"The Swim"

This is a parable that was given to me by the Holy Spirit.


I was living on an island. It was fairly large, as far as islands go. It was completely surrounded by a never-ending ocean.

Anyone who ever attempted to cross this ocean never came back. The farthest that anyone had gone and returned was a small uninhabitable island far to the north. This island was named “Moon”.

The story was that the god who made this island lived across this ocean. One day He would send someone who would guide all of the island people across the ocean to a paradise and we would live happily forever with Him there.

There was also a story about a man who was born on the island. The story was that before he was born on the island, he had lived across the ocean with God. It was told that he had crossed the ocean, seen paradise, and came back. He said that one day he would come back and guide the people to paradise. The people killed him.

There were huge ships around the island. These were the ships that God would use when He took the people to paradise. The people would gather once or twice a week on these ships and worship God. They all had different prices for this passage to paradise. The standard price was ten percent of whatever you made while on the island. The captains of these ships lived on the ships and were paid a good salary for preparing the people for the journey.

No one knew what day the guide was going to come back and get us. Until then we were just supposed to live on the island together and take care of each other. God had left an instruction manual that told what we should do until the guide came.

As time went on and the guide never came, the people began to lose their faith. The people stopped taking care of each other for fear they would not have enough for themselves. The island separated into groups according to which ship people chose to trust their journey to.

As their faith deteriorated, they began to fight among themselves and do the things that God told them not to do in the instruction manual. The island got more populated and thereby more dirty. The dirtier the island got, the cleaner the ships seemed.

The people began to move in and around the ships. After a while the ships became just as dirty as the rest of the island. The bottoms were rotted out. There was no way that the ships could move, let alone take anyone across the endless ocean to paradise.

All of the produce and goods from the island was owned by a few people who owned the inside part of the island. They began to rule and dictate to the people because they had the stuff to live on the island and the people had given up hope on the ships and the guide.

The island became full of very small places where each person lived. The only real space belonged to the rich. The people began to choose off into sides and fight and kill one another. The ships would pray for whatever side had the most people from their ship.
God was forgotten. What you could get for yourself from the owners of the island became the purpose for the day. All of the people stayed in their own small space and protected their goods from the other people. Selfishness became a necessity.

As the selfishness, filth, sin and hopelessness grew, the island became hell.

I had a very small place on the beach. I had stopped going to the ships because they were just as bad as the rest of the island. The ships weren’t going anywhere anyway.

I just sat in hell reading the instruction manual looking for some sort of hope.

As I read, I started noticing that there were lots of things in the manual that I had not been taught on the ship. For one thing it said that the guide had already come to the island a long time ago. The people had killed him for fear of losing their island.

God was so displeased with that action that He had given their island to their worst enemy. It said that their enemy had been the one that built the ships and decided who received what from the island.

It said that the guide would not come and take the island to paradise. Not by ship or any other means. It said that because of the way they had treated the guide God would destroy the island. It said that if you wished to go to paradise you would have to leave the island and the guide would meet you individually.

This did not give me hope. How could you leave an island surrounded by endless ocean? I did not even have a canoe let alone an ocean-worthy boat.

I sat there in my small space and contemplated suicide. Even if the manual said it was wrong, it was one way of leaving this God-forsaken island.

As I sat in my dismay, a man came up to my space. He was one of the homeless wanderers of the island. In some way, he had made the new owners of the island mad and they would not give him his own space. He asked if he could share my space for a while and rest.

I usually would not let “this kind of person” in my space. They might steal something and the other people would look down on you for keeping company with that kind of person.

This was his lucky day. I was so hopeless that I didn’t care. I asked him to join me. He sat down. As I looked at his face, I noticed that he had the most compassionate eyes I had ever seen. He picked up my manual and asked if I had been reading it. I told him that I had and that I couldn’t understand it. I began telling him my woes even though he was the homeless one.

He listened carefully and when I was through talking, he put his arm around me and said not to worry because he knew the way to paradise. Of course I did not believe him. He was homeless after all but I could not get over those eyes so I decided to hear him out.

He told me that he had been to paradise. He told me that the way to get there was to swim. He told me that the guide would not come to the island but if I would leave the island He would meet me in the ocean and show me the way.

He said that God did not like the island or the things of the island but He loved me. He said that if I would take off all my clothes and take nothing from the island and start swimming in faith, the guide would meet me and take me to paradise. He said there was one stipulation; once you began, there was no turning back.

