What Is Faith?

     The Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:1 that faith, "is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen.  It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see" (New Living Translation).  In other words, it means that we have a belief that in the future events that the Bible says will happen will indeed happen.
    Only with faith from God can we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is the only One who can save us from our sins; that He died on a cross (Good Friday) taking all of our sins (past, present and future) with Him to the grave; that He arose from the grave three days later (Easter) and ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God; that with Him in control of our lives we can live to the full potential that God, our Father created in us before we were physically born.
   We can't conjure up faith for ourselves because we as humans don't seek God -- God seeks us out, and then gives us the smallest amount of faith needed to believe that Jesus is the Son of God Who takes away the sins we have committed in our lives while we went out own way without Him.
    Faith was explained to me this way.  If you lean the chair you are sitting on back against the wall, you do it with the faith that the wall will hold the chair up, that the back legs won't slip out from under you or break due to your weight, and that the chair itself can stand the strain of being used improperly. When you do this with the chair, you don't even think that it is by faith that you do so with confidence, you just "know" that the chair won't fall.
     That's the way it is with Jesus Christ.  Faith in Him means that you don't have to think about Him fulfilling His promises to you, you just know with confidence that he will do the things for you that He said He would do.  First you must tell Jesus that you want Him in your life and to save you from your sins.  Then you must ask Him to come into your life and take control of the things you yourself cannot control or change about yourself, which is everything about your life.  You must tell Him that you want Him to be your Lord and Savior, and want Him to take control of your life so that He can show you the right way to live.
     I will let the Word of God, Scripture from the Bible, answer the questions about what it means to have faith, hope and love in Jesus Christ, and why, so that you can make an informed decision as to whether you want to live your life as Jesus asks you to, or whether you want to keep going your own way, relying on yourself, falling in and out of situations that you yourself can never fix and can never get away from.
     Only Jesus Christ can save you from the mistakes you have made and will continue to make in your life.  Only He can help you overcome your own sinful nature and all of the things that Satan throws your way.
     The choice is yours and yours alone to make.  Jesus will never drag you into something that you don't want.  He will never come to you and say, "Love me, or else."  All He is saying to you right now is, "I love you more than you can know, and I want to change the things that are wrong with your life and make them all work out for your good and My Glory.  I want you to come just as you are, right now, and tell me that you want your life to have meaning.  I will send you My Holy Spirit to live inside of your heart and who will guide you into the plans for which I have created you.  My Spirit will help you fulfill them and to bring you into the wonderful, spectacular future I have had in place for you to live since before the day you were born.  All I as is for you to come."
    
     The first question you may be asking yourself is, "Why do I need to have faith in Jesus Christ?"  Hebrews 11:6 says, "So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith.  Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that there is a God and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him" (New Living Translation).

It Is The Only Way I Can Be Right With God

When Adam and Eve (Who were real people by the way) were in the Garden of Eden, they had a right standing with God; they were without sin, as was Jesus Christ.  They had no concept of sin since God created them holy and pure.  They had no concept of right or wrong.  When God promised them that He would fulfill all of their needs, He was faithful and delivered on His promises.  Therefore, Adam and Eve obeyed His every word, and had a very intimate relationship with the God who created and cared for them.  They knew that they could trust God with their very lives.

     Then came along Satan (who is also a real person), who, at this time, was already a fallen angel cast out of Heaven for proclaiming that he could could be just like God and could do a better job than God (sound familiar?), who convinced Adam and Eve to disobey God and eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Once they took a bite from its fruit, their relationship was forever stained with sin.

     Then, as today, Satan sets out to destroy our relationship with God, because God would not let him claim God's throne to do his evil desires.  We are the same way towards God today: we want to control our own lives, to do what we want without any interference from anybody; especially God Himself whom we believe will take away our evil fun.

     Isaiah 14:13-14 tells the words Satan himself said to God as Satan was in full rebellion against God: "(13)You said to yourself, 'I'll climb to heaven.  I'll set my throne over the stars of God.  I'll run the assembly of angels that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon.  (14)I'll climb to the top of the clouds.  I'll take over as King of the Universe'" (The Message).  (Oh, how many "I" statements we could add to Satan's list: I can rule my own life better than God; I don't need anyone to tell me what I can or cannot do; I am successful because of my own sweat and perseverance...  The list is endless.)  Satan believed that he could rule the universe better than God.  Since a pure, holy, and just God cannot let evil go unpunished, Satan, and those angels who rebelled with him, were banished from Heaven and were cast down to the Earth.

