He knows!

Hebrews 4:14-16

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Isn't that great to know? Jesus knows what you're going through! He won't forget you, or leave you. In fact, He wants, no expects, us to come boldly to the throne of grace. In other words you don't have to feel ashamed to come before Him, you are His child. Jesus brought you into the family of God through His shed blood! You can call God "Daddy" now. You can come into His presence not on your worthiness, but on Jesus' worthiness. You are part of the family. You won't be left out in the cold, or heat, but you have priority clearance! The great thing with God is, we are always first in His eyes. We aren't a number, or an afterthought, or a nuisance. We are His children. Jesus' mother Mary is not the queen of heaven. There is no queen mentioned the bible. Only Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Saints who've already died, cannot make intercession for us....only Jesus. I don't want to upset anyone, but we must realize that our salvation, and everything we are, rests in Jesus, and Jesus alone. Jesus even said that we must pray to the Father, in His name, in Jesus' name. He didn't say we are to pray to Him (Jesus). Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a "Jesus only" type of guy. I recognize the Holy Trinity as such. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But the main reason we are here today is that Jesus died for our sins, and rose from the dead. We too have died to sin, and resurrected as well. That's the whole point of submersion baptism. The old you stays in the water, and the new you comes up out of it. And also, please don't think I'm totally against the Catholic church, that's not the case either. If you have received the gift Jesus paid for on the cross, and you believe He rose from the dead, you are brother or sister in Christ, no matter what name is on the church you attend. In fact there are churches who have Jesus' name written in their name, but don't recognize Jesus as Savior and Lord. But we won't get into that. But I've got news for you. There won't be Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal, Methodist,........etc....sections of heaven. Only those bought by the blood of Jesus Christ will enter. Period.

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Jesus sounded pretty clear there, didn't He? You may say that sounds pretty divisive, or close-minded. Take that up with the Lord, not with me. He said, I believe it, and that settles it. But whether I believe it or not, it's settled.

Psalm 119:89

Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.

It's settled whether you or I believe it or not. How about

Isaiah 55:11

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

God's word is settled. What He says will happen, will definitely happen. Whether we like it or not, and whether we believe it or not. He's not subject to circumstance, poll ratings, political correctness, or popularity. He doesn't bow to us, we bow to Him. It's sad, but sometimes we treat God like a genie in a bottle. We rub the bottle when we need something, and order Him to do it. It doesn't work that way. We should want to do His will, not convince Him to do ours. We are all learning, and sometimes we do dumb things, not even realizing what we've done at first. If that's happened to you, give it to the Lord, let it go, and go on. Go boldly before His throne. Just because you've messed up doesn't mean you're no longer a son. That really makes me mad when folks tell you for every thought, or slip of the tongue, you're "on your way to hell!" God's not like that. Jesus is our High Priest, and He sympathizes with our weaknesses, and He knows we have them. The first step in getting stronger is admitting that there's a problem and asking the Lord to help you deal with it. In fact we're told, in our weakness, He is strong. He loves you, and He told me to tell you, you're His favorite. Have a wonderful weekend, and God bless. :-) James