Broken, empty and hopeless

I have always believed in God but I never understood who He really is, the truth is I knew enough about God to get me into Hell.

​I served in the church as a young man, I lead worship, directed our choir and was president of our youth group, but I had no relationship with God the Father or Christ Jesus, I knew the right things to say and do, but I never knew God the Father or Jesus.

I saw terrible things happen as a young adult someone I truly cared about was killed on their 18th birthday in a car accident, in a way that was horrible and tragic, other friends died at young ages, people I cared about deeply, and then others I thought were my friends seemed far away and that’s kind of how I saw God He was far away and I was on my own.

I couldn’t wait to get farther away from a God who was already distant, a God who made rules and told me how to live, a God who didn’t care about what I cared about.

Don’t get me wrong I had plenty of people who talked about Jesus in my life, my mom is a great example of living what she knows and believes, and she still is today I had Sunday school teachers, youth leaders and friends who taught me the truth, and on the flip side I had many who said one thing and lived another.

I refused to see the truth about Jesus because I wanted to be mad at God for all the cruel things in my life, I wanted to be mad at God for all the people He took from me who were far better than me, I wanted to live the way I wanted too, I wanted to be mad at God because I didn’t know Him.

It was later in life at the age of 33 I heard God‘s call on my life and He spoke to me in an audible voice in my heart and my mind, I was overcome with His presence and when the evangelist said if you left here tonight and died, where would you spend eternity? heaven or hell I heard God say BRIAN you know you would be in hell for you do not know me, I could not get up fast enough to come to Him. I was done running, I had everything the world could offer, but I was empty, broken and hopeless.

A relationship with God is truly a relationship like no other, both He and we must participate, God already did everything for us, He created us, He made a way for us to have a relationship with Him through Jesus, He forgives of our sin, He pursues us when we are lost, He finds us, and then He equips us but we must believe in Him, confess Him as our Lord and Savior, lay aside our pride and turn everything over to Him. There is no other relationship that is comparable to our relationship with Christ.

My walk with Christ has not been perfect but He is perfect He guides me daily even when I start to stray He pulls me back in because He is good, He is my Friend, He is my Lord and Savior I treasure my relationship with Him, I love Him, I pray that all my family and my friends come to that relationship with Christ Jesus, and learn to live in the power of the Holy Spirit.

There are no words that can describe the joy, the peace, the life that I have in Him each day knowing Jesus Christ is with me, that He has my wife, He has our children, our family, our home, all that we are and have, and He always has and always will.

I no longer am self-sufficient but totally dependent on Christ.

I know there are many out there who are distant from God because they believe He is distant from them but He is as close as your next breath that I promise, I know that there are questions that will never be answered, things that we can explain, pain that seems it will never go away, I know that one day, all the things we thought about, or worried about no longer will matter, for we will see Him face to face, and all these things will subside because of His presence, until then we must renew our minds, our hearts, our souls each day, asking Jesus for His mercy,grace, and help, clearing our hearts as He guards us spiritually physically emotionally He wants to be first in our lives, and He alone deserves no less.

Do you know Christ Jesus?
Do you have a relationship with Him?
Why or why not?

God’s word says this:

“You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe — and they shudder.”James‬ ‭2:19‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah‬ ‭53:6‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“See to it that you don’t despise one of these little ones, because I tell you that in heaven their angels continually view the face of my Father in heaven.

“See to it that you don’t despise one of these little ones, because I tell you that in heaven their angels continually view the face of my Father in heaven.What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go and search for the stray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over that sheep more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish.”Matthew‬ ‭18:10-14‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented him as an atoning sacrifice in his blood, received through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.”Romans‬ ‭3:22-26‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may have a reply for those who take pride in outward appearance rather than in the heart. For if we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: If one died for all, then all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised. From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.” He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:11-21‬ ‭CSB‬‬