray for God to strengthen me through his Christ and Holy Spirit who indwells me so that I can bear much fruit by my witness for Christ. I abide in the word of God and the Holy Spirit abides in me. I pray that together we will save many nonbelievers to heaven. I thank God for answering my prayers. I thank God for the honor of working alongside my King in his harvest field to help save many nonbelievers to heaven through my witness for Christ.

NOTE: I have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit since the age of twelve (I’m 72 now). I gave my profession of faith before the First Baptist Church in my hometown and then I was baptized as a public demonstration of my inner faith. I was saved by faith and my inner spirit was then washed (or baptized ) by the living water that is the Holy Spirit of God. My outer baptism was just to show everyone I belonged to God. I’ve been a Baptist all my life. Baptists aren’t baptized to become saved. Baptists are baptized because we are already saved and want everyone to know about it.

In my teenage years, I became a backslider and that lasted for forty years. Once you belong to God his Holy Spirit will never leave you. During all that time apart from God the Lord pursued me relentlessly. He kept reaching out to bring me back into fellowship with my creator. In my soul, I could feel God stalking me; never willing to let me go. God was gentle, longsuffering, and patient toward me until I returned home to my Lord. That my friends is true love in action! I will praise the Lord forever for his love, mercy, and grace toward his servant!

PRAYER AFFITMATION:

Matthew 9:37-38 – (Jesus) – The harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I bless God for allowing me to participate in his salvation plan for man. I will work beside the Lord in his harvest field sharing the gospel of Christ to save one more for Jesus every day as long as I live. I pray for more workers in God’s harvest field because the need is great and the workers are few. I will continually worship God with the praise of my lips and give my testimony because God is good and God is great and this my spirit knows very well.

NOTE: The “harvest” refers to all those people out there in the world who aren’t saved unto eternal life in heaven. The only path to heaven is through personal acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It’s common sense that there can be only one true God and Jehovah is that God. The evidence is overwhelming. Satan is the god of this world and he has sponsored fake religions and false gods throughout history. Satan has put blinders over the eyes of nonbelievers to hide the truth of God from man. There is no proof of any God other than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To the nonbeliever, our Christian God Jehovah is just foolishness and our Holy Bible is just a book. There are eight billion people on the planet, and only 2.5 billion claim to be Christians. Probably 60% of those who claim to be Christians aren’t saved. Most Catholics expect the church, the Pope, and their priests to save them to heaven but they’re sadly mistaken because Jesus Christ is the only way to get there and the Catholic church has turned Jesus into a cookie used only during mass.

Talk is cheap and if you haven’t given your life to Jesus you’re going to hell with all the other nonbelievers, even if you call yourself a Christian. So roughly there are seven billion people today who need saving and they’re all going to hell when they die, and they don’t even realize it. In the above verse “laborers” refers to believers who are witnessing for Christ in this vast field of nonbelievers (the world). Catholics don’t witness. Out of approximately one million Christians who are Protestants only about 300,000 belong to an evangelical denomination that stresses sharing the gospel of Christ with nonbelievers. Only about 10% of these evangelicals (30,000) have read the entire Bible and are actively witnessing for Christ with regularity and persistence. 30,000 trying to save seven billion is why God says the harvest is plentiful the laborers are few, and why we are commanded to pray to God for more workers. I pray for more help every day. It’s like trying to swim upstream against a raging river. It’s hard but it must be done until God calls us home.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

Matthew 16:19 – (Jesus) – And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Matthew 18:18 – (Jesus) – Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

MY AFFIRMATION:

Jesus has given me the authority to use his name in prayer and I will pray every day in Jesus’ name. And that which I bind on earth through prayer is bound in heaven by God. And that which I loose on earth through prayer is loosed in heaven by God. The Lord says we can have whatever we ask for in prayer if we believe God will answer our prayers and we pray continually. I believe what God says. Therefore, through prayer, I bind the principalities, the powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, and I render them all harmless and ineffective against me, in the name of Jesus. I loose the blessings of God from heaven upon me here on earth through daily prayer, in Jesus’ name, and also by my continued obedience to the commandments of God.

