Finding The Only Hope

We live in a broken world where bad things happen to good people and sadness is all around us. Every person who has ever lived has been hurt in some way or another. Whether it was physically or emotionally, and whether it was intentional or not, it still hurt. In the same way, every one of us has at some point done something that was not perfect, and even if it was just a little mistake, it means that we are not perfect.

God on the other hand is perfect, and He made everything perfectly, including people. People were put in charge of all creation and were given the ability to choose between right and wrong. Unfortunately the first people chose badly and this caused them and everything else to go bad(3), and seeing that we all come from them, we are no different. How can something imperfect produce anything perfect? 

It can’t.

Every one of us has this feeling inside of us that there is more to life than what we see around us. We have this need for a purpose and a better life. We know that there is something missing in our lives, but we don’t know what. The reason we feel this way, is because we have been disconnected from That which gives us true life.

When we do anything bad, we do it to God’s creation, and even though we were put in charge of everything, God is still the owner of everything, and everyone. This means that when we hurt another person or do something bad, we hurt someone or something that belongs to God. This is called: Sin - And even though God loves us with all His heart, by just letting our sinfulness go unpunished, He would be condoning the act, and God being perfect, cannot overlook evil.

Unfortunately a worthy punishment needs to be dealt towards every single person for being evil and sinful. The fact remains that everything ever done wrong, was done to the Almighty Perfect God, and even though we don’t like it, the ultimate punishment means going to Hell. Hell is a place where there is nothing but pain and suffering. In Hell you burn in fire forever and ever, starting the moment you die.

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God being perfect, and loving us perfectly, will never force Himself on us, but gives us the choice to choose freely. The invitation from God is open to everyone, and all we have to do is to admit we are sinful/bad, and ask Him to lead us into a better future.

By doing this God will forgive everything we have ever done in the past and will ever do in the future. He does this by accepting the sacrifice He made on our behalf. He then spares us from going to Hell and allows us to live in His Kingdom forever.

Before it's too late

One of the challenges we face as humans is that we never know when we will die. We hope to live long happy lives, but for so many people, it ends when they least expect it, and then it is too late. But there’s coming a time when God will end all things, and judge everyone who has ever lived. He can do this because He created all things. So whether we like it or not, it’s coming, and it’s closer than we think.

I pray that you realize this is the truth and realize that God loves you. He wants to save you, but He can only do this if we accept responsibility for our evilness and accept the sacrifice He made on our behalf. He is offering you a chance to be saved now, don’t wait too long. You don’t know how long you still have here on Earth.

All we have to do is ask God to forgive us and allow Him to lead us to a better future. We can do this by speaking to Him out loud, or by just speaking to Him in our minds. God is everywhere and knows our every thought, so He knows when you are talking to Him.

This God we worship is all around us and He is in those who believe. He is not a statue created by man, He is not a dead ancestor, and we are also not gods ourselves. If statues had any power, why do they need humans to make them? If our dead ancestors are so great, why are they still dead? And if we are gods, why is the world and our lives such a mess?

There are no other gods, except for the One True Living God, and He commanded us not to worship any other man made gods or dead ancestors. We have the opportunity and ability to have a close relationship with the Creator of everything, and the best thing about this is: He loves us like we cannot imagine.

The moment you accepted Jesus’s sacrifice, the Spirit of God started working together with your newly reborn spirit to enable you to live a life that makes the world a better place. A life that will help save other people from going to Hell, and one that will show the love of God to those around you.

It is important that you know that you will not be forced to do anything, but how can anyone just let the people around him/her go to Hell when they themselves know how to be saved?

You were saved because you were told how to be saved. Whether it was through someone telling you, a book like this or any other way, the fact remains, you were told. People can only be saved if they are told, and this is where we come in.

Before Jesus left earth physically. He gave us all the instruction to go out and spread the gospel. The gospel means the good news. We need to share with people the good news that there is a reason to life, and that they don’t have to go to Hell when they die. We need to share that they can be forgiven for everything and anything, but only if they accept that they are bad, and that God through what Jesus did, can wash them clean.

Helping people take responsibility for who they are and what they’ve done, while helping them to put their trust in the God who can save them. We all have a role to play. Some people are called to go to different countries and spread the gospel to people who have never heard it before. While others are called to stay where they are and tell the people around them. Some are even called to just help those that go out, but all of us are called. We are called to live a life different than the unsaved people around us. We are called to live good lives and only do what is right. We are called to show the world that God loves them, and wants them to be saved.

It is important to remember that we are saved through faith in what Jesus did on our behalf, but everything we do while on earth will still be judged by God when we die physically. This in return will determine our fair reward, and God doesn’t just simply reward us for what we do, He looks at why we do what we do. God knows our hearts and knows when we just do things so that we can be seen, or when we do it out of love.

Being saved does not mean that we will not want to do bad things any more, but you will start to realize more and more how bad things are bad for a reason. This means that you will want to be better than before, and keep improving. God wants to work in our lives and also use us to save other people.

If God does something, He does it perfectly. So if you accept His gift of salvation, you are saved perfectly and nothing can take that away from you. The unfortunate thing is that while on earth, Jesus said that many people will go to Him at the end asking why they are not being saved, and then He will reply to them that He never knew them. This is a scary thought, but true non-the-less.

