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About Stephen Nielsen

I'm an author, a self publisher, and a painting contractor. I live in beautiful Minnesota, USA . Welcome to my blog site.

Forgiving Yourself

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

Forgiving yourself is what you will naturally do when you accept and receive God’s forgiveness.  When you are forgiven by Him, His forgiveness flows to you and gives you the strength you need to forgive yourself.

The reason why we don’t always forgive ourselves is because we fail to see that God loves us and cares for us and that He really wants to forgive us.  And so we fail to truly repent of our sins—thus the guilt of our sins remains with us.  Accordingly, because we are unable to trust the sacrifice of Christ for us, we feel the need to punish ourselves, to tell ourselves how dumb and stupid we are, to restrict ourselves from fellowship, and to wallow in our guilt.  Some have tried to starve themselves, and to cut themselves; some viciously mutilate themselves.  I think one of the more common ways people punish…

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The Seventh Seal (Revelation 8:1-6)

Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

Since the events in chapter seven is parenthetical (or an interlude of time), this seventh seal should follow immediately after the sixth seal, with all of its cosmic disturbances.

Therefore, it must be our assumption that at some point during the end of the sixth seal, while men and women are hiding in caves for fear of the wrath of God, that suddenly, the skies will clear up and all the chaos will stop; that is, as Scripture says, “there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”

Silence In Heaven

What is this silence all about? My first thought is that God will give those on earth a short break. He is not so wrathful that He will not provide any relief. He is a God of grace, and will give a time for people to rest, but also a time to prepare for what is to come…

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Why We Sometimes Don’t Feel Forgiven 

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

God tells us in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  This verse doesn’t say anything about repentance, but I think it is implied; with true confession repentance will always be included.  But the point I want to make here is that God has promised that if we confess our sins—which implies that we also repent—He will forgive us and cleanse us.  So if we don’t feel forgiven after we say that we have confessed, I don’t think we should blame it on God, because He will always keep His promise.  The problem must be that we haven’t really, genuinely confessed and repented.

But you say, “I did confess; I did admit my sin.”  Yes, but did you repent?  Did you decide to change your life?  Did you decide not…

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Seeing More Birds

I’m seeing more birds now. Robins are the easiest to photograph. But those little yellow birds are impossible. They fly away so fast. I’ve got a Robin nest on my living room window sill–with little chicks in it. Most of the time she is sitting on the chicks keeping them warm. I hope all the chicks make it. The weather here in Minnesota is colder than average, but not too bad.

The First Interlude: The Great Multitude (Revelation 7:1-17) – Part 3

Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

After John sees the vision of the witnesses and the angels that will protect them, he next sees a great multitude of people standing before the throne in heaven and before the Lamb. They are clothed in white robes and they are praising God with palm branches in their hands. And many angels and the twenty-four elders and the four cherubim were also worshipping God saying,

Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever.

Then one of the elders asked John about the great multitude: “Who are they and where have they come from?” As if he didn’t know.

But he did know, and John knew it. So he said to him, “My lord, you know.”

Then the elder told John who they were.

1. They have come out of the Tribulation.They apparently were not saved…

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How to Receive and Be Cleansed By God’s Forgiveness

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

 

God’s forgiveness is a gift that we receive by faith.  Just as we were saved by His grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), His constant, day by day forgiveness also comes by grace through faith.  We can’t earn it by works, nor do we deserve it; we receive it by faith.  And the way we begin to have faith in Him is by coming to Him in prayer with a broken and humble heart—to confess our sins and repent.  Then when God sees that we are genuine in our repentance, He will freely offer us His gift of forgiveness and cleansing.

But how do we begin to confess and to genuinely turn from our sins?  How does this happen?  Well, to begin with, God moves in us to change our heart.  But then when you feel Him moving you, it is up to you to respond.  You must trust Him…

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My Great Discovery: I Can Laugh at the Evil World – Psalm 2:4

What does a Christian do in this evil world—with all the progressivism, with constant attacks on conservativism and Christianity, with government mandates, with wokeism, with all the fraud, especially with voting and in the media? If we think it is best to keep up with the news in order to be informed and to bring a positive influence, there will always be suffering—because the world is against us; it hates us.

So, this has been my dilemma and battle and cause of great sadness—to see the world falling down all around me, and to be inflicted as Lot was (2 Pt. 2:7-8). But recently, I have discovered a wonderful answer—some ways to bring help. There are a few of them.