NOTE: The two verses above are confusing to most people. Even believing Christians often don’t have a clue what God is talking about. All the “binding” and “loosing” that Jesus is talking about in the book of Matthew is about prayer. The word “you” in the scriptures means all believing Christians who are saved and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and therefore holy and righteous before God. Believers don’t get a set of physical “keys” to heaven through the mail. Keys is a metaphor for prayers. The word “bind” means to restrain or tie up someone or something. The opposite of bind is loose. Then the word “loose” means to “not” restrain or tie up someone or something. Look, Satan is the god of this world and he hates our guts. Without God’s protection, Satan and his demons would kill every man, woman, and child on this planet within thirty days. Read Ephesians 6:12 to learn what we’re up against.

So yes, we need to restrain (bind) Satan if we want to fulfill the salvation plan God has for our lives. So yes, we need to release (loose) the blessings God has in store for those who love him. In our physical world, the only way we can reach across into the spirit world is by prayer. God says he will do what we ask in prayer if we’re in fellowship with him and we’re obedient to the commandments of God. In addition, we must pray continually and believe we are going to receive what we pray for. Faith is the secret ingredient that makes prayer work. It’s also important to approach the throne of grace showing the proper respect for our creator. You also need to pray for things that align with God’s will and nature. For example, you can’t pray for a million dollars and expect God to cough it up. But you can pray for wisdom from God because he wants to prosper us and help us lead productive lives. Jesus said he came so that we may have life more abundantly. When you pray to God ask for him to protect you from the evil in this world (binding). Ask for God to bless you (loosing) from heaven so that you’ll receive God’s blessings here on earth.

In summary, the fifteen scriptures in my Tuesday prayer affirmations all have a common theme. They tell us God hears our prayers and he will act on them for our benefit because we are God’s beloved children. God loves us and wants the best for us always. As believers, we have 24/7 access to the throne of grace. Therefore, go boldly before God and talk to him about anything and everything. Our mission on this earth is first, to find God and salvation unto eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ. Our second task on this earth is to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with all nations and all people to save some of them to heaven. We cannot be effective and fruitful with our witness for Christ on our own. As we share the gospel message we must also pray to God before, during, and after our witness to be successful. Prayer is the “key” to heaven so use it to save many nonbelievers to heaven.

The topic of my Tuesday affirmation blog series is prayer. Our prayers to God are the currency of heaven. Prayers are the grease that lubricates the machinery of heaven. Nothing gets done in heaven or on earth without prayer. If you want to know how important prayer is to God just look at the life and 3 1/2 year ministry of Jesus Christ, the son of God. If you’ll notice, Jesus was always praying; and praying about everything. We’re talking about God the Son praying to God the Father. The life of Jesus Christ was meant to be an example to all men of how we should lead our lives. Jesus always prayed and so should we. Keep praying until God answers our prayers, no matter how long it takes to receive an answer, even if it takes twenty years. We’re not privy to God’s timeline so we just have to trust God because he loves us. God is glorified when we pray to God and also when he answers our prayers, but God’s not going to give us anything until we ask for it. One thing is certain; once we get to heaven you’ll never hear any saint say to you that they prayed to God too much on earth. Every believer in heaven will regret that they didn’t pray to God more often. It’s impossible to pray to God too much or too often.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Psalm 5:11 – But let all those rejoice who put their trust in you; let them ever shout for joy, because you defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.

Pslam 40:16 – Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!”

MY AFFIRMATION:

Daily I will rejoice that the Lord is my God. For you have made me O Lord and saved me unto eternal life in heaven in your presence. I will pray without ceasing, giving you the praise of my lips for your love, mercy, and grace toward your servant. Lord, I thank you for your guardian angels who watch over me. My gladness and joy is complete because the Lord’s presence is inside me. Before the throne of grace, I will continually say, “The Lord be magnified always; ever forever.”

