God Says, God Doesn’t Say

Verses:  Ecclesiastes 8:1-9

My thoughts about the verses:

Let’s play a common childhood game.  Simon Says is a game that many of us have played.  Rules are simple if Simon says (caller of the game) it then you complete the task.  If you do not complete the task then you have to leave the game.  The second rule is similar to the first if Simon doesn’t say it then you do not do it.   If you do complete the task then you have to leave the game.  The last person standing wins the game.   They become the next caller.

Now the leader who is calling tries their best to eliminate people.  They may say Simon says touch your nose but they touch their ear. Those that touch their ear instead of their nose are eliminated. Then they may say touch your nose without saying Simon says and touch their nose.  All those that touch their nose are eliminated.  The game goes until the last player stands.  Now it is their turn to call the game.

Now we are not going to play Simon Says we are going to look at what God Says and what God Doesn’t says.  The rules are simple if God says it then it is true.  So simply if God says it then no one can say it isn’t true.  The second rule is if God did not say it then it just isn’t true.  No matter how hard someone tries to convince you that it is true if God didn’t say it is not true. 

There will still be people that try to trick you into believing something that isn’t true.  Yet, what we need to remember is that God doesn’t trick us at all.  God is straightforward.  If something is true it is true.  If something isn’t true it isn’t true.  We need to remember that if someone is trying to trick us we need to listen to what God says.  Just like in the game of Simon Says it is what God says that is the truth.  Unlike Simon Says what God Says is not a game?  It is the truth of life about our relationship with God.

God says that we are created in God’s perfect image.  God doesn’t say this group or that group is less than perfect.  God says I love all my creation.  God doesn’t say that I don’t love this group of people.  God says that I will forgive all of your sins.  God doesn’t say that I will only forgive sins from this group or that group.  God says I will give you eternal life if you will believe in me.  God doesn’t say I will only give this group eternal life. God says that I am the one and only judge of us and the way we live our life.  God doesn’t say that others can judge us and determine if we are living a Godly life

We need to learn if we follow what God’s says we will have a happy life.  It is when we allow others to tell us what God says that we become unhappy.  We need to read the word and understand that God is there for all of us.  God doesn’t choose one group of people over another.  God doesn’t say that people who are different than what people consider the “norm” are loved less. 

We need to believe that God loves us.  We need to believe that God created us to be the people that we are.  We need to believe that Jesus died for our sins.  We need to believe if we ask God in our life we will receive the gift of everlasting life.  We need to believe that if people are telling us things that are different from what God says it is not true. 

We have to accept that God is the one and only judge and God want us to be happy.  It is because of this desire that we need to trust God.  We need to understand that God wants us to be in a relationship with us.  It is now up to us to believe what God has said.  It is now up to us to not listen to the naysayers.  God wants us to accept the love that is freely given.

Prayer:

We praise you God for all of your love.  We thank you for your gift of eternal life.  We thank you for accepting us the way we are.  We ask now that you help us accept what you have told us.  Help us not listen to those that would turn us away from you.  In the name of the Holy One we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Are you listening to what God has said to you?  Are you worrying about what the naysayers are saying about you?  Are you willing to accept that God created you and loves you?  Are you ready today to accept God into your life?  Are you ready to receive the gift of salvation?

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God Made Us, Yet We Stray Away From Our Creator

Verses:  Ecclesiastes 7:15-29

My thoughts about the verses:

Each and Every one of us is made in the perfect image of God.  It doesn’t matter what race you are God made you to be perfect.  It doesn’t matter what sex you are God made you to be perfect.  It doesn’t matter what abilities you have God made you to be perfect.  It doesn’t matter your sexual orientation God made you be perfect.

We are all made to be perfect.  It is not who we are that makes us stray away from God.  God does not make mistakes.  Therefor without a doubt each one of us is made in the perfect image of God.

There are many people that try to change who they are so that they can have a relationship with God.  We do not have to change who we were created to be.   God loves us just the way we are.  It is not what God created that causes our separation from God.

We stray from God by our actions.  We all commit sins each and every day.  It is those sins that cause us to stray from God.  We make foolish choices every day and those choses are what separate us from God.

We have to look at our lives and what choices we make.  Are we choosing wisely or are we choosing foolishly?  It is our actions that we need to look at.  If we do not want to stray from God we must choose to live wisely.  Yet, we all need to realize that we all will make foolish choices.

