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speak now

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Brothers and sisters in Christ:
Don’t tell them about your church.
Don’t tell them about your pastor.
Tell them about your SAVIOR.

Be fearless! Share the GOOD NEWS! Tell someone why you need a Savior, and help them understand why they need one too. Lead them to Christ, and then invite them to worship service so they can hear the Word of God preached as much as possible. This is the Way.

The First Church (beginning with the Apostles), was not commissioned to invite pagans into their worship services. The first evangelists of Christ went out and preached the Gospel, led others to salvation in Christ, baptized them, and then welcomed them into the worshiping congregation as born-again followers of Yeshua (Jesus).

I believe that so much of the struggle inside The Church body today is because Christ followers have gotten lazy, scared, and/or forgot their calling — and I have been guilty of this as well. We haven’t read His Word regularly. We haven’t shared The Gospel with others. Instead, we’ve invited folks in who were not washed in the blood. We wanted the pastors (or someone else) to do all the work. And we are paying for it.

Those unbelievers who were not rooted in Christ have spread lies and half-truths throughout The Church, deceiving and causing confusion, which is never of God. And now The Church is sick, and nearly unrecognizable.

The Church is supposed to be the well body of Christ that goes out into the world with the medicine (The Gospel) the world so desperately needs. All followers of Christ are called to share The Gospel, and -insert PRAISE- we can do so in many different ways.

Some are called to go into cities or universities as street preachers, some stand in church buildings and teach, some travel the globe as mission workers, some write books and blogs, some create videos on social media, etc. There are so many ways to reach people in today’s world of modern technology, and for that I am so thankful!

Regardless of how we’ve been called by God to spread His Gospel (and if you’re not sure, PRAY about it), we are to SPEAK His Truth in love to everyone. He wants to include us so He invites us to actively participate in His ministry. And by choosing to do so, we are blessed.

But friend, our time is running out.

I heard a pastor say recently that we’re not at the “beginning of the end” in the prophetic timeline of events.. we’re actually at the end of the beginning. Meaning, The Church Age is coming to an end, and the great tribulation is about to begin.

Whenever I write my posts, I always pray they’ll find their way to whoever was meant to read them. So I pray this blesses you today, and fills you with a sense of urgency. I truly believe we are at the end of the beginning, and soon The Church will be taken up from this world. I pray you are not here when that light goes out. But if you are, I want you to know that there is still hope for you. His name is Yeshua (Jesus), and He died for us while we were still sinners, so that we might believe in Him, follow Him, and live with Him in eternity. Every day is one day closer to that fulfillment. HALLELUJAH!

Romans 5: 6-9

Love,
Emily

are you sure?

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“Are you absolutely sure?”

It’s a question I have asked myself countless times. I’m always analyzing and questioning. It’s just in my nature. It’s the reason why science has been my favorite subject to study since high school. I need the what, why, how, and when for nearly everything. Professionally, it’s to my benefit. I deal with risk management often, so I am wired to look 4000 yards ahead and see what might derail a project. This makes me a great fit for my job, but also feeds the “question monster.”

God bless my husband, because (most of the time) he deals so patiently with my questioning nature. Anyone else would have surely run away screaming by now. Maybe. 😂 I just can’t shut off my brain; it is hungry and wants to know all the things.

This is where my faith is often tested. While my questioning nature is an asset to my job, it is sometimes an obstacle to my faith. We aren’t meant to know everything about God and His plan right now in this life. There’s a beautiful verse in Deuteronomy that answers so many questions for us:

“The secret things belong to The Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” – Deuteronomy 29:29

Whenever I have questions that can’t be answered, I repeat this scripture to myself, and it brings instant peace and comfort.

But still, for the longest time, there was always one question that I couldn’t answer with 100% certainty or shake off…

“Am I truly saved?”

I mean, I knew the ‘how’ to getting saved. I knew the gospel. But doubt would often creep in and I wanted proof of my salvation. My mind used to question, “If I died right now, am I sure I would I go to Heaven?”

For a long time I didn’t know. I ‘hoped’ I knew, but I wasn’t sure. Even though I believed in Jesus as Messiah and shared the gospel with others, I doubted my own standing with Him. But then one day, thankfully, mercifully, I was reminded that even John the Baptist had doubts. Near the end of his life, when John was arrested and being held in a cell, he sent word to Jesus, asking if HE was the Messiah or if there would be someone else to come. John was afraid and needed reassurance. And Jesus did not rebuke John when he received his question. Jesus simply answered John with proof of His identity, according to the prophetic scriptures that John would surely know:

And He answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” – Luke 7: 22-23

Instantly, I felt better knowing that even someone as great as John the Baptist had doubts. Even after baptizing Jesus, John still doubted. Praise The Lord who understands our weak flesh and our doubts!

