Walking With Jesus

Loving One Another Well

“This is My commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.” (John 15:12 NLT)

If, in the closing hours of Jesus’ life, He commanded us to love each other, we must conclude it was foremost on His mind. He even told us how to do it: “in the same way I have loved you.” So, the logical question then becomes – How did Jesus love us?

Prayerfully, the Spirit will take these words and use them to light a fire in our hearts that will enable us to love each other, as the Body of Christ, more effectively. So, let’s look at a few ways Jesus loves us.

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Jesus loves us FREELY! What does that mean? He doesn’t force us to follow Him. His love for us isn’t contingent upon whether we continue to follow Him. In John 6 Jesus was teaching some very hard things to understand, and, as a result, many of His followers turned away. In verse 67 Jesus turned to the Twelve, His closest companions in ministry, and asked them: “Are you also going to leave?” implying they could leave if they chose. To which Peter wisely responded: “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” What’s my point? Love doesn’t demand its own way. Love doesn’t coerce or force allegiance. Love draws and lays down its life for others without any strings attached. Jesus didn’t love us “if” or “when.” He loves us period! That’s how we’re to love each other as His faithful followers.
Jesus loves us FULLY! He loves us without reservation. He holds nothing back in His love for us. He gave His life. Then after He conquered the grave, He gave us His Spirit to dwell within us, giving us full access to everything Jesus is, and empowering us to do whatsoever He commands us to do (i.e. – “Love each other…”). We love each other only in the strength of the Spirit that indwells us. The Spirit gives us discernment to know when a brother or sister is genuinely born again (of the Spirit), thus inviting us to trust one another and give ourselves fully to one another.
Jesus loves us FAITHFULLY! There were those who quit on Him, but He never quit on others, including you and me! Faithful means “trustworthy,” “reliable,” someone who’s word matters and is believable – just like the words of Jesus! Faithful love is “full-time” love. It isn’t on-and-off, it’s dependable. One of my Pastors likes to say we need to be “2 a.m.” friends, meaning, we can know that if someone I’m seeking to love like Jesus calls me at 2 a.m. and needs my help, I’m there. That’s one of the many ways loving faithfully can look.
Jesus loves us FRUITFULLY! In John 15:5 Jesus said: “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” Then in verse 8 He says: “When you produce much fruit, you are My true disciples. This brings great glory to My Father.” The “fruit” of our love for one another will bring much glory to the Father. How so? “Fruit” in this context is speaking to the effectiveness of our collective obedience to the directives of the Spirit. It’s putting into action the gifts and abilities with which we’ve been given, to the honor and fame of our Savior. Spiritual gifts are never given for our personal edification or glory, but to be blended with the gifts of other believers so that collectively we can paint with our lives a picture of our living, loving Savior.

Just as Jesus revealed to His disciples, and us, the glory of the Father – He painted for us a “picture” of the Father. He WAS on earth the embodiment of the Father. Paul wrote in Colossians 1:19: “For God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ.” That’s what He’s asking us to be for Him. In John 17:22-23: “I have given them (us) the glory you gave Me (WHY?), so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and You are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that You sent Me and that You love them as much as You love Me.”

How can the world possibly know that God the Father sent Jesus? When we begin to grasp the fact that God the Father loves us (YOU and ME) AS MUCH AS HE LOVES JESUS! To the extent we understand how much we’re loved, to that extent we’ll love one another well!

Blessings, Ed 😊

Willingly!

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28 NLT)

Damaras Carbaugh, sang a song entitled “Willingly” on her 1996 album, Giving My Life Away. It was written by Phil and Marie Armenia. You can listen to the song on You Tube. The lyrics are:

Verse 1:“No one takes My life; I give it willingly. Holy Lamb, beaten and abused; His disciples, fearful and confused. Never understanding, things were meant to end this way; so in His pain and suffering, He turned with love to say, (Chorus) No one takes My life; I give it willingly. For I can see the glory past the cross. So dry your eyes, My friends, and please don’t weep for Me. No one takes My life; I give it willingly.

