I only have in mind to do you good and not to harm you - to give
you hope and a future
Bible
Contents
Want to be a world changer?
You are probably reading this
because one of the other pages on this site gave you some answers you were
looking for. You personally experienced the results of God's work in my life
impacting your life. Would you, too, like to have an impact on other peoples'
lives and be a world changer?
God has a unique plan for your life - a destiny that only you can fulfill on
earth! That plan involves you, making an impact to change forever some aspect
of the world you live in - an area you are passionate about. You don't have a
passion for a cause? He will give you a passion and a vision for your purpose.
Great fulfillment comes when you enter into that plan.
For me, I gave my life over to Jesus Christ when I was 17. He gave me a
passion and a vision to help teenage boys and this website is one result of
that passion. Hundreds of thousands of boys worldwide have much more peace
within themselves because of this site. The liberation that comes into their
lives from not having those sexual hassles and misunderstandings frees them to
go on to achieve in other areas - to get on top of life.
Read on to find out more about the way God works and how you too can become
a world changer with a purpose for your life - whatever your story at the
moment!
What is God's "love" like?
I have a 12 year old fostered son named Andrew. When I come
into the room he sometimes raises his hand slightly as a sign to me that he
wants me to reassure and comfort him. He often does this when he is feeling
down and he wants me to help him feel better. He knows that if he reaches out
to me in a small way like that, I will respond to him and give him the love and
assurance he is looking for at that moment.
That is exactly how God is with us. He waits for us to open our heart to Him
in some small way and then He will go out of his way to reveal the love He has
for us. The relationship of God to man is often described in the Bible as being
an ideal 'father-son' relationship. God even says that He will be "a father to
the fatherless"!
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Bible
The emphasis is always for a person to make the first move and God will then
respond. This is one reason why people can go all through their long life and
make statements like "there is no God!" They were ignorant of the requirement
that they had to make the first move in order to have God reveal himself to
them! God did it this way so that those who want to find Him will do so out of
their own free will.
The perfect father
Read here to see what a
perfect father and his love for you would look
like.
The limits of our minds
Can your mind comprehend these two facts?
- Get your mind to imagine the solar systems and universe going on forever,
in all directions with no ending.
- Get your mind to imagine the universe ending at some point and then try
to comprehend what the void after the universe boundary is like. The void
must go on forever as well!
One of the statements above has to be correct, but our mind does not have
the ability to comprehend and process the fact.
The point is this: Our mind is finite - it has definite limits in its
ability. That is why it is not sensible to rely on our own (or any other man's)
ideas when it comes to issues bigger than our mind can fully comprehend -
vitally important issues like "is there a god" and "what happens to us after we
die".
An example of those mind limits:
- Compare an 8 year old girl explaining how the latest Ford
production car operates
- against an adult explaining spiritual matters.
- Her understanding of the car is limited.
- Our understanding of the universe is limited.
- She could produce an explanation of observed facts at her
level - "you put petrol in here and turn the key and push this pedal to go
fast".
- We have an understanding of the world and universe from
facts we have observed.
- Her peers would have no argument with her explanation,
because they all have approximately the same level of understanding.
- We all commonly lack the ability to grasp an infinite
universe and must accept scientific and theological explanations within those
limits.
- The people who actually designed the car would laugh at
the little girl's sincere attempts to explain its operation.
- God says "the greatest wisdom of men is foolishness!"
- The little girl simply has to believe and trust the
manufacturer when he says "the EGO Lambda sensor constantly monitors the
oxygen level in the exhaust and the ECU adjusts the fuel mixture
accordingly".
- We have to trust the God who says "You must be born again
to have eternal life to be able to go to heaven when you die".
- The explanation of how the car operates is beyond her
wildest imagination to try and comprehend. She has to choose whether to
believe and trust the manufacturer or not - that he knows exactly what he has
researched and designed and knows best how to operate the car.
- We cannot comprehend all of the ways God does His stuff. We
choose whether to believe what He says or to trust in mans' limited
understanding.
- The manufacturer realized that no one would have the same
intimate knowledge of the car that he does. That is why he produced a
handbook and workshop manual so people could understand more of how the car
is to be operated and serviced to get the best out of it. It is completely
voluntary to read the book, but there are consequences for not following its
recommendations.
- The God who says He created the universe also gave us a
book to understand how to run our lives to get the best out of our time here
on earth. It too is voluntary reading and also has consequences for not
following its requirements.
How do you know "God" is THE God?
He wrote that knowledge in our hearts so that we would instinctively know
there is a god! Who is it that people instinctively cry out to in desperation
when they are faced with life-and-death situations? Reader's Digest magazine
regularly has true life stories of people facing death who cried out to God to
save them, and he did, obviously, because they lived to write the story.
Many were not and still aren't church people, so their story isn't biased in
any direction. When it came to the crunch, there was no debate about which God
they should call out to for help. There was no mental debate about which
new-age philosophy to apply or which crystal was appropriate. There was no
debate either about which religion was the most appropriate at that
occasion.
They called out to the one true God the Bible talks about. He created them
and wrote the knowledge of His presence into the deepest parts of their heart
and He saved them when they cried out to Him in their time of absolute
need!
If there is a God, why is there so much suffering?
God decided to give people a free will - everyone can lead the type of life
they choose, but there are consequences!
