Holy Spirit Departed

 1Sam. 16:14
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.
“My Spirit shall not always strive with man..” (Gen. 6:3). These are the words spoken by God when the earth became corrupted and filled with evil and wickedness. On that day, He sent a flood and the people that dwelled on earth were destroyed, save Noah and his family. Sin is a wedge that separates us from God. Rebellion and unbelief breaks the heart of God. I don’t know if crossing the line of no return is possible, but it appears that Saul came to a point in his life that He turned his back on God and an evil spirit was sent to torment his soul. His conscience had been seared, incentive to the moving of God. It is dangerous to reject the Holy Spirit when he moves on your heart. Only God knows when someone has reached a point of unforgiveness. Scripture does indicate that there is such a state. I do thank God, that we live in the dispensation of grace and mercy. God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. I like to believe that as long as we have breath and a sound mind that there is hope for anyone who wants God regardless of the life they have lived. Even to the very end, like the dying thief on the cross, the words of hope can still be heard. “Today you shall be with me in paradise.”

Striving into the Kingdom

 Luke 13:24

Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

The scripture is clear that salvation cannot be obtained through works, no amount of good deeds, or self effort is enough to secure our place in the kingdom. But, it is also clear that there is a role we play in having full salvation. Jesus said, “Strive to enter'' What is it that we strive for? The doorway to heaven is through Christ. We must strive to put our faith in Jesus. He is the only way to the Father. We strive to trust God to keep us in the path of righteousness. We are tempted daily, but we strive for the grace of God to bring us through temptation. Striving is to make a great effort to achieve a goal or obtain something. Striving is essential to maintain a life that pleases God. By faith we strive to accept Christ, and it is by striving that we enter into the straight gate into the kingdom of God.

Life is a Race

Thurs. 27th, 082015

1 Corinth 9:36 “ I therefore so run, but not with uncertainty; I so fight, but not as one that beateth the air.”-

Life is a race, there is a start and there is a finish line. Everyone is running this race, but not everyone runs with purpose. Living life day by day, going through the motions and routines, it is easy to forget our purpose. Those who don’t know God, live their life for earthly gain and self satisfaction. They strive to be their best, so they can obtained a temporal award. Having such goals and aspirations are not wrong in themselves, but they should not be the motivating factory that drives a Christian to run the race. We all should set goals and plan for the future, but we do all things for the purpose to gain an eternal award. It would seems at times that we are just “beating the air” going through life without seeing any fruit of our labor. This is no time to give up and quit, we must continue to run the race, strive to be our best for Christ, bring our mind, body, and spirit into subjection to the law of Christ. Let us not forget, that we live that Christ may be lifted up and that we may be an example for Christ to gain the world for Him.