Hear the Word Of God In Your Heart

Posted on February 9, 2023March 4, 2023 by jakirkgasser10439

Hearing the Word of God in your Heart is the Key to Unlocking Your Potential

Summary:

The Bible is God’s way of revealing the invisible spiritual world to us, It is His owmers manual / users guide for our lives. He wants us to understand: 1) Who He is, His nature, and His roles. 2) Who we are, Why we are here, Why we struggle, and How to reach our full potential. 3) His spiritual kingdom, How it works, Expectations for participating. 4) Our free will to choose, The Benefits of engaging and aligning, and the consequences for ignoring it and continuing on our own.

The Bbile is an amazing and sophisticated piece of literature but it can be intimidating when you first approach it. It requires an investment of your time and energy to read the written text, it takes more investment to process and understand the dozens of literal stories and wisdom writings and glean the messages available at that surface level. It takes another level of investment to work through the various parables and metaphors to understand the messages available at that slightly deeper level. The more you work with it, the more understanding you gain, and the more powerful it becomes for you. An amazing thing happens as you process this content, it becomes very personal and very alive inside you. You start to understand the bigger picture of this spiritual world we live in, you relate to the various characters and their struggles, and you begin to understand and embrace the various teaching points. This all becomes a mirror for your life; Where am I living up to this standard and where am I still missing the mark. You start to understand your purpose here and expectations for your life, you understand How much God has invested in you and how much He wants to help you realize your full potential. As you become more mature in this content, you use it as a framework and philosophy to guide how you live your daily life, you are able to refer to specific verses to defend your choices. When you fully understand and embrace this content as truth it becomes a powerful tool: You can quote verses defensively to fend off attacks as Jesus did in the wilderness, or you can use it offensively as a virtual legal case to gain back ground previously lost, ie destroying works of the devil.

The biggest challenge can be to overcome our heardened heart. Life is full of challenges and we become very focused on our earthly life: How should I make a living? Where should I go to school? Where should I live? What should I eat? How do I deal with the people around me? Who can I trust? How do i protect myself? Who should I date / marry?. Our inherent nature makes us self-conscious and left to our own desires we become very self-centered, choosing to think, say and do things for our own beneft to the detriment of others. The conscience in our heart knows this is wrong but we convince ourselves that we should do it anyway, either no one will notice, or we have no other choice, we really need to do it for our benefit. This repeated process of rationalization and overriding the signals from our conscience results in a numbing effect the bible calls “hardening of our heart”. The more our heart becomes hardened, the further we become issolated from God and from other people. The antidote is to focus on Love. God is love, God loves you. He loves you so much He sent His son. He knows you, cares about you, and wants you to climb out of the mess we are in. All we need to do is acknowledge Him and ask Him to lead us. Once you do it, you will never look back.

So why should I care?

You are a spiritual being developing in a temporary physical body. We are born oblivious of the spiritual world all around us and your inner spiritual nature. We are born oblivious to influence of the spiritual world on our earthly lives, and oblivious to the eternal consequences of our choices in this life. All of this must be discovered.

At the end of this earthly life, your physical body dies and your conscious soul carries on. Where you will spend eternity is a direct function of choices you make in this life. If you committ to loving God with all your heart, you will spend eternity with Him in heaven. If you chose to love yourself more than you love God, You will spend eternity separated from Him, His love, and His truth. That may not sound like a big deal, but there is no bigger deal to be had. All Love and All Truth comes from Him. Seporation from Him and His Love and His Truth allows evil and falsity to flurish and dominate. Just imagine spending eternity surrounded by people who are dominated by evil and falsity: a continous and unending barage of lies, deception, manipulation, humiliation, abuse, torture, pain, and suffering targetted directly at what ever they figure out bothers you the most. Doesnt sound like a pretty place. The good news is you can avoid all of it if you get with the program now, before it is too late.

What is the Bible?

The Bible uses combinations of historical accounts, narrative stories, nuggets of wisdom, parables, poetry, symbolizm and imagery to convey the messages. It can be a bit intimidating due to its size and complexity but it is well worth the effort to dig in and work through it.

The primary narative arc goes something like this:

God created the heavens and the earth so that His Love had a place to manifest
God created Man in His image so that His love could flow through them
God gave Man some simple rules to keep Him on track
He gave Man free will so they would explore, learn, be creative
Man wanted to become more like God and violate the rules
Mankinds selfishness has consequences, and it has only grown worse ever since
God has worked several strategies to restore what man has damaged: Floods, Covenants, Prophets, Coming in Person, Release of the Holy spirit
The only way to realize your full potential is to align with His expectations, deny your self and your selfish agendas, and follow Jesus

A couple of key observations helped me make sense of all this:

God always works through human individuals to do His work on earth: Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Prophets, Jesus, Disciples, Preachers, Teachers, You, Me, etc
The Word of God is divinely inspired and captured by a dozen different humans over several centuries. It is amazingly consistant throughout, and highly interwoven with cross references, and it is highly traceable back in time.
Many times God leads someone to live out a story line in thier life and then that historical story is captured by another person in writing and is now used as a teaching point. ex: Job, Jesus and the Gospels
Most of the characters are flawed. You can relate to them in some way. God uses flawed characters to do amazing things.
The most amazing part to me is that God came here as a baby named Jesus, learned from scripture what was expected of the messiah, used the scripture to resist the devil and live a sinless life, and was willing to allow Himself to be tortured and killed on the promise of ressurection and salvaiton of all of mankind. That is some very serious faith!

The Word of God is an active spiritual tool; It does work inside you once you get it into your brrain and start to embrace it with your heart.

It paints pictures: Heavens and the earth, God is love, His love is perfected when it flows through you, God leading His people out of slavery
It sets expectations: Love God with all your heart, Love your neighbors as yourself, 10 Commandments, Don’t sin, You are accountable on judgement day
It provides a mirror: Am I living up to this expectation? Would I do any better than this flawed character?

The Word of God must settle into our heart before it can do its work in us. Our normal life experiences will harden our heart and make it resistant. We become entirely focused on ourselves and our earthly life – our immediate circumstances and being successful. We need to break through the crust of a hardened heart to get started,

So what are we trying to do?

Over the course of your life, You must discover the spiritual world, It is not intuitively obvious. Some folks never find it in this life, and only figure it out after it is too late. The spiritual world drives everything in the physical world. There are opposing forces in the spirituual world; those pulling for good and those pushing for evil. The spiritual world is invisible for the most part so folks can’t really learn much about it on their own. I wish we each came with a users manual “Quick start Guide” that said somethingl like: Welcome to the world, You have been set up as a flawed person and will suffer consequences until you figure out there is a better way. Until you figure that out you are actually an agent for evil, and will be an easy victim. Once you do figure it out, you can decide to work for the good guy, reset the flawed nature, overcome the forces of evil, overcome the obstacles and thrive. Thankfully, we do have a users manual to help us discover and understand it. The Bible is a bridge between the spiritual world and our earthly world. It is product of the spiritual world; God flowing divinely inspired words through humans into writings for our use in understanding spiritual reality. The Bible can be a bit intimidating due to its size and complexity. , the variety of and its exstensive use of symbolizm, imagery, parables, . If you take the Bible seriously and apply yourself to understanding it, you can discover and activate your spiritual self, connect your spirit to its’ original source, and unlock your full potential; both for the rest of this life and for eternity in the next. Let’s walk through how this works.

The “Word of God” has been a foundational element of God and His kingdom since the beginning

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

The “Word of God” is fundamental Truth

“The sum of Your word is truth,” Psalm 119:160

“Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth” 2 Samuel 7:28

“…Your word is truth.” John 17:17

The “Word of God” is eternal and unchanging

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33

“But the word of the Lord endures forever.” 1 Peter 1:25

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:8

He sent His Word to help us discover the spiritual world, and to help us get aligned with it.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;” 2 Timothy 3:16

His words are of a Spiritual nature

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63

When we receive His Word, it brings life into both our spiritual and physical physical bodies

“His words brings life to those who find them” (Proverbs 4:22)

“God sent His word and healed them…” (Psalm 107:20)

“His words bring health to all their flesh.” (Proverbs 4:22

In order to receive His word, we must “Hear” it with interest and intention.

“…and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.” Luke 5:15

Hearing requires intentional Looking with your eyes, Listening in your ears, Understanding it in our brain, Accepting it in your Heart, and willingness to change.

“For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.” Matthew 13:15

Your Heart controls your life

“Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” Matthew 12:35

You need a noble and good Heart to be receptive and hear

“But the ones (word of god seeds) that fell on the good ground (and grew well) are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” Luke 8:15

Focus on God with your mind, and it will purify your heart.

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:7-8

The critical part of getting your mind focused is to feed it good things through your eyes.

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” Matthew 6:22-23

Choose to stay focused and dwell in His Word

“My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.” Proverbs 4:20-22

Allow the Word to work in your mind

“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.” Romans 12:2

The Word becomes active in your heart and mind as you bring it in and reflect on its meaning and relevance to your life

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

Keep your intentions focused on pursuing God and His kingdom – your eyes, your mind, your will

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

Once you hear the word in your heart it will release faith

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

Your spirit will know when faith has been released – You will “know in your knower”

“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” Romans 8:16

He sent His word…all you need to do is get it into your heart.

“He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.” Psalm 107:20

HOW:

How can I keep scripture in front of my eyes?

Daily reading, by topic, or sequential, or mixed devotional

How can I incline my ears?

Listen to great preachers

Dwell / Meditate / Pray over scriptures related to key topics in your life

Google: “God loves me bible verses” and several collections will come up…

BibleStudyTools,com – has a section organinzed by topic…scroll to find you topic, click it and you will get a collection of relevant scriptures

These are bible search engines. Enter your key words in the search field and get a colleciton of potentially relevant verses to read through

Knowing-Jesus.com

OpenBible.info

Journal to hear His Voice

Lean about Journaling and hearing His voice from Mark Virkler

Ex: Add a journal entry… How do I know God loves me? ….and fill in the message you get from reading over the collection of scriptures and meditating on them

How can I hold His Word in my heart?

Learn the bible stories, parables, key sayings and their context

The Bible Project – is a well done animated video exploraiton of the bible

Coaching on How to Read the Bibile: How to interpret the different literary genres: Narrative, Poetry, Prose

Study of Key Themes: Image of God, Tree of Life, Covenants, Need for a Messiah, etc

Study of Key Words: Grace, Mercy, Womb, Shalom, etc

Overview of Collections of Books within the Bible: The Torah, The Prophets, The Wisdom Books, The Gospels, The Epistles

Overview of each individual Book of the bible: Genesis, Exodus, … Revelation

Learn / memorize key scriptures for hot topics in your life

Use them as a basis for routine decisions in your life: Should I do this or do that… You will reap what you sow

Apply them as basis for decision making for key situations in your life.

Use them in real time as situations arise during the day – stay focused on Him and His higher purpose for you and your life

Talk to God

- Tell him how much you appreciate him
- Thank Him for never giving up on you
- Thank Him for calling you to be more like Him
- Thank Him for working inside you like a potter works with clay
- Ask Him to help you hate sin the way He does, and to help you root it out of your life
- Thank Him for helping you get selfish agendas out of your life
- Thank Him for helping you love Him with ALL your heart
- Thank Him for helping you love others MORE than yourself
- Thank Him for helping you to become a bright light in a dark world

Hope this helps. Leave a comment. Have a great day!

