Month: October 2024

The dictionary definition of the word “affirm” when used as a verb means, “to state something firmly or publicly.” Affirmation is a noun meaning, “the act of affirming something.” So a Bible affirmation is the act of stating in a loud and clear voice the word of God (a Bible verse) followed by a declaration of obedience to the verse or verses being referenced. When you speak a Bible affirmation before the Lord it’s the same thing as saying yes to God. The two terms are interchangeable. The word abide has several meanings and one of the older seldom-used meanings is to, “live in a place.” The moment believers are saved unto eternal life in heaven they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit so the word “abide” is an apt description of what takes place. On the flip side, when we abide in the Lord the more traditional definition applies which is to, “accept or obey a rule or decision.” The key word is obey. If we obey the commandments of God then we abide in the Lord. Those commandments include praying to God daily and reading God’s word every day.

Throughout the Bible, God tells us to study his word for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Most people don’t know what that means. We need the knowledge contained in the Bible so we can “know” who God is and what he requires of us. We need to have an understanding of the Bible so we know how we’re to be saved unto eternal life in heaven. We need the Bible’s wisdom so we know our primary purpose on this earth is to save nonbelievers to heaven by our witness for Christ. The number one commandment of God for believers is to help save nonbelievers to heaven. If we do this God will shower us with honor, glory, and riches in heaven on the last day.

There are 2.5 billion Christians on earth, which includes 1.5 billion Catholics and 1.0 billion Protestants. The problem with Protestants is there are only 300,000 of them who identify as evangelical Christians who emphasize the authority of the Bible and salvation through personal faith in Jesus. To make matters worse, only 10% of Christians who attend church regularly have taken the time to read the Bible in its entirety. God’s word tells you how to witness for Christ to nonbelievers and if haven’t even read the Bible you won’t have the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom you need to effectively witness for Christ and save souls to heaven. It’s just common sense that you can’t “do” until you know what to “do.” Neither will you have the confidence to share your witness for Christ because confidence comes with knowledge. Nonbelievers pick up on body language and they respond to the passion of a witness for Christ as much as they do the gospel message itself.

MONDAY AFFIRMATIONS (continued):

John 15:5 – (Jesus) – I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.

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

James 1:22 – But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

MY AFFIRMATION:

As a branch of the Most High, I’m a child of God. I will do all things through the Lord Jesus Christ, who indwells me and strengthens me by his glorious power. I will produce much fruit by witnessing for Christ to save nonbelievers unto eternal life in heaven. I abide in God through prayer and Bible study so that I’m an effective “doer” of God’s word; saving lost souls to heaven by being obedient to the commandments of God.

NOTE: We’ve already discussed what “abide” means from the perspective of both God and man. God is the fountainhead of life from which all life flows, both angels and man. At our conception, God gives each of us an eternal spirit which is a part of his divine essence. Since God is an eternal spirit anything he gives us (i.e., our spirit) is also eternal like he is. You heard me right, if you’re reading this blog you’re an immortal being. You are God’s masterpiece of creation. Don’t believe all that humanist BS about human beings evolving from apes or one-cell organisms crawling out of the primordial ooze of an ancient ocean. Man is a biomechanical marvel composed of 30 trillion specialized cells arranged into organs, tissues, and enclosed body systems, topped off with the greatest computer in the universe. As soon as you exit the birth canal your journey begins toward your eternal home, which is either heaven or hell. There is no third choice. Everyone is headed to hell when they’re born and it’s up to each of us to get off the highway to hell.

In John 15:5 the word “fruit” is a common metaphor God uses for nonbelievers saved unto eternal life in heaven. God also uses the metaphor of a grapevine to describe himself. God refers to man, the creatures of his hands, as branches of a grapevine. Those who accept Jesus Christ, the son of God, as their Lord and Savior become children of God by grace and God will graft their branch onto the eternal branch so they will live forever in heaven in the presence of Jesus. Jesus is the only way to heaven so for those people who reject Christ their branch will wither and be gathered up and thrown into the fires of hell for all eternity. The problem is most people who aren’t saved don’t know this is the truth of God. They don’t understand this is their ultimate fate; to go to hell when they die. Satan is the god of this world and he has put blinders over the eyes of nonbelievers so they don’t recognize God and the Bible is just a book. Our job as believers is to witness for Christ is to rip those blinders off the eyes of nonbelievers so they can see the truth of God. That is the Great Commission Jesus Christ gave to his disciples before he ascended back to heaven.

The important part of John 15:5 to me is the last statement where Jesus says, “for without me you can do nothing.” Pair that statement with Philippians 4:13 which says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”, and we understand that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit is also with us if we witness for Christ. Now, 90% of the saints in heaven are there through faith in Jesus alone, never having saved even one other person to heaven by their witness for Christ. They are all indwelt by Jesus yet they are without fruit. The difference is they didn’t pray to God to give them strength and help them spread the gospel message. Believers still on earth have the same problem. They are deceiving themselves because they’re saved and they think that’s all they need to do.