NOTE: One type of prayer believers rarely engage in is a prayer of rejoicing. Why is that? Most believers don’t know they should be rejoicing in the Lord and if they do know they don’t know how to go about rejoicing in the Lord. People tend to pray to God only when they want something from God or when they’re in trouble. It’s more important to pray to God to show your joy and love for the Lord. When we speak our feelings to God in this way it becomes a prayer of rejoicing. Take a step back and look at this logically. God made you and put you on this earth to live your life. Every heartbeat and every breath you take is because God wills it to be so. You were born on the road to perdition (hell) for all eternity but God in his love, mercy, and grace called you to salvation and pulled you up to heaven to be in his presence forever. The Lord will shower his children with love forever and give them honor, glory, and riches beyond our wildest imagination. It doesn’t get any better than that. We should be doing cartwheels before God. But the Lord will settle for a little rejoicing.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

1 Timothy 2:8 – I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

Ephesians 6:18 – Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

MY AFFIRMATION:

In obedience to your word O Lord, I will pray often before the throne of grace. Early and often will I seek your face O Lord; seeking your wisdom and guidance. By the praise of my lips, I will worship the Lord my God every day, offering up love, honor, and glory to my King. Praise the Lord for his kindness toward his servant.

NOTE: God doesn’t hear the prayers of nonbelievers. That all changes once you are saved unto eternal life by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit changes the believer’s eternal destination from hell to heaven the instant they are saved and the Holy Spirit indwells our body forever as our helper. Even when we get to heaven the Holy Spirit stays with us. As believers, Jesus gave us the right to have an audience before God 24/7, so when we pray God listens. God tells us this in his word and God cannot lie. As believers, we are holy vessels with holy hands, and we are to pray everywhere and at all times. We are to never stop praying and God promises to answer our prayers at some point as long as we don’t doubt God will give us an answer to our prayers.

You can’t pray too much for God; the more we pray the better it is for us. To be effective all our prayers must be addressed to God the Father in Jesus’ name. In the Bible, God tells us how to approach the throne of grace in prayer and if you do it differently your prayers are falling on deaf ears and you’re sinning against God. That means you can’t pray to Mary, the mother of Jesus, because she’s just a human being like us and she can’t hear your prayers to God nor can she help you. You also can’t pray to a Pope, priest, or Catholic saint for the same reason. Our God is jealous of his glory, and he will not give his glory to another!

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

Psalm 37:4 – Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I delight myself in the Lord through prayer and he gives me the desires of my heart. I will work diligently in God’s harvest field to help save many lost souls for the kingdom of God through my witness for Christ. I desire to serve the Lord for forty years like God’s prophets of old; or until Jesus Christ comes to rapture me and all saints in the air to receive our glorified bodies before returning to heaven. I desire to please God by my “good works.” I desire to stand before the bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ on the last day and hear him say, “Well done good and faithful servant.” Help me Lord because I desire to save many nonbelievers for the kingdom of heaven.

NOTE: The word “rejoice” means to feel or show great joy. The word “delight” means to, “take great pleasure in doing something.” God wants believers to show the great joy they feel in their hearts through prayers of rejoicing to Almighty God. God wants believers to delight, or take great pleasure in, our prayers to God the Father. I take great pleasure in witnessing for Christ to save nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven. I delight in my ministry of reconciliation given to me by the Holy Spirit, which is to study God’s word and give my testimony. God has said in his word that he’ll give us the desires of our hearts as expressed to God in our prayers to him if we continue in our prayers until God answers and we don’t doubt that God will answer us when he is ready.

PRAYER AFFIRMATION:

James 4:2 – Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss.

James 5:16 – The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I pray that my witness for Christ will save many nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven. I’m indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and I ask my Helper to take my prayers before the throne of grace and present them to God the Father in such a way that my prayers are pleasing in his sight. I pray that Jesus Christ, my Mediator, will present my case before the court of heaven for a favorable decision. I pray that the Lord will answer my prayers and use the gospel seed I’ve cast before God to save many lost souls for heaven.