Verse 2: His Holy life shines in my heart; and its brilliance sets my life apart. Friends who live in darkness say they weep for me. They say my dreams have changed since Jesus took my life from me. (Chorus) No one takes my life, I give it willingly. For I can see the glory in the cross. So dry your eyes, my friends, and please don’t weep for me. No one takes my life; I give it willingly. No one takes my life; Jesus gives me life. Lord Jesus, use my life; I give it willingly, willingly, willingly.”

Is there anything for which you’re willing to lay down your life? You only have one shot at this life and it will pass more quickly than you can imagine. And, whether you realize it or not, you ARE laying your life down for that in which you invest your time and money. How do I know that? Because Jesus said in Matthew 6:21: “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Notice He DIDN’T say: “Wherever the desires of your heart are, there your treasure will be also.” Your heart will follow the money!

For many years I chased after wealth and material things. I had “noble” ideas like: “It will enable me to give more to the church.” “I’ll be able to help more people.” Etc. But at the root of my pursuits was always the big “I” – me, me, me – “Show me da money!” What changed? I finally began to believe what I was preaching to other people. I took a long, hard look at the Cross and finally understood the two words that changed the direction of my life – “For Me!”

Jesus didn’t have to come to earth as a babe in a manger. He didn’t suffer the abuse, humiliation and pain for anything He did wrong. He didn’t deserve to hang, nailed to a cross, suspended between heaven and earth. He willingly laid down His life for no other reason than He knew we, me and you, and every other person who would ever live, were hopelessly lost and destined for an eternity of suffering and torment, unless He voluntarily stepped in to pay the sin-debt we could never pay.

In light of the Cross, selling ourselves for “earth-stuff” is like trying to swim the ocean for a candy bar. What’s the point? Jesus didn’t die simply for us to be forgiven, so we could continue to live in bondage to the sin-debt that He willingly paid. He died to give us a quality of life that would give us a sense of worth, well-being and purpose that would outlive this world. He died so that we might live free of our bondage to sin.

He purchased our freedom from sin, death and the grave to enable us to invest ourselves in His eternal Kingdom. He gave His life for us, in order that we might give our lives back to Him as a gift of gratitude, not begrudgingly, but willingly.

In John 15:13 Jesus said: “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” We’re quick to immediately apply that to what Jesus did for us, and it is. But that’s not the point of what He’s saying here. He’s speaking these words to His disciples hours before He would be betrayed, beaten, spit upon and brutally murdered on a cross – yes, for His “friends.” But who are His friends? Verse 14 tells us: “You are my friends if you do what I command.” What does He command? In verse 17 He gives us the answer: “This is My command: Love each other.”

We’ll look more closely at what that might look like tomorrow.

Blessings, Ed

My Way or His HIGH Way?

“So Delilah said to Samson, ‘Please tell me what makes you so strong and what it would take to tie you up securely.’” (Judges 16:6 NLT)

Lust is a powerful, seductive, and addictive force. Satan uses the demonic pull of inappropriate desire to lead us in ways God never intended for us to go, yet masks it in such attractive and appealing ways it seems so right it’s nearly impossible to say no.

Think of the people in the Bible who yielded to their lustful desires, with such devastating results. Do you think Eve fell to Satan’s temptation because she loved fruit and there were no other trees from which to choose? Did David’s lust for Bathsheba result from his lack of available wives and concubines? Did Samson’s strong desire for Delilah stem from his determination to obey God and fulfill His purposes?

Think of Jesus in the wilderness, literally starving and physically spent, facing the enemy of our soul at His weakest point, yet able, by God’s grace to say “NO” to the greatest temptations any of us will EVER face. How did He do it? How can we follow His example, and not the dictates of our sinful nature?

