Tag: salvation

Prayer for Israel, Part 2

On By vickleaIn prayer, Scripture1 Comment

Yesterday, my prayer was focused on Israel’s physical enemy. Today, my prayer will center on their spiritual well-being. It is not a new truth that the people of Israel need to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior and most have not accepted Him as their Messiah. So, let us pray together for their salvation, that many will come to know the Lord even through this great suffering in their land.

I pray that they will see the need for Jesus and confess their belief in Him and His resurrection. That is the only way to salvation. The Israelites know much about the Old Testament and the Law. I pray for God to open their hearts to the truths of the New Testament and all of the prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

May these blessed and chosen people of God believe with their hearts and be justified, professing their faith in the Lord aloud and rejoicing in the salvation that comes with their belief in the only One who can truly save them. Jesus is the Passover Lamb, the final and ultimate sacrifice. May the Lord open their eyes and hearts to see and believe.

It is only by grace that any of us has been saved. It is a gift, and no amount of following God’s laws can save us. Only God’s grace and our faith in Him can lead to salvation. May the eyes of the Jewish people be opened and their ears attentive to God crying out to them to turn to Him.

No one…not one person can be saved without believing in Jesus. My prayer is for the Jewish people, especially those in Israel, to see their need for a Savior and the truth that the Messiah has come and will come again.

None of us is better than another. God desires to save both Gentiles and Jews. My emphasis today is on the Jewish people who have suffered so much for so long, in the darkness and without hope. May the Lord bring them into the knowledge of His Son as their Savior and into the light of His presence where there is hope and life everlasting.

It is fitting to end my prayer back in Exodus where I began yesterday. I pray that God will use His unfailing love to lead His people and to guide them to the real promised land, eternal life with Him.

In Jesus’s Name. Amen.

A Participation Trophy

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

There is a relatively new thing in our culture today that awards trophies to every child who participates in an activity. Stating firmly that the group is a team and that they don’t want to “cause any hard feelings” or wound any young egos, every child, whether they have done a good job or not, receives a participation trophy. I have also noticed in some schools that every child gets an award for some kind of attribute that the teacher has noticed. Many of these are tongue-in-cheek and seem to be all in good fun. But what happens when that child grows up and goes to church every Sunday, taking that as the sign that they are doing just fine in their relationship with God? Is that true? Does God award those who faithfully attend church and do good deeds in His Name a participation trophy, opening wide the gates of Heaven so that they can enter in?

Sadly, the answer is “no.” One has to actually have a relationship with God in order to enter into eternity with Him. Just showing up every Sunday and every Wednesday and never establishing an individual communication with the Father that includes confession, repentance and acceptance of responsibility will not guarantee your placement into an eternal resting place with Him. There is a cost to following Jesus; it is the total dedication of your life to Him and a daily desire to serve at His pleasure, doing His will regardless of the cost to you. Maybe you don’t get the promotion you wanted because you are adamant about your faith. Maybe you aren’t popular with the “in crowd” because you live to please Jesus only. I don’t know the cost to you, but God does. It will never be more than you can pay, but it may be more that you are willing to sacrifice.

Jesus promises a crown of life to those who are faithful. He does not say that this crown is given to those who show up every Sunday, do the most good works and say the Father’s Name the loudest. Read the Word to find out what faithfulness entails. For Jesus, it was going to the cross, doing God’s will and not His own. For Paul, it was being imprisoned and shipwrecked, beaten innumerable times and still preaching about Jesus. What does faithfulness look like for you? I am not saying that you can earn salvation. That is not possible because it is a free gift from the throne of God to each of us. What I am saying is don’t delude yourself into thinking that all is fine with you and God if you show up and warm a pew every Sunday and then live like you don’t know God exists the rest of the time. There are no participation trophies with God. He doesn’t want to “cause hard feelings” or wound egos, but God cannot and will not look on sin and His standards are firm and do not change. He has requirements that include following Him and being obedient to Him and being willing to listen to His directions, not our own desires. That’s a hard truth that you can’t get into Heaven by checking off boxes that say you’re a good person who went to church, gave a tithe, helped others when you could and didn’t commit sins that made the newspapers. God doesn’t lie and if He sent His Only Son to the cross to die for your sins, He is absolutely serious that He requires some real commitment to Him on your part, not a seat warming participant but a God-fearing, God-proclaiming active player on the field of battle against sin.

These verses are sobering reminders that God is in the business of saving souls, not rewarding participation trophies just so your feelings aren’t hurt.