This sounded strange to me but I had nothing to lose. I decided to give it a try.

I planned my attempt. I decided not to go completely naked. I thought I should wear a bathing suit for modesty sake. I also decided to take a sandwich and some water. It had to be a long way.

Before I started, I stood and looked out over the ocean. There was a buoy about a quarter of mile out. I decided to swim to that buoy and if I made it to there without incident then I would continue. If something happened that I didn’t feel I could make it, I could make it back to the shore from there.

I began swimming. It is hard to swim with a sandwich in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. The tide was against me also. I was swimming against the current. I was worried I would drown before I reached the buoy. I sure didn’t have enough energy to get back. I finally reached the buoy. Grabbing it with both hands, exhausted, I just hung there and tried to catch my breath.

I was devastated. Not only could I not make it across the ocean, I barely made it to the buoy. This was also my last hope. Dejected, I ate my sandwich and drank my water and started back. The current was with me so I made it easily. I went back to my space and started crying.

I was so caught up in my own self-pity that it was a while before I noticed that the man that told me to swim was standing by watching me. I motioned for him to come over. When he arrived, I began to chastise him for giving me false information.

He answered by telling me that I had in no way did what he said. He said his information was not to blame for my failure. I had failed because I didn’t follow the instructions given. He said he told me to go naked and I wore a suit. I explained about the modesty thing. He asked me what possible reason I could have for worrying about that if I was going to swim to paradise. He also said that he had told me to go without provisions by faith and I had taken food and drink. He said that I had planned for failure so how could I succeed.

He told me one more time. He said I would have to leave everything about the island behind including my clothes and start swimming in faith that what God had told me in the instruction manual, He would do. When it was sure that I would not turn back, the guide would come and lead me to paradise. Once you start, there’s no turning back.

I sat for a long time and considered this story. I checked it in the manual. It all checked out but it still sounded like suicide to me. I thought maybe you just needed to die trying to get there to actually get there.

Either way, I definitely did not want to stay here. I was contemplating dying to get out of here anyway. If this was what God wanted me to do, I was going to do it.

That night without the slightest preparation, I hit the beach in prayer and started swimming away from the island forever. The nakedness did not bother me like I thought it would and I felt pretty good. I just closed my eyes and swam as hard as I could away from the island.

When I finally tired, after what seemed like hours, I stopped and started dog paddling to check my progress. I was tired but I was all right. I looked back and I could see the buoy that I had barely made it to before. It was barely visible behind me. This gave me renewed strength and I continued swimming out to sea.

After another pretty good bit of swimming, I began to be hungry and thirsty. I noticed something floating in the water in front of me. I swam to it and found a sandwich on top of the piece of wood. I gratefully took the sandwich and started eating it. It made me very thirsty. All of a sudden something bumped my back and I turned to find a bottle of water floating in front of me. Amazed and full of wonder, I gratefully drank some of the water. After thinking about it, I decided to save half of the sandwich and water for later.

I began swimming again and the first stroke I made, a wave splashed over the sandwich and washed it away. I also found out the bottle had a hole in it and all of the water had run out. I started to cry about my loss and as my self-pity grew, I couldn’t swim any more. My arms were cramping, I was out of breath and I began to sink.

All of a sudden I was back on top of the water and my strength was renewed. I could also hear a voice calling my name. I answered and the voice told me that he was the guide that I was told about. He asked my why I was crying. I told him what had happened. He told me that the reason that had happened was because I had thought to save the gifts for later, just in case I did not receive more when I wanted them.

He told me there were not many sandwiches floating on wood in the ocean, nor bottles of water for that matter. They were gifts from him to me. He told me next time I receive a gift from him, I should receive it with thanksgiving and eat and drink it with the faith that he would take care of everything I needed.

He said that I should just keep swimming straight towards a small light that looked like a star but you could see it in the day. He said I should not veer to the left or to the right and if anything happened that concerned me I should just call him and he would be there.

I began swimming again with new excitement and confidence. I felt wonderful.

I swam for a while and then I bumped into something in the water. It was a dead corpse floating in the water. I immediately called the guide. He answered and told me that he wanted me to see this corpse. He told me to notice the muscle tone from preparing for this journey. He told me to notice how he shaved his head to cut down on resistance. He told me to notice how I had not prepared at all, just took off in faith or resolve and I was still alive and well, and he was dead. Then he told me to go on with my swimming.