     So what has Satan been doing for the last six thousand years?  As it reads in Job 2:2, "And the Lord said to Satan, 'Where have you come from?'  Satan answered the Lord, 'From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.'"  In 1 Peter 5:8, "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (Emphasis mine/ Both from New International Version.)  He has been attempting, and is sometimes successful, in keeping you and me from knowing God intimately.  Tempting us through our five senses (Biblically called the "flesh") Satan tries to get us to do wrong things through our own evil desires, which, without Jesus Christ in our lives, we will fall into repeatedly.  Therefore, like Adam and Eve, we disobey God's good plans for us just to follow our own evil ways just because we want to.  If we just put our faith in God they way we put our faith in everything else, and just as strongly, we would follow God's ways and realize that His ways are truly the right ways.  This in turn would please Him immensely the way a child pleases his parents by obeying the house rules, which are put in place for the child's own good and protection.

     All our lives since Adam and Eve, we have followed an evil devil, and have put our faith in him instead of the One who always has good in mind for us.  However, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ -- which comes from God if we are really seeking Him -- believing that He exists, and believing that Jesus is who He says He is, that He has done what He said He would do, asking Him into our hearts and putting Him in control of every aspect of our lives, then, only then, can we please God and have a right standing with He who created us, and who had planned out our entire lives thousands of years before we were born.

Only With Faith Can We Believe In Jesus Christ

     Do you know that it takes more faith to believe that your car is going to start in the morning than it does to believe in Jesus Christ?  Each and every morning you go out and turn the ignition key and expect the car to start on the first try.  So much so that, after a while, you don't even think about it anymore -- you get in, start the car, and go!  Now, that requires a great amount of faith to believe in.  However, where Jesus Christ is concerned, it only takes a small amount of faith to believe in Him and what He did on the cross.

     In the Bible, Jesus tells His disciples in the Book of Matthew, chapter 17, verse 20, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you" (New International Version).

     What Jesus is saying to us here is: "If you have even the smallest amount of faith that I died on the cross to take away the sins of the world; was buried and arose again three days later as I said I would; and when you ask me to come into your life, I will come and forgive you for all the sins you have committed past, present, and future.  Once you invite me in, you can ask me to move the mountains of guilt and shame out of your life when you begin to follow me and listen to and obey my words found in your Bible.  I will do it when you ask in my Name."

    

     Again, please feel free to ask questions.  There are no stupid questions.  If I can't answer your question right away then I will tell you the three words many people have so much trouble saying -- I don't know.  If I don't know, I will tell you. But I will pray and do whatever I can to get you the answer.  You see, your questions help me too.  I consider myself a chronic learner.  I love to learning all I can about Jesus Christ and God's place in my life.  Every time I learn something new that opens my eyes and heart up to God, the more I enjoy my life with Him.  Remember, any revelation you may have about God comes from God Himself through His Spirit.  Anything I write in this blog about Him comes directly from His revelation into my life.  I can tell you from my heart that when God sees that you want to know Him intimately and want to know Him more, He will stop at nothing to give you all of himself in all the smallest details.  I haven't learned everything yet, and I won't know everything about God this side of Heaven. As the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:12, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Have a great day!

