Your First 5 Minutes With God

Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.   And the peace of God, which surpasses  all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7) Meditation I think I’m a pretty laid-back kind of person. I don’t usually let circumstances get to me. However, if truth be told, I sometimes lay awake at night worrying about stupid things. The things I have no control over will swirl around in my thoughts, keeping me awake for hours at night. In the work I did for a living, I sometimes worried about my decisions being scrutinized, and I’d have to defend a position I took. I seldom had to rework my design because of some unseen flaw, but I still would be anxious about it while waiting for a decision. I would have never admitted to anyone I was worried because I liked having all the answers and a plan to get things done. It didn’t always come together the way I thoug...

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13) Meditation I can do a lot of things in my own power and strength, and they are all ways for me to get myself in trouble. Whenever I make a decision without prayerfully considering what I’m about to do, it usually turns into a disaster. Even when I manage to get things get things to work out, the journey would have been easier and been a lot smoother had I involved God in the decision-making process. My whole adult life, prior to my salvation, was riddled with one bad decision after another. Because I didn’t know the Lord, my relationships weren’t healthy. I picked friends because they could party with me, not because they really added anything to my spiritual well-being. I guess you could say my life was a long list of self-deprecating experiments. I was always hopeful for a good outcome, but rarely found one. I was going along with the flow of the lost souls who blindly go through life without a real p...

In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the Day of Judgment, because in this world we are like him. (1 John 4:17) Meditation For me, the most depressing scenario concerning my death would be there is nothing after this. We just die and turn to dust. If this life is all there is, with all the heartache and pain, death would be the cruelest, anticlimactic outcome. No wonder, the people who have no faith, have such a fatalistic attitude about death. However, God gave us the will and desire to live. So now, I don’t have to fear death like I did before I was saved, although I do still fear the pain that might accompany death. I’m wimpy like that. However, I KNOW where I’m going when this life is over. I have confessed Christ as my Lord and Savior and I am reborn and changed forever. I don’t have to guess or have some unrealistic hope about the afterlife that is waiting for me. After I cross that threshold from here into eternity, I know wh...

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:3) Meditation The atheist/secularist worldview says, ‘in the beginning there was nothing that for no reason became something very, very tiny. That very tiny thing, called a singularity, for no apparent reason became agitated by nothing. Then, being agitated, the singularity exploded. While expanding, it created the whole universe and everything in it…by accident.’ That’s the Big Bang Theory in a nutshell, well, my description of it anyway. If that’s not a fanatical belief system, I don’t know what is. I know I don’t have enough faith to believe in that, or its equally fantastical Theory of Evolution. Neither theory has any chance of ever being proven, but that doesn’t matter to its adherents. If you’re a scientist and choose to voice an opinion against their pet theories, they will strive to destroy you and your whole life. ...

Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. (Psalm 1:5) Meditation For most of my adult life I didn’t believe in God or heaven or hell. I didn’t really have any thoughts about what comes after death. Even with my stubborn refusal to even consider Christ there was a nagging fear of death in the back of my mind. I think God puts that fear in everyone to shake their confidence and cause them to look inward. Every single soul is going to stand before the Judgment Seat. Whether you believe in God or not, whether you’re a sinner or saint, Christian or Jew, Muslim or Hindu, atheist or agnostic. As a believer in and follower of Jesus, I will be found innocent of my sins and be called righteous. Not because of my own righteousness or any good things I’ve done, but only because of the cleansing blood of Jesus. You may say, you’ve never done anything all that bad that you should be condemned to hell. You know you’re not as bad as ...

"This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12) Meditation There is no other name given by which we must be saved. That is the name of Jesus. Even though these words were spoken to the Jews shortly after Jesus ascended into heaven, they have implications for us today. I know of many churches and denominations preaching a social gospel. They’re more concerned with equal rights than the gospel of Christ. They have created a savior that bears no resemblance to the real Jesus. Because he loved everyone, they claim we must accept everyone without the requirement that they repent of their sins. In other words, they have no concern over their eternal souls, only that they get justice while they’re here on earth. It’s a far cry from the gospel preached by the Apostles after Christ ascended ...

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Meditation The world is full of people who will tell you the Bible is a book written by men, and the words, although they may be meaningful, are just words. They claim the scriptures are a fanciful story, a myth, and a history written after the fact. If God isn’t real, how else can they explain a prophecy about the birth of Jesus in the Book of Isaiah, written about seven hundred years before his birth, unless it was really written after his birth? However, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946 put that lie to rest. The scrolls that predated the birth of Christ had the Isaiah prophesies intact. That should have proved to all the naysayers that the Bible is trustworthy, but sadly, it hasn’t. Now it’s claimed a Christ child was invented to match the Isaiah...

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. (Proverbs 27:2) Meditation I know a lot of people who hate it so much when they accomplish a difficult task, and no one notices or says anything. I think everyone likes to be recognized for a job well done. The ones that don’t get the sought-after acknowledgement usually developed a bad habit of bragging about what a good job they do. It’s alright to feel good about your work, but it’s quite another to have a need to praise yourself when others don’t. After Christ takes the reins of your life, it’s important to work for the glory of God. If and when praise comes your way that’s fine, but not if you’re the one patting yourself on the back. The only thing you are showing is how shallow and self-centered you are. The things you do, now that you’ve been saved, whether for your church or not, do because of your love for Jesus and for others. Quite often your good works will be noticed and praised...

So, Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) Meditation I used to think I was pretty smart. I thought I knew the truth about why I am here, about existence in general. I believed there was no such thing as absolute right and wrong. I thought I was free to do whatever I wanted, so long as I didn’t physically hurt someone, without consequence. I didn’t need a supernatural God because of my beliefs about evolution and the Big Bang. I would read and re-read my sci-fi novels and magazines. They had become like a hopeful prophecy about a distant future I wanted to be a part of. Movies and television shows like Star Wars and Star Trek only fed my belief that man’s technology would someday overcome all the problems that plague us. We just had to evolve past the warlike brutes we are today. Science was telling us that great technologica...

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) Meditation I am not as far as God wants me to go in my spiritual walk with Jesus, but I am light years ahead of where I was. I started my journey of faith when I was 44 years old. I was a mature adult but a babe in Christ. I had to learn new things from God’s Word, and discard fallacies that had made up my thoughts about faith in Jesus Christ. God has been patient with me when I backslid more than a couple of times. He also helps me in my times of doubt. My maturity in Christ wouldn’t measure a single drop in the ocean of God’s universe. The Holy Spirit helps me grow a tiny bit everyday but there is no way for me to claim I have completed my journey until that day I meet Jesus face to face. From the first moment I was saved, the Holy Spirit has been at work in me, making me better than I was. I did not rise up from the waters of baptism with...

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) Meditation Do you understand that? For most of my adult life, I didn’t. He loved me but I didn’t love him. God loves me no matter what my sins are! There is nothing in all creation that can change that. He proved it when Jesus came to save me and rest of the world. The Word was God and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, as it says in the first chapter of the Book of John. God didn’t do that because I’m such a good person. I’ve been saved about twenty years and I’m still not worthy of the work Jesus accomplished on the cross. None of us who believe are. However, even though we are NOT worthy, Jesus willingly shed his blood in an act of submission to the Father’s will and his love for us...

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18) Meditation I confess I should stamp this verse on the back of my hand, so I’m reminded of it every time I’m tempted to let pride rule my actions. Anything I do, every ability I have, every task I complete, is all possible because of God. I can do nothing on my own. Before I was saved, I used to love to pat myself on the back for my accomplishments at work. I would brag about promotions and accolades from my employers. I didn’t give credit to my Creator for the talent I possessed. Then it was taken away after I got hurt. It was too painful to sit at a desk for any longer than a few minutes. I was forced to go on disability. That was over twenty years ago. This all happened before I was saved, and I was thrown into severe financial difficulties, which exasperated an already shaky marriage. I was definitely brought low because, whatever talents I had were useless to me, while spending most of th...

Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Meditation I never understood what it meant to walk in darkness. There are always plenty of sunlit days, and electric lights during the nights. I didn’t realize my whole existence was being lived in spiritual darkness. It was a darkness of the heart and soul. I heard a few soothsayers claim they had found enlightenment in their Transcendental Meditation routines. I even tried the TM techniques to get me to feeling better about my life. They didn’t work, so I sunk deeper into my little dark world. I thought whatever I did in secret was hidden, and therefore without consequence. I didn’t do those things out in the open where everyone could see. I did them covered in the depths of the darkness of my heart. Without Jesus lighting my way I was walking in darkness even on the sunniest of days. It wasn’t a darkness that any n...

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4) Meditation There are way too many pitfalls in life to list here, but they all lead us to destruction, and I have fallen into many of them. I used to follow along with whatever the crowd was doing, no matter what. Looking back now, I made some very regrettable mistakes. Society claims that sex is “free” with no emotional attachments. There’s an old song that had as part of it lyrics, “if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.” I'm ashamed to say, I fell for that lie hook, line, and sinker. There are many other things too embarrassing to admit. Satan sometimes uses my past to haunt me like a ghost, but Jesus has forgiven all of that. I was redeemed from the bondage of sin when I submitted my life to Christ. I know the truth now. I know there is a better way to live. With the help of the Holy Spirit, I have overcom...

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8) Meditation Even on Valentine’s Day, which is a day all about love, I didn’t know real love before giving my heart to Jesus. Oh, sure I loved my wife and our children. I loved my parents and extended family, but how many people did I love who hated me, who wanted to spit on me, or physically harm me? It’s was really easy for me to love those who returned my love, but what about those who didn’t? Long story made short, I didn’t. In other words, I didn’t show love to anyone who didn’t show it to me. I was really good at hating those I didn’t love, which is proof I didn’t know God. Now, even though I am a bondservant of Jesus, I still find it hard to love those who hate me or the people and things I love. Right now, in America, political tensions are high between the Right and Left, o...

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16-17) Meditation Did anyone who’s ever lived loved others the way our God does? He doesn’t just tell us in the scriptures he loves us. One part of the person of God became one of us and then, even though he was fully God and could have put an end to his suffering, willingly sacrificed himself for us. There is no other kind of love like that expressed in this world. He left the splendor of heaven, where there is no pain or worry, and came here as a helpless baby to grow and be tempted as we all are. Even though he led a normal life until he was approximately thirty, he never succumbed to temptation. I don’t totally understand the goodness of an all-powerful God that loves a wretch like me so much, he would step out of eter...