Atheists Will Tell You

Atheists will tell you that there isn't any war on Christians. Nevertheless, twice as many Christians were killed in 2013 as in 2012.

from Open Doors USA in its report “World Watch.”

“All I Need Is The Air That I Breath and To Love You.”

That's a line from a song from when I was young. 

"All I need is the air that I breath and to love you."

The song writer's opinion on love may change over time.

The part about his need for air?

He's bang on.

In fact, he will breath that air in and out about 20,000 times a day; most of the time without even thinking about it. We are totally dependent on the air we breath.

It's the same for followers of Jesus. Jesus' gift to us, translated as Holy Spirit, comes form the Greek and Hebrew Wind or Breath. As Christians we cannot live the Christian life with Him.

A commitment to follow Jesus is in reality a promise to do the impossible. It's means losing this life, giving away this life along with its priorities in order to see and interact with others as Jesus did. We simply cannot do that > unless we are totally dependent on Jesus' Spirit for strength, direction, correction and so on.

Doubting that reality leads to tremendous harm to the Kingdom of God. As the prophet Nathan said to King David, "You have given great opportunity to the enemies of God to despise and blaspheme Him."

How long can you hold your breath? 

Little children sometimes like to try. 

Sadly, so too do immature Christians. They like to see how long to can live the Christian life without relying on the Holy Spirit. It takes some people a long long time to accept that life is much, much better when we have more love, more joy, more peace, more patience, more kindness, more goodness, more faithfulness, more gentleness, and more self-control.

Breathing the stale spiritual air that the world offers grows tiresome after awhile. Taking in the pure spiritual air that Jesus offers is so worth it. 

Fridays Thoughts on Marriage

This is number 10 in a weekly series I began on December 21^st/13 with a post called, “Married Forever?

Because the command to Submit to one another carries such huge baggage for many people (sadly many Christians seem as confused as those who live upon the earth), I'm going to continue with that subject for just a bit.

I've said that instead of concentrating on the “behaviours of love,” we are far more successful when we focus on drawing closer to, and abiding in Jesus. I've also said that when couples focus on fixing a troubled marriage, they are not nearly as successful as when they focus on fixing their troubled relationship with Jesus. It is His Spirit that changes us which in turn changes our thoughts and behaviours. The former is little more than acting as though we're followers of Jesus. The latter provides genuine evidence of a changed character. Changing behaviours on their own ends in fatigue and failure. The indwelling Spirit of the Christ does the work for us, so to speak.

Having said that, in Ephesians 5:22,25, Paul instructs women to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the Church “giving Himself up for her.” The latter requires a far greater degree of self-sacrifice or dying to self, although each partner is called to a life of self-sacrifice for the other. The Holy Spirit can work this change of focus in us. I have yet to see anyone do it on their own for emotionally / spiritually healthy reasons.

For those indwelt by God's Spirit, giving others “preferential treatment over ourselves,” comes quite naturally and easily, without losing one iota of worth or value. This is not thinking that others are always better human beings than ourselves; rather it's thinking about ourselves less often and in turn treating others with deference. When the Holy Spirit forms our character, we simply view the interests of others before we notice our own, just as Jesus, the Creator of the universe stepped down from His throne to fix what we had destroyed. Just as Jesus the Christ did not “please Himself,” but did what was best for us, to save us, to love us and to draw us into a relationship with Himself. He came to earth, not be served but to serve us and give His life for us; then He says, “Follow Me in your relationship with others.” He met our needs at the cost of His own life and that is how husbands and wives are to treat each other until the death of one or the other ends the relationship.

In a Biblical marriage, as the spiritual head of the home, the husband is to take the lead in demonstrating servant-leadership.

More on this next Friday

Do You Represent Jesus?

When the Spirit of Creator God resides within a person, would you not expect that person to present thoughts and behaviours and cultural, familial and economic ideals, that reflect the person of Jesus?

When the Spirit of Creator God resides within a person, would you not expect that person to share a view of wealth and prosperity, of racial and gender equality that Jesus showed?

When the Spirit of Creator God resides within a person, would you not expect that person to reject any sort of in-group mentality based upon worldly standards and reject hypocritical judgements that push people further down into a state of helpless and hopelessness?