After I had swum for a while more I began to hear a voice off to my left. As I got closer I could tell the voice was quite frantic and was calling for help. Being a person that feared God, I immediately began swimming toward the voice. As I neared, I could see it was a man who was obviously having a hard time staying afloat. When I reached him, he immediately began trying to relieve himself by climbing on top of me. Soon we were both about to drown so I called the guide.

When I returned to the surface the man was gone. The guide asked me what I thought I was doing. I explained that the man needed help and I thought I should help him. The guide asked me what I possibly thought I would do with him even if I did save him. We were in the middle of the ocean. There was nothing in sight as far as the eye could see in any direction. He reminded me that he had told me to swim straight towards the light and not veer to the left or the right and if I needed anything I should call on him. He could save the man if that was his will but there was no way that I could. Then he told me to continue swimming.

As I was swimming, I began to imagine paradise. Clean pearly white shores, golden streets, pineapple plants, beautiful flowers, angels, and God. When I considered that I was swimming to paradise with the guide and everything, I became very happy and satisfied. I swam with renewed vigor.

I swam and imagined and prayed for what seemed like hours. I began to get very tired. I started to call the guide when my hand touched the bottom of the ocean. I stood and found that I was only in about three feet of water. I looked and there before me was a beautiful small island.

It had clean white beaches that did not have so much as a footprint in them. It had some pineapple plants and some beautiful palm trees swaying in the breeze. I praised God and laid down under the palm trees and watched the colors change in the beautiful sunset and fell asleep.

The next morning I awoke to the sound of a voice calling for help. I looked and there, about one hundred yards from shore, was a man struggling to make it in. My first instinct was to swim out to help him then I remembered the last incident. I called the guide. He answered. I told him about the man in the water who was crying for help. The guide then told me to go out and help him. I swam out and the man had no strength left to make it in. I told him to relax and I would tow him in. When we got to the shore the man just collapsed on the ground. He raised his head and thanked me because he sure needed my help and I thanked the guide because I sure needed to help someone.

We ate fruit and talked with the guide. We praised God for all of the wonderful blessings we had received. Then the guide told the man to sleep. He told me to continue my swim.

I was instantly disappointed. The guide asked me what was wrong. I told him that I thought or at least hoped that this was paradise. The guide asked me how I could reason that this was paradise. It was a small island. It only had about three pineapple plants and about twenty trees. He told me it was just a place he had given me to rest. He told me that we were just getting started on my journey to paradise.

I began swimming again. As I swam, I thought about all that had happened. Even though I was just a naked swimmer trying to reach paradise, I had just been given my own island to rest on from God. I praised and thanked God. Then I called the guide. I told him that I was sorry for my impatience. I thanked him for his guidance. I told him that even if it took one hundred years to swim to paradise, I was ready to do it and that I would do whatever he said for as long as it took.

The guide told me to stop swimming. I stopped swimming and just dog paddled. He told me to stop altogether. I stopped dog paddling and began to sink. After sinking about four or five feet, I panicked. I frantically swam back to the surface.

The guide asked me why I had panicked. He asked me why I didn’t trust him. I told him that I did trust him. He said if I trust him then stop swimming. I stopped and began to sink again. I sank four feet, then ten feet, then fifteen feet. The pressure started pushing in on my ears. Just as I was about to panic again, I was back at the surface. But this time I was not swimming. I was just sitting there about five or six inches above the water. I was amazed and excited.

The guide told me that if we were ever going to reach paradise we were going to have to make better time than my swimming. All of a sudden I was moving across the water at great speed. The wind was whistling past my ears. I was going so fast that I figured after five minutes I had gone further than my entire swim. I became very excited. I kept watching in front for land or birds or any sign that we were getting close to paradise.

As sudden as I started, I stopped. As I sat there I looked around me. I did not see anything but ocean. I asked the guide why we had stopped. The guide answered and said it was because we had reached our goal. I didn’t see anything so I was puzzled. Then I saw a figure coming towards me. I could not make out his features because he was as bright as the sun.

He came up to me and asked me if I knew who he was. I knew by the voice that it was the guide. I told him that I thought he was the guide. He put his hand on me. I became instantly covered with a white robe that felt as if it was made of peace and love. I was so overwhelmed that I began to cry. I didn’t know how to act so I fell down at his feet and began thanking him.

