Jesus is near, even if eclipse not a warning, so share the Good News

I've blogged before about whether America would soon be judged. Some feel it already is being judged, of course. The major eclipse on the 21st may not be a sign of doom - but many other things show that we need to return to God, anyway. We must do more, so people know what we're for, not just against, and see God's love in us.

In fact, if you can't do any more, this post should be spread everywhere, in every social media, even if that's all you can do, but there are so many ways to rescue people from evil that we see all around us.

Jesus warns of signs in the Heavens making people very fearful - He doesn't say the signs will *cause* anything, but that the terror will be part of the End Times. We may not have 40 days from the eclipse till judgment as some believe, but we could have only 40 minutes, we don't know when the Lord will return.

How do we prepare?

1. Get Your Heart Right

We must repent, as I've said in various posts, not just what we've done, but what we've failed to do.

Young people can do so much good.You can let the Lord use you even to be the leader of your family, as I wrote in this free blog book and encourage everyone to share.

You are only a single sincere prayer of repentance away from a personal relationship with God who will be that constant guide, comforter, Helper, and friend we all need now, the start of eternal life. 

It is single. Only one time you need to call on Him to save you from your sins, and to make you new inside, then you will be reconciled to him.

It must be sincere. You must truly want Him to save you from the penalty of your sins, which is separation from him forever any horrible place where there is no love or compassion, it is all evil and pain.

And, it must involve repentance. It's as easy as admit, believe, and choose.

Admit you are a sinner, and don't deserve his perfect heaven. Believe Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died to take the punishment for your sins and rose from the dead. And, call on him to save you, choosing to let him forgive you and make you new inside.

You can pray something like this. "Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I'm not perfect and I don't deserve your perfect Heaven where there is no pain, no suffering. But, I know you died to take the punishment for my sins and rose from the dead. I believe you Lord Jesus are God in flesh and you made a way for me to have that eternal life and peace that passes understanding, with a relationship with you starting now so you can use me to make a difference here. Lord Jesus, I call on you with all my heart to save me and make me new inside. Forgive me Lord, and come work in me so I can be more loving and everything Christ-like. In Jesus name, amen."

You know we can't do it ourselves. This world has too much evil in it. But, we can trust God. You can call and God will answer and move in your situation and community once you know Him. Maybe not exactly the way you want it but according to his perfect plan. And, he is not willing that any should perish but all come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9.

Young people often have hearts more ready to hear of God's love and forgiveness. 

God is personal and wants to help you understand Him. People may have told you different but they have an agenda to control you. They want to make you think like them and feel you're just an animal. However, God gives you freedom to choose Him. We don't do it because we have to. We follow Him and His love and commandments because we want to, out of devotion for what he did for us.

That means letting God the Holy Spirit move in our lives once we have trusted him as Savior. You can go here to learn more but this aloen will help, too.

2. Let the Holy Spirit Move You

Of course, we can't command the Spirit, and we must pray the devil not counterfeit things, as I posted here with a prayer a while back. So, we can't ask God to move ehings for selfish reasons - which connects back to having your heart right above. However, when we step out in faith with our hearts right, the Spirit will lead.  We must beware of the Great Deception, as I posted about a few places.

However, we can trust God the Holy Spirit to work in our lives and in others when we pray and are filled with his guidance and put on the whole armor of God and bear more and more fruit of the Holy Spirit and be filled (controlled by) His Spirit..

God wants to move, but we have quenched the Spirit by ignoring God.  And, we are told we must avoid quenching the Spirit. This quenching is what has caused fires of revival to die, just like throwing water on a fire to quench it.

So, you could say that we have so many problems in this world, with racism growing worse when we are all one (I've posted numerous times, such as this, on how to unite and let God end such evil), with mean people still hurting others, with so many turning away from what is right, because we have quenched the Holy Spirit. We, being the church.

We have refused to be Christ-like. We spend too much time criticizing and complaining and not showing the love that Jesus showed. Yes, we must tell the truth about sin but we must tell it in love, showing that there is a Saviour who can make them new and change them so there "want to," changes, so they desire much better things than they have been chasing after, eternal things, so they want to follow what is right.

We must edify one another  and ensure that we, too, want those better, eternal things so people can't see a difference in us. So we can focus on our home in heaven and not wealth or power or control or this country or anything that will pass away.