So why is it that we as Christians in North America wear Jesus as an accessory to our worldly life-style and expect Him to bless our pursuit of wealth and power and the appearance of material success?

How Much Is Too Much?

Because of physical health issues I'm exhausted. Because I'm exhausted I've been feeling overwhelmed by the problems of the world. Too many people need counselling. Too many people need food and safety. Too many people are slaves (current estimate 27 million).

I'm staggered by the amount of sin that we simply ignore.

We just let people be used and abused. It's easier that way. Or so we think. Raw human brokenness is on display daily, crying out for someone to help, and at best we who have so much toss them a biscuit or a couple coins. 

But then I think – Am I even asked to fix it all? 

Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will love one another. Your love for others will be the measure of whether I am a living presence in your life. My indwelling presence in your life will guide your desires to match My desire to help the poor and needy. It's not that helping the poor will save you. It's that helping those whose lives are broken is evidence that I reside within your soul. If I am truly your friend, you will see Me, waiting to be loved, within every person you meet who is in need.”

As a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, what I'm asked to do is meet the need that's in front of me. I'm asked to heal the person that God brings to my attention. I'm asked, at minimum to love the one who crosses my path either in person or online. The world is a mass of suffering and Jesus has shown us what is expected of us.

He never apologizes for the suffering. It's not His fault. We are the ones who invited this mess to take place. Neither however does He look the other way. Jesus steps into the middle of our messy lives. He asks us to grab hold of His hand and spend time in the hard places; to not seek safety and comfort but to give comfort and mercy and love.

I'm Afraid of Jesus

You wouldn't believe the number of Christians who are scared of Jesus. Sure, they've prayed a prayer asking for forgiveness, and they've maybe even been baptized. But do they “follow” Jesus? Do they do what He says regarding relationships and money and issues of integrity? Nope. And you know why? It's too scary. They're afraid of what He might ask of them.

I get that. Been there, done that, as people used to say.  If you haven't tried stepping out in faith, if you haven't trusted Jesus enough to obey Him, then you don't know from experience that He is good. Not safe, as C.S. Lewis would caution, but He is good.

You see, Jesus asks us to die to self. He asks us to turn our backs on what the world says we can't live without. He asks us to trust Him. Sadly, many, perhaps even most of those who call themselves followers of Jesus trust the world's vision of security and value rather than trusting their Saviour. But think about this!

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?

Romans 8:32

Seriously? You think we can't trust our Lord, Creator and Saviour? He's held nothing back. He's paid the price for our sins at His own expense. You don't need to doubt the love of someone whose own blood has been spilled for your good.

. So, what if you stopped worrying about whether Jesus is going to make your life difficult? Life IS difficult regardless of whether you're a Christian or not. As the saying goes, "In this life you will suffer. You will either suffer with Jesus or without Him. 

. So, what if you allowed yourself to realize that just on the other side of what Jesus asks of you lies a life that's better than you ever imagined? Jesus and the presence of His Holy Spirit changes suffering into something that cannot destroy us. 

. So, what if just on the other side of your fear lies a life that is full and abundant beyond description? 

. And then, what if you acted upon that belief? How would your life be different? I can tell you how it would be, and so can millions of others who have taken this step. Casting all your anxieties upon Jesus creates the most amazing life possible.

Jesus longs to give us a good life. He died to give us the best existence possible.

You know at a fundamental level that what the world offers stands no chance of delivering on its promises. You know that. So what are you waiting for? What have you got to lose? Take hold of Jesus' hand and with eyes wide open step into a life of obedience. To trust and obey is not a leap in the dark. Rather it's a step into the light. 

The Good Atheist

I haven't read any atheist blogs for a long time. However, when I left that part of the internet, there was a HUGE push for atheists to start being good people, demonstrably good, publicly good. After thousands of years of mocking and jeering those who attempt to follow God, derisively calling them do-gooders, modern atheists have declared, “For the survival and growth of atheism we have to start acting more like Christians. We have to do more for others.” The old atheist tendency, found in the comment of one atheist blogger, “Can't I just fuck around and watch tv if I want to?” is no longer acceptable to organized atheism. There are now rules to follow.

That's why atheists do good for non kin relationships. But the question then arises, what about Christians? Why are they such – well – such do-gooders?

