God’s Forgiveness Is Complete In Jesus

A few months ago, after much prayer, I began what I refer to as a mountaintop experience with the Lord.  I was always singing and praising God and temptation was the easiest thing to avoid.

I believe as a result of further prayer, this time for the Lord to reveal in me something He wants me to change, that mountaintop experience came to an end.

I felt this was the Lord’s doing, though I did not understand why though I knew He had my good at heart.  One result of losing that mountaintop experience was that I found myself giving in to temptation.  It was nothing blatant, not at first, but only delaying briefly before pushing the temptation away and seeking the Lord’s righteousness to replace the temptation.

A Biblical Perspective On Sin

I have been a Christian since 1980, or, for nearly thirty-two years.  I have spent much  of my Christian walk thinking that the main goal of the Christian life is to stop sinning so that I may be pleasing to my God.  I have spent so much energy seeking ways to stop sinning that it is sick!  Perhaps you have done the same.  If so, I will ask you the question that I was asked today.  Has it worked?  Have you been successful in removing the sin from you life?  If you are like me, and if you are being honest with yourself, you will likely have to admit, as I did, that no, it has not worked.

So, I ask myself, why do I want to stop sinning?  Is it because I fear that God will punish me if I continue to sin?  God’s word says,

Jesus Take the Wheel

First of all, I would like to thank Bernadette for her wonderful post, Jesus Take the Wheel, and for introducing me to the song of the same name by Carrie Underwood.

I read her post this morning and commented on it, but in thinking about it afterwards, I realized that I have more to say, and I wanted to share it here.

Random Thoughts On Food, Love, And Obedience

I have tried to come up with a blog topic for days but have been unable to come up with anything  coherent that I could write about.  The problem is, I have had several things churning through my mind, so no one thing will bubble to the surface and present itself as a single topic.

So, I have decided to just share some of my thoughts as a blog post.

The Road Back

This post is part three of a planned three-part story of my testimony and Christian walk. In the first chapter, A Sinner Finds Grace, I wrote about how I came to know the Lord and the miraculous healing that I received at the time. In the second  chapter, Journey Into Darkness, I wrote about how I slipped away from a life in the Spirit and into a life lived in the flesh. In this, the last chapter, I am writing about God’s seeking and finding His lost sheep, and how He brought me back into His fold.

As I wrote at the end of the last chapter, the third most important event of my life occurred in may 2009.  That’s when I lost a very good job and the Lord finally got my attention after so many years of me living by my own strength.

It was obvious right from the start that this was a bad time to be out of work.  Here in California, the unemployment rate was climbing past 12% and people at the employment office said that the average time of unemployment was from 6-9 months.  In my case, it turned out to be 15 months.

Journey Into Darkness

This post is part two of a planned three-part story of my Christian walk.  In the first chapter, A Sinner Finds Grace, I wrote about how I came to know the Lord and the miraculous healing that I received at the time.  In this chapter, I will be writing about how I slipped away from a life in the Spirit and into a life lived in the flesh.  In the final chapter, I will be writing about God’s seeking and finding His lost sheep, and how He brought me back into His fold. (eventually titled, “The Road Back“)

After I received the gift of eternal life in the Lord through God’s grace in 1980, I began a lifelong journey of discipleship, fellowship, and later, backsliding and a return to a sinful life.

For awhile though, I was an eager attendee of Sunday and Wednesday Church services, Sunday school, and Bible studies.  I bought a good Bible and started highlighting it and writing in the margins.  I was married to my first wife then.  I know now that the marriage was a mistake from the beginning, and even my growing relationship with the Lord couldn’t save it.  We divorced in 1984.

A Sinner Finds Grace

Sometimes we reach a point in our lives where it all just stops making sense.  Sometimes the things that used to be fun have become boring.  Or maybe a relationship is ending or has just ended.  Or life has become a sad and lonely place, and full of questions and doubts.  Is this all there is?  What’s the point?  Is it really worth it?

I’ve had days just like that.  Or, to be perfectly honest, I’ve had years like that.

I started smoking when I was fifteen years old.  I started sneaking alcohol from the family liquor cabinet when I was 16.  I started experimenting with marijuana at 17.  I was using it heavily shortly after high school and started experimenting with many other drugs as well, but primarily cocaine and LSD.