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I’m a disciple of Christ, and I serve the Lord Jehovah, the one true God of this world. God made me like he made every other person who has ever lived. So why am I one of the lucky ones to be gifted salvation unto eternal life in heaven? We know from scripture that God loves all his creatures equally and wants all of us in heaven with him forevermore. So why is it that only a very few people actually make it to heaven, and why was I chosen to be in that select company? Don’t get me wrong. I’m eternally grateful that God saved me, but what made God choose me over someone else? And when did God choose me? What did God see in me that made me worthy of his saving grace? When I look at the span of human history I’m guessing that probably only one out of every thousand people who ever lived will wind up in heaven. Why is it that the number is so small? The answer of course is Satan. God chose me for salvation because of my faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Peter 1:3 – As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory virtue.

2 Peter 2:9 – But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Ephesians 4:4 – There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.

Galatians 1:6 – I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel.

You have to remember that God once made millions of angels to serve him in heaven. Each angel had their own mind but God didn’t give them a choice whether they wanted to serve God or not. As a result, one third of the angels rebelled against God under the leadership of Lucifer, the most powerful angel. God defeated Lucifer and his fallen angels and they were incarcerated on earth. God gave Lucifer the name Satan, which means “adversary.” Satan is our adversary, not God’s. The fallen angels that came to earth with Satan we refer to as demons. God made the universe, the earth, and man. God made man to be a citizen of heaven who will one day fellowship with Jesus in his sight forever. God put man on this earth to first find God and then to make the free will decision to serve God or Satan. There will be no more rebellions in heaven because God requires man to first decide that’s where he wants to live. You’d be wise to choose honor and glory in heaven forevermore over condemnation and dishonor in hell for all eternity. You’d be wise to choose joy, wonder and riches over pain, agony, and suffering.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 – But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Galatians 5:13 – For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

2 Timothy 1:14 – That good thing which was committed to you (salvation), keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us (believers).

Acts 2:39 – For the promise is to you and your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.

I know God gave man his word (our Holy Bible) to help us find God and to show us the way to salvation unto eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ, the son of God, as our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ came down from heaven to die on the cross in our place so that a merciful God could forgive our sins and allow man to choose service to God. God graciously put his Holy Spirit on earth to indwell all believers as our helper, so that each time the Bible is read the Holy Spirit is there with us ready to convict the hearer of their sin if their heart is ready to receive the gospel message of Christ and then accept God’s saving grace. If man chooses to serve the Lord by a profession of faith in Jesus Christ it’s the Holy Spirit that then translates the sinner from eternal death in hell to eternal life in heaven. It’s the Holy Spirit that writes the believer’s name in the book of life. Only God can save us. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God.

Romans 9:11 – For the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to the election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 – He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

1 Corinthians 1:9 – God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Philippians 3:13-14 – But one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Our personal salvation is the most important decision we’ll ever make because it lasts for all eternity. Man is an immortal being because God is immortal. God gave us a piece of himself at our conception so how could it be otherwise? It’s our destiny to live forever in heaven with our heavenly father as adopted sons of the Most High. But the thing is, to fulfill our destiny we must make the choice to serve God of our own free will before our heart stops beating because once we die it’s then too late to choose God. The die is cast. Let me be crystal clear; failure to choose God will result in man being hurled into the lake of fire and brimstone on the last day for all eternity where they will be in pain, agony, and suffering 24/7 forever. How long is eternity? A trillion billion years is only a day in eternity. Do you get the mental picture? Avoid that fate at all costs! Get on your knees before God right now and pray the sinner’s prayer to God in faith, and you will be saved unto eternal life in heaven because you have God’s promise and God cannot lie.

John 6:44 – (Jesus) – No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Matthew 22:14 – (Jesus) – For many are called, but few are chosen.

1 Peter 1:15 – But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Thessalonians 1:5 – For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance.

What exactly is the “call” of God? There are dozens of Bible verses where God refers to calling man. In fact, 13 of the 16 Bible verses referenced in this blog up to this point were selected because they mention God calling us:

called us by glory

called you out of darkness

called us in one hope

called you in the grace of Christ

called you by our gospel

called to liberty

call for the promise

called into the fellowship

God calls, he will do it

It’s obvious to me that God, through his word, is calling all men to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Our salvation is the end result of God’s call but the means of that salvation is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the “good news” that Jesus preached during his ministry on earth. The important verse for me is Matthew 22:14, where Jesus said, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” The scriptures confirm that God has put eternity in the hearts of men so that we’ll know in our spirit that there is a God. Man will never be truly happy until they fill the void in their heart with the God who made them. In Psalm 19:1 God declares that all men know of the existence of God by what he has made. The Holy Bible has worldwide distribution so nobody can say on the last day that they couldn’t find the true God because the Bible is proof of God and it documents the path to eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. All a person has to do is read God’s word and believe it and if you don’t even open the Bible and give it a chance, that’s on you. On the last day there is simply no acceptable excuse for rejecting God’s saving grace.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Psalm 19:1 – The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.

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

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

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.

So God calls on all his creatures to be saved unto eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. However, Matthew 22:14 assures us that few are chosen. That means that while all men are called by God only a very few will actually take God up on his offer of eternal life in heaven in the presence of Jesus. God knows who will be saved and who won’t because he knows the end from the beginning. Still, God is just and fair to all men so he calls everyone. Every creature God has made has an equal shot at heaven. God did not make any man with the express intent of sending them to hell. God doesn’t work that way. God is love and he wants all his children to prosper. Believers make the free will choice to serve God by a declaration of faith in Jesus but it is God who then chooses the believer as a son of God who will then reside in heaven forever. It pleases God to save us because of our faith in Christ and we know God promises to save us and God cannot lie. Remember, we don’t save ourselves. Only God can save us. God through his mercy pulls us up to heaven because he made us and he loves us dearly. When God reaches his hand down to pull you up to glory don’t slap it away because if you do you’ll feel God’s wrath on the last day. Instead, grab hold of God’s extended hand and hold on tight. The Bible says no one can take you out of God’s hand.

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.

2 Corinthians 9:8 – And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have abundance for every good work.

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

Revelation 22:12 – (Jesus) – And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.

My question to you is this; “Have you answered God’s call?” If you haven’t; why not? The entire Bible is God’s revelation of Jesus Christ and his saving grace through faith in him. In his word God speaks literally and in plain language so that anyone can understand what the Lord is saying. I know Satan has put blinders over the eyes of nonbelievers so they cannot see the truth of God. I know that Satan has sponsored fake religions and false gods throughout human history in order to fool man and keep them from finding the one true God of creation. That’s why millions of nonbelievers are dying every day and going straight to hell. I get that. However, it’s the responsibility of every believer to do the work God has given them to do, which is to witness for Christ to the nonbeliever and help them overcome Satan’s interference in order to seek out God for their salvation. God made you, he loves you, and he’s patiently waiting for you to come to him. God won’t come to you but he’ll meet you more than half way. What are you waiting for? Let’s go! What do you have to lose? Only your immortal soul, because death could come for you today. The rapture could also occur at any moment and your opportunity to meet Jesus Christ in the air will be gone if you haven’t accepted God’s saving grace. I know the truth of God and I’m pouring my heart out to you in love so you’ll understand. This is my testimony of God!

Colossians 3:2 – Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

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

James 4:2 – Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

Philippians 4:6 – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

We need to define some terms so we’re all on the same page. To be “saved” means we have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. So every person who believes in God the Father and accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is saved unto eternal life in heaven and when they die they’ll be in the presence of the Lord for all eternity. Do you think of yourself as a Christian, a believer, or both? There are 2.5 billion people on this earth who identify themselves as Christian but most of them are not. Many people think they’re Christians simply because they attend a Christian church once in a while. They may belong to a Christian church and go through the motions of being a church member without ever having given their life to Jesus by a profession of faith. They think they’re saved Christians simply because of their participation in a local Christian church of their choice but they’re sadly mistaken. The majority of people who identify as Christians aren’t really saved at all but they think they are, and therein lies the problem. On the other hand, if you consider yourself to be a “believer” it means you have probably accepted God’s saving grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, which automatically makes you a Christian. Just by calling yourself a Christian doesn’t make you one. Saying you’re a “believer” doesn’t mean you’re actually “saved” from hell and “saved” to heaven.

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

1 Timothy 2:3-4 – For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 – For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance.

Luke 24:46 – (Jesus speaking) – Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.

The word Christian means “Christ’s men” and if you’re not saved the moniker doesn’t apply to you so don’t use it. You’re not a Christian unless you’re indwelt by Jesus Christ himself and that doesn’t happen unless you invite Jesus into your heart and your life. Don’t fool yourself and others by calling yourself a Christian if you don’t belong to Jesus. You know who you are. God put man on this earth to be tested. God gives man the free will decision to serve God or Satan. If you choose Satan or fail to choose God then you will burn in hell forever. It’s as simple as that. But what happens if you choose God? You will live forever in heaven in the presence of Jesus Christ. God doesn’t take believers to heaven as soon as they’re saved. Why is that? What is God’s salvation plan for man? God came to earth in the incarnation of Jesus Christ not only to save us from our sins by his substitutionary death on the cross but also to use his ministry to save the lost. The life of Jesus is an example for all believers to follow so that we might continue the work of God after Jesus ascended back to heaven. Study the life and times of Jesus Christ so you can emulate what he did during his ministry and then do what Jesus says we are to do, which is to share the “good news”, the gospel message that Christ, the son of God has died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.

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.

Romans 4:4 – Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

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

Romans 10:17 – So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Obey the Lord’s commandments if you want to please God. Nothing is more important to God than obedience. We have no fellowship with the God who made us if we don’t obey his commandments. There are 129 commandments from God in the Bible that are directed to believers, although a lot of them are redundant. You can find a list of them in any good Bible guide. You’d be wise to learn what God expects of us. The number one command of God is to share the gospel message of Christ; “the good news” that Jesus Christ, the son of God, came to die on the cross in our place so that our sins against God could be forgiven. After three days in the earth Jesus rose from the dead and by his resurrection he confirmed that he is God and the sins of man are forgiven if they believe on the name of Jesus for their own salvation and resurrection. Before Jesus ascended back to heaven he gave his disciples the Great Commission, which is to witness for Christ; to share to gospel message with all nations and all people. This is the number one commandment of God for all believers because the most important thing to God is saving the souls of as many of his creatures as possible for the kingdom of heaven. This is the reason believers are left on this earth after their salvation. Believers are saved by other believers otherwise few of us would see heaven. Somebody helped save you by sharing the gospel so you owe it nonbelievers to do likewise. This is your reasonable service to the God who made you.

Mark 16:15 – (Jesus speaking) – Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Titus 2:15 – Speak these things (the gospel), exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.

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

Luke 10:2 – (Jesus speaking) – The harvest is truly great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

New believers start out on the spiritual milk of God’s word and through daily prayer and Bible reading they progress on to the spiritual meat of the scriptures so they can be used by God as a vessel in his salvation plan for man. God’s goal for every believer is that they become “fishers of men” who help in God’s harvest field to reap lost souls for the kingdom of heaven. The gospels of both Matthew and Mark contain the story of Jesus encountering Peter and his brother Andrew at the beginning of his ministry and he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” “Follow me” means to accept by faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, sent from heaven to save mankind from their sins. “I will make you fishers of men” is Jesus letting the disciples know their ultimate purpose on this earth is to fish for the souls of nonbelievers through their witness for Christ so that some might be saved unto eternal life in heaven. All disciples of Christ start out equal in God’s eyes and by their work for God each builds up their own honor, glory and treasure, which they will receive from Jesus on the last day. As believers we’re also all disciples of Jesus Christ and our main purpose is also to witness for Christ; to share the gospel message with all nations and all peoples and also to give our personal testimony about God and his saving grace.

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

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

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 in the Lord.

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

Change your paradigm. Stop just thinking of yourself as just a believer. In your mind start thinking of yourself as a “fisher of men” because that’s how God sees you. That’s what God wants you to be. That is what you can become if you tell yourself you are a “fisher of men” and then work toward that goal every day of your life, along with daily prayer and Bible reading. All things are possible with God. Start praying for God to make you a “fisher of men” and then go read your Bible so you know how to witness and then be ready to witness for Christ when the opportunity presents itself. The scriptures say believers are to be ready to explain to the nonbeliever the reason for the faith that is within us. The Bible is there so that we can also obtain the knowledge, understanding and wisdom of God so take advantage of it or you’re flying blind in this world. The Bible is God’s wisdom so seek it.

Matthew 13:23 – But he who receives 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.

Titus 3:8 – This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

Titus 2:7 – In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility.

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.

The Bible says we’re to do good works before God and the number one good work, and the only good work that truly matters, is saving lost souls for the kingdom of God. That is the only fruit that the believer can harvest that builds up treasure in heaven for the believer. The sad thing is that 90% of the saints in heaven are there through faith in Jesus Christ alone, not having even saved one soul for the kingdom of God. Come join me as a warrior for Christ Jesus and a “fisher of men.” Walk with me down the narrow path. Make it your goal in life to save one more for Jesus every day. If you witness for Christ with this mindset every single day of your life at the end of your race you will win the prize. I will guarantee it because I know a secret. Every soul that God has made is priceless in his eyes so if you help save even one person how could God be anything other than pleased with you? More is always better but one will do. Just imagine how pleased God will be if you save many lost souls for the kingdom of God. That’s why my goal is to please God exceedingly by saving many to the kingdom of heaven. I don’t know the number that qualifies as “many” to God but for me personally, I’ve defined “many” as one thousand. The Bible says those who save “many” will shine like the starts of the firmament. I don’t know exactly what that means but it sounds good to me and I want it. God doesn’t hand out junk so whatever we receive for our obedience will exceed anything we could ever have imagined. I totally trust in God’s love for me and his provision and you should do the same.

