People sometimes ask, “Do you think God would hear the prayer of some wicked person who called upon Him even in the very last moments of his life–if that person had done horrible things? Would God pardon a person like that?” Absolutely He would.
Sometimes we have loved ones who died and never made a profession of faith. And we may conclude they did not go to heaven. But we don’t know that. Were you with these loved ones in the last moments of their lives? Were you there when they took their last breath? How do you know that he or she did not call on Jesus?
Here is what you do know. God loved them and wanted them to be saved. As 1 Timothy 2:4 says, God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
When Judas arrived in the Garden of Gethsemane to betray Jesus, Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” (Matthew 26:50). Jesus was giving Judas one last chance to repent. And I believe that if Judas had stopped right there and said, “Lord, I messed up. I don’t know what I was thinking. Forgive me,” then Jesus would have pardoned him. Why? Because God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!” (Ezekiel 33:11). Jesus loved Judas to the very end. He was His friend. But His friend betrayed Him, and this broke His heart.
I don’t want to give false assurance and suggest that everyone is in heaven, because they are not. But I am saying that if they called on the Lord in the last moments of their lives, He pardoned and forgave them.
Summary sentence: If you call on the Lord, even in the last moment of your life, He hears you!
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4 KJVA)
The Bible is very clear that no one can keep God’s law perfectly. Ever since Adam and Even sinned in the Garden of Eden, people have been unable to obey God and keep all of his commandments. That is why keeping the Law is not the way to salvation. Instead, God sent his Son to earth to be a sacrifice for sins. Jesus paid the price for our sins, and we are saved by grace not by our good works.
Paul explained that when we are baptized, we are united with Christ and share in his death and resurrection. For us to share in Christ’s death means that our old sinful natures die away. To share in his resurrection means that our new identity comes to life. This new identity is one that tries, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to live a life that pleases God. And we don’t want to take this gift of forgiveness lightly or for granted. We need to continue to strive to rid our lives of sin in thankfulness and service to God.
—“—“—“—
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:1-23 NIV)
If our mission from Christ is to “seek first the kingdom of God,” how can a successful, God-honoring marriage not be marked by mission? We’re not told to seek first an intimate marriage, a happy life, obedient children, or anything else. Jesus tells us to seek first one thing, and one thing only: His kingdom and His righteousness (the two words define and build on each other, creating one common pursuit). A successful marriage is not only supported by a kingdom pursuit, but in many ways the pursuit is a prerequisite for post-infatuation intimacy.
Life without this aim, and marriage without this purpose, is going to lose a lot of its luster. “We hunger for this today: cooperating together, meshing, working like a mountain climbing team, ascending the peak of our dream, and then holding each other at the end of the day. God has planted this hunger deep within every married couple. It’s more than a hunger for companionship. It’s more than a hunger to create new life. It’s a third hunger, a hunger to do something significant together. According to God’s Word, we were joined to make a difference. We were married for a mission.”
Being “married for a mission” can revitalize a lot of marriages in which the partners think they suffer from a lack of compatibility; my suspicion is that many of these couples actually suffer from a lack of purpose. Jesus’s words given to individuals in Matthew 6:33 are perhaps even truer in marriage. When we give away our life, we find it. When we focus outside our marriage, we end up strengthening our marriage.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6: 19-21
* Is your marriage one with mission? How can you and your spouse more fully live a life of mission as a couple?
* Ref: The Bible & Breath Spiritual Passion into your Marriage
If your marriage and family feel like a joke or as if they’re bordering on chaos, it’s not anything that God hasn’t seen or isn’t capable of redeeming. So much of Christian teaching today is about us developing “our” gifts, improving “our” talents, reaching “our” potential, yet so much of Jesus’s teaching and modeling is about surrendering to the work of the Holy Spirit. Let’s allow marriage to teach us to trust this Holy Spirit. He’s proven Himself. If we truly want to transform our marriages, we must learn the glory of divine dependence.
God will never call us to do something without giving us everything that is necessary in order for us to finish the task. It may not be all that we think we need, but it will be all that we do need. This is not to say the job will feel easy. But God promises through Isaiah, “He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power” (Isa. 40:29 NASB).
Don’t pass over this thought, because it’s crucial: Isaiah 40:29 assumes that God will call us to various tasks for which we lack enough power on our own.
The “secret,” then, to a truly sacred marriage is actually a person, God’s promised Holy Spirit. Because God is such a relational God (meeting our need for salvation by sending His Son), it shouldn’t surprise us that He meets our need for transformation by also sending Himself in the person of His Holy Spirit.
Since marriage is one of the most profound acts of worship any two believers can ever share, it is impossible to be married in a sacred manner without the Holy Spirit being active in our lives, helping us to understand what it means to love, giving us the power to love, convicting us when we fail to love, renewing our hearts when we grow weary in love, and pouring out hope when we grow discouraged in love.
