"Once Saved, Always Saved" Part 3

Read Psalms 91:14-16 & Psalms 118:14

By reading these I'm confused as to what Salvation actually IS.
In the first verse given above, God says that "With long life" He will show us His salvation. Meaning that along with heaven, He will show us His salvation? Or will he provide long life on earth? Whichever it is, it is then when God will show us His salvation.

In the second verse given above it says that God "Has become" my salvation; The author has aquired salvation on earth.

Salvation then goes alot deeper than I would have ever imagined:

1. "Jesus is my Salvation." "He has become my Salvation" Means: Jesus is my Savior. He has, by saving me from all sin through the crucifixion, become my Savior.
2. "God will show us His Salvation." MeansL God will share with us His Salvation when we enter heaven.

If God becomes the Savior in our life, being that He is what we absalutely need daily instead of the internet or TV (etc), if we sacrifice or dedicate our time into the hands of God (rather than into worldy things), then we will recieve His Gift of both everlasting life and the gift of God's Salvation.

If our life concludes more toward the things of this world, (if we revolve around media and technology daily to a point where it aquires more time in our life than God does) than we will have planted our lives in it. And we would (instead of living by God and recieving God's Salvation eternally) have gained that of which is given to those who are dedicated to the world. (But that would be eternal suffering in Hell)

Salvation, then, is what we live for. Personally, God has become my Salvation. God is what I live for.

Salvation is like a folder!

It's like we recieve a folder-journal combo when we get to earth. Whatever we decide to fill our life with (Whatever we put in our folder given to us) and whatever we decide to devote to (what we will write about in our journal) Is how we would live our life. Though we were given a topic to write about, and we were given things to put in this folder we still have free will to do so or not. If we use these things that the folder was made for, then we will recieve our reward. If we don't, we will not recieve reward but will be punished for our foolishness and/or misuse of the gift given to us.

• If we fill our life with God's Word and if we live for God, we will recieve what God has set aside to give us.
• If we fill our lives with the things from this world, it would have been pointless in the first place to do so and we would not gain a thing by it exept punishment for our foolishness and our misuse of the gift given to us. AND would miss out on God's gift for us.

We can base our salvation in God, and then turn and base it in the world (We can fill our life, or folder, with God and God's good works. And then completely rip him out of our lives filling our life with things of this world) if one does this then Hebrews 6:4-6 would apply to them. Proving that "Once save, Always Saved" isn't correct.

We aquire, or can aquire our Salvation on earth, which is accepting God and making him the center of our lives. After we die, we get to heaven and God shares with us His salvation. Psalms 91:16

But just think!!! Once we get to heaven, our point to existing which is God promises to share His point to existing (His Salvation)! WOW I can only imagine.

If I'm falsley speaking, TELL ME! The last thing I want to do is #1 believe something false and even worse #2 teach something false. Let me know your thoughts!

"Once Saved, Always Saved." Part 2

Hebrews 6:4-6 proves my thoughts on wether or not you can lose salvation true...does it not? (I didn't mean that rudely or as if bragging..It was a literal question for those who may see something in it that doesn't agree with my previous post)

2 Timothy 2:12b Says that if we disown God, he will also disown us. Is it possible for me to walk up to somebody I have never met and disown them? No, because I don't know the person. Even with a friend I could not. It would not work unless the person is a family member, or one who is like one; someone really close to you. So to disown God we would have had to have a close relationship with him first.

"Once Saved, Always Saved" is false!

"Once Saved, Always Saved"

"Once saved, always saved" - I have been thinking about this saying, trying to figure out the truth behind it. And wether or not it itself is true or not. I have heard this being taught and the way it was taught was that if you have known God, loved God and truly obeyed His commands, sharing in the Holy Spirit and then fall away, you are still saved.

Well here are my thoughts on it.

I learned on the Camp Neosa Forums that while on earth, we don't experienced salvation but repentance. And if this is true, this saying would make a whole lot of sense! If being "Saved" consisted of entering the gates of heaven, then once saved always saved is correct, I mean once we are in heaven we aren't leaving!

With the way it was being taught, however, they could have said "once repented, always repented"...that's wrong! If a man truly seeks God, loving and obeying His ways and then turns away from God and dies in the condition of one who's turned down God, he will not live in heaven because of his short sacrifice earlier on! For example; Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus. He had seen the light. He literally walked with God himself! Followed Jesus and then he betrayed Him! He turned his back on God. Now he isn't in heaven because he had once walked with God, but he suffers the consequences of the condition his soul was in on the day that he passed away.