Unfortunately many people will say in an emotional moment: “God save me and forgive me”, but then forget about it sometime later.

These people never really made a true connection with God, and they never allowed Him to change their lives for the better. True salvation is accepting Jesus’s sacrifice with your heart and mind. It means truly admitting that you need to be saved from being sinful, and asking God to lead you to a better life.

Please don’t live your life fearing if you truly accepted God or not, because this will keep you a prisoner of fear, and God wants to give us a life of fullness and joy. The simple fact that you are deeply concerned about this, shows that God is working in your life and that your actions will start to show the same. If you are uncertain whether you are saved or not, then ask God to forgive you now and remember that being saved means having a relationship with God.

“Prayer” is just a nice word to say that you are talking to God. God is everywhere and all powerful. This means that He knows everything, even what you are thinking. The great thing about this is that there is no special way you need to pray. You can talk to God out loud or simply think the thoughts in your head. In fact, He knows what you are going to think, before you even think it. So you don’t have to worry if He knows when you are talking to Him or if He can hear you. He knows and He does hear you. God wants us to talk to Him as often as we can and about everything we can.

Doing this makes our relationship with God stronger and it makes us more aware of Him all around us. Through His Spirit, He will lead us to make better decisions and live better lives. When we have a strong relationship with God, we will feel Him speaking to us without really being able to explain how. This way He will guide us to knowing more about Him, knowing what is right or wrong and knowing what He would like us to do. This will also enable us to use the power that comes with being a follower of God.

The Bible is a collection of historical books, letters, prophecies, poems and songs written by a collection of people. It was all written close to the time of the actual events by people who had all the information or were part of the event themselves. We also believe that all the writers were led by the Spirit of God to help them record everything in an accurate way. By doing this, we are given a glimpse of how God has worked throughout history, what He would like to do in our lives, and what He has planned for the future. But what makes the Bible different from many other books is the fact that everything in the Bible is true.

The two parts of the Bible can be explained as follows:

In the Old Testament we see God creating everything out of nothing and how He has worked throughout history to fulfil His plan to save all those who are willing to admit that they need saving. The Old Testament is filled with action, romance, comedy and wisdom. It gives us the history of the world up to about 2 thousand years ago. But packed along with all the history, are poems and songs that reveal more about who God really is. While the prophetic writings/books reveal to us more about things to come so that we can see how God is working all things together for good

In the New Testament we see the long awaited Saviour of the world appear about 400 years after the Old Testament ends. It starts with 4 different perspectives of the same story as they were written by 4 different people. These stories share with us how Jesus lived and how He sacrificed Himself for us. After this we see how the first Christian churches started, and we get to read some of the letters that were written to some of those churches during that time. The New Testament ends with a book that focusses on how the end of the world will be with God’s judgment, but at the same time reminds us that God has everything under control and has already saved us.

A church is a building or place where Christians come together to learn more about God and to praise Him for what He is doing in their lives. But the Bible also says that we as a group of believers are the church. This is why the building or place is not important, only that the truth is being taught there. The truth being that God saved us through His Son Jesus, that paid the price for us. The price we are unable to pay.

Joining a church is a very good decision because we are all a family now. We need to stand together in this dark world. We need to help each other, and we need to help this world who either does not know the truth, or has not accepted the truth yet.

So if it’s possible for you, definitely try to find a church to join, but make sure they only teach the truth as it is written in the Bible. Make sure you read your Bible, pray about everything and make sure people are not bending the truth of the Bible to what they would like it to be. The core truth being that Jesus is the only way to be saved.

Even though we are called to make this world better, there is still evil all around us that wants to stop God from what He is doing. The world and the Devil don’t want God to save people. So many people might try to make the life more difficult for you. But don’t worry about this. Just know that God is stronger than anything that could come your way. He has already saved you from going to Hell, He will not let you down now.

Along with humans and animals, in the beginning God also created spiritual beings called angels. Angels have various roles, one is to be help to us. Like us, they were also created with free will, but only we were made in the image of God.

Sometime after creation, one of the highest ranking angels rebelled against God. Out of jealousy he thought he deserved more love and attention than God who created him. Because he turned against God, God threw him and all of his followers out of Heaven, and will throw them in Hell when the time is right(4). He has different names, but the 3 most common ones are: Lucifer, Satan and the Devil.

Satan has a lot of power in this world, but only because God is allowing it temporarily and even works this into His plan for good. Once we are saved, neither Satan nor his evil angels (called demons) can make us do anything we don’t want to do, because we are filled with the Spirit of God. Satan does however tempt us with our own evil desires. But it still remains our choice what we will do, and who we will follow. All we have to do is resist those temptations, and the Devil will flee. By allowing this, God tests our true natures and in so doing, helps us to grow into more mature Christians.

Unfortunately, Satan will use his remaining time to try and remind us that we do not deserve the love God has for us. He does this by reminding us of our failures, and as true as this might be, we need to remember and believe God when He says: 

We have been saved and called for a greater purpose. Don’t ever forget this and always remember that God gave everything to save you, so there is no way He will ever let anything happen to you that does not have a greater purpose in the end.