Are You Experiencing True Salvation?

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."  Romans 1:16

So many times when we think of salvation, we think of being saved from Hell and going to Heaven. To us, a  person who is "saved" will go with Jesus in the rapture.  Although these ideas are definitely part of salvation, there is more to it than just that. In my recent studies, I found that the Hebrew and Greek words for salvation also imply the ideas of deliverance, forgiveness, safety, preservation, healing, and soundness of mind. I was amazed.  I realized that so many believers, including myself, have not fully tapped into the salvation experience.  We see salvation as a future experience when salvation is really a way of life in which we experience the fullness of God on a day to day basis.  It reminds of a story that I once heard where a man saved up all the money he had in order to to take his family on a three-day cruise, but he didn't have enough money to purchase food on the cruise.  The family took their own bread, crackers, and cheese to sustain them and drank water for the entire cruise. At breakfast, lunch, and dinner time,  the family would sneak back to their rooms to eat what they brought, wishing that they could partake of the luxurious and delicious foods that the cruise line had to offer. At the end of the cruise, as this man and his family were exiting the boat, the captain approached the family to see how they enjoyed the three day excursion.  The man replied that he and his family enjoyed it tremendously, however, were sorry that they didn't have enough money to partake of the meals that the cruise line offered and hoped that next time, he could bring enough money so his kids wouldn't have to eat only cheese, crackers, and water. The captain stared at him in shock as he replied,"Why sir, the meals for this three day cruise were included in the initial price." The man and his family were shocked and felt horrible as they realized that they did not get the full experience of what they paid for. The same goes for us.  Christ has paid for our salvation in full, yet many of us are not fully partaking of all the benefits that He provided.  Although deliverance is offered freely, we still hold on to our drug, sexual, and food addictions.  Although we have forgiveness, we still hold on to condemnation.  Christ has provided us with safety (for us and our families) and yet we still live in fear of danger, in fear of how we are going to make it through a trial, or how we are going to provide for ourselves and our families in a bad economic time. God provides healing, but we still hold on to past hurts and pains.  Lastly, God provides soundness of mind, yet most of us still allow the enemy to confuse us and put doubtful thoughts into our head.  It is not His will that you live below the standard that He has for you.  You are a child of the King and therefore, have access to a wealth of blessings that God has for you.  Today, take hold of your salvation and experience the fullness of it today.

The Gift of Today

"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 3:13-14

I recently came across an article written by Marianne Williamson entitled, "The Time That Matters Most," which got me thinking about the way most of us view time.  Although I don't support most of the views of this particular author, I really enjoyed reading her thoughts on perceptions of time.  This is what she had to say,

"The present moment, if you think about it, is the only time there is. No matter what time it is, it is always now. Yet often we live somewhere else. With thoughts of the past and concerns about the future, we rob ourselves of a full experience of the present. Although the past is over and the future is never quite here, our minds are usually so involved with one or both of them that the present serves very little function except to form a bridge between the two."

I started thinking about how sometimes we can get so caught up in what previously was and what will be in the future, yet the only thing we truly have control over is the present moment. The Apostle Paul models the right attitude when he says, "forgetting those things which are behind."  The key word here is "forgetting,"  but often that is incredibly hard for us.  We hold on to regrets, past hurts, old negative ways of thinking, and relationships that God allowed to be destroyed for a reason. Also, we live in the future, thinking if I just had this much money, I could or would do this or if God would do this in my life, then I would be able to do this or If I were married, I would do this for God.  The list goes on. Now, I am in no way saying that one should dismiss their dreams and goals because even the Apostle Paul said that we should "press towards the mark," which suggests that we have a future hope.  The problem occurs when we allow the past or the future to rob us of today and what God can do through us today.   My encouragement to you is to focus on what you can do today.  Ask God to use your life today.  Maybe God has given you a future vision of preaching in front of the masses, but today, ask God to put someone in your path with whom you can share the Gospel.  Maybe you have a vision of a singing ministry that will impact thousands, but ask God to use your voice today so that you can share God's love.  Maybe you have a dream of doing missions work, but ask God to use your hands today to reach out to someone who is in need in your local community. Maybe visions of pastoring a church fill your mind, but allow God use your life to mentor and feed the lamb he puts in your path today.  What we fail to see is that our actions today will determine the future.  That actions of many days like this one will determine our future.  They are steps that will bridge the gap between what we are and what we will be.  Let's ask God to give us a mindset for the present.  Keep in mind, as we allow God to use us today, we're going to see the glory of God on a daily basis.  What a powerful way to live.  God bless.