Become Love

Posted on February 4, 2023February 7, 2023 by jakirkgasser10439

Your Mission Here Is To Become God’s Love In Action

Summary

He created this amazing place and put us here so that we could manifest His love, without humans, His love has no way to become useful. He gave us free will so that we could develop a conscience in this life, discover Him, His Love and His Truth, manifest His love on this earth, and live on with Him for eternity. Mankinds free will has gotten us into a lot of trouble over the years. The sinful nature we each now inherit keeps us self conscious and self centered and separates us from God and His agenda for us. He came here in person, in human form, to restore what was lost by Adam and to provide us a path out of the mess we made. We need to renounce our prior flawed ways and fully commit to follow Him going forward. He actually wants to come and live inside us to help us make this happen. This involves a complete transformation of your thinking, your words, and your behaviors. We need to shift from thinking about ourselves and our own interests in this world to thinking about God’s agenda for His kingdom and how we can be of service to Him through our lives here. The fancy words used in scripture are “Crucify” your flesh. Basically all of the temporary earthly interests of our physical being need to be subordinated to God’s interest in developing our eternal soul. Anything less than a full commitment to transformation will delay the benefits and continue to propagate undesired consequences for you and those around you.

The following is my scriptural logic chain for what is going on.

God is love (1 john 4:8)
God made man in His image (Genesis 1:27)
The image of God was corrupted and died when Adam sinned and ate of the tree in the garden (Genesis 2:17)
- Adam’s heart became self-centered (Genesis 3:3-6)
  - He wanted to be like a God and know Good and Evil
  - They listened to a lie – “You will not surely die if you eat of the tree”
  - They decided to ignore God’s one command and chose to eat of that tree
- Adam’s nature changed, he became self-conscious as a result of that decision
  - He became conscious of his nakedness, hid himself, and became afraid (Genesis 3:7,10)
  - They deflected blame for their decision – Blamed Snake, Blamed Eve, Blamed God (Genesis 3:12-14)
- Adam and Eve suffered consequences of separation from God (Genesis 3:13-16)
  - Exile form the garden
  - Labor, Suffering, Death
- All have inherited that sinful nature and suffer in this fallen world (Romans 5:12)
God loves you
- He loves you so much He sent His only son (John 3:16)
- You know He loves you because He sent His son (1 John 4:9-10)
Jesus came to restore that which was lost, The image of God in us, our original purpose (Matthew 18:11)
- Jesus came in the form of sinful flesh to take the burden of sin off of us (Romans 8:3-5)
- Jesus’ blood covers that sinful nature and allows us to be born again (Romans 5:19)
His goal is for you to become love (1 Timothy 1:15), to be rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:17)
Pure Love Is powerful when it is in you (1 Cor 13:4-7)
- - It suffers long
  - It is kind
  - It never seeks its own. ex, Never expect an I love you back…
  - It bears, believes, hopes, endures all things
His Love is perfected when it flows through you to others (1 John 4:12)
He wants to come and live in you to help you enable that flow
- Youre body is God’s temple (1 Cor 3:16)
- Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Glorify God with your body. (1 Cor 6:19-20)
- We have this treasure (Christ Jesus) in earthen vessels (2 Corinthians 4:6-7)
- Christ in you, the Hope of Glory (Collosians 1:27)
- “Christ is in you” (Romans 8:10)
You must get your ”self” out of the way so He can come in
- Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable ( Romans 12:1)
Deny Yourself, Pick Up Your Cross, and Follow Me (Matthew 16:24)
- Deny your self, and your self-centered interests
  - Crucify your self-conscious interests / self-centered agendas
    - Give up your life to find it (Matthew 16:25)
    - Do not love the world or things in the world (1 John 2:15)
    - Be in the world, not of the world (John 17:16-18)
    - Get out of the carnal mind, Do not love the flesh (Romans 8:7-9)
    - Renounce ungoldliness and worldy passions, live self-contolled, uprght and godly lives (Titus 2:12)
  - Clues that you have not yet fully crucified your “self”
    - I deserve…
    - I want…
    - I feel…
    - I am offended by…
    - I am embarrassed by…
- Pick up your Cross
  - Resist temptation
    - Guart your heart, out of it flows the issues of life ( Proverbs 4:23)
    - Beware of your desires, they concieve sin ( James 1:14-15)
  - You will stand out when you refuse to participate in things of this world
  - You will suffer persecution at the hands of others in this world
  - Do not let sin against you become sin in you
    - Forgive them for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)
- Follow Jesus
  - Make Jesus Lord of your life
    - It is no longer ME that lives but Jesus through me (Galatians 2:20)
    - Submit your self to God. ( James 4:7)
    - Submit to God and be at peace with Him (Job 22:21)
  - Yield yourself fully to Him – 100% Committment – Not compliance
    - Your are not your own, you were bought with a price (1 Cor 6:20)
    - He paid a high price for you (1 Cor 7:23)
    - “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:38
  - Speak outloud your comittment to yield your self to Him
    - My Eyes to see from His perspective
    - My Ears to Hear and understand His word
    - My Heart to love Him and His Kingdom
    - My Mouth to give Him praise
    - My Hands to do His work
    - My Feet to follow where He leads
    - My Resources to serve Him and His kingdom
    - My urges and desires to do His will
  - Follow Him
    - Become a Disciple
    - Get to know Him
    - Follow His commandments – Love God with ALL your heart, Love your neighbors more than yourself
    - Follow in His Steps (1 Peter 2:21)
    - Follow where He leads you
- He is working to shape you, you need to submit and let Him
  - God is the potter, we are the clay. (Isaiah 64:8)
  - Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ (Isaiah 45:9)
- Become Like Him, Become Love in Action
  - Speak the truth in love, Grow up into all things in Christ (Ephesians 4:15)
  - Walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7)
- Shine as a bright light in the darkness to bring glory to the Father
  - You are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)
  - Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
Wait, I’m not ready to deny myself and submit to Him

If you are not willing to deny yourself and follow Jesus – it is a sign you love your earthly “self” more than you love God and His kingdom. You are more focused on satisfying the wants and desires of your temporary physical earthly body rather than investing to develop your spiritual body to fully optimize your life on earth and prepare yourself so you can spend eternity with God.

Maybe you don’t fully appreciate how much He loves you: All He has done to put you here, All He has invested in you with passions to help you find your true purpose and talents to help you be productive. Maybe you don’t appreciate all He does to support you every second of every day with food in your mouth, housing over your head, clothes on your back, and air in your lungs, All He has done to arrange people in your life to love you, to teach you and support you, Maybe you don’t appreciate how badly He wants to spend eternity with you in heaven, He loves you so much He sent His son so you could fulfil His plans for you.

Maybe you don’t fully appreciate the consequences of not submitting yourself to Him in this life. He knows you inside and out, and He knows your heart. He will give you exactly what you love in your heart; If you forget Him, He will forget you. Sin separates us from Him; If we do not love Him with all of our heart, we will remain separated from Him. If you leave this life loving yourself more than you love God, you will spend eternity with yourself and people just like you rather than spending it with God and with people who love God. The hells are filled with people who chose to focus on themselves and live separated from God.

Maybe deep down inside you are concerned that if you commit to follow Jesus, your earthly oriented activities will be exposed and you will need to stop.

Maybe you just don’t want to give up control; It is your life to live after all. He makes it clear that anyone who tries to save his earthly oriented life will lose it eventually, but anyone who gives up control of his earthly life will discover and awaken a spiritual based life that through Jesus that will transform the earthly life experience and extend into eternity.

The idea is to shift perspective on things: You are an eternal being in a temporary earthly body. You have a purpose here. The purpose can not be fulfilled as long as there are self-orienrted, self-conscious, self-centered agendas at play. He wants to come into you and help you identify those agendas, root them out, and help you transform so you can fulfill your purpose. He can only do that if you get yourself out of the way, invite Him in and listen to Him. He promises that the only things you will loose are the things you were not intended to have.

Ask Him to help you sort your agendas and your activities.

Are you drawing ever closer to God: searching, seeing, listening, learning, gaining understanding

Are you living in a thankful perspective: Continually recognizing what God has done, is doing, will do. Expressing praise and thanksgiving

Are you experiencing God’s love: He sent His son to die for you, so you could live life through Him. Raise Jesus up and Recieve Him as Lord.

Are you finding more and more ways to flow His love to others through your thoughts, words, and actions.

Are you executing in alignment with His will, avoiding self-centered or self-serving agendas.

Are you living a life worthy of the price He paid?

Are you presenting yourself as a vessel worthy of His presence?

Are you using your passions and talents to serve God and others, or just yourself?

Are you using your resources to serve God and others, or just yourself? (Things, Money, Time)

Are you making yourself available for His use?

Are you reflecting and repenting on your thoughts words and actions as you strive to improve

Just some things to consider

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Supporting Scripture

God is love

“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:8

God made man in His image

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

Adam annd Eve listened to the devil and His lies

“Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5.

Adam became self-centered, wanted to become like a god, and chose to ignore Gods rule

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:6

Sin changed Adam’s very nature – His eyes were opened, he became self-conscious – fear, naked

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” Geneiss3:7

“So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’” Genesis 3:10

They each deflect blame for their error

“Then the man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.’” Genesis 3:12

“The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’” Genesis 3:14

Adam and Eve suffer consequences of sin and the resulting separation from God

“To the woman He said: ‘I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” Genesis 3:16

“Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: ‘Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall [b]bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:17-19

We all now inherit Adam’s sinful nature and suffer in this fallen world

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Romans 5:12

God’s Loves You

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

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:9-10

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’

“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:33-39

Jesus redeemed that which was lost through Adam – to restore the image of God in us.

“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” Matthew 18:11

“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19

“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh” Romans 8:3

Our purpose is to be rooted and gounded in Love, to become love.

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:14-19

“Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith” 1 Timothy 1:5

Pure love is powerful when it is in us

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

His love is perfected when it flows through us

“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.” 1 John 4:12

He wants to come and live inside us to enable that flow of Love.

“Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.'” John 14:23

“But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.”Romans 8:10

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:6-7

“To them (us,the saints) God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”Colossians 1:27

We need to get ourselves out of the way and make a place for Him.

“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25

Crucify Your Flesh

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Romans 8:5

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:7-9

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15

“Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,” Titus 2:12

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:5

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Luke 9:23. Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34

“”knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;” Romans 6:6

“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24

Submit yourself completely to Jesus

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

“Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.” Job 22:21

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

He paid a high price for you

“You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” 1 Corinthians 7:23

Present Your Self as a Temple Worhty of His Presence

“Or do you not know that your body is a temSupportingple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” Romans 12:1

Resiste Temptation – It starts in the heart

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” James 1:14-15

Seporate yourself from the world

“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” John 17:16-18

Pick up your cross. Do not let sin agaisnt you become sin in you

“Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they’re doing…'” Luke 23:34

Follow in His Steps

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”1 Peter 2:21

He is trying to shape you, you need to submit and let Him

“But now, O Lord, You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of Your hand.” Isaiah 64:8

“Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—
An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!
Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?” Isaiah 45:9

Become Love

“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17

“speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ” Ephesians 4:15

Shine as a light in the darkness

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

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Supporting Resources

Videos from a Dan Mohler Weekend series: 1- Your Identity, 2- Deny Yourself, 3 – Created to be Light

How do You Fill The God Shaped Hole In Your Soul

Posted on February 1, 2023 by jakirkgasser10439

How Are You Filling The God Shaped Hole In Your Soul?

Have you discovered the “God shaped hole” in your sole?

You may not realize it, but we are each connected to God deep in our soul; His Love is wired directly into a repository in our hearts. He plants that connection in us before we are born and it remains for eternity whether we notice it or not.

We can feel this connection resonate inside us as a warm feeling when we observe someone doing a selfless act; Like a fireman running into a burning building to save someone. We can feel it when we are deeply moved by a love story playing out in a movie or we hear a wonderful piece of music. We can feel it when we experience a sense of awe as we admire the milky way spread across a dark sky, or feel the tranquil beauty of a sunrise or sunset, or the calm and peaceful feeling as we watch a waterfall or the waves on the ocean or the flow of a babbling brook, or the ripples spreading on a quiet pond.

