Acknowledging God pt.3

Jesus Christ, the Lord, says “If anyone acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will openly acknowledge that person before my Father in heaven.  But if anyone denies me here on earth, I will deny that person before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32

Important?  Why?  Jesus is the only way to the Father of Heaven.   If you want to be in heaven after this life and if you want to experience God’s love more.... then just in things we already take for granted such as the sun and the rain, food, water, etc  (Reference Matthew 5:45) then we must acknowledge Jesus Christ.

We take many things for granted that the Father of all creation does for us everyday and yet our Father in Heaven wants to bless us more with his "assuring" love but we can't receive that assurance in his love if we don't acknowledge Jesus Christ above all things in life.

For Jesus Christ made the way for us to experience a deep meaningful relationship with God the Father (The Father of all Creation) and have eternal life.  A relationship that is so deep and meaningful that it transforms us.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one can come to the Father except through me." John 14:6 

Jesus said,  "But you shouldn't be so concerned about perishable things like food.  Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that I, the Son of Man, can give you.  For God the Father has sent me for that very purpose." John 6:27 

Jesus said, “Yes, I am the gate.  Those who come in through me will be saved.  Wherever they go, they will find green pastures.”  John 10:9
 

Receiving A Mighty Relationship through our Shepherd Jesus Christ.

Jesus is only way for soul to receive true peace, assurance, joy, love, hope, encouragement and conviction to stand in faith at all times.   Through Jesus, our LORD, we receive what is not possible in our human strength and understanding. 

“The LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need.  He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.   He renews my strength.  He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.   Even when I walk through the dark valley of death, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.  Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.   You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.  You welcome me as a guest, anointing my head with oil.   My cup overflows with blessing.  Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.”  Psalm 23

Again, we cannot find the spiritual, physical blessings, the comfort and encouragement from God unless we acknowledge God and follow Jesus Christ.   Jesus and the Father and Spirit are one.  So as you follow Jesus you are actually following the Father.  Difficult concept for most of us to understand but God is beyond our understanding.

Philip, one of the disciples of Jesus, said to him, "Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied."

Jesus replied, "Philip, don't you even yet know who I am, even after all the time I have been with you?  Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!  So why are you asking to see him? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?   The words I say are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.  Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.  Or at least believe because of what you have seen me do."  John 14:8-11

Jesus was God and is God.   He could lay down his life (he could let his physical body die) and pick it up again.   He knew it wasn't the physical body that was most important but the soul in which lives in the body.  For God made both the body and soul.   The body to carry the soul but the body was never to last.  The soul was to last into eternity.

Life of Faith

“So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:6

Life is short but those who know God know this is not the home of their soul… this life is a very brief experience compared to eternity.   So we need to look at life as a trip, an expedition, a mission, and even an adventure.

But no trip would “be”  and no trip would be “transformed" into a healthy and successful experience without faith in a well respected, experienced, caring, and trustworthy guide- a shepherd.

Jesus is that guide!  He is that shepherd.   He knows this world and He created this world.   He sees all the good and all the evil.  He sees the prideful, the humble, and the needy.  He sees those who want to know Him and those who don’t want to know Him.  He knows us.  He knows what will give us peace, challenge and stretch our faith, stimulate us, and show us things we wouldn’t even imagine but again we can’t receive from Jesus (God) unless we seek and acknowledge Him. 
      

Preparing Your Soul

We as humans sometimes have tendency to believe we have immortality when it comes to this life… like we can just select the restart button and start again but in reality our life here is fragile and can be taken from us without warning.  There is no restart button.  No one knows the number of his or her days only God.   

Think about it.... is your soul prepared to leave this life and be taken into the next?  What kind of relationship do you have with the Lord Jesus Christ?  Are you acquainted with him? Do you know HIM?  Have you lost touch with Him?  Do you even know Him?   Do you trust Him?  Do you have his Holy Spirit within you and working in you?  What do your words and actions say about your relationship with God?
 

Jesus says, “… the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that is thrown into the water and gathers fish of every kind.  When the net is full, they drag it up onto the shore, sit down and sort the good fish into crates, and throw the bad ones way.  That is the way it will be at the end of the world.   The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the godly, throwing the wicked into the fire.  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Do you understand?”  Matthew 13:47-51

How does God define the godly or the wicked?  The godly do what is right; they obey God, they love God’s mercy, and have Jesus as their shepherd. 
 

“No, O people, the LORD has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

Doing right starts with coming to God in repentance for the wrongs we have done. We already know in our heart what is wrong and right even though we try to justify it but no amount of human justification will count when it comes to God.  Doing right is acknowledging our daily need in Him and drawing from his goodness and godliness which is LIGHT.  (You can't have this if you don't trust him as your Shepherd.)
  

Jesus said “All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” John 3:20-21

Jesus said to the people, "I am the light of the world.  If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." John 8:12
 

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.” 1 John 1:5

 "But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. " 1 John 1:7

(Remember your eye is a lamp.  Luke 11:34-36)

God's children come to the light and live in the light.  Have you come to the "light"? Do you repeatedly come to the "light" everyday? Do you walk and see in the "light" of God?

The wicked don’t do what is right, they don’t love mercy (giving it or receiving it) and they don’t walk with God.

Jesus speaking about himself says this about the wicked:

 “......... But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God.  Their judgment is based on this fact:  The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.”  John 3:18-19

Now I want to share some things with you.  I am not sharing them for my benefit.  They are not to trample the good grass and muddy up the waters or make you feel cheated but to share the reality of heaven and hell in hopes to encourage you and stimulate you to acknowledge God and continue to acknowledge God in your life.

