What will the end be like?

You already know.

The last day, the final day, will involve exactly what today involves.

The decision you are making right now, if unchanged, will be the decision you make on the last day, your last day, in the end, in your end.

What decision?

Do you accept or reject God as God, as your God, as The God?

The end will be like the focus of your first consciously chosen thought for the day, and the last consciously chosen thought before you sleep:  What am I living for, and what am I willing to die for?

Now to die for something may not be as dramatic as martyrdom.  It simply means that you are willing to give up everything to get the thing that you want more than anything.  You do it already.  What do you spend most of your time doing?  Why do you work, even when you don't feel like going to work?  Or what do you persistently do or refuse to do no matter the consequences to you or others?

Whatever it is that you can't and won't give up, you won't give it up in the end, just as you don't give it up when each day ends.

The only difference will be this:  Your decision for that day, the last day, in the end, will be final.

How do I know God is with me?

I can think of nothing better than the presence of God.  If He is with me and in me, then I never lack anything or anyone.  Ever.  But how do I know God is with me? 


By believing the attribute of God's omnipresence, and applying that attribute to my life, I have no choice but to acknowledge God's presence in the room with me right now.  I define omnipresence in two ways:


1.  God is everywhere at once.
2.  God is everywhere that He wants to be.


The second definition is critical to God's divine liberty and sovereignty.  Often times Christians and theologians make God a slave to His attributes.  Because He is everywhere at once, He must be everywhere at once, whether He wants to be or not.  This means God is even in hell in a way that causes Him the conscious experience of those who reject Him, whether He wants this conscious experience or not. But God is free.  He is everywhere at once, and He is also everywhere He wants to be, as well as no where that He doesn't want to be.  I will show these two applications of God's omnipresence in my personal life:  that God is in the room with me, and that He wants to be in the room with me. 



God is Spirit-- everywhere, unlimited by time and space.
Everywhere includes where I am right now.
Therefore, God is where I am right now.


But more than this, those who consciously acknowledge God's omnipresence are consciously aware that He is where they are.
I am one who consciously acknowledges God's omnipresence.
Therefore, I am consciously aware that God is where I am.


In other words, because God is aware of me, and I am aware of His awareness of me, I am aware that He wants me to be aware of Him.  How could I be aware of His awareness if God Himself didn't want me to be aware of Him?  Because God is everywhere, wherever He wants to be, and because God cannot be where He chooses not to be, if I am aware of Him, He wants me to be aware of Him.


And the same is true for you, if you want it to be.

Is God better than sex?

If you had a choice between one day with Jesus and one day with the man or woman of your sexual dreams, whom would you choose?


Of course, the logical, theological answer would and should be Jesus.  But is that how you really feel? 


It's easy to see the beauty and attraction of a gorgeous woman or handsome man.  The desire he or she arouses is tangible.  But what about God?  Even He said it wasn't good for the first man to be alone. Is there a pleasure men and women bring each other that even God can't bring?


It is written,
"In Your Presence, there is fullness of joy.  At Your right hand are pleasures evermore."


Complete Joy.
Eternal Pleasure.


Can any man or woman make and keep that promise?
That's what the adulterer and the adulteress suggest. 
The adulteress says, "In MY body there is fullness of joy, under the authority of my sexuality there are pleasures ever more."
But can she make good on her promise?


It is also written,
"Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart."


But will He?  And when He does, will it be better than sex?


Ask the Seraphim, the fiery angels before God's throne in the book of Revelation.


They never stop bowing, worshipping, and praising God, crying "Holy, Holy, Holy, LORD God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. The whole earth is filled with Your Glory."


From the beginning of time, the Seraphim have been ceaselessly worshipping God.


Think of the most sexually attractive man or woman you can imagine.  Do you believe he or she would be so arousing that you would bow down and ceaselessly worship him or her?  All the Seraphim are doing is SEEING God.  Just the sight of Him inspires constant worship.  We aren't talking about actual contact with God. They aren't touching Him.  They are simply seeing Him as He is.  They never stop worshipping.


