The Road He Traveled

 Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Comments are greatly appreciated. If you leave a comment please include your name. Otherwise I won't know who you are.

Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

  The Road He Traveled

 

Three shepherds watched their flock out in a field one starlit night

When suddenly up in the sky there was a brilliant light.

An angel floated in the air and they were so afraid

Its voice fell lightly on their ears and this is what it said.

 

“Fear not, for God has come to man as a little baby boy,

And all who worship at His feet will have exceeding joy.

A virgin of the house of David gave birth to Him today.

This star so bright will lead to where He’s on a bed of hay.”

 

So, they left their flock and traveled east, following the star.

They searched and found the child one night, though it was very far.

And though they had no gifts that day they worshiped for a while

Then Jesus looked into their eyes, and gave a little smile.

 

The shepherds went back to their flock, their hearts were all aglow.

Joseph took Mary and the babe, ‘twas time for them to go.

They raised Him up along beside His sisters and His brothers

But knew He was the Son of God and nothing like the others.

 

And when the time was come for Him to do His Father’s plan

He left and walked from town to town and witnessed man to man.

He told the people of God’s love, so rich and full and free.

He turned water into wine, and calmed an angry sea.

 

He preached upon the mountain top and fed five thousand men

With five loaves and two fishes, then He preached to them again.

A man was raised up from the dead, and demons driven out

This truly was the Son of God, of that there was no doubt.

 

But one day as He walked along the road, this Nazarene

He met a leper crying out, “Unclean, unclean, unclean.”

Then Jesus laid His hand on him and said, “My son, be well.”

His sores dropped off, he cried for joy, at Jesus feet he fell.

 

A blind man standing close could hear the man cry out with glee

And said, “Oh, Master, if You will, I know You can heal me.”

Jesus touched his eyes and gave him back his sight that day.

He turned to His disciples and began to walk away.

 

But a man with a withered arm said, “If You only will, my Lord,

You can heal my arm with Your touch or Your spoken word.”

Then Jesus said, “Take heart My son, your faith hath made you whole.”

With two good arms he hugged Christ and said, “Thank You with all my soul.”

 

Then the three men said, “You won’t recall, for You were too young to know,

But we knelt down at Your manger bed, many long years ago.

Our shepherd’s life has been unkind, and made our bodies this way.

But by chance You came along and healed all of us today.”

 

“It was not by chance”, Jesus gently said, “that I came down this road.

For, long ago, when you knelt down, I felt your heavy load.

I looked into your eyes that day and saw what lay ahead.

I could have traveled another road, but came this way instead.”

 

“From the manger bed I set My path to meet with you today.

For I saw what life would do to you, and I couldn’t turn away.

I’ve searched for you for many years, just like you searched for Me.

Now live a full and healthy life, for you have been set free.”

 

We must still seek the Son of God, and worship at His feet.

For there you’ll find exceeding joy that makes your soul complete.

Yes, life can be cruel and bend you low, but God’s love, time can never erase.

For once you have knelt at Jesus’ feet, He never forgets your face.

 

                                                        Janice Austin Bates

                                                        December 13, 2003

1:51 AM

 

Merry Christmas and God bless us everyone.

Angels On The Hillside

 Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Comments are greatly appreciated. If you leave a comment please include your name. Otherwise I won't know who you are.

Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

Do you ever have times when you feel like you are in a place or situation where there is no way out? You feel like you are surrounded and alone. Well, don’t despair. That is exactly how Satan wants you to feel. He wants you to lose hope and give up.

In 2 Kings chapter 6, God tells us about the king of Aram fighting against the Israelites. The king of Aram realized the king of Israel knew, ahead of time, everything the king of Aram was going to do and he thought there was a spy in his army. When he was informed that the prophet Elisha was telling the king of Israel what they were doing, the king of Aram was angry and decided to kill Elisha.

Elisha’s servant got up one morning and saw that they were surrounded by the Aramean army. He was afraid and ran and told Elisha. Then Elisha, who was used to being taken care of by God, asked God to open the servant’s eyes. Suddenly the servant saw the hills were filled with angelic soldiers in chariots of fire. He was no longer afraid.