All believers are commanded by God to be ‘doers” of the word by witnessing for Christ to save nonbelievers to heaven. God knows we’re weak, we’re dust, and we can’t do this on our own which is why God tells us to ask for his help through prayer. We need to pray for God’s help before, during, and after we witness for Christ if we want to bear much “fruit” for God. Bible affirmations are my way of doing this because I’m saying yes to God every day and that I need his help saving nonbelievers to heaven. It’s the Holy Spirit who saves a person to heaven through our witness. We do 20% of the work of salvation and the Holy Spirit does the other 80%. All the glory goes to God because we’re merely a holy vessel for God to use for his purpose. Praise God for his love, mercy, and grace toward his servant!

My Christian blog has been going for five years now and during that time I have probably claimed at least a dozen scriptures in the Bible as my favorite verse. I love God and I love to study God’s word. As I come across a verse in my Bible study that excites me it becomes my favorite Bible verse; until I run across a verse that excites me even more and takes its place as my new favorite verse. I’m like a kid in a candy store running around excitedly pointing at everything. I’m like a kid who wants to sample all the treats in the candy store and loving everything I sample. Out of all my past favorite Bible verses I think Daniel 12:3 is my all-time favorite. It’s one of the 14 verses I have posted above my desk so I read them every morning over my pot of coffee. You see, as I run my race before the Lord I see Daniel 12:3 as the end of the road for me. It’s the fulfillment of all my goals and where I want to be at the end of my days. To manifest the blessings of Daniel 12:3 in my life it’s important that I continue saying yes to God in prayer that I will be obedient to the commandments of God by witnessing for Christ with all perseverance. I accomplish this by my Bible affirmations.

MONDAY AFFIRMATIONS (continued):

Daniel 12:3 – And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.

MY AFFIRMATION:

I will be wise before the Lord through obedience to the commandments of God. I will fulfill the Great Commission I received from Jesus Christ, which is to spread the gospel message, the good news of God’s saving grace. I will witness Christ to all nations and all people. I will continually give my testimony of Jesus Christ all my life to help save many lost souls to the kingdom of heaven.

NOTE: A favorite literary device used by God in his word is known as “parallelism” and we see it in Daniel 12:3. We have two stand-alone statements separated by the conjunction “and.” Both statements say essentially the same thing using different words. The value of parallelism is that while each statement on its own may not be very clear, but together they help clarify each other so the meaning of the verse becomes crystal clear. In Daniel 12:3 the word “they” refers to Christian believers who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It’s just common sense you can’t save someone else if you’re not saved yourself. In the first statement of this verse the word “wise” refers to believers who are witnessing for Christ and saving nonbelievers to heaven. We know this because in his word God often refers to those sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to save lost souls as being wise.

The word “shall” is a promise from God in the first statement and it’s implied in the second statement. God cannot lie nor does the Bible contain any errors. The word “shine” in the first statement reflects our glory which is God’s reward for our obedience in saving others and it’s also implied in the second statement. We know “shine” is compared to the light from the “firmament” which we know refers to the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky. We don’t have a clue what God means by shine but we know it’ll be good because one of the spiritual truths of heaven is a good tree can produce only good fruit. That applies to both God and man. One thing we do know is that the mind of man cannot fathom the depth of the riches God has in store for us. The second statement confirms that shine means we’ll light up brightly, “like the stars.” The second statement says our shine will be “forever and ever” which means God is talking about when we’re in heaven.

The second statement talks about believers who “turn” or change a sinner from the error of their way which leads to eternal death in hell. When we witness Christ we save nonbelievers to “righteousness” and righteousness is God’s term for salvation unto eternal life in heaven. By using the word “many” in the second statement God is telling us the number of believers we are to save if we want to light up heaven. It’s obvious to me that the brightness of our “shine” in heaven depends on how many people we save for heaven. Do you want to be wise and save one person to heaven and shine like the moon or would you rather save one thousand people to heaven (many) and shine like the brightest sun in the firmament? I have a theory about shining in heaven. I have no proof from God; just a hunch that makes sense to me. We know in heaven we’ll have a glorified body just like the one Jesus has. When Jesus Christ was transfigured before Peter, John, and James on Mount Tabor Jesus allowed his glory to shine forth from his body so that he radiated brightness like the sun as an example to his disciples of the glory that awaits them in heaven one day.

When believers get to heaven God will glorify us so we’ll also be able to radiate outward our glory within. The more nonbelievers you save to heaven the more glory God will give you. If you save many nonbelievers unto eternal life in heaven by your witness for Christ you’ll be the brightest light of all and you’ll be in the top one percent of the saints in heaven. I don’t believe everyone in heaven will be walking light bulbs all the time but I do believe we’ll be able to radiate our glory when we want to. Every saint in heaven will know the rank of every other saint they meet automatically by their brightness. There is a pecking order in heaven. We are ranked by our “good works” done here on earth and by good works I mean how many nonbelievers we save to heaven. We know this because angels are ranked in heaven (i.e., archangels), therefore it’s common sense we will be also.