The fruit of the spirit, in Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23, show what we should have.

3. Trust the Lord to grow His fruit in you

Love is unconditional love that can only come from the Lord. Family love is very strong but even that is breaking down nowadays. God's unconditional love will give you all that you ever need and fill all the holes in your heart left by people who have disappointed you.

You can find joy and perfect peace in the good things in life, not tear others down. This is why the Bible says to edify one another, we should be building them up so they can know they don't have to turn to the raunchy and mean lifestyle and don't have to follow or heed such awful things.

There cannot be true goodness if we are just animals. And yet, there is good in this world.

There is so much good out there, so many people doing things with altruistic motives that it must be that God created us. He created everything, this world had no sin in it when it was formed.

By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so that death passed on to all men for that all have sinned. Romans 5:12

God gives us freedom to choose to follow him, as noted before, so that we don't have to do good, we get to do good.

That includes being gentle with others, being slow to anger, not showing the wrath of man because it will never produce the righteousness of God. James 1:20. That is also where meekness comes from. Meekness is power under control, using self control which is temperance, another gift of the Holy Spirit.

That self-control is important because we are also to be long-suffering, that is to be patient. We must not keep jumping at each other's throats, but talk cordially. That friendliness is something that is lost so much nowadays because we have turned away from the Lord and quenched the Spirit.

We must have faith that God can provide. We must turn to Him in faith, because Hebrews 11:6 says He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He will bring that Revival when His people turn to him and call on Him for help, knowing that we can't do it ourselves.

There are other things, such as Ephesians 4:32. Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. That is something which comes from the fruit of the Spirit as well, as does thankfulness, grace, mercy, all those other things which God wants to give us freely and where we should not be quenching the Holy Spirit. Only if we stop quenching it can God give us freely.

That means turning away from the idols of this world, things we put ahead of God, and following Him. If we give those things we treasure over to God, He will use that for His glory and could give them back so that we can use them for His glory.

4. Pray without ceasing

We need to not only repent and turn toward the Lord of again but we must pray consistently. I don't know if we have only 40 days, that is what some say but we could have only 40 minutes. We don't know when the Lord will return. We must pray and witness in love and give out Gospel tracts now.

Let us pray now, with a sample prayer like I have done at other times you can read and pray over so that we can turn to the Lord at this time and call on Him to save this land. Remember, of course, that the first prayer He hears is the prayer of Salvation so you must know Him personally and be right with God before turning to Him on behalf of your family, community, and country.

"Dear Lord Jesus, we realize we have quenched the Holy Spirit. We have failed to show the love and kindness and everything else you want us to show, and turned to meanness and tearing others down rather than building them up. We have followed our own ways and not yours.

"Lord, today we turn from our sins, I first repent of all I have done and said and thought wrong and I invite you to change my heart oh Lord and make me new inside.

"Lord Jesus, please come to this community of mine, my home, my family and  friends, my nation,  and revive us, we no longer want to quench the spirit, Lord we want you to flow down with your unending love and change our hearts. Lord, we need you desperately. We know that there is so much wickedness and evil and it will continue to the end, but we also know that you are full of mercy and grace and can still save. Lord, we know that your Holy Spirit still works in this world, the restrainer is still keeping back the full extent of the evil until it is time.

"So, Lord, we pray that you will work wonders first in my heart and then other's hearts, unite us as one people to accept other races especially and not to put one above another. We do not ask for physical healings and all those other things that draw attention to people. We ask for emotional and spiritual healing and change away from idols and toward you; we pray for a revival like none other. Lord, we invite you, we beg you, come to our churches, even if it is just the youth departments because they are not set in their ways yet, with all of the wickedness we have put in this world, but please come to all of us.

"Lord, we especially ask you to bring revival among the young people. May they all turn from the evil and sensualness of this world. May they share their faith and share their testimonies with Incredible boldness. May their kindness and goodness toward others be so much greater than that of the world, so that people can see there is a difference. Oh, may that Christ-like attitude be evident among your people everywhere, young and old. May an attitude of goodness and grace while standing for what is right be apparent in all of us.

"Lord Jesus, change our hearts, move in a mighty way so that true tears of repentance are flowing, so that people will truly want you at the head of their lives and make you that head, change the wicked ways of this nation and turn us toward you. May all of the young people, teenagers and younger, get saved, covered by your blood before your return, for there being led astray by such evil and they're so impressionable now, and may they share their faith and proclaim the gospel and may many souls be saved in whatever time remains. In Jesus name, amen."

