Where Is God?
Posted in Daily Focus on Sunday, September 22, 2013
"Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24:26-27).
My son was only six when our family invested in a quality telescope for star gazing. Star charts and nightly excursions to see the planets and stars became part of our homeschool curriculum. My young son's strong interest in this subject amazed me, especially one night when he asked, "When are we going to see God?" I realized then that he had been expecting to see God in the heavenly night sky through the telescope's lens.
Although my son's idea of finding God in the sky by looking through a telescope was slightly incorrect, the Bible does tell us that Christ's return will be evident to all the world. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:29-30). Even the angels announced to the disciples that Christ would return in the same way he left Earth — in the clouds (Acts 1:11).
Christ is returning to Earth someday. Although no one knows when that time will come, we need to live expectantly for that moment. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Are you ready for His return? Have you given your life to the Lord? Now is the time to accept Jesus as your Savior! "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9).
Lord Jesus, You are a great and holy Lord. I believe the promise of Your return is real. I repent of my sins and accept You as my Savior. In Your name I pray, Amen.
Comments(13 comments)
Dalila B 09/22/2010 18:32:06
Thank God for this newsletter it is all I recieve each day to encourage me along this uncertain path I take as a homeschooling Mom . This one in particular put my focus back towards heaven, where I hope and pray it stays. God Bless
MANDY B 09/22/2011 07:49:42
It is so true that we must confess Him and believe in God. We can\'t obey him if we don\'t do these things. But we can\'t stop there. Peter didn\'t stop there when he told thousands of people in Acts 2:38 that the needed to \"Repent and be baptized for the remission of sin\". Ananias told Saul to \"Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins.\" These individuals believed before they were baptized, but they were not saved yet. They were added to Christ\'s church after they were baptized (Acts 2:47). The Ethiopian eunuch asked, \"What hinders me from being baptized?\" Philip said \"If you believe with all your heart, you may,\" The eunuch already believed or he wouldn\'t have asked the question. But he knew he needed to be baptized because Philip had just finished preaching about Jesus to him. When you preach Jesus, you preach baptism. Remember Christ\'s last words to his apostles in Matthew and in Mark. \"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.\" \"He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe, will be condemned.\" Belief is only the beginning. Without it we are condemned because we will not obey anything else. Without belief, baptism won\'t occur and certainly living a life for Christ will not occur. So many in the denominational world stop at belief, say a prayer, and believe that they are saved. Nowhere in the Bible does anyone pray themselves into salvation. When Jesus told the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in Paradise, they were still under the Old Law of Moses. Christ had not died and had not established the New Covenant nor had he spoken His great commission. Christ needed to die in order for the New Covenant to be in place. His blood sacrifice did just that. 1 Peter 3:21 says that \"There is an antitype which now saves us- baptism.\" Noah had to build and get into the ark, then God would save him. Naaman had to dip 7 times, then God would save him. We have to be baptized, then God will save us. God wants to see obedient action as all of those did who are mentioned in Hebrews 11. It's not my work that saves me. It is God\'s work, His scrubbing, His cleansing, that is taking away our sins. But it\'s our obedience that is coupled with our belief and faith in Him that He will do it. Romans 6: 1-11 says that we are buried with Him through baptism. How similar is His death, burial, and resurrection, to our death to sin, burial in baptism, and resurrection of new clean sinless individual after baptism. God\'s roadmap to salvation is amazing. May God bless you studies in His Word.
I have added some wonderful websites for your studies.
http://www.thetruthinlove.com/cataloglinked.html
http://www.christiancourier.com/
http://www.apologeticspress.com/
http://www.focuspress.org/
In Him,
M.B.
MARY H 09/22/2011 08:04:26
Baptism is not a part of salvation. It is an act of obedience after salvation. Some believe that baptism is a door to membership of the local church but the bible is clear that Jesus\' death on the cross was sufficient to save us and we do not need to add anything to that. Infact if we are trusting in the act of baptism to save us, then we have not put our trust in Christ at all.
MANDY B 09/22/2011 08:25:05
Was Peter lying in 1 Peter 3:21? Was Philip lying in Acts 8:36-38? Was Paul lying in Acts 22:16? Was Christ lying in his last words to his apostles in Matt 28:19-20 and Mark 16:16? Baptism does not add you to a local congregation. Christ adds us to his church Acts 2:47. His death on the cross was necessary for us to come in contact with his blood. Galations 3:27 says that \"as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.\" How do we put Him on? Through baptism. Romans 3:1-6 explains that. Never was salvation given to those who only believed. Never will you find an example of that in the New Testament. The Jailer believed and then in Acts 16:32 \"they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.\" What words were spoken? Was it the same words spoken to the Ethiopian eunuch? Because it\'s the same response...Baptism. In verse 33 they took them that very hour of the night to be baptized. It was a display of obediece. A show of his faith as I explained earlier. I think this is the snag and hang up of most people in denominations. If we do it the New Testament way, then we are Christ\'s church. If we do it our way, we have no part with him. For there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:4-6). Part of our faith is believing that baptism does save us. Did Noah\'s thinking save him, or his doing and action, which was his show of faith. Did the Jailer spoken of ealier need only to believe or did he also need to be baptized? I beg you to do more study on this. It will determine our eternal home.