The last thing we need to figure out is what God means by saving “many” to heaven. I know the answer. As I’ve witnessed for Christ over the years the number one thousand kept popping up in my head as the number of saved souls I should shoot for as my goal. I wasn’t sure if the number one thousand came from me or the Holy Spirit so I prayed to God for months to give me an answer. God finally answered me. I keep in regular contact with a fellow believer who witnesses for Christ in another state. I sometimes send him Bibles and Christian tracts for his ministry and he sends me a text every time he or his team saves someone. Out of the blue, my brother in Christ sends me a text telling me his personal goal is to save one thousand souls to heaven in his lifetime. We both had the same goal but had never spoken to each other about it. God often answers our prayers through another believer. The Holy Spirit gave both of us the same goal and once I shared with him that it was my goal too we both realized God was blessing us both with the answer to our prayers. Those who save a thousand souls to heaven will qualify as saving “many” in the eyes of God and the promise of Daniel 12:3 will be theirs.

My friend is saving his thousand souls to heaven by witnessing one-on-one, which is the better way, but it makes it much harder to reach one thousand saved souls unless you start young. Everyone has their own personal ministry from God and that was his. Ask God if you don’t know how God wants you to serve him. The Holy Spirit gave me my ministry long ago, which is to study God’s word and give my testimony. My “passive” ministry evolved into this Christian blog where my twin themes are “studying God’s word” and “witnessing for Christ.” I started blogging in December 2019 and this is blog #671. I also “leverage” my witness for Christ by distributing Christian tracts containing the gospel message to my seven prison ministries as well as personally handing out Christian tracts for over ten years. It’s a big deal to save a thousand souls to heaven because 90% of the saints in heaven are there through faith in Jesus Christ alone, never having saved even one other person to heaven by a witness for Christ. If you save one hundred souls to heaven you’re in the top 5% of the saints in heaven and if you reach one thousand souls saved for heaven you’ll be in the top 1% of the saints in heaven, with all the honor, glory, and riches that go with it.

Christian tracts have saved millions of nonbelievers to heaven over the last 75 years. Christian tracts are the easiest, cheapest, and most effective way I know to reach the greatest number of nonbelievers. That’s why I’ve given away more than 40,000 tracts during my ministry to go along with 2000 Bibles and several hundred Christian books and gospel comics. I calculate that I’ve saved over one hundred people to heaven, which is a good harvest according to the Lord. However, I’m nowhere near my goal of saving one thousand people to heaven so I press onward with my witness for Christ. I work alongside my King in his harvest field to help save nonbelievers to heaven because the harvest field is great and the workers are few. I pray for more workers as God has commanded. As you witness for Christ to save nonbelievers to heaven make sure you pray for God’s help before, during, and after your witness because it’s the Holy Spirit that does the saving. You’re helping the Holy Spirit and not vice versa.

If you’re reading this blog you still have spiritual questions you want answered. Maybe you’re a declared atheist or agnostic but you’re not convinced. Maybe you’re a backsliding Christian who has doubts about your faith. More than likely you’re one of the five billion followers of one of the fake religions and false gods sponsored by Satan throughout history to hide the truth of God from man. We all know in our hearts that there is just one God and all other gods are false. I posit that Christianity is the one true religion and Jehovah is the one true God. Our Lord is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all other gods are imposters. God’s word, our Holy Bible, is the truth of God and the wisdom of God. This is my testimony. Furthermore, I have proof to back up my statements.

You can find that proof of God in my archived blogs from December 2019. I have a list of 23 physical proofs of God (there are over 200). I have a list of 34 fulfilled prophecies of Jesus Christ (there are over 60), and I have a list of Bible proofs as well. I have a posted witness outline I used at one time that uses verses from the Bible referred to as the ‘Roman Road to Salvation” which is favored by most Christians who witness for Christ. I made my witness template as a guide for others but feel free to make your own witness guide. What you’ll find is you’ll use a witness guide as a crutch the first few times you witness to someone and then you’ll never need to use it again. Dozens of Bible verses have been used to save nonbelievers to heaven. I have entire blogs dedicated to each set of proofs of God so I won’t repeat them here. Go check them out when you have the time. What I will say is that it’s fairly easy to pick out the true God because there are two things only God can do.

Only the one true God can bring someone back to life and only God can tell the future. We know that God brought Jesus Christ back to life on the third day after his crucifixion and burial. After the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we know that he walked the earth for fifty days before ascending back to heaven because we have proof. There were over 500 documented eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that is just a historical fact. We know that the Bible contains over 1000 prophecies, over 500 of which have been fulfilled and documented as historical facts. A prophecy is just history written in advance and only God is the author of history. All the other fake religions and false gods throughout history haven’t raised anyone from the dead nor have they fulfilled even one prophecy between them. You see, they can’t because they’re all fake. All the false gods of this world are powerless and they stand mute before our Lord, the true God of creation. I was saved unto eternal life in heaven when I was twelve years old by my profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God’s saving grace is available to anyone who comes to him in prayer. Googe “sinner’s prayer” and pray it to God, in faith, and you’ll be saved too.