He raised me up. He said that indeed he was the guide but he was much more than that. He said he was God’s own Son. I asked Him if He was going to take me to paradise. He said that I was already there. I looked around but there was nothing but ocean.

I said that the manual had told of clean white beaches, plenty of food, flowers, angels and God. He said, “Like this?” Instantly I was standing on the most beautiful beach I had ever seen. I was amazed. He asked me if I wanted another. Instantly there was another huge beach right beside the first one. I looked at Him with puzzled amazement. He asked me if I would like ten of them and instantly there were beaches running in every direction. Each beach was just as beautiful as the first.

I began thanking Him and praising Him. As I was praising His name, He began praising God. He thanked God for me. I was amazed. The one who had just made all of those beautiful beaches with a thought was thanking God for me. I was nothing. I was a terrible man while on the island. I was not a very good swimmer and if not for Him I would be dead.

He told me that He had wanted me before I was even born. He said that my life on the beach was given to me to show me how bad things could be without God. He told me that the swim was to show me that anything was possible as long as I was with Him. He asked me if I would stay with Him no matter what. I told Him that I would stay and do whatever He said forever no matter what.

All of a sudden all of the beaches were gone. We were standing on the water in the middle of the ocean. I was once again naked.

He told me that as long as I was with Him, I was never far from paradise or God. He said He was that place I was trying to reach. He said that He had inherited the entire kingdom of God. He said that as long as I was with Him, I was always in paradise.

He said that He would never leave me or forsake me. He told me that forever and ever no matter what happened, I could call Him and He would be there.

He asked me if I knew where I was going next. I pondered for a second and said, “back to the island, right?” He said that was correct. He told me not to worry about that because He would always be with me. If anything at all bothered me, I could call Him and He would be there. He said that I would not have to be a part of the island. It would not be my home. I would just wander and learn. If anyone asked me how to get to paradise, I knew what to tell them.

He said that before He put me back there, He wanted me to remember these six words;


“Here I am, there you are.”

Questions of the Soul

My name is Sherrell. I type these posts but did not write them, but I wrote this one in the Spirit. I wanted to share it in case it might help any of you to find the answers to the questions in your souls. This was one of the questions in mine.