Have you ever thought about when Lucifer tried to take over heaven? God told the angels to choose who they wanted to serve. One third of the angels chose to follow Lucifer, who is now Satan. The other two thirds of the angels chose God. That means two things. First, God’s army is twice as big as Satan’s army. But, way more important than that, Satan’s army is lead by Satan, while God’s army is lead by God. So which army do you think is stronger?

How can we ever be afraid of Satan and his army when we know we are protected by God and His army. That Satanic army cannot ever win, and God’s army cannot, and will not ever fail. We have nothing to fear. You have nothing to fear.

When the Aramean army went after Elisha and his servant, although they didn’t have the spiritual eyes to see it, they were actually sandwiched between God’s servants on the inside, and God’s army on the outside. They couldn’t be in a worse position than that.

In our church we sing a song that says when we think we are surrounded, we are surrounded by God.

When people decide whether to serve God or to serve Satan (everyone is serving one or the other, there is no middle ground) we are also deciding who’s army we are serving in. If you are serving in God’s army, you have no reason to ever be afraid. If you are serving in Satan’s army, you should be terrified. Who do you want leading the army you are fighting with, Satan or God?

Think about it.

Secret Place

 Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Comments are greatly appreciated. If you leave a comment please include your name. Otherwise I won't know who you are.

Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

When you pray do you ever feel like your prayer is hitting a brick wall? Do you feel like God isn’t even hearing you? Maybe that is your imagination, or maybe it is really true.

We know from the Bible that some people put on an act of being holy and serving God, but it is mainly for show. They put ashes on their head and tear their clothes trying to look sincere, but their prayers never go higher than their ceiling.

If you feel empty when you pray, perhaps God is trying to show you something. You might be praying very hard for God to draw you closer to Him, and yet you feel dead inside.

Maybe the problem is something else entirely.

Do you have something in your heart that you haven’t given up? It could be an action, an object, or even a person. If there is an obstacle in you way that you can’t quite let go of it can prevent God from being able to draw you closer. It can cause a dead spot in your soul. You might not even recognize it for what it is, but it is there just the same.

If there is an action you like to do even though you know it is wrong, you might be telling yourself it isn’t hurting anyone. After all, what people don’t know won’t hurt them. Right? Okay, maybe that is true, but who does know? Well, you know. And then of course, God knows too. If you are hiding something, you might fool yourself, but you will never fool God.

God had to throw Lucifer and a third of the angels out of heaven. Why did He have to throw them out? Not to punish them, but because He is so holy that He cannot allow sin to be in His presence. They had brought sin into their hearts, and into heaven. God could no longer commune with them. The link between God and them had been blocked. Heaven could never be pure as long as they were there.

Because they had been perfect and chose to go into sin, there was no forgiveness for them. They walked into it willingly, with their eyes open.

Thank God there is forgiveness for us. Because we are born into sin God knows we are tempted and we cannot always resist. But, even though God is willing to, and wants to forgive us, in order for that to happen we must give it to Him. He will not take away our sin by force. We have to give it up.

If you are praying about one thing, but refusing to give up something else, the sin you are not willing to give up can stop your prayers at the ceiling, just like it feels.

If we are unwilling to give up a sin, even though it might feel trivial to us, it can sabotage our entire prayer life. Even if no one else knows about our sin, and it feels harmless, sin is sin and there is no such thing as harmless sin.

If you feel a dryness you can’t get past, perhaps you need to examine your heart. Are you hiding something because you can’t quite let it go? As long as you hold onto it you are putting your entire eternity at risk. Is it worth it? Of course not. So what do you do about it?

You have to make up your mind to let it go. Then you have to confess it to God and ask for forgiveness. You might feel the burden of sin lift immediately or you might have to pray for quite a while to truly let it go.

Don’t give up until you know it is right between you and God. Even if it isn’t something that will send you to hell, it can still be an attitude in your heart that will prevent the closeness that God wants to have with you.

I am giving you a link to a song on Youtube that might explain it better than I can. It is beautiful and hopefully the words will move you.

Think about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI33izOgRdY

The Fight before Christmas

 Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Comments are greatly appreciated. If you leave a comment please include your name. Otherwise I won't know who you are.

Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

This is a poem I wrote years ago. It is in the style of the poem "The Night Before Christmas". I hope it helps people remember to put the joy of Christmas first in this season.

The Fight Before Christmas

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house

The tension was bad as I fought with my spouse.

The stockings were hung, and the presents were there.

