IF NOT NOW - WHEN?
GENESIS 49 VERSE 1 SAYS: 18 I have waited for thy
Strong's Index: H3444
salvation, O LORD. ישועה TRANSLITERATION [yshuw`ah]. PRONUNCIATION {yesh-oo’-aw}
Strong's Definition
feminine passive participle of 3467; something saved, i.e. (abstractly) deliverance; hence, aid, victory, prosperity:--deliverance, health, help(-ing), salvation, save, saving (health), welfare. |
This is not a study like my other blogs are - this is a conversation or something for you to discuss amongst yourselves. There are no further definitions used, nor meanings of words - you can look them up yourself if you want to. This rambling writing is meant to encourage you do share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you are fallen away from God, why not let him pick you up and contact me. I am happy to walk alongside anyone who wants to have any kind of relationship with Jesus. If that is you, and you know you should reach out to God, when are you going to do it. If Not Now - When?
My conversation today is all about the question - If not Now, When? There are many things that need doing around the house and I have to decide the priority of when these things will be addressed. They cannot all be done today, this week or next, but they will need to be seen to at some point. If not now, when? My life is like that too. I have made and unmade decisions about my craft room - shall I give it all away or sell it? Shall I keep it and use it? If I sell it - if not now, when? If I give it away, who will I give it to and when? Many years ago I could run and walk and drive and travel - and I knew that one day all this might stop but I didn’t know when! It happened sooner than I expected. Losing your ability to walk or see - even though it was temporary, made me realise the privilege it is to be able to do those things. Many people take it for granted that they will get up, go to work, whinge about their day when they get home, then do it all again the next day and so on. Sometimes I long for the ability to do those things - not to go back in time, but to be able to do them today! Would I do things differently? Oh yes!! I would also not do the things that are negative. Today I celebrate breathing, let alone driving or walking. I can see now - after having operations on my eyes. I walk now with elbow crutches. I can’t afford a car as much as I would love to drive again - I do miss it, but I don’t dwell on it. God gives us ability for the day - we are the ones who make plans for our lives, but God knows the path he wants us to take. Through my divorce, disability etc I have found profound peace and joy in sitting at the feet of Jesus. His ways are far better than I could ever imagine.
JUDE 1 VERSE 2: 2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. God gives us new mercies every morning, his peace, and his love - and the prayer of Jude is to have all of them multiplied. To have more and more of them. How does this happen? When we sit at the feet of Jesus and let him teach us. Sitting at the feet of Jesus is not doing nothing - it is actively listening and taking to heart what he is saying so that we can grow his word in our hearts, and then share what we learn. Someone once asked me - Why have these things happened to you? I know they were hinting at why did God do this to you? My answer was - we live in a fallen world, I was once a sinner and did sinful things which have consequences. God has graciously lifted me out of the miry clay that I lived in and has given me a new life in him. God did not do this to me - I did, and the enemy tried very hard to destroy me completely - BUT GOD is greater than any enemy that can come against us. Today I know that I am blessed and highly favoured by my living God.
HEBREWS 10 VERSE 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. You see that is the problem in the world today - they do not believe that God is alive! He is very much alive, and it is a formidable things to fall into the hands of the living God if you don’t know him. God Almighty is the only God who is alive!! Every other god or prophet has died and never came back - only Jesus did that. When you say God to someone in the world who does not know Jesus - they will roll their eyes, or say something like, here we go again, she is using the God card. Or they may imagine God to be a dead statue somewhere or even an angry old man with a big stick waiting to beat you when you get something wrong - who lives somewhere in the ethos! People are in so much of a hurry these days that they cannot be bothered to take the time to hear the good news of the gospel of Christ. It seems to me that they think only of God in terms of religion - when, in fact, they could have a very intimate, personal relationship with God if they let him into their lives. I truly believe that I would have been dead many years ago if it had not been for the intervention of God in my life. Every religion I know of asks people to offer sacrifices, or do things to attain perfection, or just jump through their hoops to become one of them. God, on the other hand, did everything for us - we need do nothing except accept Jesus as our Saviour and allow him to be pre-eminent in our lives. Jesus became the one and only sacrifice that was needed for the saving of the whole world. We do not need to offer sacrifices, we do not need to crawl to God as an unworthy animal - Jesus made us righteous through the sacrifice he made - his blood was shed for us all. After Jesus’s death and resurrection there is no need for any sacrifices ever again, and he is not going to go back onto the cross again.
HEBREWS 9 VERSES 24 - 28: 24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. The NLT puts it this way: 24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. 25 And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. 26 If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age[a] to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice. 27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment,
28 so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.