The Lord gives strength
to those who are weary. Isaiah 40:29
But the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.” Acts 1:8
* Do you lean on the Holy Spirit to strengthen you and your marriage? What is a specific situation where you lacked ability, but were strengthened by the Holy Spirit?
____The Bible & Breathe Spiritual Passion into Your Marriage.
Suicide among young people is on the rise. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide is now the third leading cause of death for youth between ages 10 and 24. Some states even report it as the leading cause of death in this age group. “It results in approximately 4,600 lives lost each year. The top three methods used in suicides of young people include firearm (45%), suffocation (40%), and poisoning (8%). ” Deaths resulting from suicide are only part of the problem. The CDC states, “More young people survive suicide attempts than actually die. A nationwide survey of youth in grades 9–12 in public and private schools in the United States found that 16 percent of students reported seriously considering suicide, 13 percent reported creating a plan, and 8 percent reported trying to take their own life in the 12 months preceding the survey.”
It’s obvious that suicide is becoming a serious problem with our youth.
The telltale signs
There are usually warning signsthat let you know when your teen is struggling emotionally — the kinds of struggles that lead to suicidal thoughts.
Depression. This is not simply a child having a bad day and feeling down. All children have those from time to time. This is about a child feeling depressed day after day — a feeling of hopelessness. You can’t seem to cheer him or her up.
Other suicides. When a fellow student commits suicide, it puts the thought into the minds of others.
Too much stress. Kids are under a lot of pressure in school and far too many pressures at home.
Involved in drug and alcohol abuse. When these abusive behaviors are present, likelihood of suicide increases.
Bullied at school or on social media. We hear continually about bullied kids being so hurt and ashamed that they finally can’t deal with the hurt anymore.
When these factors are involved, it doesn’t mean your child will commit suicide. It just means you need to pay attention, improve your relationship with your child or consider getting some professional help.
What parents can do
These reports are daunting, and parents may wonder what is to be done to stem this tide. No parent wants his child to die — and most certainly not by suicide. Here’s the good news. There are specific ways parents play a vital role in helping prevent their children from committing or attempting suicide. The following are the most powerful things a parent can do.
Create a strong family environment
This is done several different ways:
Eat meals together as a family at least five times a week. This creates a safe place where family members can talk about what’s going on in their lives, laugh and share their concerns.
Play together. Do fun things. Board games, ball games, bowling, picnics, camping — anything fun and wholesome that brings the family together.
Visit relatives. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins bring a great deal of support and love into a child’s life. Make this happen for your family.
It’s reassuring to know that parents, siblings and loved ones care about you. This happens from continual association with each other in the home — in a congenial atmosphere. This doesn’t mean there won’t be arguing at times. That’s normal. It just means you keep the family activities going, regardless. Remember to tell your kids you love them. That matters. They need to hear it often.
Attend religious services
In a recent article, Greg Hudnall, a suicide prevention trainer, says of the youth, “[R]eligion helps them feel a connectedness, and that connectedness is very powerful.” This same article reports that “the students who reported high levels of religious participation — attending services one time per week or more — were half as likely to have contemplated suicide.”
Hudnall goes on to say, “One thing parents and religious communities can do is help youths deal with disappointment, psychological stress and failure.”
Keep a close eye on your child’s behavior and demeanor. To prevent suicidal thoughts, be diligent in involving your child in family activities and religious experiences. These two traditions have proven to be highly effective in curtailing suicide. If suicidal signs persist, seek professional help. It’s a fact that some suicides will happen even if parents do all they can to be there for their children. When this happens, parents who know they did what they could to save their children can, at least, find a measure of peace.
Together, Gary and Joy Lundberg author books on relationships. For more from the Lundbergs on improving communication, see “I Don’t Have to Make Everything All Better.”
Now this article called my attention. Not only because I’ve been suffering from the depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms and having a difficult time these past couple of years of my life more than others. But because I read in a group yesterday, on a board a mother crying out for help because her daughter is a cutter. The daughter just told her about it and she didn’t know what to do. Her husband didn’t understand and wanted to keep quiet about it just between them. (Normal .. Some people are embarrassed ) not something easy to deal with specially if your family is a family that a lot of people look at as a good, healthy family. For an example; My husband is a Pastor and I’m the messed up wife lol. Is how I see it (OOops Joke about it ). Am I embarrassed? I was at the beginning for a long time, but not anymore. and you might ask me. Why not anymore? Well, I’m the one that needs the help, and I’m the one that knows if I don’t get it, or look for the help now things can get worse and than what? Will being embarrassed help me than? So that’s what I did. Regardless of what people might think or will think of me or my family I’m getting the help I need. I don’t care what others think of me or my family. I’m doing this for us. Not for them. So I think it’s very important for You as parents to talk to your kids and be aware of whats going on with them and not just your kids but your spouse as well. Give them the help they need. Trust me as I say this. If your TEEN comes to you and tells you ” Mom or Dad I’m a cutter I need help.” They NEED help, and YOU will NOT be able to provide that HELP they are seeking unless you have the structure to do it all alone and most of us don’t. GET PROFESSIONAL HELP. If you could provide that help they wouldn’t be doing what they are doing in the first place. They would just come and talk to you and solve the problem. They cut to feel relieve, to release the pain, to feel alive. Depression is not something you can wake up one day and say ” Oh it’s all gone. ” Please use the helpful links and seek help.