The tree lights were shining, but I didn’t care.

 

She had said something that had made me mad,

Unless she said “I’m sorry” this fight would be bad.

The children were hiding upstairs in their beds,

While loud angry voices whirled ‘round in their heads.

 

She had been wrong and I knew that she knew it

This fight would go on until she said she blew it.

My wife went upstairs, brushed her teeth and her hair.

I decided I’d sleep in my reclining chair.

 

My eyelids were closed but my mind wouldn’t rest.

The anger sat there like a brick on my chest.

When all of a sudden, from somewhere outside

I heard such a wail you’d think something had died.

 

I jumped from my chair and my feet hit the floor,

I stomped through the house and threw open the door.

The moonlight reflected on new fallen snow

As my eyes became focused on objects below.

 

And there on my porch, surely up to no good,

Stood eight tiny snot nosed brats from the hood.

They were all bundled up, their eyes full of glee

As they sang Christmas carols, mostly off key.

 

Two were dressed up like Joseph and Mary,

In the little girl’s arms, a wee doll she did carry.

They sang Silent Night, and Away in a Manger.

They had not a clue of my justified anger.

 

I started to scold them and send them away.

Who could have joy on this miserable day?

But, just as I opened my mouth to implore

That they take their miserable singing next door.

 

 

A wee voice said, “Mister, do you know the reason

That we celebrate during this Christmas season”?

My head dropped in shame, I said, “Tell me about it”.

He replied, “When you hear it, you never will doubt it.

 

Did you know that Jesus came down from above

To live among us with a heart full of love?

He left all His riches to live here on earth

And started this life with a poor, lowly birth.

 

He had to come down because we had been bad.

He didn’t place blame, it just made Him real sad.

He died on a cross where we should have died.

The people who loved Him were sad, and they cried.

 

He rose up again and to heaven He flew

And we can all go there to live with Him too.”

They said “Merry Christmas”, as they walked away.

Their singing was precious, I wished they could stay.

 

I suddenly realized that I had been wrong,

This fight with my family had stolen my song.

My anger had drowned out the sweet Christmas spirit.

The song was still there, but I couldn’t hear it.

 

I knew that I had to make up with my wife,

To tell her “I’m sorry” and stop all this strife.

I climbed up the stairs and swallowed my pride,

And gathered my wife and my kids to my side.

 

As I asked for forgiveness and started to weep,

My wife said, “I love you, now let’s get some sleep.”  

We all settled down for a nice winter’s rest.

I thought of my family, and knew I was blessed.

 

My children are nestled all snug in their beds,

While memories of Christmas songs float in their heads.

‘Tis the night before Christmas and everything’s good

Because of eight twinkle eyed kids from the hood.

 

Janice Austin Bates

December 2, 2011 11:26pm

How Deep Is Your Love

Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Comments are greatly appreciated. If you leave a comment please include your name. Otherwise I won't know who you are.

Thank you. Janice Austin Bates 

In Luke 7:36 you will find the story of a Pharisee asking Jesus to eat with him. They went together to the Pharisee’s house and sat down to eat. A woman from the city who was a sinner, heard that Jesus was there. She came to see Him and brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil.

She sat at the feet of Jesus and began to wash His feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. She kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.

The Pharisee was upset and told himself if Jesus was a prophet He would know who this woman was and know she was a sinner.

Jesus responded to the Pharisee and said, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

The Pharisee listened as Jesus told him, “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii and the other owed fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

The Pharisee said it would be the one he forgave more.

Jesus then pointed out that he was correct, and that when Jesus had come into the Pharisee’s house, he gave Jesus no water to wash His feet, but she had washed His feet with her tears and dried them with the hair of her head. Simon gave Him no kiss, but she had not stopped kissing His feet. Neither did Simon anoint His head, but she anointed His feet with her fragrant oil.

He told him that her sins which were many were forgiven, and for that she loved Him very much. But, to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.

Too often people who grew up in church and never fell into deep sin tend to look down on those who were lost in very sinful lives. They also might not love Him as deeply as those who were brought up out of the depth of sin.

The people who were rescued from drugs or prostitution, for example, are often the people who fall so deeply in love with Jesus they can’t stop praising Him. Many times they are the ones God can use the most to preach or witness. They become pastors, counselors, and prayer warriors because they know the tremendous change in their hearts and lives.

