In the name of Jesus Christ; I pray today for those who read this article, to take heart, engage courage, and reach out to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
From the first indication and verified account by many within the Biblical texts of Acts 2:2, the Holy Spirit is ignited upon the earth. Many are transformed; filled with the Spirit of God and empowered by the light for living. Many begin to pursue evangelistic and theological endeavors; changing many lives and displaying the work and purpose of God through Christ and the Holy Spirit. Instantaneously, lives changed, souls were saved, and an ever presence of light and joy for which is unrealizable through any of mans pursuits. I tell you my friends; a simply amazing occurrence for which Christ promised before His ascent and a wonderful gift from the Father.
Divine Purpose
My friends, if you do not know Christ, then you know not the Father, and thus you do not know the Holy Spirit. To accept Christ through faith, to know and to experience this relationship at it's maximum potential; is to understand and to become consumed with the light of the world; to become driven by the Holy Spirit and to pursue your divine purpose given by the Father (Romans 8:28). If you do not know Christ, I beg you to reach out in faith and witness His greatness. Your destiny, purpose and eternity are balancing on this decision. I dare you to seek your divine purpose. I dare you to reach out in faith and discover the greatest gift ever given.
If you know Christ, but you are chained by strongholds, a slave to your old self or dealing with difficult troubles of our human nature; let me encourage you. Philippians 4:13 states, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This passage and many more like it are incredibly, verifiably and consistently true. Only through Christ can you be more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37). If you have accepted Christ, regardless of your difficulties; you are a child of God and God will go to no end to assist you in your turmoil in order to fulfill His divine purpose for your life; but you must be dedicated. In order to live out our divine purpose for our lives we must live the spirit filled life. We must have courage to continue upon a journey through Christ with sacrifice, dependence, trust and obedience, thus expressing pure faith; only then can God use you to your fullest potential. Yes, we may be involved in doing compatible choice and income driven pursuits, careers or desires we have collected throughout our experiences; expressing our self-driven ideas of purpose. However; if we have not given COMPLETE trust, obedience, and all of our desires to God through Christ, in order for the Holy Spirit to redirect us and greet us where we are in our walk with Christ and in this life; we may live out our lives as Christians in a way that is "half in and half out" or we may tell God through our actions that "you can have this, but I'm not giving this up, maybe later, maybe next week, it's too tough... not now!" Don't do it! No expenditure of selfish living and reasoning is worth selling out your divine destiny. God's destiny for you is the best you'll every get. He loves you. Count on it. Depend on it. Trust it. And as Pastor Charles Stanley often says "Leave the responsibility of the results in any given situation up to God!" He never fails.
I tell you my friends, as you live your life today; as you wade through the treachery of this mad dark world; go to Him. He is waiting. Call out to Him. The Master and Designer of your life, mind and soul. Give up that which you are holding; sacrifice as the disciples did. In doing so, the disciples were empowered by the Holy Spirit and pursued the finality of their earthly journey and purpose for God. They gave their professional, social, and in the end their complete life to Christ. To express it lightly; this was their honorable and noble destiny. They understood the consistency within inconsistency; the design among the chaos; the light among the darkness; their interactions outlining purpose. Truly, a spirit filled, supernatural existence.
Freedom
Notice in Acts Chapter 5:18 when the disciples have been healing, speaking and displaying incredible acts of God to many, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and are arrested and thrown into prison. Or examine Acts Chapter 12, in which Peter finds himself under heavy guard and imprisoned for doing God's will and his chosen purpose. Or read Acts Chapter 16:16, which dictates the imprisonment of Paul and Silas for their commitments to their divine purposes. Regardless, I tell you; understand that although these Christians and destine Disciples of Christ were imprisoned; no leaders, bars, guards, or chains could imprison them. They were free before they were imprisoned. They were released before they were chained. They were literally changing those around them with Gods power, before those around them even knew it! Incredible! They were freed by their faith. Trust, obedience and fulfilling their divine purposes freed them; even if the temporary imprisonment was a result of them obeying. Realistically, it was only a process God utilized to show the world what He can do and to reinforce trust, dependence and faith to his empowered servants.
This was and still is His plan today for all who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ never promised a trouble free life; but one who would help carry your burdens. If you want to over come strongholds, habits, family issues, crisis, etc. If you are chained to an addiction of pornography or substance; imprisoned by your own mind and the enemy... call to Christ now. If you struggle with emotional and psychological bondage; trust Him, call out to Him. If you are confined to a wheel chair; confined to a lifestyle; confined, imprisoned and trapped... shout out to Him, cry out to Him, He is faithful! You may have experienced some difficult losses. Have you lost your job? Have you lost your marriage? Have you experienced a heart wrenching loss of a loved one? You may be angry at God. Call out to Him, He can take it; He is waiting and holding you for a time in which you are ready. For what cell have you been assigned? For what prison do you reside? If you are sincere and sit quiet and listen; you will experience amazing messages upon your heart.