Many folks do not recognize this connection. The activities of daily life tend to keep our focus on other things, urgent things, earthly things – What do I need to do today? Where do I need to go? What do I need to wear? What am I going to eat? Who am I going to see? What do they think of me?

How do you choose to fill the God Shaped Hole?

The God Shaped Hole in your soul yearns to be filled. If you choose not to fill it with God, you will fill it with something else. Some folks completely emmerse themselves in work and try to seek fulfillment there. Some try to fill this hole with things; money, fancy cars, houses, collectibles, etc. Some folks try to filll it with hedonistic persuits…pleasure and excesses in this life. Some try to fill it through building personal power, using and abusing people for thier benefit. Some try to hide from it and excape it through alchohola and drugs. Many eventually come to realize none of these approaches can fill this God Shaped Hole. Sadly, they only figure it out after they have caused severe distress for themselves and those around them. This is recoverable if you discover it and change course in time, but the longer you wait the more of a mess you are making. The really big problem is if you never figure it out and change course; You are stuck with what ever you have put in your God shaped hole for eterntiy; Eternity without God will not be pretty. You have free will to choose, but your choices have consequences.

If you do not yet have God filling your God shaped hole, there is no time like the present. Some folks find it useful to acknowledge thier God Shaped Hole, your connection to God. Pause for a moment and push all of these earthly distractions aside. Take time to look outside of yourself, notice the beauty of world all around you: The sky, the landscape, the water, the plants, the animals, the people. Take a deep breath and reflect on it. Tune to the feelings deep in your heart. your inner most feelings. Let yourself be moved to a place of appreciation for the beauty that is all around you, and you will begin ot sense this connection.

Once you have found the connection, we can tune in to it. Find a quiet peaceful place, sit comfortably, close your eyes, quiet your conscious brain, allow yourself to drift to that place where you appreciated the beauty around you, reflect deeply in your heart. Ask why am I here? What is my purpose? You will sense that you are part of something bigger than yourself, You will find your heart longs to be closer to something outside of you, something transcendent. God has planted eternity in your heart; If you took this exercise seriously, you will have just found the God Shaped Hole in your soul.

Recognizing that you are connected to eternity can go a long way towards opening your mind to being willing to acknowledge and then explore the spiritual side of life and fill that God Shaped Hole in your soul with God.

Have a great day!

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Supporitng Scripture

You have a God shaped hole planted in you

“… He has put eternity in their hearts….” Ecclesiastes 3:11

You must take the inititvie in order to find him

“… seek, and you will find…” Matthew 7:7

God knows your heart, and you will eventually get what you deserve

“I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind,
Even to give to each man according to his ways,
According to the results of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:10.

You need to seek Him, find Him, and serve Him with all your heart….or there are consequences

“…know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” 1 Chronicles 28:9

Beware if you Knock on wood

Posted on February 1, 2023 by jakirkgasser10439

Do you “knock on wood” to avoid bad luck? You are digging a hole for yourself.

Beware if you ever “knock on wood” to prevent bad luck, You are digging a hole for yourself!!!

Most folks have a “knock on wood” story; They were very excited while striving for something and almost immediately after declaring progress out loud, some unfortunate thing hits them seemingly out of nowhere. This phenomenon is so common that many will purposefully refrain from acknowledging progress towards a milestone out loud until the milestone is complete, or if they do choose to say something out loud while it is still in progress, they will find a piece of wood and knock on it to avoid this inevitable bad thing. Some attribute this coincidence of events to luck or karma or something mysterious. Once you understand what is actually going on, you will find the process is much more systematic and predictable; you will find that all progress should be celebrated and the corresponding undesired events are avoidable, but not by knocking on wood. You will discover that choosing to “knock on wood” actually increases the likelihood you will suffer the unfortunate thing you were trying ot avoid. Read on to learn more.

This whole process is part of God’s grand design; It is part of the “Truth or Consequences” structure He set up for this world. The entire process is intended to help each of us get aligned with Him so we can fulfill our purpose here and be ready for eternity with Him in heaven.

The structure is rather straight forward once you boil it down:

HE provides two overarching rules: Love God with ALL your heart, and Love your neighbors AS yourself (Matthew 22:37-40)
He promises blessings if you Love Him and follow His rules.
He promises consequences if you do not. You have free will to choose. (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)

So how does this play out when you are knocking on wood?

Truths:

God created this place and put you here.
He provided you with all your talents to do things and He presented all the opportunities for you to use them.
He provides the roof over your head, the food on your table, and the clothes on your back.
He provides all the resources you are using to accomplish whatever you are doing.
He supplies every single breath you take; You can do absolutely nothing without him.

We are held accountable for our thoughts, words, and actions.

If you are thinking that you have achieved something significant based on your own effort, you are not loving God with all your heart. You are loving only yourself and your contribution. If we are doing this, we are significantly overstating your contribution, the truth is you can do absolutely nothing on your own, you can’t even breath on your own.
If you say I have accomplished something, or say something is going well, and are not giving God any credit for His contribution, you are not loving God with all your heart, you are actually stealing credit from Him. A simple “Thank god” , or “God is good”, or “I am so blessed” is all it takes to share credit.
So what does knocking on wood do? It is just another step in the downhill chain… an action. So at this point our thinking is off…we think we are responsible for what is happening not God, Our words are off, we are telling others that we have accomplished this thing and are stealing credit from God, and now we are taking action based on this flawed thinking and knocking on a piece of wood to prevent an adverse consequence. Others will hear those words and see that action and possibly think that is how you are being successful and never know that God is making it all happen for you.

These thoughts, words, and acitons are indictions that we do not love God with all our heart. When we chose NOT to Love Him with all our heart, we open ourselves to consequences, and bam… they happen. Not every time, but often enough that folks have started knocking on wood to avoid them. This is described in Proverbs 16:18 as “Pride before destruction, a Haughty spirit before a fall”. When you have inflated your ego and are taking all the credit for something God played a big part in, don’t’ be surprised when something bad happens.

So what should I do rather than knock on wood?

So when you feel the urge to knock on wood, don’t! Thank God instead. When you notice some significant thing happening in your life, pause for a second and reflect on how this came about and how God’s hand has set it all up. Thank God continuously for all He has done and continues to do for you.

Hope this helps

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Supporting scriptures:

Two basic game rules:

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40

You have free will, but your choices have consequences:

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Your mental perspective has consequences:

“Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18

Give thanks always:

“…giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Ephesians 5:20

“I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Your name forever.” Psalm 86:12

“…in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

You Are An Ambassador For God

Posted on February 1, 2023 by jakirkgasser10439

“What” you say and do really matters; You are an ambassador for God.

What you choose to say and do really does matter.

We are each representing Christ in this world. Each of us is an ambassador. Our lives are the face of Christianity to others.

What impression do others get from how you live your life? From what you choose to do or choose not to do? From the words that come out of your mouth? From how you treat others? You should be leading by example.

What we choose not to do matters as much as what we choose to do. Don’t become slaves to this things of this world; Live a live worthy of the high price He paid. He gave His life to save you from sin. The least you can do is turn from sin and accept His amazing work. Maintain yourself as a temple worthy of His presence. The Holy Spirit will come and dwell inside you if you commit to denying your self centered interests open yourself to Him. Become a vessel capable of His use. Once you repent of your sins, He will use you despite any issues in your past. But if you do not repent and continue to act in un-rightious ways, you are seporating yourself from Him and limiting the ways God can use you.

You are the body of Christ. God put you here for a reason. As the father sent Jesus, Jesus now sends you. You are to continue the work He did; Do the works that He did and more. Once you submit your life to Him, He can work through you. It is no longer me that lives, but Him through me. His love is perfected when it flows through you to others. Get your self-centered interests out of the way and become God’s Love in action.

You will eventually reap what ever you sow, So choose to sow well all day every day!

Choose to be a light in this dark world; a bright beacon for the kingdom. And do it all for HIM.

Supporting Scriptures

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

“You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” 1 Corinthians 7:23

“I… beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,” Ephesians 4:1

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” Philippians 2:3-7

“Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” 2 Timothy 2:21

“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” 1 Corinthians 12:27

“… If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.” 1 John 4:12

“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Galatians 6:7-9

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16

Is the Bible Fact or Fiction

Posted on November 21, 2022November 5, 2025 by jakirkgasser10439

Why Should You Believe The Bible? Is It Fact or Fiction?

The popular story in modern culture is the Bible is just collection of ancient myths and legends and that it has been corrupted and highly manipulated over time. Why should anyone who understands these claims believe anything it says. Well, what if those claims were actually lies intended ot mislead us?

What if there was extensive archeological evidence for the places, people, and activities described in the Bible? This tells us the Bible is talking about real people, places, and activities. We should at least take it seriously as a book of history.
What if there was clear traceability of each change in the biblical text across thousands of years of careful copying? What if we had a very early complete copy to compare to ? What if none of the changes over time had any significant impact to the primary messages? Would that make it a well preserved docment? It Does.
What if the earlier writings of the bible predicted specific events would take place, and those events took place exactly as written, years, decades, centuries, or even thousands of year later. Would that make the Bible more credible? Is that evidence the Bible has a divine source and is The Word of God? Only God can predict the future and then make it happen.

Lets look at these aspects of evidence that help us understand the bible as a well preserved historical record describing real people, places, and events, It has been well preserved and we know with high degrees of confidence what the original writers wrote, and that it must have a divine origin because only God can predict the future and have it come true over and over and over again.

Archeological Evidence for Bible Places, People, and Activities

There is substantial archeological evidence for the Bible stories and for Jesus but it is not widely known.

The following is a list of facts that have been substantiated with archeological evidence outside of the bible. Each contains a link to either a reference document or a video describing this discovery:

Israelites / Worshipers of God YEWEH / Wandering in the dessert

A hieroglyphic inscription at the temple of Soleb describes a land of the nomadic followers of YAWEH dating from 1500BC (Video)
A hieroglyphic inscription on a stele in the Egyptian tomb of Merenptah recognizes a people of Israel with no king in 1210 BC (Video)
Curse tablet from Joshua’s alter in Schecem references YAWEH in ancient Hebrew from 1200 BC (Video)

Unified Period – Tabernacle

Shiloh has pottery with Hebrew dated from time of Samuel and the Tabernacle ~1000 BC (Video)

Sin and Judgement for Sin

The Amorites sacrificed babies and children at alters (Video)
Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone from above. (Video1, Video2)
Ninevah was controlled by Assyrians, Jonah was sent to address sin and depravity. It is located in Mosul in Iraq (Video)(Article)

Jericho established, Destruction by Joshua approx 1400BC

Location, Collapse of Wall, City burned but not plundered, Abandoned for a period per the curse – approx 1406 BC (Video)

Omri and Ahab were Kings of Israel, Moabites and Hittites were real people, Shiloh was a real place

Moab stone inscription describes relationships (Video)
Tablets document Hittite nation (Video)

King David

There was a King David (David’s Tomb Video 1, Video 2, Inscription referencing House of David)
There were huge/giant people living in Gath in David’s time. ie David vs Goliath (Video)

City of David

The City of David has been discovered and excavated verifying many details from the bible (Video Tour1, Tour 2, Tour3)
Pool of Siloam – 50Mx50M ritual bath for millions of pilgrims visiting 3x per year, and place where the blind man washed Jesus’ mud from his eyes and gained sight
Hezekiah’s tunnel to divert water from the single spirng under the city into the Siloam pool (Video)
The pilgrimage road up to the temple mount with shops on each side (Tour)
Coins minted in the second year of the rebellion against Rome, referencing Solomon’s original temple
Destruction in 70AD at the hands of Romans – charred remains, bodies found hiding in tunnels

Temple Mount

Mt Moriah, where Abraham was willing to offer his son in faith before God offered a replacement. This is now the temple mount
Original temple mount location established (Video)

Assyrian Conquest of Israel, Refugees from 10 tribes flee to Judah

Nineveh was a real place, created by Assyrians, currently called Mosoul in Iraq. ie Jonah and the wale. (Video)
Hezekiah’s wall built in Jeruselum to acccomodate refugees, Assyrians attacked Judah and failed (Video).

