Feeling far from God?

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

For Christians who have been saved through Christ the verse above can be the most comforting and reassuring when going through many trials, attacks and tribulation as I know it has been many times in my own walk. God's love can protect us from anything it is so wonderful to know that no matter how unloved or far from God we may feel His love has the power to exceed it all. God's love has been shown to everyone in the world since the beginning of time and He has given every being an opportunity to be saved from sin. It doesn't matter how big our sin is Jesus already knew all the sins you would commit in your lifetime as He came to earth to give his life as a living sacrifice for us all, yes that includes you. (see Romans 6:10) But how will we react to this opportunity? The Bible gives us two ways we will either accept and believe by faith that Jesus has washed all our sins away and stop serving sin by doing so we will cross from death to life (see John 5:24) or we will reject this offer and be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur. (see Revelation 20:15) There is no middle ground you cannot be in the middle, you are either saved or not, there is NO lukewarm stage that is to not be saved. (see Revelation 3:16)

You can be saved though by believing by faith in Jesus Christ that his sacrifice was enough to cleanse us from our sin and then turn away from our sin to serve Christ - repentance and belief (see John 3:16)

As Christians though who have these beautiful promises that we can never be separated from God we must not use this as an excuse to be lazy, we need to keep drawing near to God in prayer despite the attacks and we must be careful because we are told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (see Phillipians 2:12) so that we do not get distracted or deceived and lose our way. (see Matthew 24:24)

A helpful verse for me to remember is though I am free to make choices. Not everything is beneficial (see 1 Corinthians 10:23) and the best thing is to be in God's will and led by the Holy Spirit.

Be encouraged,

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Don't look back!

But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:26

In this passage Lot, his wife and his two daughters were told to flee from the wicked Sodom and Gomorrah by two angels because the Lord was going to destroy it (see Genesis 19:13)

When I was reading this chapter the other day God showed me something I didn't realize before. How many times we look back at past sins or our sinful past in general and think that we are missing out or whatever else could have been if we continued in our sin when we clearly know that the end of that path is destruction? But this is a tactic of the enemy. When God has instructed us to do something, we may have to change seasons and a change definitely takes place as we transfer from sin to God. So why are we still looking back as if we want to walk back in our old ways of life? We cannot make progress with God if we are still longingly looking at our sin even though we might not boldly declare to participate in it we need to make sure our hearts are not clinging onto sin but are grasping onto God by faith in the sacrifice that Christ made and all that He has achieved for us. We need to be rejoicing always in our new way of life and in the fact that Jesus has bought us eternal redemption. (see Philippians 4:4-8) If we still want sin or hold onto it we cannot be for God. (see Matthew 6:24)

It is so important to be content in God and to be walking with Him daily, renewing our minds too so that we do not give into sin and temptation. God is faithful and He promises to help us always. (see 1 Corinthians 10:13)

So let us pray for a heart that desires what God desires and that what breaks God's heart would also break ours. Let us pray that we will stay in God's will and let go of any sin no matter how pleasurable it is to us and for the Holy Spirit to govern our thoughts and actions forevermore, in Jesus' name, Amen.

God answers prayer and He answers it in a loving way (see Matt 7:9-11)

He is a loving and patient Savior who doesn't want anyone to perish which is why He has given us this moment to repent. (see 2 Peter 3:9) We don't know if tomorrow will come today is the day for repentance (see James 4:13-17) But time is running out you must repent now and you will be saved. (see John 3:16)

Love in Christ

Jaleen :)
P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Why does God seek His own glory?

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Psalm 22:3 KJV

Because God is unique and all glorious and totally self-sufficient, He must be for Himself if He is to be for us. God is without flaw, He is not self-seeking or selfish. On the contrary, He is perfect in every way He humbled and gave Himself as a ransom for us out of pure love and in order for there to be a way for us to be saved (see Acts 4:12).  We have to believe that He is sufficient which He is. So because He is totally sufficient and perfect in every way he deserves all our glory. Our LORD God Almighty is a God of truth and He cannot lie or deny the truth, He is truth and so He must receive all our glory because He is the only source of complete righteousness and truth and the only source of joy. Put it this way if God gave up His glory to another it would not be right because there is no other who can excel Him or can even come near to His love, power, grace, mercy and truth. Because God is love He must pursue the praises and hearts of his people so that He can redeem them because He is truth and the only way he is fully deserving of our praise. So let us give Him all our praise and thank Him for his great love and for everything He has done for us with a thankful heart and instead of thinking why does God seek His own glory we should rather be marveling at the fact that the God of the universe inhabits praise from mere men on earth such as myself!

Be encouraged,

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

What does it mean to love money?

