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

The Enemy's Weapon

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 

Have you ever noticed how Satan likes to take things that mean something good to us, or the people closest to us and use them against us? He also uses what is a weakness of ours, or things that frighten us the most. In other words, he attacks us with whatever he believes will cause the most damage to us, whether it is physical, emotional, or especially spiritual. We aren’t the only ones he goes after and tries to hurt. God Himself is Satan’s favorite target. The only way Satan can hurt God is to turn God’s children away from Him. That hurts God’s heart in a way we can never understand. That breaks God’s heart because He knows that means utter, eternal destruction for that person.

So how does God protect us from these attacks? Let’s look at a few examples.  

Jericho was an evil city and God needed to take it out. The people of Jericho had built a heavy wall around the city to protect themselves from the Israelites.

God told Joshua to have the Israelite army and priests with their trumpets walk around the city wall in silence each day for six days. On the seventh day they were to walk around it seven times. The priests were to blow their trumpets and the army was to shout. Guess what. The wall that had been built to protect Jericho fell to the ground. The city was completely unprotected and the Israelite army destroyed the people of Jericho and their city. God used the wall they raised to fight off God’s army to make them totally vulnerable and defeat them without Joshua’s army ever having to fight. Not one person on God’s side was lost or even injured. Furthermore, God saved Rahab, the prostitute who had helped His people, and He saved her whole family. When we follow God into battle we cannot lose because God does not lose.

When king Nebuchadnezzar made a decree that everyone was to bow down and worship his statue, the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to do so. The king asked them if they were not afraid of the furnace. They replied that they did not need to defend themselves. They said they knew God was able to save them, but whether He saved them or not they still would not bow to the king or his statue. King Nebuchadnezzar became furious and told his strongest soldiers to tie them up and throw them into the furnace which had been heated seven times hotter than usual. The fire was so hot it killed the soldiers. When the king looked into the furnace he not only found them walking around in the fire, but there was a fourth man walking in the fire also. Nebuchadnezzar described the fourth man as looking like the Son of God. Jesus had walked into the fire with His sons, saved them, and used the fire to kill their enemy.

When the giant, Goliath, challenged God’s army to a one-on-one fight with their best soldier no one would accept the challenge because Goliath was over nine feet tall and they were afraid of him. When David, who was quite small, showed up and saw the situation he said he would fight him. He refused the armor that was put on him because it was too heavy and bulky. David took his slingshot which was his weapon of choice and faced the giant. When Goliath saw David and his slingshot he laughed and made fun of him. David simply took the slingshot and hurled one stone at Goliath striking him in the forehead. Many people believe David slew Goliath with his slingshot, but the Bible says the stone knocked him out. The truth was David took the huge sword Goliath planned to kill David with and he cut off the giant’s head.

Over and over we see in the Bible where God takes what the enemy uses to defeat God’s children and uses it against the enemy to defeat them instead.

So, when you see Satan coming after you with his strongest weapon, look up because your deliverance is near, and it very well might be Satan’s own weapon that God will use to defeat him.

Think about it.