Babylonian Conquest of Judah, Exile in Babylon

David’s decendants were taken captive by Babylonians and lived in exile (Video).

Cyrus defeat of Babylon, Decendants return to Jeruselum, Babylon never reinhabited

Cyrus sent decendants to Jeruselum to rebuild temple (Cyrus Cylinder Video)
Babylon was never reinhabited after its destruction (Video)

Roman Occupation

Harrod built a palace, a dedicated city gate, and it had a courtyard with a raised Judgement Seat (Video)

Jesus Birth in Bethlehem

Micah 5 prophesy in 700 BC of Jesus to be born in Bethlehem, a copy dated 125 BC found in dead sea scrolls, (Video)
Specific cave identified as birthplace – Archeology, Historical sources, Very early Tradition – Justin Martyr 150AD, Origen 248AD, Constantine 320AD, etc.

Jesus Life / Death

Nazereth existed in time of Jesus (Nazareth House Video)
Cesar Augustus ordered an empire wide census to begin in 8 BC, Judea was included in this census process
Capernaum, Synagog, Peter’s house (Jesus’ home base) estblsihed from time of Jesus (Video)
Inscription from ~400 AD in Kursi, Land of Gederenes, identified as locition of Miracle of the Swine (Article)
Jacob’s well at Shechem in Samaria has been recognized since its creation (Video)
Pontius Pilot was Governor (Video)
Crucifiction was a real roman punishment (Video showing preserved ankle bones / hand bones / nails used)
Jesus was a real person crucified by the Romans

Christians were persecuted from the beginning

There were hundreds of followers of Jesus who were convinced enough to accept death in the 1st century AD
Christians worshiped in caves – inscription “Jesus is With Us” in a cave from 200 AD (Video)
Dead Sea scrolls hidden by Christians hiding under seige in a cave in 70 AD (Documentary)
City of Ephesus in Turkey excavated – Was subject of Ephesians and One of the churches in Revelation – eventually destroyed by fire (Video)

A collection of videos talking about this archeology is available on my YouTube playlist: Is the bible Fact of fiction?

The bible is full of metaphone and exaggeration, but we now have plenty of evidence to show that the people, places and activities described in the Bible were real and we at least need to consider the bible as a historical record.

Prophesies fulfilled

Lets look at another item on our list – prophesies fulfilled. Only God can predict the future, so if biblical prophets accurately predicted the arrival of Jesus and the circumstances of his life and death, that would be pretty amazing. How many prophesies did they make, 2 or 3 ? I found a list of 25. And some claim there are 60 or even 320. Let’s look at the 25 predictions about Jesus coming and note when they were written:

#1. 4000 B.C. Jesus would have a mother but not father

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

No mention of an earthly father, unlike the rest of Genesis genealogies

#2. 1400 B.C. Jesus’ family line

Genesis 12:3 “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you [Abraham].”

Genesis 17:19 God said, “…your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him…[not Ishmael, the 1st born]

#3. 700 B.C. Jesus’ virgin mother

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

#4. 700 B.C. Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem

Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times [pre-existed creation].”

#5. 700 B.C. Jesus’ sinless life

Isaiah 53:9 “. . . he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”

#6. 700 B.C. Jesus’ family fleeing to Egypt and returning

Hosea 11:1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”

#7. 400 B.C. Jesus entering the Temple

Malachi 3:1 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.

The Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. so the predicted Messiah must have already come

#8. 700 B.C. Jesus’ way prepared by John the Baptist

Isaiah 40:3 A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”

#9. 700 B.C. Jesus’ performing miracles

Isaiah 35:5–6 “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.”

#10. 500 B.C. Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey

Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous & having salvation, gentle & riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

#11. 1000 B.C. Jesus’ betrayal by a friend

Psalm 41:9 “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”

#12. 500 B.C. Jesus’ betrayal for 30 pieces of silver thrown in the Temple

Zechariah 11:12–13 “…they paid me 30 pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter.”

The Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. so this has to be a past event. The new testament records Jesus was betrayed by 30 pieces of silver.

#13. 700 B.C. Jesus beaten and abused

Isaiah 50:6 “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.”

#14. 1000 B.C. Jesus’ clothing gambled for

Psalm 22:18 “They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.”

#15. 700 B.C. Jesus hated and rejected

Isaiah 53:3 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, & familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, & we esteemed him not.”

#16. 700 B.C. Jesus not defending Himself

Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

#17. 1000 B.C. Predicts Jesus’ crucifixion before crucifixion was invented

Psalm 22:16 “Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet.”

This is written Hundreds of years before the Persians started impaling people around 800 B.C, and before the romans invented crucifixion..

#18. 700 B.C. Jesus’ death with sinners

Isaiah 53:12 “Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.”

#19. 1400 B.C., 1000 B.C. Jesus’ bones not broken

Exodus 12:46 “Do not break any of the [Passover lamb’s] bones.”

Psalm 34:20 “. . . he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.”

#20. 1000 B.C. Jesus forsaken by God

Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?”

#21. 700 B.C. Jesus’ death

Isaiah 53:8b “For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.”

#22. 700 B.C. Jesus buried with the rich

Isaiah 53:9 “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”

#23. 1000 B.C., 700 B.C. Jesus’ resurrection

Psalm 16:10 “…you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.”

Isaiah 53:10–11 “…though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering [death], he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied…”

#24. 1000 B.C. Jesus’ ascent into heaven.

Psalm 68:18 “When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train.”

#25. 1000 B.C. Jesus seated at the Father’s right hand

Psalm 110:1 “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’”

These 25 predictions of the messiah coming were written hundreds or thousands of years before Jesus appeared on the scene. Only God can predict the future and he did it over and over in the bible, this is just one series of predictions that come true. The bible is the word of God and should be taken seriously. Read it and seek to understand its messages.

Launch of My God In Motion YouTube Channel

Posted on September 13, 2022September 15, 2022 by jakirkgasser10439

Launch of “My God In Motion” YouTube channel

The Lord has led me on an amazing journey over the last few years and put me in a position to help many people. He recently made it clear it is time to share this story and what He has taught me. As a result, I recently launched the “My God In Motion” YouTube channel to compliment my existing website.

This YouTube channel will share my personal testimonies and lessons learned I have found most effective for helping others. I expect it to grow over time to include interviews of others with powerful testimonies, and links to videos which I have found most useful for helping others.

Here is a link to the channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCigXRf3GEMtVMMDpIgdDCxg

Here is a link to the very brief intro video for the channel

https://youtu.be/BuyBoPCSo5c

I am currently deploying content into two playlists,

– Testimonies: Remarkable stories of how the Lord is leading me on this journey

– Lessons Learned: Specific things the Lord has taught me which have proven to be very helpful for others

Here is the link to the Testimonies playlist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbFKYm25450&list=PLI6PAnzZDZErXGmKbc2nRDLRiQiZ43BxP

Here is the link to the Lessons Learned playlist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5fjxHbx3bo&list=PLI6PAnzZDZEr2uqOgCHn69NKhdkcLlgvT

I encourage you to check out the channel.

Hit the thumbs up button to Like any individual videos.

Subscribe to the channel if you enjoy what you see.

Hit the notification bell to be informed when new content is uploaded.

Add a comment or question if you wish. I will read and reply to any questions.

I need 100 subscribers before I can customize some of the channel features so please subscribe.

Let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions.

Let me know if you are interested in getting notices about release of this kind of stuff.

Thank you and Thank Him.

Have a wonderful day.

Change your pictures

Posted on April 25, 2022May 6, 2022 by jakirkgasser10439

Change the pictures in your mind, You will change your life!

The pictures in your mind are powerful.

The pictures you hold in you mind have a profound affect on how you live your life. They affect how you see reality, and they affect how you react to circumstances in life. They form the basis for the basic beliefs you hold in your heart and they play a large role in determining your behaviors: They affect what you believe is possible (The world is flat, you could fall off the edge); They affect what behaviors you believe are appropriate in any given situation (There is no God and no heaven or hell, do anything you want in this life). You will never attempt something you do not think is possible (airplanes are heavier than air so they will never fly), and you will never choose to do something until you believe it is appropriate in a given situation (Once we understood Germs, medical staff started washing hands between patients).

Holding the proper pictures in your mind is critical to your success. The proper pictures can help you deal effectively in new situations. Ex: Looks like a bear, it is a bear, I’m at risk so run away.

There are actually two families of pictures that are important: The first is your understanding who you are, and the second is your understanding of your external reality. If either picture is incorrect, it will eventually cause problems.

If you see yourself as more capable than you really are, you will not properly assess a real threat and will likely suffer a consequence. Ex: Yes that is a bear, but I am big and strong so i will stand my ground and fight it. Or, Yes life has challenges but i am strong and can deal with them by myself, I do not need some God character to help me.

If you understate yourself in your mind, you will miss huge opportunities in life. Ex: I am just a victim of society, I could never accomplish anything useful, it is not even worth trying. Or, I am just a lowly sinner, my past will always haunt me, I will get what I deserve, I am not worthy of anything better.

The same goes for our pictures of the outside world. If we see the world as dreadful, threatful and risky it will cause us to operate out of fear and behave in a very hesitant and defensive way with a short term focus. If we see the world as exciting and ripe with opportunities and the promise of a bright future, we will be more open, enthusiastic and hopeful.

The pictures in our mind are built by our past experiences, a combination of what we have been taught and what we have experienced up to that point in life. If we are taught the truth in a robust way, we will have a sound picture to guide us. If we never got formal instruction or the instruction was incorrect, our mental picture will be flawed.

The only way to change the picture in your mind is to bring new information to the table; Information to help you improve the picture. I better picture could help you discover that something new and different is actually possible, or it could help you see that doing something different is appropriate in a situation.

When it comes to spiritual things, i have come to appreciate that most folks have some serious flaws in the picture in their mind. Some of these flaws are absorbed from our emersion in a secular oriented society, Other flaws are conveyed from man made religious doctrines which have been introduced over the years. The good news is that the truth is available in black and white, and the Lord will reveal it to you if you ask with an open heart.

I find it helpful to explore the actual pictures people hold to help them accelerate the process of discovering the truth and tuning up their pictures. Once we get a handle on the pictures you currently hold in your mind, you can start to ask questions and He will help you see the opportunities to tune them up. If we can build an improved picture in your mind, you will quickly change your life.

Your current pictures:

Let’s look at the current pictures you hold with regards to your engagement in spiritual reality:

Are you a lowly sinner struggling to survive in this fallen world, begging a distant God to have mercy and to flow blessings to you, hoping He is listening and wondering if it is His will to act?

—-or—-

Are you a born again child of God; Repentant and Forgiven, Saved by faith

– Crucified in the flesh, setting aside self-consciousness and selfish agendas, fully yielded to the Lord.

– Living in His love; Knowing He loves you because He sent His son

– Flowing His love; Forgiving others as He forgave you. Loving others as you love yourself, Seeing all others as children of God struggling in a fallen world.

– Holy and beyond reproach through Jesus blood; At peace with Him, in perfect union, Entitled to the promises and inheritance of the saints.

– In personal communion with Abba Father, Drawn close to Him so He draws close to you,

– Led by the Spirit into the mind of Christ; listening to His voice, asking for understanding, seeing from His perspective, following where He leads you.

– Acting as the body of Christ with Christ formed in you, perfecting His love as it flows through you as you live your life.