The mind is a funny thing. Have you ever noticed whenever you buy a certain make, model, and year of car from that point forward your mind notices every other car on the road that is the same as yours? You don’t have to make a conscious effort to do it. Your mind just automatically does it. Our mind is the greatest supercomputer in the universe and it looks for the familiar, what it knows, what it feels comfortable with. In my case, my mind is fully engaged in pursuing the primary focus of my life, which is to witness for Christ to save, “one more for Jesus” every single day. I know God’s word as well as anyone not in the ministry. When I read the Bible my mind automatically recognizes the truths of God I’m already familiar with and know in my spirit. Every new revelation from God is like finding a long-lost friend. Bible verses that talk about witnessing for Christ flash like neon signs for those of us dedicated to sharing the gospel message of Christ with all nations and all people. When we say Bible affirmations in prayer before God it’s the same thing as saying yes to God. You’re quoting a Bible verse and then saying you’ll obey it.

Long ago the Holy Spirit gave me the ministry of studying God’s word and giving my testimony about God. This unquenchable thirst for God’s word led me to create two Christian blog sites, www.onemoreforjesus.net and www.christinatractministry.com. I have witnessed for Christ one on one and saved nonbelievers to heaven, but let’s face it, those opportunities are few and far between. The niche God has chosen for me is to witness for Christ by sowing the gospel seed “passively” through the written word of my two blogs and my Christian tract ministry where I distribute Christian tracts containing the written gospel message and the sinner’s prayer on the back page. My tracts primarily go to my seven prison ministries. I’ve been personally handing out Christian tracts for the last ten years wherever I go. This way I leverage my witness for Christ to reach the most people possible. It also happens to be the easiest and cheapest way I know to reach nonbelievers.

In my twenty years of studying God’s word and giving my testimony about Jesus Christ I have distributed over 40,000 Christian tracts, somewhere around 2000 Bibles, and several hundred Christian books and gospel comics. My thirst for God’s word only gets greater and my commitment to God only gets stronger. In the last five years I’ve posted almost 700 blogs on my two Christian websites. The vast majority of my blogs revolve around the twin themes of my website, which are to, “study God’s word” and “witness for Christ.” Every day I wake up with the same mantra, which is to save, “one more for Jesus.” You might call me a boring person or even a “one-trick pony” because of my obsession with serving my God. I live to serve God and I make no apologies for it. I’m always thinking about the best way to leverage my witness for Christ so that I can save more nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven. I’ve been indwelt by the Holy Spirit since the age of twelve so the Lord abides in me. As I read the Bible daily and pray to God multiple times a day I’m also abiding in the Lord. I’m in fellowship with my creator. When I read my Bible my mind picks up on virtually every verse that pertains to witnessing for Christ, and there are many.

The number one commandment from God to believers is to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with nonbelievers so that they too can be saved unto eternal life in heaven by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Saving lost souls to heaven is the only way we will ever please God and the only way we’ll ever build up honor, glory, and treasure in heaven. Every day I say yes to God by speaking my Bible affirmations to God in prayer. My Bible affirmations are prayers of rejoicing to the God who made me. My Bible affirmations help me keep my eyes on Jesus as I faithfully witness for Christ in obedience to God’s word. It’s not by accident that my Bible affirmations are centered around verses where the Lord commands believers to share the gospel message of Christ. It’s not by accident that my Bible affirmations confirm my obedience to God’s word and ask God to fulfill his word through me. You cannot achieve God’s salvation plan for your life without asking for the Lord’s help. You cannot save nonbelievers to heaven without God’s help so ask him.

MONDAY AFFIRMATIONS (continued):

Matthew 4:19 – (Jesus to Peter and Andrew) – Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Mark 1:17 – (Jesus to Peter and Andrew) – Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.

Luke 5:10 – (Jesus to Peter) – Do not be afraid, from now on you will catch men.

MY AFFIRMATION:

As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I’m a fisherman for God. I’ll fish for the souls of nonbelievers all the days of my life to catch them for heaven. In obedience to Almighty God I affirm that I’ll fulfill the Great Commission given to me by Jesus, which is to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with all nations and all people. Strengthen me O Lord, and help me, as I work in your harvest field alongside you to help save many lost souls to heaven.

NOTE: The New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic gospels because they chronicle the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and he came down from heaven to die on the cross for the sins of all men past, present, and future. But Jesus also came to earth for another reason which most people don’t know about or tend to forget if they do know. The life and ministry of Jesus Christ was intended to be an example for all believers to follow. God wants all Christians to emulate the life of Jesus in the way they live their lives. Jesus lived a life without sin and fallen man will never come close to that perfect life but we can try our best, and that is achieved by daily Bible reading, daily prayer, and obedience to the commandments of God. Every believer should be familiar with the actions taken by Jesus during his ministry. Study your Bible. I suggest you order your copy of, “In the Footsteps of Jesus” by Jean-Pierre Isbouts, if you want a more in-depth study of the life of Jesus.

