Find out why I was giggling out loud heading home from work.

The word praise is in the Bible 299 times. The word dance is in the Bible 27 times. This dance is unto the Lord; I am not talking about an ungodly dance. I want to give you some verses in the Bible about the dance unto the Lord. The first one is the nation of Israel dancing unto the Lord.

“Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation” (Psalm 149:3-4).

The Psalmist says to praise him. How did he say the children of Israel praised the Lord? In dance, singing praises and playing musical instruments. This is the key to the verse unto the Lord and no one else. It is as if the Lord is the only one in the audience. So many sing and play instruments for so many different reasons. When you sing or play an instrument for the Lord, do it from your heart to the Lord’s heart. In verse 4, what is the Lord’s response? “For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people.” Wow! Does the Lord take pleasure in you?

The next verse I want to look at is 2 Samuel 6:14. “And David danced before the Lord with all his might: and David was girded with a linen ephod. David danced for the Lord, and he put every bit of his being into the dance; he gave his all for the Lord in this dance. In verse 20 of the same chapter, Michal mocked David because of the dance and what he did before the Lord. What was the Lord’s response to Michal? Verse 23 “Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.” I would not make fun of someone worshiping the Lord.

A few years ago, I would spend more time with the Lord in the afternoon (when I came home from work) than in the morning. I would get so excited about spending time with the Lord that I would start giggling out loud. It is so amazing to spend time with the Lord. So many Christians are missing out on the close relationship that we can have with the Lord while we are still here on the earth.

One night about five years ago, I was spending time with the Lord. I may have been with him a few hours; I can’t remember (when you’re with the Lord, you lose track of time). For so many years, I would sing to the Lord when I was alone with him. My favorite song to sing to the Lord is I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me. This night something happened to me that has forever changed my life. I was singing to him, and what came to my mind was 2 Samuel 6:14. I went over to my desk and read this verse. I told the Lord I wanted to dance unto him in honor of him, so as I sang to him, I started dancing before him also.

WOW WOW WOW. I WILL NEVER FORGET THE TIME I HAD WITH THE LORD THAT NIGHT FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. I was giggling, singing, dancing, and crying out loud to the Lord. The presence of Jesus was so overwhelming. The next year it was so amazing what the Lord did for my family. All I can say about what happened to us was it was so big you could see God’s fingerprints all over what happened to us. What he did for us has a major effect on my family every day and will for the rest of our lives. I had asked the Lord why he did something SO BIG AND SO GOOD TO MY FAMILY AND me. The Holy Spirit gave the answer to me – I had danced before the Lord. Thank you so much, Jesus, for being so good to us.

I had so much to say about praising and thanking him that it took me two messages to preach on this subject. In this article, I am still in the introduction of the first message. In this first message, I preach out of Psalm 63:1-5. In the second message, I preach out of Acts 16:25,26. It is about Paul and Silas in jail. At the end of the message, I asked six questions. I will put the link to both messages below.

Prayer Part IV, Praying to Praise and Thank Him

https://youtu.be/awBmuqnrvpQ

Prayer Part V, Praying to Praise and Thank Him

https://youtu.be/LcCGipZTnQ4

There are two things that are on my heart so much that I cannot stop thinking about them; I cannot stop crying about them; I cannot stop praying and fasting about them; I cannot stop spreading them around the world.

1. The worldwide prayer movement. This movement is about praying, fasting and repentance for a nation for a set date, and I’m asking all prayer warriors to join with us on this date. The Lord is moving in this in a mighty way.
2. In the month of May, the goal is to lead 50 million souls to Christ across the 54 nations of Africa. It is an organized movement in all 54 nations. I am asking all prayer warriors from around the world to join with us in praying every day for this movement from now until May 31, 2022. So many from around the world are joining, and I believe we are moving the heart of God. I ask you to watch this 9-minute video about this movement. The link is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr7PO0fPnak

I ask all prayer warriors from around the world to join with us on March 14, 2022, for a day of prayer, fasting, and repentance for the nation of Nambia on behalf of over 2,610,897 precious souls; Botswana with over 2,424,161 precious souls; and Angola with over 34,464,439 precious souls. For the sake of the lost, please join with us and post these dates.

Facebook page is 4HIM Online Ministries

Keith Watts

Online Missionary to the world

 

 

So… Can’t God Just Give Me Eternal Life As I Am?

In the book of Isaiah, God says, “Come and Let Us Reason Together.”…. So let’s do that.

This passage (Isaiah 1:18) deals with God’s indication that the sins of people can be made clean.

Isaiah 1:18: “Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

In part, we will discuss that concept and the reasons why sins MUST be done away with.

