Yesterday I visited my daughter Jennifer who lives in Bennäs outside Jakobstad and we had a wonderful time together including lunch at famous Korv Görans Grill. After that I drove out to a beautiful place, Klippan in Monäs by the sea. There was a lutheran youth camp (SLEF) and I was invited to speak to the youth. It is always wonderful to get this opportunity to speak to the young people since this is part of what Jesus told me to do when He came to me at the hospital four and a half years ago. What felt good yesterday was that the youth snapped up what I said and they were really listening. What we spoke about most was that when we pray God IS answering. Sometimes we just don't hear when He answers. This is one of the many promises in the Bible and it is such faith raising to read these scriptures time after time:
We can see this promise over and over again in the Bible these are just a couple examples from the Gospel of John. We also learn a very important point here, that it is Jesus Himself saying this to us and He is giving us the good advice to ask and pray in His name. Some people might not yet know how to ask it in His name but it is easy. You just pray for it and use the words "in Jesus name I pray". Actually the Gospel IS simple and therefore we also should keep it simple so everybody can understand that Jesus is Lord and all what HE have done is available for all of us. False doctrines, rituals and traditions has NEVER saved anyone. Only JESUS saves!
This question has been on my mind for some time now. What do we do to tell Jesus that we love Him? Thats another question and looking at Christianity today I am sad to say that few are living up to this. In the Gospel of Matthew we can clearly read about this and how important it is to take care and love people around us. You might say that you don't want to be a missionary and travel to poor countries. It is not about that at all. You can be a missionary in your own neighborhood, in your own town, at work, yes, wherever you go you should live up to God's word. It should become a lifestyle if you really love Jesus. If people would take Jesus words serious I am absolutely sure that this world would be a different place. This is a passage in the Bible that God gave to me some time ago and it really made me think.
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-44)
Here we see that it does NOT have anything to do with having a super anointing that makes us shiver and shake and makes us look like fools. It has to do with loving one another. I got a call from prison a while ago and a friend of mine wanted me to come and visit. First I thought I have no time but God shook me and it was when He pointed out these verses to me and told me to go visit my friend.
In the scriptures we also can read about the eternal punishment and that is something I really don't would recommend to anyone. I am not an expert about heaven and hell but I red a really good interview with Pastor Tom Brown just a couple of days ago where he is answering questions about hell. No stories or fantasies, Pastor Brown is answering al questions with biblical truths, you can read it yourself by clicking here.
Another thing I would like to share with you is what happened to me last sunday at church. After the meeting when we were sitting in the coffee table an elder man (very old) walks up to me and tells me that he have seen me in the Spirit. First I thought this was one of these funny people but when I saw the other elders around me getting interested I realized that this was a man of God, very old and very open to the Spirit. It was GOD who sent me this man with encouragement to keep my first love. He told me that four and a half years ago when all churches in the village of Kvevlax were praying for me he saw me in the Spirit. It was late one night and I was in my hospital bed. I had five more minutes to live when the Spirit of the Lord came upon me and told me to get up. This was the same time JESUS visited me at the hospital and I am shaken and encouraged by these words from this man of God. Five more minutes to live when God shows up. I hope you understand why I am thankful and why there is a fire burning inside of me to reach as many people as possible for Christ.
Next week I will write more again. This coming weekend I will travel to Jyväskylä together with my family for a family re-union at my biological fathers house. I will meet relatives I never met before and I am excited. On saturday night I will speak at a tent revival meeting in Kurikka. I am excited about many things. More dates are added to the calendar and we are also now planning for next year. Check that out!
God Bless you all! In Christ!
Pontus