I know there is a heaven and a hell.  I know there is God who is the Father and Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.   I have seen Jesus.  I have experienced his smile.  His smile instantly stopped my tears caused by hurt and filled my heart with unexplainable joy.  I have seen the glory of the Father and the smoke that comes out from underneath his royal shimmering robe as he walked in front of me.  I know the Holy Spirit lives in me for once I could not understand the bible and now I can.   He has taught me things in private, I could not possible know myself. 
 

I know there is a hell because it was partially unveiled to me.  I heard the blood curdling screams rising out of hell and saw Satan himself standing over it.  Frightening it was to just hear a tiny evidence of it and see the orange casting shadows of the flames below. 
  

I know there is a heaven because I have seen the warm yellow light in the open doorway of my invitation from God- and I cheerful excepted his invitation!  When I get glimpses of heaven it is the same yellow light that fills heaven and vegetation there.  I have seen the blue sapphires of God’s throne, which I must admit gave me God fearing shivers of reverence when I was shown what the blue sapphires where…

Proof and encouragement and conviction from God comes only with acknowledging God.  Bad things happen in life but it is who we turn to that makes the greatest impact in our life.  We can turn to ourselves or turn to God. 

This is important!  Acknowledging God gives you something godly in turn.  It’s a promise!  And I have found it to be true. Look!

“God blesses those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them.   God bless those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  God blesses those who are gently and lowly, for the whole earth will belong to them.   God bless those who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for they will receive it in full.  God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  God blesses those who hearts are pure, for they will see God.   God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.   God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”  Matthew 5:3-10

Again- you can’t receive and live in these things unless you acknowledge and trust God for them.

God’s Spirit is omnipresent but He can’t live in “us” unless we give our life to God not the "god" we created in our mind but the one true God.
 

 Jesus says “If you love me, obey my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you.   He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.  The world at large cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him.  But you do, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.” John 14:15

The Holy Spirit will lead you into ALL truth.   That truth is not just his priceless deep wisdom but what he wants to literally show us to give you assurance of your salvation in heaven.  Truths we can't even imagine.  I believe God shows himself and pieces of heaven and the aspects of the spiritual to encourage us and in return we can encourage to others.   You will be able to share those things with others and edify, exhort, and encourage others in the Lord.


In your acknowledgement of God, You have all that Psalms 23 says.  

We can invest ourselves totally in this life.   We can trust in the things of this life but they will fail us.  We can try to make, create, and invest in every man made safety net but they will mean nothing in the end.  They will be nothing when it comes to saving your soul.  (Which is matters most!)

 Jesus said, "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" Matthew 16:26

We need to be invested in Jesus Christ.  That means we have allowed him to come in and work in our lives.   The extent (non-existent or living) relationship with the Lord will determine our eternal destination…. heaven or hell.  This world can take a lot of things from us and most of them are worthless but our eternal investment in the Lord Jesus Christ is something no one can take away.

Empowering the Vessel & the Soul

 Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill you.  They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul.  Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  Matthew 10:28

As an art major I have had many projects I was assigned to in college which ended up in the waste bin.  I would start them and then the professor would tell me to insert this or that until they no longer were "my" art pieces or what I purposed for them.  They had turned to someone elses.  They were "directed" by someone else other then me.

Who directs your life? You, others, God?  God is our creator.  We forget that.  We seem to assume God's role and create our own purposes- which usually don't make us feel very satisfied and in the end have terrible results if we never acknowledge our Creator in this life.

We are God's art piece but we can allow ourselves, others and Satan to create something God didn't intend for us -which is a life that doesn't acknowledge it's creator, who he really is, and is full of disobedience and sin.  It is even turns hostile towards God, God's word and the Holy name Jesus Christ.   And if the creation doesn't acknowledge God and turn to God then God has no choice but throw that soul and body into the burning pit of hell.

The is really a piece of clay with a body.   When we allow God to live and work in us, he not only transforms us but empowers us by his love.   Which has wonderful lasting effects on our life and other people's lives.

Jesus says, “If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.”  Matthew 10:38

This is called denying one's self.  If you put importance just on you, you alone and the things around you and not on God then you can’t live in and be empowered by God.  If your mind is stuck on the conditions of your body or your circumstances then your soul cannot be empowered by God.  To be empowered by God you must acknowledge God. 

People, so focused and dependent on their own flesh, deeds, wants and own understandings -  can’t receive God's help and empowerment to meet their every spiritual need.   His goodness and godliness won’t come out of you if you aren’t hooked up to him.  They won't come to you and live in if you don't stand still and let his words make an impression in your heart.

God empowers the soul to see and do greater things then thought possible regardless of conditions and human understandings.

Jesus continues with, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it.”  Matthew 10:39

Jesus is our life.... We were created by him and for him and we need to acknowledge Him.  He knows exactly why we were built and made.  He should be the one who shapes and molds our life.  So even if this shell of a body dies and breaks the soul shall continue to live in Him and with Him.

“Destruction is certain for those who argue with their Creator.  Does a clay pot ever argue with its maker?  Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you are doing it wrong!’  Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be!’” Isaiah 45:9

So who knows us better then the one who created our body and soul?  Let us acknowledge and trust God and see what goodness and godliness comes out.

“Praise the Lord; Praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms.” Psalm 68:19