NOTE: I fear in the past that I’ve prayed too little to God and left meat on the bone. For a long time, I prayed that God would return to me one-tenth of one percent of the gospel seed I cast before the throne of grace. For every case of 1000 Christian tracts I sent to one of my seven prison ministries I was asking God to give me credit for one saved soul; to make one tract fall on good ground and save a soul to heaven or move the person along the path toward salvation. For every 1000 people who read my blog, I asked God to give me credit for one saved soul. I don’t do that anymore. God says we can have what we ask for and I came to the conclusion I was asking for too little.

I now pray for a 10% return on the gospel seed I cast before God in the form of my blog and Christian tracts. When I send out Bibles, Christian books, and gospel comics I ask God in prayer for a one-to-one return or credit for one saved soul for each gospel seed. In Isaiah 1:18, God says we should reason with him and that’s what I’m doing when I ask God to save many more nonbelievers by my hand. God is not offended by my asking for his help. God can always say no. It’s always better to ask for too much from God rather than too little because God just might give us what we ask for. I assure you God won’t get mad if we ask for too much because God wants all his creatures in heaven with him forever.

Whenever I update my Bible affirmations things never go as planned. In the case of my Monday affirmations, I thought I’d only be making minor changes but it ended up being a major overhaul. I ended up going from twelve affirmations down to seven affirmations. My new affirmations are now more substantial and comprehensive than before and they tend to focus more on one aspect of my service to God, which is obedience. When you’re a “hammer” every problem winds up being a nail. When your number one priority in life is “witnessing for Christ” then most Bible scriptures are seen as commandments from God to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ. If you look at the fourteen verses that make up my Monday Bible affirmations they all either directly or indirectly command believers to witness for Christ. I have all these verses posted above my desk (plus the Lord’s Prayer) so obviously I’m consumed by them. I love these Bible verses because they exhort me to save lost souls for the kingdom of heaven. I read them all every morning for spiritual energy as I drink my pot of coffee, and before speaking to God in prayer.

We are God’s masterpiece of creation and the Bible is God’s love letter to us. The entire Bible from start to finish is the revelation of Jesus Christ, the son of God, coming off his throne in heaven to take on flesh and die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. God loves us that much. The Old Testament is Jesus prophesied and the New Testament is Jesus fulfilled. There are over sixty prophecies about Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and they were all fulfilled while Jesus walked the earth. The Old Testament is good because it helps us understand who God is and the history of God’s relationship with man. But as believers, we’re under the blood covenant of Jesus Christ and we need to live in the New Testament (the epistles). If we live in the Epistles, we live in victory! I try to read the entire Bible every year and I don’t always succeed. However, I do read the New Testament every year without fail. Bible affirmations are prayers and confessing the word of God and our obedience to it creates the reality of salvation in our hearts, our minds, and our spirits. When we align with God and his word we’re saying yes to Almighty God; we will be obedient and witness for Christ.

MONDAY AFFIRMATIONS (continued):

Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Ecclesiastes 12:13 – Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I will emulate Jesus Christ in all my actions through obedience to the commandments of God. I will read the Bible daily and pray to the Lord often to maintain my fear of God. I will witness for Christ all the days of my life. I rejoice in my ministry received from the Holy Spirit and my salvation from God!

My NKJV Bible (large print) is 1,678 pages long. It takes me all year to read it and then I just start all over again. Only 10% of Christians who attend church regularly have read the Holy Bible in its entirety. Make sure you’re not one of them. As believers, we’re commanded to read God’s word every day to stay in fellowship with the Lord. God talks to us through the pages of the Bible and we talk to God in prayer. We’re commanded to study God’s word for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. It’s the only way we can find out who God is and what he requires of us. I’m old school. I love to read and study and I’m always reading multiple books at the same time. However, a lot of people aren’t like that. Many people today aren’t very patient. Everyone is in a hurry and they have places to go. Many people today also don’t like to read very much, and everyone wants the answers to life’s questions without having to search for them. You’re in luck. I’ve studied God’s word for twenty years and I’ve included in this Bible affirmation two Bible verses where God very succinctly tells us exactly what he requires of us. I read Micah 6:8 and Ecclesiastes 12:13 every morning over coffee so I’m crystal clear what God expects of me as I begin my day.

