Recently I heard a fellow Christian-friend talk about a survey he did with random people he met. He asked them questions like “How many beers can you name?”  He said some could name off maybe a dozen, give or take.

Next question, “How many of the 10 commandments can you name?”

With results not as impressive as the first question he then asked,  “Does it bother you that you know more about beer and less about the standard God will judge you by someday?”

Hmmm. He has a point, you know. Someday we will all… all… ALL stand before God. Your money, affluence, influence, talents, and or self-righteous “goodness” won’t amount to a hill of beans. In fact, I think we may wish we had a hill of beans to hide under on that day.

So I ask you, are you aware of this standard you too will be judged by one day?  Oh and before you think that I think that I’m not guilty, let me assure you. I am guilty of breaking  every. single. one. of these commandments. You know how I know? Because the bible says if we’ve broken just one of them, we are as guilty in God’s eyes as if we’ve  broken them all. Period.

We will all be judged by The Judge, Himself.  (Following are just brief mentions of what you’ll find in Exodus chapter 20).

1.  Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me. (Sometimes we worship our careers, lovers, etc.)

2.  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image… (Do you put someone or something before God?)

3.  Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain… (For starters… “OMG– and G’D— it.” yeah…you know what I mean. But thats not the only way we can take His name in vain.)

4.  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy… (God worked {created} in 6 days, rested on the 7th.)

5.  Honor thy father and thy mother… (Are you disrespectful? Do you hurt them, are you taking care of them in their time of need?)

6.  Thou shalt not kill… (Killing people. Jesus said in the gospels that to hate someone is the same as “murder”.)

7.  Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Not just physically being sexually involved but also lusting for someone other than your spouse…Jesus made this clear in the gospels as well. Sin is sin whether its committed in the heart/mind or with the body.)

8.  Thou shalt not steal. (Steal. Doesn’t matter the value of the item…could be a piece of gum or a car.)

9.  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (Making up rumours, lying.)

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house… (Strongly desiring what isn’t ours.)

I know you’re thinking…there’s NO way. No way someone could go without breaking at least ONE of those!  And…You’re right!

Thats why God humbled himself and put on flesh John chapter 1 and 3:16 (born as a baby) so he could fulfill ALL the law (including the 10 mentioned above) perfectly. And then be crucified on a cross. Because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. He became that sin for us so we could be made “perfect” in God’s eyes. Its a gift and it requires faith on our part to receive it. Are you willing?

It begins with being honest about “who” we are in God’s eyes and then putting our faith and trust in Christ’s redemptive work on the cross. The book of Romans clearly tells us …”all have sinned” and that “the wages (payment) of sin is death”. Without Christ we are right now spiritually separated from God. After we die, we will be forever separated from God with no hope, ever.

Yes, we are in trouble now, apart from a relationship with God through Christ, but if you obey what God says in the bible you will receive forgiveness of all your (past, present and future) sins.

You might want to take the Good Test here. It might answer some questions you have right now.

If you’d like a free book about eternity, click here to request One Heart Beat Away by Mark Cahill.

If you’d like to read my testimony about me receiving Christ as my Savior, subscribe here for my updates by email or RSS. I plan to share about this in a post within the next week or so.

You’ll find more Top 10 Tuesdays posts at OhAmanda.com.

I don’t know about you, but this blesses my socks off

I know I am, are you?

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When I was pregnant with Brendan I received a really nice book as a baby shower gift. God’s Little Devotional Book for Moms by Honor Books, Inc. (Thanks Mary Clare ). Lately I’ve been reading the short inspirational stories in it and came across one that I just decided to make as my Top 10 Tuesday post.

I really believe that praying in detail for our children, husbands and others is vital in life. Vital to “their” lives, yes, but prayer changes the one doing the praying also.  This particular short story I read gave 10 points we should consider praying about for our children.  I didn’t realize there were 10 things until I wrote them out  (they weren’t numbered).  I’ll  share the list with you here in black font and the tweaking I gave them in blue.

Ways to pray for your children:

1- For their physical, emotional, and spiritual health.

2- An abiding sense of safety and security. Hedge of protection from all harm.

3- Courage to face the problems of each day.

4- A calm spirit to hear the voice of the Lord.

5- A willingness to obey. To obey God, us-their parents and authority in general.

6- A clear mind, both to learn and to recall.