Jesus our Advocate

 Preface: God gave me this thought a couple of weeks ago and it has been strong on my heart for many reasons. Currently, on a short missions trip to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, this thought has come to mean more to me. Not only is God an advocate for all believers, but especially, He is an advocate for the poor and needy.  I don't quite have the words to describe all that I have seen so far, but I know one thing for sure- God has called us to be help those are in need.  I will be writing a post in the upcoming weeks about my trip, but I know that with knowledge comes responsibility as well. Its easy to get emotionally moved by an experiences, but it takes a lot more to make a true difference, not just in the foreign field, but in my local community and with the people I meet on a day to day basis. God bless.




  I used to have a teacher who always told me that one day I would be a lawyer.  For one, I was always running around with a huge backpack over my shoulder as I was rushing late to class (some things never change). Also, I loved to passionately argue my point of view (again, some things never change lol). Although I grew up and became a teacher, I have always been intrigued with the job of a lawyer.  They have such an awesome responsibility as they fight on behalf of their clients to ensure justice is served. In a dream world, it would be awesome to always have someone that we can go to when we feel like we have been accused wrongfully or when we have been mistreated without the hefty bill that comes with such a service.  Yet, if we really think about it, we do have access to this type of service through Jesus Christ our Lord. John penned these words, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.  And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ the righteous (I John 2:1).  Isaiah describes our God as the one that “pleads the cause of His people” (Isaiah 51:22).   In both of these verses, we get a mental picture of the wonderful God that we serve.   First of all, he is our advocate or one that fights on our behalf much like a lawyer. When the enemy tries to say that we don’t deserve forgiveness, we have an advocate that argues otherwise.   When we mess up or fall short, our advocate or lawyer is there telling the enemy that the blood of the lamb is over our lives therefore the charges of sin cannot be held against us. He pleads our cause. He pleads mercy and grace upon our lives even when we don’t deserve it.  He never gives up or gets tired of defending us from the accusations of the enemy.  Our advocate doesn’t care if we have anything to offer Him.  He doesn’t care about our background.  He doesn’t care about our marital status or our perceived bleakness the situation.  He is willing to take on our case. The moment that we accept God’s plan of salvation, we have access to this kind of defense.  Basically, we have the best lawyer by our side 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year.  

   God is for you not only when it comes to the accusations of sin, but also when the enemy tries to condemn you and mock your faith. The enemy will often try to put snippets of doubt in your mind. He will try to make you feel like your situation is impossible.  He will try to make you feel overwhelmed by the future and make you question whether God is really with you or if you heard God correctly, but you have an advocate. The enemy will use people to gossip about you, lie about you, and come against your dream and vision.  Your advocate is still there. You may feel God leading you into another place in your life, but the circumstances say otherwise. You advocate is there again. You may feel God is asking you to walk through a new door, but your finances or resources say otherwise.  Yup, your advocate is still with you.  Stop fretting and feeling like you’re all alone in your situation. Your advocate has promised to never leave or forsake you.  Stop worrying about how you will pay the bills, find a new job, open that business, have a successful marriage, and be healed of that sickness or disease.  You have an advocate who already won your case at Calvary.  I guess you can say you have pre-paid legal services paid up-front at Calvary.

   In conclusion, Jesus had much to fear before going to the cross and there were times where fear gripped his heart (Psalm 22, Psalm 69), but He didn’t let that stop Him from doing the will of God.  When fear came in like a flood, a holy boldness came over him as he responded with these words,

“He who gives me justice is near. Who will dare to bring charges against me now? Where are my accusers? Let them appear! See, the Sovereign Lord is on my side! Who will declare me guilty?All my enemies will be destroyed like old clothes that have been eaten by moths.  Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God” (Isaiah 50:8-10).

My friend, Christ our God has come to bring you justice.  No enemy can bring charges against you.   You have already been declared “Not guilty” by the blood of Christ.  You have been made clean by His righteousness.  If you are a child of the King, trust in Him as you see His salvation come to you in your situation or trial.  Your advocate is there for you and He has a 100% success rate. He is there to dispel all the lies, accusations, and darts of the enemy.  Trust in Him.