Samson, like all of mankind, loved himself more than anything or anyone else. At it’s core, Samson’s fall, as Adam and Eve’s and yours and mine, resulted from his life-long love affair with himself. The real battle Samson faced wasn’t simply his strong sexual urges, it was his inability to deny his inexhaustible desire to please himself.

Why do you think Jesus, when seeking to help us understand what it’s going to cost us to follow Him, said: “If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it, but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” (Matthew 10:38-39 NLT)

In this context, to “take up your cross,” essentially speaks to our willingness to accept and carry out God’s will above and before our own will and desires. It means to put obedience to God before the fulfillment of the lusts of our flesh. And to “give up your life for me…” means in life as well as in death.

Like Samson, we are powerless to see the folly of our own way apart from the revealing presence of God’s Spirit. We will confuse lust and love, right and wrong, our will for God’s will EVERY TIME unless and until we face the demon of our own desire. By the revelation of God’s Spirit alive and at work in our hearts and minds we are able to accept the fact that our old self, our sinful, lust-filled desires, were crucified on Christ’s cross and we are now free to choose His will and way over our own. We can learn to prefer His High Way over our earth bound way.

Samson lost his way, as we surely will without moment by moment dependence upon God’s Holy presence alive in our heart and mind. By God’s grace we, just like Jesus, can say no to Satan and yes to God. It’s literally our choice.

Blessings, Ed

Sharing the Good News of Jesus (Part 3)

“And the crowd began pleading with Jesus to go away and leave them alone.” (Mark 5:17 NLT)

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is in Mark 5, when Jesus heals a demon-possessed man. The man lived in a cemetery and the demons had made him so powerful that even shackles couldn’t hold him. He would shriek and scream, terrifying anyone who would come near him. Oh, and did I mention he was naked. But he didn’t frighten Jesus!

It’s interesting to me that Jesus’ first words to this crazed lunatic were addressed to the demons: “What is your name?” (Mark 5:8a NLT) to which they responded: “My name is Legion, because there are many of us inside this man.” Jesus then commands them to leave the man, and gave them permission to enter a nearby herd of pigs, which, as you can imagine, didn’t set well with the town’s people. When the word spread about what had happened, that’s when the crowd pleaded with Jesus to leave them alone.

The healed man is now “sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.” (vs. 15). We don’t know how long he’d been possessed by demons, but in my minds eye, I can see family members and friends who, across the months or years, would try to reason with him, but to no avail.

Is there someone in your family or sphere of influence with whom you’ve sought repeatedly to share your faith, but they just want you to leave them alone]? Even the mention of Jesus’ Name sets them off? Please don’t hear what I’m not saying – I’m not saying they are demon possessed, but what I am saying is, there are times the work that needs to be done in a person’s life can only be accomplished by the Holy Spirit. Whatever satan is using to keep them away from the Lord, and antagonistic towards you, the Lord will know exactly what needs to be done and who is best suited to do it.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NLT): “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.”

There are people I love dearly who, from all outward appearances, are far from God. While they may not be “demon possessed,” they are surely under satanic influence to be so focused on gaining the things of the world, they have no time or interest in the things of God. What can we do?

We must hold them with open hands and heart. Extend your hands in front of you, palms up. Imagine you are holding that person in your hands, raising them up to God. “Giving them up to Him!” Relinquishing any hold on them, asking the Lord to do in and for them what only He can do.

The former demon possessed man in Mark 5, begged Jesus to let him go with Him, but Jesus said to him: “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful He has been.” (vs. 19) That’s the place to start, but if you’ve shared, or tried to share, what the Lord has done for you, but have been shut down, lift them up to God and let Him do what only He can do.

Pray often and specifically for those who need the Lord, by name. Pray, if you’re not the one to whom they’ll listen, that the Lord will send them someone to whom they will listen. Your prayers make a difference! Then be prepared to share if/when the Lord opens a door of opportunity. I feel your pain.

