Christian, Is Your Life Not What You Planned? God Knows the Shortest Way Is Not Always Best!!

The shortest way is not always the best way - Exodus 13:17-18

We all know more or less the story of the Israelites. It took them 40 years to enter the promised land, in a trip that shouldn’t normally last more than a few weeks. As we may also know, almost all the delay was due to their own disobedience. When the time had finally arrived to enter the land, they were afraid to do so and stepped back. The result was that it took them 40 years more (!!) to go into the land and only 2 people from the initial generation succeeded. All the others died in the wilderness and it was their kids that entered in their place. We will not concentrate on this exercise of disobedience today, but it was NOT the initial plan of God to have them in the wilderness 40 years. However God did delay the plan of entering the land. Not for years, but it was indeed a little bit longer than the shortest way. We find the relative passage in Exodus 13:17-18. There we read:

Exodus 13:17-18
"Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of Philistines, ALTHOUGH THAT WAS NEAR; for God said, "Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt"

What impressed me in this passage is the fact that God didn’t lead the people through the shortest way, but He preferred a path a little bit longer. We sail off sometimes to a trip that we expect to take time X. We expect that we will get a job at age X, we will get married at time XX, we will make the first kid at time XXX and we will live XXXX years. It may not be an illogical plan. We may have planned things as we see them around in our world. And the way we may have planned them it may be fine and it may work this way. But it doesn’t always. At least it didn’t in the case of the Israelites, in my case in certain things and it might be in your case too. 

Sometimes time is going by and by and our lives seem to drift away from our expectations. We wonder what are we doing in a wilderness that is looking like the "wilderness of the Red Sea". If few years ago you had told me that I would be in Germany, doing the job that I’m doing right now I would have told you "that’s impossible. It is completely out of my plans." I had planned my life, probably in a similar way that you had planned yours. But it didn’t turn out like this. Not living the alternative (what I had planned), I don’t know whether it is better or worse. I don’t know and I may never know. You don’t know and you may never know - perhaps prior to see the One that sits on the throne - why things turned out the way they did. Why you are there still expecting something that you thought was the simplest thing of the world. Things may have happened that you had never imagined. You might have planned your life the way I had planned mine, but…. You might had planned your life the way the Israelites had planned theirs ,but…. I have good news for you: GOD LEADS YOU. 

There is the case where the wilderness is because of disobedience. I don’t want to speak about it today. I hope you are not in this one. If you are, the answer is OBEDIENCE. "Draw nearer to God and He will draw nearer to you" (James 4:8). But this is not the purpose of this article. The purpose of this article is the unfulfilled expectation. The cases were it seems that God is late. "God" we say, "I expected from you more than what I ask or think. And yet the years go by and by and I never see my prayer answered." And God says through the mouth of the Lord with the parable of the widow (Luke 18:1-5): "Don’t give up praying son. I don’t give up on you." We say to God, "God, you have written about deferred hope… that makes the heart sick", and yet it seems like You Yourself act like you never wrote about it". And God says "be patient". What God tells you brother today, is to be patient. Follow the lead of the Lord, trust in Him and He will bring it to pass. He will give you the desires of your heart. This may not be what your mind says. After years and years you may have given up on your dreams and godly desires. I would like to encourage you to stand UP. God does not give up on You. The God that you saw when you first believed is the same today too. God NEVER changes (James 1:17). Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The God of the terrible wonders before Pharaoh is the same God that is leading you in the wilderness too. Don’t give up, admitting a defeat that is NOT there! 

If God does not take you straight away to what He has promised for you, it is only because HE LOVES YOU. Time is not his main concern. His main concern is YOU! It was not His concern to have the Israelites in the promised land few weeks earlier. His main concern was THEM. If you look at the passage it is like God is skeptical. God is not a machine, a robot. He is Someone that THINKS. Thinks about you and your best. In this case, He was concerned about the Israelites that if they went through this shortest way they might see war and thus return back to Egypt!! God thinks of YOU my friend. 