MICAH 6:8:

The prophet Micah wrote his Old Testament book around 700 BC. Micah spoke of a Messianic ruler over Israel coming from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) and as far as I’m concerned Micah 6:8 is also a prophetic verse about Jesus Christ. Let’s look a the first statement of this verse:

“He has shown you, O man, what is good;”

The word “He” in this verse refers to the Messiah (i.e., Jesus). “O man” means God is addressing mankind in general. The word “shown” is the act of showing, and show means to make someone understand something by explaining it or doing it oneself (in person). “Good” means morally right or of a high standard. Jesus said only God is good. If we apply all our definitions to the first statement in Micah 6:8 it can be restated as follows:

“Jesus Christ has come down to earth from heaven, in person, to show or demonstrate to man what is morally right.”

God has demonstrated what is good by providing us with his written word, the Holy Bible, which is full of stories that show God doing what is morally right as an example for us to follow. God has shown us what is good through the 3 1/2 year ministry of his son Jesus Christ. Jesus is God in the flesh. All we have to do as believers is study God’s word and apply the wisdom God shares with us. As believers all we have to do is study the life of Jesus, where he went, what he said, and what he did. We need to absorb the teachings of Jesus: Life is not futile; failure is not fatal; and death is not final. Jesus Christ led a sinless life and we need to emulate what Jesus did in his life to the best of our ability. We can’t come close to duplicating Jesus’ sinless life but if we try our best to obey God we’ll live a life that will be pleasing in his sight on the last day.

“And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

The second statement of Micah 6:8 gets down to the nitty gritty by telling us what God expects from us in this life he’s given us. Just is defined as, “morally right and fair” so justly is acting in a manner that is morally right and fair. God created us with an inbuilt sense of knowing the difference between right and wrong. If we lose our way we can always fall back on God’s word as our guide to determine right from wrong. The Bible is God’s wisdom so use it. To love mercy means to show compassion to those less fortunate than ourselves. The Bible says God is love and one of God’s greatest commandments is that we love one another. God often uses the words, “humble” and “walking with God”, to describe someone who is obeying his commandments. “To walk humbly with your God” means we are to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and obey the commandments of God. You can’t walk with God in fellowship if you’re not obeying the number one commandment of God which is to witness for Christ; sharing the gospel message of Jesus Christ with all nations and all people. In summary, God says we’re to emulate Christ by saving nonbelievers by our witness, we’re to love our fellow man, and we’re to obey God.

ECCLESIASTES 12:13:

The other Bible verse where God tells us what he expects is from the Old Testament book of Ecclestiastes, written by King Solomon around 935 BC. King Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived and probably the richest. After a long life, King Solomon came to the conclusion that everything in life is meaningless apart from a right relationship with God. A right relationship with God is where man lives in fear of God just like it says in this verse and where man also obeys the commandments of God. The word “fear” in the biblical context means to look upon God with awe, reverence, and deep respect. If we pray to God and read our Bible every day we maintain our “fear” of God. There are 129 direct commandments from God in the Bible (many are redundant). The only commandment from God that matters is sharing the gospel message of Jesus Christ with all nations and all people. That’s why it’s called the Great Commission. Saving nonbelievers to heaven through our witness for Christ is how we receive honor, glory, and riches from God on the last day. It’s worth noting that in both Micah 6:8 and Ecclesiastes 12:12 God stresses that we are to be obedient to the commandments of God; primarily witnessing for Christ to save souls to heaven.