1 Corinthians 2:9 – Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

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.

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

John 14:15 – (Jesus speaking) – If you love Me, keep My commandments.

John 8:31 – (Jesus speaking) – If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.

Today is January 2, 2024. I’m staring on my new year’s resolutions like most people. Some of my resolutions never change, like walking and exercising for my physical health and daily prayer and Bible reading for my spiritual health and well-being. If you’re a believer then God is the anchor of your soul. You are at peace with God and the peace of God abides in you. Nobody can live a truly happy and successful life without God in their life. Beginning your day with prayer and Bible reading is how the believer stays in fellowship with God. It’s how we communicate with God. If you’re not a believer who talks with God regularly you’ll drift aimlessly through your life and when you’re old you’ll wonder where the time went. When the nonbeliever approaches the end of their life they think they’ll be able to handle the prospect of death on their own but they are sadly mistaken. Nobody is ready for their death if they don’t have Jesus in their heart. I’ve read plenty of accounts of atheists and other nonbelievers who talked a good game when death is far away but on their deathbed they all ended up experiencing the same terror about their impending death; because they don’t know what comes next. Will they cease to exist or will they go to heaven or hell? At the end of their life it’ll cross the nonbeliever’s mind that they should have found out the answers to all these questions earlier. Why did I wait so long? What should I have done differently? Why didn’t I read the Bible when I had the chance?

Hebrews 9:27 – And it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.

Romans 14:12 – So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

I’ll give you the answers to life’s important questions right now and a reference so you can verify them yourself. It’s not that I’m so smart; I just know where to look for the answers. There is only one God, one Lord, and his name is Jehovah. All the other religions of the world are fakes sponsored by Satan to lead man away from the truth of God. All the other gods put forth by Satan are false gods. Satan will one day be thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone for all eternity and he wants to take as many people as he can with him to the pit. Don’t be one of them! God loves all his creatures and he wants us in heaven with him. Satan has put blinders over the eyes of the nonbeliever so they cannot see the truth of God and the path to salvation unto eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God made man with his own hands and at our conception God gives every man an eternal spirit, a piece of God himself, so that we might live forever. The physical body will die but the eternal spirit man remains forever. Heaven and hell are both real places and God made them both. At death the souls of men will immediately go to either heaven or hell. There is no third option. Heaven is where God lives and hell is where Satan is located. Those who accept Jesus, the son of God, as their personal Lord and Savior are saved unto eternal life in heaven where they’ll receive honor and glory from God. The sins of believers have been forgiven by God because of their faith in Christ Jesus, who died on the cross at Calvary so that their sins might be forgiven by a merciful God.

John 3:16 – (Jesus speaking) – 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.

Romans 10:9 – That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Death holds no fear for the believer because they know they’ll go to heaven one day. Those nonbelievers who DO NOT believe in Jesus Christ are rejecting God’s saving grace and their sins before Almighty God are not forgiven and their sins still abide on them and they will be judged on the last day when they stand before Jesus Christ at the Great White throne judgment. All nonbelievers who die without God’s forgiveness of their sins will immediately go to hell for all eternity where they’ll be in continual pain and agony forever. A trillion billion years is only one day in eternity. Just imagine bobbing up and down like a cork in the lake of fire and brimstone, in pain and torment 24/7, screaming your head off with no one to hear you or help you. That’s such a terrible fate I shudder when I think about it. It doesn’t have to end that way. You can stop it from happening to you if give your life to Jesus Christ! Google “sinner’s prayer” and then get on your knees before God and say that prayer back to God in faith; and you will be saved. You have God’s promise of salvation and God cannot lie.

Matthew 7:13-14 – (Jesus speaking) – Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Some people want the best of both worlds. They like sinning so much they tell themselves they’ll wait until the end of their life and then accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior right before they die. That way they can sin all they want in this life and still go to heaven. One of the problems with that thinking is a person could die unexpectedly and without any warning (i.e., stroke, heart attack, accident, etc.) leaving no chance to be saved. Why would anyone want to take that risk? The holy Scriptures warn us that no man knows what tomorrow brings; only God. Once the heart stops beating man’s testing time on earth is over and his fate is sealed forever. Before then man must choose to serve either God or Satan and failure to choose is the same as choosing Satan. You see, I’ve been studying God’s word, our Holy Bible, for twenty years and all the answers of life are in the book written by God through his prophets as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. If you don’t believe what I’m saying go read the Bible for yourself because the truth of God is self-evident. The wisdom of God is obvious to anyone who reads the Bible. For 2000 years no errors have been found in the Bible although many have tried. If you read the Bible from cover to cover there’s probably a 99% chance that at some point it’ll dawn on you that you’re holding the word of Almighty God in your hand. I remember when it happened to me and I was stunned. It’s something you’ll never forget when it happens to you. Go meet your God while there is still time. God knows you personally and he’s waiting patiently to speak to you.

Matthew 10:38 – (Jesus speaking) – And he who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

Matthew 6:19-20 – (Jesus speaking) – 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.

We are all living in the end times foretold in the Bible. We know it in our heart and we can feel it in our bones. I’ve been restless the last six months especially. I have this sense of foreboding that something bad is about to happen to the United States and I can’t seem to shake this feeling of doom. I’m not the only one who feels this way either. I’ve talked to other people who feel the same way. I’ve studied God’s word for almost twenty years and Bible end time prophecy has been a primary focus for me from the beginning. In previous blogs I’ve tried to figure out when the rapture will occur, when the Second Coming will happen, and who the antichrist will be. I’m not going to go through all those machinations again. You can go back in my archives and read it yourself. Instead, I’m going to start with some of those previous conclusions as a baseline premise and build on them with new information and theories about what’s going to happen in this world very soon. I believe we only have ten short years before the rapture occurs in which to do our work for God. I will present Bible verses that support my assertion. In the meantime, God commands all believers to build up treasure in heaven by witnessing for Christ in order to save as many nonbelievers as they can for the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 9:24 – Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

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 in the Lord.

Hosea 6:1-2 – Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight.

Most pastors and Bible scholars will tell you the rapture could happen at any time because they say there are no more Bible prophecies that still need to be fulfilled before Jesus Christ comes in the air and calls all believers, both dead and alive, to himself before taking the saints back to heaven with him. I totally disagree with that assessment. I admit I don’t have their education or their credentials. I’m just a believer who loves to study God’s word and in so doing I’ve come to a different conclusion than they have. Let me explain my reasoning. The key to understanding God’s rapture timeline can be found in the small Old Testament book of Hosea, chapter six, verses one and two. Let’s break these verses down to see what God is telling us about the rapture to come:

Hosea 6:1 – “Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.”

The Israelites rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah so God has torn his church from them and given it to the Gentiles. God has punished his chosen people by making them pariahs among the nations of the world. However, God has not forgotten his promise to Abraham that the Israelites will be his covenant people forever. To fulfill his word God will one day restore the Jews to their former place as the apple of God’s eye. We know that will occur at the Second Coming when Jesus will save a Jewish remnant for heaven. Don’t believe all that evolution crap. The humanist world has been pushing evolution down our throat all our lives through our education system to the point where most people believe it. It just goes to show you if you tell a lie long enough most people will believe it.

Evolution is linear and there is no way a single cell organism could crawl out of the ocean and evolve into a human being made up of thirty trillion highly specialized cells comprised of vital organs, a multitude of different body tissues and complex body systems; and topped off with the greatest computer in the universe. You’ve got to be kidding me! God created man in one 24 hour day from the dust of the earth. God created human history to be 7000 years long; 1000 years for each of the seven days of creation. One day is equal to a thousand years and a thousand years is equal to one day. This is confirmed in 2 Peter 3:8. There was roughly 2000 years between creation and Abraham; another 2000 years between Abraham and Jesus; and there will be 2000 years between Jesus and the rapture, which is the church age we’re currently living in. Finally, there will be the last 1000 year period known as the millennial reign of Jesus Christ on the earth from Jerusalem.

Hosea 6:2 – “After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in his sight.”

Since the Jews rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah the Gentiles became the church of God by default, which is why the church age we are currently living in is called the time of the Gentiles. When the church age officially ends God will then turn his attention back to his chosen people Israel; to punish them and to save a Jewish remnant on the last day. God says the church age will last for two days. We’re talking about god-days which are 1000 years long. Scripture says the church age will last for 2000 years and AFTER that length of time God will again engage with Israel for the last week of God’s dealings with Israel. This is the seventieth week foretold by the prophet Daniel. A week in God’s economy lasts for seven years. The scriptures cannot be broken and God cannot lie. That means the rapture will not occur until God’s word is fulfilled. The rapture has to wait until the time of the Gentiles has been fulfilled (2000 years).

In fact, the rapture is the event that signals the end of the church age and the end of 1000 year god-day number six. The third day referred to in Hosea is the millennium, the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ, who will rule the earth from the holy city of Jerusalem. We are currently living at the very end of the church age and the rapture is only ten years away. As believers this is a lucky time to be alive because many of us will not taste the sting of death because we will be translated while alive to meet Jesus in the air at the rapture where we’ll receive our glorified bodies. At the end of the millennium God will resurrect from hell within the earth all the nonbelievers bodily; in their condemned, putrid, and maggot-riddled bodies, to be judged by Jesus Christ at the Great White Throne judgment . They’ll be sentenced to the lake of fire for all eternity (see Mark 9:44,46,48). Now would you rather be in eternal pain and agony in a body like the one I’ve just described or would you prefer to have a glorified body kind of like the body of “superman”, and live forever in heaven? It’s a stark choice you must make and you would be wise to choose God over Satan. In fact, you’re a fool if you choose Satan over God. You don’t have to take my word for it. In the Bible that’s God’s definition of a “fool”.

2 Peter 3:8 – But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Titus 2:13 – Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 – For the Lord Himself will descend with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.

We know from the scriptures that the current church age began fifty days after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in 33 AD, which we know is the day of Pentecost. That is the day God sent his Holy Spirit to earth to indwell all believers as their helper from that day forward forever and to seal all believers as God’s possession. Even in heaven believers will always be indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. If we fast-forward the two thousand years alluded to in Hosea we know the church age will end at Pentecost in the year 2033, which falls on June 5th. God said the rapture will happen and God cannot lie. We know the church age will officially end when all believers are taken out of the world by Jesus at his appearing. All of God’s children are priceless in his eyes and therefore our goal must always be to witness the gospel of Christ in order to save at least one more for Jesus while there is still time.

If the rapture were to occur prior to June 5th in 2033 then the Bible would be wrong about the length of the church age and God would be proven to be a liar, which cannot happen. Take a deep breath and relax a bit. I love the rapture as much as you do but the rapture won’t happen for another ten years so we have plenty of time to make our plans and do the work God has given us to do. As believers we all want to be raptured to Jesus in the air some day, given our glorified bodies, and then return to heaven with the Lord. However, that day can wait because God’s work takes priority. God needs us here on earth right now so we can witness for Christ to help save nonbelievers to the kingdom of God. We’re conflicted, as the Apostle Paul was, but we know that we must be obedient to our God because millions of nonbelievers are dying every day and going straight to hell for the lack of a witness for Christ. If we don’t do it who will? We owe it to them to try and save them.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 – Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1 Corinthians 15:53 – For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Hebrews 12:2 – Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God.

In the book of Hosea God says he will raise us up on the third day. The third god-day will of course start soon after the second god-day, which officially ends with the rapture. The verse in Hosea has a dual meaning. The dead in Christ raised up at the rapture will return back to heaven with Jesus so that they can live in the sight of God forever. God will also save a Jewish remnant seven years later at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth to fulfill his covenant promise to Abraham. The saved Jews will also be raised up at that time and live in God’s sight forever. Both Jew and Gentile are equally loved children of God and both will live in heaven forever as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus . The rapture has to wait until Pentecost of 2033, at the earliest, but it could happen at a later date and still fulfill the scriptures. Let’s try to figure out the window of opportunity in which the rapture could occur. God loves the number forty for some reason which I’m unaware of, which makes me believe the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will be in 2040. We know Pentecost of 2033 falls on June 5th. That means we have almost seven months left in the calendar year in which the rapture could occur; if we think the Second Coming will happen some time in 2040. God’s timeline for prophetic events is closely associated with the Jewish people and their festivals to worship God.

Ephesians 1:11 – In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

Revelations 21:7 – He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

Colossians 1:13 – He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Sons of His love.

While we may not have a precise rapture date pinned down we do know that the date of the Second Coming will be very precise, to the day, exactly seven years after Israel signs a peace agreement. So during that seven month window when the rapture could occur (June 6th to December 31st, 2033) Israel will be at war with someone, otherwise there wouldn’t be any need to sign a peace agreement. You don’t need to sign a peace agreement if you’re already at peace. That’s just common sense. My guess is Israel will be at war with Iran or Syria, or both, and they’ll likely end hostilities with a peace agreement brokered by a third party such as NATO. Israel likes to have official signings occur on festival dates that are important to them; like Yom Kippur for instance.

Rosh Hashanah is the feast of Trumpets, which falls on September 23rd in 2033. We know that scripture says the trump of God will announce the Second Coming of Christ so there is a possible connection there. Rosh Hashanah is also the Jewish new year and the day on which God created Adam and Eve. Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement, falls on October 2nd in 2033. Israel says they are at war right now with Hamas but I’m referring to a war with another sovereign nation some time in the future. My guess is any peace signing will occur on or near Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, in 2033 because on this most sacred day of the year the Jewish high priest makes atonement for the nation’s sins. Jesus Christ is Jewish and the eternal high priest of both Jews and Christians. On the last Day who better than Jesus Christ to forgive the Jewish remnant of their sins against God on their most sacred day? That means if I’m correct the Second Coming of Jesus Christ our Lord will be on September 16, 2040 and Israel could sign a peace agreement on September 16, 2033.