It is time for the world to respond to the sacrifice of Jesus by allowing him access to their hearts and minds - to be renewed in Spirit, Soul and Body through his word revealed to us by his Holy Spirit who lives in us once we belong to him. The world at large does not understand the bible because it is a spiritual book written for those who have God’s Holy Spirit living within them. It is a living spiritual word for spiritual people. It is God’s love letter to his children. The world would change for the better if God were in everyone’s lives - we all get a chance to choose to follow Jesus - if not now, when?
1 JOHN 5 VERSES 10 - 13: 10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. These particular verses should be the challenge given to people who are looking for a better life in this decaying world. People hearts have grown cold; there is more violent crime than ever before being committed in the world. It is everyone for him or herself. The world today is all about me, me, me, me me!! There are people who care about the environment or human trafficking or slavery - but they don’t have the power that God gives to make an eternal difference. We are living in two worlds - the spiritual world and the physical world and they are complete opposites. God intended them to be wholly united, but he gave mankind free will to choose how to live - and boy, have the majority chosen? Oh yes!! Look around you. Read the papers, watch the news - but not for too long or you will become depressed!! People have chosen to live ungodly lives and then tell those who live a godly life to agree with their lifestyle and even to do the same - or else! Or else what? What can a man do to another? Kill them - maybe! Hurt them - probably. No man can touch your spirit though, no matter how hard they try. Some countries try and break your spirit to conform you to their way - but if you have the Holy Spirit living in you, well, that is not going happen. That is why there are martyrs, people who would rather die than renounce Jesus. You see for christians, their spirits are not their own - their spirit died when they accepted the Holy Spirit and it is he who lives in us. That is why we can say ‘greater is he who lives inside us than he who lives in the world.'
1 JOHN 4 VERSES 4 - 6: 4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Of course people who do not have a relationship with Jesus will struggle with all the scriptures I am sharing - all they have to do is ask him to be their Saviour and he will reveal to them the meaning of his words. There is no instant fix for being a christian - there is however a great journey with many revelations along the way, and someone who can help you with things no person can help you with. This journey is called discipleship. We are all disciples of Jesus. We are constantly learning and teaching, and learning as we teach each other about Jesus.
We are truly loved by an everlasting, loving God who created us to have a relationship with him. I JOHN 4 VERSES 10 - 19 (NLT) : 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other[b] because he loved us first.
Are you going to share the good new of the gospel of Christ - IF NOT NOW, WHEN? You see the longer we take to tell folks about the overwhelming love of God, the less people will hear the gospel of Christ - and that means we are making the decision for them. When we don’t tell someone about Jesus and the plan of salvation for their life we are choosing non-salvation for them without them ever knowing. Do you want that to be your forever story? Are you going to share the good news? If not now- when? I can hear you say things like - but I might lose their friendship, or I am scared in case I offend them - well, I have something to say about that - what are you going to say to God when you are asked what you did with Jesus? I would rather please God and lose some friends in the process - not because I am frightened of him but because I love God and when you love someone you want to please them.
2 TIMOTHY 1 VERSES 6 & 7: 6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Verse 7 in the NLT says: 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. It is time for the christian to share the good new of the gospel of Christ and enlarge the kingdom of God - IF NOT NOW, WHEN? Who are we to choose whether or not to tell someone Jesus loves them? We cannot disqualify anyone, but that is what we do when we do not share the gospel. Many people have been waiting on Salvation for a very long time - Are you going to tell them your story on how you were saved? If not now - when? Personally I love encouraging believers to go deeper in the word and grow in their faith. I do this writing a weekly blog, hosting at online church, praying for people and listening to people. I may not be able to go outside. But I have the internet and a phone. Use what you have in your hand to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of course once the gospel is shared and decided upon, the new christian needs good teaching, encouragement to study the word of God for themselves, and to find out what gifts God has given them. Some people are already using their gifts in the world, and when they have a personal meeting with Jesus they use it for God instead. Think about it. Some people’s lives have been changed so dramatically they leave you in no doubt that it was God who changed them. Someone told them about Jesus - then Jesus revealed himself to them!! Don’t you want to be part of that? I love it when I remember young people I shared the gospel with who are now leaders in churches. I may never have been a pastor on a platform but I know some who have become pastors on a platform because I shared the gospel with them. It is so exciting to see someone grow into their God given gift. Are you up for the challenge - If not now, when? There are people longing to share discipleship courses to help new christians grow into maturity - will you bring new believers to them? Contact me any time and if I cannot help you I will find someone who can.
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