Blessings, Ed

Sharing the Good News of Jesus (Part 2)

“And now we are here to bring you this Good News.” (Acts 13:32a NLT)

Yesterday we looked at why it’s so vitally important to“BE” good news before you share the Good News. I’m convinced that’s why a lot of people today are reluctant to come to church or have a meaningful conversation about who Jesus is and what He’s done for them. They’ve been badgered and beaten down by well-meaning people who are too often insensitive to the Lord and to the people with whom they’re speaking. In other words, they’re not Good News.

Jesus was always sensitive to the needs of the persons with whom He spoke and His speaking was always motivated by a heart of love. The more we grow in our likeness of Jesus, the more effective we will be in pointing our friends and loved ones to Jesus. The more they are able to see Jesus in us, not only in the way we speak, but in the way we live, the more open they will be to allowing Jesus to speak to them through us.

Our motivation in sharing our faith must always be to honor and bless Jesus, and our goal must be to help those with whom we share, find a full and complete life in Him, not simply miss hell or gain heaven. Please understand. I long for heaven, but my longing centers on one thing – Jesus! Jesus is the Treasure I seek on earth and the Treasure I’ll find in heaven. He’s worth more to me than all the world has to offer.

I’m convinced that to the extent those with whom the Lord has laid on our hearts to speak can sense a genuine love and concern for them and for Jesus, to that extent they’ll open their hearts to us and be willing to listen. Prayer is foundational in allowing that to happen.

Dick Eastman said, “Behind the saving grace of every believer is someone praying.” Sharing our story, our spiritual journey, our faith – however you want to think of it, MUST begin with prayer if our goal is to lead someone closer to the Lord. Prayer prepares our heart and mind to speak, and prepares the heart and mind of the one with whom we share to hear what God is seeking to say to them.

Never underestimate the way the Lord is working in you AND in the one with whom He lays on your heart to speak. In my nearly sixty years of walking with Jesus, I have NEVER led a single soul to saving faith in Jesus, I’ve simply been a vessel through whom the Lord has been faithful to do HIS saving work. He’ll work in you to the extent you’re willing to ask Him (prayer) and then are willing to get out of His way and allow Him to work through you to His honor and fame (faith).

The first and best way to help others know Jesus is to continually seek to know Him intimately yourself. Then you can allow the Holy Spirit free access to fill and empower you in any way He sees fit to reach others for Christ’s glory and honor. He will give you insight and understanding as to whom He desires you to speak and guidance as to what to say. That process begins on the day you invite Jesus to be Lord and continues until the day you close your eyes in death.

Every one of us who are Christ-followers, whether we’ve just begun our walk or we’ve walked with Him for many years, can share our faith effectively to the extent we submit to the Spirit and simply ask Him to speak through us.

There’s one other aspect of sharing our faith I’d like us to look at tomorrow.

Blessings, Ed

Sharing the Good News of Jesus (Part 1)

“But the believers who were scattered preached the Good News about Jesus wherever they went.” (Acts 8:4 NLT)

Helping those in our spheres of influence to know Jesus takes time and persistence, but with the Lord’s help and guidance, it can become a lifestyle. By God’s grace, over the years God has used me to lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus, but I’m not the proverbial “expert.” Jesus is the expert and anything we do to honor Him is by Him and for Him. What does that mean? It simply means, as Jesus said in John 5:5: “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” (NLT)

What does that mean? It essentially translates – fruitfulness (effectiveness in anything we do for the Lord) depends upon connectedness (closeness to the Lord). With that in mind, let me offer some suggestions as to how to help others come to know Jesus in a personal and powerful way.