8- Wise teachers, mentors and counselors.

9- Unshakable self-worth and personal dignity.

10- Eternal salvation and a home in heaven one day. Being saved IS eternal (though it starts immediately here on earth) and automatically includes a home in heaven- they are unseparable! We are a new creature in Christ right away    Are you saved?

Look for more Top Tuesday posts at www.OhAmanda.com

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I must receive … His gift.

His gift of …forgiveness (because I have sinned).

His gift of eternal life (eternal life starts now in knowing Him and goes on for eternity with Him in heaven). John 3:16

I do believe that NO one,   n.o. o.n.e.,    can make ANYone , a Christian. If you’ve succeeded in making someone a “Christian” – you’ve probably just made them “religious”.

And there’s a difference.

Being religious is not the same as being a Christian, though there are alot of people who think that way. Being a Christian is to have been redeemed by God through the blood of Jesus Christ (God in flesh who humbled himself to be born as a human so he could live a perfect, sinless life and then die for our sins on the cross only to rise again having conquered death and sin). The bible says that God is not only loving and merciful but that He is a judge of  justice and holy. Look at it this way. If someone killed your child and stood before the judge in court to answer for his crime and  said…”well, I’m sorry. I won’t do it  again, I promise.” And the judge said…”I believe ya. Your free to go.”  What would you think about that judge? Was he “just”? Was justice served?  I’ll answer that for you…NO. That would not be a “just” judge.

God is loving and merciful but He does require that justice be served because we have all broken His law, the 10 commandments. The bible says that if we have broken just one of them- we are as guilty as if we’d broken them all.  Jesus Christ paid for our sins by dying on the cross. If we don’t accept that by repenting of our sins and trusting in what Christ did for us on the cross then we are left with one other choice. To pay for our sins – ourself. And that means being separated from God forever, for eternity in a place called Hell.

And so, I do believe that it is “my” responsibility as a believer in Christ to tell everyone I can that Jesus died for you and conquered death and sin and that through faith in Him you will…

1.   Be forgiven of all your sins…past, present, future.
2.   Become a new creature in Him. Old things are past, all things become new…
3.   Have access to God, Himself! No such thing as having to go through a priest or anyone else. You can talk to him whenever, where ever, about whatever…and He hears and answers prayers!
4.   Spend eternity in heaven with God after death.

Whatever you decide to believe doesn’t change the fact that I care about you, my readers. I don’t ask you to become a Christian for me…I just want you to know that real hope lies in the truth and that truth has a name…Jesus Christ.

I care about what people believe, but then again, I don’t in that I accept my friends  just the way they are…whatever you believe is your business. You believe in what you want. I’m not trying to force anyone to become a Christian. But keep this in mind…some people think as long as we all sincerely believe in “whatever” that everything is ok. Truth is…if we lined up everything we all believed, we’d see there are a ton of contradictions and my God and some of those other gods couldn’t coexist.

I just want to share these free resources with you so you can do some checking for yourself. You owe it to yourself to do so.  You know, statistics show that 10 out of 10 people will die.

If you don’t know God personally, or have doubts, click here to take The Good Test and see where you stand before Him now.

If you just have questions about eternity, maybe you can’t get over the “theory” of evolution or there are some other “reasonings” that you have that you just don’t have answers for how about requesting your free copy of Mark Cahill’s book One Heartbeat Away by clicking here. I’ve already received my free copy and have started reading it- and they don’t bug you with emails. I got my book in just a couple days or so and don’t think I’ve ever received one email from them. I found out about this book after I started reading his other book One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven. Another very good book.

Finally, if you are wanting to learn more about the bible I would encourage you to click here to take advantage of the free mp3 downloads and study notes from First Baptist Church of Jackson. You can listen to the exact sermons we are sitting in on Sunday mornings.  This is the church we go to so I can really verify for you that you will be getting the goods from this place! Click on “messages” and see whats being offered online. As I type this out we are studying through Ephesians on Sundays mornings.

I want to leave you with these final thoughts. I know where I’m going when this life ends, do you? I know the God of the universe, personally. He’s heard me, answered my prayers (not always giving me “my” way, though). Every day I can experience real peace inside that only He can give. I trust Him to guide me and He does through His Word and His Spirit… do you have this? You can.

I welcome questions too. I can provide more scripture to back up what I believe. Just ask