In the three verses above Jesus is selecting his first disciples. Did Jesus Christ pick educated men, rich men, or powerful men to be his disciples? No. Instead, Jesus chose simple illiterate fishermen who couldn’t read or write. As he walked along the shores of the Sea of Galilee (a large lake), Jesus selected four fishermen to be his first four disciples (Peter, Andrew, John, and James). Jesus chose these men because of their vocation as fishermen as an example to all of us that those whom Jesus calls must also be fishermen. A fisherman is the perfect metaphor for those who witness Christ because we all can understand it immediately. The fish are nonbelievers, the boat is heaven, the net is the gospel, and the fishermen are believers catching nonbelievers by casting their nets.

Mt. 4:19 and Mk. 1:17 are almost identical verses. When God says something more than once it’s very important to him so we need to pay particular attention to what is being said. Notice that Jesus never had a conversation with any of his chosen disciples to see if they were interested in the position. The universe was created by the spoken word of God. Everything obeys the word of God and Jesus is God. When Jesus used the authoritative “command” voice of God the disciples immediately obeyed because they had no choice in the matter. Luke’s account of this story in Luke 5:10 is a little different because Jesus is only speaking to Peter. All of the future disciples had been out fishing all night on the Sea of Galilee without catching any fish. Jesus directed them to fish in another area of the lake and Peter obeyed. They netted so many fish they couldn’t get them all into the boat.

In the first part of Luke 5:10, Jesus is telling Peter, “do not be afraid” because the disciples had just seen a miracle by catching so many fish and the realization hit them that Jesus was God. In Luke 5:10, Jesus goes on to say, “you will catch men.” So we have three gospels where the first thing Jesus says when he recruits his disciples is basically, “I’m expecting you to witness for Christ” to save nonbelievers to heaven. It’s the dearest thing to God’s heart and it’s the number one thing Jesus expects from his disciples. As believers we’re disciples of Jesus too so that command is for us as much as it is for the original disciples. When the Bible says believers are to do “good works” before the Lord God is talking about witnessing for Christ to save lost souls to heaven. The more souls we help save to heaven the greater the honor, glory, and riches God will bestow on us on the last day. There is a pecking order in heaven and where we rank depends on the number of nonbelievers we save to heaven.

This story in the gospel of Luke where Peter catches a boat full of fish is there for another compelling reason. Notice that the disciples caught no fish on their own but once the power of God intervened their catch was tremendous. So, as a believer witnessing for Christ, you might catch a fish on your own once in a while by sheer luck. However, once you start to pray to the Lord for his help during your witness you bring the Holy Spirit on the scene, both in you and with you. By adding prayers to God you can harvest many more for heaven ((i.e., believers) for heaven than you can by working alone. Saving nonbelievers to heaven is a partnership between the Holy Spirit and man so take advantage of it.

Man does 20% of the work involved is saving someone and the Holy Spirit does the other 80%. The Holy Spirit does all the heavy lifting. The Holy Spirit doesn’t help us. We help the Holy Spirit. It’s just that God is graciously giving us credit for the soul saved to heaven, even though God did most of the work. As you witness for Christ to nonbelievers you should be praying for God’s blessing before, during, and after your witness. After all, it’s the Holy Spirit who saves people to heaven, not us. Praise God for his mercy and grace because all the glory belongs to God when someone is saved. As disciples of Christ, we’re merely vessels put here for God’s pleasure. God will give believers the honor, glory, and riches they deserve when they stand before the bema judgment seat of Christ on the last day, based on our obedience to the commandments of God during our lifetime.

There are several types of prayers to God, one of which is the seldom-used prayer of rejoicing. Bible affirmations are merely prayers of rejoicing meant to glorify God. I’ve learned that Bible affirmations are the best way for me to express joy in the Lord and also the best way for me to remain in fellowship with my creator. You can’t stray far from God if you speak daily Bible affirmations because they will keep your eyes on Jesus. I think it’ll work that way with everyone. Bible affirmations differ from other types of prayers because they are “set” prayers, as opposed to “extemporary” prayers. Now if you’re good at extemporaneous prayers and you have a photographic memory you don’t need Bible affirmations.

For those of us who don’t have that skill set Bible affirmations work well for us because they say what needs to be said. With Bible affirmations our prayers are consistent and we don’t forget anything. Using Bible affirmations is not weird. It makes perfect sense. God isn’t offended when you pray to him using prayers you’ve written down on index cards beforehand. Just because you wrote your prayer down on an index card doesn’t negate the fact that it’s still your personal prayer to God and therefore not a vain repetition in the eyes of God. God is still glorified by our prayers whether we read them off an index card or speak our prayers extemporaneously, as long as we speak the truth from our heart. The key thing is to speak God’s word before the throne of grace while also declaring obedience to God.

Bible affirmations may not be extemporary but they are nonetheless prayers to God that are personalized, thorough, and complete. That makes Bible affirmations the perfect repeatable prayer and we know repetition is one of the ways we train our mind and spirit in godliness. When we pray to God using Bible affirmations we’re saying “yes”, we’ll obey the commandments of God. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray what did Jesus do? Jesus taught them the Lord’s Prayer, which is a Bible affirmation and also a prayer of rejoicing (see Matthew 6:9-13). I don’t know of any believing Christian that hasn’t at some point in their life recited the Lord’s Prayer before God. I keep the Lord’s Prayer on my desk so I can pray it before God several times a week. The Lord’s Prayer is perfect and it makes me feel closer to God. The fact that we have the Lord’s Prayer in the Bible given to us as an example of how we are to pray to God the Father just confirms to me that we have God’s approval to freely use Bible affirmations in prayer.