The shortest way may have things that you may not be able to handle. Have you ever thought that if everything came as you had planned it, you may have returned to the Egypt, to the world again? You don’t know. I don’t know either for myself. But I do know something. That whatever I have, wherever I stand right now is the path that God has chosen for me to stand. And in this I have peace. For God is leading the way and He chooses only the best for me. And the best is to be near to Him, even if the way is a little bit longer. The purpose is NEVER to short the promises. The promises will come, for God has SPOKEN. But with no danger to be afraid and step back, or be tempted and do the same. The path you are on may not be exactly as you had planned it, but I can tell you it is as GOD has planned it. It is as GOD thought for YOU. And being so, it is the BEST. Stand up, walk on the way, live for today, don’t care for tomorrow and God will lead your life, NOT to frustration but to what you may expect, no.. to more that what you think or expect. Don’t give up on whatever is godly. Don’t give up praying for this.

Anastasios Kioulachoglou

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Christian, Does Your Heart Say Nevertheless Jesus?

Nevertheless at your word

In Luke 5, starting from verse 1, we read:

Luke 5:1-3
"So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him [Jesus} to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and PRAYED him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat."

Multitudes were coming to the shores of Gennesaret, to hear Jesus, to hear the Word of God. Here are also two boats coming back from work. The Lord got into one of them, the boat of Simon the fisherman, and "PRAYED HIM to put it out a little from the land". He prayed him. He PLEADED him. He didn’t command him. He didn’t bypass Peter’s right to do whatever he wanted in his boat. The Son of God, the One to whom the Father had delivered all things (Luke 10:22), the One to whose command the air, the sea and the nature were subjected, PLEADED Simon. This is the gentleness of the Lord. "Simon, could you please put out your boat a little from the land?" Simon did it and the Lord started teaching the multitudes. Then in verses 4-7 we read:

Luke 5:4-7
"When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net." And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink."

It was not that they didn’t work hard. The tried hard…all night….. but they caught nothing. It happens to us as well sometimes. We put a lot of emphasis and effort on something, and yet, despite our much effort, our nets remain empty. We say "I will follow this or that strategy to obtain it." We get together, we think, we make plans but the nets remain empty. And here is Jesus. He knew very well their needs. He could see the frustration in their eyes. He could feel their agony about what they would put on the table that day. He also can see the sadness in your eyes as you gaze the empty nets. "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." He comes when you gaze your empty nets… "Friend, go to the deep and let them down again… I know they are empty". "But Lord we have been trying all night" Peter said or we would say "But Lord I have tried so many times and yet always I bring them up empty." But Peter does not stop there: "NEVERTHELESS AT YOUR WORD I WILL LET DOWN THE NET". You may look at the nets with sadness and wonder why they are still empty. Simon and the other fishermen may thought the same. "It could be the air". "Probably it could be because of the moon." "Probably somebody else was quicker than us." "Probably, we are not that good fishermen. " Many "probably" and "may be", which however do not matter when the Lord says "let them down again". "It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy" (Romans 9:16) says the Word. And again:

Psalms 127:1-2
"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep."

And you are His beloved. "Beloved of God" (Romans 1:7) and "Beloved" ones calls us the Word of God. "BELOVED, NOW WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD" says in I John 3:2. You are God’s child NOW! You may have knocked many doors. You may have prayed for this a lot. Do not lose courage. At the time Peter and the others were washing their empty nets, the Lord was on their boat, just next to them. He came without inviting him. He came at the time they needed Him most. "Go to the deep friends and through them there". And they had enough courage to do it again.

Anastasios Kioulachoglou

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Jesus Was Tempted as We Are - Anastasios Kioulachoglou

In all points tempted as we are

In Hebrews 4:15-16 we read:

Hebrews 4:15-16
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Some are saying: "How can God understand me? Has He ever been through what I have been through?" We have sometimes the picture of an unapproachable, remote God, a God who is far from life and reality. A God whom our difficulties and temptations cannot touch. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One in whom "dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9) has been through all this. He has been through all that you may be in right now, through all the temptations that may try you and the storms that may hit you. Because He has been through He can understand you. He can fully sympathize in the pain, the infirmities and the desires of the human soul. Jesus Christ sympathizes right now what may have hurt you. Jesus Christ sympathizes right now what may have afflicted you. Jesus Christ sympathizes right now all your infirmities, all your problems, every tear you may have shed and every anxiety you may have. Two chapters earlier, in Hebrews 2:16-18 we read:

Hebrews 2:16-18
"For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in every respect, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted."