People who ask Jesus into their heart are saved.  Their sins from the past will be forgiven.  The fact is that Christians commit sins. The sins that we do commit after we accept Jesus as our Savior are also forgiven.  Therefor being a Christian means that you are a sinner that has been forgiven of your sins.  It does not mean that your actions will be perfect.  It doesn’t mean that you will never do anything foolish again.   What it does mean is that when you do make foolish mistakes you will not stray away from God.

People are under the misconception that there are also different degrees of sin.  People think that if they do not do big sins that they are making wise decisions.  We need to learn that there are no differences.  Sin is sin and you need God to overcome the consequences of sin. 

When you do not have God in your life you are not forgiven of the sins that you do.  You stray from God each time that you commit a sin.  Your actions have led you down a path that takes you further and further from God.  You can come back down the path if you realize you need God.  You have the option to be forgiven yet that choice is up to each and every individual to make.

We all need Jesus in our lives.  When we accept that we need Jesus our life changes.  We realize that we have hope.  You come to the point in your life that you have a guide that helps you make wise choices.  You realize that when you make foolish decisions that you need to ask God to forgive you. 

We need to understand that the acceptance of the gift of salvation allows you to be a role model for others.  As you grow closer to Christ you will become more Christ like.  People will see you for the good that you do.  Even when you fall short you know that Christ will be there helping you.  We can all come back to the fold of God if we ask Jesus into our life.

Prayer:

We thank you God for your love.  We offer our praise up to you for your salvation.  We ask you to come into our lives.  Help us walk closer to you.  Help us always to remember that you created us to be who we are.  Help us make wise choices.  In the name of the Risen Savior we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you asked God into your life?  Do you accept that God created you in God’s perfect image?  Are you willing to turn over your entire life to God?  Are you willing to make the wisest choice that you can ever make?

The Cornerstone of a Worthwhile Life

Verses:  Ecclesiastes 7:1-14

My thoughts about the verses:

There are times in our life when we make foolish choices.  Choices that we wish we could go back and change.  We make choices that affect our life forever.  Choices we know affected us in ways that brought negative consequences in our life.

This is truer for people that have committed crimes.  Their choices may have been something that they made in a quick moment of passion.  Their choices may have been caused by drugs or alcohol.  Their choices may have been something that they had thought about for a long time and decided to act on them.

The sad part is that their actions affect other people.  It affects people that did not make bad choices.  People who were living their life and then all of a sudden it changed because the action of someone else.  There are times that the people are never able to recover because of the other person’s choices.

I want to share one of those moments with you.  This change happened because someone decided to take and drive drunk.  He was not thinking about consequences when he decided to drive after drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.  The night of the accident my parents and brother were out working.  They were finishing the job for the night so that we could leave the next day and go with the rest of my family on vacation.

They had stopped at a stop light.  When all of a sudden they were hit full force from the rear end.  A large metal tool box that was in the truck that my mom was driving came through the back window shattering it.  It struck my mom on the head and caused her to have a concussion and end up with a benign tumor on her brain.  The impact of the crash caused my dad to be shaken so bad that it damaged his hip.  My brother had glass go down his back.  They all suffered from whiplash and went into shock.

The man didn’t even realize that he had hit another car.  He had passed out and was not injured at all.  When he came to he got out of his car to see why it would not go forward.  That is when he saw that he had hit the vehicle that had been knocked 300 yards from impact.  He tried to run away but through their pain my family was able to keep him at the location.

It took almost an entire hour before the police and ambulances arrived.  The man was arrested and got to jail before my family got to the hospital.  The ironic thing is that the man was released from jail that morning while my family was still at the hospital being checked for their injuries. 

His actions that night led to my mother and father being permanently disabled.  My dad had to have a hip replacement.  My Mother’s back, neck and head were all injured which finally led to her being dependent on a wheelchair.  They didn’t make the choice to get hurt.  Instead they were the victim of someone else’s choice.

We need to realize that we can make wise choices that will not only affect our life but others.  We can also make foolish choices that can affect others forever.  We have to make sure that we choose the right things as we go through life.  We have to focus on doing things that will help ourselves and others.  We need to weigh the options and choose what will turn out good for ourselves.  We also need to make sure that our choices do not negatively affect others.

There is one choice that we have to really need to look at.  We can make the choice to serve God or to walk away from God.  We can choose to ask Jesus in our life or deny Jesus access to our life.  We can choose the wise choice or we can choose to be foolish.  Our choice in this action will affect us more than any other choice we make in life. 

