A Vision For Your Life

“A Vision for Your Life in the New Year”—R Nelson

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“…which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…even Jesus.” Hebrews 6:19-20

ENCOURAGING WORD:
I have heard it said, a New Year is like an ocean. There will be untested winds and waves. We will meet ships we never knew, and we will have all kinds of opportunities as we sail into an uncharted sea. In our quest to discover the good life this year, we must be careful that we do not drift into an aimless life. The worst thing that could happen to us this coming year is that we just let this year happen to us rather than charting a course and getting into God’s appointed harbor. More than likely, you will not decide to drift, it’ll just happen. You’ll be coasting along at a good clip, and then before you know it, you’re drifting away, that is, unless you have an anchor.

The anchor that you need is the Word of God. Unless you are in the Word of God daily, you will most likely drift away from your spiritual walk. This world is full of distractions that can pull us away and if we do not have a good solid foundation in the true Word of God…we will drift. The Bible speaks of the apostasy “falling away from true Biblical doctrine” in the end days and that is what we are witnessing today at an alarming rate. American Christians are departing from the true Word of God. The Bible indicates that there will be a great apostasy that will lead up to the second coming of Christ. The “great apostasy” is mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:3; “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, (The day of the Lord) except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;” The King James Version calls it the “falling away,” while the New International Version and English Standard Version call it “the rebellion.” And that is what apostasy is: a rebellion, an abandonment of the truth. The end times will include a full-scale rejection of God’s revelation, a further “falling away” of an already fallen world. You see it every day, especially in the social media. You cannot even watch a commercial these days that don’t undermine the Word of God. As a young man growing up in the 60’s and the 70’s, I could have never imagined the blatant disrespect for the Word of God that is on the airwaves today. Programs that were once rated R and even X back then are seen today on every channel available. And then we wonder what is happening to our children. Even the commercials are selling extreme corruption at an unprecedented level of what I call acceptable.

A couple of nights ago I saw a commercial that made me sick beyond words. It was a dating site that referenced to the phrase, “a marriage made in hell.” It showed a very graphic depiction of what Satan could look like, sitting with a young lady. If you think that these kinds of commercials are just for entertainment, “A sick form of entertainment I might add, you are badly mistaken. This is by design and it is the direction that our country is headed. Our country has more Satan worship than you can shake a stick at and what is even more alarming is where it is taking place…right in front of our eyes, but because blindness has come to those that reject the word of God as truth, most people will not understand. It is in our Government, the Music Industry and especially in Hollywood We have reached an unprecedented level of acceptance of the demonic world. The Word of God is very clear on what is taking place in our country today and most people are either ignorant or they just don’t care. I heard someone once ask, what is the biggest problem in America, Ignorance (the state or fact of being ignorant : lack of knowledge, education, or awareness) or apathy (lack of feeling or emotion)? The answer that was given was an alarming truth. “I don’t know (Ignorance), and I don’t care! That pretty much sums up the way at least half of our country thinks today. If we do not turn back to Jesus Christ, God the Father will turn His back on us once and for all. Without getting into too much history, take a good look at all the nations that turned their backs on God. They have either been given over to the evil of the world (Most of the Middle East nations) or they simply do not exist. America is the last country to stand as a Christian nation and that could end very soon. Our only hope rests in the hands of Jesus Christ and it is through the power of prayer that we may be given one more chance at repentance, or judgment will come quick and fierce.

As we enter a New Year, make it a point to set aside a certain time of the day to spend with Jesus. You will be so glad that you did. You cannot battle the forces of evil in the flesh, you need Jesus Christ in your life every day to be able to defeat the ever-growing evil that exists in our world today. If you do not battle the spirits of evil with the right gear, you will most certainly be defeated. The Bible tells us what we need to do to fend off the evil schemes of Satan. We read this in Ephesians 6: 13-17; “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Do yourself a big favor, do not leave your house this year without putting on the full armor of God. It would be like deep sea diving without an air tank. You will not last very long. As long as you have Jesus Christ as your air tank, you will not drowned in the sea of life. Remember what happened to Peter when He took his eyes off of Jesus as he was walking on water, He sank. As long as Peter’s eyes were focused on Jesus, he was safe, but as soon as he put his eyes on the surrounding circumstances, he lost the power of God that is available to all who put their trust in Jesus Christ. Read Matthew 14: 22-33; if you need a Bible, please let me know and I will be happy to send you one at no cost.