My Life In Christ

     This post is not about me.  This post is about Jesus and what He has done and is currently doing in my life.  It is my hope to show you how Jesus can take your life and make it into the kind of life you have always been yearning to live.  Some of the things I talk about in this current post and in others in the future may be hard to hear, hard to believe, and hard to stomach.  But these things will have to be talked about, especially when we get to talk about why things in this world are the way they are and why God isn't stopping any of it in the way we think He should.
     I realize that family and friends may be reading this blog and may hear things about myself that they have never heard before or have known in little detail. But that will not stop me from saying what needs to be said.  I will say what need to say and leave it up to God to decide how to use my words and how to affect people with them.  Since I have given my life to Jesus I have become what is called a transparent person.  Ask anyone who has heard about my history and they will tell you that I am brutally honest when it comes to talking about my past.  There are some things that I will talk about that even my children have never heard.  I pray that this post will help them understand the father they, honestly, never really knew since the man I am now is in so many ways a completely and far better man that I was in the past.  With that said, let me tell you who I was.
     I was born on July 31, 1958.  As I grew older, I thought that the life I was living was normal.  I thought that my temper, working as much as I could to be away from home, my spending habits, constant arguing with my ex-wife, and many other habits were what it meant to be a man.  In 1997, I attempted suicide twice, but something always seemed to stop me.  In November of that year I began having breakdowns and crying spells that I did not understand.  "What is wrong with me," I kept asking myself.  Then, in January of 1998, I started having flashbacks and dreams that scared me and I became very depressed over all of it.  I remembered a couple of dreams that I knew I had been having for most of my life.  Dreams of a monster at my bedroom window saying, "I'm coming to get you"; and the dream on running naked through my neighborhood being chased by something scary.
     My sister, Judy, saw what was happening to me and gave me a couple of books on sexual child abuse.  When I read those books, I was reading my life story.  I was devastated.  One day, after I had an argument with my then wife on the phone about who knows what, I drove home angry.  Up ahead I saw a wide tree on a small hill and drove my car straight for it.  But, suddenly,  something turned the wheel and put the car back on the road.  I swear I missed that tree by only a paint's-width of the car.  I simply went home and resumed my life. And then something happened that changed my life -- not right away -- but changed it nonetheless.
     On April 19th 1998, I had another breakdown, which scared my then-wife to the point where she got mad at me for acting the way I was.  During her "concern", I ran upstairs to the bedroom and lay on the bed crying as I had never cried before.  I didn't know what was happening to me.  I didn't know how to stop it.  All I knew was that I couldn't take it anymore.  As I lay there, my ex-wife came into the room, stood on the bed straddling me, and jumped up and down all the while asking me what was wrong with me, why was I acting this way.  I was lying on the bed facing the window.  As she continued jumping, I focused on the window and kept telling myself that I couldn't take it anymore.  The window was closed and had paned glass in it.  As I stared at the window, I felt that, even if I didn't make it out the window, then maybe I could impale my self on the glass and die that way.  I didn't care -- anything was better than this.  As my ex-wife tired out, she collapsed on top of me and cried, emotionally spent.
     And then the miracle happened.  And it is something that I will never forget for the rest of my life; and it is what I first tell people when they want to know how Jesus has changed my life.  As I lay there contemplating leaving this world, I decided that jumping was the only course of action I had left.  I was done with life.  I wanted out -- now.  So, I gently pushed my ex-wife off of me and began to stand up to kill myself.  Just as I was about to make that last muscle push that would sail me out of the closed window, something invisible, or someone, gently grabbed me by the back of my neck, stood me up the rest of the way, gently turned me towards the phone, and said, "Your time is not through here yet.  I need you here.  Go call your sister."  And then I was released with a gentle push towards the phone.  I knew as I reached for the phone that the voice meant my sister, Judy.  That night she took me to one of the many psych. hospital visits that I would make over the next eight years.
     For the next few months I was questioned by family members about the abuse I had told them I rediscovered.  Like most young children when they tell an adult that they were bring "touched" or abused, I was not believed.  I realized later on that some of the questions were phrased in an accusational way, as if I had abused their children.  I have never abused any child in or out of my care!!!!  That August, after a summer of questions whose answers were still not believed, I came home from work one day exhausted both mentally and physically.  I couldn't take the accusations and mocking anymore.  So, I went upstairs to take a nap.  My ex-wife came up a couple of hours later to wake me for dinner.  When she couldn't wake me, she went back downstairs.  She came back about a half an hour later and tried again.  When she still couldn't wake me, she began to panic.  I could hear her clearly both times but I couldn't seem to wake up.  As much as I tried I could open my eyes.  My children heard her yelling to wake me and came into the room to find out what was wrong.  When she told the kids that she couldn't wake me --these next memories still break my heart today -- my two kids went to their bedrooms and brought back something to sound in my ears.  My daughter brought a whistle, and my son brought a Liberty Bell he had just gotten on a recent school trip.  As hard as they could, they blew and rang.  Believe me, I heard it very strongly.  All this time I was screaming, "I want to open my eyes! Why can't I open my eyes!"  My daughter call my sister, Susan, to come over to help.  Believe it or not, my sister Judy, who lived 15 minutes away got there in five minutes; Susan lived only two.  My sister tried to find the pulse in my neck but felt down too low, and said she couldn't find one.