But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let, not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:6-7
We need not exert ourselves and try to force ourselves to believe or try to chase doubt out of our hearts. Both are just as useless. It begins to dawn on us that we can bring everything to Jesus, no matter how difficult it is; and we need not be frightened away by our doubts or our weak faith, but only tell Jesus how weak our faith is. We have let Jesus into our hearts. And He will fulfill our hearts’ desires. ___ O. Hallesby
When we know that God wants our communication it encourages us to pray. But there is an element to prayer that God needs from us before our prayers can be answered and that’s our faith. When we come to God asking for something believing in Him that he can accomplish it having total faith in Him it pleases him. The word of God in John 14 also says that has seen Jesus has seen God because they are one. And whatever we ask in his name he will do so the father may be glorified in the son.
Paul writes in {Ephesians 3:12} in him and through faith in him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
{John 14:14} You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
As we do come in Jesus’ name, it is the same as though Jesus prayed. It is the same as though___let I be saying it very softly so it may seem very reverent __ as though Jesus put His arm in yours and took you up to the Father, and said, ” Father, here is a friend of mine; we’re on good terms. Please give him anything he asks, for my sake.” And the father would quickly bend over and graciously say, ” What’ll you have? You may have anything you ask when My Son asks for it.” __S.D. Gordon
Constant faith in God’s ways of answering prayers is essential.
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.But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. {James 1: 5-8}
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. {1 John: 13-15}
Believing what God says in His Word is faith. Faith is certainly a critical element of prayer. When you pray to God you have to lay it all down on his hands and forget about it, let him handle it from there, and have faith he is taking care of it for you. Don’t try to help God, Help you. Believe, have faith he will do the best for his child. His coming to this world, dying on the cross to save you was not for nothing.
Suppose one of your friends or relative called you and asked you to come over and care for something that was very dared to them but said, ” There will be a friend of ours here to be with you because I’m afraid you might take something.” What would you think? How would you respond? I believe in a way this is how God is trying to communicate when He says that we must have faith.
A Prayer for faith – David’s Prayer
” I love you, O Lord, my strength.” The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon you Lord, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies. {Psalm 18: 1-3}
May we have enough faith to be able to rest in peace and lay all our worries in God’s hands.
Material from the daily devotion book – Bible Study – and The Bible
” Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3
What if God does not demand prayer as much as gives prayer? What if God wants prayer in order to satisfy us? What if prayer is a means of God nourishing, restoring, healing, converting us? Suppose prayer is primarily allowing ourselves to be loved, addressed and claimed by God. What if praying means opening ourselves to the gift of God’s own self and presence? What if our part in prayer is primarily letting God be giver? Suppose prayer is not a duty but the opportunity to experience healing and transforming love? __ Martin Smith
The eternal, majestic God of the universe wants to be intimate with us! He wants us to call, to cry, to sing to Him. He longs to love, to refresh, to encourage us. He wants to answer our call and to tell us great and unsearchable thoughts. God wants us to know that He is always ready to commune; He is always ready to listen. He wants to be so much a part of our lives that we would naturally come to Him at all times. He tells us that we have to freedom to call to Him wherever we are, about anything on our hearts. He delights in being involved with His children, and prayer is His gift and His invitation to intimacy.
“Pray for a desire to respond to God’s call to intimacy. “
To pray is to let Jesus come into our hearts. This teaches us, in the first place, that it is not our prayer which moves the Lord Jesus. It is Jesus who moves us to pray. He knocks. Thereby He makes known His desire to come in to us. Our prayers are always a result of Jesus knocking at our hearts’ doors.
Desiring intimacy with God ought to be the delight of my life and a choice gladly made I think of Daniel it didn’t matter what decrees were or what his schedule was; nothing kept him from his time with God certainly God revealed to Daniel incredible things he did not know I am deeply aware of my need for this remarkable reminder from the Lord about how much He desires to bless me. He invites us, and He waits for us to call.
David’s heartfelt desire was to respond to God’s call to intimacy.
David’s Prayer Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, and be gracious to me and answer me. When You said,” seek my face, ” my heart said to you, your face, O Lord, I shall seek. (Psalm 27:7-8)
Thinking Out Cloud 