Those who never fell into that depth of sin sometimes don’t appreciate what they have because they haven’t experience as big a change in themselves.

What category do you fall into? Do you really understand what you have, or do you tend to think you are better than the “sinners” out in the world who Jesus has rescued?

Whether we had the privilege of growing up on a church bench, or were lifted up out of a horrible life, we need to truly understand that we are all alike. Every one of us is a sinner saved by grace. We cannot ever look down on others because “we have never done what they did. God never had to do as much for us as He had to do for them.”

The reality is He had to sacrifice the same blood and suffer the same pain for each person no matter what their circumstance. After all, sin is sin, and we are all born into it. We all have to come to Jesus and be saved.

If you have ever thought you weren’t that bad, you need to think again. When you truly understand that He had to do the same for each one of us, then maybe we will start to love him more.

Maybe we will start washing His feet with our tears, drying them with our hair, and anointing them with fragrant oil. After all, we all owe him that and much more.

Think about it.

 

 

Loaves and Fishes

 Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Comments are greatly appreciated. If you leave a comment please include your name. Otherwise I won't know who you are.

Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

What do you have you can give to Jesus? Most of us don’t have a whole lot. Probably not enough to be of any real help. So why does Jesus ask us to give? After all, He created the universe and everything in it. Obviously He doesn’t need our help.

The reason isn’t because He needs us to give, but because we need to give. He has more than enough resources to do anything He wants. He involves us because that is how He teaches us and makes us better Christians.

When Jesus turned the water into wine He could have just spoken a word and the wine would have appeared. Instead He said to bring jars full of water and He used the water to create wine. We have to do our part.

In winning people to Him He says one person sows, another person waters, and another person reaps. When we are part of that process we grow from it. Not only will we be rewarded here on earth, but we will be rewarded in eternity. He wants us to be part of His miracles.

When God tells us to tithe do you think He needs our money? Of course not. God requires us to give so he can bless us. He uses what we give to Him so He can multiply it back to us. That does not necessarily mean He will take $100 we give and bless us with $200 back. Sometimes He will give the money back plus more as a blessing. Sometimes it comes back to us in the form of spiritual blessing. It all depends on what we need, but He will always bless us.

When Jesus saw the 5000 men plus women and children were hungry He could have done what the disciples suggested and sent them into town to buy their own food.  He also could have spoken the food into existence but He chose to ask what food was available.

A young boy was willing to give his 5 loaves and 2 fishes. He had no idea what Jesus was going to do with it but he knew he needed to give. The disciples were very hungry, having not eaten all day, but He gave the loaves and fishes to them and told them to feed the people. They walked through the crowd giving each person fish and bread. How could they possibly feed them all with such a meager amount of food? That was because Jesus blessed the food and told the disciples to feed them with it. When all the people had been fed Jesus told the disciples to gather up all the loaves and fishes that were left. Nothing was to be wasted. Guess how much food was left. Twelve baskets full. Enough for a basket of food for each disciple.

Do you think that was a coincidence? Of course not. There are no coincidences, but rather miracles planned by God. He was taking care of his disciples for their willingness to obey Jesus and putting the other people’s needs ahead of their own.

What would you have done? Would you have decided this small amount of food was not enough to do anything with, and kept it for yourself, or would you have obeyed Jesus and let Him work a miracle? When we allow Jesus to use what we have and do what He does, He is lifted up for the world to see. We are blessed and learn more and more about giving what we have to Jesus. It strengthens our faith and teaches us to trust Him.

So what are you doing? Are you giving your loaves and fishes to be used by Him and allowing Him to take care of you? Or, are you afraid and keeping you food for yourself because there is not enough to share? If so, you are missing out on your miracles.

Think about it.

The God Who Fights For Me

 Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Comments are greatly appreciated. If you leave a comment please include your name. Otherwise I won't know who you are.

Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

Do you ever feel like you are all alone in this world? When you are really down does anyone have your back?

If you are like me, when your life seems to be falling apart, it feels like no one cares. In fact, sometimes you would swear that no one even realizes you are in trouble.

That is such a lonesome feeling.

My father was a pastor. When I was eighteen years old the people in our church decided we had been there long enough. They thought they needed a new pastor so they asked us to leave. I had grown up in that church. The adults were like aunts and uncles to me, and the youth were like siblings. I was devastated.