     This next part of the history is a part I will never, ever forget.  It is deeply ingrained in my sole for all time.  And it is something that I pray I will never have to hear ever again, and that I will, prayerfully, never put anyone I love through ever again.
     When my sister told my ex-wife and my children that she thought I was dead, all I could hear were the tears and despair that they were feeling.  It was breaking my heart in a way that I cannot explain.  All I know is that I was still there, alive, but why couldn't I open my eyes?  I had to stop their belief.  I was not dead!  Whenever I think of that time, it brings tears to my eyes; and it still breaks my heart to remember the sound of my children believing I was gone. 
     The paramedics came, tapped on my sternum, hard,  five times, and brought me out of the fugue state that I was in.  Unfortunately, my family's belief that I was gone eventually came true.  In the emergency room, with members from both families standing around me, I declared that I wasn't coming home.  I needed to get away and find out who I was, because I didn't know, and I needed to know for my life's sake.  I had to leave to save my life.  So, I left it all behind to save myself.  Unfortunately, it was believed that I left home because I was having an affair.  I will state here for all time and for all the world to hear (Jesus already knows the truth) that I was not then nor ever had an affair on my first wife.  Never!  And anyone who believes that I was is hearing lies from Satan himself.  I have forgiven those who have approached me with that belief and who have tarnished my name in believing so.  As I said, Jesus knows my life and my heart, and I will stand before Him with a clean conscience and a clean heart in that matter.  Enough said.
     That December 1998, I went to a Parents Without Partners meeting to find something to do other than play video games and sit at home marking time.  Went to a Christmas dance and had a little fun.  In February 1999, PWP had a beginner's class (3 classes over 3 weeks).  I wasn't there to meet anyone, it was just something else to do.  Little did I know that Jesus was about to strike again!  The day after the last class, I got a phone call from one of the women I met there named Rita.  Rita told me that she never calls guys she didn't know, but something had prompted her to call and ask me out to lunch the next day.  At lunch, (March 7th) we talked about our lives. I was a cheap date and only ordered fries and a coke.  And then Rita said the Name Jesus.  From that moment on --about an hour and a half -- the Spirit of God took over the conversation so much that Rita and I will tell you that we have no idea what was said for that entire time.  On my way to the restaurant I had listened to Amy Grant's "All I Ever Have To Be" twice  (Let me backtrack: In 1992 I had bladder cancer.  I was not a Christian then but went out and bought all the Amy Grant tapes I could find only because she had appeared on a Peter Cetera solo album.  That song struck a chord with me, and every time I played it I played it twice.  It speaks about the fact that all we ever have to be is what God has made us to be.)  Was it coincidence that it was the last thing I had heard before getting out of my car?
     As I drove home after saying goodbye, I listened to the song at least nine times.  When I got home, I sat on my love seat for about two hours thinking about my life and the direction it was headed in, which was nowhere fast.  On March 7th 1999, at 6:58 P.M., while Amy's song was playing over and over in my head, I began to sing it out loud.  Within seconds, I hit the floor crying uncontrollably, and told Jesus to come into my life and to help me live it the way He wanted me to live it.  I told Him that I was just a baby. Because the abuse had never let me grow up, I felt like a baby, and that He would have to tell me how to be an adult and a man.  (Would you give a baby a mortgage, a job, children, a wife, etc...???)  I had no idea how to do it.  As I lay there giving my life over to Jesus, a wonderful, warm feeling started at the soles of my feet and slowly filled my body to the tip of my head.  It was then that I knew that I had been forgiven and that the Holy Spirit had taken up residence in my heart, soul, and body.
     I got up off the floor a new creature, but not yet a man.  Jesus and I are still working on that.
     I didn't write all of this so that you would look at Bobby and say, "Wow! What a struggle his life has been."  I wrote this so that you can see where Jesus is in your life right now.  He is there, right now, waiting for you to say the words.  If your life is not where you want it to be; if your life has no peace; if your life is confusing and falling apart, then you need Jesus.  If it had not been for Jesus pursuing me my whole life before I even knew He was there, I would be dead -- completely and finally dead.  He and I want you to live, because life is worth living.  But only if Jesus is in control of it.  The Bible says that you have a choice -- death or life.  The choice is up to you.  I prefer that you chose Life.
     Thanks for listening.