No man or woman, no matter how arousing, inspires this kind of worship.


God is infinitely better than sex.

God, Satan, and You

You have encountered God. 
You have also encountered Satan.


When you submit to God's will, and you find a powerful will opposing you, you are encountering Satan.


When you resist the will of God, and you find a powerful will helping you, you are encountering Satan.


When you resist the will of Satan, and you find an All Powerful Will helping you, you are encountering God.


When you submit to the will of Satan, and you find an All Powerful Will opposing you, you are encountering God.


You know how all of this feels.
You know that it feels personal when you are trying your best to do good and all hell breaks loose.
You know that it feels personal when you're hell bent on being selfish and all heaven breaks loose.


You choose sides everyday, as C.S. Lewis said,

There is no neutral ground in the universe. 

Every square inch

and every split second

is claimed by God

and counter claimed by Satan.

What is God's will for you? (Part 2)

Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.
1 Corinthians 7:20 NIV


What if you're out of God's will?  It depends on how this happened.  If you're in out right rebellion, you should confess your sin, ask forgiveness, and repent.  Start over.


If you are in reckless rebellion, meaning you simply didn't care whether you were following God's Spirit or not, do the same.  Confess.  Ask forgiveness. Repent.


If you thought you were doing God's will, but found that you weren't, seek God's wisdom where you are, and do God's will where you are right now.  For example, say you took a job that you now know isn't God's will for you.  What do you do?  If the job involves sinning or breaking the law, you should quit as soon as you finish reading this blog, no matter the consequences.  If it's illegal, it's not God's will.  (Unless where you live there is a law against preaching the gospel or following Jesus.  Then you must respectfully disobey any and every command that goes against what God commands.)


If your job is not illegal or immoral, but you know it's not ultimately God's will for you, pray for a way out, and until God makes a way out, stay where you are.  Remember, God's will isn't "out there."  It's in God Himself, and all you have to do is agree to do whatever He wants, wherever you are.  You don't have to leave your job (unless it's illegal or immoral.)  God is where you are right now.  Agree to follow His Spirit right there, and you will know and do God's will for you.


Simply agree to do whatever God wants you to do right now, where you are. 
This is God's will for you.
Jesus is Lord.
Amen.

What is God's will for you? (Part 1)

The will of God isn't a mystery.  It isn't out there in a mystical cloud waiting to be deciphered like a puzzle with a million pieces.  Is your will a mystery?  It is to me at this moment because I don't know what you want to do.  But the fact that you have a will isn't a mystery.  You have the ability to choose or refuse.  So does God.  His will is simply what He wants or doesn't want at any given moment.  It isn't a mystery in the sense of being an enigma, but it is a mystery in the same way your will is a mystery, as the Apostle Paul said,


"No one knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man in him.  In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God."


I can't know your will, or God's for that matter, unless you or God choose to reveal it.  But again, this isn't mysterious.  It's the way things work in a relationship, as the Prophet Amos said,


"How can two walk together unless they agree?"


Agreements happen when two wills unite. For example, if you and I decide to take a walk together, I can "submit" to your will, or you could "submit" to mine, or we both could already agree on where we wanted to go. In other words, I could say, "I'll go wherever you want to go.  It's up to you." Or you could say the same with me.


The same is true with God.


What is God's will for you? 
It's for you to agree unconditionally to go wherever He wants to go. 

A message from God to you

To the one reading:

I ask God to reveal Himself to you through my words.

Receive His revelation, and the answer to this prayer.

"You are made to know and be like Me," says the Lord.

"You have no other purpose or reason to live,

and your life means nothing without pursuing My Presence. 

I am The One who through your conscience approves or disapproves what you say and what you do.  Listen to Me.  Listen to your conscience.  I am with you."

This is a message from God to you, whoever you are.  Wherever you are.

Jesus is Lord.