As I wrap up this blog series on Bible affirmations I can’t stress enough how important it is to confess with our lips God’s word, and our obedience to the commandments of God. That’s what Bible affirmations are all about. It’s what we confess with our lips over and over that dominates our inner man. In the Bible, God says we can have whatever we ask for if we believe God will grant our prayers and we keep praying until God answers us. Our confession is the spiritual battleground where we meet God and also where we fight the devil. We saw that with the temptations of Jesus in the New Testament. We’ll never achieve the salvation plan God has for us unless we confess it before the throne of grace. So confess greatly, act largely, and do “good works” before the Lord by persistently witnessing for Christ. Our Bible affirmations are how we confess greatly and act largely to do great things for God. Our Bible affirmations are how we say “yes” to God. Our Bible affirmations are prayers of rejoicing!

MONDAY AFFIRMATIONS (continued):

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16 is the most famous verse in the entire Bible and virtually every Christian knows it by heart. Why is that? Christians love this verse because it tells us what we want to hear and it brings great joy. Everyone needs to be loved and to give love in return. John 3:16 lets us know without a doubt that God loves us dearly. God not only tells us he loves us; God proves it by sending his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross so our sins might be forgiven by a loving and merciful God. One of the spiritual truths of heaven is, “the wages of sin is death.” Somebody had to pay our sin debt and God chose Jesus to die in our place. In the Garden of Eden Adam sinned against God by his disobedience. Adam was evicted from the Garden of Eden and God changed Adam from being an immortal man into a mortal man who would die both a physical death and a spiritual death in hell because of his sins. Adam and Eve were headed to hell before God forgave their sins. We’ll see Adam and Eve in heaven. All men who came after Adam have inherited Adam’s original sin and we’re also all born on the path to perdition, and therefore we all need God’s forgiveness to enter heaven.

However, God in his love, mercy, and grace also decided to save us to heaven by forgiving our sins. Another spiritual truth of heaven is, “without shedding innocent blood there can be no forgiveness of sins.” God is just. God cannot lie or change his position. There had to be a shedding of innocent human blood before God could forgive the sins of man. All men are born into sin from Adam’s fall so there was no sinless human sacrifice available to save man from eternal death in hell. God had to come off his throne in heaven and come to earth as a man, in the flesh, as the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Jesus was born of a human mother like we all are so he was fully human so he could qualify as a sacrifice for us before God. At the same time, Jesus Christ was also fully God because his father was the Holy Spirit. Jesus was a God-man with both natures in his body at the same time, but separate from each other. Jesus was the only person who could save us from hell and he did so voluntarily. Jesus could have halted his crucifixion at any time and called down a legion of angels if he wanted to. When we say Jesus is our Lord and Savior we’re not saying empty words. By his sacrificial death, Jesus saved us from hell and saved us to heaven. When we call Jesus Lord we’re acknowledging Jesus is God and saying yes we will obey the commandments of God.

The problem with John 3:16 is people think that verse by itself saves them to heaven and they don’t have to do anything else. They are wrong. Notice that God didn’t say whoever believes in Jesus “shall” be saved. Instead, God says whoever believes in Jesus “should” be saved. That means salvation unto heaven is a two-step process contingent on man taking a second step to complete the process. Just believing in God and Jesus won’t get you to heaven. Even Satan and his demons believe in God and Jesus because they know them. The difference is Satan and his demons haven’t repented of their sins. They haven’t declared Jesus Christ as the Lord of their life whom they’ll obey because they can’t and they won’t. However, it’s not too late for us. Jesus already took the first step by dying on the cross for our sins. All we need to do is repent of our sins and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to complete the process. Google “sinner’s prayer” and then pray to God in faith and you’re saved.

Let’s restate John 3:16 in such a way that it’s still true but it reveals what’s at stake for our eternal souls:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever does not believe in Him should perish and not have everlasting life.”