It’s so very important to know what your questions are. You think you know when you are troubled what they are, but if you think about it you really don’t. I am not talking about normal questions. I’m referring to questions that linger in your soul. They linger for years. They lay there quietly, and every once in a while when all is still you can feel it beckoning for an answer.
I have had one for years and when in times past I faintly heard it, I chose to silence it once more rather than stop to hear it. Over the last 14 months I’ve been a friend and helper for lack of a better word to a lady I knew that was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Before that I was doing nothing worthwhile with my time but being selfish and not taking care of my responsibilities to their fullest with my husband and my children and other areas of my life that I take for granted rather than appreciate.
In that time I’ve had the most bizarre but praiseworthy thing happen. I found friendships, some deep and some just in passing but every time I have gotten around these people they would impart some wisdom, some thought that would cause me to think about things differently. Most are great examples and some were not. Either way, I listened and picked up all these pieces for safe keeping, considering any piece of wisdom to be priceless.
Slowly as time went by while I was caring for this friend and winging it the best I could with my kids and husband, these little pieces of wisdom would invade my space. Slowly I refused to be preoccupied with the selfish things and slowly I started putting more of my time in at least going through the motions so that I might at least appear to be striving to be a good mom and wife.
Let me share some inside information before I go any further with my confession. When I first heard my friend was diagnosed with cancer, I pondered for a long time about what I would say to her when I saw her. When I decided what I would say, I heard a voice in my soul say to me “Is that for you or is that for her?” The answer of course was for me, so I quickly forgot what I was going to say and decided right then not to say anything at all that wasn’t for her. Then when she was released from the hospital, she called and asked me to give her a ride and when the nurse was telling her in front of me when her first chemotherapy appointment was, she looked so scared and alone and I was moved with love and compassion for her so I did the only thing I could do, I offered to take her to it. Right before I said, “I’ll give you a ride” I heard a voice in my soul say, “You know that once you do this it isn’t a onetime affair, it’s a very long process which will end sadly, are you willing to go that distance?” and I answered back yes. So I did. While walking with her I didn’t go through the motions I meant it. It was important to walk uprightly (the best I could anyway).
The time came for her journey to be over and thank God because it was hard and painful for her. Now I sit unable to move spiritually. As usual though, I am going about my day and I’ve ran into each of my friends at one time or another and there, waiting as usual, was more valuable pieces of wisdom. I picked up all the pieces and started sorting them out in that place where I am unable to move from and then I get an email about choices. (When I respond back in writing to something that moved me, I find that I am usually writing to myself in a way. I typically do not know the things I have written until I read it.) Because of that email I started to realize that I was refusing to hear a question in my soul going through me over and over refusing to let me silence it again.
All my life, even as a child, I had a need to find a noble cause and yet never finding one because of some corrupt thing or another involved in what I thought was a noble cause that turned out not to be or my own inability to put in what it took to get one, either way I never found one. I watched my mother clean the house and that is what she did obsessively and I thought I didn’t want that to end up being my life. Now I know that is what she did to escape the pressures of being a mother because of neglect she suffered as a child, she was unable to deal with those pressures properly so she did what she knew how to do, she cleaned. As a child I didn’t know this of course so to me that was a mother’s lot and I didn’t want any part of it. To strengthen my resolve to this frame of mind, when I was twelve years old it was my responsibility to cook, clean and do laundry because my mother got a job for the first time in her life. I remember she was so excited. Of course she was, it was a new escape and it got her totally away. Don’t get me wrong she loved her children and did the best she could of this I have no doubt.
Trouble and bad choices carried me away and I stopped looking for a noble cause and eventually found myself in need of salvation and there of course was the Lord. He saved me from the wreck I had made of my life. Years go by and through momentary lapses of reason I marry and eventually we find ourselves with children and I find myself with a household and “Mother’s Lot”. Through ups and downs and more bad choices, I was getting lost. I didn’t pray much anymore. I wasn’t happy or thankful in the place I found myself and that nagging feeling in my soul would not leave me alone. I sought escape too. I could barely deal with the pressures of “a mother’s lot” although I loved my children very much. I felt guilty for the things I should give them and couldn’t find it in myself to do. I sought escape in being preoccupied with things that had nothing to do with the kids and barely to do with my husband as well.
I watch my friends and see how they love their children and how they are devoted to their children and knew there was something missing here. Again I love my children very much. They are great. My son is the joy of my life and my daughter is me made over.
Now here I am sitting at the station by myself. I have just seen a friend to her destination (I mean everlasting life, not death) and I am lost again. I have pieces to a puzzle that I can’t get together and I can’t move on for some reason. In answering the email that I received about choices I realize that I have a question in my soul. I didn’t know that only because I constantly chose to ignore it. After reading what I had written in response to this email I was really troubled. I pray and I hear myself say in my soul “what is my question Lord?” and the response was:
If I could be that devoted to a friend in her hour of need and remove my needs out of the mix to make sure that I never added to her burden but lightened it whenever possible why don’t I do that at home with my husband and children? Why don’t I see that raising two wonderful, loving and bright children up in the ways of the Lord in a world like this as a noble cause and a thankworthy purpose? Why am I still seeking for what is already there before me? How can it be changed?
I know it always takes a miracle to completely change one’s perspective and this perspective of mine in regards to a “Mother’s Lot” has been my perspective since I was a child. It will take a miracle but it isn’t the first time the Lord has, in an instant, totally changed the way I think and feel about something.
I thank and praise God for each and every one of my friends who have wandered across my path from time to time imparting some wisdom the Lord knew I needed. I can only hope that they received something from me through the Lord as well.

Morals and Modern LIfe

I am amazed at the lack of morals in this world today. There have always been those who had few morals but nowadays it is ridiculous.

Morals are the common fear of God of a society as a whole. There have always been those with high morals conscience and those with low moral conscience. I have never seen nor even heard of so many as there are today with no moral conscience.

Before Jesus came to this world, if you were one of God’s people, you had strong morals or you paid the price. The penalty for breaking most of God’s laws involved your life or your health. People had high morals out of fear of repercussions even if they were too ignorant to fear God.