I think the reason is, it's not the Christian who's doing it. When you see true Holiness taking place it's because of the presence of the Holy Spirit. In fact, where there is no Holiness, there is no Holy Spirit.

For those in a healed and forgiven relationship with Jesus, it is His Spirit who directs and guides them toward the things that interest Him. To put it crudely, 

Christians are possessed. 

And as long as they obey Jesus' command to, “Abide in Me,” Christians will do what the Holy Spirit leads, directs and guides them to do. Jesus said, “Where I Am, there My servants will be also.” And where is Jesus? He's with the poor, the sick and the down-trodden and with those on the fringes of society. Jesus is serving and by extension, so are His servants. 

Jesus Goes Viral

“I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very centre of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”

atheist historian H.G. Wells

Through a power surge of influence that knocked the socio / religious / economic and political world off it axis, Jesus wanted you know about Him and the Kingdom He came to represent. And indeed that's what happened.

When Jesus came to earth to tell about the radical social change that was God's Kingdom come, on earth as it is in Heaven, He wanted the whole world to know about it. So He chose as His messengers those people in whom this radical change would be the most visible: mostly the poor, the outcast, those on the fringes of society, those rejected by “good society” but in some cases the most visible change occurred in those who already considered themselves good people, even holy - the religious leaders.

“The doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven, which was the main teaching of Jesus, is certainly one of the most revolutionary doctrines that ever stirred and changed human thought.”

atheist historian, H.G. Wells

Jesus took it to the streets and lived a Kingdom life; one of peace, and forgiveness and mercy – toward His enemies. He showed complete disdain for wealth and riches. He showed contempt for power. Pride and possessions, looks and intellectual accomplishment were ridiculed by Jesus. Jesus turned His back on nearly everything that most people consider indispensable for a “good” life.

And when His followers showed that we really can live this counter-cultural life and live it abundantly, His message went viral.

Jesus gets billions of hits, not just daily, but throughout each and every day.

In North America, many who self-identify as Christians are so culturally identical to the society around them, where Jesus is merely worn as an accessory to their worldly life-style, that Jesus is rarely recognized, and when He is acknowledged, it is often as the butt of jokes and ridicule. For example, in this video Bill Maher describes much of Christianity in North America today:

http://infidel753.blogspot.ca/2014/01/video-of-day-christianity-is-unworkable.html

Yet, where ever a demonstration of God's Kingdom in action is being lived out, still by small bands of misfits, Jesus changes history.

The indwelling of His Spirit leads each Christian (“You will know them by how they speak and act” Jesus), to carry on that challenge. To feed the hungry, to end oppression and discrimination, to enrich the poor, to take care of orphans and widows, to clothe the naked, to heal the sick and to bring the good news of forgiveness and reconciliation to the world.

As atheists and functional atheists know today regarding followers of Jesus, those in power then (the religious elite), also knew,

“It's either the death of Jesus and His message, or the end of society as we know it.”

Then as now, Christianity and the teaching of Jesus that is its source must be done away with if the pleasures of this world are to be maintained.

If you're interested in the difference between a true historian (eg. H.G. Wells) and a typical “brute beast” atheist (as G.K. would call him), check out the video at:

http://winteryknight.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/did-jesus-exist-agnostic-historian-bart-ehrman-debates-infidel-guy/

How Many Murders Is Enough?

What do you think it does to a society when it supports the murder of almost 2 million children a year? Do you think it makes us less caring? Do you think it numbs our sensibilities which in turn allows us to ignore even greater abuse of one another?

Did you know that if only 1 person in 10 who call themselves Evangelical Christians adopted one child who needs a home, every child in North America now in care would have a home?

Did you know that?

The New Testament tells us that because of the rise of wickedness, as history winds down, “the love of many will grow cold.” The writer is talking about the diminishing love of those who self-identify as followers of Jesus.

If we who profess to be Christians won't take care of the most helpless among us, who will? 

Let’s Make A Deal

Muslims, atheists and come cults that call themselves Christian, like the Jehovah’s Witness and Mormons would like to make a deal with God. It goes something like this. You let me say that Jesus wasn’t God and I’ll say that He was a really good man, a moral teacher, a good example.