MONDAY AFFIRMATIONS (continued):

Proverbs 14:25 – A true witness delivers souls, but a deceitful witness speaks lies.

Proverbs 11:30 – The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.

James 5:20 – He who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death.

NOTE: In this particular Bible affirmation I’ve included three Bible verses because they say essentially the same thing but with different words. Taken together as a whole they help explain more fully what God is telling us to do. Proverbs 14:25 tells us Christian believers are true witnesses because Jehovah is the one true God and the followers of all the other fake religions and false gods sponsored by Satan are deceitful witnesses. A true witness speaks the truth of God, the gospel message of Jesus Christ, to save and deliver souls unto eternal life in heaven. By the same token, a deceitful witness does not tell the truth. He tells lies to hide the truth of God from nonbelievers so that their soul is taken down to the pit by Satan. If a deceitful witness actually thinks he’s telling the truth then he’s a fool according to God, because the truth of God is self-evident. All we have to do is look at the universe around us and read God’s word. How hard is that? The Bible describes God’s salvation plan for man, which calls for believers to save nonbelievers to heaven by their witness for Christ.

There are numerous scriptures where God refers to believers who save lost souls to heaven as being “wise.” God uses the metaphor of “fruit” to represent a soul saved for heaven. When God uses the term “righteous” he’s referring to saved Christians indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Sharing the gospel message of Christ is the “good works” believers are to do here on earth. Believers are commanded to “redeem” their time on earth by saving nonbelievers to heaven. The only pathway to heaven is through Jesus Christ; by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior because he died for our sins. If anyone preaches a different gospel than this then he is deceitful and he is a liar who will face the wrath of God on the last day. James 5:20 makes it clear that God expects all believers to witness for Christ to turn sinners away from the error of their way which leads to the pit for all eternity. At our conception God gives each of us an eternal spirit so we become immortal beings in that instant. When God talks about us in his word, in spiritual terms, “life” means eternal life in heaven, and “death” means eternal death in hell. Believers witnessing for Christ to nonbelievers can save a soul from eternal death in hell and deliver that soul to eternal life in heaven. That is our job!

MY AFFIRMATION:

I will bless the Lord daily for allowing me to help save nonbelievers from death. With the help of Almighty God, I will deliver lost souls to the kingdom of heaven through my true witness for Jesus Christ. I will be wise in the eyes of the Lord by winning souls for God. As the righteousness of Christ, I will produce much fruit for heaven all the days of my life. May the Lord grant me forty years in his service or until Jesus comes in the air for his saints.

NOTE: Bible affirmations are personal to the individual and no two are alike. At the end of this Bible affirmation I’m making a request to God that has no reference to the verse or verses in question. I do this quite often. In my study of God’s word I noticed that during Old Testament times the Lord often allowed many of his prophets, priests, and kings to serve him for forty years. The number forty is important to God. I’m jealous of that because I was a backslider for forty years and I pray daily that God will let me serve him for forty years like his servants of old. If God grants my prayers I’ll live until I’m 92 years old (I’m 72 now).

Another problem is I’m a student of prophecy and a lover of the coming rapture of believers to meet Jesus in the air. I’ve calculated that Jesus will come in the air for his saints on Pentecost of 2033 or shortly thereafter. That’s only a short nine years away. I know it’s a fool’s errand to predict what God will do but I can’t help myself. I have always loved Bible prophecy and trying to figure out God’s timeline for the end of times. If my guess is correct, that means the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the Mount of Olives will be seven years after the rapture (sometime in 2040). I’ve asked the Lord to bless my life so that I’m alive should my predicted rapture date be correct. I continually pray to God to let me be raptured alive to meet Jesus in the air to receive my glorified body, before I return to heaven to be with Jesus Christ forever. Basically, I’m asking the Lord to spare me the sting of death if he’s returning soon. Since I don’t know the end from the beginning, but God does, I’ve asked God to grant my prayers based on whichever scenario that I’ve just described comes first; because God knows the end from the beginning. God’s will is perfect. God’s timing is perfect. I have total trust is in the Lord to do what’s best for me because he loves me and wants the best for me. Praise God!

When you speak Bible affirmations before the Lord you’re saying “yes” to God that you will obey one and possibly all 129 commandments from God that are contained in the Bible, many of which are redundant. Wilmington’s Guide to the Bible has a complete list of the commandments of God, or you can do an internet search to find them. Either way, you have no excuse for not knowing what the commandments of God are. Being ignorant about what God requires of you is not an acceptable excuse before the Lord. To maintain fellowship with the Lord you need to keep saying “yes” to God every day if you can, but at least weekly.

