"God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life."--the Bible

To my young friends:
Hope this letter finds you enjoying your time at home and getting your school work done.   I do miss you a lot!  But I don’t miss going out –I do like staying home –as I’m trying to get stuff done and am disappointed at my slow pace.  I hope we’ll have summertime for the lake –and maybe church camp and a late VBS.  You would be in Young Teen camp this year, and that might be more fun for you.

HERE is one  Christian teaching lesson –for your home school studies.

The  Lord has been schooling me at home, too.    I’m finding that daily Bible reading really DOES inspire me –I had been lax about this –because I do know a lot of scripture to share to others and  for situations that arise, etc. having been exposed to sermons, S.S  teachers,  youth group leaders  and then Christian college and their chapels and classes –all my life.    My parents were believers who saw to it that we were in church Sunday morning,, Sunday night, and Wednesday night  and in a youth group called “Christian Endeavor.”   (Endeavor means  effort with purpose, I suppose.  We use it in a sentence the way we would use the word “try.”   “ I Try to be a Christian”  or  “I endeavor (try)  to live for Him.”

I’m keeping  a prayer list, too, and praying more.  –I’m praying for you girls and your families by name –your parents and grandparents  --and their significant others.    Praying for my family, the church families –praying for the missionaries and the ones being persecuted for their faith in Iran, Africa, India, No. Korea, China, Bangladesh, Indonesia,  Pakistan, Iraq, --all the Middle East.  I pray that God will send them some kind jailers and jail-mates –that they will be helped in their sufferings –that they will get out soon –that their rulers will  feel convicted about their cruelty and put an end to it.  And we pray against the virus  and for those suffering and who have lost loved ones–and we pray  against poverty and starvation in the world.  And for those suffering pain of any kind  (which God  has helped ME with recently –as I believe He helped Vlada with  her issue.)      And the Bible tells us to pray for Israel  (the descendants of Abraham, father of the People of the Bible –the Jews)  and the Peace of Jerusalem, which our nation recognized as their capital city recently, something the Muslims did not like because they claim Jerusalem  and any land they once owned as forever theirs  (though God  made The Promised Land, Israel,  a  Jewish nation first, before the Muslims controlled it.)    And we pray for all unbelievers that they will come to know the salvation of the Lord and have ETERNAL LIFE.

SO WHAT IS PRAYER  for one who believes  and has invited Jesus into your heart?     It’s an INTERNAL DIALOGUE, conversation.   The Lord gave me that idea of “internal dialogue”  this morning.    God is  not your “make-believe friend”  but a real friend  who dwells (lives)  INSIDE YOUR HEAD –your SPIRIT –when you invited Him to be your Savior –and “confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.”    “Behold, I stand at the door and knock;  If anyone hears My voice,” says Christ, “ and will open the door, I will come into him/her  and dine with him/her –fellowship with him/her.”   –as in the elements of the Communion when we eat the bread representing His sacrificed body and drink the  grapejuice  or wine  (the fruit of the vine--representing His blood shed to cover and forgive our sins..)   We invite  Him “into our hearts.”    Heart, meaning our INNERMOST BEING –our MIND and our SPIRIT. 

I’ve no doubt that Jesus is alive with His Father  (and with us in His Holy Spirit ) as the Bible says –and rose from the dead.    Many people in HIS  day  denied it was possible –but the Bible  says as many as 500 people SAW HIM ALIVE after His certain death and burial.   And  that is why the Bible writers believed, told others, were willing to die to proclaim  the salvation of God through Jesus –and started a world-wide  church  (all the believers)   that exists to this very day.     WHY?  Because God loves us enough to make  a way for us to live  free from slavery to sin and eternal death.     It’s not the plan WE might’ve come up with –but it is consistent with the history of all peoples –they felt a need to make sacrifices to appease the gods of nature –in hopes they would have a good harvest, good weather, safety, victory against enemies who would harm them.     For all the ancient peoples KNEW  they did not make themselves –and did not exist by accident –but by an Intelligent Designer.   They looked for Him –God -- in the moon and the sun and in things made with their hands –and worshiped these things.