My Discovery, Part 1 – I Can Laugh with God (from Psalm 2)

I will start with what God showed me in Psalm 2. Verses 1-3 kind of describes what is going on right now with globalism and the Great Reset, and all other such evil movements. We see it quite clearly here in these verses. They are taking counsel together against us Christians and all who are godly, and they are plotting to destroy us in order to exalt their own evil system—which eventually will become the government of the Antichrist.

But what does God do? What is His reaction to all this evil plotting against Him? He laughs! Because He knows how foolish they are and how all their plotting and planning will come to nothing. And He knows that soon His Son will take possession of all the nations of the earth and He will break them with a rod of iron in His New Kingdom which we call the Millennium (verses 6-9).

So this is my great discovery: since I am in Christ and I sit with God and His Son in the heavenly places (1 Cor. 2:6), I can laugh with Him at all that is going on in the world. God is not the least bit affected or disturbed by it, so I shouldn’t be either. And I can and should see how foolish the nations are in all their foolish plotting. And I, with God, can see how it all will end—when Christ rules the world in His wonderful kingdom of peace and love.

My Discovery, Part 2 – Being in the Word and in Prayer Helps

More recently, God reinforced what He showed me earlier in a much different way. He showed me that I can have some comfort and peace (from the evils of the world) in knowledge—knowledge of truth, of Him, and of His word. There is some knowledge to be gained in books that speak the truth (about many things); but a greater knowledge is in the bible and also in prayer.

My Discovery, Part 3 – In Bible Prophecy

When I study bible prophecy and thus learn many things of the future, this gives me an unbelievable edge on all the so called “elite” and experts in the world. I know some things they don’t know—because they regard the bible as foolishness. Hence, with this future knowledge I, with God, sit with Him and laugh!

This discovery was greatly reinforced one evening as I was sitting on my couch watching one of my favorite TV series, 24. It is a series of 24 highly dramatic hour-long shows staring Kiefer Sutherland, as Jack Bauer, where Jack and a cast of other CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit) workers are constantly, for 24 hours, trying to counter terrorist activities against America. I love the show, but it has been a constant stress to me, especially seeing it for the first time. But I discovered that seeing these shows for the second and third time is significantly less stressful—because I know what’s going to happen. So, it gives me an entirely different perspective. And this is how we can and should view what is going on in the world.

So, when I learn (from my reading) what Klaus Schwab is doing and planning in his Great Reset, and what John Kerry is doing in his climate change stuff, and what Stephanie Kelton I doing with her Modern Monetary Theory (that we can just print more money), and what President Biden is up to, I should not worry or be stressed out, and I can actually laugh at it all and be at peace—because I know what is going to happen! I have seen the movie, and guess what? God wins! And we win!

The First Interlude: More About The 144,000 Witnesses (Revelation 7:1-17) – Part 2

Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

 Here are six points to consider:

1. They are all Jews from twelve tribes.These witnesses are not Jehovah’s Witnesses, or Mormon elders, or some symbol of the church. They are Jews. And even though most Jews today don’t know which tribe they belong to, God does. They are not lost to Him. He will select twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes that are listed in Revelation 7:5-8.

2. Israel will become the evangelistic nation she was meant to be.When Israel rejected Jesus her Messiah, she experienced a spiritual hardening. But the bible says (in Romans 11:25) that that hardening will not be permanent. When the fullness of the Gentiles comes (when the complete number of elect Gentiles are saved) and the Rapture occurs, then God will turn His focus on Israel. The 144,000 Jewish witnesses will be the first fruits of a new redeemed Israel; and…

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How to Forgive: 9 Steps to Follow

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

According to Matthew 5:23-24, the first thing we are to do when we remember that someone has something against us, is to go quickly and make friends with him, even if we are in the middle of prayer.  In fact, that is the time that the Holy Spirit will bring it to your mind.  And really, it doesn’t matter who the offender is, whether it is another that offended you or you that offended another, you are responsible to go and make reconciliation.  Don’t think that he must go to you.  When you meet him you must confront him in love.  If he has sinned you are to reprove him, but in private (Matt. 18:15).  If you have sinned then you must confess to him and ask his forgiveness.  If we practice this law of reconciliation then we will live in freedom from the chains of bitterness. 

But what if…

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