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ON SABBATICAL
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, October 19, 2025 – I’ll be on sabbatical until next year (2026). During that time, I won’t be posting any new articles, but feel free to dive into the 1000 or so already posted here. Just pick a topic (e.g., forgive) and plug it into the site search bar in the upper right corner.
See ya’ll when I get back!
ON MARTYRDOM
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, October 4, 2025 – I saw a video yesterday featuring a middle-aged woman bragging about her children being martyred. In her view, because the children had purposely been put in harm’s way in a war zone and had been killed as a result, Paradise was their guaranteed reward. The woman also mentioned that she hoped her two newly born grandchildren would likewise soon be killed. I’ve seen other videos with other women boasting the same thing. I find them deeply disturbing and can only wonder what Child Protective Services would have to say about this parenting style.
Martyrdom is baked into religious zealotry. Killing for your beliefs and dying for your beliefs (often both at the same time) are hallmarks of a deep-seated faith, but not all faiths are God-seeking, not all faiths are good. Moreover, there’s a difference between actively seeking martyrdom and submitting to it when it’s thrust on you. People who actively seek to be martyred (or actively seek for their children to be martyred) are not well people. This statement needs no explanation. Likewise, a belief system that encourages martyrdom either through killing or suicide (or both simultaneously) is not a healthy belief system. This statement also needs no explanation.
Actively and publicly pursuing martyrdom and expecting a heavenly reward for it is like the man who stood praying at the front of the temple, boasting loudly about his sacrifices so that everyone would see and hear him. Jesus says that man already has his reward (worldly attention and accolades) and God won’t be adding to it.
There was once a Christian theologian who taught that every believer should pray to be martyred. He exhorted his adherents not only to train for certain death but to actively engage in pursuits that would lead to their martyrdom. This is not an accurate take on the Gospel message. In the end, the theologian died at home not from being martyred but from ill-health brought on by an earlier stint in jail.
To my mind, preaching the pursuit of martyrdom is preaching another Gospel. God doesn’t ask us to purposely pursue martyrdom. Nowhere in scripture does Jesus say we should actively seek to be killed to fast-track our way Home. He says it may be necessary to endure persecution and imprisonment, but he never tells us to seek out persecution or purposely do things to be arrested and imprisoned. He himself only put himself in the position to be arrested and imprisoned (and tortured and killed) because it was “his time” and God had specifically directed him to do so. This scenario is entirely different from people who encourage and actively pursue martyrdom as a way of life.
God will never ask you to kill for your beliefs, though he may ask you to die for them. Like your court defence (should you ever need one), martyrdom is not something you should plan in advance. If it comes on you as a test, God will direct you at the time while also strengthening you to “endure to the end”. This is what Jesus taught us and so this is how we should approach martyrdom. We do not train for martyrdom, we do not actively seek out martyrdom, we do not encourage others to actively seek out martyrdom, and we do not pray to be martyred. The theologian who died at home of ill-health rather than being “gloriously martyred” (as he’d hoped and prayed) is a cautionary tale.
Again – God would never ask us to kill for him, though he may one day ask us to die for him. That we should be prepared to die for our belief is part and parcel of what it means to be a born-again follower of Jesus. We shouldn’t romanticize martyrdom, but we should be aware of its possibility, if only to know that, if and when it happens, we should continue to lean entirely on God.
But actively pursuing martyrdom? That’s not God’s Way. Human sacrifice is the domain of the Father of Lies, and he has zero jurisdiction over the allotment of heavenly rewards. Which means that while the devil may well sell you a ticket to Paradise, he can’t deliver on it, so buyer beware.
CAN A CHRISTIAN BE CURSED BY A WITCH?
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, October 4, 2025 – God’s people are frequent targets of witches. Being such a target could be cause for concern, but frankly I don’t think about it much. There’s no point. Because if, as part his justice, God permits a witch’s curse to come at me as a test or a reward, come at me it will. I can’t wave a magic wand and stop God’s justice from playing out. All I can do is face whatever comes at me and follow God’s guidance to get through it. Still, no curse can come at me at all if God doesn’t permit it to come. It can’t just be a witch’s vanity project: The curse needs to be spiritually earned.