To make things worse, the new church we went to had a youth group who weren’t very nice. When they found out we were coming there some of the youth decided they did not want another teenage girl in the church, so they pressured all of the youth group to shun me the minute I walked in the door. It took two years before I found out why they did this.

One day I said the people in my home church didn’t want me and the people in the new church didn’t want me. However the people in the world were nice to me so I said I would go where I was wanted. Sadly, I walked away from God for ten years.

When God finally brought me back it still took another thirty five years to get over the pain and feeling of abandonment. Every time I thought about having to leave my home church I would cry so hard I couldn’t even talk.

One day I was alone and thinking about relationships in my life that had parted ways and I was talking about them (to myself). I was talking out loud and said, “When Danny and I went our separate ways, my life went on without him. When John and I went out separate ways, my life went on without him. When Santi and I went our separate ways, my life went on without him.” Then I heard myself say, “When the church and I went our separate ways, my life went on without me.” It finally hit me why I had never gotten over the pain. My life had gone on as I had always known it, but I was no longer allowed to be in it.

Even though I understood the pain better than I ever had before, the terrible pain and feeling of abandonment continued for about another ten years.

One Sunday we were singing a song in my church when the words hit me right between the eyes. The words were, “You  never forsook me.” God spoke to me and told me He had never forsaken me. I had forsaken Him. He said He had always been there, but I had run off and left Him. As those words sank in the pain lifted. I no longer felt abandoned.

I suddenly realized I had allowed the actions of people to cause me to run from the one who loved me most. Essentially I had cut off my nose to spite my face.

This morning the preacher told us that when we have a problem, Satan wants us to take quick action to fix it se we will just mess it up. God, on the other hand, wants us to leave the problem to Him so He can really fix it.

If I had left the problem in His hands He would have worked it all out. I panicked and tried to fix the problem myself. In doing so, I made it worse and my life was messed up for years.

The Bible teaches that David did not brood over his problems. Neither did he pity himself. He simply gave his problems, many of his own making, to God and let Him fix them.

God is the one who is always fighting for us, and God never loses a fight. Why do so many of us try to fight our own battles when our fighting skills are so limited?

The Bible says His eye is on the sparrow, so why don’t we trust Him? The sparrows do.

In boxing, men battle to see who can be the heavy weight champion of the world, and people are in awe of them.

We need to understand the heavy weight champion of the universe is our Heavenly Father, and He is always fighting for us.

So relax, give everything to Him and rest assured that we are in good hands with Almighty God.

Think about it.

The Blood of Jesus

 Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Comments are greatly appreciated. If you leave a comment please include your name. Otherwise I won't know who you are.

Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

All my life I have heard about how Jesus shed his blood for us, but this weekend I heard a new thought and I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

This past week my husband Ray and I took a trip to Ashland Oregon. We went to a church there that we enjoy every time we go. They had a guest speaker this time. He said something about the crucifixion I had never heard before.

He was talking about Jesus on the cross and he said He bled out. I have always thought He died from the wounds inflicted on Him, and the stress His body went through.

After he said that I got to thinking. The only thing that could pay for our sin was perfect blood. Jesus was the only one who had perfect blood, and He shed His blood willingly.

First He bled terribly from all the beating. The Bible says after they finished beating Him, He could not be recognized as a man. That is when the bleeding began. Next they pushed a crown of horrible thorns down on His head which caused a lot more bleeding. If you have ever had a cut on your scalp you know it bleeds terribly.

After all that they nailed Him to a cross. The nails were put through His hands (wrists) and His feet. That gave Him more severe wounds from which the blood would flow.

Finally, they thrust a sword into His side to make sure He was dead. I believe at some point He had lost so much of His perfect blood through all His wounds that there was not enough blood left to sustain His life any longer.

When His friends took Him down from the cross they laid Him in a borrowed tomb. His blood must have continued to drain from His body until there was not one drop left. He didn’t just shed a little bit of blood to pay for our sin. It took every drop of His perfect blood to accomplish what He came here to do.

I believe He completely bled out to save our souls.

Think about it.

Reasons

 Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Comments are greatly appreciated. If you leave a comment please include your name. Otherwise I won't know who you are.

Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

When you were a child did you think like I did? Did you believe God was just looking for a reason to send you to hell? For some reason that is what I thought. So did my sister and brother. I am not sure where we got that idea, because our parents never taught us that. I suppose it came from us being told that sin was wrong and sinners don’t go to heaven. Our young minds didn’t yet understand the difference between the mistakes and slip ups we all make on a daily basis, and willful sinning.

When we were young the world was very different than it is today. Mom would take us shopping with her and she wasn’t afraid to let us out of her sight. Consequently, we had to stay in the store with her, but we didn’t have to stay right next to her. While we were having fun together mom would sometimes go to another part of the store. When we would look up and realize she wasn’t there we would go into a panic, looking for her as fast as we could. We were sure the rapture had happened and we had been left behind. After all, we didn’t always obey perfectly, or maybe we had gotten mad and thrown a little hissy fit. One thing was sure. We knew we hadn’t been perfect, so now we had probably missed the rapture and were going to hell. It was always such a relief when we would turn down one aisle and there she was.

Now that we are older we understand that God isn’t looking for excuses to send us to hell. The truth is He would not have to look very far with any of us, so no one would make it to heaven.

Actually, God is looking for any way He can find to take us to heaven.

My brother was talking last night about how often people quote John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him shall not parish but have everlasting life.” However, they usually don’t go on to quote John 3:17, “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved.” That scripture tells us that God does not want to send anyone to hell.

My father used to tell us that punishment is God’s strange work. In other words, it is not what He wants to do, but what He as our Father has to do to keep us on the path to heaven.

God is not looking for perfection from us, because if so, no one would make it. Rather, He is looking for a heart that is looking for Him. The instant a person gives their heart to God they have started their journey. If they were to die immediately, even though they hadn’t had time to make any changes in their life, they would still be saved.

The problem there is that many people want to live a sinful life and at the last moment apologize to God and go to heaven. That absolutely does not work. Galatians 6:7 says, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” You cannot purposely live a sinful life and then expect to fool God into believing you are sorry. God sees into you heart and knows the truth.

God is looking for any chance He can find to save you, but there is a point beyond which He cannot and will not go. He is constantly forgiving the sins we are committing because we are imperfect humans. However, willful sin requires true heart felt repentance.

When Lucifer and a third of the angels purposely sinned against God, He threw them out of heaven and declared He would never allow sin into heaven again. If sin was allowed in heaven, we would all have to be struggling with it all through eternity, God says once we get to heaven the fight will be over. There will be no sin to tempt us ever again.

While we are still here on earth, we can rest assured that God really wants to save us, and He will if He can. But understand that even though God says no one can take our salvation away from us, we can walk away from it of our own free will.

God’s goal is to save us, but don’t let that cause you to become careless and think we can get away with sin.

My father always said, “If I draw a line and tell you not to step across it, I don’t expect you to stand with your toes on the line.” What he meant was if we get as close to crossing the line as we can, in our hearts it is the same as if we had physically crossed the line. God says if we commit sin in our heart, then we have sinned. All sin starts in our heart.

So, don’t be afraid that God is looking for a reason to send you to hell, But, neither can we push as far as we can and think we will get away with it. It doesn’t work that way.

Think about it.

 

The Value of Love

 Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Comments are greatly appreciated. If you leave a comment please include your name. Otherwise I won't know who you are.

Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

How many times have you heard people ask why God would create Adam and Eve as perfect humans and then put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil there in the Garden of Eden where they could be tempted to sin. He could have never allowed any temptation and there would be no sin.

It seems very confusing, but actually it is quite simple.

If Satan hadn’t brought sin into existence everyone would be perfect still. No one would have to make a decision about whether or not to obey God. But, let me ask you this. Would that even actually be love? I heard a song years ago that said love isn’t something you fall into. It is something you do. in other words, love isn’t a fuzzy feeling. It is respect and admiration. It is knowing someone for who they really are and choosing them.

If it was possible to be forced to love someone, what would that love be worth?

When God created the universe and everything in it He spoke it all into existence, and He said it was good. However, when He created Adam and Eve He formed them with His hands. Then He breathed His own breath into them and said this was very good. This all was evidence of His love for the people He created in His own image.

For them to truly love God they needed to choose to do so. That could not be accomplished without being given a chance to choose between obeying and serving God or not.

So why would God put the tree in the garden? Because if we had no choice whether or not to love God, that love would have no value. Choosing to love God is what gives that love it’s value.