Hebrews 4:4 – Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.

2 Timothy 4:8 – Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Philippians 2:9-10 – 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 earth, and of those under the earth.

Many Bible scholars think the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth will be in 2033 and the rapture in 2026 but they’re all wrong. It’s just too soon. They’re not taking into account that the church age must run its full 2000 years; two god-days. The seven year tribulation period is not a part of the church age which they assume to be the case. The rapture and the Second Coming are not one event but two separate events separated by seven years. According to the book of Daniel God will deal with Israel for 490 years. When the Jews rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah God then suspended his dealings with Israel at 483 years and gave his church to the Gentiles for the next 2000 years, at which time God will resume the seventieth week with Israel in order to fulfill the last seven years of the time God has allotted to Israel (490 years) as foretold in the book of Daniel. In the Bible the last seven years of human history is called the tribulation and the Jews refer to it as the “time of Jacob’s trouble.”

This seven year tribulation period is the time for God to pour out his wrath on Israel and the godless nations of the earth for their sins against God. The tribulation couldn’t be a part of the church age because God promises in scripture to remove the saints from the earth BEFORE he pours out his wrath on the world. God will not punish the saints whose sins he has already forgiven. Believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God forever and the scriptures confirm the Holy Spirit will also be removed from the earth before God’s wrath is poured out. The Holy Spirit can’t be removed from the earth without also removing the believers who have the Holy Spirit inside them. Once a believer has been is indwelt by the Holy Spirit he is sealed by God and the two can never be separated; not on this earth or later in heaven, forever. It’s just common sense and the scriptures confirm it over and over.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 – For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 4:30 – And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Ephesians 1:13 – In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

We know the antichrist will come from a political organization in Europe. I have always assumed the antichrist would be the head of the European Union but I’ve since changed my mind. I see what’s happening with Russia attacking Ukraine, which is scaring the heck out of everyone. All nations are banding together and looking to protect themselves from Russia and her imperialistic ambitions. Finland and Sweden could see the handwriting on the wall so they applied to be members of NATO as quickly as they could. Every nation in Europe fully understands that Putin wants to regain all of eastern Europe to resurrect the great Russian empire and Putin won’t stop until someone stops him. The Baltic countries especially are aware of this. Ukraine is the first domino that must fall for Russia which is why everyone is arming Ukraine. Everyone knows they could be next on Putin’s agenda.

Looking at the book of Revelation, I always wondered what would scare these European counties enough for them to give up their national sovereignty and give their common defense to one organization; one man. The answer is obviously Russia, and Russia is on the march as I write this blog. Russia is getting their butt kicked right now in Ukraine but that will change. This war will make them stronger and more determined in the long run. The Russians are a warlike people and Russia has unlimited natural resources to work with. They are learning from their mistakes and they are adapting. Russia is going all-in on the war with Ukraine by switching to a war-time economy while we in the west aren’t as committed. That means the most important political organization in Europe going forward will be NATO and not the European Union. That means the most important man in Europe in the future will be the Secretary General of NATO and not the head of the European Union.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 – And now you know what is restraining, that He (the Holy Spirit) may be revealed in His own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way (by the rapture).

1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 – Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them (the dead in Christ) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. therefore comfort one another with these words.

2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we (the saints) 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.

The Secretary General of NATO is elected by consensus from the 31 member states and they serve four year terms that can be extended, also by consensus. Jens Stoltenberg is the current Secretary General of NATO and he has been serving in that position for the last eleven years. I’m now convinced that the antichrist will be the man who will be chosen to be the Secretary General of NATO AND serving in that position during 2033, the year when the rapture will occur. If the head of NATO winds up being a woman then I’m wrong. The Secretary General of NATO is the only person who will control the collective military might of 31 countries, mostly in Europe, and the only person who will have the authority to offer Israel national security guarantees in exchange for signing a peace agreement. Israel wouldn’t trust a single country with their security but they’ll trust NATO because it has 31 member countries that are supporting the decision. Israel will feel they are truly safe from future attacks for the first time and they won’t have a clue they’re actually dealing with the antichrist who will one day renege on his promises to protect Israel.

Galatians 3:28-29 – There is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

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.

Mark 9:44, 46, 48 – Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

In summary, I believe the rapture of the saints will occur in 2033, possibly during Rosh Hashanah but more likely during Yom Kippur. I believe Israel will sign a peace agreement just before or after the rapture of the saints. I believe the Second Coming of Christ will come exactly seven years after the peace agreement signing by Israel, again probably on Yom Kippur, which falls on October 2nd in 2033 and on September 16th in 2040. Lastly, I think that the antichrist will be the Secretary General of NATO, who sponsors the peace agreement Israel will sign. Since this is a political appointment Satan will use his malign influence to make sure his man is selected. Nonbelievers have no defense against the power of Satan. There’s no way for us to know who the antichrist is until he reveals himself by being chosen to head NATO. Believers are powerless to do anything about it but we can warn people when the antichrist rises to power. The false prophet serving the antichrist is easier to predict. There are a number of Bible scholars who focus on end time prophecy who think the false prophet will be the Pope of the Roman Catholic church and so do I.

I think that because I know the Roman Catholic church has been owned by Satan since the papacy of Gregory the Great in 600 AD and probably well before then. Every Catholic church dogma, doctrine, and tradition is 180 degrees from what God commands us to do in his word. That’s not accidental; it’s done on purpose by evil men under the influence of Satan. Catholics are told to go to their priest for the forgiveness of their sins instead of to God. Catholics are told to pray to Mary, a human being, and not God himself. Catholics are told to put the Pope before God. Catholics make Jesus Christ a cookie used only for the eucharist. Does this sound right to you? Are you okay with the fact that everything the Roman Catholic church stands for and does is contrary to the word of God? I’m not. Will you believe evil men or God?

Many of the 1.5 billion Catholics in the world are saved by their faith because they’ve accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; not because of the Catholic church but in spite of the church. The Catholic church wants salvation to run through the church and not through Jesus. There are millions of Catholics who think they’re saved but really aren’t because they’ve put their faith in the Pope, their priests, and following Catholic church dogma, doctrines and traditions to save them and not Jesus himself. These Catholics will be in shock when they’re left behind at the rapture. At that point, they will need to go to God’s word and accept his saving grace through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Unfortunately these left behind Catholics will still have to go through the tribulation but at least they’ll be saved. The Protestant Reformation movement in the early 1500’s was God peeling his church away from a Catholic church that has become corrupted by Satan.

Matthew 15:9 – And in vain they worship Me (the Catholic church), teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

People who know about military matters say it’ll take Russia approximately 6-9 years to rebuild their depleted war machine again to the point where they can challenge NATO forces. At that point they’ll attack Europe or Israel, or both, and this timeframe will fit in perfectly with my end of the age predictions. The Bible confirms Russia will attack Israel so I’m not telling you anything that isn’t already known. With any guess of this nature you don’t have to be spot on because there are so many moving parts; you just have to be in the general ballpark and I believe I am. As believers our goal is to watch for the coming of Jesus in the clouds while continuing to do the work God has given us to do; which is to witness for Christ to all nations and all people (the Great Commission). If you’re a nonbeliever at the moment you’re in great danger. You need to accept God’s saving grace as soon as possible and before the rapture occurs or risk being left behind to face the wrath of God. Once the rapture has happened it’s too late for you to escape God’s fury. You can still be saved through faith in Jesus after the rapture but then you’ll have to live through the seven year tribulation period before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth.

Revelation 18:4-5 – Come out of her (the Catholic church), my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive her plagues. For her sins have reached heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

If you do manage to become a believer during the tribulation your prospects for survival aren’t that good. Be prepared for the antichrist and his false prophet to eventually get around to hunting you down for your faith. Most of the people who do become believers during the tribulation period will be killed by one of God’s many plagues. There will also be millions of new believers during the tribulation who will have their heads cut off for not renouncing their faith in God and for not worshipping the beast and taking his mark. Read Relation 2:10 for confirmation. Once you take the mark of the antichrist (666) on your head or your hand you’re going to hell. That’s all there is to it. It’s the Roman Catholic church who will organize and carry out the slaughter of millions of saints during the tribulation period in support of the antichrist. The Roman Catholic church will have blood on their hands before God. I’ll be surprised if more than a handful of the very early popes even make it to heaven. On the last day all believers will be in the audience when Jesus Christ condemns all the evil popes and has them tossed into the lake of fire for all eternity.

Revelation 2:10 – (Jesus speaking) – Do not fear any of these things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

I know saying these things against the Catholic church will piss off a lot of Catholics but as a true believer I must speak the truth of God to those in power; and the Catholic church is very powerful. There’s no room for political correctness when it comes to serving God. It has been Satan’s plan all along to silence the voice of believers through the peer pressure of political correctness and I refuse to go along with it. Simply obey God and don’t worry about what the world may say. To escape the wrath of God to come simply accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior right now. Google “sinner’s prayer” and pray it back to God in faith. If you do that you’ll be saved instantly unto eternal life in heaven and when you die you’ll be in the presence of Jesus forever. God has given his promise that you will be saved and God cannot lie. God makes salvation easy for us because he wants all of us in heaven with him. In the meantime, I’ll continue to monitor the world situation and blog about my findings as long as I’m able. Please help me by sharing your witness for Christ with all nonbelievers and also by sharing information about this blog with everyone you meet.

Matthew 7:22-23 – (Jesus speaking) – Many (members of the Catholic church) will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And I will then declare to them, “I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

NOTE: In the above verses when Jesus says “many” we know he can only be talking about an established Christian church that worships the Lord our God. We have only two choices; Catholics or Protestants. When you look at the types of activities that Jesus is referring to he can only be addressing the Catholic church because they have done those things in the past and still do, whereas the Protestants do not. If you’re Catholic you’d be wise to heed God’s command in Revelation 18:4-5. In scripture God uses the term “lawlessness” when he is describing the evil of the tribulation period. God uses the same term in the above verses to tell us that “many” Catholics will be participants in this “lawlessness” during the tribulation. When Jesus says, “depart from Me” you know we’re at the Great White Throne judgment and Jesus is condemning “many” Catholics to the lake of fire for all eternity.

The Bible affirmations I use in prayer to praise God with my lips are not my own. I borrowed them from a book titled. “The Tongue – A creative Force”, written by the pastor and noted author Charles Capps. Many years ago I bought this little paperback in a Goodwill store for fifty cents. I bought it on a whim thinking it was about public speaking. This best seller was first published in 1976 so it’s out of print now. I gave my first copy away to someone who needed it so I had to go to Ebay to pick up another copy for my reference library which cost me a lot more than fifty cents this time around. Buy this book if you want to learn more about using affirmations to worship God. You can make affirmations out of just about any Bible verse you choose. I’m happy to use the Bible affirmations that Charles Capps uses himself to worship God. This blog will cover the remaining Bible affirmations I use.

BIBLE AFFIRMATIONS FOR WORRY AND FEAR:

1. I am the body of Christ and Satan has no power over me. For I overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:21 – Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

2. I am of God and have overcome him (Satan). For greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world.

1 John 4:4 – You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater that he who is in the world.

3. I will fear no evil for thou art with me Lord, your word and your Spirit they comfort me.

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.

4. I am far from oppression, and fear does not come nigh me.

Isaiah 54:14 – In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

5. I am delivered from the evils of this present world for it is the will of God.

Galatians 1:3-4 – Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

6. No weapon formed against me shall prosper, for my righteousness is of the Lord. But whatever I do will prosper for I’m like a tree that’s planted by the rivers of water.

Psalm 1:3 – He (a believer) shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

7. No evil will befall me neither shall any plague come nigh my dwelling. For you have given your angels charge over me and they keep me in all my ways, and in my pathway is life and there is no death.

Psalm 91:11 – For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.

8. I am a doer of the word of God and I am blessed in my deeds. I am happy in those things which I do because I am a doer of the word of God.

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

9. The devil flees from me because I resist him in the name of Jesus.

James 4:7 – Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

10. Great is the peace of my children, for they are taught of the Lord.

John 1:12 – But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

11. Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law. Therefore, I forbid any sickness or disease to come upon this body. Every disease germ and every virus that touches this body dies instantly in the name of Jesus. Every organ and every tissue of this body functions in the perfection to which God created it to function, and I forbid any malfunction in this body, in the name of Jesus.

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

12. I take the shield of faith and I quench every fiery dart that the wicked one brings against me.

Ephesians 6:16 – Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you are able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

13. I am an overcomer and I overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony.

Revelation 12:11 – And they (believers) overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

14. The word of God is forever settled in heaven. Therefore, I establish his word upon this earth.

1 Peter 1:25 – But the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word by which the gospel was preached to you.

BIBLE AFFIRMATIONS FOR WISDOM AND GUIDANCE:

1. I trust in the Lord with all of my heart, and I lean not unto my own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.

2. In all my ways I acknowledge him and he directs my path.

Psalm 37:23 – The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way.

3. The word of God is a lamp unto my feet, it is a light unto my path.

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

4. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.

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

5. I am filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

Colossians 1:9 – For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

6. The Spirit of truth abides in me and it teaches me all things, and He guides me into all truths. Therefore, I confess I have perfect knowledge of every situation and every circumstance that I come up against. For I have the wisdom of God.