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First, before we can share “Good News” we have to BE good news! What does that mean? To me it speaks to our motivation. WHY do we want our loved ones, friends, or anyone with whom we have contact, to come to Christ? And even as I ask that odd question, it seems counterintuitive, but for the sake of those we’re seeking to reach, it must be asked. What’s my investment? Behind my desire to share my faith, is there any hint that it’s for my own personal edification? In order that I might feel better about myself? (i.e. so others can recognize how “spiritual” I am?). Or is it so the person with whom I’m sharing can stay out of hell or go to heaven? In my understanding of Scripture, if our only motivation for winning people to Jesus is selfish or to keep them out of hell, we’ve missed the point of the Cross.

Jesus said in John 10:10: “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” (NLT) “Rich and satisfying” essentially means full or complete, in short, a life that’s continually seeking to become more and more like Jesus (see Romans 8:29). Nothing this world offers can compare to closeness to Jesus. What’s my point? To be effective (fruitful) in influencing others to commit their lives to Jesus, our lives must be fully surrendered to Him, thus enabling US to become a channel through which the good news can flow.

Years ago I was developing a relationship with a young man who came to my house regularly for pest control. We were standing in my driveway talking and for the first time he was beginning to open up to me about why he had no interest in Christ or attending church. As we were talking, another young man I’d recently met, joined the conversation. Without my prior knowledge, but in an obvious effort to impress me with his “sharing,” the second man began to ask my friend questions like: “Do you know you’re lost without Jesus? You need to repent and give your life to Christ right now before it’s eternally too late.” On and on he went until my friend whom I’d nurtured for months to lay the groundwork for a meaningful relationship, suddenly turned away and left. I never saw him again and he wouldn’t return my calls.

Was the man who was “sharing” with my friend, “wrong?” In that context, yes, he was. While his words were “right” his sensitivity to the Lord was absent and rather than drawing my friend TO Christ, he pushed him further away. Seeking to share the Good News, because it was given without apparent regard to my friend’s needs, and from selfish motives, became for my friend, bad news.

We’ll pick up this theme tomorrow.

Blessings, Ed

What It Means To Be Filled With The Holy Spirit (Part 2)

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.” (Ephesians 4:31 NLT)

It may be helpful to think of being filled by the Spirit more like being a funnel than a jar. It’s not God’s intent simply to be ‘stored’ in us, waiting for us to remove the “lid” and let Him out. It’s more like He’s being poured, constantly flowing, through a funnel, always on His way to accomplish something, not only in us, but through us. In us as He seeks to develop the fruit of His presence, enabling us to grow in Christ’s likeness. And through us as He puts on display the work He is accomplishing to enable others to be drawn to Him through our lives.

The plot thickens when we consider the ways we can “block” the flow of the Spirit’s efforts. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:30: “And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live.” (NLT) It’s in this context Paul speaks of bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander, sexual immorality, impurity, greed, all of which address issues over which the Holy Spirit can give us victory if we’ll let Him.

When we take our focus off of Jesus and give authority to our carnal nature to seek our will rather than His, we clog the Spirit’s flow and not only cause stagnation in our own lives, but prevent the Spirit from being able to put Jesus on display in and through us. Being filled with the Spirit is a grace gift, that when seen in proper perspective can liberate us to be all we were originally designed to be.

Justification is the legal term whereby God through Christ treats us “just-as-if-I’d” never sinned. It’s the miracle of new birth, made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross in our place. Sanctification, which is the life-long process of becoming more like Jesus, is made possible by the Holy Spirit’s constant flow in and through us.

Once we’ve yielded our hearts and lives to the Lord, been forgiven and set free to be a brand new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17), the Holy Spirit begins the process of conforming us to the likeness of our Savior. That’s the goal of being filled with the Spirit.

What that looks like can vary from person to person, but for me a significant turning point came when I was going through my divorce. I’d literally lost most of my worldly possessions – job, house, car – and my heart was aching with the weight of the loss of my wife and my inability to provide for my two children.