This statement is the mirror image of John 3:16 and is therefore also true. God is putting a positive spin on the truth of God in John 3:16 to exhort nonbelievers to come to God while at the same time bringing the peace of God to believers. People need to look beyond the obvious and understand that doing the opposite of what God says to do in the Bible will also cause an opposite result. I love John 3:16 like everyone else. But as a warrior for Christ who has dedicated his life to witnessing for Christ to save many nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven, I look at John 3:16 and ask myself, “What about those who don’t believe because they don’t know the truth of God?” “Shouldn’t somebody tell them?” “I should tell them!”

Every day roughly 16,000 believers die and go to heaven. Around 160,000 nonbelievers die every day for lack of a witness for Christ and go straight to hell. That’s a ten-to-one ratio. The sad thing is many of these nonbelievers think they’re going to heaven when they die but they’re all going directly to hell within the earth where they’ll be in pain and agony 24/7. On the last day, they’ll all be resurrected bodily to stand before the Great White Throne judgment of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only way to heaven and if you don’t accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior before you die your ultimate destination and your fate is decided by Jesus. If you find yourself before the Great White Throne you aren’t going to heaven. After your judgment, an angel of God will throw all nonbelievers into the lake of fire and brimstone for all eternity. God’s salvation plan for man calls for nonbelievers to be saved to heaven by believers witnessing for Christ, and if you want to please God you’ll go save someone.

MY AFFIRMATION:

God, I thank you for making me and loving me. Lord, I thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ to die on the cross in my place so my sins could be forgiven by a loving and merciful God. Thank you Holy Father for calling me and saving me unto eternal life in heaven in your presence through my confession of faith in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I will share the gospel message of Christ with nonbelievers all the days of my life.

In summary, yes John 3:16 is a wonderful Bible verse worthy of being the favorite verse in the Bible. For me, John 3:16 is also not the end of the road on my walk with God but the beginning. God leaves us here on earth after our salvation so we can work alongside our King in his harvest field helping to save lost souls for heaven by our testimony about God. 90% of the saints in heaven are there through faith in Jesus alone, never having saved even one soul to heaven through a witness for Christ. These are the worker bees of heaven because they have no fruit. Some believers will save one person to heaven, some thirty, some sixty, and some even one hundred souls to heaven. A harvest of one hundred souls to heaven is a good harvest according to God. I’ve accomplished that already. My goal is to save at least 1000 nonbelievers to heaven. God has confirmed to me that saving 1000 lost souls to heaven will qualify as “many” in the eyes of God and the person who does this will shine like the stars in the heavens as promised in Daniel 12:3. I don’t know what that looks like but I know it’ll be good because only good fruit can come from God.

Man has no idea of the honor, glory, and riches God has in store for those who believe in him, for those who love him, and for those who are obedient to his commandments. Because of Adam’s original sin in the Garden of Eden, man’s fellowship with God was broken. Because God made us and loves us, he sent his son Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that our fellowship with God could be restored. God did his part 2000 years ago by sending Jesus and he’s still waiting for us to do our part to restore our fellowship with him. God has shown us the way to salvation in the Bible, which is God’s wisdom. If you don’t believe in God there is a cure. If you read the Bible in its entirety, with an open mind, there’s a 95% chance you’ll come face to face with God and believe. If you ever start to doubt your faith the same cure applies.

When we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior through faith we’re saved unto eternal life in heaven. This is our part to restore our fellowship with God. God doesn’t hear the prayers of nonbelievers. However, when we become saved children of the Most High our prayers are heard. Our prayers come from our lips and pass through the spirit world into the very throne room of God; into the ears of God himself 24/7. Even the angels don’t have the access to God that we have. Praise God! If you want to keep your fellowship with God strong, pray to the Lord daily and read your Bible every day. I know I repeat myself a lot in my blogs but you need to always remember that repetition is good. The more times we read something or hear something the more likely it is that our mind will retain it and accept it as the truth. If you’ll notice, God uses repetition a lot in the Bible for this reason. I’m not ashamed of emulating God. I know repetition works.