John 16:13-15 – (Jesus speaking) – 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. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

7. I do follow the good shepherd and I know his voice and the voice of a stranger I will not follow.

John 10:14 – (Jesus speaking) – I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and am known by My own.

8. I have put off the old man and have put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that created me.

Colossians 3:9-10 – Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.

9. Jesus is made unto me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Therefore, I confess I have the wisdom of God, and I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:30 – But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

10. I receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of my understanding being enlightened. And I am not conformed to this world but I am transformed by the renewing of my mind. My mind is renewed by the word of God.

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.

11. I am a new creation in Christ, I am his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Therefore, I have the mind of Christ and the wisdom of God is formed within me.

Ephesians 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

12. I let the word of Christ dwell in me rightly in all wisdom.

Colossians 3:16 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

BIBLE AFFIRMATIONS FOR COMFORT AND STRENGTH:

1.I let the peace of God rule my heart and I refuse to worry about anything.

Colossians 3:15 – And let the peace of God rule your hearts, to which you were also called in one body; and be thankful.

2. I speak the truth of the word of God in love and I grow up into the Lord Jesus Christ in all things.

Ephesians 4:15 – But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ.

3. I am complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. For I am His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that I should walk therein.

Ephesians 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

4. The peace of God which passes all understanding keeps my heart and my mind through Christ Jesus. And all things which are good, and pure, and perfect, and lovely, and of good report, I think on these things.

Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there in anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.

5. The joy of the Lord is my strength. The Lord is the strength of my life.

Nehemiah 8:10 – Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

6. I will not let the word of God depart from before my eyes for it is life to me for I have found it and it is health and healing to all my flesh.

Joshua 1:8 – This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it, For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

7. I am increasing in the knowledge of God. I am strengthened with all might according to His glorious power.

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 joy.

8. I am delivered from the power of darkness and I am translated into the kingdom of His dear son.

Colossians 1:13 – He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

9. I am born of God and I have world overcoming faith residing on the inside of me. For greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.

1 John 4:4 – You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

10. I will do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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

11. I let no corrupt communication proceed out of my mouth, but that which is good to edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearer. I grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby I’m sealed unto the day of redemption.

Ephesians 4:29-30 – Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearer. And do not grieve the the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

12. God is on my side. God is in me now; who can be against me? He has given unto me all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Therefore I am a partaker of His devine nature.

Psalm 27:1 – The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

13. No man shall take me out of His hand for I have eternal life.

John 10:29 – (Jesus speaking) – My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

14. I am a believer and these signs do follow me. In the name of Jesus I cast out demons, I speak with new tongues, I lay hands on the sick and they do recover.

Mark 16:17-18 – (Jesus speaking) – And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.

15. I’m the body of Christ, I am redeemed from the curse, and I forbid any sickness, or disease to operate in this body. Every organ, every tissue will function properly for greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.

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

16. Jesus gave me the authority to use his name. And that which I bind on earth is bound in heaven. And that which I loose on earth is loosed in heaven. Therefore in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I bind the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world. I bind and cast down spiritual wickedness in high places and render them harmless and ineffective against me in the name of Jesus.

Matthew 16:19 – (Jesus speaking) – 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.

NOTE: To honor God I’ve created my very first Bible affirmation based on one of my favorite verses from the Bible. Here it is:

I will serve the Lord my God on earth and in heaven forever and ever. I will glorify God with hymns of praise from my lips to worship Almighty God on his throne in heaven forevermore.

Joshua 24:15 – Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, but for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

I’ve been blogging on this site for four years now (2019-2023). Today’s posting is blog number 635. I’ll continue to blog until I reach at least 700 blogs and after that I’ll probably stop. The number seven is important to God; and multiples of seven . The number seven signifies “completeness” in God’s economy. We know God made the world in seven days. The Bible says God punished the Israelites for their disobedience by putting them in bondage for seventy years. We understand from God’s word that seven thousand years is the length of human history and God’s dealing with man. If I do 700 blogs it will not only honor God as a multiple of the number seven, it’ll also signify my ministry before the Lord is “complete” as far as “passively” sharing the gospel of Christ in written form through my blog postings on this website. You see, long ago the Holy Spirit gave me my ministry of reconciliation through studying God’s word and sharing the “good news” of the gospel of Christ in writing through my blog and also by distributing Christian tracts that also contain the written gospel message.

If the Holy Spirit still urges me to continue my written witness for Christ in this manner I can always start a new blog or use my second blog site (www.christiantractministry.com). Either way, I’ll continue to keep this blog site active by paying the annual fees to keep it current. It’s important that those who are searching for God have a website that can guide them to the truth of God and his saving grace. I know this to be true and you have my testimony: salvation awaits all who believe in the name of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. If you’re surfing the net and reading Christian blog sites then you’re looking for something that’s missing in your life. God has put eternity in the hearts of men so we’ll always be searching for him until we find him. We have a void in our life only God can fill. The twin themes of my current blog site are studying God’s word and witnessing for Christ. Really it’s studying God’s word SO THAT you can witness for Christ and I show you how to do it.

You see, God made us and put us here on earth to first find our salvation unto eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and then we’re to help save other people to the kingdom of God. It’s really pretty easy to know what God expects of us because it’s all there in the Bible if we just read it. The hard part is obeying the commandments of God. God came off his throne in heaven and came to earth in the incarnation of Jesus Christ so that he could die on the cross in our place in order for a just God to forgive our sins. One of the spiritual truths of heaven is the wages of sin is death. Another spiritual truth of heaven is that there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of sinless blood. Only a sinless man could be sacrificed before God the Father for the forgiveness of the sins of man.

Since all men inherited Adam’s sin God had to become a man himself and be that sinless sacrifice for us otherwise all men would still be destined for an eternity in hell. When I first read the Bible and understood God’s salvation plan for man through the shed blood of Christ the first thought that went through my mind was, “This is perfect.” It was abundantly clear to me that this salvation plan for us couldn’t have come from the mind of man. I knew in my soul that it came from the mind of God. The human mind simply could not have conceived the possibility that an omnipotent God would love us enough to choose to become a man and die a terrible death on the cross in our place just to save us from going to hell for all eternity. I’m smart enough to know the truth of God when I see it and there are billions of believers just like me who also know this truth and we’re all saved from hell.

If you study God’s word long enough as I have you’ll notice God repeats himself a lot. Repetition is good. Our mind is giant computer that’s programmed based on what we repeatedly tell our mind. If we input the same information into our mind over and over our mind will eventually accept that data as the truth and incorporate that information into our belief system. That’s why it’s critically important that we feed our mind with God’s word every day through daily Bible reading so that we gain the truth and wisdom of God. By the same token, we need to unclutter our mind. We need to keep the disinformation of the humanist world out of our head. Try to avoid the many lies of Satan that he has promulgated in the world through the false religions and false gods he has created throughout history to hide the truth of God from man. Satan has put blinders over the eyes of nonbelievers so that they cannot find God and his saving grace. Because of this, God’s word is foolishness to the nonbeliever. Satan truly is the god of this world and through his malign influence millions of nonbelievers are dying every day and going straight to hell because they haven’t accepted God’s saving grace which the Lord has provided through the shed blood of his dear son, Jesus Christ, by his crucifixion, death and resurrection.

In my blog I picked up on the literary device of repetition because I saw how effective it is for God in his word and because I know from my own experience that repeating something helps secure that information my mind. I often repeat myself in my blogs as a way to stress an important point and exhort nonbelievers and believers alike to study God’s word and witness for Christ. These are the two things God wants most from us. Whatever I write about in my blog I usually find a way to tie that in with my twin themes. I’ve talked about my twin themes in just about every way imaginable. I mean, after 635 blogs it’s getting to the point where I know I’m beating a dead horse on my blog. Go get saved and witness for Christ! That is man’s all! Either you get my message or you don’t. I can only repeat myself for so long. The other day I poured my heart out in a blog about the Lord and I thought I had explained myself pretty well but then I had one reader ask me to go into more in depth.

I was crushed that I wasn’t eloquent enough in my writing to reach that person with my message. I don’t have a baby’s high chair or any baby food on me so that I can spoon feed you. If you’re a new believer you’re still on the spiritual milk of God’s word. I can’t wean you off spiritual milk. You must do that yourself. What I have to offer is help with the spiritual meat of God’s word. I can’t chew it for you but I can show you where it is. If you want to grow spiritually you must put in the work yourself. There are no short cuts; no Clif notes to make it easy. I realize my message won’t resonate with everyone out there. That was never my intention or expectation because I understand witnessing for Christ is a volume business similar to cold call selling which we all know is stressful. I know this from personal experience. There will be a lot of rejection so expect it and move on. Don’t take it personal. You have to reach a lot of people to make one sale. That’s one reason why I leverage my witness for Christ by “passively” spreading the gospel message in writing to reach more people.

When you’re a sower of the gospel seed and not the reaper of a soul for God it’s harder to estimate your effectiveness. I’m conservative with my estimate because I’d rather be pleasantly surprised on the last day rather than disappointed in how many people I helped save for God. For that reason I only count one saved soul for every 1000 hits on my blog and one saved soul for every 1000 Christian tracts I distribute to nonbelievers. That’s one tenth of one percent effectiveness. If I use this as a baseline I won’t be disappointed. I keep track of how many souls I save for the kingdom of God because that’s how I keep my passion for God’s work. Everyone has to do what works for them. My mindset, my mantra every day when I wake up is to save, “one more for Jesus” through both my blog and my Christian tract ministry. That’s what I live for because that’s the work God has commanded me to do (the Great Commission). You have the same commandment as I do so what are you waiting for? God’s harvest field is great and the workers are few. Every day I pray for more workers to join me in God’s harvest field.

When you work for God in his harvest field helping save nonbelievers through your witness for Christ you have to self-motivate by praying to God and reading his word on a daily basis. One additional thing that energizes me is to repeat Bible affirmations to the Lord. Reading and hearing God’s word is wonderful but for sheer spiritual power there is nothing quite like speaking Bible scripture back to God in prayer while phrasing it in such a way that it’s a declarative statement of belief that God will confirm and fulfill what you are asking him to do because it aligns with God’s will. Say your Bible affirmations in a loud and clear voice as through you were making an important speech to a throng of thousands while using appropriate hand gestures to drive home the point you’re making. Practice your Bible affirmations like you’re preparing to give a speech. Bible affirmations glorify God because they are prayed before the throne of grace with a spiritual audience that includes the heavenly host and also Satan and his demons who have to witness God being glorified. The angels love it and the demons hate it. Bible affirmations will get you jacked up to serve the Lord your God! Saying Bible affirmations before the Lord is like having your own personal pep rally with God. An affirmation is a statement declared firmly or publicly.

I blog about my Bible affirmations about once a year which is why the title of this blog contains the word “revisited.” I never recycle my old blogs but I do return to some topics over and over because they are on my mind. As believers we’re all on the path of spiritual growth as we walk with God during our time here on earth and we’re constantly changing and growing as a person over time to be more like Jesus. This sanctification process is done by God as long as we’re giving a reasonable effort to obey God’s commandments. It’s 80% God and 20% us so do your part. I keep my Bible affirmations on my desk. They are written on 4X6 index cards and broken down into four categories which are, wisdom and guidance, worry and fear, comfort and strength, and material needs. You should read your affirmations daily but if you’re like me you won’t have the discipline to do it that often. I manage to read about one set of affirmations per week but if I had the discipline to read them more often God would bless me more. I know this to be true because the Bible confirms that the eyes of the Lord roam to and fro across the earth so God can fulfill his word and thereby bless his creation. Our part is to walk humbly with our God in great fear.

BIBLE AFFIRMATIONS FOR MATERIAL NEEDS:

1. Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law. Christ has redeemed me from poverty, Christ has redeemed me from sickness, Christ has redeemed me from spiritual death.

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

2. For poverty he has given me wealth, for sickness he has given me health, for death he has given me eternal life.

2 Corinthians 8:9 – For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

3. It is true unto me according to the word of God.

2 Corinthians 12:9 – (God speaking) – My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.

4. With what measure I mete, it is measured unto me. I sow bountifully, therefore I reap bountifully. I give cheerfully, and my God has made all grace abound toward me and I having all sufficiency of all things do abound to all good works.

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.

5. The Lord is my shepherd and I do not want because Jesus was made poor, that I through his poverty might have abundance. For he came that I might have life and have it more abundantly.

John 10:10 – (Jesus speaking) – The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

6. The Lord has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant, and Abraham’s blessings are mine.

Galatians 3:29 – And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heir according to the promise.

7. I delight myself in the Lord and he gives me the desires of my heart.

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

8. I have given and it is given unto me good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, men given unto my bosom.

Luke 6:38 – (Jesus speaking) – Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

9. There is no lack for my God supplies all of my need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19 – And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

10. And I having received the gift of righteousness do reign as a king in life by Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:17 – For if by one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

I’m not going to break down every verse in the book of Proverbs for you. That’s ultimately your job as you study God’s word for knowledge, understanding and wisdom. I can’t spoon feed you the information you need to make you wise but I can guide you and show you the way to achieve the wisdom of God. At the moment of salvation all believers are given one or more spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit in order to better serve the God who made them. God isn’t going to tell you what your spiritual gifts are. You must find out for yourself what spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit has blessed you with. Sadly, most people have no idea what their spiritual gifts are. In my case, my spiritual gifts from God are exhortation and giving. I received my ministry of reconciliation from the Holy Spirit of God which involves studying God’s word and then giving my testimony of Jesus Christ in writing through my blog (exhortation) and also by funding the distribution of many thousands of Christian tracts and many hundreds of Bibles to inmates in our prison system (giving). God has an individual plan for each of our lives that nobody else can complete. Either you do what God has planned for you to do or it doesn’t get done. In the eyes of God you are irreplaceable.