Romans 8:38-39 is oftentimes stated on behalf of "Once saved (repented), always saved (repented)" But I think it's meaning does not back this subject at all. It says that nothing can seperate us from God's love, which is true (It IS in the Bible, lol). But "once saved always saved" isn't about God's love for us, it's about our love for God. What I mean is in Romans 8 it says nothing can bring us from God's love, but unfortunately our love for God can often times be distracted, and sometimes it get's too far into worldly things to come back, like Judas. God's love is unending, but a relationship goes two ways, and without our love to God we cannot have a relationship with God, without our end being about God, we can't enter heaven.

Study, you won't regret it.

I've hit the point where I can get my permit, BUT now I am deeply troubled with the fact that I have to pass a test, in turn I have to study this BORING book!! I told myself to just suck it up and I'd be behind the wheel in no time; that was two day's ago and I'm on page 5.

For me to recieve my permit, I need to pass a test. For me to pass a test, I need to apply SOME effort and study. If I don't give effort into what I aim for, I don't pass the test and don't recieve the blessing of a permit.

If we do not study God's instruction manual for our life (the Bible), how will we know what we as Christians are supposed to do or say when our "test" or opporntunity comes? And if we blow the opportunity that God's provided, then how will we recieve the blessing that follows it? We won't.

I think that is where I am RIGHT NOW. Hmm, should have studied.

Now that my heart has been opened to this, I'm going to go and study my Bible. I mean, I have to start somewhere. If it's been a while since you've picked up your Bible too, what better time to pick it up than now?

Teaching

This is a picture of me at Music camp teaching that boy the guitar. I absalutely loved it! I have never really taught it before, and if so not to a kid! It was so cool seeing how he was growing in this talent God's giving him. I mean after a week of guitar class he learned alot. That might have just been enough to put it in his mind to someday become a worship leader, using this gift to further glorify God.

I love children. This is yet another reason why we should be more Christ-like. I've talked about being like Christ to set an example for other believers, and non-believers, teens, your enemies, and the ones who may hold higher authority than you on this earth. But this is the best part I believe! The Children. Children are so awesome! They don't have everyday stress' like a job or bill's. And when you respect them, they respect you. Most of the time :)

It is amazing and SO awesome when children sing to God. But what is even more awesome is when they truly worship God, when they understand to a point what true worship is, and heartfully sing to God out of love for Him. I watched Katie Bett's sing sunday night, and she wasn't just singing, she was worshipping God! That's what made it so beautiful! Not just the fact that she has been given the gift of a beautiful voice, but the fact that she used the gift God's given her to further Glorify God! (She isn't really a child, but you get the picture, I think you do atleast..?) It is awesome when anybody worships God, don't get me wrong. But hearing the children, or youth for that matter, worship the Lord is so amazing.

It's our place to once again, set the example. Be MORE like Christ. Show children how awesome God is! Don't let them think of God as boring - which may come across to them in church. Be lively! God loves you tremendously, show it! Most of all, pray for our youth. That Just maybe this next generation will be closer to God then this one. Maybe they will say the same as I am saying now and coninue praying for those generations to come. But it once again starts with you and me in everyday life, simply showing off what we have found. God's Mercy and love.

Life

I find myself constantly thinking about life. How I've in the past lived it, how I am presently living it, how I will live it. And I think about when the end of the road comes for me, what will people remember about me when I'm gone? What example would I have left?

I think of what I would be like later on down the road. What would I have regretted in life as a 5o year old man? What would I change then? Maybe I can catch it right now in stead of suffering for it later on down the road.

Example: School is really frusterating here. And if I keep on letting it get to me, then when college comes I will be suffering from loss of both discipline and education. I'll "reap what I sow."

(By now you may realize my thoughts are unending, and random too sometimes. You are free to stop reading at any point, hehe.)

I've talked before on how I want to fulfill God's plan for me. And I can see it happening before my eyes! Through camp, my goal was to become more like Christ, and looking back I have come a long way! For Christmas it was focusing on God. And I've come a long way! God used me soo much last year. I became a living sacrifice ya know? I wasn't perfect - boy o boy that is for sure. But looking back I can see how God's used me in many ways! The only thing I regret right now about my past years is that I didn't spend MORE time with God, instead of that I was wrappped up in sin. I am only 15, and I regret my sin in the past years. Imagine what I will have regretted at the age 50! This conclusion is what brings me to this thought when decisions are to be made in my life.

After Christmas I decided once again I wanted to become even more close to God than ever before! I wanted God to use me beyond my imagine! I didn't know what I was accepting, I didn't know what God had in store for my life. I laid it down anyways.