As time marched on and I began to seek after The Lord more fervently by reading His Word and listening to Bible-based sermons, I began to hear and understand that unless The Holy Spirit lives inside of you (which is the mark of salvation), lasting and continuous change will not occur.

So I started taking inventory of my life, and I was quickly reminded of all the worldly things I used to enjoy and take part in, that now completely turn my stomach. And the proof was right in front of me:

I am NOT the same person I was.

I used to be in love with the dark. I loved going out to bars with my friends and drinking the night way. I loved all the wrong music, no matter the lyrics. I watched whatever I wanted, no matter the rating or content. I said whatever I wanted to say, whenever I wanted to say it. I did whatever I wanted to do, regardless of the consequences.

But Praise God! I am not this person anymore, and the change that has happened within me is nothing less than the work of The Holy Spirit.

Is my transformation complete? Is this who I will be? Absolutely not. As long as I have breath in my lungs, I am continuously being transformed by The Holy Spirit. Our transformation is not instantaneous; it is a daily and lifelong process. We have to seek The Lord and His will first, placing Him above things that our flesh may want.

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 1: 6

So if you have doubts about your own salvation, take a look at who you are today and compare that person to who you were before you heard the gospel. What has changed? Are you closer to God now than you were back then? Do you love Him more than you love yourself?

“…Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” – Ephesians 4: 21-24

We will never achieve sinless perfection in this life, but The Holy Spirit will never depart from us or stop working on us, as long as we seek first His Kingdom.

Love,
Emily

i was the one

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I’ve claimed to know and love God our Father and Jesus His Son my whole life. I was dedicated to The Lord as a baby. I was raised in church and knew right from wrong. I was confirmed at age 12. I prayed the sinner’s prayer. I was active in youth group. I sang in church, I prayed often, and I thought I was covered — even in the midst of my repetitive, high-handed, deliberate sins.

Y’all, take it from me – ignorance is only temporary bliss.

I didn’t truly belong to The Lord as I had proclaimed; I wasn’t really saved. I didn’t obey Yahweh’s laws and listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit; I was willfully disobedient. I was a worker of “lawlessness” according to Yah’s Word, but I didn’t know that because I was not READING His Word.

And for that, I have no excuse.

It wasn’t until I began reading His WHOLE Word for myself, from the beginning, that I truly realized the full weight of my sinful depravity. My eyes have now been flung open by His Words, and I have discovered that there is no such thing as a secondhand relationship with God.

Yes, Grace covers a multitude of sins. But we are not supposed to be willfully disobedient in living our own lives apart from Yahweh, ignoring His laws and taking wrongful advantage of His Grace. That is not true repentance.

Yahweh is compassionate but not condoning of sin. He brings conviction and change to humble hearts. He loves us with an everlasting love; but He hates sin.

Hear these warnings, spoken by our Messiah:

The Parable of the Banquet
(recorded in Matthew 22:1-14 and Luke 14:15–24)

Once again, Jesus spoke to them in parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come. (They all had different excuses as to why they couldn’t come.)

Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

But they paid no attention (to the servants’ invitation) and went away, one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the banquet as many as you can find.’

So the servants went out into the streets and gathered everyone they could find, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’

But the man was speechless.

Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Another stern warning from the Messiah:
(Matthew 7:21-23)

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

These warnings tell us that even some people who KNOW Who Jesus is, and who expect to be welcomed at the wedding feast, will instead be ejected from The Lord’s presence and cast into hell. What a sobering reality for all of us.

But why are believers surprised by this? If we’re reading His Word, throughout scripture we see that even satan and his demons know Who Jesus is and shudder in His presence. They have to flee at His command. But this obedience is forced; they are not willingly following Yahweh’s commands out of love.

Friends, for the majority of my life, I thought I was one of the 99 sheep that was safely grazing on the hill. But I was the one Yahweh had to come after. I was lost. And I only discovered this by reading His Word for myself, rather than relying on others to read it for me and then relay the meaning (which is pretty dangerous, especially considering the number of false prophets running rampant in these last days).

If you don’t currently have a Bible study plan, I highly recommend seekingscripture.com. Christy Jordan does a beautiful job of leading this study on the whole Word of God in such a loving way. Yahweh is calling His Remnant to come home to Him in these last days. Seek Him through His Word, and enter into His everlasting and perfect Peace. Fall at His feet and be FREE!