The only repercussions people fear now is the law. They seem to have no fear at all of God. In this country it is taught that God is way off in Heaven. Jesus will come back one day off in the future but for now we don’t have to fear God. He is too far away. God’s laws are only vaguely represented in the laws of this country. The law frowns on killing unless they want you to kill. The law also frowns on stealing unless you do it in court or on your taxes. There is nothing in our laws that prohibit fornication, adultery, blasphemy, heresy, envy, wrath, malice, hatred, anger covetousness or worshipping false idols. The only thing that people fear is not having enough money to buy their way out of breaking the law.

One of the main reasons for this moral decay is the fact that virtually every person owns or has access to television.

Virtually every opinion that people have about anything that does not pertain to them directly was given to them by television. Through actual images, this magic box keeps us abreast of the latest news all over the world. It teaches us what to do in virtually every situation that could possibly or impossibly come up in our lives. It lets us look at all of the most seedy, sinful and terrible things without actually being seedy, sinful or terrible. It tells us what to buy, how to dress, what we should look like, whom we should love, whom we should hate and even what we should fear. It does this with actual images of the same that we can see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears.

We actually trust our own lives and the lives of our children to the teachings of this box. Satan is called the prince of the power of the air. This prince has chosen to “enlighten” mankind with the knowledge that things travel on waves in the air. This is what allows a voice to be heard some distance from where it is spoken. It allows a light to be picked up by an eye at even greater distances. It allows smells to be picked up by your nose and so on.

In one hundred years we have went from being a society of individuals whose knowledge went only as far as each set of eyes could see to being a society as a whole earth, looking into things that are going on all over the world and judging them. We actually went from the beginning to one hundred years ago without much change in the way that life was lived.
Not very much of the way we lived life one hundred years ago is still the way we live life today. We have allowed our lives to be dictated to us by the power of the air. We all know who the prince of this power is.

This society that we live in has given itself over to this power completely.

Every single bit of information that you receive from this power is either a lie or it stems from a lie. Either way, there is no way possible for you to receive the Holy Spirit as long as you are still a part of this society. This teaching is so overpowering that it is necessary to go into a closet or get out away from it to hear from the Holy Spirit or to even gather a thought concerning spiritual matters.

I have heard the argument that God can use television to do good things.God would never confuse you by doing good things using the tools of Satan. God made all things. This includes Satan and anything he uses. If God wants any good things done, He will use His own immutable power to do it. As far as God’s war with Satan is concerned, He already won that before He actually made him. Satan’s war is not with God it is with you.

You cannot trust any information that you receive by the power of the air. If I tell you ten lies and one truth, of course, I am still a liar. I must tell you, if I tell you ten truths and one lie, I am still a liar. You cannot trust my information or me. You sure would not want me teaching you or anyone you love.

The only things that are of any value to you at this late hour are spiritual. You need these things desperately. The only source for them is the Holy Spirit. The only source for the Holy Spirit is Jesus Christ. Anyone or anything that tells you differently is a liar.

The flesh lusts or desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires against the flesh. The two are contrary or opposite of one another. Anything of the flesh is absolutely useless to you personally right now. As a matter of fact, anything fleshly that you take unto yourself is a great hindrance to you spiritually. By the same rule, anything that you take unto yourself spiritually is a great hindrance to your flesh. If you are gaining in any way in the flesh, you are losing in the Spirit. If you are gaining in any way in the Spirit, you are losing in the flesh.

The Holy Spirit told me that God never sells anything and Satan never gives anything away. Unless it is given to you without price it did not come from God. God does not give or have anything to do with money. If you have to exchange money to receive it unto yourself you got it from the other source. By this same rule, you now know where you got everything that you have.

I strongly suggest that if you wish to avoid learning the things of the Spirit the hard way, that you make the Spirit and the things of the Spirit the number one priority in your life immediately. If you have anything of the flesh that you have taken unto yourself that does not perish with the very using of it, I suggest that you find someone who would like it but is unable to get it for themselves, and give it to them. The Lord God is well pleased with such sacrifices. He will reward you with things of the Spirit. This is the world’s best bargain.

If you are still trying to better your position in the flesh or this world, I feel sorry for you. There is not enough time for you to accomplish your goals no matter what they are. Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. He has been made the King of Kings by God almighty. He is here to see who is going to accept His rule by faith in Him through obedience to His commandments. All the rest will be taught by God to accept His rule through great tribulation.