     Remember, if you have any questions about my life or Jesus' work in it, I want you to ask.  As I said, I am a transparent person.  There is nothing I won't talk about.  There is nothing to sensitive or too negative for me to talk about.  As they say, "Been there, done that!"  Wait until I start talking about childhood sexual abuse and you will see just how transparent I can be.  It is possibly the hardest topic for people to talk about and one of the most devastating things that could ever happen to a person, let alone a child.
    See you next time.

What Are You Seeking?

     You've been seeking fulfillment all of your life.  Nothing on this Earth is satisfying to you anymore.  You've searched and searched for years, bouncing between one thing after another: a material thing (car, house, clothes, job, etc...); pornography; a relationship with people you know you shouldn't get involved with (a married man or woman, for instance).  The list is endless.  Never in this world will you ever fully satisfy that empty place in your soul that you are longing to fill.  Never!
     There is only one way to fulfill the greatest need that your heart has been longing for, and, believe it or not, it is the easiest thing you will ever be able to obtain in the entire universe.  You don't have to work for it!  You can't earn it! You won't have to struggle in any way to get it!  You don't have to beg for it!  You can't steal it!  Why is this thing so easy to get into your life?  Because all you have to do is simply ask for it.  That's all!  When you do you will receive it instantaneously -- even before you finish the asking!  Nowhere will you ever find a treasure that is so easy to obtain in this world.
     Do you know that the Person you need to ask is standing right next to you eagerly awaiting for you to say the words?  Do you know that He has been standing right beside you since the day you were born, and that He even knew what your birth date was going to be because He is the One who had it all planned?  Who is this One who can ease (not eliminate) your wordly struggles, bring you great peace, and show you how to love everyone you know, including your enemies?  Who is this One who will fill you with the faith and courage to ask for what He so wants to give you at this moment?
     Once you receive what this One wants to freely give you, your life will surely be filled with hope for the best future you could ever have, and give to you His love of which there is none greater anywhere in the universe, and then teach you how to love the whole world regardless of the chaos in it.
     His Name is Jesus Christ, Immanuel (God With Us), and Wonderful Counselor.  In fact, there are two hundred and fifty-six names given to Jesus in the Bible.  He is everything to everyone.  He is God in the flesh who came to this Earth from His lofty position in Heaven to save everyone who would call on His name and seek His forgiveness and accept Him as their personal Lord and Savior.
     That's why obtaining God's gift of Salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, is so easy!  All you have to do is ask Him to come into your life and save you from your sins, and He will forgive of them all: past, present, and future.
     In this blog we will learn why we need Jesus Christ in our lives and why the world, or other people, cannot satisfy our need for true love and honest relationships.  This can only come through a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Only with Him will you find true lasting peace and forgiveness for your every sin.  Only through Him will you find your needs met in a way you never once dreamed possible.
     First, we will look at Faith and why it is important in obtaining all Jesus wants to give us.  Second, we will look at Hope and why our only real hope for peace and everlasting life can only be found in Jesus.  And then, we will look at Love and why we can never know what true love is without having Jesus' love in us.
   It is my hope and prayer that you will stay with this blog so that you can know, as I do, what it really means to have life in abundance.  I will share with you my testimony and experience of my life without and with Jesus.  It is also my hope that you will the realization that you can't do life on your own in a world that looks out for number one. 
     In my next post, I will tell you about myself, my life, and how Jesus came into it and turned it around where now I truly have peace in my life.  I know that from my experiences with childhood sexual abuse, post-traumatic stress syndrome, bipolar syndrome and just plain old life that will find a freedom that you never thought you could have.  It is a freedom that only Jesus can give you.  He is alive! He is real.  And He wants you to know Him.  Let's find out together, shall we?