In a loud and clear voice give your testimony before God that you will “obey” the specific commandments of God you’re mentioning in your affirmation. By your affirmation you’re swearing an oath of obedience before the throne of grace, the host of heaven, and Satan and his fallen angels. You’re making a very public promise to God before a spiritual audience, which is no small thing because God expects you to keep your promises. The Bible says we shouldn’t be making any oaths at all but if we do decide to make an oath we need to make sure our “yes” means “yes” and our “no” means “no.”

The Bible says that we’re saved by our lips but we’re also condemned by what we say. The Bible says we can have what we ask for in prayer as long as we believe that God will answer our prayers. That’s a promise from God and we know that God cannot lie. One of the spiritual truths of heaven is prayers don’t work without faith. Make sure you think before you open your mouth and then ask God for what you need, and then do what you say you’ll do or don’t say it at all. The spoken word is very important to God! In essence, you’re entering into a legally binding verbal contract with God.

In his word, God promises to bless all believers who obey his commandments. God decides who to bless and how much. God’s blessings are dependent upon our actions. God is generous to a fault and we get to keep what we earn for all eternity. The important thing for us to remember is that God is always good, constant, and ever faithful to forgive us of our sins and grant our prayers. God is never arbitrary or vengeful. That means God is consistent in his application of the blessings he dispenses. God is fair to everyone and God will fulfill all his promises. We can be sure we’ll get all the blessings we deserve from God both during our lifetime on earth and forever in heaven.

I have around sixty Bible affirmations I speak before the Lord. I wrote them on 4″ X 6″ index cards and I broke them down into five equal stacks; one for each day of the work week (Monday through Friday). I usually take a break at the weekend. Sometimes I get busy and miss a day here and there. But then I pick up where I left off so I may wind up mixing up my days quite a bit. The important thing is I do all my affirmations in the same order every week and the contents of each stack of affirmations are fairly consistent. However, the contents of my affirmations are always changing slightly over time and evolving as I speak them to God because I keep tweaking them to make them better.

When I glorify God by speaking his word after him (the holy Scriptures) I want to make sure my affirmation, first of all, fits the verse and, second, that the actions I promise to take are consistent with and obedient to the commandments of God. When speaking to God you never pray just once and think you’re done. Repetition is a good thing so keep praying without ceasing until God answers your prayers. God wants us to pray continually because God is glorified when we pray to him. Praying daily to God keeps us in fellowship with our creator. When you say something over and over, especially in prayer, it trains your mind and your spirit. When the human mind hears something over and over it accepts what it hears as the truth which is why we need to be careful what we feed our mind. I’m now going to review my Bible affirmations, one at a time, to see how they’ve changed since I last talked about them in my blog. I’ll start with my stack of Monday affirmations:

MONDAY AFFIRMATIONS:

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.

NOTE: The above scripture is one of my favorite verses. I keep it on my desk so I can read it every morning while I drink my pot of coffee. 2 Corinthians 5:18 tells us pretty much all we need to know about God. From this scripture we know that God made us, the earth, and the entire universe. Notice the verse doesn’t say all things are “from” God; the verse says all things are “of” God. That’s an important distinction. It means God is inseparable from his creation. God can exist without his creation but God’s creation cannot exist without God’s guiding hand. The universe rotates and moves in perfectly synchronized motion, like clockwork, only because of God’s continuous involvement. That means we exist, live, and breathe only because of God’s favor by his upturned hand. The day that God withdraws his favor from man and removes his hand the universe will melt away into nothingness.

2 Corinthians 5:18 tells us man was separated from God by Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden. Adam was the first man on earth and his original sin broke his fellowship with God the Father, and this sin and broken fellowship was passed down to all men who came after Adam. We know that God sent his son Jesus Christ to reconcile man to God; to restore the fellowship between God and man by dying on the cross in our place so that the sins of man could be forgiven by a just and merciful God through our faith. We are saved to heaven when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. As a child of God, each believer is commanded to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with all nations and all people.

The above verse says we are given the “ministry of reconciliation” from God, which is just another way of saying we are to “witness for Christ.” This is not a request from God; it’s a commandment from God. If we want to please God on the last day when we stand before the bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ believers must fulfill the Great Commission, which is to share the gospel message of Christ with all nations and all people. It’s the number one commandment from God to believers. It’s the thing dearest to God’s heart. Every single day more than 160,000 nonbelievers are dying and going straight to hell for lack of a witness for Christ. Keep in mind that 90% of the saints in heaven are there through faith in Jesus alone, never having saved even one person to heaven by their witness for Christ.

We are all creatures made by the hands of God, therefore every soul is priceless to God. Believers must do everything in their power to save at least one nonbeliever to the kingdom of heaven if they want to receive honor, glory, and riches from God on the last day. It stands to reason that if every soul is priceless to God then saving even one person to heaven will result in some level of honor, glory, and riches from God. How could it be otherwise? Saving one person puts you into the top 10% of the saints in heaven. Of course, God wants us to save as many people to heaven as we can but one will do. If you don’t save at least one person to heaven you’ll be like 90% of the saints in heaven and be a worker bee forever.