Some (read atheists) think that’s too extravagant and will only go so far as to say, You let me say that Jesus wasn’t God and I’ll agree that Jesus might have existed - He probably didn’t exist but He might have. These people think that because they’ve been so gracious in their estimation of Jesus, should the existence of God turn out to be true, He’ll overlook their vile and evil character.

Actually, those are not options. I mean, if Jesus wasn’t who He said He was, a liar is the least of names that we could call Him. If Jesus is not exactly who He said He is, there should be a crime against His words and actions for they are vile in the extreme. If He was just a man, then Jesus was an imposter, a fraud, a monster. Think about it! If Jesus wasn’t who He said He was, then:

Jesus conned people into dying for Him.

Jesus told people to worship Him.

Jesus told others to be honest, while He lived a lie.

Jesus told others to trust Him to save their souls.

If Jesus was not who He said He was then He was a blasphemer of the highest order.

If Jesus was not who He said He was then He was a megalomaniac and a psychopath.

In the account of Jesus saying, “Which is easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or “Get up and walk,” Jesus was NOT saying to the Pharisees, “You’re wrong to say only God can forgive sin.” They were bang on for that point. Their error was saying He was not God.

There are no deals to be cut here. Jesus left doubters with absolutely no middle ground. He’s either a fraud and blasphemer or God incarnate. Jesus was saying to them and to us, “I can do things that only God can do.”

Unlike present day fraudulent healers, Jesus healed instantly, completely, permanently. In the account just mentioned, where Jesus said, “Which is easier, to forgive this man’s sins or heal him?” the man’s atrophied muscles, brittle bones, bent and twisted arms and legs were made whole; strength and dexterity were restored in a moment of time. It WAS something that only God could do. Even with the proof walking out the door right in front of them, the Pharisee’s, as with today’s atheists, looked only for a way to deny who Jesus was.

Like holocaust deniers who live on the fringes of reality, for those who don’t want to believe that Jesus is who He says He is, no amount of evidence is enough.

And no deal with be made.

You do the crime.

You will do the time.

Tolerate You – OR – Exclude You

Sadly, that's a tough decision for many people – Christians included.

Sadly, many people see the solution only within this dichotomy.

The fact is, excluding those who wilfully live a sinful life lacks Jesus' kind of love. On the other hand, tolerating a sinful life lacks the kind of courage that Jesus displayed.

Jesus rejected both tolerating and excluding.

Jesus came to those who rejected Him in order to bring them safely home. He said in effect, “I'm going away to prepare a place for you and in the meantime, I'm going to purify you from your sin so that you will become the kind of people who are prepared live in that place.”

To prove that He was serious about this, Jesus came from His throne in heaven, to live among us, with us. He became one of us, identifying with us in our lost and lonely state. And He walked with us all the way to the cross, taking upon Himself a punishment that we could not bear so that we might one day spend eternity in His presence.

Can't we do that same for those who today reject His offer of love and forgiveness? Can't we go to them? Can't we show love to them? Mercy? Kindness? Compassion?

We can't do this while excluding them from our presence. Nor can we do this by excusing or merely tolerating their sin.

All that God has asked us to do is to love others. Love them. Be gentle and understanding and merciful and to point them toward the greatest love and forgiveness this universe will ever know.

Atheists in Community

Atheist Churches are springing up around the world. Those who attend these congregations say they miss the community that a “real” congregation provides. What's more, they assume that it's this human need to be in community that drives Christians to attend Church. I suppose that in some cases they might be right – about why some people attend Church I mean.

For those who are serious about growing in their walk with Jesus however, meeting together with other like-motivated believers is indispensable. We need their insight, their protecting, encouraging, their warning and restoring ministry to us. We simply cannot make it spiritually on our own.

The effort to be an autonomous Christian will not and cannot ever work. This is because we cannot learn to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who persecute us if we are not in contact with these people. God designed our spiritual maturing to be grown in community as a community project.

If atheists want to go an listen to poems and be inspired by good speakers, and if they want to enjoy the benefits of being with others, good for them. Let them meet where ever and whenever they want.

If those who follow Jesus want to become like Him, and they do, then we have no option but to follow Him into the throngs and learn to love others and to be loved by others.

Homosexuals Ruined My Marriage

That's the fear that some people have – right? Some Christians say, "It won't ruin my marriage, exactly, but marriage in general, and the family specifically will be torn apart if homosexuals are allowed marital rights."