Psalm 33:11 – The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generation.

Psalm 20:4 – May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purpose.

So find out what God has planned for your life and then go do it. You’ll never be truly happy until you let God fill the void in your heart and you do what you were meant to do in this life. I don’t care how much money and power you accumulate during your lifetime. It doesn’t matter. You’ll never be successful in the eyes of God without obedience to his word. You can’t obey God until you study his word for knowledge, understanding and wisdom in order to find out what God requires of you. You cannot “do” until you “know” what to do. It’s not a secret that the number one command of God for all believers is the Great Commission; to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ to all nations and all peoples by your witness in order to save nonbelievers to the kingdom of God. You cannot save everyone but by your witness for Christ you can save one.

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

Hosea 13:4 – Yet I am the LORD your God….there is no Savior besides Me.

In the last blog I showed you how to isolate a teaching from God; from the book of Proverbs (verses 1-7 of chapter one). When studying the Bible always have a good dictionary handy to look up the meaning of words in scripture when you’re unsure of the meaning in the context in which it is used. Use the definition of a word that’s most applicable to the culture and historical setting in which it’s used. Also be aware that some words have a biblical meaning that is totally different from the dictionary meaning. Take the word “fear” for example. We all understand what the normal definition of the word “fear” is but, biblically speaking, the word “fear” means to show awe, great respect and reverence for God. Most words have several meanings so choose the one that makes sense to you. If a dictionary definition makes sense to you in the verse you’re reading then it’s probably the right one.

Isaiah 1:18 – Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Psalm 27:1 – The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

The number one rule of Bible study is the following: “If the verse you’re reading makes sense then seek no other sense.” God never tries to trick you with his word. God wants you to understand who he and what he expects from you. In most cases God will speak clearly and literally. There are some exceptions where it’s obvious God is speaking spiritually, symbolically or metaphorically, like in the book of Revelation. You can almost always tell in scripture when God completes a thought and begins a new topic. Evaluate each thought or teaching from God as a whole; as a group of related verses, so you don’t misinterpret the meaning. Never take a single verse out of context and try to reveal a spiritual truth of God because more than likely you’ll get it wrong. When the meaning of a verse isn’t clear to the reader the surrounding verses will often clear up the meaning.

A classic example of this mistake is the Catholic church taking the verse where Jesus tells Peter, “On this rock I will build my church”, and construing it to mean Jesus would use Peter to build his church. Since the Catholics claim that Peter is their first pope they think it legitimizes their claim to be the one and only true church of God. They are wrong on both counts. If the early church fathers had taken the time to read the surrounding verses they would have known that Jesus was talking about building his church around the “good news”, the gospel message of Christ coming to die for the sins of man and not about building his church by or through Peter himself. Before you begin any Bible study session pray to God for help in understanding his word through revelations from the Holy Spirit of God. You can’t even begin to know the wisdom of God without the help of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God. The Holy Spirit is God.

Daniel 12:2-3 – And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

Proverbs 11:14 – Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

You have God’s promise that when you pray to him he will help you, because God said he would and God cannot lie. You can be sure your prayers to God will be answered when they align with God’s will. What we can’t be sure of is the timetable in which God will answer us. God is inscrutable and his timing is his own business so we need to continue to pray to God until he answers us no matter how long it takes. I had previously studied the book Proverbs and broken it down to a list of core teachings and a list of categories to help me review and understand what God requires of me. I’ll share my study notes on the book of Proverbs in this blog posting. I’m a prodigious note taker and list maker because it helps me organize my mind and in this case it helps me when reviewing the many commands of God so I can be obedient. God wants our worship and he commands us to be obedient. God is glorified when we praise and worship him. We cannot please the Lord our God without first acknowledging the magnitude and majesty of almighty God and we cannot please God unless we’re obedient to his commands to the best of our ability. My Proverbs cheat sheet has twelve key teachings:

1. We must always fear the Lord our God – Jehovah created the universe and us, which he maintains with his upturned hand. Nothing is impossible with God. If the omnipotence of God doesn’t inspire awe in you I don’t know what will. Man is God’s masterpiece of creation and we should have a deep respect for the Lord our maker. We should revere God because he loves us and he has adopted us as children of the Most High so that we will live forever in heaven in his presence where God will shower us with honor, glory and riches. We must continually stoke our fear of God by keeping what he has done for us before our eyes. We should be constantly praying to God, reading our Bible, and meditating on the magnitude and majesty of God so we don’t lose sight of who God is and what he has done for us. As long as we maintain our fear of the Lord we’ll never fall out of fellowship with God. Never get complacent about God.

Job 28:28 – And to man He said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.

Psalm 112:1 – Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments.

Psalm 33:18-19 – Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

2. God is sovereign – God is our Lord and master; our king! God rules the universe from his throne in heaven. God knows all and he sees all; and in his perfect wisdom and his perfect will God directs every aspect of his creation. As the author of history God knows the end from the beginning so God is never surprised about anything. God makes all the rules, and he dispenses judgments for violating those rules and his law. Man is an eternal being because God gave each of us a piece of himself at conception (our eternal spirit) so we’ll live forever. Because God is eternal when God gives a part of himself to us it makes us eternal as well. Only God Almighty God can send man to hell for all eternity; therefore we need to be afraid of God’s judgment.

Nehemiah 9:6 – You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.

Psalm 104:24 – O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions.

Psalm 46:10 – Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

3. God knows you and wants to be your friend – God gave us the Bible so we could find him. I’m awed by the fact that God forgives me of my sins, overlooks my weaknesses, and yet he still loves me and wants to be my constant friend. A person cannot be saved unless God calls them. God made everyone with the same small amount of faith needed to be saved. Everyone needs to humble themselves before God and by faith ask for his saving grace in order for the Holy Spirit to convict them of their sin and save them unto eternal life in heaven. God wants all of his children in heaven so we can rule by his side. Is our God awesome or what!

Psalm 16:11 – You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness and joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 32:8 – I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.

Psalm 37:23 – The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way.

4. All wisdom is contained in the Bible – The Bible is God’s wisdom; God’s truth. The Bible is our owner’s manual and we cannot successfully navigate our way through this life without an intimate knowledge of the Bible. There’s no true happiness in this world apart from a right relationship with God and the knowledge of his word. True knowledge comes from studying God’s word. True understanding comes from meditating on God’s word. True wisdom comes from applying the teachings of God’s word in our lives.

Psalm 119:97-99 – Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.

Psalm 1:1-2 – Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the seat of the scornful; but delights in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

psalm 19:7 – The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

5. Emulate Christ by the way you live your life – Strive to be a person of integrity and good character. It’s hard work that’ll take you a lifetime to accomplish, if you ever do. Before making any important decision or taking any noteworthy action always ask yourself this question, “What would Jesus do in my place?”, and then act accordingly. When you emulate Christ the nonbeliever can see the light of God in your actions and they’re attracted to the gospel message of Jesus Christ and his saving grace.

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

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?

Psalm 90:12 – Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

6. Be obedient to the commands of God – Luckily the Bible tells us exactly what believers are to do to please God. The number one command of God is to witness for Christ in order to save nonbelievers unto eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. One of the above verses tells us to fear the Lord and obey God’s commandments. Another verse instructs us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. We cannot please God without obedience to his commandments. God has told us what to do so we have no excuse. There are 129 commandments in the Bible from God to the believer. Quite a few of these commands are redundant but still, that’s a lot of commands to keep track of and the only way to obey God fully is if you know your Bible intimately through daily Bible reading and intense study.

Psalm 19:7 – The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

Proverbs 21:20 – There is desirable treasure, and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man squanders it.

Proverbs 28:20 – A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

7. Always do what pleases God – On the flip side, never do what displeases God. The Bible does a good job of telling us what God loves and what he hates. Internalize that message so you also love what God loves and hate what God hates. You’ll never fall out of fellowship with God if you do this. If you’re a believer then you’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and you can hear the still small voice of God inside your head telling you what you should do.

Psalm 34:15 – The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears open to their cry.

Psalm 6:9 – The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.

Psalm 119:2 – Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!

8. Seek God’s will for your life – God has a plan for each of our lives but we have to go to God to find out what it is. God won’t come to you but God will meet you half way. It’s up to us to seek God’s face through daily prayer and the daily reading of God’s word. God could speak to us audibly if he wanted to like he did with the prophet Samuel. However, God has chosen to speak to us in our time through the pages of the Bible. We speak to God in prayer. That’s how our two-way communication with God works. One thing you can be assured of is that God’s will for your life will be the best life you could possibly live. You will be successful and happy because God wants the best for us. Most believers never come close to achieving the goals God has for their lives. When we get to heaven we’ll all realize how much we left on the table that could have been ours during our lifetime on earth if we had established and maintained our fellowship with God as we should have.

Psalm 51:1 – Have mercy upon me, O God, according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

Psalm 45:1 – My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

Proverbs 21:13 – Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard.

9. Shun evil and sin at every opportunity – Avoid people who are evil. You know when you’re around someone you shouldn’t be. I know it. Don’t just walk away from them; run away as quickly as possible! It’s just common sense we need to avoid evil people and those who enjoy sinning so it doesn’t rub off on us. Make a conscious effort not to sin against God. And when you do sin, as we all do, immediately repent of those sins against God and ask his forgiveness. God will forgive us because he said he would in scripture and God cannot lie. When we get to heaven God will glorify us (glorification) to make sure we’re unable to sin, which is comforting to know. People are social creatures, like ants and bees, and we tend to go along with the group and emulate group behavior. Believers should have their spiritual antenna working at all times so as to avoid nonbelievers and then associate mostly with other believers. Don’t yoke yourself to the nonbeliever because on average nonbelievers will sin more than believers do and we don’t want to be tempted to sin by their behavior while in our company. We have to work with nonbelievers and associate with them to some degree. Our witness for Christ will be to nonbelievers so we can’t totally avoid them. I’m just saying don’t hang out with nonbelievers on a regular basis or have a nonbeliever as your best friend or you’ll eventually be corrupted by them. If it happened to King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, it could happen to you.

Psalm 37:27- Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell forevermore.

Proverbs 13:21 – Evil pursues sinners, but to the righteous, good shall be repaid.

Proverbs 16:4 – The Lord has made all for Himself, yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.

10. Be careful what you say – God tells us over and over in scripture we are to guard our tongues because corrupt speech can do us great harm. That’s a hard teaching for most of us to understand. I know we’re saved unto eternal life by the words of our mouth expressing faith if Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If we’re saved by the words of our mouth then conversely, we can also be condemned by what we say before the Lord. God remembers every word we speak in our lifetime, idle and otherwise, and we will be held accountable. The words of our mouth can bring us blessings or curses from God and he is just telling us to be careful what we say.

Psalm 50:23 – Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.

Psalm 34:1 – I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Proverbs 10:19 – In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise.

11. Be generous, loving and kind – Everything we have is from the Lord, including our money. People, especially believers, are to help the poor and needy. When you use the money God gave you to do his work you’re playing with house money. You’re being obedient to the commands of God and God is giving you the means to do so and you’ll be blessed by God as a result. That’s a great deal for us. We are to love others as ourselves and show kindness to everyone. These are the attributes of Jesus Christ during his life and ministry and when we emulate Christ by our good works the nonbeliever will see the light of God in our actions and be attracted to the gospel message of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. According to the Bible the more we serve God and give back to others the more God will prosper us and bless our lives. God’s eyes are always upon his saints so do what you know is right.

Proverbs 3:9-10 – Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.

Proverbs 22:9 – He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor.

Proverbs 11:24- There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty.

12. Do not commit adultery – In our society adultery has lost the stigma it once had. In our permissive culture adultery is no longer seen as being that bad of a sin. When I read the book of Proverbs I was surprised how many times God commanded man not to commit adultery and God’s detailed explanation of the punishment we’ll receive for committing adultery. I’m taking God at his word and you should too. I can tell by the words God uses in the scriptures that he really hates adultery and those who commit it. Our job is to love what God loves and hate what God hates. If God hates adultery then don’t do it. Our job is to always do what’s pleasing in God’s sight so when we stand before the bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ on the last day we’ll hear the words we all long to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.” The temporary pleasure you receive from committing adultery is simply not worth the eternal wrath of God on the last day. The wrath of God Almighty is a terrible thing to behold because hell is forever so we need to avoid it at all costs.

Proverbs 5:15 – Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.

I also wrote down a list of do’s and don’ts from the book of Proverbs:

AVOID THESE THINGS: pride, evil, sin, liars, adultery, fornication, bad people, deceitful people, and miserly people.

DON’T DO THESE THINGS: lie, covet, steal, gossip, boast, quarrel, sow strife, bear false witness, do evil, plot evil, repay evil, be a glutton and be a drunkard.

DO THESE THINGS: guard your tongue, study God’s word, never listen to fools, obey God, live by faith and not by sight, do right by everyone, give to the needy, witness for Christ, pick a godly wife or husband, speak only good and not evil, love God, act justly, stand by friends, seek and accept wise counsel, love on another, respect your parents, fellowship with other believers, and discipline your children.

GOD LOVES THIS: a good worker and a generous giver.

GOD HATES THIS: a fool and lazy people

STRIVE TO BE THIS: humble, righteous, discrete and prudent.

KNOW THESE THINGS ABOUT GOD AND APPLY THIS KNOWLEDGE IN YOUR LIFE WHEN APPROPRIATE: God prospers the righteous, for long life honor your parents, for long life stay in God’s word, fear God and stay in his word, God loves us, anything God says is the truth and a promise he cannot break, we are God’s children, everything belongs to God, raise your children on God’s word, you reap what you sow so sow bountifully, repent immediately when you sin against God, love what God loves, and hate what God hates.