Shouting to Be Heard

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

In the current political climate wherein those of us who are conservatives and Christians are being ridiculed from all sides, it’s hard not to become defensive. Sometimes, I feel like shouting out to everyone that I see that they are going to hell and need to repent. Not a good idea, however, not because it’s not true (there are probably some around me who will go to Heaven), but because their ears are not going to hear me anyway. I wouldn’t be saying anything they want to pay attention to me and the best way to pretend that all is fine in their world is to ignore me. God, in His usual timely manner, had a Scripture verse for me to apply to my level of frustration.

Since I am not a ruler then shouting wouldn’t do any good anyway. But since I am sometimes wise, depending on how much time I have spent with the Lord and His Word that day, if I speak in a quiet voice, then others might be still just so they can hear what I am saying. I found that worked well in the classroom. It is a well-known and accepted fact that one teacher cannot possibly talk over two dozen or more chattering students. I had a bell that I rang to get their attention to begin with. If the chatter didn’t stop or started again, I learned to sit down on my stool in front of the class and start teaching the lesson very quietly. Ending each sentence with something like “if you can hear me and can show me your notes at the end of this lesson, I will allow you to use them on the next quiz.” Or, a really dramatic conclusion, “The quiz will be tomorrow” said in a regular voice. The students would usually alert instantly to the word “quiz” and complain that I couldn’t give a quiz because I hadn’t taught the material yet. I would then firmly explain that I did teach it; they just were not listening. After a few times of that happening, the students learned to listen when I got quiet, knowing that what I said would affect their grades and ultimately their all-important GPA. Thus, I think God is telling me to wait until the right time (the Holy Spirit will prompt me) and then quietly say what I need to say about God, salvation, His Word and how the events today line up with the Bible. No shouting is needed because God says that quiet voice is better (more effective) than shouting.

How do you deal with those who are too stubborn and lost to listen? Have you tried speaking quietly?

Our Work Isn’t Finished

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

Just about every Christian probably knows no quotes Jesus’s words from the cross, “It is finished.” He declared that the sacrifice was done, the work the Father had sent Him to accomplish was done and because of His great love and death on the cross, He knew that He was opening to door to eternity for us. But is our work on earth done as soon as we become a Christian?

The work that Jesus gave us to do is to continue to tell others the Good News about the grace available to them through accepting the Lord Jesus as Savior. I used to be so diligent about every task. If a teacher assigned me something to do, I jumped right into it, eager to complete it and do a good, impressive job of it. I don’t think it’s an accident that Jesus is called “Teacher” and that He left us an assignment to do. He wants us to participate in bringing the story of His mercy and grace to others. I wish I could say honestly that I am been just as diligent about this assignment that Jesus left me to do. I have been more of a “hit or miss” kind of person. Because of my shyness, I am reluctant to approach others, so I need boldness that can only come from God. I need His guidance to show me the people to whom I should speak His words of comfort and affirmation, those who are ready to receive His Word. I am elderly now and don’t work at a regular job anymore. I am in awe that God gives us a job to do in spite of our weaknesses and infirmities. I can still tell others about Jesus and the gifts of grace and eternal life that come from freely to those who believe. I am not finished with my life on earth, nor am I finished with my assignment from God. If you are still walking on earth, living and breathing, then you, too, still have an assignment. Let’s work on it together!

The Sea and the Glory

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

After almost a week of sand and sea and fun with family, we are heading home today. God never ceases to amaze me with His power, love, mercy and grace. Just sitting on the beach and watching the waves gave me a feeling of how awesome God is and how much I want His glory to shine in the earth.

This is my prayer for the earth, that it will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Just as I look at the endless sea as it drops into the horizon, so is God’s knowledge and glory endless and timeless. Totally unfathomable to me, but such is the truth of our God.

The waves crash against the shore and God desires to come into our heart with His power and love. But He waits to be invited. Unlike the waves, God has the power and the might, but He loves us too much to just take over our lives without our invitation.

As the sun rises over the earth each day, may the Lord shine brightly in each heart of every believer until the day in which the Lord’s glory shines over all the earth. Selah.

Thankful for Grace

On By vickleaIn prayer, Scripture2 Comments

There isn’t much in this life that is free. I get excited when I win a prize from an author that gives me a free book. But once I read that book the excitement is gone and I look forward to the next one, even if I have to pay for it. God’s grace is free all the time, ready and waiting for us to accept it. His unmerited favor is right there…like a gift that keeps on giving every day if we just reach out to God, stay connected to Him and accept His free gift.