Truth is, the fact that we've arrived at a place where homosexual marriage is even being talked about in the way that it is means that marriage, as it was meant to be, is already ruined. It was ruined way back when common-law relationships were considered equal to marriage as instituted by our Creator. In fact by the time they're 39 years old, 60% of women will have lived in a common-law relationship. That's something when you think that prior to 1960, almost no one, only those on the criminal / addiction fringes lived common-law.

What we have before us today is a generation of children who know nothing of the kind of love that makes life-long commitment to a relationship possible.

All mammals, including humans, learn relationship by what they see while growing up. Deny those essential observations and you've emotionally and relationally handicapped that offspring for life.

Because we've turned our backs on Jesus  ("The one who loves Me is the one who will obey Me."), we've ordained temporary arrangements that are built on “Can you make me happy,” the standard by which we determine “love.”

We've sown the wind and we will indeed reap a whirlwind. 

Look What I Did!”

Sadly, some people who call themselves Christians think like that in terms of salvation.

“Except that a person be born again, s/he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

“No one comes to Jesus unless Father God draws that person to Jesus.”

If the Holy Spirit does not make of us New Creations, we are not capable of seeing our need for forgiveness for our sinful and rebellious human nature.

Unless God uses the same power that created the universe, and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, to create in us a new heart so to speak, nothing and no one can change us from self-worshipping, self-adoring, self-obsessed creatures of rebellion, to those who worship and obey our Creator.

We must be born again from above or all hope is lost.

C.O.Y.O.T.E.

I don't know if it still exists, but there used to be an organization, in Nevada, I think it was, made up of prostitutes and those who use and abuse them called C.O.Y.O.T.E.

It's an acronym that stands for, “Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics.”

Yep, that's what we need. Those who sell their bodies for cash and drugs defining the moral parameters of society.

It's nothing new of course. In the book of Psalms we read:

“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, "Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”

Psalms 2:1-3

Every soul who has rejected God's Truth feels imprisoned, constrained, tied down by the prison they have constructed for themselves. 

They are slaves of satan in every sense of the word. 

In bondage to sin. 

Incapable of freeing themselves. 

Because these people are so dull of mind and slow of thought (sin makes us stupid), they actually believe that true freedom is to be found in a total rejection of their Creator.

That's why there is such a rage mounting against Christians and the teachings of Jesus around the world. It hasn't reached a critical mass of opposition – yet – but it's coming.

The stakes are enormous. There is only one force standing between what human nature wants and what it feels it's forced to accept. And that force is Jesus and those who follow His teaching.

Only Jesus keeps the powerful from completely obliterating the weak.

Only Jesus keeps the law from descending into anarchy.

Only Jesus stands in opposition to those who long for an atheistic world power.

As history winds down and as Jesus slowly but surely withdraws His hand of protection, those who oppose God and everything to do with God are going to get exactly what they want – an eternity without any influence of God.

Spiritual or Religious

Ugh! I hate it when Christians nit pick over words. The Good News, the Gospel of Jesus, isn't religion, or a spirituality or even a non religion. It isn't morality or moralism or relativism. The Gospel that Jesus brought to us isn't about being conservative or liberal. The Gospel states plain and clear facts about our universe.

. Everyone is loved by Creator God.

. Everyone has sinned and is in a broken relationship with Creator God.

. Everyone is called to admit to our fallen nature and ask for forgiveness.

What we are tempted to do however, and by we I mean both Christians and those who have rejected Jesus, is to view life as a dichotomy.

We're in and they are out.

We are good and they're bad.

We're tolerant and they are not.

We are accepting and they are bigoted.

We are the solution and they are the problem.

We're open-minded and they're narrow or closed minded.

Jesus however, says that everyone is the problem and that He will accept those humble enough to admit to that reality. Those who admit that they suck at pretending to be good will be accepted. That's because knowing that you need forgiveness is a prerequisite for receiving forgiveness.

Those who are determined to continue the ruse that they're good people will be turned away from God. “The Lord despises and opposes the proud but He gives grace to the humble.”

Seeking to Please

Polite is good – right? 

Rude is bad – yes? 