SO the REAL DESIGNER/ CREATOR  REVEALED HIMSELF to the first couple He made in HIS image –we are made like Him –and He says  He is not the things He has made in the universe and  that we should NOT worship those things. –His people  sinned, disobeyed God, listened to the enemy of God and obeyed HIM instead of their Creator -- which brought death and disease in the world.  The world got so evil that God chose   Noah and his family  to survive in the ark and start the human race over --  when He sent the global flood (evidence is in the geology and fossils of the earth  and found  in the cultural history of all ancient people groups.)   Then,  many generations later,  when the evil on the earth had increased again, God  revealed Himself  to Abraham –and all His descendants, the Jews,  through Moses and the prophets –who have given us our Bible.   And then He revealed Himself in His Son Jesus who proved His Deity (God-ship)  by   miracles –raising people from the dead –and rising HIMSELF –which we celebrate at Easter.   (If you still have it –and can find it,  I recommend  watching that Jesus movie –the kids’ version—which we gave you –in remembering and celebrating Easter.   HERE it is on YOU Tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thZeb2MlAMw

Then in the first chapter of the Book of Acts,  God  gave us  His Holy Spirit –as Jesus promised “a comforter would come” --God’s very presence within us --so that we might have Him live inside OUR spirits –keeping us from evil –and saving us from death.       Still, there is temptation by the Tempter, named Satan or Lucifer in the Bible, a fallen angel –God’s enemy --who wants our souls to be destroyed.  He hates us humans.    People  may doubt his existence –but  WE CANNOT DOUBT THE EXISTANCE OF EVIL –AND THE TEMPTATION TO DO WRONG –nor doubt that it brings misery and unhappiness in both the short and  long run –broken relationships, harmful addictions, crime, murders, harm to others, wars,  selfishness, feelings of guilt, dislike for others, hatred, even boredom, and desires to do and think  things we KNOW IN OUR HEARTS we ought not do –or think. 

There is always that tension between good and evil in our minds –but  the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD in the believer is THERE to remind us and help us  to do what is right –and to KNOW what is right –with the help of Bible, church, church camp, youth group, sermons, songs –and the counsel (advice)  of other Christians including parents.

The Holy Spirit of God is like the internet in  a much greater way.  He is ALL GOOD as the internet is NOT.  HE IS EVERYWHERE and accessible ALL THE TIME   We can”go on line” –calling on the Name of the Lord –JESUS -- and  learn from Him, be comforted by Him, be helped and taught by Him.   Jesus said our every thought and deed is recorded –but repentance for our sin can erase our sinful record –and remove our sins from us “as far as east is from west” ---as if “buried in the deepest sea” –to be held against us and remembered against us NO MORE.    Jesus says even the hairs of our head our numbered –and that a sparrow does not fall from the sky without God’s notice.     Think of the internet and those computer chips that store minutia of all kinds –that COUNT EVERY WORD as we type them –and we can pull up a total word count.   If our machines—computers—can do the amazing storage  they can do –and produce  stuff INSTANTLY and make  amazing calculations – so it is even more so with the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE –about whom we know VERY LITTLE  except what He has REVEALED  and had men record  in the Bible.  –WE KNOW HE HATES EVIL –and has defined it  in His book.  And He has  revealed Himself to us  and He has had men record those revelations  and the history of the Jews and their relationship with God –and then ours –through Christ’s Jewish followers -- over about 1500  years of writing starting with Moses –and then 2000 more years  since Christ came –of  Christians preserving and translating the original Book –the Bible. 

I KNOW from my own life, that God can guide our decisions, protect us from our own sins when we DO lapse (sin) –as everyone does at times. I KNOW that admitting our sins, and  believing in Him and striving to live to please HIM is the way to  be blessed in life –not that we shall never know trouble or loss –that is part of our earthly situation on a sin-shadowed, sin-damaged planet.    –But   I can tell you that God CAN  give you a blessed marriage,  happy children, -and meet your daily needs,  “our daily bread” –and help you avoid the sadness that comes with broken or abusive and miserable  relationships,  and can give you a wonderful life going forward as you maintain that “internal conversation”  with Him as YOUR LORD and Savior.    As you become part of a church community  that teaches the Bible and prays and loves each other.  (Granted, some churches are better than others in that regard, and there are people in churches who are NOT listening to the Spirit and loving as they should –especially immature people and youth –but in a good Bible-believing, teaching church,  we do fortify each other’s faith –and look out for one another.)   I can’t over-recommend Christian colleges  during those years when we are learning about things beyond our upbringing.   For me, it was a great place to find my wonderful husband –as well as a place where I  became even MORE sure  that  our Christian faith  is grounded in historical TRUTH about God and man –and the way to eternal life.

I pray  the following   prayer will be YOURS –forever.   

“Spirit of the Living God –fall fresh on me –Fill me –Use me --

Well here it is in  the song:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BagH-zTfnsQ

If this becomes your heart’s prayer, then the following song tells of  the result –sung by a college singing group, called Heritage Singers-–don’t laugh at the 70’s people !–the way MY generation dressed alike in their singing groups (I like it!)  and  notice the hairstyles –and the bell bottom pants!      (You may recall this song played in my car, Vlada and Katience—as sung in church by Steph, Chris and Andrea.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2bIsboZz0g

LOVE,  Barb