My friends, I bring you this message; with the acceptance of Christ; faith in Christ; and in the name of Jesus Christ with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit... you are free! Deep within that darkened cell; the coldness of the floors and walls can be overwhelming. The isolation, loneliness and psychic pain is unbearable. Pray my friend... scream out to the Lord Jesus Christ... He holds the keys to your cell and holds legal powers over your incarceration. Do not listen to the message of hopelessness and impossibility given by the enemy - they are lies and bluffs to keep you silent. Shout out to Christ now and do not be silent. No darkened bricks, mortar, or bars can withstand such explosive light. These substances that encase you hold no power over the love and light our Lord Jesus Christ has committed to giving us through the Holy Spirit. You can be free. But, you must be committed to His purpose in your life - and as the many Biblical scriptures state "Where He is; freedom, joy and grace abounds." How so very true. However, until you accept or move in faith; trusting and obeying to find out this truth, you can never experience this gift from God. It is impossible, unless you have faith; this is the very structure and requirements of spiritual law for which God created. We are all contingent to the law giver "God Himself," and to be saved by His grace we must accept Christ as our Savior. Furthermore, if we want to not just be saved... but to fulfill our complete and divine purpose for our lives and be released from the turmoil's of our human nature and manifest the greatness of our talents, gifts and being; we must do more than just have faith that Christ is our savior; we must sacrifice everything - down to our very being in order to live out our divine purpose; we must mature through commitment and perseverance to move mountains! Until then, we are prisoners - saved or unsaved. Until then, we cannot be used by God in His complete and divine plan. There are many things one can be a prisoner of, and those who are saved are no longer prisoners to death, but to a future with Christ. Those who are saved may also, not be mature enough or may not be living the sacrificial spirit filled life in order to achieve their divine purpose. Furthermore, those unsaved are prisoners to much more - eternal separation from God. It is with a humble but motivated heart to call out to all who read or hear these words. Release yourself through faith from whatever your bondage; trust and obey Him, find your joy, purpose and motivation in this life for God's plan. He cannot and will not fail you.
Accept Him - Know Christ and You Will Have No Regrets
For those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ at all - I call to you; I am begging you; do not resist or procrastinate such matters. You have an opportunity to fulfill greatness for God in which an everlasting reservoir of happiness abides. A reservoir in which money, material goods or selfish desires could never fill. What you need is Christ and what He will do as he has done verifiably for countless others, is to fill the emptiness that is inherent within the human heart. If you know not Christ; this process and understanding is not yet comprehendible for you. It is a process and journey and only when you begin can you then begin to understand. Only when your blind eyes among the darkness are healed by Christ, can you see, hear and feel the Holy Spirit deep within the dark of night. Ladies and gentleman, I bring you this message. I pull no punches. As a time in my life; I was lost. It was in acceptance of Him and in a flickering of a light for which I knew I had found this amazing gift - a treasure as Christ declared (Luke 12:34).
In my human weakness, He is strong within me (2 Corinthians 12:10). I tell you that a relationship with Christ is so close, if you will commit; but so far away for the prideful. Do not hesitate. Remember, the only favoritism the Father, Son and Holy Spirit show anyone, lies between men who fear Him and men who ignore Him. Do not ignore His voice. Do not be fooled by the nonsense of our culture. Knowing Christ is not of weakness, but of amazing persevering strength for which one must possess in order to face a world such as ours. Knowing Christ is unfortunately and foretold in scripture as "not the norm", so be extra ordinary. This propels you into many challenges, not experienced by those who ignore God. However, with Christ and the love of God you will move mountains.
If you are reading this article and you have sincerely decided that accepting Christ is important to you, repeat this prayer.
"Lord Jesus, I humbly come before you, and call upon your name to save me. I am a sinner and understand that you died for my sins. I understand that as authority by the Father; only through you can I be saved. Only through you Lord Jesus can I experience a relationship with the Creator of all things. Lord Jesus, I accept you in my heart and move in faith, in order to obtain and build a relationship with you. I thank you for saving me and I ask you to work in my life, guiding and directing my path with the Holy Spirit."
"In Jesus name, Amen."
I encourage you to go to a Bible based church in your local area, seek out the Pastor; tell him about this article and how you have come to Christ. You need support in these difficult days and a local church is just the place to begin.
Take Care,
God Bless
L.J. Riley Jr. is a Christian, Michigan native, husband, father, writer, author, a graduate of Davison High School, a graduate of the U.S. Army Combat Infantry School, Bradley Fighting Vehicle School and Dragon Missle School. L.J. or John Riley is a combat veteran and served in Oper. Desert Shield / Storm. He left the military and enrolled at Mott Community College, graduating with Phi Theta Kappa and pursuing a BSW at the University of Michigan Flint where he won the "Maize and Blue" Scholar Award. L.J. then was accepted to the one year Masters program at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor MSW Program for clinical social work. He graduated in 2007 with a 4.0 and the acceptance of the Howard and Judith Simms Fellowship. L.J. loves people, loves helping people and seeks to assist in changing lives through Christ directly and in-directly through his writing and other methods of media.
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