If the leader of a country decides to war against another country, then God
won't stop him. The people and the war torn countries pay the consequences for
one man's decision.
Why does God let little children suffer and die? It is clearly not what He
wants to happen, but once again there are consequences to peoples' actions.
Mother Teresa (a famous worker amongst the poor in India) stated that "God
may well have sent a person to invent cures for diseases that affect all of the
human population but someone aborted the baby before it could be born". A
mother decided for whatever reason and we could all be worse off because of
it!
There are consequences! The consequences of one person's decision can
cascade to effect countless thousands (or millions) of people.
What about the 'bright light' of near death experiences?
Many people who have 'near death' experiences report a concurring story of a
bright light in a 'heaven like' place and feelings of great joy and peace.
The Bible indicates that when a person dies they go to a place called
PARADISE which has characteristics we would imagine of heaven. This is only a
holding ground!
After Jesus has returned to earth the second time and done His stuff
everyone will be judged according to their life on earth - whether they
accepted or rejected Jesus Christ!
- Those who accepted Jesus go on to heaven (much better than
paradise!)
- Those who rejected Jesus go to a place everyone knows as hell.
It is that simple! Don't be fooled by the 'near death' reports that everyone
goes to heaven! You make the choice. You live with the consequences just like
everybody else!
What happens when you "connect" with God?
- Imagine a light bulb
- and compare it to a person.
- Light bulbs come in all shapes and sizes - fluorescent,
incandescent, spot lights, flood lights etc.
- People come in all shapes, sizes and abilities.
- They are all complete and perfect as designed.
- People are able to exist on their own. Each is made
complete and perfect.
- They were all designed for a specific purpose.
- The Bible says that each person was created for a
particular purpose.
- They can't produce light on their own. They have to be
connected to an external source of power through the wiring.
- The Bible says that we can't achieve our full potential on
our own. We have to be connected to God through the 'wiring' of Jesus
Christ.
- Some will never achieve their purpose of producing light
before being destroyed by an accident or breakage that ends the lamp's
fragile life.
- Some people die before ever connecting to God. The Bible
describes our life as "hanging by a thread".
-
Other lamps will be connected to the power source via the
wiring and the invisible energy flowing into them will cause the lamp to
reach its full potential.
- People who accept God's way and connect to Him via His
specified method (through Jesus Christ) find they come alive on the inside.
Others who haven't made the connection find it difficult to understand how
something invisible could change a person so much.
The Bible actually says that we become "a light set on a hill" when we
become connected to God!
How do I "connect" with God?
The basis of connecting with God is an attitude of acceptance and belief in
Jesus Christ and what He did for us. God always looks on the heart of a person
- not what is seen by others.
- A relationship with another person is an example of
what
- connecting with God is all about:
- You might know all about the other person but never have
met them personally.
- You can know all about God but not know Him
personally.
- You need to introduce yourself or be introduced to the
other person to begin a relationship with them.
- You need to introduce yourself to God through praying, to
start that relationship.
- The relationship with the other person then has to be
worked on if it is going to develop in any way at all. Worked on by spending
time communicating and getting to know them.
- The relationship with God then has to be built the same way
by spending time talking (praying) and listening (bible and prayer). The
relationship thrives too by meeting together with others who have also
introduced themselves to God (a Christian church is a place where such people
get together)
- The relationship with the person becomes personal and
intimate to a certain extent.
- Many Christians report that over time their relationship
with God becomes their closest relationship they have! This is in addition to
their normal, fulfilling, people relationships.
Step by step guide of how to become a Christian:
It is all about changing your heart towards God and giving Him permission to
come in to your life - following Him.
-
Tell God you are sorry for how you have been
living. Sorry that your life hasn't been pleasing to him. Sorry that in his
eyes you are a sinner.
- Ask Him to forgive you for your life of sin and tell Him you want to live
pleasing to Him from now on.
- Tell Him that you believe that Jesus died for you in order to open up a
way so you can have access to God.
- Tell Him that you want to begin a relationship with Him. Ask Him to come
and be your friend. Ask Him to come and live inside of you in your
spirit!
- Tell Him you want Him to take over your life and to help you in areas
that you struggle with.
After you become a Christian
When you have followed this through, the Bible describes you as a little
baby spiritually. Just born - in fact just 'born again'.
The next step is to obtain nurturing, just the same as it is absolutely
essential for a baby to be nurtured if it going to survive. Nurture is obtained
by reading the Bible (get a modern translation which is easy to understand and
begin by reading the section called "John") Nurture is also obtained by praying
(simply talking to God!) and thanking God for all He has done for you.
A third essential component of nurture is mixing with other Christians.
Choose a Christian church that tells you they love Jesus and that they worship
Him alone. There are many lively, modern Christian churches in nearly every
town and city.
Am I on my own after I become a Christian?
God has promised to "never leave you or forsake you". "Nothing can separate
you from God's love".
Make the decision to spend time with other Christians - if you put a branch
into a fire, it quickly catches on fire - if you take it out of the fire, it
will eventually go out. No matter how hard you try, you still need the draft
and warmth of other Christians to keep the fire of God's work in your life
alight.
God made it that way. The Bible actually describes us as all part of one
body that has Jesus as the head. No part of the body can successfully exist by
itself!
Over to you
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It's all in your hands - nobody
else can do it for you!
Draw near to God and He will draw
near to you!
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