When God allowed Satan to curse Job, God already knew the good that would come to Job in the end, knowing that Job would successfully endure the test. The same with Jesus and his tests. The same with all of us who have God’s Holy Spirit in us and love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Every demon in hell can be sent to rage against us, but those demons can only affect us to the exact measure that accords with God’s justice.
As for people who are not born-again but identify as Christian – they can be severely harmed by witches’ curses. Not having God’s Holy Spirit in them, unregenerate Christians are vulnerable, as demons well know which souls are protected by God’s Spirit and which souls are not. But again, as with people who are born-again, unregenerate Christians can’t be subjected to a witch’s curse willy-nilly: The curse must be warranted under God’s justice, which means it must have been earned, either as a test or a reward.
It’s worth noting that having someone pray over you will not ward off a witch’s curse. Prayer is powerful, but it can’t override a targeted individual’s free will and it can’t override the delivery of a God-sanctioned test or reward under God’s justice. Prayer might make the targeted person more mindful of God, which is a good defense going into the testing period, but it won’t stop the test from happening and it won’t stop a reward from being delivered. You can’t avoid a curse just because you don’t want one. If you have it coming, it will come. See Deuteronomy 28.
If I were an unregenerate Christian and didn’t want to suffer a witch’s curse, I would watch every word that came out of my mouth, I would banish every ungodly thought that came into my mind, I would pray night and day for God’s guidance in everything I did—everything, not just “God things”—and I would surround myself with people who likewise did the same. This is how born-again believers strive to live, and so this is how all Christians should strive to live. This is how you protect yourself from curses and successfully endure tests when they come at you, because come at you they will, if God permits them to come. No Christians, whether born-again or not, are exempt from God’s justice, and witches’ curses constitute one form of its delivery.
I won’t here go into what are essentially demonic protections against other demons, or what are popularly known as counter-spells. These remedies are not the domain of Christians. The Bible tells us not to be curious about any aspect of demonology or witchcraft, and that includes counter-spells and other demonically inspired protections. The only thing I’ll say in this regard is that you can’t outrun God’s justice. You might be able temporarily to side-step what’s coming to you, but you can’t side-step it forever. As Jesus said: “The measure you mete is the measure you get in return.” That truth doesn’t ‘magically’ disappear under the force of counter-spells and other demonic protections. It only delays the delivery of God’s justice; it doesn’t override it.
As Christians, our protector is God. Whether in seeking a haven from demonically inspired individuals who are trying to curse us or in any other circumstance of potential danger, we turn only to God for protection and guidance. We don’t pray to angels and we don’t pray to people, even if those people are considered saints. We pray only to God in Jesus’ name, as Jesus taught us to do. God is our sole source of protection and the only one we need as followers of Jesus.
So yes, while Satan and his demons can inspire witches to initiate curses against Christians, the impact of those spells depends on the targeted individual. Born-again believers are protected right out of the gate by the presence of God’s Holy Spirit in them, but they can still be tested and rewarded, if a test or reward is warranted. Christians who are not born-again are more spiritually vulnerable and therefore greater targets (especially if they’re high-profile Christians). These people can be severely harmed by witches’ curses, but only to the extent that they’ve brought the harm onto themselves. God’s justice isn’t overridden by a witch’s curse; there’s no such thing as a powerful or weak spell: There are only spells that better or worse fit the delivery of God’s justice. If you’ve earned a test, you’ll get it to the exact degree that it’s been earned, just as you’ll get a reward—good or bad—to the exact degree that it’s been earned.
When all is said and done, the best defence against witches’ curses is not counter-spells but to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to do his will. God and God alone is your protector. Pray always and only to him, in Jesus’ name.
THE GRACE OF TIME
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, October 4, 2025 – If nothing else, the latest failed prediction of Jesus’ return (September 23rd and/or 24th, or possibly September 25th, etc., 2025) should give us a renewed sense of gratitude for God’s grace of time. Sure, we’re grateful for God’s love and for God’s protection and for everything else God generously provides for us, but we often forget (or perhaps are unaware of) the importance of the grace of time to God’s plan. If we’re still here on Earth, it’s because we still have work to do – on ourselves, on our souls – work that will further purify the spiritual gold within us and burn off whatever doesn’t belong in Heaven.