– Partnered with Him to rule this world; seated with Him in heavenly places. Committed to continue His work and make the devil His footstool.

-Using the authority He gives you to do the works He did, speaking His will into place on earth as it already is in Heaven,

-Shining as a bright light in the darkness, being a beacon for the kingdom.

Your perspective makes all the difference. Modern man-made religious doctrine can severely limit you and your journey. Ask the lord to illuminate His path for you. Let the spirit lead you into all truth. Let the truth release your potential and transform your life. The fruit will bear witness.

Piece by piece

The following section works through parts of the contrasting pictures aspect by aspect, piece by piece. First how you see your self, then how you see the purpose of your life, then how you connect to God, then how you engage and face challenges in your life.

Who God is

There is no God, The universe and all we see came from nothing VS God created the universe and all that there is with order, structure and purpose

There is no God, How could a loving God allow all the suffering we see VS God gives us free will, We suffer the consequences we created over generations, He sent Jesus to rescue us.

God is distant, He is up in heaven VS He is with us, In us, Operating through us

Who you are / Your identify

I am a good person because of how I live my life VS I am made righteous only through Jesus blood

I am a sinner, not worthy, and must suffer the consequences VS I have repented, I am forgiven, I am saved, I am made whole

I am separated from the Father by my sin and must suffer VS I am reconciled to the Father by Jesus work, The Father sees me as Holy through Jesus blood, I am entitled to promises and blessings.

I am a sinner by nature VS I am Born Again; My spirit is brand new and connected to the Holy Spirit, My mind is being transformed to understand and execute His will, and my body is submitted and complying

I will always struggle with sin VS The Holy Spirit helps me recognize my sins, I listen and repent, and then He helps me to overcome them.

The problems of my past hold me back VS I am free from my past and focused on moving forward

God is either mad at me or He doesn’t care about me VS I am a Child of God, God loves me, God has plans for me, God is working to help me achieve them

Your purpose

My job is to get myself into heaven someday VS My job is to bring Heaven to others while I am here

I am working to find and fulfil MY purpose VS I am focused on His purpose for me

Life is long, it must be tolerated and endured VS Life is a very short time to make a difference, and every moment must be cherished and leveraged.

I am doing religious things so God will think favorably and I can get into heaven someday VS I am transforming myself so He can use me to bring Heaven to earth for others around me here and now.

i am adopting Christian values where convenient VS I have yielded myself to Christ, It Is Him living through me

I try to comply with the commandments as i try to fit in to society in this fallen world VS I separate myself from this fallen world, I am in the world but not of it, I present myself as a vessel worthy of the holy spirit, I repent when the Holy Spirit convicts me of sin, The Holy Spirit helps me transform and overcome Sin by renewing my mind, I never let sin against me become sin in me.

Life is a drag, I am just trying to survive VS Life is a gift, and I make the best of every second and shine as a light in the darkness

I am watching on the sidelines VS I am engaged executing His commission for the kingdom

I am hiding privately in isolation VS I am shining as a bright light, a beacon in the darkness

Knowing God / Your relationship

God is distant / way up in heaven VS God is with me, Working in me, Working through me

God is abstract and unknowable VS I have an intimate personal relationship with Him

I talk to God and hope He listens VS I have an ongoing dialog: I talk to God, I listen to His voice

God is a mystery VS The mystery is revealed through the Son and the Holy Spirit

I believe what others tell me about scripture VS I learn the Truth from the Holy Spirit

I am Led by the flesh and my reasoning VS I am Led by the Holy Spirit

Your authority

I pray to God way up in heaven VS I am seated in heavenly places with Jesus

I am a victim of the devil VS I execute authority over the devil, nothing will harm me

I beg God to take action VS He already took the action, I am now receiving it. I am speaking His will into place on earth.

Only certain people can initiate miracles VS The works Jesus did I do and more

Signs and wonders are no longer relevant VS I am a believer, and these signs shall follow those who believe (Cast out demons, Lay hands on the sick and they shall recover)

I pray once and hope He heard me VS I pray fervently, Speaking His will into place on earth until it is complete.

Scriptures to help you draw improved pictures:

Your identity:

Once we have Faith in Jesus, We are born again, washed and renewed, regenerated as a gracious gift of mercy.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

“Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.” (1 Peter 1:23)

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5)

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ (John 3:3)

You are loved, Know God loves you because He sent His son, Love God because He loved us first.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

“We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:14-16)

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)

You are God’s handy work, chosen, beloved, blessed

“But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit…” (John 15:16)

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved…” (Colossians 3:12)

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” (Romans 8:28-30)

Knowing God / Your Relationship:

Get to know God personally, and follow His commandments. it is the only way to eternal life and heaven

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven (follow His commandments). Many 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 then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “(Matthew 7:21-23)

Ask the Holy Spirit to come into you to guide you and teach you

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13)

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

The Holy Spirit will help you overcome sin if you let Him.

“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:27)

Live a life worthy of the price He paid, Be a vessel worthy of His presence, Able to be useful for the kingdom

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

“God paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved by the world.” (1 Corinthians 7:23 NLT)

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed…” (2 Timothy 2:15)

“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” ( 2Timothy 2:20)

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

He will manifest in you as you get to know Him and follow His commandment

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. (John 14:15-17)

“At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:20-21)

The Holy Spirit gives us access to the mind of Christ:

“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:13-16)

We are the body of Christ:

“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Corinthians 12:27)

We are to be led by the spirit, not the flesh or our own reasoning

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)

Your purpose:

Your job is to leave a legacy that brings glory to God.

“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.” (John 15:16)

Become Love like Him, Love others as you love yourself, Forgive others as He forgives you

“Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5)

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7)

“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17)

“…You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39)

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

Get over yourself and let Christ live in you and through you:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

“To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)

We need to yield ourselves and our self-centered interests, and focus on Christ’s purpose for us

“He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39)

Your purpose is to transform and pursue the kingdom of God, shine as a bright light, bear fruit in this life, and leave a lasting legacy which brings glory to His name

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

“…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.” (Romans 12:2)

Your authority:

When you embrace Jesus as lord of the universe, and receive Him as your Lord of your life, You become a Child of God.

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the [a]right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12)

We have been raised up and are sitting (ruling) with Christ:

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7)

We have all authority and power over the enemy:

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19)

He expects us to use that authority to bring glory to His name:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (John 14:12)

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” (Mark 16:17-18)

“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” (James 5:14-16)

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:7-8)

We must speak God’s will into place:

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.”(Proverbs 18:21)

“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” (James 5:17)

Always test what you know and what you are being taught. Know correct teaching by its fruit:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:15-20)

Conclusion:

Explore the pictures you hold in your mind. Ask yourself is they are right. The Lord will help you improve your pictures if you let Him.

Happy to discuss your current pictures and help you build better ones.

Have a wonderful day.

Do you know the gospel message?

Posted on March 29, 2022 by jakirkgasser10439

Do you understand the Gospel? How do you know?

Do you really understand the gospel message? Are you sure? How do you know?

Do you know Him? Does He know you? It is a big deal – the biggest.

See if the following description fits your understanding… if not… you are missing out now, and will be very disappointed when you knock on heavens door and He says….sorry I don’t know you.

Please get to know Him personally while you still can – the days are getting short.

Clarification of the Gospel..

He did not die just so you could get into heaven someday, He died so you could bring heaven to earth right here and right now. He died so you could live “in Him”; He died so you could become love, So you could become His love in action; He died so you could become your best self, the person He intended for you to be; He died so He could come and live inside each of us. He died so we could live fully reunited with the Father. He died so we each could become the body of Christ, His arms and legs on this earth. He died so we could become like Him, so people would see Him when they see us. He died so you could be a light that shines in this dark world. He died so you could be a bright beacon for Him and the kingdom.

If this resonates and is how you live your life, then I look forward to partnering with you planting seeds for the kingdom as we execute this life, and I look forward to spending eternity with you in His presence.

If this does not resonate – please verify the facts behind you understanding… you are likely the victim of modern doctrine based on one or more lies.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6)

He saw this coming and made a big deal about focusing on The Word and gaining knowledge (facts), understanding (meaning in context), and wisdom (experience in application).

“Get wisdom! Get understanding!

Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

Do not forsake her (wisdom), and she will preserve you;

Love her, and she will keep you.

Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom.

And in all your getting, get understanding.” (Proverbs 4:5-7)

………………………………………..

I will offer one point of discussion that may offend some but hopefully opens some eyes to the truth

Believing is a great start, it opens the door, but it is not enough just to “believe” as Even the devil believes.. and trembles.

“You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!” (James 2:19)

Your belief only becomes effective when you choose to put it into action in faith, and then that faith into action as works in your life.

“Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:17)

He makes a very direct and crystal clear statement that in order to get into heaven, He must KNOW you. And for Him to KNOW you, you must conform to His commandments. That is a lot more involved than just “believing”.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many 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 then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

For Him to “know you” means you have conformed yourself to His commandments.. That is putting your belied into action in your heart and soul. It is much more involved than just believing and it is not easy.

“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.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

You must conform your behavior and how you live your life. Your life lived is the evidence of what you truly believe. If you have become love, and people can see Christ when they see you and talk to you, than you have it right. If your life lived looks more like a secular non-Christian than you have missed the point.

“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17)

You also can’t just “Earn” your way into heaven either by just doing stuff. You must gain knowledge (facts), then understanding, then you accept those beliefs as truths in your heart. Then you build Faith as you act on those beliefs in your heart. The process of acting on your beliefs is what builds faith and opens the door to God’s miraculous salvation. If there is no action, there is no faith. If you act with no foundation of belief you are wasting your time on empty “Works”.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith (acting on beliefs), and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

The intended process is to put beliefs into action to build faith, then apply that faith to choices in your life to do the good works He laid out for you.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-11)

You get there by following Jesus, getting to know Him, transforming how you think and act to align with His will, denying your selfish agendas, Inviting Him to live inside you, and living a life focused on flowing value to others. When you do that, you act on solid beliefs in faith, your “works” demonstrate your faith and naturally bring glory to the kingdom. You know Him, He knows you, and You have brought heaven to earth.

Understanding the Gospel message is the foundation… the rock on which all is built.

Just my two cents

Hope this is helpful

Happy to discuss any and all

Prayer of Intercession

Posted on March 25, 2022April 1, 2022 by jakirkgasser10439

How to Intercede for Someone

So how do you help someone who is lost, Especially someone at a distance? It is called intercession.

Intersession is a form of prayer where you advocate on behalf for someone. You could be adding your prayers to their prayers to bring more energy to a situation, or you could be initiating prayer because they are not interested in praying, or maybe you have no access to them but have compassion and want to help them.

Some considerations:

There are a few things I have learned which make intercession much more effective.

It is spiritual warfare (Ep 6:12-18) – Don’t blame people, Stand against the evil.
The devil controls the fallen world (2 Cor 4:4) – He Lies, Steals, and Destroys
Jesus defeated Satan (Col 2:15) – Hold Satan accountable, your footstool
Jesus’ blood makes you righteous, reunited with the Father – Stand under it!
Jesus delegated authority to us in His name – Use it!
We are the body of Christ – Be his arms and legs on earth!
The spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside us – Use it!
Jesus expects us to do the works He did and more – Do what He did!
We must know God’s will, Jesus is the expressed image – Look at Jesus!
Scripture is binding – State your case!
Jesus intercedes for us – The Father is a just judge – It is rigged in your favor!
God has already done the work – Don’t beg, Align and Receive it
We must act in faith to make space for grace (Think, Say, Do)
You must speak Gods will into place – Create the future
Angels are waiting to execute – Give them permission!
Be fervent, believe the promises, expect results, pray until you see them

Each of these are addressed in other blog entries or in details under the “about God and His Kingdom” web page.

