John 11: 32-35, When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept.

Jesus wasn’t crying because Lazarus was dead, He was moved by their grief. He knew that He was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, so He knew the situation was not final, but He was grieved because of their grief. God is not a God who does not see or does not care, but satan would love to have you believe that He is. The world is so full of hate and anger and violence and the question remains for so many people: “if there is a God then why……”. When God created Adam and Eve the world was a beautiful place with no sin, no anger or depression, etc., but God created us with the ability to choose and when they chose sin it changed everything. It is the same today; when we choose sin or other people around us choose sin over God it creates pain and chaos in our world. God does not force us to do what is right or to make the best choices, but He loves us enough to provide a way to make it all right between Him and us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life.” ~ John 3:16I will expand on that at the end of this study in case you need the answer or someone you know does and you can share this with them.God sees and He loves you more than you can possibly comprehend! He will not force people to do what is right or we would all be walking around like robots. His desire is for us to choose Him. He wants to walk with us through this life and He wants to comfort and guide so you can be all He created you to be! He doesn’t just want you to survive He wants you to thrive in your walk through life with Him. It breaks His heart to see the world upside down and backward but the choice is yours whether or not you will face it alone and walk through life alone or choose to grab on to His hand and allow Him to help you. Life here on earth is quite short in light of all of eternity. He cares and He sees and He knows you by name and not one tear that you have cried has escaped His notice. He has more for you! He has healing for you! He has a plan for you and He wants you to know and feel His love and His presence. His desire is not for you to live in fear but for you to have His power, love, and a strong mind to be able to face all that you may experience in this lifetime. If you are struggling today I would encourage you to take it all to Him! If you have never accepted Him as your Savior, I would like to encourage you to keep reading at the end of this and to give your life to Him. It is time to give it all to Him and trust Him that truly His best is yet to come ~ will you choose to follow Him today?

Quote: “When you have a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.” ~ William James.

Answer: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 declarations of 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 a 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 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 childrenJohn 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) realizes no human works can result in salvation, and (3) relies totally on Christ alone by faith alone for our salvation. If you would like to receive and trust Christ 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 close 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!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 to 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? What about the people you love? Can you bear the thought of their going through life never accepting Christ as their Savior and knowing for all of eternity they missed heaven? I had a relative say one time to me, “do you really think a loving God would create a hell for people? If your child were bad would you throw them into a fire?” The answer to that is: God created Hell for Satan and his angels that chose to follow him and as far as throwing a child into a fire? No, of course, we wouldn’t do that any more than God would, but if you told your child to stay away from the fire and you showed them the way out of a burning building and they chose to go their own way which led them straight into the fire, what then? God has made His way very clear, Hell is a choice made by individuals! Please choose Him Today!