Some people say all it takes is “belief” to get Home, but I disagree. Professed belief, like talk, is cheap and has no essential value unless, over the passage of time, we can prove by our actions that our professed belief is real. That God grants us the grace of time is evidence of the importance of allowing our belief in him to play out through our actions. Playing out takes time because tests take time. Falling for or resisting temptation takes time. Recovering from failed tests takes time. Regrouping and consolidating what we’ve learned from our lessons takes time.
Without the grace of the passage of time, all we have to offer God are declarations of loyalty that may or may not hold up under pressure. We’re tested for a reason. We’re punished for a reason. We’re given the grace of time for a reason, a reason that perhaps God and God only knows, and that should be enough of an explanation for us. That, too, is a test.
I admit to being less than grateful on occasion for God’s grace of time, being impatient to learn whatever I need to learn and to get done whatever I need to get done so I can get Home. While impatience is not a sin, it’s also not an ideal response to a situation. We don’t call it “the impatience of saints”; God doesn’t encourage or reward impatience, even when our impatience is prompted by a desire to be with him and Jesus in Heaven. We can do God’s will only so far when we’re impatient, as impatience indicates a disconnect between our concept of time and God’s, and any disconnect between us and God is not good, will not get us where we need to go.
It’s important to note that while the early Church prayed fervently for Jesus to come back, they didn’t build their lives around his return. It wasn’t the focus of their ministry. That’s why there are so few mentions in scripture of the prophesied end-times ascension event. We also don’t see any evidence in scripture that the early Church prayed to be taken Home before their time, to jump the spiritual gun, as it were. In focusing on their ministry rather than on their own individual wants, they showed their gratitude to God for his grace of time.
Jesus himself mentioned his second coming only on a few occasions. He didn’t want his return to be the focus of the rest of our time here. That he didn’t want his return to be our focus is evidenced by his assertion that we can’t know when he’s coming back and that his return will be a surprise to us all. We can expect his return, we can prepare for his return, but we can’t know exactly when it will happen. The right way to prepare is to be spiritually prepared – that is, be doing the work God has given us to do, not standing around staring up at the sky and waving a “JESUS IS COMING BACK SOON!” sign. Jesus doesn’t command us only to be waiting for him; he commanded us to be occupied doing the work God gave us to do.
Doing that work is how we wait for Jesus’ return. It’s also how we show gratitude to God for his merciful and much needed grace of time.
THIS LAND IS THEIR LAND
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God,
God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
(Romans 1:28)
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, October 3, 2025 – Not at any point do they talk about turning back to God. They don’t mention God at all when they wax poetic over the historicity of the land and how that history is theirs and how they belong on that land—and how that land belongs to them—solely because of their history. They talk about culture. They talk about heritage. They talk about tradition. But they never talk about God. They never once mention him, not even as a cultural or historical touchstone.
Listening to them talk about how they’re owed the land as a right based on their historical connection to it reminds me of Paul explaining how God gave certain sinners over to a reprobate mind, allowing them to continue to wallow in their sin and confusion because sin and confusion was all they wanted. They didn’t want God. They didn’t want what he was offering. They wanted sin, and so God permitted them to have it.
(They wanted the land back, and so God permitted them to have it.)
God didn’t say: “I’ll let you keep on sinning because I know at some point you’ll turn back to me.” No. Paul said God gave them over to a reprobate mind, with no mention of ever turning back. When God gave them over, he gave them over forever.
Now, having said this, I still believe they own the land that was given them by legal contract, and that they own the land fair and square. Based on the agreements, it’s their land. I also believe they should be able to defend their land and the people on it in whatever way they deem necessary, just as any other nation would. But I don’t believe they have a Biblical right to it. Only the godly have a Biblical right to it. God permitting them to have the land is not the same as them having a Biblical right to it. Never confuse that issue.
Still, and again, they got what they wanted.
I hope they’re happy.
“BE YE NOT DECEIVED”: FAILED RAPTURE AND END-OF-THE-WORLD PROPHECIES OVER THE PAST 2000 YEARS
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, September 19, 2025 – Below are links to lists of dates and descriptions of failed rapture and end-of-the-world prophecies over the past two millennia. While the lists to date are likely incomplete (only those in the spiritual realm would have a true tally of failed predictions), they still give you a good idea of how many times these events have not only been prophesied but widely and fervently believed.