Imagine the repercussions that come from not choosing to allow Jesus in your life.  When you do not choose Jesus you will not have the free gift of salvation.  Your choice will keep you from receiving eternal life.  You will not have a friend that will be with you through all things.  You will not have the strength of Holy Spirit who will carry the majority of the weight that you struggle with.

We have all kinds of choices that we make in our life.  We make choices that are wise and lead us away from temptation.  We make choices that put us right in the middle of our worse temptations.  We make choices that will lead to everlasting life.  We need to decide today what kind of life we really want to live. 

Prayer:

We thank you God for your love.  We thank you Jesus for your gift of salvation.  We thank you Holy Spirit for helping us here on Earth.  We ask now that you help us make the right choices.  Help us make decision that will not lead to negative repercussions for ourselves or others.  In the name of the Almighty we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you given your life over to God?  Are you making wise choices in your life?  Have you made foolish choices that affecting you?  Have you made foolish choices that have negatively affected others?  Is today the day that you change the way you make choices?

Building Relationships We All Desire

Verses:  Ecclesiastes 6:1-12

My thoughts about the verses:

How many of us have found that we have worked our whole life and have not enjoyed what we have accomplished.  We discover that we have gained so many things yet we didn’t enjoy what we had.  Everything that we did gain was at a higher lost.  We have spent our life working so hard that there is no reward for us.  We thought we enjoyed it but we realize that we had worked so hard getting things that we never truly enjoyed it.

How many of us have a family and instead of enjoying being with them we work hard to get them things.  We try to make sure that they have the best of everything.  Yet, we miss giving the one thing that they need.  You miss giving yourself the one thing that you need.  What is that one thing?  What we miss is forming a relationship with our loved ones.  It is like we are buying them even though all we want is for them to have the things that we think they need and want. 

I am reminded of the movie “The Toy.”  It is a story of a young boy who has a very wealthy father.  The young boy can have everything that money can buy.  On a shopping trip he buys his dream “Toy.”  He chooses a man that he can spend time with.  We come to realize that he does this because his father is so busy making money and working that he doesn’t have time for his son.

Imagine how sad it would be to feel that you would have to literally buy someone to fill your need for a relationship.  How many children feel that same way?  We have to realize that it isn’t the things that we have that will last.  People do not remember us for what we give them.  People remember us for what we do with them.

Think back to your own childhood.  What positive memories do you have?  Do you remember that time that you had help with a school project?  How about the time you went of town on an unexpected trip?  How about the time that your parents through you a party that your friends still talk about?  I know I remember all these times and more.  I can’t remember all the things that my parents bought me.  What I do remember are the trips, the parties, the time we spent together. 

This is what the writer is trying to explain to us.  If you do not enjoy life you are living a life full of vain.  Just think about this a moment.  Do you work so hard getting the best of everything that you don’t enjoy life?  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could take that extra day off and just enjoy being with your family and friends?  We need to evaluate our life and see what kind of legacy we are leaving behind.

Are we teaching our young that they have to make sure the next generation has everything or are we teaching them to build relationships?  We need to look at our life and see if we truly love what we are doing.  Are we building lasting relationships?  We need to learn to enjoy what we have.  We need to build lasting memories for those that we surround our life with.

This goes one step further that the relationships that we create with our friends and family.  We need to build a relationship with our God.  We need to realize that our God loves us and wants to be our best friend.  We will never have anyone in our life that will be closer to us if we allow Jesus to be our friend. 

Yet, how many of us are so busy trying to be perfect that we do not build our relationship with God.    We get it in our heads that we have to do good things to have a relationship with God.  We think that we have to work to gain the right to have a relationship with God.

The truth is that all God wants is us to trust in the Most High.  We only have to ask Jesus in our heart to have a friend for life.  We don’t have to work to get the right to have a relationship with the Savior.  We don’t have to be perfect to have the gift of the perfect relationship with God. 

Those that have Jesus in their life will find joy in their life.  Even when they are going through hard times they will have the comfort of God.  When you have Jesus in your life your other relationships change.  You learn that you don’t have to buy love.  Instead all you have to do is show love.  When you show love to others you will find that you will receive love back.  You will also find that you will have better relationship with your family and friends.  Having God in your life is the only thing that you will take with you when you past away. 

Therefor the one thing that we need to do is to ask God in our life.  We also need to remember that the only thing that people remember when we live this world is the relationship that we had with them.  It is important now to start working on those relationships so that you can leave behind a true legacy.