Below is a sample prayer that embodies these features. It is a bit long as it is both instructional and functional. The first section positions you as a righteous believer acting in intercession. the second portion executes the intercession with authority, the final section is the conclusion. Read it out loud with conviction for best effect.

If you are interceding for multiple different folks or multiple sets of folks, read the first section once to get you properly positioned, then repeat the middle section half for each group of folks in mind, then wrap up with the conclusion.

Sample Prayer:

Heavenly Father, Thank you for creating this place and putting us here at this time. Thank you for all you have done for me and my family.

Jesus, Thank you for coming here and doing your amazing work 2000 years ago; You gave up your role in heaven and came here as a human baby; you became the expressed image of the invisible Father, when we see you we see Him; You resisted the devil at each turn and lived a sinless life; You received the Holy Spirit and did the Fathers will. You denied yourself and suffered an innocent death taking sin to the grave, your resurrection brings eternal life to all who believe. I am committed to live a life worthy of the price you paid.

Jesus, you defeated the devil and took back the authority we had given him with our sins. The Father granted you full authority over all the heavens and on the earth because of your work. Your name is above all names, and all must kneel before it. You graciously delegated authority to us so we can continue your work. I accept Your commission. I am the body of Christ, your arms and legs on this earth. I will make the devil Your footstool and bring glory to the Father in Your name.

Jesus, We see you seated on the throne in heaven at the right hand of the father. We accept your invitation and join you in that heavenly realm. I stand before you in the righteousness you paid for, cleansed by your blood. You are the high priest interceding for us, and I am raising up your children for consideration. Your Word is binding, you are a just judge, and I herby present my case.

——–

Lord Jesus, I intercede today on behalf of (_______insert one or more specific people). They are your precious children and are lost in this fallen world. They are blinded by lies and do not see Your truth. They are separated by sin from Your love and protection. They are consumed by this world and their heart has grown cold. They are struggling to climb out of their situation and become productive for themselves, their family, their friends, and your kingdom.

I use the authority you give me in Luke 10:19 to rebuke the evil spirits affecting them. I cancel all assignments, contracts, curses, and permissions being leveraged against them. All unclean spirits in this realm, I command you to loose them from your grip and leave them now, in Jesus name. All unclean spirits in the heavenly realms, I use the authority you give us in Matthew 18:18 to bind all spirits who are working against these precious children of God. I rebuke you and cut you off. I prohibit you from supporting and reinforcing the earthly spirits who are working against these precious children; What is bound on earth is bound in heaven, in Jesus name. Jesus defeated Satan by His work on the cross, He now is the name above all names. You Evil spirits, You WILL kneel and loose these children NOW on my command, in Jesus’ Name. It is written! It will be done! in Jesus name!

Jesus, I speak the Holy Spirit into action to bring God’s will into place. Help warm the hearts of these precious lost children so they can find You and Your unconditional love. Open their eyes and help them find the truth of You and Your gospel. Help them discover their value as an adopted child of God. Help them know you are ready, willing, and able to rescue them; Help them be humble enough to ask for your help. Lord, help them find and follow your path out of their destructive situation. Help them transform their thinking into alignment with Your will. Help them change their behavior so they become productive for themselves, their family, and for all those around them. Help them embrace the Holy Spirit and find the level of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control that only You can bring. Lord, I release Your angels to protect them and guide them as they find You and Your path for their lives. I ask this in Jesus Name.

——–

Lord, Help me know how best to support them on their journey. May each of us become a beacon for your kingdom. I ask all of this in Jesus name, to bring glory to the Father. AMEN

Good Morning Jesus

Posted on March 23, 2022September 18, 2023 by jakirkgasser10439

Good Morning Jesus, It’s great to be alive!

Every day is important, It is a gift and an opportunity to do great things. Don’t waste a minute of it.

“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

How do you start your day? Do you have a way to ensure it will be the best day possible?

The bible offers clear instructions on how to start your day:

Start your day of by connecting to God, drawing near to God, in prayer

“My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord;
In the morning I will direct it to You,
And I will look up.” Psalm 5:3

“But to You I have cried out, O Lord, And in the morning my prayer comes before You.” Psalm 88:13

Your morning prayer should praise Him and be thankful.

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

What should you be thankful for? You can be thankful for the three essential elements of the universal spiritual process that drives the universe:

Love applied through Truth creates Goodness

You can be thankful for

His Love (Energy, Power, Warmth, Compassion, Forgiveness, Grace, Mercy),

His Truth (Light, Knowledge, Understanding, Wisdom), and

His Goodness (The beneficial effects; Creation, Life, Growth, Righteousness, Salvation, Healing, Blessings, Prosperity, Redemption, Protection, Justice)

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” 1 Chronicles 16:34

The psalms do a nice job setting expectations

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations..:” Psalm 100:4-5

“Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise His holy name.
Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all His benefits
— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion” Psalm 103:1-4

So What Might This Look Like?

Here are 20 statements you can use to enter into His gates and give thanks. Say them out loud with conviction every morning and watch how it changes your day.

Good morning Jesus, It is great to be alive with you living inside me. I will sow seeds for your kingdom as I go though this day.
Thank you for creating this wonderful place to live; Your handiwork is evident all around me.
Thank you for loving me; You formed me, You gave me gifts and tallents, and You have great plans for me.
Thank you for loving me so much you suffered and died for me on the cross. You died so I could live a better life through you.
Thank you for never giving up on me no matter how far I have strayed; Your love is unconditional and unchanging.
Thank you for working all thing in my favor; I can’t imagine how bad things would be if you were not helping me.
Thank you for forgiving my sins; Your blood washes me clean. I no longer have condemnation or shame. I can focus on the future.
Thank you for helping me forgive others; All your children struggle in this fallen world and deserve love. As you love me, I will love them.
Thank you for reuniting me with the Father; He sees me as righteous and holy through your blood.
Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to teach me and guide me; I welcome Him to dwell and do His work inside me.
Thank you for helping me live a righteous life; I am becoming a temple worthy of your presence, a vessel suitable for your use.
Thank you for helping me deny my selfish agendas and focus on you and your kingdom; I will live a life worthy of the price you paid.
Thank you for helping me flow your love to others; Your love is perfected when it flows to others. It is not me, but you who lives through me.
Thank you for giving me strength; Alone I can do nothing, With you anything is possible.
Thank you for being with me every minute of every day; Nothing can separate me from your love.
Thank you for helping me understand this spiritual battle; Satan lies, steals and destroys; You bring life in abundance. I stand with you.
Thank you for protecting me; When I draw near to you, you draw near to me. When I resist the devil, the devil WILL flee.
Thank you for defeating the devil with your innocent death and resurrection; You recieved all authority in the heavens and on earth!
Thank you for delegating authority to me; I will use it to hold the devil accountable for his defeat and make him Your footstool.
Thank you for being the light of this world while you were here; With your help I will be that light now, a bright beacon for your kingdom.

Say good morning to Jesus in thanks every day. It WILL ensure you start the day off on a positive note.

Hope this helps

Do you have a healthy fear of God? You need one!

Posted on March 20, 2022March 21, 2022 by jakirkgasser10439

Do you have a healthy fear of God? You need one!

Jordan Peterson is a brilliant psychologist and deep thinker. When asked if he believes in God he replies: ”I live my life as if God is real.” Then he explains what he means: He operates as if there is an all powerful God who is watching everything he does and will hold him accountable for any harm he causes others. From what I have learned, that is a pretty decent start.

So what is a fear of God?

Fear of God is a reverent deep respect and commitment to action we get once we embrace an image of God as the ultimate supreme being who:

Invested energy to create this place
Sent His son to save us form sin
Put us here at this time and this place for a reason
Knows everything we think, say, and do
Will hold us accountable for how we have lived this life
Determines how and where we will spend eternity

There are several aspects of accountability addressed in the bible: Judgement, Salvation, and Sanctification. They are often blurred together but I find it useful to look at them individually and then see how they connect.

Let’s build up the image from scripture.

Works and Judgement – Accountable

God is omnipresent – He is everywhere watching everything you do

“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3)

“You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.” (Psalm 139:3)

You will be held accountable for how you live your life – what you think, say, do, and intend.

“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:12)

What you do matters: Your “works”

“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)

“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.” (Revelation 20:12)

What you say matters:

“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37)

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Proverbs 18:21)

Your purposeful thoughts matter:

“…whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28)

The intentions in your heart matter even more:

“Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

“I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:10)

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)

It is clear from this series of verses, that works matter. That what you think, say and chose to do matters. This is not talking about salvation, this is talking about sanctification – purifying. Rooting out any evil that remains in you, aligning you with God’s agenda for you, positioning you to be useful for His kingdom.

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification…” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-6)

Sin and Salvation – Faith:

God set expectations of right and wrong for you:

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” Matthew 22:37-39)

Deviating from God’s commandments is a sin, it is breaking His divine law.

“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4)

Sin has consequences, those who break the law earn punishment.

“The wages of sin are death” (Romans 6:23)

Everyone has sinned, All fall short

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)

“None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10)

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)

You can not save yourself from sin, you need a savior

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Jesus is the savior, Believe in him and be saved.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Salvation is a matter of faith. You must believe that you are a sinner condemned to death and eternity in hell. You must believe Jesus is God’s son, He came here in human form as a baby, Lived and died for you on the cross, and is resurrected and is now at the right hand of the Father fulfilling the scriptures. Once you have this knowledge in your mind, need to make a conscious decision to accept Him as your lord and savior in your heart and ask forgivness of your sins. this decision becomes faith when you choose to take action and confess it with your mouth. Once you have converted knowledge into faith by taking action, You have opened the door for Him to come in through grace and begin to do His work in you.

“…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Why is a fear of God important?

Fear of God is the beginning of a process, it provides motivation for you to invest your energy to learn about God, to understand His expectations for you, and to draw you onto His desired path.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10)

Learning about God requires an investment. It comes from reading the bible, listening to sermons, purposefully thinking and interpreting the messages. The big change happens when you ask God in earnest to help you gain understand and discern the truth; You will need a way to capture all He tells you. You then need to reflect on what you are learning, embrace the truth in your heart, and apply the truth in your life.

“My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
If you seek her (wisdom) as silver,
And search for her (wisdom) as for hidden treasures;
Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.” (Proverbs 2:1-5)

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1:5)

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7)

Once your fear of the lord brings you to actively purse understanding and you ask the Lord for help in earnest, He can begin to work inside you to build understanding and guide you onto the right path.

“for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13)

As you come to understand God you learn that He has some expectations for you. He summarizes those expectations in two commandments. Love God with all your heart, and Love your neighbor as your self.

When you follow these commandments you align yourself with God’s agenda, you enable His love to flow through you, and create results that are useful to God and His kingdom.

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” (John 15:10)

When you chose to deviate from them it is always for selfish reasons, you are putting your agenda above God’s agenda. You are at war with Him in your mind, and that has consequences.

You can then seek to understand the harm you have caused others. You can seek to understand the motivations that drive you. You can learn that all undesirable personality traits are rooted in self-centered/selfish agendas that remain in your heart. These agendas operate against God’s will for you; These agendas are rooted in evil and reinforced by forces operating in the world. Each selfish agenda has a name (Pride, Envy, Lethargy, etc.) and each is a sin.

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.” (Proverbs 8:13)

Once you recognize them as sin, and that the consequence of sin is eternal death, you will figure out you need a savior. Once you repent of those sins, choose to turn from them and accept Jesus as your lord and saviour, you have opened the door to sanctification. Once you figure out what Jesus did for you, you will be compelled to live your life worthy of the price he paid for it. Once you do that, He will take you on a journey of discovery, reformation, and regeneration.

So how does this accountability work?

