Driving to work takes about thirty minutes each way. Rather than “cuss and discuss” the wonderful driving patterns of some East Texas drivers, I try to use this time for intimate conversations, praise and honor to my Heavenly Father. Best part of all, I know He is always there, hearing what I am saying and singing to Him. I will be the first to admit, I am not a star performance singer, but I know His word encourages us all to sing praises to Him. (all emphasis mine – ESV Bible)
Psalm 95:1-2; “O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth; Sing to the Lord, bless His name, tell of His Salvation from day to day.”
Psalm 104:33; “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.”
Psalm 105:2; “Sing to Him; Sing praises to Him; Tell of all His wondrous works.”
Colossians 3:16; “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom; singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
These are just a few verses in His word that invites us to sing praise and give glory and honor to our Heavenly Father, Creator of the heavens and the earth. The entire book of Psalms is a work of several authors, and especially King David. There are joyful Psalms, sad Psalms, Psalms seeking guidance, Psalms seeking forgiveness, and just about every other aspect of life that we face every day. Some may say the Psalms are ancient and do not apply today, but God’s words are as fresh as if just written for us.
There are 150 Psalms, and it is by far the longest book in the Bible. Psalm 118 is the midway point of all 66 Books of God’s love letter to us. Verse 29 states, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His steadfast love endures forever!” If our Heavenly Father did not care all that much about our singing praises to Him, He would not have put this wonderful book in His message to us.
Our God loves us more than we can ever understand. What so-called man-made deity would ever send a part of himself to suffer and die on a cruel cross so that we could have a true pathway to him? (John 3:16-18). Our Jesus left His throne in Heaven to allow Himself to be a human – lower than the angels – so that He could cover our sins with His pure and precious blood. He is the only “human” ever to have lived, or that ever will live, a pure, sinless life so that the Father would be able to accept His perfect sacrifice for us. No sacrifice that we could ever make would be worthy of just one drop of blood shed by our Savior. Also, He could have changed His mind at any point, and we would all still be hopelessly lost.
Because of what Jesus did at Calvary, we have a covenant available from God the Father. All who receive and accept the gift offered by His Son will be saved. All who refuse the gift will be separated from Him, and their eternity will be the Lake of Fire (Hell) with Satan and his demons forever. The amazing part of this is, we are given the freedom to choose our eternal pathway for ourselves.
All so-called man-generated gods are said to demand their followers worship them, and no one can ever be certain if they did enough works or offer enough prayers to have paradise.
This is absolutely against God’s will. Romans 10:9-13 gives what we must do to be assured of a place in Heaven. Without adding anything to this, the steps are: admit we’re all sinners in need of a Savior, and believe that Jesus is the only Savior there is. Also, have faith that He died for us and was raised by the Father to conquer sin and death for all who will accept Him. Finally, the action on our part that we must do is to call on the name of the Lord to save us, and He will do so as promised in Romans 10:13. Yes, this is the ABCs of Salvation, and it applies to everyone.
What’s obviously missing here is having to do “works” to “earn” our redemption. To say we could even do anything other than receive and accept Jesus would be an insult to His sacrifice for us. If we had 100% of all this earth’s so-called treasures, we could not “buy” one second of time with Him (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Just a couple points here: there are not many ways to Heaven, and all “religions” do not worship the same God. Jesus is the only way to the Father as given in John 14:6 and Acts 4:12. Also, for true believers, who have accepted Jesus and thus have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, there is no condemnation for them (Romans 8:1)
The hardest part is to get away from the world’s faulty thinking and to have faith and believe God’s word is true. Satan’s goal is to convince us all that the Bible isn’t true and that we should just accept the “pleasures” of this world. God will not be mocked, and Jesus knew that through the human sin nature, more will accept Satan’s lies and end up at the Great White Throne Judgment than those who will accept Him and be saved.
Once we have received Jesus, we have the “Blessed Assurance” of a home with Him, prepared by His hand (John 14:1-3).
So, what is my “Heavenly Medley”? It’s made up of parts from three different hymns that, for me, inspires me to get closer to Jesus every day. They are: (1) Child of the King by Cindy Walker, 1961. (2) What a Day That Will Be by Jim Hill; and (3) The King is Coming by Bill and Gloria Gaither, 1993.
“Oh yes, Oh yes, I’m a child of the King. His royal blood now flows through my veins; and I, who was wretched and poor now can sing; Praise God! Praise God! I’m a child of the King.”
“What a day that will be; when my Jesus I shall see; and I look upon His face; the One who saved me by His grace. When He takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land, what a day, glorious day, that will be.”
“O the King is coming; the King is coming! I just heard the trumpets sounding; and now His face I see. O the King is Coming; the King is Coming! Praise God, He’s coming for me!”
My particular choices may not be the ones that would inspire everyone, and that’s perfectly fine. They draw me closer to my Lord. I would encourage everyone to find what is good for them to have a closer relationship with Jesus. For some, it may be only the old standards; for others, it may be the newer praise songs. Whatever inspires each person is what’s best for them.
The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing. This world is not going to get any better no matter what all the false prophets are saying. Our Jesus will be calling all true believers up to meet Him in the air very soon. Please be ready! “Jesus is coming soon; morning, night or noon.” It would be a terrible tragedy for anyone to miss His taking us out of here so we can avoid the coming wrath/tribulation.
No one has sinned enough to not be able to be forgiven. The unforgivable sin is to not have Jesus as your Savior when you take your last breath on this earth. He is never too busy for anyone who truly calls on Him. Right now would not be too early.
Maranatha (Come, Lord Jesus) and Shalom (peace).