Get freedom by turning to God for salvation, strength

I promise not to discuss how much better the world seemed when I was a kid. You've heard - or told - all the stories. (The world changes so fast a grade schooler might tell them to a preschooler. :-)

Rather, I encourage everyone - especially those going to school, who can relieve their stress with God's unconditional love- to be specially bold in the Lord's love, just as I urged youth early in this blog to take back their inner cities, and in this free blogged book to take the lead in families or with friends where there's no spiritual leadership. I've blogged about all the freedom we have in Jesus to help, care for others, be kind without worry, and so on, and how that freedom is so much different than what the world has to offer. You can read these posts at your leisure.

You can claim God's promises and let Him provide you freedom from all of the problems and then declare independence from this world's system of corruption, evil, hatred - Jesus says we are all equal with no distinction between races - and so on. Yes, that system that ignores God is to blame, as several posts here show.

First, claim God's promise of salvation and a relationship with Him

It's hard to find lifelong commitments today. Thankfully, God will give you one. He will give you perfect peace, comfort, strength, and so much more. whenever you turn to Him, because He promises to come live inside you. This relationship will free you. Some call this relationship dangerous, but that's because they don't have your best interests at heart. In fact, only God can have your best interests at heart because He knows all things. Take a baby who wants to put something poisonous in their mouth. Obviously, you say, that child doesn't have their own best interests in mind.

It can be true of adults, too. Just by not following a map, you can end up in a totally different part of the world, or where you don't know the language.

Sin is not following that map God created for our lives - it also offends God, too, of course. Look how lying, for instance, can hurt others, lead to anxiety (what if it's found out?), lead to bigger sins to cover it up, etc.. Sins like racism, cruelty to others, etc. aren't done by everyone the way lying ot selfishness are, but the point is, we've all sinned, we've all acted agaisnt that map God has for us.

There is a penalty of sin, a price Jesus paid when He died on the cross for our sin and rose from the dead. Of course, we have freedom to reject Him, but like with anything else, we must understand the consequences of rejection of His free gift of salvation.

Accepting His free gift of salvation is as easy as ABC. 1. Admit you are a sinner in need of a Saviour, that you can't save yourself becasue your sin separates you from God so you can't get to His perfect heaven on your own; 2. Believe Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died for your sins and rose from the dead to take the punishment for your sins; and, Call on Jesus to save you, Choosing to trust Him completely to forgive you and make you new inside, to change your "want to." You can do that right here reading this blog, as can anyone you share this with.

Rejection of God's free gift of salvation means separate from Him forever in a horrible place that He doesn't want to send anyone. It was created for the devil and his fallen angels. In God's great love, He clearly spells out that He doesn't want anyone to go there and how they can avoid going there.

Because God loves us, He wants us as His followers to share that love and salvation with others You can share it like above, use the Gospel here or in a tract on another page on the site, send them to abundantlife.godlife.com, etc.. But, for it to work, remember they must believe you, so don't be a Pharisee.

I'll share some other ways we can have freedom, and joys through it, in the last segment of this post, but read all of it to help you grow in the Lord once you know Him, or just to understand more.

Drawn to God's love to gain freedom

He wants to draw people to that love so they can have freedom.

This is where those who call a relationship with Jesus dangerous are wrong. They do not have your best interests at heart. They have their own. Sometimes, it is for selfish reasons such as wanting to have control of you. Other times, they don't want to have consequences to their actions, even though there will be no matter what they want. Just like that baby who wants to put poison in his or her mouth. It will hurt them even if they don't want it to.

God tells us in His Word - which we know is fully reliable - how much He loves you. He draws you to His love by giving you that comfort, perfect peace, nurturing, understanding, and so on. However, he alsoshows it by letting you know that sin has consequences and how to let Him take those consequences on Himself. It has consequences even  if someone doesn't want or believe in them.

So, there is freedom from the penalty of sin. There is also freedom from the power of sin.