MARY H 09/22/2011 09:40:53
I don\'t want to argue the point. I merely presented to any who may be less studied in bible doctrines than you and I that not everyone believes as you do. You are welcome to, and you have, communicated your position and I respectfully acknowledge your Passion and earnestness. I believe you are sincere in your belief and that your heart is to spare us from an eternity in hell. That is exactly my heart in retiring your statements concerning salvation through baptism as I believe that is a works salvation that is contrary to scripture. We are saved by God\'s grace through our faith and not of works lest any man should boast. Also, I\'m sure you are familiar with the theif on the cross who Jesus said would be with Him that very night in paradise. He was not taken down baptized and re-crucified. He was saved from his sins through the legal transaction of the shedding of Christ\'s innocent blood and through his faith that Jesus truly is the Son of God. Salvation for all comes in the same manner. Not through anything that we can do but by the unbelievably miraculous grace of God alone.
RYAN E 09/22/2011 09:45:17
Good morning, everyone! Thank you so much for your comments. I just wanted to give a gentle reminder that this blog is not a place for theological/doctrinal debate but a place to encourage homeschoolers. Please keep that in mind as you continue to read and interact!
CHRISTINE K 09/22/2011 10:56:41
Amen, Ryan. Thank you so much for bringing the focus back to the Lord and the spirit in which the journal entry was intended and for removing it from \"self\" and \"self\'s position.\"
TRACEY D 09/22/2012 07:31:55
Thank you for this devotion it has been truly inspirational to me.I do not believe that your point was to split any hairs, but ONLY to draw nonbelievers to Christ. I write a daily devotional myself and when I signed up for this one, it has blessed me every since. It achieves its purpose, it encourages. Thank you for your diligence in preparing them.
KATHY S 09/22/2012 08:00:26
I have taught my son that the most important thing we ever do in life is to give our hearts to Jesus and be saved.
He has said the sinners prayer with me at age 4 (maybe not understanding, just repeating) then again with our Pastor I think at age 11.
I know it says repent and be baptized. We were both Catholic before, so we were baptized as babies and later repented.
If Jesus wants us to be rebaptized, so be it, I\'m sure he\'ll let me know, and he won\'t get any arguments from me!
My Father on his deathbed with cancer literally could barley speak anymore, a friend from my brothers church miraculously got into the hospital way after hours and talked to my Dad abbout Jesus and had him say/pray the sinners prayer with her, Because of Jesus\'s sacrfice of dying on the cross, Christ\'s never ending Love, Mercy, Grace, and
that caring servant of Jesus, my Father is now in Heaven with Jesus.
I don\'t know all the Bible quotes, (I\'m working on reading more and studying) but do I know if you love Jesus, ask for his forgiveness and ask him into your heart and follow him, do the best you can and when you make a mistake, tell him you are sorry and try and do better, I truly believe he has a place for you in Heaven.
Thank you Jesus for sacrifcing your life so that we could have eternal life in Heaven with you. Amen.
BOBBIE H 09/22/2012 19:32:10
A lot of these verses are referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit not just water baptism. If you read more than just what those scriptures are it is spoken His Spirit. Thank you Lord that we do not need water baptism to be saved! We need not be legalistic about these things it is through our Lord & Savior Him dying on the cross for our sins and us accepting Him turning from our sins we are all sinful. When we choose to accept Him and come to the understanding that He is God & He died for our wretched selves then that is where we can make that next choice by His leading. Thank you Lord that we have a hope, & that hope is You!!!
Yadira Verdin 09/23/2013 13:43:48
Thank u for this devotion. This just confirms that we should be bold to share the gospel & pray for divine appointments. My entire family joined our youth group to go street witnessing & many seeds were planted & God used me to lead 3 teen girls to Him. Romans1:16
Diana Hammermeister 09/22/2014 15:12:21
Kudos to you Yadira! That is exactly what we should be doing, and I am sure those 3 teen girls and grateful you were doing it! Thanks also to Bobbie H. for hitting the nail on the head! It is the baptism of the H.S. that occurs at Salvation, when He comes to indwell us that the bible is speaking of! Water baptism simply gets you wet ( although of course, it is an outward sign of obedience, and not to be ignored!). We need to make sure our faith is in Christ, not works!! Thanks to the author for pointing out that if we do not know the Lord, then how we live really doesn't matter- Moral but lost accomplishes nothing! Blessings to all!
ROSA CARTER 09/22/2014 17:34:44
Thanks for the devotional. Thanks for all the comments. It's always good to see others viewpoints. It helps you see where you stand and if anything need to change. For me it takes more than belief to be saved. John 8:31. Also, believe, repent, be baptized Acts2:37-38