Prayer:

We praise you God for you love.  We thank you God for being our best friend.  Help us build loving relationships with our friends and family.  Help us accept your free gift of love.  In the name of the True Friend of Love we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you built a relationship with God?  Have you created memories for your love ones to remember you when you are gone?  Are you enjoying life?  Is today the day that you ask Jesus in your life?  Is today the day that you stop trying to get the best of everything and begin building lasting relationships and memories?

No Matter What Possessions You Gain On Earth, You Will Not Have Them After You Die

Verses:  Ecclesiastes 5:8-20

My thoughts about the verses:

We come into this world with nothing.  It doesn’t matter if you are born into a rich family or a poor family.  The moment that you are born you own nothing.  You come into this world with nothing. 

Most people spend the rest of their life trying to get things.  They work hard to get the newest electronic gadgets.  They buy the biggest houses that they can afford.  They work to buy expensive cards.  They attempt to get the finest things money can buy. 

Yet, when you work to get things you are always looking to get more.  Nothing we get ever seems to be good enough.  You are constantly trying to get more and more.  People spend their whole life trying to get things that are better than everyone else.

Yet, what do you get when you spend your whole life trying to obtain things?  It is very easy to get caught in this constant trap.  Your entire life becomes like a merry-go round.   Life becomes a constant circle that never ends.  Once you get the newest thing there is always something else on the market.  You can never own everything that you want, because there is always something more to get.

Eventually you find out that it wasn’t worth it.  Some people are lucky and they get off the Merry-Go round when they are young.  Others do not find out until their older that they wasted their energy trying to get all they could.  Others find out when they lose everything that they didn’t need the things that they had.  Others do not find out until they are dying that what they needed wasn’t possessions.

See what we need in life isn’t the material things that we can get.  Those things pass away.  We find that what we really needed in life was love.  The things that are most important to have are not able to be bought.  

The thing that we need more in life is something that we cannot get on our own.  The most important thing is a gift that is more important than any other gift we can receive.  The gift comes directly from God.  The gift that we can have comes with no strings attached.  We are not expected to do anything in return.

Jesus went to the cross so that we could all freely receive the gift of eternal life.  The only thing that we have to do is ask Jesus to come in our life.  When we ask Jesus in our life we are forgiven of all our sins.  When we ask Jesus to come in and take away our sins we are guaranteed the gift of everlasting life.  We experience something that no one can give us.  We receive the gift of unconditional love. 

We will not be able to take anything with us.  The things that we worked so hard to get will be left here.  We will return to the grave like we came into the world.  There is an exception to this statement.  Anyone that has asked Jesus into their life will go to the next world with the gift of eternal life.  Those that do not ask Jesus in their life will leave this world with nothing.  This is the only truth that we are guaranteed. 

Prayer:

We praise God for you unconditional love.  We praise you for loving us when we did not deserve it.  We praise you for giving us the gift of eternal life.  Help us open our hearts up to you.  We ask that you forgive us from our sins.  In the name of the Risen Savior we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you accepted the gift of eternal life?  Have you asked Jesus into your life? What do you need to do today? 

God Sees All Things Here on Earth

Verses:  Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

My thoughts about the verses:

Think back to the time you were a child.  Your guardian seemed to know everything that you did.  They knew things that you were hiding from them.  You couldn’t figure out how they knew your secrets.  You made sure that those that you were with wouldn’t tell.  You made sure that you kept it as quiet as possible.  Yet somehow they knew.

 Once I got older I like so many realized that they knew it because the way we acted.  When you are keeping a secret from someone you act differently.  You are very careful with what you say.  Often times we cover up our secrets with lies.  You keep lying to cover up what you don’t want others to know.  Until eventually you forget what you told.  They are able to tell you’re lying and the only way to gain their trust again is to tell the truth.

God knows our secrets.  God doesn’t have to guess what we are doing.  God see what we do on Earth.  God knows what is in our hearts.  God is present in our day to day life.  We may think we can get by with things.  Yet, the truth is you cannot keep things away from God.

Knowing that God sees, hears and knows our inner thoughts what do we do?  We have to remember that we have to watch what we do.  We have to remember that we cannot hide anything from God.  We need to make sure that we must not do anything that we do not want God to know.  My mom used to tell me that if I didn’t want God to know something that I did I shouldn’t do it.  We need to keep that in mind. 