It always seems that the divisional weekends get to me. Mid-Winter retreat was amazing! There were points in the weekend where I felt God's presence stronger than ever before! A devotion that Carrie did left a huge impact on my life, well it didn't right that moment but later on (last week) it did. She shared so many things about herself that she had done wrong in the past, with all of us, that we would not do them.

Last week in our "New Creations" service led by our teens it was my turn to give the testimony. Again, little did I know what God had in store for me the day I accepted this responsability. I didn't know what all I would say, all I could think of about it was to just pray. So I prayed that God would work through me once again. That He would give me the words to say.

Sunday morning God let me know what He wanted me to say. I was astonished on how it came to me - plain as day it seemed. I don't remember what triggered the thought or what lesson was being taught! All I know is that God had a plan for me that night.

I have this deep secret in life that haunts me daily. A sin I've committed. God brought that to my attention during Sunday School class and I remember thinking "If only I were to share this. Wait! No way! when would I ever have the opportunity to?" Then it hit me. I was giving a testimony that night.

Throughout our Sunday school class and throughout church I felt God tugging at my heart ya know? I mean even knowing how scared I was about sharing such a personal experience or memory. I knew it was what God wanted.

When it was time for me to speak, I started off saying how I've been an officer's kid all of my life, and a homeschooled one at that! I said how I felt like I had to meet so many expectations throughout life because of my situation. I talked about how I wanted so badly to leave a good example that it got to my head and became a good impression. I had become a hypocrite!I said how I believe the world's view of a "Christian" is either a hypocrite or someone who lives a perfect life, no matter what it become's twisted up someway or another.

I then shared my long kept secret. I told them that if they believe they cannot be true Christians because of the unholiness in their life, they are wrong! I said how I regret this sin to this day, but I'm no longer ashamed of it, because I shared it I am not ashamed! Do you understand? I allowed God to use this unholiness in my life for good! Jeremiah 29:13 says "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all of your heart." I Seeked God with all of my heart!

satan tries and tries to conquer us and shouts victory when we give in to temptation. But we are on God's side, satan has no victory! God can use even the work of the devil's for the better good!! We just need to allow it!

Also at midwinter, Mrs Bett's sermon on starting a "revolution" changed my life incredibly! David, being a small, young boy, took a leap of faith and because of him the whole army was fired up! David started a revolution! I too, want to do this. I feel God calling me. The thing is we are all called to start a revolution! We are all called to live daily by His Word.

I still pray that I will have the faith to leave an impact on this world. I long to fulfill God's plan in my life!

Paul & Silas were arrested because of their faith. They were thrown into prison because of their belief! (I would think satan would give up by now.) But they prayed and worshipped God anyways! And because of their sacrifice of praise being lifted up, every door in the jail opened, every chain was broken. Even the ones of those who deserved to be there!

When I heard this story, and acutally thought on it, I learned that even though we may not be in David's positian, where we are of so much authority, we stand and fight to represent an army. We are still given opportunity to start a revolution!

Here is what I mean...We may not be the president of the united states and may not have the decision of where God is allowed inside of the local communities. But Paul & Silas also were not of that authourity on earth, they were in jail! Look how God used them! By them simply worshipping God, those around them were freed. If only we would continue our lives in holiness, worshipping God and praying...the chains of those who are around us wil be broken, they will be freed!

It starts with little places like so, where if we worship others may be saved, that we can start a revolution.

Now that I think about it, when I am 50 years old and look back on life, I don't want fullfilment in an investment of a $30,000 guitar or a $1,000,000 mansion. I want to see how God will have worked through me. I want to see an impact on those around me. I want to see myself as a man willing to live for His Father, totally devoted. I want to see a smile on God's face. This expectation I have set for myself, I will definately work at living toward.

"I want to please my God." That is my testimony.

God is good - Technology stinks

I just typed up a big long post. I mean my fingers were going non-stop! The Holy Spirit was definately speaking through me in it. I went to copy it and past it into WORD to save it for fear it may be deleted and by doing so it somehow was deleted. I recovered about one third of the whole thing and do not feel the fire i did then. I don't feel the urge to write that all again. I mean I would but I don't know all that I said. I'm so upset!

Satan really get's to me sometimes and maybe this happened to me purposely. I really wish I could re-type it all but I don't feel the Holy Spirit upon me like I did 10 minutes ago! It is awful! I should feel that way all of the time! Not only so I can live perfectly for my Lord, but so I could re-type that post! hehe

But I aint going to let it get to me. God must not have wanted me to post it all, yet atleast cause I'm not going at it again right now! Ah I can't believe it. I have so much to say, but I can't always get it out, I had it all out! And now its gone.

I'm going to moap around the house now - hehe just kidding :)