We have nothing that we can do to save ourselves. God did all of the work on the cross through His Son Jesus. We just have to accept that gift and its magnificent benefits and then use that grace that we have to bless others.

The knowledge and understanding that we need is readily available to us these days though various sources. I have multiple copies of different versions of the Bible to read. I also have the YouVersion Bible App, technology that makes it possible to have all kinds of versions at my fingertips on my computer. The real knowledge and understanding come from a relationship with God. He loves us, we love Him and that love overflows to others. That is the foundation of our understanding God. He is love, pure love, poured out for us and on us so that we can pour out that love to a lost and dying world that needs to know Him and His grace.

Lacking Fear of the Lord

On By vickleaIn Scripture2 Comments

As I listen to snippets of the news (I can never stand to watch an entire broadcast because the reports are so negative) and receive blurbs about what’s happening around the world, I am struck by one common theme. People around the world have lost their fear of God. They don’t reverence Him nor are they awed by His power. Mankind in general has become a god unto themselves. They are their own idols, and in setting themselves up for their own narcissistic worship, they deny the reality of God and the fact that one day He will reign and every knee will bow before Him.

It is the fear of the Lord that gives life because in fearing our Lord, we are ready to submit to Him and His desires for us. The escape from death comes when we recognize Jesus as Savior and Lord so that one day we can live eternally with Him. Those in the world today are living for today with no thought for the eternal consequences of their actions. That is why it is imperative for those of us who know the truth to be good ambassadors and share the Gospel, even when others don’t want to hear it. We have to fulfill our responsibility before the Lord, giving Him the respect and awe He deserves and then step back and let Him work in that person’s heart. One person at at time is how change happens, and the Lord knows that change certainly needs to happen in our world today. I think it starts with a healthy fear (respect) of God.

Blowing Wind

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

One of the arguments that I have heard for years about the existence of God and the Holy Spirit is that although you cannot see the wind, you see what its effects. Likewise, we don’t see God, but we see His actions on the earth. I am eternally grateful that God sent Jesus to save me, filled me with His Spirit and continues to guard my heart and mind through Him. It is up to me to continue to walk with God. The wind continues to blow, drawing my attention hither and yon. But the blowing wind is not what I should be focused on. I need to focus on the power that created that wind and how much love is behind all of creation.

I cannot explain my salvation or the change in my heart and my life, but I know that it is a fact. Just as the wind blowing through the trees causes the leaves to move, God’s Spirit moving in my heart causes me to draw closer to Him and away from the world.

Some Thoughts about Light

On By vickleaIn Quotation and Citations, Scripture1 Comment

“Be the light!” the preacher proclaims from the pulpit. “Shine in the darkness,” says the Sunday school teacher. All good advice, but the practicality sometimes escapes us as we hurry away from the darkness and try to stay near the light ourselves. We are missing the point that we are the light and in our haste to move away from darkness, we are missing opportunities to shine His light on a dark world.

We try to stay insulated in our protected group of Christians who all believe as we do when what we are supposed to do is go into the world and shine the light that we have on the people who don’t yet know that they need Jesus. When we are doing what we should be doing, we are going to naturally attract others and need to have an answer for the hope that is in us. Be ready at all times to tell others how Jesus has made a difference in your life! Like a moth is attracted to a flame or any kind of light, so people in darkness need to know that there is a light that they can turn to. At the most unexpected times and from some of the most unexpected sources, you may have people seeking answers from you because they have seen your light and want to know more about what makes you different. Be ready to be that light!


Many times we fear approaching darkness because we are intimidated by just how dark it is and the fact that we cannot see “two inches in front of our face.” That’s okay, Step into the darkness and it won’t be dark anymore because your presence brings the light with you.

The light that is in us comes from the Lord Jesus. When darkness is all around, we can continue to shine and attract others to the beauty of salvation and the peace and hope that it offers.

A Source of Life

On By vickleaIn Scripture1 Comment

When the woman at the well was thirsty, Jesus said that He had living water that would always refresh her. We have that same living water living in us and we are called to pour it out to others.

The words that we speak should be a source of life for others, giving them hope and encouragement and love just when they need it the most. The wicked, however, spew words of death and discouragement and hatred. They plot to destroy, not to build up. It is up to those of us who know the Lord to be a source of life to others, to speak boldly and proclaim with courage that our hope lies in the Lord and in His plan for salvation for the world. Let’s be a source of life together!