Depending on where you stand in relation to false prophet grifters, this compilation is either depressing, eye-opening, exasperating, or downright hilarious. Jesus warned us not to be deceived about end-of-the-world prophecies and his second coming, and Paul sternly echoed the warning. And yet, despite the scriptural weight of Jesus’ and Paul’s words and the mounting evidence of failed prediction after failed prediction, people still fall for the same ol’ same ol’ trick of the devil, insisting “this time is different”.
Without further comment:
GOD’S VENGEANCE FOR HIS CHILDREN
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, September 18, 2025 – God has so many wonderful characteristics and descriptors, it’s hard to choose just one as a favorite. In fact, I can’t and I wouldn’t. But high up on my list of favorites is God’s promise to deal with those who hurt his children. When I say “deal with”, I mean God handles the situation to utter perfection, as he does everything. Our vengeance, should we choose to exact it, would be hasty and emotion-driven and all out of proportion to the crime (causing more harm to ourselves), whereas God’s vengeance is precise, perfectly timed, and guaranteed to deliver the promised rewards. Having been both on the receiving end of God’s vengeance (as an atheist) and a witness to God’s vengeance (as a born-again believer), I am in awe at how perfectly God tailors the punishment to fit the crime.
Most criminals don’t believe they’ll be caught. And if they are caught, most will insist on their innocence even when presented with damning evidence. And if despite their pleas of innocence they’re tried in a court of law, most will refer to extenuating circumstances to deflect the blame from themselves. Judicial systems take these circumstances into consideration when rendering a verdict, and so the outcome is far less than perfect and typically far too soft on criminals, leaving the guilty unrepentant and the observers disillusioned by the whole process.
But that’s in a worldly court of law, which is rarely premised on God’s justice. The only time an outcome is perfect in a worldly court of law is when God gets directly involved; and the only time God gets directly involved is when one of his children has been falsely accused. Having witnessed a series of miracles in a courtroom where I was on trial, I know firsthand what I’m talking about. How swiftly and decidedly God acted to protect me was breathtaking. All who were involved in the case exited the courtroom in various degrees of shock. I walked free.
You can’t harm God’s children and not expect to be punished. I guarantee that if you harm God’s children, you’ll be punished, and likely not in the way you expect. This is the beauty of God’s perfect vengeance. If you, for instance, trash-talk and spread lies about a child of God, your reward probably won’t involve being trash-talked and lied about in return, since these harms likely won’t affect you. Your reward will instead be targeted toward something that will affect you—meaning, something that you value—like your finances or your career or your most intimate personal relationships. Whatever God chooses to target will suffer a swift and noticeable decline to the precise measure that God deems appropriate to the crime. You cannot avoid God’s vengeance, whether you believe in it or not. That is 100% guaranteed.
But what about the harm suffered by God’s children prior to God’s vengeance being enacted? How is that compensated? Well, let’s see. After outing himself as the Messiah and being run out of town, Jesus lost Nazareth but gained a whole nation and then a whole world of believers, along with a permanent seat at the right hand of God. Paul lost his head but gained the reward of a prophet, as do all God’s children who are killed for their faith. Although not yet having “resisted unto blood”, I’ve been maligned, trash-talked, lied about, and cheated, had (failed) spells cast on me, and have been shut out of competitions and banned for my words. Yet in every instance, God has compensated me with better options and boosted faith. I have learned not to take matters into my own hands but instead to pray for my persecutors (if God gives me guidance to pray for them) and to let God deal with them in his way and his time, knowing that in the meantime I’ll be comforted and compensated by God himself. Where my persecutors intended harm, they inflicted instead joy, while the suffering they meant for me was returned—with interest—on them.
It’s a beautiful thing to submit to letting God be God. His vengeance is perfect. His rewards are perfect. Everything he does is perfect. You cannot avoid God’s vengeance either when you harm his children or when you commit any other trespass or crime. I say this not as a threat and not even as a warning but as a promise that comes straight from the mouth of God. Oh, what a beautiful thing it is to stand down and let God be God!
VENGEANCE IS MINE, SAITH THE LORD; I WILL REPAY.
JESUS AND THE PROSTITUTES
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, September 18, 2025 – There’s a video clip making the rounds lately featuring a prominent conservative influencer interacting with a group of prostitutes. The influencer doesn’t denounce the prostitutes for their career choice or immorality; instead, he steers the conversation towards career alternatives and discusses the impact that prostitution could have on the women’s current and future relationships. The comments under the video clip unanimously praise the influencer for not “judging” the women and for being “respectful” of them. Some comments even mention how the prostitutes seem to appreciate not being judged.