In the first blog of this series we’ve established that the Christian God Jehovah is the one and only true God so all the other religions in the world are fake and their gods are false. It was our God who created the universe we see and everything in it, including us. This second blog will attempt to help us find out where God’s wisdom resides and how we can access it and use it in our lives. We know there’s overwhelming evidence to support and prove that the Christian God Jehovah is God, to the exclusion of all others. Since God created everything it also means the Lord knows everything as well; and I mean everything! Nothing is hidden from the eyes God. It’s just plain common sense that all knowledge and wisdom flows from Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth and King of the universe. Not only that; God was also gracious enough to give his wisdom to man in written form as our Holy Bible. Think of the Bible as our owner’s manual and you’ll have an inkling just how important our Holy Bible is to us and our well being. If we don’t know the Bible intimately we’re walking around blind to where we came from, who we really are and what we can become. God gave us the Bible so we could know him and learn about the Lord’s salvation plan for man through faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.

Psalm 102:25-27 – Of old You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will have no end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Psalm 14:1 – The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.

Isaiah 1:18 – “Come now and let us reason together,” says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

We know that the entire Bible, from beginning to end, contains the wisdom of God. God speaks plainly and he doesn’t waste words. God tells it like it is. God’s word is truth and there are no lies or errors in the text of the Bible. For 2000 years detractors have been trying to prove the Bible is false in some way and they have all failed miserably. Every word and punctuation mark in the Bible God has put there for a reason, even though we may never know what that reason is. The Bible from start to finish is the revelation of Jesus Christ. We should be reading the Bible every day to internalize God’s message of salvation through Christ and his wisdom for living our lives. Our mind is the greatest computer in the universe and our mind absorbs as truth what we repeatedly see, read and hear. It’s just how our mind works. When it comes to our mind you’ve heard the old phrase, “garbage in and garbage out.” It’s true; so be very careful what your mind is exposed to. If you want God’s wisdom you need to program your mind by reading the scriptures on a daily basis, over and over. Think “wisdom in and wisdom out.” You need to study the Bible, the truth of God, until it becomes an integral part of you; until it’s settled in your soul as the truth of God Almighty, which we should obey without question. Then you’ll begin to understand what the Lord requires of you and you’ll act every day in accordance with God’s will and God’s wisdom. This is not an easy thing for us to do nor is it easy for us to maintain. We’re all sinners so our daily walk with God will be two steps forward and one step back. But it’s a necessary process the believer needs to follow as we walk humbly in fellowship with our God.

Psalm 119:97-99 – Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.

Psalm 1:1-2 – 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 delights in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 19:7 – The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

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

As a new Christian I sought God’s wisdom by just reading my Bible over and over. I would start in Genesis and read through to Revelation. I did that several times. Really that’s not such a bad way to go because at least it keeps you in God’s word on a daily basis. However, reading is not actually studying the Bible in depth because you’re not taking the time to meditate on what you’re reading and trying to understand exactly what God is saying to us with each word and the implications it has for our lives. Reading gains you knowledge but doesn’t do anything for understanding usually; that takes meditation and reflection on what God is trying to tell us. Now I study God’s word differently. I spend two thirds of my time reading the New Testament and one third my time reading the Old Testament even though the Old Testament is three times larger than the New Testament. Since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we live under the new blood covenant of Christ and the New Testament is more applicable to our lives. The gospels are the most important books in the Bible. The Old Testament is still valuable for us because it chronicles the history of God’s dealings with man. The Old Testament contains God’s wisdom literature which is critical for the believer’s walk with God. The Old Testament is still valid as God’s word but it’s not as important to us as the salvation message of the New Testament. I read the New Testament every year without fail but now I pick and choose where I start. When it comes to the Old Testament, I also pick and choose which books to focus on first because some books are a bit dry. I just read a summary every other year for Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Psalm 18:30 – As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust Him.

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

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

Proverbs 28:9 – One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

My NKJV large print Bible contains 1,678 pages. That’s a lot of reading. By the way, use only the King James Bible. All the other Bible versions have been changed in some fashion by satanic influences to dilute the word of God by altering certain verses or removing them altogether. There are 66 books in the Bible; 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. Even though the entire Bible is the revelation of Jesus Christ and the wisdom of God, some books in the Bible contain more Godly wisdom that others and we refer to those books as God’s wisdom literature. I’m referring to the five Old Testament books of Proverbs, Psalms, Job, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. Now, if we want to gain the wisdom of God quicker we need to focus more of our time on the five wisest books in the Old Testament. That’s just common sense. The most concentrated book of God’s wisdom is the book of Proverbs, written by King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. Our search for godly wisdom should begin and end with the book of Proverbs. Read from the book of Proverbs as often as you can to soak up God’s wisdom.

In fact, if a young believer had the discipline to read a different chapter of Proverbs every day of the month and then repeated that process over and over he would eventually become so wise that he would live a profoundly productive life in service to God. Try it yourself. We all want to be wise and my Oxford dictionary defines “wise” as having or showing experience, knowledge and good judgment. Wisdom is the “quality” of having or showing experience, knowledge and good judgment. The word quality means “general excellence.” Having wisdom quantifies how wise we are in many instances as being excellent in nature; top notch; above reproach, etc. In the scriptures a wise person is someone who shares the gospel of Jesus Christ with the nonbeliever in order to help save them unto eternal life in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. So, if you witness for Christ and save someone you’re being wise. However, when you are wise repeatedly by witnessing for Christ over and over to as many nonbelievers as possible for as long as you live; that is wisdom. Being wise often and in great quantity equals wisdom.

Man is God’s special creation and God loves us so much he has adopted believers as sons and daughters of the Most High God so we will be royalty in heaven and rule with God. Seen in that light, we can understand that God’s number one command for us on this earth is to share the gospel message of Christ (the Great Commission) in order to save some nonbelievers to the kingdom of God. Every human soul God has created is priceless in his eyes so every witness for Christ is important because through it we may save one more for Jesus and be pleasing in God’s sight. Scripture says those who save “many” will build up treasure in heaven and shine like the stars in the firmament. God doesn’t quantify what he means by “many” so I use 1000 saved souls for heaven as my benchmark for “many.”

In the scriptures God calls a hundredfold a good harvest so ten times that (1000) seems like a good number to qualify as “many”. I mean, you want a number that’s difficult to reach but not impossible. So I work God’s harvest field trying to reach my goal of helping to harvest 1000 lost souls saved for the kingdom of God, primarily through “passively” spreading the gospel seed by distributing the gospel message in written form (tracts). But it all starts with saving one more for Jesus every day. That is my daily mantra and what I pray to God for every day. I witness for Jesus Christ through this blog and through my Christian tract ministry where I distribute tracts to inmates in our prison system. We can do nothing without the help of God but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Therefore, pray to God for his help with your witnessing and your ministry before the Lord. Join me and you too can shine like the stars in the heavens on the last day!

Job 28:28 – And to man He said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.

Proverbs 14:27 – The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death.

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

Proverbs 3:19 – The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens.

In many books of the Bible God tells us right at the beginning what spiritual truths are being shared. So if we read the first few verses of chapter one we can usually get a general idea what the book is about and everything else after that is just documenting the spiritual truth that is being shared by God up front. Proverbs is no different. In chapter one of the book of Proverbs God tells us to study God’s word for knowledge, understanding and wisdom. God then repeats this numerous times throughout the book of Proverbs to make sure we get it. When God says something more than once in scripture it’s important so we need to pay attention. To me the first seven verses of Proverbs chapter one not only tells me what the book of Proverbs is about, it also summarizes the wisdom of God that he is sharing with man throughout the entire Bible. To me the most important verse in Proverbs is chapter one, verse seven:

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

Fear in the biblical sense is to show awe, great respect and reverence for God because we know who he is and what he has done for us. Without the proper fear of the Lord we aren’t showing respect for who God is. It’s like slapping God in the face. As true believers we can’t even begin to seek and absorb the instruction and knowledge contained in God’s word until we fear the Lord. When we talk about having a relationship with God it all begins with our fear of the Lord. Without it God will have nothing to do with us and we’re on our own. Without a proper fear of the Lord we’re no better off than the nonbeliever who considers the word of God to be nothing but foolishness. In the second part of the verse God says that fools (nonbelievers) despise wisdom and instruction (from God’s word) and will not seek it. Proverbs 1:5, is another key verse for understanding God’s wisdom:

Proverbs 1:5 – A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.

Although the Bible doesn’t come right out and say it directly in this verse it’s understood that the man of God should “hear” the holy scriptures spoken often (or read them), thereby increasing his learning or knowledge of God’s word and his wisdom. By doing this consistently on a daily basis the believer will be able to achieve an understanding that God requires our obedience. We cannot please God unless we share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with the nonbeliever. The more we witness for Christ the more pleasing it is to God. When a believer stands before the bema judgment seat of Christ on the last day Jesus will ask him or her, “Have you witnessed in my name?” If you can’t answer “yes” and you haven’t saved at least one person for the kingdom of God you won’t hear Jesus say the words we all long to hear which is, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

What most people don’t realize is that 90% of the saints in heaven will be there through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior alone; never having saved even a single soul for the kingdom of heaven through their witness for Christ. That is so sad! How can you please God when you don’t obey the command of God that is most dear to his heart? You can’t. Don’t let that be you! Get out there and boldly proclaim the gospel message of Christ because you know a secret every nonbeliever desperately needs to hear, which is the “good news” of their salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Most people miss the importance of the second part of the verse which says the man of God should seek the counsel of other godly men when making important decisions. If a believer does this routinely he will rarely make a bad decision in life. Now, lets look at verses two through four:

Proverbs 1:2-4 – To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion-

All of the things mentioned in the above verses is what the wise man in verse five does on a consistent basis. To understand it better from my perspective verse five needs to be at the beginning followed by the above verses and not vice versa. Then the verses make more sense to me. It means the same thing but it just took me a little while to figure it out. God had his reasons for writing it this way even if I don’t understand it. God is never wrong so let’s leave it at that. What is obvious to me that God is telling us to study his word so that we may be wise to the point we exhibit wisdom in everything we do. Verse six tells us why we need God’s wisdom:

Proverbs 1:6 – To understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles.

God’s word is a living thing and it speaks to everyone individually as God reveals himself to man through revelations from the Holy Spirit. God speaks to us through the pages of the Bible and we speak to God in prayer. That is how we communicate with God. The more we pray to God on a daily basis and read scripture, hopefully also on a daily basis, the more we gain in knowledge about God and come to understand the spiritual truths of God. This, in turn, helps us to understand what God is telling us in his proverbs. To the nonbeliever the book of Proverbs is nothing but foolishness but to the believer it is the distilled wisdom of God. Abiding in God’s word helps us to understand the words of the wise and then how to incorporate those teachings into our daily lives. The wisdom of God’s word is all we need to live a happy, complete, and successful life in service to God. Read your Bible every day!

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

Proverbs 12:15 – The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.

Proverbs 11:14 – Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

Psalm 33:11 – The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.

One of the things I really hate in this world is people thinking they’re worthless; that they’re suffering needlessly; and they think they have it so bad the only way out is to commit suicide to end their misery. That’s because weak-minded people are falling for the lies of Satan and he’s laughing his ass off about it as he drags the soul of each suicide victim down to the pit of hell for all eternity. Suck it up people and be strong! People have no idea what real pain and suffering looks like until they go to hell. Man’s lot in life is to suffer as Christ also suffered. God doesn’t put anything on us we can’t bear if we persevere. Taking the easy way out by taking our life doesn’t end the suffering. A nonbeliever who ends his life doesn’t go into peaceful oblivion. Look, the immortal soul has to go somewhere after death and the choice is either heaven or hell. There is no door number three.

God is fair and just to all his creatures, which means God is reciprocal in his dealings with believers and nonbelievers alike. What God does for one he’ll do for the other, but at opposite ends of the spectrum. That means the believer’s soul goes to heaven upon his or her death to be in the presence of Jesus while the souls of dead nonbelievers go to hell within the earth to be in the presence of the devil. Believers receive their glorified bodies when they meet Jesus in the air and when nonbelievers go to hell to meet the devil they receive their condemned bodies. The condemned bodies of nonbelievers in hell will be rotting corpses full of worms and maggots. If you don’t believe me go read Mark 9:44, 46, 48, where God says, “Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” That’s why Satan is called the god of this world; but ONLY for the nonbeliever! On this physical plane a nonbeliever is a slave of Satan and when they die they go to hell where their soul will belong to the devil forevermore.

A believer’s soul belongs to God from the moment they are saved. God will judge all nonbelievers only once at the Great White throne judgment which occurs immediately after the millennium. Think of hell within the earth as merely a temporary holding cell for the souls of dead nonbelievers until they can be judged by Jesus on the last day and sent to the big house (the lake of fire and brimstone) for all eternity. Satan is the warden of hell within the earth and his demons are the jailers. The inmates of hell will be those nonbelievers who die in their sin. Satan and his demons hate our guts so the souls of nonbelievers will be tortured by these demons 24/7 until it’s time for God’s judgment at the end of the 1000 year millennial reign of Jesus Christ on the earth. I’m guessing the pain and suffering of hell within the earth will be as bad, or almost as bad, as the lake of fire where both nonbelievers and demons will end up on the last day. This why both places are referred to as hell. Don’t allow yourself to fall into the clutches of Satan because he and his demons will inflict pain on you 24/7.