In my heart and mind I’d lost everything, but the Lord, in His grace and mercy, assured me I hadn’t lost Him, and He was all I really needed. Though I’d followed the Lord for many years, He came to life in me in a new and fresh way as we walked together through that valley of despair. I was no longer afraid of all the uncertainties of life that Satan uses to cause us to worry and fret. In those moments of desperation and need I gave myself to the Lord in full surrender, entrusting my future to Him without reservation and He gave me freedom and victory I’d never known before.

The infilling of God’s Holy Spirit flows most freely and powerfully in and through a fully surrendered heart. Because of the Holy Spirit’s work in me, my heart’s desire is Jesus. I no longer crave the trinkets of the world, but have found my Treasure in Jesus.

Blessings, Ed

What It Means To Be Filled With The Holy Spirit (Part 1)

“Then you will overflow with confident Hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13b NLT)

While “being filled” is a common expression, when it has reference to the Holy Spirit, the co-equal, co-eternal third member of the triune Godhead (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), it has some very far-reaching implications for our lives.

We fill our vehicle tanks with fuel, our glasses with water, our stomachs with ____________ (I’ll let you FILL that one in). The point? The time God gives us is FILLED with all kinds of choices, some to which we give little or no thought. Some things we choose are good – i.e. to love, to serve, to be productive, to attend church etc. But some are not so good.

We have free will, which essentially means, we decide who and how our lives will be filled. Following Jesus is an act of our will, a decision we willfully make. The gift of grace that allows us to be forgiven and restored to a right relationship with God is extended to us, but as with every gift we’re offered, we must choose to accept it.

When we choose, by an act of faith, to receive Jesus as Savior (Redeemer/Rescuer) and Lord (Master/Owner), we’re essentially relinquishing the rights to our own life. Our lives which were once filled with ourselves – i.e. our pride, our lusts for the things of this world, our carnal nature – are now filled with God Himself in the person of His Holy Spirit.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” (NLT)

But what does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? According to Jesus shortly before He ascended back to heaven, in Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” But why? He continues: “And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (NLT)

Since before the beginning of time it has been God’s plan and desire that we would reflect His majestic splendor in and through our lives. Genesis 1:26 reminds us: “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us…'” (NLT) Paul echoes that thought in Romans 8:29 when he writes: “For those whom He foreknew – of whom He was aware and loved beforehand – He also destined from the beginning…to be molded into the image of His Son (and share inwardly His likeness).” (The Amplified Bible) But how is that possible? Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit!

That’s why we need God’s powerful Spirit to live in us. Jesus said that apart from Him we could do nothing (John 15:5), but with Him nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37). Being filled with the Holy Spirit means we’re no longer dependent on our own resources and ingenuity, but are energized and empowered to do anything and everything the Lord equips, enables and asks us to do.

Let’s stop here for today and pick it up tomorrow.

Blessings, Ed

Asking Some Hard Questions About Suicide (Part 2)

“He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin…” (Titus 2:14a NLT)

When a loved one or friend takes their own life, our hearts and minds fill with questions. Yesterday we looked at “Am I to blame?” and today we’ll look at: “Will my loved one be in heaven?” While this may seem like an evasive answer, the truth is – God alone knows with certainty. This centuries-old debate continues today, but the bottom line is, God alone knows the eternal destiny of EVERY person who dies, by whatever means.

We often judge another person on the basis of outward evidences, but God alone knows a person’s heart. What does that mean? It means I can have an opinion that someone is going to heaven or hell, but the reality is, only God knows for sure.

Anyone can do something that may seem completely out of character for them, yet when it becomes known, it could give a wrong impression of what’s actually the intent of their heart – i.e. they commit suicide.

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Suffice it to say at this point, that what is in the heart of a person who takes their own life, while a mystery to us, is perfectly clear to God. God alone can determine why they did what they did and He alone decides where they will spend eternity. Suicide, in my understanding of Biblical teaching, will not be the determining factor as to whether or not a person goes to heaven.

