I was watching a show on TV recently about the end times and the details surrounding the return of Christ. Some were saying that the book of Revelation was written for the time period it was written in, and some were saying that it is prophetic and applies to our life today. God’s word is living. It can be applied to the time back then. But, it applies to today as well.

In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus gives us details word for word about what to look for during the last days. When you put the bible side by side with the newspaper, it almost says the exact same thing. As I read this chapter, I can think of at least one event that has recently taken place in the world that coincides with the details Jesus has given us. In verses 4-5, Jesus tells us that many will come claiming to be the Christ. This makes me think about the numerous cults that have been on the news throughout the years, the cult leader claiming to be Christ. Verse 6, wars and rumors of wars. Reading that I thought of the continuous conflict in the Middle East. The famines and pestilences mentioned in verse 7 brought the H1N1 situation to mind along with the hunger and starvation around the world. Earthquakes are mentioned in verse 7 as well. The most recent being the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010, the earthquake that struck Japan in 2011, and a smaller earthquake that took place on the east coast in August of 2011. These are just examples of recent events in the world. There have been other events with in the past 10 years that line up with this chapter as well. Jesus warns us about false prophets in verse 11. There are many false prophets. Those that claim that they are real but they are just wolves in sheep’s clothing. Another thing mentioned during the show that I watched is there are some people trying to predict when Jesus will return. Matthew 24:36-44 tells us that no one knows the hour. Only God knows the hour.

How you live here on earth determines how you will spend eternity. The question I want to ask you is have you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior? Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” You can’t get to Heaven any other way. Accepting Jesus into your heart and into your life is not hard at all. If you would like to accept Him into your life take a moment to pray and ask Him. You don’t have to use fancy words. There is no secret method. You simply say something like this:

“Jesus come into my heart. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins. I believe that You are Lord. I repent for the wrong that I have done and I ask for your forgiveness. Amen”

Being ready for Jesus’ return does not mean to walk around paranoid. God gives us instructions on how to live in His word. We will never be perfect. But if we press toward the mark everyday and rely on God to help us with every aspect of our lives, we will reach the finish line.

A friend from Polyvore shared this video with me and I thought I’d share it with all of you…

Will You Be Ready? is a post from: Mrs. BliSs for WomantoAnother.com

Finally, after we confess our sin, have godly sorrow, and repent, we have to accept God’s forgiveness and live guilt free. The enemy will try to steal our joy by holding our sin over our heads by using guilt  to remind us of the wrong we have done. Don’t allow him to do this. We can counter those attacks with the Word of God. A good scripture to remember in those times is Romans 8:1. It says “So now, those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty”** Once our sins have been forgiven we receive a “not guilty” verdict.

When we sin, it breaks our communion with God. But, once we repent and receive forgiveness, that communion is then restored. Woman of God, no matter what you have done, God will forgive you. When I think of the wreck-less lifestyle I lived before giving my life to God, I can’t do anything but thank Him for keeping me from harm and forgiving me for the wrong I’ve done. Instead of guilt, live in praise. If you ever begin to feel guilty for sin after you have asked for forgiveness, begin to praise God for forgiving you. Soon, the guilt will melt away and all you will feel is gratitude towards a wonderful, loving God.

**Romans 8:1 quoted form the New Century Version

Confessing Our Sins and Receiving God’s Forgiveness Part 2 of 2 is a post from: Mrs. BliSs for WomantoAnother.com

1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” This is very simple. Does it sound too good to be true? Well, it’s not. There is no suffering required to be forgiven. Jesus suffered for us when He died on the cross. It doesn’t even matter how far astray you have gone. If you confess your sins to God, He will forgive you. I like how the scripture says that God is faithful. This tells me that forgiveness is guaranteed. The scripture also says that we will be cleansed from all unrighteousness. This is like getting a clean slate. Praise God!! We get to start all over from scratch and not have to worry about those past sins hanging over our heads.

Confessing our sin isn’t throwing a “forgive me Lord” out there only to go back to living the same way again. If we truly love God as we say we do, we wouldn’t want to do that. Jesus said in John 14:21 that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. Once we learn truth, we are then obligated to walk in it. Doing other wise is sin, and not walking in God’s commandments. If we sin with the mind set of “Well I can always repent” we are then abusing God’s grace. There are some out there that choose to abuse God’s grace. I believe that is like playing with fire. Just think about how in the Old Testament when the Israelites would get caught up in idolatry. God would take His hand off of them and all sorts of terrible things would happen. I don’t ever want to get to the point where God would just leave me to myself because I chose to willfully abuse His grace…

to be continued…

Confessing Our Sins and Receiving God’s Forgiveness Part 1 of 2 is a post from: Mrs. BliSs for WomantoAnother.com

Ladies, time is running short. These are the last of the last days. We will have to give an account of ourselves to God (see Romans 14:12). We will be held fully responsible for our words and actions. God loves us so much. He doesn’t want any of us to be left behind and shut out of Heaven. He tells us how to live right and He gives us numerous opportunities to repent. Let’s get our acts together. Romans 13:14 tells us how to do it. It says “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” It is really simple, just put on Christ.

Wake Up Part 2 of 2 is a post from: Mrs. BliSs for WomantoAnother.com

Next, verse 12 tells us that the night is far spent. This means we don’t have very much time. Jesus will return sooner than most of us act like.  Many times we breeze through life doing and saying whatever we want. Ephesians 5:27 says that Jesus will be looking for a church without spot or wrinkle. We go about our day, not thinking about how wrinkled and dirty we are getting.  We can look at Romans 13:11-14 as a call to wake up and get ourselves to the cleaners.

