When Noah built the arc as an act of obedience to God, the story is in Genesis 7. Verse 9 says “He obeyed God he took a male and a female of each kind into the boat with him. Seven days later a flood began to cover the earth. The water under the earth started gushing everywhere, the sky opened like windows, and rain poured down for 40 days and nights. All this began on the seventeenth day of the second month of the year. On that day Noah and his wife went into the boat with their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. They took along every kind of animal, tame and wild, including birds. Noah took a male and female of every creature with him, just as God told him to do. And when they were all in the boat, the Lord closed the door.” There was repeated instructions before the great flood happened, usually when God repeats himself it has importance. Even if people who were desperately screaming.” let us in”, it was too late, no one believed in what he was doing. God had shut the door, and no one else could get into the arc. Everyone else perished. You can read the whole story, but people thought Noah was crazy, they mocked him. The day and the hour that we are in concerns me and my spirit is very unsettled, “Are we ready?? Will we be ready when our King Jesus returns?” Matthew 25:10-12 says:” While the foolish ones were on their way to get some oil, the groom arrived. The five who were ready went into the wedding, the doors were closed. Later the others returned and shouted, ‘Sir, Sir open the door for us, but the groom replied, ‘I don’t even know you!’ If you read the whole story, you will see that the five who were wise were ready with their lamps filled with oil and extra oil to spare, while the other five “foolish” ones had just the oil in their lanterns while they waited for the groom to arrive and they ran out of oil.

Matthew 25:4 says: “But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.” This imagery symbolizes readiness for an important event, like the wedding of Christ. The oil represents the Holy Spirit. It’s so important to be vigilant and actively seeking God, seek His presence, seek to be filled with His Spirit which draws all men unto Him. You are a carrier of His presence, His light for others to see Christ in you. Bring others to Him by His Spirit.

Isaiah 43:18-19 says: “Forget what happened long ago! Don’t think about the past. I am creating something new. There it is, do you see it?” I sense the significance of not getting distracted by your past or even the multiple things, people’s voices, world events that are happening all around you, press into Him, into His presence. Psalms 91:4 says:” He will spread His wings over you and keep you secure. His faithfulness is like a shield or city wall.” Proverbs 16:9 says ” We make our own plans but the Lord decides where you will go.” This is so true, when we leave everything surrendered into the hands of God.

Are you ready? Do you keep your lamps filled with oil? Stay in His presence, stay filled with His Spirit.

For anyone who has never asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord, or have not yet accepted the sacrifice that He has made for you: He gave His life for you, He wants you to surrender everything to Him, He was crucified taking all sin, pain and suffering on the cross, then He rose again so that you can have the same chance at eternal life that He has as He is seated on the right hand of the Father as the scripture says. No one is too far gone from His forgiveness, you only need to believe in Him, ask Him to come into your life and be your faithful Lord! Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit. He really loves you.

Luke 21:28 (NLT) Says:” So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!”

Do not wait until it’s too late.

Psalm 36:5 in God’s word tells us: ” Your love is faithful, Lord, and even the clouds in the sky can depend on you. Lamentations 3:22-24 reads: “The Lord’s kindness never fails, If He had not been merciful, we would have been destroyed. The Lord can always be trusted to show mercy each morning. Deep in my heart I say, ‘The Lord is all I need, I can depend on Him!'” Psalms 30:5 reads: “For His anger lasts only a moment but His favor lasts a lifetime, weeping may stay for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

A great matriarch in faith, who discipled and brought many to the kingdom through her obedience once said, ” If you look at the world you’ll be distressed, if you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God, you will be at rest.” Corrie Ten Boom

Psalms 27:14 reads: “Trust the Lord! Be brave and strong and trust the Lord.”

A favorite scripture of mine is Psalm 89:1 which reads:” I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make Your faithfulness known to all generations.” God is loving faithful, kind to all of us. What’s exciting is that He loved us all so much that he chose to die on the cross, rise from the dead gloriously, so that those who have faith and trust in Him, will have all sin wiped away forevermore. I believe that He did die for each one of us and rose as a living savior. He laid down His life so that we may have a second chance to live eternally with Him, as we rise to be with Him one day. He sent us His comforter, The Holy Spirit, who draws you to the Lord, who directs your path and who endues us all with His power who ask, believe and trust in Him.

Trust Him today!

Invite Jesus to be your Lord and savior, He will make your slate clean of all sin. No matter what you have ever done, and He will make each day new for you, as you trust in Him!

This is the way that Jesus recommended that we pray: Matthew 6:9-14

Our Father in heaven, help us to honor Your name.

Come and set up Your kingdom, so that everyone on earth will obey You, as You are obeyed in heaven.

Give us our food for today.

Forgive us for doing wrong, (our sins)

as we forgive others.

Keep us from being tempted and protect us from evil.

