The Lord is near!
Psa 145:18 The Lord is near all those who call on Him, all those who call on Him in truth.
Psa 145:19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry, and will save them.
Psa 145:20 The Lord watches over all those who love Him; but all the wicked He will destroy.
Yes the Lord is near; He is near to those who call on Him in truth, which means out of a pure heart, an obedient faith, along with a humble spirit that has been absolutely broken in repentance!
To fear God is to know Him, to respect His awesome power over sin and temptation, and also to obey and keep His commands as He wills His true followers to do!
And when the broken, repentant soul cries out as the whole city of Nineveh did, He will save them as they cried out for mercy and forgiveness because they were cut to the heart as to their great sin and disobedience to almighty God!
And now the best of the best of God! He watches over and protects His true saints, which are those who love and fear Him supremely, and have come to Him on His terms as commanded, which simply is repentance unto Him, followed by faith (obedience) unto His son Jesus Christ!
Act 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
But there is a catch here, since many who profess Christ as their savior have failed to understand. Those who have failed to come to God on His terms, through the repentance process, and are still in great bondage to the world and sin, God will destroy, which doesn’t mean a slap on the wrist, to all who think you can be IN sin, and IN Christ at the same time!
The wicked are simply the ones who have the pride and arrogance to call themselves followers of Christ, but openly admit they are addicted to many vile sins, or admit they struggle constantly by falling into willful disobedience to God, trampling on the precious blood of Christ over and over again!
God is no respecter of any person, but gives His grace and mercy to the humble, who are not perfect, BUT perfectly obey His commands, keeping themselves unspotted from the world, and any willful sin and disobedience!
Psa 117:1 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.
Psa 117:2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD!
Tommy 3-9-13
My husbands family lives about six hours away from us. He has a mum, and two brothers who are married. We have been traveling for many years to see them (holidays, and throughout the year as well). Throughout the years however his family has become more and more difficult to deal with. We pack the car, the kids and make the six hour drive several times a year only to find that when we arrive, his brothers will drive to his mums house (the central meeting point) for a couple of hours to see us but then they "have stuff to do". They come and then are eager to leave, to do their "stuff". His mum who lives alone is grouchy and absorbed with her dog and spends little time with the kids. We in short don't want to go see them anymore.They don't understand why?? As a Christian I am truly struggling with turn the other cheek and giving til you bleed. My husband has had it and says his family is self absorbed and selfish, but I am struggling with this. Family means the world to me but I have tried in the past to talk to his mum and she cannot see her own selfish ways. I know I am not innocent and have apologized to her and she has "accepted apology". But as a supposed Catholic Bible study leader she does not see her own life and how selfish she has become. What DO I DO?? Have been praying about it but feel sad that I cannot make things better>>,,,