…to be continued

Wake Up! Part 1 of 2 is a post from: Mrs. BliSs for WomantoAnother.com

Wanting to have the facts right, I did some reading on the origin of halloween and learned that it is rooted in the Celtic culture. This excerpt was taken fromWikipedia :

“The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld became thin on Samhain( pronounced sam-ween), allowing spirits (both harmless and harmful) to pass through. The family’s ancestors were honored and invited home while harmful spirits were warded off. It is believed that the need to ward off harmful spirits led to the wearing of costumes and masks. Their purpose was to disguise oneself as a harmful spirit and thus avoid harm. In Scotland the spirits were impersonated by young men dressed in white with masked, veiled or blackened faces. Samhain was also a time to take stock of food supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. Bonfires Sometimes two bonfires would be built side-by-side, and people and their livestock would walk between them as a cleansing ritual.” This played a large part in the festivities. All other fires were doused and each home lit their hearth from the bonfire. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. Another common practice was divination, which often involved the use of food and drink.”

There are many other pagan rituals that helped to birth the holiday as we know it now. None of which represent anything that the bible says we should be apart of.  (see Deuteronomy 18:10-14)  “Well, it’s just a day for the kids to dress up and have fun” you may say. This day is a serious holiday to those that partake of witchcraft and satanism. These religions go against everything that God is and wants us  to be. 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 says “Test all things; hold fast what is good.  Abstain from every form of evil” Before we just blindly celebrate things just because they are promoted as “fun”, we should research and find out what it is really all about. This is what I believe the scripture means when it says to” test all things.” After reading about halloween I found that  clearly, no good is involved in it. Therefore we shouldn’t be involved in it.

Ephesians 5:11 says “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” When we have no fellowship with something, we don’t participate in any part of it at all. Down playing it to be something fun is still participating in it. When we begin to compromise in even that seemingly small area of our lives, we open the door for compromise on other areas. Let’s have no fellowship with darkness, but spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and begin to let our lights shine.

Light Celebrating Darkness is a post from: Mrs. BliSs for WomantoAnother.com

Seek Me and Live

By Fawn Parish

Dear Friend,

We’d just turned on to the most gorgeous road in the world-17 Mile Drive in Carmel, California. Opening the windows, we were immediately assaulted by a foul putrid odor. These poor people, I thought. How can they live with this nauseating smell? We drove on holding our breath. Suddenly, my husband said, “Honey, that stink may be us.” Impossible, I thought. How could it possibly be us?

My husband (who knows all things mechanical) was clueless. After asphyxiating the tourist population of Carmel, we found a station and fearfully opened the hood. The battery was spewing out sulfuric acid fumes. It was ready to blow up any second and could blind anyone standing near.

We desperately needed a good diagnostician, someone who wouldn’t mince words. “This is what’s wrong, and this is how you fix it. Hurry, there is’t much time!”

In Amos 5, God is the diagnostician, scrubbed and ready for emergency operations. His diagnosis: “You are seeped in idolatry, you disregard the poor, you afflict the just and take bribes.” The cure is quick and to the point, “Seek Me and Live” (.v4).

We might dismiss the warning. We think “Hey, I go to church, I tithe, I pray, I am even on the worship team. This couldn’t possibly apply to me!” But when we come to severe pasages like this, our hearts must stand at attentio and salute. We must listen…

to be continued…

“Seek Me and Live” was copied from the New Spirit Filled Bible for Women. Formally published as Women of Destiny Bible. Copyright 200o, 2003, 2007 By Thomas Nelson Inc. Written By Fawn Parish

Seek God and Live Part 1 of 2 is a post from: Mrs. BliSs for WomantoAnother.com

If you have not yet received Christ as your personal Savior, now is also the time to do so. It is not by chance that you are reading this message. Isaiah 55:11 says the God’s word will not return to Him void. Everything that He says in His word will come to past. Jesus will return and if you are not saved and walking right with God, you will not go to Heaven.

God loves us so much. He wants us all to cross the finish line so that He can tell us “well done”. But we cannot give up. James 4:17 says “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” We all know the right thing to do. It is to stay the course and finish the race.

 

People Get Ready (Womantoanother.com) by modestyfashions on Polyvore.com

He Is Still Coming Back Part 2 of 2 is a post from: Mrs. BliSs for WomantoAnother.com

My sister, having a ready mind isn’t always easy. In fact, the more seriously God wants to deal with us, the more satan will try to tell us that we don’t need to hear it.  The only way to truly have a ready mind is through Christ Jesus. Pray and ask God to give you a ready mind. Ask Him is show you when you are being a prideful know-it-all. Most importantly be ready to receive it when He shows you. This is something that I have recently begun to ask God for. I invite you to do the same.

Do You Have a Ready Mind? Part 2 of 2 is a post from: Mrs. BliSs for WomantoAnother.com

A ready mind is a willingness to learn. It is the ability to humble ourselves and admit that we aren’t the smarty pants we think we are. At times, this can be easier said than done. For some, a ready mind is only “ready” to receive a message that makes them feel good. All too often, we see people flocking to hear preachers and teachers that only teach about prosperity and the blessings that we get from God. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with those types of messages. However, what about being delivered from lying? What about homosexuality running rampant? What about those that think it’s ok to straddle the fence? We need to hear the no-so-feel-good messages as much as we need to hear the feel good ones…if not more. We also need to be willing and ready to receive those messages, not just hear them.

Do You Have a Ready Mind? Part 1 of 2 is a post from: Mrs. BliSs for WomantoAnother.com