Let me put it another way that most people will understand, if you were a pro football player, would you even think of going out on the field without a helmet, shoulder pads and all the other protective gear needed for protection? Dumb question of course, you would be killed, but going out into the world without God’s full armor is much more dangerous. In football you can only hurt the body, in this world, without the right gear, you will lose your soul. You need the full armor of God to exist in this world. We read in Matthew 10:28; “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

One more thought for you to consider. This year many of us will be planning on taking vacations, some right around the corner and some a few months off. There is one thing that is certain, we will spend as much time as we have to, to make sure that everything goes well and without issues. Well, in the same way do yourself a big favor and prepare for the final vacation that you will take. Make sure that you are without a doubt, right with Jesus Christ, so that if He were to call you home today, you would be ready to go. You don’t want to miss that trip; it will be the trip of a lifetime and it will last forever.   

ACTION POINT:
Take a few minutes to reflect on this past year. Outside of all the world distractions that we have no control over, what were some things that you did right… what are some things you will do differently this next year? You have only one life to live and then you will eventually face eternity. Eternity could start at any moment for any one of us, please prepare for that moment. It is certain that thousands of people will enter their eternal dwelling place in the upcoming year. For those that choose Jesus Christ, they will be forever with Him in paradise. For those that reject His provision for sin, they will find themselves in a completely different dwelling, one that I do not find pleasure in speaking of, so please receive Jesus Christ today and join Gods family of born-again believers that will spend eternity with Him forever in paradise. “A place especially prepared for you! “Written To the glory of God, Inspired by the Holy Spirit!” Amen!

From our Chaplin-R Fritz

A Vision for Your Life in the New Year

We need to look at the old year first and our life this past year to see where we need to go. We need to see if we have grown in our relationship with Jesus Christ. If we are still doing and thinking the same way, the question you need to ask is why am I still doing the same and my thoughts and my knowledge have not changed or grown. This is not like people and their New Year’s resolutions where most people have given up on losing weight or some other personal goal. You are fighting for your spiritual life and your family. This is not some small goal you can give up and say, “oh well,” we just give it a try next year. This is serious! 1Corinthians 2:14-16 says “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” Another question to ask is am I a natural man or a spiritual man and how do I get to spiritual man. This is a process trusting in the Lord. It is completely in your hands. That is why your relationship with the Lord is so important. You have to ask for more spiritual knowledge. This is just for somebody who wants more. It is you pushing for more of Jesus Christ (Holy Spirit). Too many people are ok where they are. That’s not what God had in mind for you! John 10:10 says and this is Jesus speaking “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly. This talks about the spiritual gifts you get from Jesus when we have that spiritual relationship with Jesus. It does not talk about earthly riches. Earthly riches are good for a while, but our spiritual life gives us fulfillment for our life and gives our body and mind happiness in who as human beings what we truly crave. Most people do not understand that we are spiritual beings. 1 Corinthians 15:50 says “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” This is clear that you as a natural man will not make it to heaven. You have to have the Holy Spirit, or you will not make it to heaven. We make that choice, and it has to be taken care of “before” we die. We have to be very careful who we listen to or who is our teacher or spiritual adviser. When you do not know spiritual things, how can you teach spiritual things. We are creatures of habit. We tend to go to churches or places of worship that feel good. We sit in the same place at church every time we go. If we are growing spiritually, we will be going through things, God is trying to make us more like him. Change is being revealed, we are probably struggling with that change. If we are someplace for a while and we do not sense the Holy Spirit tugging at our heart or revealing issues to change. You are probably at the wrong place. We are living life with our human feelings and not the “Holy Spirit.” With the Holy Spirit, I have sensed other people that have the Holy Spirit. Our feelings cannot interpret spiritual things. You have to remember just because you feel something does not make it right. If you feel useless, hopeless, unlovable, and worthless does not mean you are! This might seam obvious to some but emotions depending what you are going through can change at the drop of a hat, music we hear or the people around us. Feelings are just feelings, not facts. We need to live by “Faith.” Jesus wept over the death of his friend Lazarus in John 11:35, but he knew what he needed to do. His feelings did not change what he needed to do. Philippians 4:6-7 says “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” We forget and I mean you and I, because I also forget about letting my feelings manipulate my life sometimes. Feelings overtake our mind or brain. It depends on how strong our feelings are, how our past has affected us or what happens in our life.Satin wants to manipulate you and your feelings and emotions and in turn make your life and the people around you miserable. We beat this only through the Holy Spirit, who can show you what is going on! For me it’s getting preoccupied with what is going on and forgetting who I am through the Holy Spirit. Our feelings indicate what’s going on inside us, not how we should react because that is living in the flesh and not the “Spirit.”

The truth is you need to look at you. Do you want to be the person God made you to be or are you going to live on your feelings and emotions. After every time I write something, I sense the Holy Spirit wanting me to look at myself. One thing I can tell you is if you look at what you are doing and change what is not right according to the Holy Spirit. Your relationship with Jesus Christ will keep growing. Get your emotions under control of the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:37 says and this is Jesus speaking “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:” God Bless!