Jesus Christ can help those who are tempted, because He also went through the same temptations. He does not look at you from afar, without knowing how you may feel. He knows it very well. He was made like us in every respect we read. Some have the picture of a Christ-robot that came, did the work and left. We need however the picture of a Christ that was made like us in every respect. We need the picture of the MAN Jesus Christ. In I Timothy 2:5 we read:

I Timothy 2:5
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,"

The mediator between God and man, our High Priest and great advocate is One that was made like us IN EVERY RESPECT: THE MAN CHRIST JESUS. See that the Word of God, speaking for our advocate, does not choose to call Him as Son of God, or Lord or Saviour or with any other of the titles He has and is. Instead it calls Him MAN – thus stretching the fact that the one that mediates for men, in not a stranger to them but one that was made like them in every respect. He has suffered like men, He was tempted like men and therefore He can sympathize men and mediate for them. "For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham" we read. Have you wept? He wept too. Were you betrayed? He was betrayed too. Were you hungry and thirsty? He was hungry and thirsty too. Were you treated unjustly? He was treated unjustly too. Have you suffered pain? He has suffered pain too. Have you been in agony? He has been in agony too. Have you lost loved ones? He has lost loved ones too. Were you rejected? He was rejected too. Jesus Christ, "THE MAN Christ Jesus", can perfectly understands you for He was made like you, not only in some points BUT IN EVERY RESPECT, the Scripture says.

Moving further on the same topic in Philippians 2:5-11 we read:

Philippians 2:5-11
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Jesus Christ, though He existed in the form of God, He humbled Himself and He came in the fashion of men. He took the form of a bond servant. He was made like us - with the difference that He was born and stayed without sin – and therefore He can understand us. You could meet Him in the park. You could eat with Him. Then He was a carpenter. Today He could work in the next office or you could see Him as a builder in a construction. What and where is not significant. What is significant is that whoever you may be and whatever your problem may be, JESUS CHRIST CAN SYMPATHIZE YOU AND UNDERSTAND YOU. Here is what Isaiah says, showing also the magnitude of what He went through while on earth:

Isaiah 53:2-12
"For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgement, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked - but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."

• He had no beauty to desire Him.

• He was despised and rejected by men.

• He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

• The others hid their faces from Him.

• The others esteemed Him as stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

• He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.

• He was oppressed and afflicted and He didn’t open His mouth.

This is a portrait of Jesus Christ. Our Saviour and Mediator, our great advocate can perfectly sympathize us. And such a savior we needed. A remote one wouldn’t fit. We needed one that would be made like men in every respect – one that would go through what men go and therefore He could mediate and support them. And this is the Saviour, the High Priest, the Advocate we have.

"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Anastasios Kioulachoglou

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What's Wrong With Today's Message?

Brethren, is it possible we could be deceived? Jesus warned us over and over that we can be. Most of the churches are in Apostasy. The teachers are tickling ears and getting rich. Who do you trust, your teacher who could be addicted to pornography, or the Holy Scriptures? Are you willing to be examined by Jesus? warren

What's wrong with today's gospel Part 1

What's wrong with today's gospel Part 2

What's wrong with today's gospel Part 3

The Opah Fish Proves Science Has Dropped The Ball Again

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Eternal Life

For too many people, science and its scientific method is fool-proof and a sure way to know truth, and if you deviate from science you are incorrect and irrational! Most recently the opah fish demolished that notion about science disseminating truth!

It’s one of the most basic biology facts we’re taught in school growing up: Birds and mammals are warm-blooded, while reptiles, amphibians and fish are cold-blooded. But new research is turning this well-known knowledge on its head with the discovery of the world’s first warm-blooded fish — the opah. (msn.com)

Just think of all the millions of people who were wrongly convinced in the classroom that all fish are cold blooded! After all, their respected professors, who have “all the answers” were very careful to be scientific with their dogmatic findings and beliefs. Moreover, their students became just as dogmatic as their teachers. But now, they realize they were all duped! There were deceived! Again, science has dropped the ball.