Matthew 18:12-14

Blessings!
Emily

windex

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The other day, I saw a post on social media with a classic throwback reference that gave me a solid belly laugh. In one of the organic-remedies-type groups I’ve joined, another mom posted about an all-natural salve that she had found numerous uses for. When the salve came up in conversation with her children, one child told the other that this salve was mom’s new “Windex”.

Now if you haven’t seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I realize that reference will be completely lost on you. But if you have seen it, then you probably chuckled out loud just now.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a rom-com done right. If you haven’t seen it, go right now and find a way to watch it. Everyone needs a good laugh nowadays.

The head of the Greek family in this movie is proud Papa Gus, and he is adamant that Windex (in addition to being a great cleaner) is a cure-all for anything that ails you. Got a sore elbow? Windex. Wake up with a zit? Windex. Poison ivy? Windex. Burn your hand? “Put some Windex on it!”

This hysterical Windex reference is a running joke throughout the movie. Just when you think something is beyond the power of Windex, this strange phenomenon strikes again. Ignoring the reality that Windex is not meant to treat odd skin conditions or injuries, this ruse gives us a great talking point for today.

I started thinking about how Windex is first and foremost used to clean glass (usually windows and mirrors), to help us see more clearly. Our once-cloudy perspectives become crystal clear when we use Windex appropriately. Just like the Holy Spirit. He is my Windex.

Not only does the Holy Spirit help me to see everything more clearly, but he can also do many other things that Windex cannot do. Windex’s power stops at the glass. It cleans the glass for you, but then it’s up to you to discern what you’re actually seeing.

Without the blessing of the Holy Spirit, I would be at the mercy of my own thoughts and limited human understanding about what I see happening in the world today. I can sit and take in all the information that the media wants to pour into me, but without a truthful guide and accurate compass, I’m going to be tossed around in the wind, not knowing where I will end up.

It is crystal clear to me that the much-needed remedy – for all of us – is the Holy Spirit.

Anyone can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. There are just 3 main steps involved in receiving and keeping this blessing:

  • Step 1. PRAY: Repent and ask the Holy Spirit to come live inside of you, and guide you each day.
  • Step 2. READ: Open your Bible every day and devote time to learning God’s Will for your life.
  • Step 3. OBEY: When you feel the Holy Spirit nudging you, don’t ignore him. Follow God’s Word, and don’t reject the Holy Spirit by continued disobedience.

Step 1 and 2 are pretty obvious, but I’d like to dive a little deeper into step 3 for a minute.

It is undeniably true that without our belief in Jesus as the Son of God, we cannot be saved. Jesus died on a cross to save us. Without his sacrifice, we would be condemned to an eternity apart from God. Therefore, acknowledging this sacrifice made on our behalf, earnestly praying for forgiveness for our sins, and accepting God’s grace (to cover accidental sin we might fall into) is absolutely imperative to our salvation.

“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”
-Galatians 2: 21 (ESV)

However, we are not called to abuse God’s grace by repeatedly choosing our own fleshly desires (sin) over his good and perfect Will for our lives. There are many who live under the assumption that one prayer is all it takes to be saved forever, no matter how you choose to live. Friends, please do not be deceived by a false comfort whispered to you from the enemy.

If, after your repentant prayer, you choose to live a life walking with God each day, earnestly implementing steps 1-3 above, then YES, the Holy Spirit will live inside you and serve as the MARK and SEAL of your salvation.

However, if you repent but then choose to return to unchecked habitual sin patterns (usually an indication that steps 2 and 3 are not being implemented), then you will be rejecting the gift and SEAL of the the Holy Spirit on your life and salvation. If you repeatedly ignore the Holy Spirit, eventually your view of the world will be so clouded by your own sin that you will no longer be able to see and discern the Truth, and you’ll be willfully living in rebellion against God. Anyone who lives in the flesh has not truly been BORN AGAIN.

1 Peter 1: 13-25 says:

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for: 

“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

But no matter how far you may have strayed away from Him, if you truly and earnestly repent and turn your life back to God (steps 1, 2 and 3!) — He is MIGHTY to SAVE!

Church, the spiritual warfare happening in these last days is heavy and relentless. Without our Windex, we will not be able to see things for what they truly are. We will be blinded to the Truth, and miss the warning signs that are all around us.

Jesus is coming soon. As His Church, we have work to do. Don’t delay. He desires that not a single one be left behind.

Blessings,
Emily