This is not a time for thinking about accepting Jesus Christ as ruler of your life. This is not a time for talking about accepting it. This is a time for doing your choice before the Lord Jesus Himself. Whether you choose to do the things of the Lord or the things of the flesh, it is your public testimony as to your choice before the Lord.

If you are going to accept the wondrous gift from Jesus Christ of being filled with the Holy Spirit, I strongly suggest you get started now. I suggest that you find a closet or other secluded place where you can put the cares of the flesh out of your heart. Then I would call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance for the shameful way you have lived the life that you were given and for your failure to obey His commandments. Then I would humbly ask for His guidance as you go forth and do all of the things that He commands in the Bible. Then I would cast all of your fleshly cares on Him in faith that He can handle them and you cannot. Then I would, by contract of baptism, agree to put away the old ways of caring for the things of the flesh and be raised a new man who is loyal and obedient to the will of God through Jesus Christ to receive the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit will lead you and teach you and guide you in the ways of the Spirit.

God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. This must truly be your desire. If you do not truly desire to be ruled by Jesus Christ through the filling of the Holy Spirit, He will know and everything you do will come to no good. If your desire to be ruled by Him is true and you repent and do the things He says, Jesus is always faithful to do the things He says He will do. He will give unto you the Holy Spirit. You will be part of the church of the firstborn. You will look into and learn the things of the Spirit.

At the time appointed you shall be married unto the Lord Jesus Himself and shall be of one Spirit with Him forever.

This gift is everything you could ever possibly desire. It is given without cost or obligation to anyone who truly, in their heart, desires to be freed from the prison of sin and doubt that is your own fleshly life and are willing, by faith, to have this prison of death broken to pieces and removed from them. It is given to those whose lives are so messed up and without hope that they are willing to repent of this life and never look back.

The surrender of your life is not a sacrifice that you offer as payment for anything. It is a merciful gift from Jesus Christ to those of us whose lives were ruined by their own sin and bad decisions, so that we do not have to pay for our mistakes.

This offer is non negotiable and final. Do not be deceived into buying some bargain counter offer sold to you by some circus barker religious salesman. This is the only offer on the table. Search the scriptures yourself. Do not just search for something you want to hear. Listen to what the scriptures are saying to you. If you can read, you do not need any help with this.

Do not trust anyone or anything but Jesus Christ with this matter. Be completely humble and honest with Him. You will find that Jesus Christ was all that you ever needed.

I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that all evil influence would be cast from you as you consider this offer. This is the greatest gift that has been or ever will be offered and this is the last time that it will ever be offered.You must make your choice now.

Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. The Kingdom of God has come upon you.

May the great hope, joy, and peace that comes with obedience to Christ Jesus be yours forever. May He always be your King and rule your life for time without end. Amen & amen.

Humility is Key

When I sit and consider how Jesus Christ saved me from a terrible fate, I am filled with humility. I do not deserve to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I am extremely repentant of my life before the Lord saved me from it. I was in no way ready for Him when He came for me. I was not only a terrible sinner, (committing sin of such magnitude that I could not understand the gravity of it), but I also knew better. I was the most ugly of sinners that I have ever seen. I should be in hell for a very long time.

Jesus Christ saved me by offering His own flesh, which was untarnished by sin, unto God, in exchange for my worthless sinful soul. I am and shall always be humbled and grateful for this magnificent gesture. Needless to say, since the King of Kings purchased my life with His own blood, it no longer belongs to me.

The Lord Jesus left in my heart the shame of my past sins. This was not only so I would remember not to commit them but also it would keep me from being overcome by one of my worst enemies in this new life, pride.

When you consider that you are filled with the Holy Spirit of God, humility is extremely important. You must always be humble and obedient to His instruction.

Pride is a terrible enemy. It is an enormous hindrance to your growth in the Spirit. Pride has been presented to you by the world as being not only good but also necessary. You must have pride in your country, your appearance, your work, your family and even yourself. It is even taught that you must be proud of your “Christianity”. This is all a blasphemous lie.

Pride is sin. Where there is sin, there is every nasty evil thing on the earth. You cannot be proud and filled with the Holy Spirit at the same time.

One must be completely humble to be ready to receive the Holy Spirit. My shame over my past sins has been a wonderful ally in my struggles with pride. When I am tempted for some stupid reason to be proud, the shame of my past sins and the mercy of Jesus to save me from them come to mind. Then instead of pride, I am filled with a humble thanksgiving for the thing which I thought to be pride worthy. All glory belongs to Jesus Christ.