Evolution is a Fraudulent UNPROVEN Theory

It is very insignificant, if all fish are cold-blooded or not, but the important point with this is, science is NOT always right! Remember that fact. Science can be wrong and its UNPROVEN THEORY of evolution is a prime example of that, as with theopah fish.

Evolution flatly contradicts the biblical creation message. Therefore, this becomes very serious. To challenge the word of God on any issue is serious, especially after the Lord Jesus himself personally endorsed the whole Old Testament and promised the New Testament.See The Bible Alone: Final Authority. By his unique authority, the Lord Jesus is telling us all that we are believing absolute truth, if we believe the message of scripture. It doesn’t make any difference if science, a false prophet, a wizard or the devil himself contradicts the written word of God — he, she or it is wrong!

That is important to know. We must be sure the bible is 100% truth because the message of the bible is EXTREME! It might cost you everything you have to get or hold on to eternal life. To vacillate about any issue the bible speaks out on, because of science, could shake your confidence in believing the one and only gospel. That in turn would be destructive to your soul.

Suffice it to say, science is not the final word! The science method is not always correct, but the Bible is and we can most assuredly trust its message completely. What you do with the message of the Bible will determine where you will spend eternity! Do you know Jesus?

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Can a Christian Turn Away From Their Faith and Die Spiritually?

Brethren, we are in a great time of Apostasy. The false teachers fill the pulpits and tickle their hearers ears. You are extremely likely, listening to false teaching, because you trust man. Israel wanted to do away with the judges God ordained, and have a king. Today, we have done the same thing. We have placed kings in the pulpits who then teach us false doctrines and do not go to the scriptures for ourselves. It has led to Apostasy. What is your soul worth? Warren
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Once Saved Always Saved? Part 1

Once Saved Always Saved? Part 2

The Fall of Solomon - Anastasios Kioulachoglou

The fall of Solomon

Among those who though initially walked with the Lord wholeheartedly, latter, by permitting sin to enter their hearts, were driven away from Him, there is probably no louder example than Solomon. Three books of the Bible have him as writer, and this alone may be enough to show how hot this man initially was for the Lord. The wisdom the Lord had given him was really extraordinary. As we read in I Kings 4:29-30, 34 :

I Kings 4:29-30, 34
"And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.......And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon."

and as I Kings 3:3 tells us:
"And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David"

Solomon loved the Lord and followed what David, his father, had commanded him. However this did not last for ever. As we said earlier, what we did yesterday, does not guarantee what we will do today. Whether we will follow the Lord or not is a decision made day by day, even moment by moment. Thus though Solomon initially followed the Lord, he did not do this for ever. I Kings 11:1-8 tells us:

I Kings 11:1-8
"But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not FULLY follow the LORD, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods."

Solomon did not FULLY turn away from the Lord. In contrast, "HE DID NOT FULLY FOLLOW THE LORD". In other words he was not cold, but he was not warm either. He was lukewarm. He preferred to follow the flesh and its desires than the Lord and His commandments. The Lord's reaction to this change in Solomon's heart is given in I Kings 11

I Kings 11:9-12,14,23,26
"So the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded. Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.....Now the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite;........And God raised up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliadah......Then Solomon's servant, Jeroboam the son of Nebat......also rebelled against the king"

Despite the fact that Solomon was reproved, he did not change. In contrast, by reading further we will see him fighting even against the prophecies of God regarding the breaking of his kingdom (I Kings 11:40)! His example shows what can happen to a man of God when he permits the world to live in him: he will soon worship what the world worships.

Solomon's case is not the only case where a man hot for the Lord became lukewarm. Many have fallen and are fallen into the same trap. That's why II Corinthians 13:5 calls us to "examine ourselves as to whether we are in the faith". That's why I Timothy 6:10 (see also I Timothy 1:5-7, 19-20, 4:1, 5:8) speaks for those who "For the love of money.....HAVE STRAYED FROM THE FAITH". That's why Jesus speaks for a lukewarm church. The love of the world eliminates the love of the Father and the fact that we are (if we are) in the faith today does not guarantee that we will also be tomorrow. As John II 8 suggests:

II John 8
"LOOK TO YOURSELVES, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward."

Anastasios Kioulachoglou  

                       Kindle and paperback at Amazon