If you know someone who is considering suicide please intervene and tell them what their fate will be if they go through with it. Please talk them out of suicide and make them understand they don’t know the result of what they’re planning to do. Don’t let Satan harvest their soul or yours without a fight! I can’t think of a better way for a believer to serve the Lord than focusing on suicide prevention as a personal ministry. There are 50,000 suicides in the United States every year and one million worldwide. We also know there are many more suicides than those reported. The sad part is it’s the second leading cause of death in the 15-29 year old age group when people are in the prime of life. More people die from suicide than from violent criminal acts. The highest suicide rates are in Russia and the countries of southern Africa because they are primarily godless countries. A believer could start or volunteer in a suicide prevention center or man a suicide prevention hotline. A believer could start a blog that focuses on suicide prevention and sources of help for those thinking about suicide. Just think; if you could save just one soul from committing suicide and going to hell that would be very pleasing in God’s sight because every soul is priceless in God’s eyes. This is a personal issue with me because I’ve lost family members to suicide. If you’re a believer without a ministry consider getting into this fight for the lost souls of hurting nonbelievers who are considering ending their life.

Every believer will look back on his earthly life as the only hell they ever knew. On the other hand, every nonbeliever will in hell will one day and they’ll look back fondly on their earthly life fondly as the only heaven they’ll ever have known. This dramatizes the vast gulf between heaven and hell; between being saved and lost. In the spiritual world there are no gray areas; only the polar opposites of good and evil. So why then would nonbelievers want to check out of this world early by taking their life and lose out on going to heaven or any hope of salvation? Ignorance is the only answer I can think of because millions of people do make the choice to commit suicide every year because they don’t know God or the implications of that fateful decision. If Satan can convince a nonbeliever to take his own life the devil wins and he gets to keep that soul in hell forever.

The nonbeliever doesn’t know God and his salvation plan for man are theirs for the asking. Please listen to me. Each person is a special creation of God destined to live forever in heaven in the presence of Jesus; if we don’t screw it up. All man has to do is believe in God and by faith accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That’s it! It’s so simple anyone can do it! God makes it so easy to go to heaven but it’s our free will choice to make. Failure to acknowledge God and failure to believe in Jesus buys us a one way ticket to hell so choose wisely. Even the angels in heaven are in awe of human beings because they know we’re the adopted sons and daughters of God Almighty and we’ll be royalty in heaven one day. I’m providing some scriptures that show who we are and what we mean to God:

You are loved:

Jeremiah 31:3 – The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”

You are chosen:

John 15:16 – (Jesus speaking) – You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

You are special:

Ephesians 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

You are important:

1 Peter 2:9 – But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

You are forgiven:

Psalm 103:12 – As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

You are created in His image:

Genesis 1:27 – So God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

How can I begin to talk to you about the wisdom of God when I know so little myself? I’m a little out of my depth here but I’m smart enough to know what I do know and what I don’t know. I’m smart enough to know there is a God and what his name is (Jehovah). I’m smart enough to know where the wisdom of God resides (in the Bible) and how to go about getting it (by studying God’s word). I’m on that path myself, seeking God’s wisdom but I certainly don’t know enough to brag about it. Look, I’ve been studying God’s word for a long time, almost 20 years, in order to gain the knowledge, understanding and wisdom contained in the Bible, yet I still consider any wisdom I’ve received from God to be minimal at best. You can study the Bible for 50 years and still not scratch the surface of what God knows and reveals in his word. God speaks to us through the Scriptures as revelations from the Holy Spirit.

Deuteronomy 17:19 – And it (God’s law) shall be with him (a believer), and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes.

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

It’s a slow incremental process to gain the wisdom of God and it will take a lifetime of daily prayer and the daily reading and studying of God’s word. The sooner you start on your walk with God the more you will learn and the quicker you’ll become a vessel that God can use for his purpose in his salvation plan for man. God created every person with the same small amount of faith inside them that it takes to be saved. No creature made by God was ever made for the express purpose of going to hell. We all get an even shot at heaven because God is good, kind, just and fair to all. The scriptures confirm that God wants all the children that he has created to go to heaven. So what happened to stop it?

Psalm 1:1-2 – 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 delights in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

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

I’ll tell you what happened; Satan happened! Adam and Eve were immortal human beings living in bliss in the Garden of Eden until Satan came along and caused them to sin against God through their disobedience of the commandment of God not to eat the fruit from a certain tree. God had given the earth to Adam but Satan was able to wrest control of earth from Adam because Adam had sinned against God. From the moment that Adam sinned against God Adam became the slave of Satan and he became a mortal being who was destined to die a physical death and to also suffer spiritual death by going to hell forever without the forgiveness of his sins by a just God.

Lucifer, the most powerful angel, led one third of the angels in heaven in a rebellion against God. When the rebelling angels were defeated by God he threw them all out of heaven and incarcerated them on earth until judgment day. God then gave Lucifer the name Satan, which means “adversary”, and the fallen angels became known to us as demons. God is omnipotent and has no equal in heaven. God has no adversary in heaven or on earth. God wanted to point out to us that Satan is our adversary, not God’s. Satan is bent on our destruction as the book of Job clearly shows us. Satan hates God because he is jealous of God’s power and because he wants to be worshipped as God. Satan hates man because God made us just like he made the angels and Satan can’t stand that. Satan also knows God loves us and favors us above the angels by adopting us as sons and daughters of the Most High. Satan doesn’t have the power to defeat God; not even close. But Satan knows by destroying man he can cause God grief.

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

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 joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Satan wants to hide the truth of God from man so that he can bring man down to the pit of hell with him for all eternity. If Satan had his way every human being would be destroyed from the face of the earth within thirty days. Only the hand of God stops Satan from destroying us completely. That’s why devil worshippers make me shake my head in disgust and disbelief. Can people really be that blind? The evil of this world is only held in check by the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit of God until Jesus raptures the saints at his appearing. First, Satan tried to hide the truth of God from man by telling us that God doesn’t exist. Second, when that didn’t work out as Satan had hoped he then resorted to creating fake religions and false gods throughout history to hide the truth of God from man. Satan has put blinders on the eyes of nonbelievers so that they cannot find God and his saving grace; and without the forgiveness of our sins man cannot enter heaven because God doesn’t allow sin in heaven. Sinful man is locked out of heaven and the scriptures make it very clear that the only other place our spirit can go when we die is hell. There is no third option available. It’s either heaven or hell; but luckily we have the choice.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Ephesians 1:7 – In Him we have redemption through His blood, for the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.

To destroy the works of Satan and reestablish God’s fellowship with man through the forgiveness of their sins God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to earth to die on the cross so that the sins of man could be forgiven. God came down from his throne in heaven and came to earth in the incarnation of the man Jesus Christ. Jesus is both man and God; wholly God and wholly man. One of the spiritual truths of heaven is the wages of sin is death; both physical death and spiritual death in hell forever. There is no remission of sin without the shedding of sinless blood. All men have the sin of Adam in their bodies because of Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden. Only a sinless man would qualify as a sacrifice to God for the sins of man, and since there was no man available who could qualify, God had to become a man and sacrifice himself on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven by a just and loving God. If Jesus hadn’t voluntarily died on the cross in our place all men would still abide in their sin and go straight to hell upon their death. On the other hand, after the resurrection of Christ believers now go to heaven immediately upon their death to be in the presence of Jesus. Jesus saved us “from” hell and saved us “to” heaven. That’s why Jesus Christ is our Savior and Jesus Christ is our Lord because he is God whom we have sworn to obey. Yes, God loves us enough to die for us! Praise God for his mercy and grace!

1 Timothy 4:13 – Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek (Gentile).

Not only did God save man from an eternity in hell by having Jesus Christ die on the cross in our place, God also provided us his wisdom (the Bible) in written form so that we could first find God and then learn how we can be saved unto eternal life in heaven through faith by acknowledging that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. Even though Jesus died for the forgiveness of the sins of all men, as believers we must still claim our salvation individually by declaring it before the God who created us; otherwise we still abide in our sins and we go to hell when we die. Just knowing about God and Jesus isn’t enough to save us. Satan and his demons know that much and they aren’t saved and they certainly aren’t going to heaven. There’s no free pass to heaven. Man has to consciously choose to serve God while also choosing to repent of their sins and turn away from Satan.

John 11:25-26 – (Jesus speaking) – I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.

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

Serving God is a deliberate choice we must declared before the Lord. Not making a choice is the same as choosing to serve Satan. Everyone who doesn’t choose God retains their sins and they can’t enter heaven. It’s that simple. God purposely made salvation a simple process so anyone can do it. The only two possible destinations for our spirit after death is heaven or hell. You’d be wise to choose to serve God because eternity is a very long time. Bobbing up and down in the lake of fire in pain and anguish 24/7 for a trillion billion years is not my idea of a fun vacation. God doesn’t tell us everything he knows but God does tell us enough so we know how to avoid hell by accepting his saving grace through faith in Jesus so we’ll have our sins forgiven by a loving, just and merciful God so that our names can be entered into the book of life by the Holy Spirit. An eternity in heaven is a wonderful thing!

Exodus 20:3 – (God speaking) – You shall have no other gods before Me.

John 8:32 – (Jesus speaking) – And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

However, if we as believers want the wisdom of God, it’s all there in the Bible. Study God’s word to find the wisdom of God you seek. That’s what this blog is all about; encouraging others to study God’s word for knowledge, understanding and wisdom. First of all, there is no true happiness apart from a right relationship with the one true God, who is Jehovah. King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, tells us this in the book of Ecclesiastes. There is overwhelming evidence to support the Christian God and zero evidence to support all the fake religions and false gods in the world that Satan has sponsored to fool man. There are over 1000 prophecies in the Bible, over 500 of which have been fulfilled and documented as fact. All the other false gods throughout history have zero fulfilled prophecies between them. One of the ways you can tell who is the true God and who is false is by seeing which God can tell the future and only Jehovah has proven he can do it because he is the author of history. Only God can raise the dead and Jesus is our proof.

John 3:18 – (Jesus speaking) – He who believes in Him (the Son) is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:36 – (Jesus speaking) – He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

So all you nonbelievers out there beware. The wrath of God is a terrible thing to behold for those who reject God’s saving grace; for those who decide to abide in their sins. You’ve all been brainwashed by Satan and the humanist world he has created to keep you from the true God of creation. Use your brain to look at the evidence available while there is still time and you’ll find the true God you seek. There is not one shred of evidence that supports any of these fake religions and false gods. That’s why they try so hard to keep you from looking past their false doctrines, rituals and dogma. They’re running a spiritual shell game on you. It’s all a big scam to steal your soul for Satan. Be wise!

If you’ll notice it’s not Christians who are killing the followers of other faiths but vice versa because fake religions want to stoke religious hatred to distract their adherents and make them think they’re doing the work of their god. In a way they are, because Satan is the god they serve and they won’t even know it in most cases until they stand before Jesus at the Great White Throne judgment. Then nonbelievers will know they’ve been duped by Satan but by then it’ll be too late for them. All nonbelievers will be condemned by Jesus Christ on the last day and be sentenced to the lake of fire for all eternity. It doesn’t have to end this way! Use your brain and find the true God while there is still time to avoid hell through faith in Jesus Christ.

John 6:47 – (Jesus speaking) – Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.

Luke 13:3,5 – (Jesus speaking) – Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.

God made us all so we’re all children of God; which makes us all brothers and sisters. I have no hatred of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, or anyone else just because their religious beliefs are not the same as mine. I think they’re all wrong. I feel sorry for them. I also want to help them, which is why I give my testimony about my God in my Christian blog. If I didn’t care about all the millions of lost souls going to hell every day when they die I wouldn’t waste my time and energy giving my witness about my God. However, I do care deeply about people going to hell for all eternity for the lack of a witness on behalf of Christ. Therefore, I share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with all nonbelievers as I work in God’s harvest field in the hope of saving one more soul for Jesus. My mindset as a believer is that I love what God loves and I hate what God hates. God loves every creature he has made and God hates it when Satan steals a soul he has made for the kingdom of hell. I work for God as a witness for Christ in God’s harvest field and so should you. It’s our Great Commission.

Isaiah 43:11 – (God speaking) – I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.

Hebrews 10:31 – It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

I am commanded by God to share the gospel message of Christ with the nonbelievers in all nations so that some might see the light of the one true God and accept his saving grace through faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. I feel sorry for the nonbeliever but hate doesn’t enter into it; love enters into it. I’m not happy with just my salvation. I want to help save others. After our salvation we are guaranteed to go to heaven but God leaves us here on this earth to do his work; to witness the gospel message of Christ to nonbelievers in order to save lost souls for the kingdom of God. This is the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples before he ascended back to heaven. All believers are also disciples of Christ and the Great Commission applies to us too. As a nonbeliever you might see it a little differently but out of the goodness of my heart I’m trying to do a good work by my witness for Christ. How can someone hate me for wanting to help them?

I can respect the fact that nonbelievers may disagree with me but why do you feel you must hate me and try to keep me from speaking what I know to be true? It’s okay for you to disagree with me but please don’t hate me for trying to do a good thing. How can someone want to harm me for considering their welfare? How can someone want to kill me for trying to save their immortal soul from hell? It makes no sense to me. Don’t kill the messenger just because you don’t like the message. Instead, go verify the message! Go investigate for yourself to see if I speak the truth. My words can’t harm you but they can save you! Send me an email if I’m wrong. I have my big boy pants on so I can take rejection. I don’t expect that I’ll ever hear from you. The fate of your immortal soul hangs in the balance so you need to choose wisely. You need to be absolutely sure that you know the truth of God. I know I do. See, I have told you. That’s all I can do. You must save yourself so go do it right now!

Isaiah 45:22 – (God speaking) – Look to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other.

