Amos 5:18-20,  Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord!  Why do you long for the day of the Lord?  That day will be darkness, not light.  It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.  Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light~ pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

As Christians we long for the Lord to come and that will be a great day for us, but we must stop and think about what that day will be like for those left behind.  We all have days at times like the one mentioned in these verses, when you flee from a lion only to end up face-to-face with a bear…!  Some days seem exactly like that but in those days every day will be like that!  There will be very little understanding of what is going on.  People wi be angry with God and very few will seek Him.  There will be so much more coming against their accepting Jesus as their Savior so we need to do all we can now to spread His Word!  If you haven’t accepted Him as your Savior the Bible tells us “Today is the day of Salvation…!”  Don’t put it off because none of us are guaranteed a tomorrow!

Who do you know that needs Jesus?  Who do you know that you can show the love of God to?  Let’s not wait until it is too late!  Let’s make sure we are a light in this world that is growing darker by the day!  Let’s strive to be and do all we can to live out the difference of knowing Him!  Is there someone you are angry with and you are holding a grudge?  Ask God to give you His love for them and pray for an opportunity to be His hands and feet so they will see the difference Jesus makes in your life!

While we look forward let’s also pray for God to burden our hearts for those who don’t know Him.  Let’s strive to make a difference while we can!  Pray for God’s wisdom and for a boldness to shine so others will see Him and want to know Him!

If you have never accepted Jesus as your Savior let me just explain what the Bible says about it:

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.“

Don’t allow your pride to keep you out of heaven! Salvation on our side of things is so simple that I think there are those who think it is too simple and too good to be true, so there must be “work” that needs to be done in order to be forgiven.

I remember accepting Jesus as my Savior when I was really little. I remember it like it was yesterday! If you have never taken the time to do that I would encourage you not to wait another moment! Don’t allow pride or anything else to stand in your way! Maybe everyone around you thinks you are already saved and yet you know that there really never was a time when you gave your life to God, you have just behaved the way you were raised and used all the key phrases that Christians use because they are so common to you. Would you really want to allow your pride keep you out of heaven? Is your pride worth eternity? We so often forget how short life here on earth is and yet we are created to live for eternity! Where are you going to choose to spend it?

1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life.

This passage tells us that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son, Jesus Christ. In other words, the way to possess eternal life is to possess God’s Son. The question is, how can a person have the Son of God?

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

According to Romans 5:8, God demonstrated His love for us through the death of His Son. Why did Christ have to die for us? Because Scripture declares all men to be sinful. To “sin” means to disobey God. The Bible declares “all have sinned and fall short of the glory (the perfect holiness) of God” (Rom. 3:23). In other words, our sin separates us from God who is perfect holiness (righteousness and justice) and God must therefore judge us and our sin.

Scripture also teaches that no amount of human goodness, human works, human morality, or religious activity can gain acceptance with God or get anyone into heaven. Romans 3:10, tells us “there is none righteous, not even one”. Added to this are the following verses of Scripture:

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not of works, so that no one can boast.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

This is the good news of the Bible, the message of the gospel. It’s the message of the gift of God’s own Son who became man (the God-man), lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sin, and was raised from the grave proving both the fact that He is God’s Son and the value of His death for us as our substitute.

How Do We Receive God’s Son as our savior?

Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us on the cross, the Bible states “He that has the Son has life.” We can receive the Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior by personal faith, by trusting in the person of Christ and His death for our sins.

John 1:12 But to all who have received Him–those who believe in His name–He has given the right to become God’s children

John 3:16-18 “For this is the way God loved the world: he gave his one and only Son that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 18 The one who believes in Him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.”

This means we must each come to God the same way: (1) as a sinner who recognizes his sinfulness, (2) realizing no human works can result in salvation, and (3) relying totally on Christ alone, by faith alone, for our salvation.

If you would like to receive and trust Jesus as your personal Savior, take the time for a simple prayer acknowledging your sinfulness, accepting His forgiveness and putting your faith in Christ for your salvation.  If you have done that, tell someone who can also help guide you into a closer relationship with God.  If you aren’t sure who to tell please either message me on my blog or email me at [email protected] , I would love to know!  I would also encourage you to find a good local, Bible believing church where you can get plugged in and develop your walk with God!