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!

Easter: A Christian Holiday

Easter is to be a wholly Christian holiday. It is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ, and also the Christian’s resurrection to new life in Christ. The non-Christian can have no part in this holiday—because he or she has not been resurrected into new life. They have no spiritual life. They are spiritually dead.

If the non-Christian tries to celebrate Easter at all, its real meaning will be foreign to them. They will not be able to relate to it. I suppose they can acknowledge the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection, but it will have no meaning for them. And I wonder if they even truly believe in His resurrection.

So, for the non-Christian, the only meaning they can possibly get from Easter is that it is a time for family and friends to come together and to share a meal together. And they would say that it is especially for the kids: to enjoy the chocolate Easter bunnies and the traditional Easter egg hunt. These times will serve as a diversion from thinking of the real meaning of Easter.

Now for those of you non-Christians who traditionally show up at church on Easter Sunday; you of course are welcome. And I invite you to listen to the pastor and the music. But please, don’t think just by going you will get any points with God—for an entrance into heaven. The best thing you can do is to seek God and listen to His voice. Ask Him how you can be saved from your sins and from a life of sin. He is waiting for you to come to Him and truly believe in Him.

Personalities in the Tribulation: The Holy Spirit

Stephen Nielsen's avatarStudying Bible Prophecy

The Holy Spirit is not mentioned in the Tribulation, but we know that He will be present, since He is eternally omnipresent. However, according to many scholars, it is believed that His ministry will be different in the Tribulation; and some believe that it will be the same as it was in the Old Testament.

The reason for this change is because at the Rapture the church will leave this earth; hence, the Holy Spirit’s ministry to the church will no longer be necessary, even to those who are believers during the Tribulation on earth, since they will not be the church. They will be believing saints, but not the church.

So what will the ministry of the Holy Spirit look like during the Tribulation? First of all, there are at least two, and possibly more, ministries that will be lacking: of baptism and of indwelling. The Holy Spirit will…

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Update: My dreams, My Reading, My Writing, About Zelensky

Well, I feel like Spring is officially here in Minnesota. I went for a long walk yesterday along the bank of the Mississippi river. The river is up from where it was last summer; it was almost all dried up. Hopefully, if we get more rain the river will be at its normal height again.

My Dreams

I had one of my re-occurring dreams last night. I very often have dreams where I am quite aggravated over painters that I have hired. I suppose it’s because of some unresolved things in my mind. Early in my painting business (in the 80s and early 90s) I hired a lot of painters. And some of them weren’t too experienced or reliable. So, I suppose that’s why I’m having these crazy dreams of painters doing crazy things where I end up getting very aggravated at them. I really should pray about it to resolve some of those issues—whatever they are, maybe anger issues.

My Reading

I’ve been reading books by Dinesh D’Souza, all about our country’s issues, like slavery and racism and lies our country’s leaders tell us, etc. D’Souza is very smart and I trust what he is saying, but, at the same time all of it is weighing on me. I know that God has opened the door for me to read this stuff; it’s almost like taking a class in American history and learning the truth about things—things that most history books won’t tell you. I hope and pray that I can put it to good use—maybe just blogging, which is what I have been doing.

My Writing on the Tribulation

I continue to write a book on the Tribulation. I write a little every day. I have a few sources, but I wish I had more. With future things I suppose it’s always hard to find material. My best source is the bible. But even the bible does not give me all that I want. God seems to hold back things that will happen. I’m now trying to write on the judgments: the seals, trumpets and bowls. But what the bible says is very brief. So, I am doing the best I can without extrapolating too much. Of course, I’m finding that the meaning of the seals for example will become clearer with the observation of what’s happening in the news—with wars and the economy, etc. For example, there is a lot of news now about how this Russia/Ukraine war could cause a global food shortage. And if that is occurring now, think of how it will certainly be a problem in the Tribulation.

What I have been hearing about Zelensky

Everybody seems to be really liking President Zelensky—for what he is saying and how he is encouraging his country to be strong and brave, and also how he is trying so hard to get counties to help. And have you heard of the latest song written about him, saying that he will be the superman of the world? Yes, I agree that he seems to be very antichrist-like. Yet he doesn’t appear to be boastful as we know the Antichrist will be. But maybe that will come later.

What I have been hearing lately is that he is not such a good fellow.

  • Someone from Ukraine reported that we can only believe half of what he says.
  • That he was installed with help of George Soros (a very evil and wealthy man, a thug)
  • That he is working for the World Economic Forum, which is pushing for a great Reset.
  • Since he is working toward The Great Reset (or build back better), that means that he may be trying to provoke Russia into war, and he may be intentionally trying to crash the economy and thus creating a world food crisis (which is what Biden is doing—with the aid of his advisors). Yes, it’s all in the plans: to tear everything down and start over.

What is Faith?

Stephen Nielsen's avatarPrayer A to Z

Faith is the avenue through which every believer became a Christian; and it is the way every Christian should live.  I’m sure most believers would say that they desire to have a stronger faith.  I sure do.  Well I have 8 different blog posts ready to go on this subject, which are excerpts from my book Prayer A to Z.  This first one is most basic and what we need to know in order to begin this study.  I want to ask you right from the start if you would consider making some comments.  So, when you read this, think of that you want to contribute.

 

The Definition of Faith 

 Vines dictionary defines faith (pistis) as “firm persuasion, a conviction based on hearing.”  The verb of faith (pisteuo), translated as believe, is defined as: “to believe, to be persuaded of, to place confidence in, to…

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