The more souls we save the higher up the pecking order we are in heaven and the more honor, glory, and riches God will bestow upon us. I don’t know about you but I want more of everything God has to offer and I’m willing to work for it because I know whatever I earn by my “good works” down here will last forever in heaven. I have a good pension because I worked hard all my life to achieve it. My pension ends when I die. When I work hard for the Lord the pension he’ll give me will last forever because I’ll never die. As believers, we can’t save everyone but we can save some. Some believers will save thirty people to heaven, some sixty, and some one hundred. God says a hundred people saved to heaven is a good harvest. One percent of the saints in heaven will save “many” nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven and one day they’ll shine as the stars in the firmament like it says in Daniel 12:3.

As I’ve strived to save nonbelievers to heaven the last ten years the number 1000 kept popping up in my head as the goal I should shoot for. Did that number come from my mind or did it come from the Holy Spirit? I wasn’t sure so I prayed to God for months seeking the answer. God finally answered my prayers through another believer and confirmed to me that 1000 souls saved for heaven will qualify as saving “many” in the eyes of God. During my witness for Christ I calculate that I’ve saved over a hundred lost souls to the kingdom of heaven, to the glory of God. I used to keep track of how many people I’ve saved to heaven by my ministry. I don’t need to keep count anymore because I’ve already saved more than 100 people, which is more than 95% of the saints in heaven.

However, I’m not satisfied with only saving 100 people; not when there are hundreds of thousands of my nonbelieving brothers and sisters who are dying every day and going to hell for all eternity. Not on my watch! Somebody has to save them. So I keep my head down, working hard in God’s harvest every day. My mantra every single day is to save, “one more for Jesus.” It’s the first thing I think about every morning when my eyes open and it’s the last on my mind when I go to bed at night. I won’t stop until I reach the goal God gave me, which is to save 1000 nonbelievers to heaven.

I’ll run the race God has given me to run, with perseverance, until the Lord decides to take me home. Saving people to heaven is the only “good work” worth doing in this world and time is short. It’s the only thing that has any real impact on our eternal existence because our honor, glory, and riches in heaven will depend on how many people we save. In the book of Ecclesiastes King Solomon said life is meaningless apart from a right relationship with God and he was right. A right relationship with God is maintained when we witness for Christ as often as we can to save nonbelievers to heaven.

MY AFFIRMATION:

“Thank you God for creating the universe and making me who I am. Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins. I bless you Lord for calling me to salvation unto eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I’m grateful for the “good works” you have given me to do on earth. I’m blessed to have the privilege of working alongside my King in his harvest field to help save lost souls to heaven by my witness for Christ. With perseverance, I will spread the gospel seed of Christ “passively” through my two Christian blog sites and my Christian tract ministry to save “one more for Jesus” every day on my walk with God. O Lord, use the gospel seed I cast before you to save many nonbelievers to heaven through your Holy Spirit.”

NOTE: I always make sure my affirmation confirms the truth of every Bible verse I’m talking about as well as my obedience to God’s commandments. It glorifies God to speak his word after him just as it glorifies God when I also affirm my obedience. We need to thank God continually for calling us and saving us. Throughout human history God has only called about one out of every thousand people to heaven. If we find ourselves to be one of the lucky ones, the few going to heaven, we should thank God profusely every day of our life. If you’re saved unto heaven it’s like winning the ultimate lottery, the lottery of eternal life! God gives each of us a ministry whether we know it or not and I’m fortunate enough to know what my ministry is. Do you what yours is? Why don’t you ask God to tell you?

Long ago the Holy Spirit gave me the ministry of studying God’s word and giving my testimony. The Holy Spirit gave me an unquenchable thirst for God’s word, which has never left me to this day. Praise God! However, it took me a while to figure out what the Holy Spirit was trying to tell me. Over time my ministry has evolved into my Christian blog and my Christian tract ministry, for which I’m thankful to God. Saving someone to heaven is a partnership between man and the Holy Spirit, who is both in us and with us as we share our witness for Christ. God’s salvation plan for man calls for human hands to do the “good work” of God on this earth by our witness for Christ. But it’s God’s wisdom and guidance in us and with us that saves nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven. All the glory goes to God.

Man does 20% of the work required to save someone and God does the other 80%. God does the heavy lifting. Our job is to plant and water the gospel seed by our witness for Christ, but the harvest, the increase, belongs to God. We are all merely vessels made by God for his pleasure. We are the care giver for our fellow man through our witness for Christ. God is the cure giver for all men because he gifts what we all desperately need, which is salvation unto eternal life in heaven. God saves whom he chooses to save, by his love, mercy, and grace. God doesn’t need us to save man. God graciously lets man help save others so he can give us honor, glory, and riches in heaven for our obedience.

As you share your witness for Christ with nonbelievers make sure you pray to God for his help before, during, and after your witness because God does the saving not you. Ask the Holy Spirit within you, your Helper, to help bring your prayers before the throne of grace in such a manner that they are acceptable to God and pleasing in his sight. Ask Jesus, as your Mediator, to argue your case before the court of heaven. I know that continuous prayers to God will exponentially increase the number of lost souls God will add to your account in heaven, for which you’ll be rewarded on the last day. Just don’t go before God empty-handed. Rejoice in the Lord, for he loves us!