The reason I wrote this...Haven't you ever wondered what your life would have been like if you would have done things different? Life is not a chance, Yesterday is the past. Tomorrow is the future. Today is a GIFT: that's why it's call "THE PRESENT."
"Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." (James 4:14)
I look and see the way the world is going in this day and age, and wonder, "Can it get any worse?" Things need to change, and it has to start in the home. The family needs to start by seeking God's help.
A Walk Through The Path Of Life
Let us begin our walk from the very beginning, right from the time we were born. We will go through the path of life and see the past, present and future. Then we will deal with all the various encounters of life.
From the day we were born we were born into sin, we all have inherited the sin of Adam and Eve. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." ( 1 Corinthians 15:22) "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" (Romans 5:12)
We are all guilty from the very beginning of life, and we all deserve hell. The question that will be asked at this point will be, what about my children, will they go to a place called hell if they die? Children are not accountable for their sin until they are able to understand the concept of sin. The Bible tells us in Luke 18:16 "But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for such is the kingdom of God." What age do they become accountable? Who really knows! It will vary from each child.
It is the responsibility of parents to bring them up to know the Lord. "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nuture and admonition of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4)
Children don't have to learn how to sin, sin is already present within them. It is the parents responsibility to teach them that there is a punishment that comes with wrong doing. When they get older they can understand that hell is the punishment for sin.
As children become older and can understand the concept of sin and its punishment, they will realize that sin is something that is not easy to control. They cannot pay for their sins themselves. Sin has to be paid for with a perfect sacrifice, and we are not perfect. Jesus is that perfect sacrifice, and he paid the price for us. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." (Romans 5:8-9)
As a child becomes a teenager, he/she become more independent. The parents should be training their children how to be on their own, and all the issues of life. How to deal with each problem, and all the consequences that will follow. It is very important to raise our children with a knowledge of the Bible and all its guidelines.
The Teenage Years and Their Temptations
This is a very difficult time in life because teenagers are not children, and they are not yet adults. They still have all the peer pressures and temptations of life that will confront them in the near future.
First I am going to deal with the teens that are not saved and show you what they are about to go through if they don't have God to guide them.
When young people become teenagers they want to be treated like an adult. They want to have freedom to do what they want without being watched over like a child. They want to be responsible for themselves, but there needs to be a building of trust before they can have the freedom they want.
A parent will watch the decisions a teen will make before they will trust their teen. One of the main concepts that teen will learn before a parent will trust them is respect, respect for the rules the parents has set for them. The parents will see the decisions teens will make on their own, and decide if they are mature enough to be on their own.
Finally, the teen has the liberty to go out on his/her own. Most of the time they have very little knowledge of what God expects of them. They only have the guidance of what the parents have taught them from birth. That may not be enough to get them through.
Even if a teen hasn't been exposed to a lot of the corruption of the world, when they go out on their own they will be shown very fast what life has to offer them. If someone doesn't tell them they will see it written on the restroom walls. They will be tempted by others to do things that are contrary to what they hae been taught. They will be pushed into doing things that will force them to make a decision under pressure. And that decisions may change their life forever.
The peer pressure from others can make it hard on the teen to make the correct decision in just a short period of time. To make decisions should never be quick. Teens should always stop and think of the consequences. These are the kinds of principlas that should be taught before the teen ever enters a place that is questionable.
We all know the temptations that are out there for the teen to ge involved in, alcohol, drugs, and many other things that will lead them down the path of destruction. The worst part of it all is the unsaved teen can't help but give in to the temptation. Teens have no power to resist. Satan blinds their minds and will not let them see there is a way out. "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" ( 2 Corinthians 4:4).
There is always a way out if you know the Scriptures. God tells us that very thing in 1Corinthians 10:13, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
You see, there is always hope. God is always calling the sinner to repentance. "For I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" ( Matthew 9:13 ). "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should be come to repentance" ( 2 Peter 3:9 ).
Usually a person will hit rock bottom before they will seek help because in most cases they have it too good to seek help from God or man. It doesn't matter what situation you're in, Whether it be smoking, drinking, fowl language, theft, or pride. Most people don't want help because they think they are OK. I can assure you they are not OK. They need God's help to get them out of that mess, but Satan keeps on pushing them deeper and deeper into the fire.
The Saved Teenager
For the saved teenager it is much different becasue most of the time they have guidance from home, and from the church. When they are tempted they not only have the guidance they can fall back on, but they have the Holy Spirit inside them to guide them. But there is one problem, they are still in the flesh and they can still sin.
The temptation is still the same for the saved teen as the unsaved. They are in the flesh; they can sin just the same. Satan is always hurling his darts at everyone, at the saved to weaken their faith, and at the lost to keep them lost. Satan knows he can't take the saved person's soul because they are sealed by the Spirit. "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption" ( Ephesians 4:30 ). Also, God gives us a promise that we all can lean on. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Corinthians 10:13 ).
The Adult Years
Some think that when you become an adult it will be much easier to deal with life, but life is always the same because Satan is always there tempting us. You might not be tempted with the peer pressures of the teenage years, but you have a whole new set of trials and temptations ahead, such as, more responsibilities than you could ever imagine. There are kids to raise, your spouse may not have the same belief that you have, bills to pay, jobs to deal with and many other problems that can drag you down. But the main thing is Satan is always tempting us. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" ( 1 Peter 5:8 )
Now, our lives are so busy we don't have time for God. We have TV's, radios, computers, video games, movies, all the things that keep us from serving God. None of these things will make us happy, or make our life easier. Most people are hanging onto the world and all it has to offer. The Bible tells us to let go of the world. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." ( 2 Corinthians 5:17 )
Are our riches going to make us happy? There are many people that have won the lottery and wished they would have never won. "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the world, and lose his own soul?" ( Mark 8:36 ) The Bible says, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." ( Colosians 3:2 )
Solomon was the wisest man on earth in his time and he had everything as far as riches go, and this is what he had to say about it all, "Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity." ( Ecclesiastes 12:8 ) "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." ( Ecclesiastes 12:13 )
If you are looking for riches, we have an inheritance waiting for us in heaven. "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were no so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." ( John 14:2 )
God didn't put us here so we could become rich. He put here to bring Him glory. "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." ( 1 Corinthians 10:31 ) If you don't know how to bring God glory, let me show you what God desires. "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." ( John 4:23 ) You see, God is seeking true worshippers, and we can bring them to God.