People like Rob Bell know how to make sinners feel good – no doubt. For even if you have to go to hell – if it exists at all – it won't be for long.

That's what the Christian Leader Rob Bell says.

In fact, your time in hell will be just long enough to make you change your mind. It'll be just long enough for you to decide that when you said, “I'd rather stand in hell, than kneel in heaven,” you spoke in haste.

I wonder how many people he's convinced.

It's strange how we Christians will talk among ourselves about being saved by God. We were lost but Jesus chose us for salvation. And we'll shudder at verses like Romans 9:23 and think, “It could have been me.” But when we stand with non believers, it's like God's love will secure the salvation of everyone.

No rocking the boat please.

The desire to have the praise of people is a powerful thing.

The approval of God? Mmm not so much. Apparently.

We'll acknowledge among ourselves how great a gift is the gift of Grace. But let us get among the heathen and their attempts to describe their goodness and worthiness, and it's all head nodding and hmmm, maybe.

We know, in like company, that it's the Holy Spirit Who guides, counsels, comforts and corrects. But you don't hear so much about the greatest gift to our lives when we're out and about.

Sad.

Which Saviour Do You Rely On?

In Jesus' parable of the lost son, or prodigal son, the younger son rejected the Father openly and carelessly. The elder son, on the other hand, lost the Father through wrong headed obedience.

I see clients like this all the time. The obey God, not to know Him, to love Him, to become like Him or to delight in His love. They obey God to coerce Him to keep His end of the bargain that they invented, i.e. They obey God in order to “force” Him to be good to them.

These people obey God to put Him in their debt and get control over Him. Instead of relying on God's goodness and grace and mercy, just as pagans and atheists, these religious people seek to become their own Saviours.

Some people determine to be their own saviour. They break God's laws at will and set their own moral course. Others, many who consider themselves to be Christians, determine to be their own saviour by keeping all the moral laws of God in order to force Him to save them out of some sense of obligation.

Both ways set us apart from Jesus in efforts of futility and gross disrespect.

Atheists Save the World

I've been doing a series on secular efforts to save the world. They've included:

- Science
- The combination of wide-spread, higher education and stupendous wealth

- Then it was sex without the perceived confinement of marriage.

- The coerced celebration of the sexually disoriented.

- Easy divorce

- Feminism
- The pursuit of everything.

- The condescending attitude of tolerance.

We Christians, on the other hand are not innocent of making a mess of things.

The desire to exclude those who live in opposition to God's will lacks love for that person. To tolerate the sin shows a lack of courage to love those same people. Out of love Jesus rejects both exclusion and tolerance.

Jesus' love continues, even when it’s called judgemental. Jesus’ love doesn’t just tolerate one’s acquaintances or even one’s enemies. Jesus’ love looks past the ugliness of your hidden thoughts, and the sanctimonious posturing about your tolerance. Jesus flat out rejects human plans that are destined for failure and says, ‘Come to me, all of you who are loaded down with life’s cares, and I will give you rest for your weary souls. I will give you peace beyond comprehension. I will guard your hearts and your minds and I will liberate you from anxiety.’ And so, followers of Jesus are able to say, "I love you too much to merely tolerate you. You’re far too important to God for me to just accept your sin in the hope that you will extend the same degree of cold-hearted, self-serving hypocrisy to me."

Jesus’ love invites you to come in from the cold. In response to jeering and mocking, Jesus’ love says, "I will go beyond tolerance. I will be good to you on every level, even to the point of honesty. I will passionately seek the best for you even if you see me as your enemy and hate me simply because you don’t like to hear what I’m saying." The best part about all this is that unlike those who are wise in their own eyes, Jesus is able to deliver on His promise to bring to you love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

A Joy That Never Ends

The Bible speaks of a peace that is beyond the human ability to understand. It comes from Jesus guarding our hearts and our minds like a military sentry. He provides emotional and spiritual protection.

As Isaiah said, “They will live in perfect peace, those whose faith is in the Lord.”

Christians can experience the fleeting pleasures that are available to all human beings. Fortunately we do not need to arrange a line-up of these events to make sure our gratification never ends.

When we learn to identify the presence of Jesus in every situation, we begin to see that His Spirit gives to us an enduring sense of pleasure and joy throughout our lives, day in and day out.