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24

I've read this passage many times before and thought to myself I have never really loved money. But something God revealed to me is that loving money isn't always loving the paper money or the coins the love of money is love for the things it buys such as possessions, security. Anything that money can buy that you seek security in rather than God or his word is the love of money. We need to be seeking God to be our all instead of pleasures and things which I know I struggle with at times. The love of money comes when we are not content with what we have (see Heb 13:5, Ecc 5:10) so let us be content with what we have and look at all that God has given us with thankfulness. Remember that all that is on earth is certainly passing away and that earthly wealth will mean nothing when Christ comes again (see Matt 6:19-21) because He will come in the twinkling of an eye (see 1 Corinthians 15:52) and we must be ready and found to be doing what Christ called us to do and not be found sleeping spiritually. (see Mark 13:36) .
Your soul is the most valuable thing on this earth and until you give your life to Christ you don't realize its value because this earth is passing away and we don't want to get so caught up that we lose sight of why we are here. Everyone has a purpose in Christ and until you stop chasing after everything else, nothing will change. Let us seek God first in all that we do and willingly draw near to Him in prayer and in Jesus' name asking for a content heart and a renewed mind (see James 5:16)
Be encouraged,
Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

What really matters?

33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Luke 12:33

15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15

Sometimes in my Christian walk I wonder get annoyed when something isn't changing in my life when I have prayed about it a lot. What I am learning though is that what is most important is not what happens now in my physical life but it is where I am in my spiritual life. What God led me to in scripture was Mark 2.
In Mark 2:1-12 A paralyzed man comes through the roof to be healed by Jesus. Jesus saw the faith he had in Him yet Jesus, out of love, didn't heal him of his physical needs first because that was not as important as his spiritual condition. The most important thing that the paralyzed man needed to know was that he was that Jesus had come to forgive his sins. (see Mark 2:5) To prove that He had authority to forgive sins he then heals the man. (see Mark 2:10) But the latter is not more important than the first thing that Jesus did which was to forgive the man of his sins which is the greatest gift anyone could give.
So today instead of focusing on all the bad things and struggles in life, let us give thanks, worship and praise to God for giving us forgiveness which enables us to have a new life which is hidden in God and will be so much better than this life! (see 1 Corinthians 2:9)
Be encouraged,
Jaleen x
P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

What is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Matthew 12:32

Many times I have actually cried and been so anxious about this verse and thought to myself thinking I was guilty of this. In my heart I know that Jesus is my Lord and I love God-The Father, Son and Holy Spirit and I feel like there are times that my mind sets itself up against God and in the past I've hated myself for this. This verse may make genuine believers think that if they have said a cuss word or something then they have committed this sin but we have to dig deeper the true meaning is different. 

First of all we have to realize that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are one (3 in 1) so if you say a word against the Holy Spirit, you have also spoken against the Son and the Father too. Note that Jesus says sin against the Son of Man will be forgiven but speaking against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. To understand what it means to speak against the Holy Spirit in this verse you have to understand what the role of the Holy Spirit is:

The Holy Spirit testifies to Jesus (see 1 John 5:6) so if someone deliberately rejects Jesus' Testimony they are saying that what the Holy Spirit testifies to is wrong and they are speaking against the Holy Spirit and they blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.

The reason that these people cannot be saved is not because the sin is to big for Jesus to forgive but rather that they will never be saved because they have rejected the only way to be saved and they will never come to Jesus for forgiveness. Don't get me wrong though speaking against the Holy Spirit or God is still wrong and it is sin which can be forgiven by Jesus. No sin is to big for Jesus to forgive but if we reject Jesus' testimony there is no way for us to be forgiven.

So let us draw near to God and repent of our sins in the name of Jesus whilst there is still time. 

Be encouraged 

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more

Day 6: Make use of God's Armour

14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Ephesians 6:14-17

Every day we need to pray to be clothed with the armor of God so that we can resist any spiritual attack and so we can stand when the day of evil comes. Eph 6:11-13 

But something God was showing me the other day was that when a soldier prepares for battle he clothes himself with armor and he is prepared to fight. However what good is it if he stands against his opposition clothed with all his armor (his shield his sword and the rest) but doesn't use it? We need to use our armor which we have been given. 

Our sword which is our attacking weapon is the word of God which we need to be reading and living by and it is the sharpest sword there is! (see Hebrews 12:4)

Our helmet of salvation and salvation is found in none other except Jesus (see Acts 4:12)

Our belt of truth, we live by the Spirit of truth (see John 3:20-21)

Our feet fitted with the readiness to spread the gospel (see Matt 24:14)

Our shield of faith which is in Christ Jesus (what He has done and is yet going to do in our lives) (see Hebrews 12:2)

Our breastplate of righteousness which is the righteousness we have in Jesus Christ (see Psalm 106:3)

Let us pray,

Lord Almighty, I pray that you would clothe us with your armor, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the belt of truth and our feet with the readiness to spread your Gospel and that you would help us to use your armour to bring Glory to your most Holy name. Please help those of us who are are saved to continue in you and for those who are not saved to come into the knowledge of the savior Jesus and to know that salvation is found in His name only. Help us in our weaknesses to come to you and to remove any hindrances and let us devote ourselves to you. Bind Satan I pray. In Jesus name I pray this prayer, Amen

Be encouraged, 

Jaleen x

P.S please check out this post if you want to become a Christian or know more