Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you sins?

Have you prayed this prayer?

“Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and rose again. I give you my life. I want Jesus Christ to come into my life and into my heart. Amen”

Then guess what, you are a Christian. The Vine’s expository dictionary defines "Christian," as a word formed after the Roman style, signifying an adherent of Jesus, and was first applied to such by the Gentiles and is found in Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Pet. 4:16.

This is the basics of Christianity, the very link that ties us all together. We have ALL sinned and have ALL fallen short, but by the grace of God we were redeemed by the blood of Jesus. You would think that you would find all of us celebrating together the beauty that is Christ and our victory that the lord bought for us. Instead you will find that we’ve become one of our own worst enemies and our weapon is persecution. Second Timothy 3:12 states very plainly “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”, yes as a follower of Christ you will see more and more persecution. However, this persecution is supposed to come from the devil, not from each other.

There are many denominations, faiths, doctrines and ministries that teach Jesus Christ is our lord and savior. They encourage people to give their lives back to god, to turn away from sin and develop their relationships with the lord. They each endeavor to spread evangelism and further God’s word in the world. Yet, they find themselves caught up in the petty, small differences between each other. Maybe they don’t see eye to eye on baptism, the Holy Spirit or whether or not God wants you to prosper. Instead of uniting and supporting one another they tear each other down. When they should be sharing a much needed word from the lord, they are flinging careless insults at each other.

It is no wonder Christian’s have such a negative reputation among non-believers. How can we say that we are followers of Christ when we can’t even abide by a simple commandment to “love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt 22:39)? We should be such an oasis of God’s love that people who don’t know Jesus Christ can’t wait to develop that relationship because they see his love reflected in our lives and want to be a part of it. Sadly many Christian just display the same strife seen in the rest of the world, the only difference is that theirs has a religious twist on it.

The word clearly states in Second Timothy 2:14 “Remind [the people] of these facts and [solemnly] charge them in the presence of the Lord to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good but upsets and undermines the faith of the hearers” (Amplified Bible). This battle of words has got to stop and the focus on sharing the message of Jesus Christ to the world needs to return.

The Friends Blogger Award!!!

Blogger Friends' award! I received this sweet award from MaryLu at Cross and Cutlass

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."
So please take a look at the following bloggers - I either look forward to seeing if they have read my posts and commented - or they are bloggers that I look forward to reading! And folks - if you have already received this award - then you are being Blessed again! Everyone should go visit these blogs to see the great stuff they post!


http://growinguptrifilio.blogspot.com/
http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/
http://thelifeofsuz.blogspot.com/
http://thewrightfive.blogspot.com/
http://crossandcutlass.blogspot.com/

*** So I kinda new to the blogging world and I only have 5 so far...I'll add more as I come across other great blogs.

The Red Siren

I recently read a great new book by one of my favorite authors, M. L. Tyndall. Tyndall’s newest release The Red Siren, is about a lady pirate in Charles Town, South Carolina during the early 18th century. Faith Westcott, attempts to save herself and her sisters from the cruelties of forced marriages by amassing great fortune as quickly as possible. Her faith in God abandoned, Faith turns to pillaging ships and quickly becomes a notorious pirate. With every ship Faith plunders she becomes closer to her goal and to getting caught.

Dajon Waite is on a hunt to capture every pirate that patrols the Carolinas, especially one in particular that cost him almost everything. Haunted by his past actions and a fear of repeating them, Dajon follows a hard set of rules that leaves no room for grace or forgiveness. What will happen when he discovers his nemesis is also the woman he is assigned to protect? Will Dajon finally accept God’s forgiveness and what will happen to the woman that has captured his heart?

The Red Siren captivated me from the first chapter and didn't let go until the story was told. I took an instant liking to Faith with her fiery personality and her willingness to fight against all odds. I found it very interesting how she could face down an enemy on sea with no fear evident, but it was fear that she allowed to dominate her life and to risk everything to become The Red Siren. I began thinking of all the things God could do with her life if she would just let him back in her heart. Her sisters added great interest and humor to the story and I found myself wondering how Tyndall will develop these two throughout the series. I truly enjoyed the twists and turns, it will keep you guessing until the end.

Go check it out, The Red Siren by M.L. Tyndall