My father always said that God is a gentleman. He will not force anyone to love Him or serve Him.

Once we leave this earth our choice is made forever and we will never have to choose again. Have you made the right choice?

Think about it.

Solitary Sinner

 

Disclaimer: Obviously I am not an actual angel. However, I feel like God speaks to my heart and I would love to share it with you. Please enjoy.

If you enjoy my blog but are not currently receiving my email notifications, you can send your first and last name, and your email address to austinlass1948@gmail.com and I will notify you each time I post something new. I promise I will never give your information out to anyone or use it for anything other than my notifications to you. Please share my blog with your friends and family to help me spread the words from my heart with others. Also, if you have any family or friends who you believe might enjoy my blog posts and live in another country, I would especially love to have you share it with them. I am trying to reach more countries around the world. Your help would be greatly appreciated. 

Comments are greatly appreciated. If you leave a comment please include your name. Otherwise I won't know who you are.

Thank you. Janice Austin Bates

We all know that Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan and ate of the forbidden fruit. Ever since then mankind has been born into sin and needs a way out. That, of course, is why Jesus came to earth and died. Only perfect blood could pay for our sin.

Now let’s think about what would have happened if Adam and Eve hadn’t fallen. What if no one had ever sinned? With no sin in us there would be no death. As it is, there are billions of people in the world today. With no death in the world, everyone who was ever born would still be here, therefore there would be many more people than there is.

So what if Satan presented himself and tempted you? What if you fell and ate the forbidden fruit? Now you would have sin and be condemned to hell.

When Jesus came to earth Adam and Eve had passed their sin on to all their descendants. This meant everyone had sin and He died for us all. What a terrible price He had to pay to save us. Now everyone has a way out of their sin if they choose to accept His salvation.

Okay, now let’s get back to you. Let’s say you have already had all the offspring you are going to have. You already have children, grandchildren and possibly even great grandchildren. When you had all your children you had not yet sinned, so they were born without sin and had not passed sin to their children. That means the sin started and stopped with you.

So here you are living among billions and billions of people who are serving God and you are the only one with sin. Now what?

For Jesus to leave the splendor of Heaven and come to earth to die for you when He has so many serving Him doesn’t seem worth it. A less perfect god wouldn’t care. But our God loves each one of us so much that His love could not allow you to be lost with no hope of escaping hell. He wouldn’t even hesitate. Each person is worth everything to Him.

You would know that you and you alone were responsible for Him having to die. Also, since all the other billions of people were serving God, there would be no one willing to crucify Jesus. So, guess what. Not only would this all be happening to save you, but not one other person on earth would be willing to crucify Jesus, so you would be the one who would have to do it.

But the amazing thing here is that God would not even be angry at you. All He would feel is love. He wouldn’t have to decide what to do. It would be like a parent running into a burning building to save their child. They don’t have to think about it. They just do it.

God’s love for us is beyond anything we could ever imagine. The parable of the lost sheep tells us this, so He wuld still do it all just for you.

Think about it.

I am sharing a poem I wrote. I hope you enjoy it.

A Solitary Sinner

                   If I were the only one in the world

Who had ever committed a sin.

If no other one had done anything

To miss out on heaven, what then?

 

Surely the Savior would not have come

From glory to die on a tree,

If all other souls in the world were pure,

And sin was found only in me.

 

The Lord would have millions to lift up His praise,

And only my soul would be lost.

For Jesus to come and give up His life

Would surely be too  great a cost.

 

So, God and the angels and all of the saints

I’m certain would sing all day long.

But, for my forsaken and miserable soul

There simply would not be a song.

 

For only one person to be lost in sin,

A less perfect god wouldn’t care.

But, for God with His infinite love and compassion,

This loss would mean utter despair.            

 

So, He would still send His son to earth

To lay down His life for me, 

To take my sin upon Himself

And suffer agony.

 

He still would hang upon the cross,

In the midday blazing sun.

He’d still say, “Father, please forgive.

She knows not what she’s done.”

 

He still would lay there in the tomb,

To take my sin away.

He still would rise up from the dead

So I might rise someday.

 

So, how could I spurn a love like this,

And pretend that I didn’t see,

That Jesus, who died for the entire world,

Would have died, just for me.

 

Janice Austin