We have to remember that we cannot lie to God.  We can’t even hide our thoughts.  We have to learn to control what we say, think and do.  We have to learn to be a wise person.  If we do not want God to know then just don’t do it.  Live your life knowing that God knows all things.  You will soon find that your life has changed.  Every time you go to do something you will remember that the presence of God is right there in our life. 

We have to stay focused and not let our actions come between us and God.  A wise man will know what to do to keep on the straight and narrow.  On the other hand a foolish man will let their actions speak before they think if what their saying, doing or thinking builds or breaks down our relationship with God.

Prayer:

We praise you God for the love you share with us.  We thank you God for walking with us and guiding us.  Thank you for loving us even when we do not deserve it.  Help us remember that you know all that we do.  Help us live with that knowledge everyday of our life.  Help us be like the wise man who watches what we do.  In the name of the Holy One we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Are you living like the foolish man or the wise man?  Have you accepted God?  Do you understand that God knows all you do?   Is there something that you are doing that you do not want God to Know?  Do you need to give it up what we are trying to hide from God?

We all Need Friends

Verses:  Ecclesiastes 4:9-16

My thoughts about the verses:

We all need Friends.  A true friend will lift you up when your world is turned upside down.  A true friend is there in the bad times helping you through it.  A true friend celebrates with you when you are having good moments in your life.  A true friend is one that is there when all others fade away.

I can tell you right now that consider me very lucky.  I have had several friends that I call friends for life.   We might not see each other or talk daily but they are there for me and I am there for them.  Our relationship is as strong as in blood relationship.  In fact, for me some of my friends are closer than people that call me family.  They were there when I came out of the closet.  They have been there when I got sick.  They keep me going when I just want to give up. 

In fact, it was one of my friends, my second brother that led me to doing this blog.  He taught me that I am not dead.  I can’t do what I use to do.  There are days that all I can do is sleep.  There are days that I can’t eat.  I can never drive.  Yet, he hasn’t let me give up and die.  He makes sure that I still have a life.  I don’t know what I would do without him.

Yet, at the same time I am his second sister.  I would do anything for him.  I worry about him and pray often.  I am there when he is having great days.  I am also there when he hurts and needs a kind word.  We have learned that together we are better than one.

He is not the only friend I have.  The closet friend that I have is not a person that I can reach out to and talk to.  It isn’t a friend that I can get on the phone or Facebook and talk to day and night.  My closest friend lives within my heart and is always lifting me up.  He carries the majority of my burden.  My cross that I carry will never be larger than the cross that he carried. 

The best thing of about my friend is that anyone can claim him as their best friend.  You guessed it my best friend is Jesus.  Imagine laying down your life for your friend.  We all hope that we would do it.  Yet, Jesus did it without reservation.  He carried the cross as far as his body would allow.  He endured the nails that pierced his hands and feet.  He endured the pain of hanging from a cross and feeling his arms being pulled carrying all his weight. 

He then asks God to forgive them because they do not know what they do.  I think that we are included in the them that he asked forgiveness for.  Jesus died so that we may have eternal life.  No matter how many friends that you have on this Earth you will never have a closer friend than Jesus.  Jesus Never Walks Away From Us.  When we are at our lowest moments Jesus is helping us.  When we’re in the best situations of our life Jesus is celebrating.  We never have to worry about being alone as long as we have Jesus as our friend.

You may be asking how I make Jesus to be my friend.  I think that we learn this from the second part of these verses.  We have to ask Jesus to come into your life.  You can’t think that you can do it all by yourself.  You have to accept that you need help.  You can’t walk through the life pompous thinking that you don’t need anyone in your life.  Yet, you need to understand that you need God.  You can’t go through life without Jesus in your life.  It doesn’t matter how many other friends you have.  It doesn’t matter how much money you have or how much power you have.  Without Jesus you have nothing.  The things that you have in this world will eventually disappear.  You have to ask Jesus in your life.  Without Jesus you have to carry all of your burdens yourself.  You also are not blessed with the gift of everlasting life.  That gift is something that we all need. 

Prayer:

Dear Jesus we bless you for being the ultimate friend.  We thank you for your sacrifice so that we may have eternal life.  We offer our life up to you.  Help us become the people that you need us to be.  Help dear Savior ask you into our life.  In the name of the Savior we pray.  Amen

Questions:

Have you asked Jesus into your life?  Are you walking with the best friend anyone can ever have?  Do you need to ask Jesus into your life today?