If you’ve lost a loved one or friend to suicide or are considering taking your own life, please seek help from a competent Christian counselor or trusted Christ-following friend, but more importantly, seek the Lord directly. When I first came to Jesus I was ignorant of the Bible and knew nothing about prayer. I sat an empty chair across from me and imagined Jesus was sitting in it. I just talked to Him about whatever was on my mind. At times I would kneel, as though kneeling at my Savior’s feet. Pour your heart out to Jesus. No one knows how you feel better than Jesus.

Now that I’ve walked with Him for many years, I sense His closeness nearly every second. I’ve learned to discern His voice and receive His guidance in every avenue of my life, realizing His “voice” often speaks most clearly through the Bible, godly friends, authors, pastors and teachers.

May I assure you, there’s nothing you’ve ever done or said for which He won’t forgive you and He will NEVER stop loving you. Often the biggest issue we face is a matter of focus.

Consider the words of this old hymn: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” (Helen Howarth Lemmel) Turn your focus upon Jesus and give Him permission to bring the healing He desires to bring to you.

He loves you! He’s with you! He’s for you! He’s reaching out to you in your desperation and wants to walk with you to a full and satisfying life in Him. Please let Him. I can tell you based on my own experience, as well as the experience of many others, there’s nothing this world can offer that compares with having Jesus as your best friend.

Blessings, Ed

Asking Some Hard Questions About Suicide (Part 1)

“He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin…” (Titus 2:14a NLT)

Having wrestled with depression much of my adult life, I’ve seriously considered suicide as an option on more than one occasion. The insights and guidance of godly friends and professional Christian counselors have been helpful, but ultimately what saved my life was the grace of God. The Bible is now my constant companion and my closeness to the Lord is a second by second comfort, but it hasn’t always been that way.

As a Pastor for nearly forty years, I’ve counseled people suffering with the haunting thoughts of suicide and, unfortunately, had to officiate the funeral of one who took his own life. There’s been much debate as to why people choose the path of suicide and what the spiritual implications of that decision are.

Perhaps the most troubling question for the family and friends who are left behind is: “Am I to blame?” And the pressing question for many: “Will my loved one be in heaven?” We’ll look at the first question today and tackle the second question tomorrow.

The reality is – God alone knows the answer to those questions; however, I can say with reasonable assurance, a person who ends their own life has more issues than the trauma of a single event – i.e. an argument with a family member, friend, co-worker, etc. They likely have long-standing emotional issues with which they’ve dealt for years, which come to a head for any number of reasons, forcing a person to conclude they have no alternative.

Their minds are closed to reason and governed by fear, isolation and/or hopelessness, resulting in an irrational and self-destructive ending. However, most often the self-destruction has begun in a person’s life long before the actual event of their death. Addictions or chronic, unhealthy behaviors such as drugs, alcohol, depression, anger, sexual/pornography and others over time lower a person’s ability to see their behavior clearly, leading to confusion as to what’s real and what’s not. Right seems wrong and wrong becomes more easily seen as right, which can, in the best case, lead to asking for help, but too often results in permanent mental, physical or emotional damage and/or death.

Ironically, attempting suicide can actually be the proverbial “cry for help”, and sometimes is the first step on the road to recovery. Yet, the repercussions caused in the lives of the survivors of a suicide or even an attempt, are far beyond the scope of this brief article.

Let me address the first of the two most common questions.

“Am I to blame?” The short answer is a resounding “NO!” Those who commit suicide make the decision to take their own life, irrespective of and sometimes in defiance of the pleas of those who are key influencers in their lives and who are, most often, the ones urging them to “get help.” An argument may have ensued just prior to a person’s decision to end their life, or there may have been an on going “drama” that ultimately led to the person’s decision, but in the end, only one person made the choice to die at their own hand. Regardless of their often conflicted motives, the decision to choose life or death was theirs alone.

If you are considering taking your own life or know someone who is, PLEASE call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at (800) 273-8255. or reach out to a trusted friend immediately.

Blessings, Ed