This is a wonderful promise. It means we can withstand all the evil of this world, though only through the power of the Holy Spirit in each believer. Yes, we are flesh, too, so we will still sin, and we must put our full trust in Jesus to be our strength so we don't.  However, the Word of God is a valuable tool in doing this, because it is the major way the Lord speaks to us. The Spirit teaches us how to apply it to our lives. He will show us how to avoid sin.

This avoiding of sin is needed because sin is what enslaves us. Sin can only be escaped through God's mercy, through what Jesus did for us. This is why the Bible says the truth will set you free - Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. John 14:6.

Indeed, Jesus will one day save is from the very presence of sin. That just shows, though, that all that sin will be somewhere else. A place you want to avoid if you're looking for your own best interest.

It's not just in Heaven we can have that great peace, though.

Life More Abundantly Here, Too

I've posted before about how we can have life more abundantly here on Earth(John 10:10) and indeed that there is a even a verse speaking to those who would love life, 1 Peter 3:10-11.

This can't be done on our own, of course. We can't bring the Kingdom in ourselves, as discussed on shows 115 and 116 here. That's because some aspects are impossible for mankind to create in the Millennium, such as all animals being peaceful or no more war occurring. It's also because in Heaven, nothing will grow old or wear out.

 The way we have life more abundantly here is through the joy the Lord gives each of us when we are clsoe to Him, and the tenderness with which He treats us when we wander , being slow to anger and rich in mercy.

Being strong in the Lord in the Bible is from a Greek verb meaning a continual action from the outside. We need Jesus to work in us to provide that strength, because we can't fight the intense spiritual warfare ourselves.

It may seem rough because this world has so many problems. There is so much injustice. There are so many charities that need support, so many spiritual needs people are trying to fill on a shoestring, especially because inner city ones like this don't get church support.

It's pretty silly to say to imagine something with what I'm doing next: Quoting part of 1 Corinthians 2:9 - "eye has not seen, nor ear heart, nor has entered into the heart of man" the wonders that God has prepared for those who love Him. His mercies are new every morning. He loves to make all things new, and He will create a totally new world one day. Imagine the incredible beauty of colors that are much more dazzling than anything we have ever seen.

 But, we can have joy in other things, too. It's not just in looking forward to what is to come.

Other joys God gives when we receive His freedom

Sharing that message of God's free gift of salvation with othersgives great joy when we know we have a part in God's plan. It's vital to pray first, of course, nd let Him guide us, since as noted He knows what's right in each situation. WHen we mess up, we must admit our wrong right away and confess and forsake it to God, but even that shows growth just like a batter who sees and corrects a flaw in his mechanics so he can improve.

Knowing God will make everything right and end injustice helps so much; our sin nature is such we always make things more of a mess when we try to fix things, as numerous posts here show. We can't hope to re-create the awesomeness which will come.

However, the devil will try to seduce us, which is why I've noted before we also must avoid the great deception which will come on the world. that's SO vital I made this which should be spread everywhere if millions disappear. If you put your trust in God, though, you'll be safe, and just imagine what's in store.

You can have joy in good, wholesome entertainment. You don't have to do evil or mean or raunchy things or even tell such jokes. You're free from having to tear others down; you can work to build them up, as Jesus tells us to do.

 You can enjoy the freedom of knowing whatever life brings - even the frustration and pressure of tests and grades, and all the popularity stuff that is just false pride - it doesn't have to define you.

Instead, you can trust in what God says about you - that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that He is a personal God who desires a relationship where he shares with you His unconditional love, no matter who you are, no matter what happened on some day in school.

You can stay away from those bullying sites, for instance that tear you down, and you can lead others away, too, by helping them realize they are special to God and to you. You can be an encouragement, you can be someone for whom other people matter.

There are so many other joys and promises, but just get alone with God and pray each morning that He will use you to impact lives for His honor and glory, to bring them to salvation. (There are many good tracts you can hand out if you don't feel comfortable talking as well, search for them on the Ineternet or ask your local church - oens with itles like the above "God's Simple Plan of Salvation" which was linked, or "Amazing Love," or "Who Can Enter," ones that minister to others and can be ordered in some cases for free. Just be sure you use the King James version if you can, becasue it's fromt he original Antiochan Greek, as mentioned elsewhere in this blog and here.)

Above all, remember to make much of the Lord Jesus, and He'll make much of you. Becasue, He truly wants you to know Him and to be a great force for change in your world, to reach out to the hurting and share that message of His hope and salvation.