If you are humble, this next part will be easier to understand. If you are not humble, you need to be.

When we are confronted in any way, humility can be our best friend. Because of my beliefs, I am often times confronted by those to whom my testimony is a conviction. They find themselves confronted by the Word of God through the Holy Spirit. Those that are not repentant and open to the instruction of the Spirit, are sure not going to confront God or Jesus. Therefore they confront the messenger. I have asked the Holy Spirit about this and this is His answer.

When we are subject unto the Holy Spirit and we find ourselves confronted in any way, we should immediately be fully aware of the presence of Jesus Christ. We should therefore be completely humble.

If you have chosen to accept the most wonderful gift ever given, then your life is no longer in your own feeble hands. It was paid for by the torture and murder of the perfect fleshly life of Jesus Christ, God’s own Son. With that sacrifice, He saved your soul. When you accepted His wonderful gift, you gave unto His strong hands the rest of your fleshly life on this earth. This life in the flesh that we are living, as long as we are on the earth, belongs entirely to Jesus Christ through the willing obedience to the Holy Spirit of God.

When those who have chosen not to partake of the gift of Jesus Christ are faced with confrontation, they usually solve this problem by confronting it. This makes about as much sense as using a blowtorch to fight a house fire. Although I must confess it was my first reaction to any confrontation before I was born again. This never has a good result.

Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. He is here to receive the choice of each and every soul concerning His rule. All that mankind does, He now does it unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Contrary to religious teaching, this does not depend on whether or not they accept it. This is just a fact.

If we have chosen to accept His marvelous gift, then our part in the choosing is over. We are now only witnesses of the coming of the Lord and our testimony must be honest concerning what we see. All of the rest is between each soul and the Lord Jesus Christ.

When we are confronted by anything, it is not time to talk or act. It is time to listen. Since our lives now belong to Jesus, they are now confronting Him. We must be ready to do whatever the Holy Spirit tells us to do. What the Spirit tells us to do is usually the opposite of what we would do.

Jesus Christ is not here to contend with mankind about anything. He is here to hear the choice of mankind concerning His gift. All the rest has been taken care of by God before He even made the earth. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth. He had not made the earth but He had already created the way that it would go from start to finish.

We must never be ready to contend or confront anything. Always be ready to forgive and have compassion for those in contention. If they steal from you, never try to get it back. If they hit you, never hit them back. When we love and have compassion for those who contend with us, the Lord is well pleased. When the Lord is pleased, you cannot lose.

The gift that the Lord gives is given because of His mercy on you. It is a gift and there is no price. He does not want you to do anything for Him. All of the commandments of God and Jesus are for your own great benefit. They are not sacrifices you must make.

Suppose you own a house and it collapses on top of you and you are buried in the debris and stuck. A stranger or a neighbor comes along and hears your cries for help. They immediately begin to take apart and remove the debris that is on you and free you from your prison. They are not tearing up your house and possessions. Your house and possessions are already torn up. They have now become your prison. Although it took considerable work and demolition of the remains of your house, it was an act of true unselfish kindness to free you from it.

Your fleshly life is the same. When I began my life, it was full of hopes and dreams and seemed real nice most of the time. As I lived it, sin and corruption kept eating away on it until it finally all caved in on me. My hopes and dreams became disappointment and obligation. What used to be my happy life became my prison.

The Lord Jesus Christ came along and started removing all the debris that was my life. He completely tore apart and removed my entire past life. He was not tearing it up or wrecking my life. It was already torn up and wrecked. Instead of my life, it had become my prison. It took considerable longsuffering and work to remove it and free me from it. This was a true act of unselfish kindness and I shall be forever grateful.

Jesus Christ didn’t stop there. After freeing me from the trash pile that was my life, I was homeless. The Lord took me in and let me live with Him. He has never left me or forsaken me. He has worked side by side with me and helped me to rebuild a life that will never collapse or corrupt. He has paid all of the bills and has not asked for anything in return but thanks.

I am and shall always be thankful. I am awe struck and humbled by this unbelievable act of love and mercy by the King of Kings. I truly love the Lord God and will serve Him with a true heart forever and ever.

I hope for you that you have or will accept His gracious offer to help you.

May the love, joy and great peace that comes with obedience to Christ Jesus be with you forever. Amen & amen.