If you forgive others for their wrong doings they do to you, Your Father in heaven will forgive you.

But if you don’t forgive others, Your Father will not forgive your sins.

This is a very important prerequisite for the gift of forgiveness of our sins isn’t it?

If we obey this command and we receive that amazing gift of forgiveness, God really forgives our sins. Scripture says when He forgives our sins, that they are removed as far as east is from the west. He has no remembrance of what we did. Isaiah 43:25 “But I wipe away your sins because of Who I am. And so I will forget the wrongs that you have done.”

Hebrews 13:12 “Jesus Himself suffered outside the city gate so that His blood make people holy.”

Hebrews 10:17″ Then I will forget about their sins and no longer remember their evil deeds.”

Psalms 103:12 ” How far has the Lord taken our sins from us? Farther than the distance from east to west.

Here are other scriptures to look up:

Jeremiah 31: 34, Acts 3;19,1 John 1:7-9, Micah 7:19, John 3:16, 1John 1:9, Romans 11:29, Jeremiah 31:31-34

There are others. Jesus promises to forgive our sins, which is a major burden He bore on the cross, scripture demonstrates clearly that He does; then why are so many people wallowing in pain because of those same sins? I have seen myself that it’s as if those sins never happened to God, once we repent and surrender all things that obstruct God’s will in our lives. He forgives us completely. Our slate is wiped clean. People in the world have a hard time forgetting what you did, you clearly have to forgive all of that. The people who condemn you, gossip about you, who may even devise evil plans against you, sometimes we have to learn to forgive daily different events that are consequences of our sins. These may make it difficult to forgive yourself, which is also a very important part of our surrender to God. Receive the gift of forgiveness freely, God does not even remember what you did once you totally repent of your sin and forgive anyone else who may have hurt you regarding that sin.

If you have never received Jesus as Lord and savior of your life, asked Him to cleanse you of all sin, and have faith that he died for those sins, rose again so that you have a new lease on life. If you believe what He did for you is true, then you will have eternal life, just like Jesus.

It will be the most important thing you have ever done.

Forgive yourself!

Isaiah 65:17 reads: “See I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered nor will they come to mind.” Today, many people are tormented by things that come to their minds. ‘God’s word does not return to Him null and void’…this word is an exciting one, refreshing and liberates those who truly embrace this promise with hope.

2 Peter 3:13 reads: “But in keeping with His promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells.

We are embarking on a new year, let us let go of what we cannot change, laying all those things at the feet of Jesus. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us so that we would be set free, and have eternal life.

Revelations 21:5 reads: “Then the one sitting on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new. Write down what I have said. My words are true and can be trusted.'” I encourage people to read Revelation 21:1-8. It again describes what the new, Holy City will be like…”Where He will wipe away every tear, no more death, no more mourning or pain, for the old things have passed away…”.

It is so refreshing to think that we have this hope to fix our eyes on, isn’t it? What is even more refreshing, He keeps track of all our sorrows, Psalm 56:8 reads: “Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll-are they not in Your record?” Such an intimate love, our Father has for us, so if you have ever felt your world falling apart, and you think that you are alone weeping, not so- He is keeping track of every tear, realizing that one verse as truth, changed the way I think about loneliness. He sees you weeping, but the day will come when there will be no more tears, what a wonderful day that will be!

If you have never asked Jesus to be Lord of your life, start your new year off with all the promises of the righteous! Jesus came to earth as a man, willingly sacrificed Himself for all of our sins, He died for us so we would never have to die. He lives today- ever living to intercede for all of us. He rose again to grant us eternal life just as He has. Ask Him today to come into your life, change your heart, lay down all that bothers you, and ask His Holy Spirit to come into your life also so that you have an ongoing guide through His living word and power to walk in His will, and to keep standing righteous before Him.

Happy New Year! This decision is the best decision you will ever make for your life, and a wonderful direction to walk into the new year! He makes all things new!!

“That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. All at once an angel came down to them from of the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord’s glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. This very day in King David’s hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. You will know who He is, because you will find Him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay.” Luke 2:8-12

This is one of my favorite verses in the word that proclaims about Jesus! A savior has been born for us! Our King humbled himself to come to earth as a child, just like each one of us. He knew every aspect of human pain as He was a man also and saw so deeply into our needs, we were lost without a savior. “God loved us so much that He gave His only begotten son, that whosever believes in Him, will not perish, but will have everlasting life.” John 3:16

This is a solid reason to accept Him as your Lord and savior. We were all lost in sin, until He came.

This is a second chance for each one of us. He lived the life that we could not live and stepped under the burden of all humanity’s sin, and died instead of us. He died, then rose again so that if we believe in Him, we are forgiven and set free from the pain of death, in fact we will live again, just as He does right now! He is a living, risen savior! This coming Christmas, remember the real reason that “This Child Is Born”, accept Him as your savior today!

Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!