First, this very abbreviated overview of the Biblical record:

While the Old Testament was written to the Jewish peoples, it is important to understand that the Lord had the entirety of the scriptures (including the New Testament) written, knowing that all His creation would still be reading it even up to the present time. Therefore, all the scriptures have application and give direction to every individual who would ever live.

Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament Scriptures. As God had determined, He died, rose again from the dead (proving that He is who He says He is), and then ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father. This is all recorded in the 4 Gospel (Good News) accounts and the book of Acts.

From that time (Pentecost; the dispensation of the Holy Spirit recorded in the book of Acts (Ch 2:1-3) until the present day), salvation for mankind has been under Grace in place of the Law established under Moses; however, the Law has NOT been removed or abrogated. It is there to convict us of sin.

We will discuss this Grace further along in this article.

First, let me make clear that we must face up to some unpleasant truths in order to understand the reason for repentance to be an absolute condition. Let me further make clear that these realities apply to this author just as much as anyone else. As far as sin is concerned, God views everyone the exact same way.

In order to answer this question about repentance, it will require us to be completely honest with ourselves without trying to make excuses for our behavior.

No matter what race, color, creed, country of origin, belief system, male, female, etc., all of us have a nature that causes us to sin. There’s that word, sin. Yep, we all do it, have done it, or will do it. It is simply the way we are. God has given us the freedom to choose NOT to sin, but we all do anyway. God’s word puts it this way: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

“For every living soul belongs to me, the father, as well as the son – both alike, belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:4).

Now let’s consider the world we currently live in.

To do this effectively, I think we can just examine one day’s worth of news or even one day of what we see happening around us.

Maybe, while we are at it, we need to take a moment to stand in front of the mirror. There we will see a sinner staring back at us.

These verses from the book of Romans (Ch 1:29-32) may put these things in perspective:

{Humans are described as} “being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

Or perhaps this description in Second Timothy 3:1-5:

“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.”

Consider for a moment the Ten Commandments that God gave through Moses (which still apply to everyone today). Grab a Bible. They can be found in the book of Exodus (Ch 20:1-17).

In the book of James (Ch 2:10), James says this: “Whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” This means you only need be guilty of breaking just one of the ten, and you are judged guilty of breaking the whole law. Ever stolen? Ever lied? Ever used God’s name as a curse word or even casually like the popular sin of saying ‘OMG’? I think you get the picture.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-28, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

1 John 1:8 tells us, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

Hard things these are to read, realize, and apply to ourselves, yet, in the modern-day lexicon – “it is what it is.” No amount of evasive maneuvers will get us relief from the truth.

Jesus, the sinless Son of God, was executed on a Roman cross to pay the penalty not only for all the crimes and sins described above but for all the sins of mankind that would ever be committed. He made this sacrifice willingly and to pay the penalty described in Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

How serious does God regard sin? It had to be paid for in blood and by death, and Jesus paid it.

Grace is unmerited favor, and as unrepentant sinners, we do not merit any mercy at all. Unrepentance is a refusal to change our ways and to continue to defy, ignore, or even hate God.

Repentance, however, is to change direction, change our ways, and turn toward God and His mercy under His terms.

It can be emotional, but it is not emotion. It is a conscious decision.

And as long as you are still breathing, it is not too late to do it.

And what are His terms according to His Word?

• Genuine repentance
• Confession of sins
• Belief that Jesus Christ paid your death sentence for you on the cross
• To acknowledge that you are unable to pay that debt
• To believe that Jesus is the Way, the only Way, that God has established by which humans may be saved from the consequences of their sin and rebellion.

If you do these things and genuinely mean it, then the promise written by the prophet Isaiah 700 years before the birth of Jesus can be yours. You only need to ask God for it.

Isaiah 1:18: “Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

You can be saved from the consequences of your sins by the Grace of Jesus Christ just as He promised.

Psalm 103:11-12 tells us what God has promised to do for the repentant sinner:

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Now I will come to the crux of this article.

God’s word tells us that sin is like yeast. If it is put in bread dough, in time it works its way in until it is absorbed throughout. If ANY sin at all were allowed to enter into Heaven in ANY form, even Heaven would eventually become the ruin that this world has become. God will not permit that.

After living in this sin-filled world, who would want to start that whole, hopeless process over again?

So… repentance becomes necessary so the following scripture will be fulfilled.

“And he {Jesus} that sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And he said unto me, ‘Write: for these words are true and faithful'” (Revelation 21:5).

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

I pray that you will open that door. If you do, a whole new world of hopefulness will be born in you.

Pro Salvator Vigilans

To contact me: canoeman96@gmail.com