You know who else would appear non-judgmental and respectful of prostitutes while they unrepentantly brag about plying their trade?
Satan.
Satan would very much let the women wax eloquent over their ungodly behavior (the more ungodly, the better). Satan would also politely listen while the women spiritually hung themselves with their own words. Satan’s specialty is standing by and letting sin run its course, somewhat like what was happening in the video with the prominent conservative influencer.
Jesus, on the other hand, wouldn’t have had such a discussion with “working girls”, mainly because they would have avoided him like the plague. The full measure of God’s Spirit in Jesus would have been way too powerful for the demons in the women to be anywhere near him. As scripture shows, the only prostitutes who approached Jesus were repentant ones, and then only on their knees and in tears (their choice, to be on their knees and in tears). This is the effect that the Holy Spirit has on the repentant.
Jesus didn’t prevent prostitutes from being around him; they just didn’t want to be around him.
We don’t do sinners a favor by being non-judgmental and respectful of their state of sin. We don’t do them a favor by giving them a platform to brag publicly about their ungodly behavior and dig deeper holes for themselves spiritually. What we do when we choose to be “non-judgmental” and “respectful” of sinners bragging about their sin is set them up for ridicule and shaming, while at the same time promoting the viability of their sinful ways to other sinners. We also don’t do ourselves a favor when sin is shoved in our face and we choose to look the other way, not wanting to appear judgmental or disrespectful. It’s not our job, as born-again believers, to look the other way. We’ll be held responsible for looking the other way.
God judges. Judging is the essence of who he is. Likewise, God’s Spirit, when present in believers, judges without saying a word. That’s why prostitutes didn’t want to be around Jesus and why the unrepentant don’t want to be around us: They feel judged even without our having to say a word. In feeling judged, they get defensive and then hostile. I’ve seen it over and over again in my interactions with unbelievers. Jesus says we’ll be hated without cause, and so we are. Simply being silent witnesses to God’s Word is enough to make people hate us.
I’m OK with being hated. I’d rather be hated by those who hate Truth than be appreciated by them for being “non-judgmental” and “respectful”. You don’t open a dialogue with sin; you roundly condemn sin and give it no voice. At the same time, however, you can talk about the weather with the unrepentant. If you own a corner store, you can sell them milk and bread and ice-cream. You can be kind to the unrepentant and dialogue with them, just not with their sin. But, as I mentioned, most sinners won’t want to be around you, anyway, not if you have God’s Spirit in you.
The conservative influencer was doing no-one a favor (least of all himself) by corralling prostitutes into making a public spectacle of themselves. God doesn’t call us to dialogue with sin or to give sin a platform under the guise of being “non-judgmental” and “respectful”. Jesus never did. What God does call us to do is stand in his Truth while being kind to the unrepentant. And if they feel judged by our words or merely by our presence, that’s not a bad thing. Let them feel judged. A pricked conscience is how repentance begins.
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
(Ezekiel 3:18-19)
“IT IS NOT GOOD TO MARRY”
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, September 13, 2025 – We need to be careful, as born-again believers, not to preach another gospel. Jesus never preached the primacy of family to his closest followers, not in the sense of father, mother, and children. On the contrary, he dismantled the nuclear family unit as a first order of business when he started his ministry, directing his disciples to leave their wives and children and give themselves completely over to God. Jesus himself remained unmarried (that is, spouseless, childless, and celibate), explaining that this state was by far the best for keeping the first Commandment. As Jesus’ followers, we should do not only what Jesus preached but also what he modeled.
Shunning marriage was revolutionary during the time of Jesus’ ministry and for many Christians still is. Jesus never counseled marriage to his followers and in fact did the opposite, pointing out in particular the danger of divorce leading to adultery. Paul chose to remain single and celibate for the same reason Jesus did—to best serve God—and warned that those who marry will likely be drawn towards pleasing their spouses rather than pleasing God. Yet with God’s permission, Paul softened many of Jesus’ teachings to appeal to a wider audience, suggesting, for instance, that for those who have difficulty controlling their “passions”, it’s better to marry than to burn. Paul’s ministry established the worldly church, but we born-again believers are not in the worldly church. We’re in God’s Church as established by Jesus, which means we’re God’s children, and God’s children do best not to marry.