1 Peter 5:8 – Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Galatians 4:16 – Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

Galatians 4:19 – My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.

2 Corinthians 4:4 – Whose minds the god of this age (Satan) has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

2 Corinthians 5:21 – For He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Jesus).

God authored the Bible using forty holy men to actually do the writing as they were moved by the Holy Spirt so that each and every word and punctuation mark in the Bible is just as God intended it to be. God doesn’t do fluff or filler in his writing. Take what God says in the Bible literally unless it’s obvious God is using symbolism, spiritualism or imagery like in the book of Revelation for instance. If God puts something in the Bible he has a good reason. It’s there for our edification. Believers should hang on every word from the mouth of God because the Bible is God’s wisdom. A good rule of thumb when reading the Bible is if it makes sense to you then seek no other sense. God isn’t trying to trick you. God wrote the Bible over a period of roughly 1500 years, from about 1400 BC when Moses wrote the book of Genesis to around 95 AD when the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation. There are 66 books in the Bible; 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, contains the history of God’s dealings with man and the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Genesis God created the world and in Revelation God brings 6,000 years of human history to a close with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ our Lord to save Israel from destruction. At that time Jesus will judge the nations for their sins against God. Jesus Christ our Lord will then establish his millennial kingdom and rule the world from Jerusalem for a thousand years before the new Jerusalem appears.

Genesis 2:7 – And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Psalm 8:3-4 – When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?

Deuteronomy 7:9 – Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.

Psalm 62:1-2 – Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved.

The Old Testament is Jesus prophesied and the New Testament is Jesus fulfilled. God gave us his word so that we might know him and accept his gracious gift of salvation unto eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The truth and wisdom of the Bible is self-evident. Evil men have been trying for 2000 years to disprove the Bible but all have failed to find any errors in it. As believers we are commanded by God to pray to God daily and to read the Bible daily because by praying we talk to God and reading our Bible is how God talks to us. We need this two-way communication between God and man to maintain a strong fellowship with the God who made us and loves us. When we read the Bible it keeps God at the forefront of our minds and when we study God’s word it keeps Jesus before our eyes. I’ve found that when I abide in God’s word daily it causes me to sin less and it helps me to keep Satan at arm’s length. As believers we’re to not only read the Bible, we’re to study it for knowledge, understanding and wisdom. The Bible contains 129 direct commandments from God that believers are to follow, although quite a few of them are redundant. You cannot obey God if you don’t know what God has commanded we do. You cannot please God without being in obedience to the commands in his word. Entry into heaven is gained by faith in Jesus but rewards from God are based on our obedience.

Deuteronomy 17:19 – And it (God’s law) shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes.

Deuteronomy 4:2 – You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

Deuteronomy 8:3 – Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

Psalm 119:97-99 – Oh, how I ove Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.

Let me share with you my experience studying God’s word. When I made the decision to read the entire Bible I started with the book of Genesis and read straight through to the book of Revelation. Looking back, I wouldn’t recommend that method to anyone else just starting out. While the entire Bible is important and should be read in its entirety, it’s also important to read with purpose and intent because some parts of the Bible are more important than others. Read the more important books of the Bible first and more often, especially for new believers just starting out on their walk with God. The Old Testament is good for learning about God’s wisdom, God’s dealings with man and as a historical reference point. Currently we live in the New Testament times under the blood covenant of Jesus Christ so our study of God’s word should start and end with the New Testament. We should spend roughly two thirds of our time studying the New Testament and one third of our time studying Old Testament scriptures. I recommend all believers read the entire Bible at least once a year and more often if time permits.

Psalm 19:7 – The law of the Lord is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Psalm 18:30 – As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Psalm 33:11 – The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.

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

Make sure you place a priority on reading the New Testament before reading the Old Testament. If you start with the Old Testament you might get bored and lose interest before you get the really good part of the Bible, which is the New Testament. I have to admit I cheat a little bit on my Old Testament reading. I love Genesis and Exodus but when I get to Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy they tend to be bit more dry and those books are laborious reading for me. I usually just read a summary of those books from my Bible handbook and Bible commentary at least every other year. Some Bible books are less important to me than others, although I realize every word in the Bible is important to God and there’s a message in every Bible story. On the other hand, I make it a point to read God’s books of wisdom literature from the Old Testament several times a year without fail (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, Psalms and Song of Solomon). In fact, the book of Proverbs is the distilled wisdom of God which a believer would be wise to read every day. There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. If a believer read one chapter a day for a whole month and repeated that month after month and year after year can you imagine the wisdom of God that person would have gained over a period of years? Of course, it would take a lot of discipline. I’ve tried to do it but I haven’t been able to stick to it.

Psalm 1:1-2 – 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 delights in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 112:1 – Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments.

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

Psalm 68:11 – The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it.

Our focus should be on the New Testament because it’s the time in which we live. I break the 27 books of the New Testament into four categories for my reading. I break the New Testament into the following:

1. The four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

2.The Acts of the Apostles

3.The 21 epistles, or letter, from the Apostles of Christ.

4.The book of Revelation

The gospels are the heart of all the scriptures and should be read as often as possible. You can make any division you want when it comes to studying the New Testament but my division works for me. The Synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke cover the life and times of Jesus and are very similar in the information they provide so I like to start with them but I also like to break them up by reading other New Testament books in between. This reinforces the gospel message of Christ in my mind as I read each of the four gospels. I always start my New Testament reading with the gospel of Matthew because God placed it first in the New Testament canon. After all, Jesus is the prophesied Messiah sent by God to save his people; the Jew first and then the Gentile. The Jewish authorities rejected Jesus so the Lord turned to the Gentiles to establish his church. However, the Jews remain God’s chosen people whom he will save on the last day. Matthew is a Jew writing his gospel to a Jewish audience to convict them of their sin of rejecting their Messiah, the Savior. It’s just common sense that the gospel of Matthew is the first book in the New Testament, even though it wasn’t the first gospel written. I’ll read Matthew first and then read the book of Acts to refresh my memory about the history of the early church. Then I’ll read the book of Mark, the first gospel written, and follow that up by reading the 21 epistles. Then I’ll read the gospels of Luke and John together because they are so different and they complement each other. The gospel of John doesn’t address the life of Jesus because it had already been covered in sufficient detail in the other three gospels. The gospel of John was written well after the other three gospels to point out the divinity and office of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 37:5-6 – Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass, He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday sun.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 – Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord.

1 Chronicles 22:19 – Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God.

Psalm 105:1 – Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!

You might ask do we really need four gospels to share the “good news” of Jesus Christ coming from heaven to redeem man by his sacrificial death on the cross? The answer is yes we do. Each gospel writer saw the life of Jesus from slightly different perspectives and they all had different target audiences. Each gospel provided something unique not found in the other gospels so that when we view all the gospels together it gives us a more complete picture of the life and ministry of the man Jesus Christ who was both man and God. In ancient times there was no pen and paper available to the common man; no written documents of any kind to read. Only a very few wealthy people could read or write and the society in Israel at that time was generally poor, They depended on an oral tradition where everything was memorized and everything had to be proven by personal testimony. According to Jewish law, the truth of any matter required the testimony of two or three witnesses. In the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John God provided three Jewish witnesses to give their testimony that Jesus Christ was the prophesied Messiah, the Son of God, sent to save men from their sins. The truth of God was thereby established by the requirements of Jewish law. The Gentiles only needed one testimony to convince them that Jesus was God in the flesh so the gospel of Luke was sufficient for that purpose.

Psalm 119:2 – Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!

Psalm 33:20 – Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.

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

Jeremiah 33:3 – Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

God appointed the Apostle Paul to share the mysteries of God with the Gentiles so it’s no surprise Paul wrote the first 14 epistles of the New Testament (including Hebrews), which I refer to as the major epistles. Titus and Philemon are very short New Testament books written by Paul but I still consider them major epistles because Paul wrote them. The last seven letters in the New Testament I refer to as the minor epistles. It’s as though God is giving a cameo appearance to other apostles he loves. We have two epistles from two of Jesus’ brothers, James and Jude, bracketing two epistles from Peter and three from John; two Apostles from Jesus’ inner circle. Peter was the main apostle and John was the apostle whom God loved the most. The minor epistles are small books that usually stress a single theme believers should follow. The book of James encourages believers to live their faith by doing good works. The book of Jude encourages believers to fight for their faith and to study God’s word. In the book of 1st Peter believers are reminded they will be persecuted for their faith but they must continue to live in obedience to God, with humility, as they wait for heaven. Believers must continue to do good works (i.e., witness for Christ). 2nd Peter stresses believers should study God’s word so as to not be fooled by false teachers. 1st John says to love God and one another. 2nd John says to obey God’s commands and defend Jesus. 3rd John says to share the gospel with all nonbelievers.

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 joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Titus 2:7 – In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility.

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.

Revelation 1:3 – Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

I find the placement of the New Testament books perfect. Matthew was the only disciple who could read and write because he was a tax collector. Matthew was a Jew writing his gospel to a Jewish audience letting them know they had rejected the Messiah. Jesus Christ was and still is a Jewish rabbi sitting at the right hand of God the Father in heaven as our mediator. Jesus was rejected by Israel as the prophesied Messiah so it’s fitting that the New Testament start with Matthew, although it wasn’t the first gospel written. Mark’s gospel was the testimony of the Apostle Peter, who couldn’t read or write. As his disciple Mark often heard Peter preach the gospel in Rome and he wrote down Peter’s words. Mark gave his written testimony of what Peter preached as a record of what the apostle said. Likewise Luke was also was a disciple; but of the Apostle Paul. Luke was a great historian and a keen investigator. Luke was like the Sherlock Holmes of his day. Luke knew all of the apostles personally and the church fathers as well. Luke’s familiarity with the early church leaders allowed him to interview them all as part of his inquiries into the truth of God, which he used to compile his gospel.

Luke was a physician and a Gentile so his gospel was intended for a Gentile audience because Gentiles wouldn’t believe anything written by a Jew, and vice versa. As a third party observer, and a good historian to boot, it was only fitting that Luke also write the history of the early church which is the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Luke and Acts were actually one large continuous work that was broken up later to create two separate books. Luke and Acts are the two largest books of the New Testament. Since these works were written on scrolls it took up a whole scroll for Luke and also a whole scroll for Acts so their division was a natural break point in the scriptures and kept that way by the church fathers when the New Testament canon was finalized. Only Luke and Acts were written by a Gentile. All the other books of the New Testament were written by Jewish writers.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 – All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

1 Timothy 4:13 – Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 – For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance.

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.

Any believer worth their salt should be able to list the New Testament books in the order they occur and generally know why they are in that order. I know I can because I study the Bible for knowledge, understanding and wisdom. It’s my continual search for the truth of God while trying to maintain my fellowship with the Lord. Our knowledge of God isn’t just given to us. We have to make an effort to find God and know him and our search is never-ending. I find most people are just too lazy to learn about religion. They want to be spoon fed their faith and have God served up for them on a platter for easy consumption because it’s too much bother to do it themselves. It’s too much hard work. Your walk with God is personal and you must do it yourself. Nobody is going to carry you to heaven. I can point the way to God because of my study of God’s word but you must do the walking and the talking with the Lord yourself. We are in the end times so the soon return of Jesus is palpable. That’s why my favorite book in the New Testament is the book of Revelation, because it’s the only book that hasn’t been fulfilled yet but it will be very soon. Proverbs is my favorite Old Testament book because it’s God’s distilled wisdom which we all need. The book of Revelation is the culmination of God’s salvation plan for man and the end of the world as we know it. It’s the revelation of Jesus Christ at his Second Coming to the earth by settling his foot down on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. It’s where Jesus ascended to heaven and where he’ll return because he said he would and God cannot lie. Jesus is God in the flesh! Jesus will then save Israel from destruction and judge the nations for their sins against God. The whole world will be watching on cable TV as Jesus Christ descends from heaven with the shout of an archangel. Everyone will then bow before Jesus because he is the King of kings and Lord of lords. As believers we’re the adopted son and daughters of Almighty God

Galatians 3:28-29 – There is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heir according to the promise.

Galatians 3:26 – For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also the Greek (Gentile).

2 Corinthians 13:1 – By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.

In every book of the Bible God speaks plainly and literally, with the exception of the book of Revelation where God uses symbolism, spiritualization and imagery to hide his truth from the nonbeliever while revealing himself to the believer who is spiritually aware of God and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is the only book in the entire Bible where God promises a blessing for all who read it or hear it, whether it’s one verse or the entire book. Just imagine that! If you want a blessing from God every day just read from the book of Revelation every day. God does this to stress the importance of reading the book of Revelation so that believers know what’s coming and can prepare for it. You should be reading the book of Revelation more than any other book in the Bible to keep your eyes focused on the return of Jesus which will happen soon. Read the entire book of Revelation at least two to three times a year and even more often is better still. As believers we need to be able to read the signs of the end times which are upon us so we know what we must do. All believers must continue to witness for Christ while there is still time to save some for the kingdom of God because each soul that God has made is priceless in God’s eyes. We please God when we work his harvest field. We are to love what God loves and hate what God hates. If you do this you’ll be pleasing in God’s sight and your fellowship with the Lord will be strong. As believers most of us will have already been raptured to heaven because we will meet Jesus in the air seven years before his Second Coming. Believers will be with Jesus in heaven during the seven year tribulation period just before the Secon Coming. But at the Second Coming believers will accompany Jesus on his return to earth. We’ll be in our glorified bodies and from the air we’ll see the glorious Second Coming take place below us in Jerusalem. Praise God for his mercy and grace!

Colossians 1:16 – 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.

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.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 – But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:7 – In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.