Near death experiences reveal one way this accountability takes place, it is through what is called a life review. When you pass away, the Lord and several senior angels will stand with you and review key events in your life in virtual reality. You will experience those events from the perspective of those who were impacted. You will see the harm caused to others by selfish or self-centered decisions you made. You will feel the impact of mean words you spoke to another person. You will see the impact of your negative thoughts and intentions on those around you. You will be significantly impacted by the disappointment you feel as all of this plays out in front of Jesus and the angels and you will hold yourself accountable.

What happens next is even more significant. Jesus will wrap his arm around you, convey His love for you and all those you impacted. He will ask what you learned from what you just saw and experienced. If you figure out that your selfish agendas got you in trouble and can learn the lessons, you will be move forward towards heaven. If you convince yourself that your selfish agendas were somehow justified and reject Jesus love for you and all His children, you will be uncomfortable getting any closer to heaven.

I encourage everyone to watch a few NDE testimonies and see how this process works… see what kind of lessons the participants learned:

You are an eternal spiritual being
God loves you unconditionally
The Why for your life matters – Your intentions create your future
Don’t waste time, every moment is precious
Every human being is a cherished child of God deserving compassion
Your Words, and Actions impact the people around you and the planet
Don’t dwell in the past, don’t fear death, Become Love in action now

Here are a couple favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nMe0T6TgNo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2QEXUIYL-U

An opportunity here and now

The opportunity you have in front of you is to do some of the life review process now. You will accelerate your learning process in this life and avoid embarrassment in front of the Lord then. If you effectively repent of your errors now so you can change going forward, Jesus will erase your prior errors from the record.

Two practical ways to do it, one purposefully being led by the spirit, the other trying to use your rational mind. I address them in that order.

Lead by the spirit: Approach the Lord in your quiet place of prayer, be ready to capture what He tells you as you work through it.

1 – Position yourself and state your intention: Lord, Thank you for putting me here, for Loving me, and for never giving up on me. Lord, I want to be the best person I can be; The person you intended me to be when you put me here; Living a life worthy of the price you paid. Lord, You promise to provide wisdom and understanding generously to all who ask; well I’m asking. Lord, You know me inside and out. Please help me identify the flaws in my ways so I can work them with you here and now.

2 – Picture Jesus right in front of you, reach out and hold His hand if you wish. Quiet your conscious mind. Open your mind to receiving input from Him. As you work through the sequence of questions below, the answers will come as vivid memories, pictures, stories, pieces of scripture, or individual words. Write down what He shows you so you can reflect on it and process it after.

3 – Ask Him a question, open yourself to input, and record what He shows you.

Lord: When have I created adverse consequences for others.
- He will show you a specific event…look for the impact you had

Lord: Which of my thoughts, words, or actions have caused harm?

1. What did you do?
2. What did you say?
3. What were you thinking that allowed it to happen that way?

Lord: How are my thoughts not aligned with your will?
- God’s will for you is to love God with all your heart and Love others as yourself.
- When you do both, you become your best possible you. When you miss the mark on either it becomes a problem.
Lord: What intentions in my heart are not aligned with you and your kingdom
- Look for any selfish agendas driving your thoughts, words, and actions
- Doing things for my own benefit at the expense of others
- Doing things to build my own image rather than God’s image
- Doing things that ignore God’s role as creator, provider, redeemer, shepherd, saviour, etc

Using your rational mind: Position yourself in prayer as above, Thanking Him, and Asking for His help to make you the best person you can be. Then work through the series of questions above. Review memorable events in your recent past, notice which ones resonate. Look for adverse consequences, Reflect on the event, Look for specific thoughts, words or actions that set up those consequences. Reflect on your intentions. Look for the self-centered agendas in your heart that lie at the root of those counterproductive thoughts, words, or actions.

Use either method to gather your opportunities with specific incidents, actions, and motivations to work on. Now you want to find the relevant scripture that resonates with the situation.

Use google and search for the topic:

Google: Pride scripture or Pride verses

Review what it offers. Read them, ponder them, see which ones resonate and illuminate your issues and opportunities. Often you can find two verses: One that describes the problem to be avoided:

Ex: “Pride goes before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18);

And then one that describes the desired path to avoid it

Ex: “…with humility comes wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2).

Process through this process until you can restate the flaw in your thoughts or intentions as a sin against God

All sin is against God alone, it happens when we put our agenda above His.
He wants us to love Him with all our heart and love neighbors as ourselves.
Anything that runs counter to His agenda can be stated in terms of sin.

Some examples behaviors stated as sin :

Lie – Withhold truth from someone (Telling mistruth, Withholding truth)

Steal – Take something someone else deserves (Material, Withholding credit)

Murder – Cause severe harm (Physically, Emotionally)

Selfishness – Benefit self at expense of others

Envy – Want other peoples things for self

Pride – Focus on self image, taking / withholding credit

Arrogance – Viewing self somehow above others

Adultery – Compromise agreements with others

Idolatry – Worship things other than God (Things, Money, Work, Sports, Degrees, etc)

Fornication – Having sex outside of marriage

Repent of that sin, commit to improvement, and move forward in partnership with the Lord to live in a way aligned with His agenda

Ex: Lord you ask that I love you with all my heart and love my neighbors as myself. I have fallen short by putting my own selfish agenda ahead of yours. My pride has gotten in the way of getting you credit for my efforts. I accept credit for my efforts and do not publicly acknowledge you as the source of my talents and strength. I thank you for helping me see the issue and understand it. I am committed to be humble and serve your children whenever possible and be a beacon for your kingdom not for my own ego. Thank you for helping me be the best person I can be and bring glory to the Father. I ask this in your name. AMEN

Continue to reflect and repent, learn and apply as you go. As you weed out the issues and truly put them behind you, you will be a better person in this life and the Lord erases them from your record so you don’t have to deal with them later.

Having a “Fear of God” can be a bit confusing.

Establishing a healthy fear of the God is a good first step to getting on the right track with your life.

You make a choice each day – and it matters

Posted on November 9, 2021July 21, 2026 by jakirkgasser10439

You make a choice each day – and it matters

You have a choice every day: choose to follow God and His commandments and receive blessings, or don’t and suffer the consequences. (Duet 30:15) This is both a threat…and a promise.

We live in a fallen world and need God’s help to get through it. You can limit God’s ability to help you by how you live your life: your thoughts, your words, your actions matter. Sin separates us from the father, His protection, and His blessings. (Isaiah 59:2)

What is He expecting ?

Love God first and foremost – He is the source of everything Good. He put you here. He loves you. He gave is only begotten son to save you. Learn about Him. Get to know Him personally. Talk to Him. Listen to Him. Do what He says. Follow His commandments. Let Him lead you.

Love thy neighbor – Think of every other person on this planet as a beloved child of God, each struggling in a fallen world. Be kind, be patient, bring love and forgiveness into every situation. He put you here for reason. He wants you to be a living example…to shine as a beacon for the kingdom. Become His love in action, His arms and legs on this earth. You are the body of Christ, Let Him live through you.

Deny yourself – Remove selfish / self-serving agendas. This life is not about you, it is about how you can get over yourself and become of service to others. Put the old self behind you and put on the new self. Die to sin, be born again into life. Present yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. Focus your thoughts and actions around how to be useful to others. It is not about having things, it is about how you can use what you have can be helpful to others.

Pick up your cross. Don’t let sin against you become sin in you. Forgive them for they know not what they do. Live this life worthy of the price Jesus paid for it.

Remember you will stand before Him and be held accountable for how you chose to live this life: your thoughts, your words, your actions, how you spent your time.

How do you treat others? Do you build them up, or tear them down in your mind and through your words. Your words matter.

Do you let issues from the past linger and bog you down or do you focus on today and find ways to be a blessing to others. Forgive and forget. He forgives you so you can forgive others. Move forward!

How are you leveraging the gifts and talents He gave you, are you squandering them or nurturing them and leveraging them to help others. What you do with your life matters.

You have a choice today. Make the most of it!

My two cents for what it is worth.

Supporting scriptures:

Your actions can limit God’s ability to help you.

“How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power”. (Psalm 78: 41-43)

Sin separates you from God – and his ability to help you

“…your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2)

You have a choice every day – Put God first and follow His commandments or suffer the consequences

Put sin behind you and become a living sacrifice to God

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

You are not saved by faith alone… how you chose to live your life really matters

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” (Revelation 21:12)

Example Prayer

Heavenly Father, Thank you. You are the source of everything good in this world. I thank you for this life and for never giving up on me. Thank you for forgiving me so i can focus on the future. I thank you for filling me with your holy spirit. I thank you for fathering me, for teaching me, for coaching me. I thank you for helping me find the path you set for me. Thank you for continuing to help me remove my selfish sellf-centered agendas. Thank you for helping me get ME out of the way so your love can flow through me. Thank you for helping me forgive others and moving forward. Thank you for helping me be a blessing to every person i come in contact with today. Thank you for helping me find more and more ways to be useful and to be of service to others. Thank you for helping me shine in the darkness of this fallen world. AMEN.

Receive God as your Father

Posted on July 1, 2021November 16, 2021 by jakirkgasser10439

Have you Received God as your Father?

Life in this fallen world involves many struggles, plenty of suffering, and eventually death. This can easily become overwhelming without some perspective. Two of the most powerful forces to help us get through the challenges in life are love and family. Many people focus primarily on our earthly physical family and are highly dependent on how others chose to express their love. Once we expand our view to include our spiritual family, and how God expresses His unconditional love, it brings a higher perspective and release remarkable power; The power required to get us through the challenges we face in this life. This post looks at God’s love and how you can harness it to get through the challenges you face now, and set you up for success for eternity.

God loves you more than you can even imagine

He formed you in your mothers’ womb.

“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 129:13)

He has plans for you – He wrote your book before your first day on earth.

“Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” (Psalms 139:16)

He knows you inside and out.

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.” (Psalm 139:1-4)

He loves you as a father.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!..“ (1 John 3:1)

“I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:18 & 2 Samuel 7:14)

He wants to help each of us individually in this life and set us up for the next.

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 18:12-14)

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11-12)

He works to improve you as you go through your journey

“O Lord you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are the work of your hands.” (Isaiah 64:8)

“Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? (Hebrews 12:9)

Sin separates us from Him

You were born as a sinner living in a fallen world. You are personally responsible for your sins. Sin separates you from the Father and that has consequences. Without a savior, you will continue to suffer now and forever.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)

“The wages of sin are death” (Romans 6:23)

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12)

“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” (Ezekiel 18:20)

“But your iniquities (sins) have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face (protection) from you, that he will not hear (your prayers for help).” (Isaiah 59:2)

Acknowledge Jesus as your savior

He loves you so much He sent His son to save you from sin and its consequences – long before you were born.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Accept Jesus as your lord and savior.

“…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. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10)

Receive His love

Accept his unconditional love –

“By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” (1 John 4:9)

Accept His loving gift of forgiveness,

“I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (Psalm 32:5)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Jesus died on the cross so you can move forward without sin – You can forget the past and move forward – There is no condemnation – only love

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1)

“For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.” (2 Chronicles 30:9b)

Once you accept Him nd what He did for you, His blood removes your sin – He presents you to the the Father as if you had never sinned.

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19)

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

“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Colossians 1:21-22)

You are born again, Reunited with the Father, and Seated on the thrown of heaven with Jesus.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Revelation 3:20:21)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Apply His Love

Extend the same love by Forgiving others.

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14)

“Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” (Colossians 3:13)

“And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12)

Invite the Holy Spirit inside you – and accept His help and guidance.

“Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:15-17)

“But we have this treasure (The holy spirit) in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)

Accept that you are now an adopted son – a child of God – a brother of Jesus.

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29)

Transform your mind so you can walk as a child of God.