In dismantling the nuclear family unit, Jesus proposed a better family arrangement for God’s children. He stated that all those who do God’s will are family, whether they’re related or not. It’s a beautiful solution that brings together like-minded souls for mutual support and fellowship, and mirrors the heavenly order, because in Heaven there is no marriage. In Heaven, like in God’s Kingdom on Earth, God is our Father and we’re all his children. This is the heavenly order that Jesus reflected in the Church he established, and it remains reflected there to this day.
When the Jews returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, they were ordered to leave their non-Jewish spouses and children behind. The separation was to be permanent if the returnees wanted to rebuild Jerusalem and live there. There were no exceptions to this rule. Imagine the outcry if such an order were given today, but Jesus did in fact give such an order and a much broader one—encompassing all spouses and children, not just non-Jewish ones. This order, which he gave to his first disciples and so by extension to us, is still in force. Whether you choose to accept that it applies to you is between you and God.
We live in spiritual Jerusalem, as born-again believers, and our work is to help build and fortify our realm. The same directives Jesus gave to his first and closest disciples he gives to us. I don’t know about you, but if Jesus says the best way forward is to be single and celibate, I’ll be single and celibate. I don’t want to compromise. I don’t want to do what’s second best in God’s eyes; I don’t want to offer up a blemished lamb if I have an unblemished one in my flock. I want to give God everything I have – the best of everything – like Jesus did.
And there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
(Matthew 19:12)
HOLDING NOTHING BACK
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, September 11, 2025 – I think of how disappointing so many of God’s children have been to him, how he put his hopes on Adam, and Adam betrayed him, and so he put his hopes on Adam’s sons, and Cain betrayed him, and so he put his hopes on mankind in general, and mankind in general betrayed him – everyone except for Noah, and so he put his hopes on Noah, and Noah stood firm in God.
And then came Abraham, who also stood firm, and after him Isaac and Jacob, both standing firm. But Jacob’s twelve sons were pretty much a disappointment, except for Joseph. And then, years later, came Moses, and David, and Elijah, and Daniel, all mostly standing firm in God.
And then came Jesus, who was a whole other level of what it means to stand firm. Never once a disappointment to God and never once betraying him, Jesus was the only one God publicly declared as pleasing him.
That’s a hard act to follow, though Paul did his best, as did the disciples, once they were born again.
And then came us.
Poor God! He doesn’t have much to work with these days, though he knows our hearts and so he knows we’re doing our best. At least I hope we’re doing our best, because that’s what we’ll have to declare with a clear conscience when we stand before God at the Judgement. We won’t get away with: “Well, as you know, I tried to do this and I tried to do that, but it didn’t work out so well”, because if we only try and then walk away when things get too hard or too costly, never bringing anything to fruition, that’s not going to stand us in very good stead. That’s not going to get us where we want to go.
And then there are those who presume a reward that should never be presumed. Jesus calls them “goats” and describes them as giving the impression of standing firm, while underneath there’s only evil. These are the professional preachers, the televangelists, the YouTube prophets, the wearers of long flowing robes in echoey halls, all demanding respect and payment for their services while never giving God that one thing he asks of them – their heart.
Because if we don’t give God our heart, he can’t work through us to do what needs to be done. We can’t bring anything of value to fruition without God working through us, no matter how hard we try. Jesus said: “None is good but God.” If God isn’t working through us, nothing we do has any real or lasting value. Sure, we can still do things—lots of things, mountains and mountains of things—but we can’t do anything of value without God.
I think of how disappointing many of us have been to God without knowing it, simply because we chose not to give God our heart. We gave it instead to someone or something else, or we buried it under so many layers of burdens, we forgot we even had a heart, let alone that it was owed to God, because it is owed to God: That’s his first and greatest Commandment.
If you’re holding back from giving God your heart, don’t. If you’re holding back even a little of your heart, don’t. We’re to love God with all our heart, holding nothing back, and to do all things as if unto God. Noah showed us how it’s done. Abraham showed us how it’s done. Daniel showed us how it’s done. But most of all, Jesus showed us how it’s done, so we don’t have the excuse that we don’t know how to give God our heart. All our heart. Here, now, and forever.
No excuses.
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 