Don't keep digging yourself into a hole, get out your spiritual shovels and dig deep into the Word of God, and He will show you great and mighty things. ( Jeremiah 33). "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." ( Proverbs 3:5-6 ) "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." ( Psalm 119:105 ) "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men." ( Proverbs 4:18 ) "O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." ( Jeremiah 10:23 ) "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps." ( Proverbs 16:9 )
Choosing A Marriage Partner
Along life's pathway, most people become attached to someone they might want to spend the rest of their life with. This is something that people shouldn't ever take lightly. This is a subject that couples should take very seriously. This is choosing someone that you will spend the rest of your life with and no turning back. If you look at the amount of divorces today, you might think there are a lot of couples that made the wrong choice. So, how do we make the choice that will guarantee us he or she is the right person? We cannot know for a fact, but we can turn the odds to our favor.
If you are a person that does not believe in following God's Word then your chances aren't very good. Let me explain why you will have trouble. There are a lot of deceivers in the world that will tell you anything but the truth.
To find a partner that will be the one that will be best for you, you will have to trust in God t help you. Our day should start out with prayer asking God to guide us in everythng. We need God! God will help us in all situations. Ask God to bring the right person in your life, and then just wait on God to answer your prayer. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 it tells us to "Pray without ceasing." If we are praying and waiting on God (and that doesn't mean going out on our own to try and find that person, that is not trusting in God) we will get an answer.
Do not go to bars, or any other place like that, it will be a disaster. Even if you go to a church it doesn't mean the person you might find will be the person God wants you to have, even though your chances are a lot better. You still have to wait on God. Most of us are too impatient to wait on God, but this is the best way.
Now that God has given us the right person, you might want children to be a part of your life. This is a great responsibility for every parent.
Bringing Up Children
Raising children is a responsibility that a lot of people do not understand the duties of the job. When I see people raising kids today and how they do it, it fries my brain. People have kids and then a few months later the mother gets a job, hires a baby-sitter, and goes to work. This is one of the reasons this world is in the shape that it is in today.
Training Children
Training a child has to come from the mother not a baby-sitter. The mother's responsibility is to train up her children in the Lord. By the time a child is five years old he is pretty much set in his ways. A large amount of the parents today don't understand that if a child is brought up under someone other than the parent, they may not have the values that the parents may want them to have. Instead of asking yourself years later, "Where did I go wrong?" just stop and think before you bring a child in this world, "How do I want my children to turn out when they are adults?" Remember, our children will be the next leaders when we are gone. The Bible says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." ( Proverbs 22:6 ) We need to guide our children every day, and we can't do that when we are not there.
"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth." (Psalms 127:3-4 )
Look To The Lord
We need to depend on the Lord for everything, and do not think we can do anything on our own. Like I said before, we need to pray everyday and ask the Lord to help us in everything. For example, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Soloman in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." ( Matthew 6:25-34)
Time Is Running Out
No matter what age you are, time is running out. The Lord said He is coming back, and the time for that is near. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly woman laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." ( 2 Timothy 3:1-7 ) Now, compare those verses with today and judge for yourself.
If you are saved, you have nothing to worry about. "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." ( 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 )
If you are not saved at the time the church is caught up with the Lord, there will be a great tribulation here on earth for you, "then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." ( Matthew 24:21 )
This is for the Jews, so they will return to the Lord. As for the Gentiles ( which is every-one-else that is not a Jew) time is basically up. So, what I am saying? You need to be saved now.
A Glimpse Into The Future
After the great tribulation, the Lord will return. He will bring His saints with Him and reign here on earth for one thousand years. At this time the curse of the earth will be removed, and that means there will be no thorns, thistles, or weeds. The animals will eat grass not meat. The Lord will provide everything for us, including food and shelter. If you have ever been to a garden show and observed all the beautiful landscaping, everything just immaculate, not a weed in the whole place, that will not compare to the beauty that the Lord will have for us there. But the most important thing, Satan will be removed for one thousand years, and he will not be able to tempt anyone.
Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth. This will last forever. We will be with the Lord forever.
What About Your Salvation
As I said at the beginning we are all born into sin. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." ( Romans 6:23 ) There is nothing we can do about our sin because God expects a perfect sacrifice for sin, and we cannot do that. God knows that so He gave us a substitute for our sin. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." ( Romans 5:8 ) "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 )
God tells us that we are saved by grace. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." ( Ephesians 2:8-9 ) We can't do anything for our salvation, it is a free gift. "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgement was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification." ( Romans 5:15-16 )
This is the gospel. "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" ( 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 ) This is what God wants us to believe. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." ( Romans 10:9-10 )
If you are not saved and want to be saved, then all you have to do is go to God in prayer and tell Him you know that you are a sinner, and ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Tell Him that you believe that Jesus did on the cross for your sins, and was buried, and rose again on the third day. Ask Him to come into your heart and save you. "For whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." ( Romans 10:13 )
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
John 14:6
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