“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.” (Romans 12:2)

Seek first the kingdom of God – Get to know God through Jesus – The expressed image of the invisible God.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Have a healthy fear of the Lord: You are accountable for your thoughts, words, and actions.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10)

“So then each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12)

“I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:10)

“But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36-37)

Turn from evil as sin against God

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

“By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:10)

Crucify / Deny your self-conscious /self-serving interests – Focus on flowing God’s love to others.

“If anyone desires to come after Me (Jesus), let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life (His own agenda) will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 16:24-26)

“Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.” (1 Corinthians 10:24)

“For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” (James 3:16)

Do not focus on short term self-centered “pleasures” and “things”

“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8)

Live a life worthy – Jesus paid a heavy price to save you from sin and its consequences.

“I…beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, (Ephesians 4:1)

“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:20)

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

Become His Love

Become love in action (thoughts, words, actions) – The body of Christ – His arms and legs on earth.

“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Corinthians 12:27)

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7)

“We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16)

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. (John 14:23)

Release the power of the Holy Spirit that lives inside you – to bring glory to the Father

“Now to [the Father] who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Become the Glory of God through Jesus, union with the Father, and through His pure love.

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. (John 17: 20-21)

Become the perfect flow of love to others – Be perfect as the Father is perfect

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

Become a beacon – Your life becomes as a showcase – Allow people to see Him through you.

“That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” (Philippians 2:15-16)

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

My Prayer:

Heavenly Father, Thank you for everything; You are the source of everything good in this world. Thank you forming me and setting plans for me. Thank you for sending your son to save me from sin and its consequences, I embrace Him as my lord and savior. I am a sinner and I am grateful for His generous gift of forgiveness; I embrace His love and forgive all who have sinned against me. I am committed to turn from evil and live a life worthy of the price Jesus paid. My spirit is born again and am now an adopted son/daughter of God and a member of the Holy family. You are my eternal Father, your love powers the universe and is inside of me; Your truth brings order out of chaos and and saves me from destruction. I thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to teach me and guide me. My body is a temple for your spirit and I will make it a place worthy of your dwelling. I submit myself as a vessel for your use – This life is no longer my own. I am the body of Christ – your arms and legs on this earth. You are my Father; I will seek to know you through your word. I will talk to you often and listen carefully for your input. I will flow your love to others in any way I can. I will use the gifts you have given me to help your kingdom in any way I can. I have the power that raised Jesus from the dead living inside me and I will release it in your name, to do your will, and bring you glory. I will walk as a child of God and be a beacon for your kingdom. I thank you for all you have done for me, and I ask for your continued guidance as I learn and execute this life for you. In Jesus Name, AMEM

Jesus Became Sin Cursed On A Tree

Posted on June 7, 2021June 7, 2021 by jakirkgasser10439

Jesus became sin cursed on a tree so you could be healed.

Jesus became sin cursed on a tree. His stripes heal us. Are you healed ?

There are some pieces of scripture that are a bit unusual and awkward, but they are amazingly powerful once you understand them and put the pieces together.

The book of Numbers records the story of the Israelites journey across the wilderness. They became frustrated and rebelled against Moses and God. They suffered a curse of fiery serpents as the consequence of that sinful rebellion. Many were bitten and dying. They recognized the error in their ways and asked Moses to plead for mercy. God told Moses to make a bronze image of a serpent that was biting them and raise it on a pole. All the Israelites who had been bitten were healed when they saw the snake raised on the pole.

This story has its roots in a specific law in Deuteronomy that declares that anything hung on a tree becomes “cursed” by God (unwanted/unsupported/vilified). This law shaped how capital punishment / death sentences were caried out. For example, the executed body was not to be left hung overnight as a public exhibit because the body would become sufficiently cursed it would defile the land it was later buried in.

So God used this law with Moses and the Israelites. He had Moses make a bronze image of the serpent that was biting and killing them and had him hang it on a pole. As soon as He raised it up on a pole, it became officially cursed by God. The Israelites all knew this law, and as soon as they saw the serpent raised on a pole, they knew God had cursed the curse of serpents, and they were forgiven of their sin and any who were bitten were healed. They knew this law in thier minds and believed it in their hearts. As soon as they acknowledged it in faith, God’s grace flowed and delivered the promised healing.

This application of the law extends that concept of things being cursed if hung on a tree in an interesting way by applying the principle of something being cursed to a curse: In this case hanging a curse on a tree curses the curse. If you are a victim of a curse, and you see that the curse is now cursed by God, you are released from the initial curse. It is sort of a double negative, but it works: If I have a curse, but that curse has been cursed, I am now free from that curse!

The bronze statue of the snake becomes an image of the curse, and the curse becomes cursed when it was hung on the pole. Those that recognize the situation are instantly healed.

That is not a trivial message, but this one is: The image of healing associated with the serpent on a pole has long been associated with the practice of medicine.

Back to the story; Lets see how this scenario applies with Jesus.

The apostle John tells us Jesus must be raised up the same way Moses raised the serpent so those of us who see Him can be saved from our destruction. When I first was working through this it sounded like we were to raise Jesus on a pole so He would become cursed. That can’t be right, But if we keep working through the parallel verses it starts to become clear.

Moses did not raise a serpent on the pole, he raised an image of the serpent. Jesus allowed His body to be tortured and turned into an image of sin. It wasn’t Jesus himself who was being cursed, it was the image of sin being raised up and cursed. That makes sense and now the connecting verses all make sense: “He made him to be sin who knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21); “He became a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree…” (1 Peter 2:24)

Then we get to the real kicker: “…By his stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24). We need to look at Jesus crucified on the cross exactly the same way the Israelites saw the bronze image of the serpent raised on the pole. When they saw the curse of serpents was cursed, they knew they were healed. Jesus became sin hung on a cross, sin was cursed. When we see sin cursed, we no longer need to suffer, we can see Him on that cross and be healed.

So what does that mean to you. Do you want divine healing? He did the work for us 2000 years ago; He paid the price; He has already made healing available to you. It is on the shelf waiting for you. It is up to you to recognize you are already fully authorized for healing. God has done all he needs to do. You need to claim it. The devil will continue to steal life from you until you figure it out and take action.

My prayer

Heavenly father, thank you for loving me and never giving up on me. Jesus thank you for coming here and doing your amazing work 2000 years ago. You lived a sinless life and then allowed your body to be tortured and converted into the image of sin cursed on a pole. We see that God has cursed sin and death and we are set free from that curse; We now have Love and Life through you. We confess our sins and recommit to follow you and live a life worthy of the price you paid. We stand in the righteousness you provide and claim the promises of your kingdom: Forgiveness for our sins by your innocent blood, And healing of our body by the stripes on your broken body. Just as Moses raised the serpent on a pole to heal the Israelites, We see your broken body raised on that cross as the image of sin cursed by God. I am no longer bound by sin and death, I receive your love and your healing. In Jesus name, AMEN.

Supporting scripture

Anything hung on a tree is cursed

“If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)

Moses makes a bronze image of the serpent and raises it on a pole so it becomes cursed. Anyone who has been bitten and looks up and sees the image of the serpent cursed on a pole is saved and does not die from the bite. The original curse of serpents has been cursed and the victims who recognize it are healed.

“Then they journeyed… and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. (Numbers 21:4-6)

Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. (Numbers 21:7)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:8-9)

We must see Jesus on the cross the same way Moses had the Israelites look at the image of the serpent on the cross.

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14-15)

The law of sin and death is a curse on us. We are born as sinners and will eventually suffer death because of it. No amount of our own sacrifice can fully redeem us of our sin. Our sin has earned us the wages of suffering and death.

“But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. … (Deuteronomy 28:15-68)

By sending His son to “become” sin “cursed” on a tree, God created a situation where the curse of the law of sin and death was now cursed.

“For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3)

Jesus body was tortured and became the image of sin

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Jesus tortured body became the image of sin, the consequences of sin. His body as the image of Sin was hung on the cross, Sin was then cursed by God

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” )” (Galatians 3:13)

Jesus allowed his body to become beaten and crucified to become the image of sin “hung on a pole”. Be became like the bronze serpent, the image of Sin cursed by God”…We are set free from the curse of sin and death. When we see that the curse has been cursed, we no longer suffer under the curse and are healed.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

Hope this helps. Happy to discuss. Leave a comment if you are moved to do so.

Hearing the Word of God in your Heart is the Key to Unlocking Your Potential

Summary:

What is the Bible?

So what are we trying to do?

HOW:

How can I keep scripture in front of my eyes?

How can I incline my ears?

How can I hold His Word in my heart?

Your Mission Here Is To Become God’s Love In Action

Summary

Wait, I’m not ready to deny myself and submit to Him

Supporting Scripture

Supporting Resources

How Are You Filling The God Shaped Hole In Your Soul?

Have you discovered the “God shaped hole” in your sole?

How do you choose to fill the God Shaped Hole?

Supporitng Scripture

Do you “knock on wood” to avoid bad luck? You are digging a hole for yourself.

Beware if you ever “knock on wood” to prevent bad luck, You are digging a hole for yourself!!!

So what should I do rather than knock on wood?

Supporting scriptures:

“What” you say and do really matters; You are an ambassador for God.

What you choose to say and do really does matter.

Why Should You Believe The Bible? Is It Fact or Fiction?

Archeological Evidence for Bible Places, People, and Activities

Israelites / Worshipers of God YEWEH / Wandering in the dessert

Unified Period – Tabernacle

Sin and Judgement for Sin

Jericho established, Destruction by Joshua approx 1400BC

Omri and Ahab were Kings of Israel, Moabites and Hittites were real people, Shiloh was a real place

King David

City of David

Temple Mount

Assyrian Conquest of Israel, Refugees from 10 tribes flee to Judah

Babylonian Conquest of Judah, Exile in Babylon

Cyrus defeat of Babylon, Decendants return to Jeruselum, Babylon never reinhabited

Roman Occupation

Jesus Birth in Bethlehem

Jesus Life / Death

Christians were persecuted from the beginning

Prophesies fulfilled

Launch of “My God In Motion” YouTube channel

Change the pictures in your mind, You will change your life!

The pictures in your mind are powerful.

Your current pictures:

Piece by piece

Who God is

Who you are / Your identify

Your purpose

Knowing God / Your relationship

I am Led by the flesh and my reasoning VS I am Led by the Holy Spirit

Your authority

Scriptures to help you draw improved pictures:

Your identity:

Knowing God / Your Relationship:

Your purpose:

Your authority:

Conclusion:

Do you understand the Gospel? How do you know?

How to Intercede for Someone

Some considerations:

Sample Prayer:

Good Morning Jesus, It’s great to be alive!

Every day is important, It is a gift and an opportunity to do great things. Don’t waste a minute of it.

How do you start your day? Do you have a way to ensure it will be the best day possible?

The bible offers clear instructions on how to start your day:

Start your day of by connecting to God, drawing near to God, in prayer

Your morning prayer should praise Him and be thankful.

What should you be thankful for? You can be thankful for the three essential elements of the universal spiritual process that drives the universe:

You can be thankful for

The psalms do a nice job setting expectations

So What Might This Look Like?

Here are 20 statements you can use to enter into His gates and give thanks. Say them out loud with conviction every morning and watch how it changes your day.

Good morning Jesus, It is great to be alive with you living inside me. I will sow seeds for your kingdom as I go though this day.

Thank you for creating this wonderful place to live; Your handiwork is evident all around me.

Thank you for loving me; You formed me, You gave me gifts and tallents, and You have great plans for me.

Thank you for loving me so much you suffered and died for me on the cross. You died so I could live a better life through you.

Thank you for never giving up on me no matter how far I have strayed; Your love is unconditional and unchanging.

Thank you for working all thing in my favor; I can’t imagine how bad things would be if you were not helping me.

Thank you for forgiving my sins; Your blood washes me clean. I no longer have condemnation or shame. I can focus on the future.