Category: God First (Page 13 of 14)

God Provides the Growth

May 5, 2021 / Wayne Johnson / 0 Comments

This knockout rose bush was given to us several years ago by our neighbors . I put it on the back porch intending to plant it, then forgot about it for almost 2 years. At that point it looked like sticks in a bucket, I almost threw it away. Instead, I made the effort and planted it. God provided it incredible growth and turned what was seemingly dead into this beautiful thriving bush full of roses.

I’ve seen and experienced God’s word provide the same incredible increase in people. It’s an amazing sight to see when someone once consumed by their own desires puts on Christ and puts God first in their lives. God, then provides the growth and they blossom into beautiful and caring followers of Christ.

Our God is an Awesome God!

God First!

Life Coach Recommendations

May 3, 2021 / Wayne Johnson / 0 Comments

I would like to recommend my “Life-Coach highly.”

We were introduced when I was very young. Unfortunately, I moved far away and lost touch with him for a very long time. In those years, my life was chock-full of unnecessary and often self-inflicted, avoidable hurt and struggles. I came to realize I missed my Life-Coach and how much He could and would’ve helped me with my choices and understandings in those difficult times. If only I had not chosen to move so far away from him. Eventually, I did reconnect, and He greeted me with open arms, excited to see me return. My life Coach has worked side-by-side with me ever since, helping me stay on track and avoid many potentially harmful choices.

He now sits with me, listens to me, puts his arms around me, walks with me, and has taught me how to be joyful in challenging and good times. He provides me comfort that surpasses any understanding.

I highly recommend my “Life Coach” his name: “Jesus.”

He’s not the kind of coach you pay for, in fact; He loves all people so much he gave his life through in a horrible death so that we could all choose to embrace him as our Life-Coach and follow His teachings forever. He came down from heaven and conquered death, was raised from the dead that we might all have hope for eternal life in heaven.

Jesus lives! He is the King of all Kings, God’s only son who was with God from the beginning. The arms of Christ are outstretched to any who will choose to “put on” Christ and follow him. We find how to “put on” Christ in the God-breathed words of scripture, The Bible, our “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.”

Jesus is the Ultimate Life Coach!

(John 1:1-5) from the beginning
(2nd Timothy 3:16) God-breathed
(Galatians 3:27) put on Christ
(Romans 6) united in Christ

God First!

IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE

May 1, 2021 / Wayne Johnson / 0 Comments

Give What?

Time
Money
Food
Compassion
Love
Service

Give To who?

Spouses
Children
Family
Christians
Widows
Orphans
Elderly
Strangers
Those in need

All commandments are summed up in love.

“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Romans 13:10 Esv

‭‭God First!

but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.

Seen by God, Rewarded by God

April 29, 2021 / Wayne Johnson / 0 Comments

Have you ever gone out of your way to do good and help others in difficult times only to be overlooked or forgotten? Maybe as they recall the experience, you find your efforts credited to someone else or not even in their recollection. This forgetfulness sometimes happens in different situations. Stress can definitely affect what we remember. Maybe, you’re just so close to them that their mind categorizes your efforts differently as we sometimes do with family members.

I remember several times thru the years when my wife would become annoyed with me because I shared something with her I had recently learned from another.

Virginia’s annoyance was not with the info but rather, the fact that she had told me the same thing herself (maybe more than once), and here I was, giving all the credit to someone else and excitingly telling it to her as if it was the first time I had ever heard it. Yi yi yi!

The point is, not being credited, thanked, or having the credit given to someone else can be slightly discouraging, but it happens.

We just need to ask ourselves, why do we do good things? We see a need, and we step up. Are we looking to be praised? No, for most, we simply want to help others through the love and compassion in our hearts. It’s not about us. It’s about them.

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
Galatians 6:9-10

Getting Credit doesn’t matter
Being forgotten doesn’t matter

What really matters?

Sharing God’s Word matters
Continuing to do good matters
Showing love matters
Making a difference to the glory of God- these are the things that matter.

Jesus tells us:

“But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Matthew 6:3-4

God First!

Writer: Wayne Johnson

Satan is the evil one

April 26, 2021 / Wayne Johnson / 0 Comments

One of the most ridiculous things we can do in this world is to blame God for Satan’s actions.

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Isaiah 5:20

God made us in his image, he gave us the freedom to choose, and the one thing God wants from mankind that is ours to give is “Our love.”

“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’”
Acts 17:24–28

”We love Him because He first loved us.”
1 John 4:19

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”
Psalm 136:1

God First!

FAKE NEWS

April 24, 2021 / Wayne Johnson / 0 Comments

Fake news is nothing new to Christians. We have been bombarded with Fake News since the beginning of Christianity. Jesus’s disciples and apostles spread the Good News of our salvation through Christ by telling of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. They established congregations all over, giving us examples of Church actions, worship, and leadership. Many of the letters we find in the New Testament are addressing “Fake News” and it continues today. Our world is full of Fake News in Christianity, but there’s good news. We don’t have to be gullible!

God has given us the means to discern the Truth from the Fake. We have 66 books of inspired words from God to study so that we can discern God’s Will, God’s teachings, through His holy word, comparing them to the desires and teachings of mankind. The answers are not found in what someone says is of God’s Word but in what God’s word actually says.

God First!

Writer: Wayne Johnson

Worldly Wealth Ends, but Love Transcends

April 22, 2021 / Wayne Johnson / 0 Comments

I read an article about a man who was the founder of many U.S. companies. I read of the great wealth he amassed, the many jobs he created, the respect he had earned. The man died in 1934, and today… Virtually NO ONE knows him or his name.

Jesus tells us:

~ It’s not about this world.
~ to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven.
~ Where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.
~ if you love me, you’ll keep my commandments.
~ The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
~ the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
~ there is no greater commandment than these.

When we love as described in these commandments, we love as one who is “poor in spirit” as we recognize the power of God’s Love and know we are unworthy, yet we are grateful for God’s Grace. We embrace the need for God’s help rather than thinking we can do it on our own.

While there’s nothing wrong with amassing great wealth, The real challenge is to keep our hearts focused on the treasures of heaven, keeping God First in our hearts, keeping his commandments, doing his will through actions of love for Him and Others.

Earthly treasures are but a mist in time while love transcends for eternity

Thank you, Lord, for loving us!

John 18:36
Matthew 6:19-21
John 14:15
Mark 12: 30-31
Matthew 5: 3-12
Mark 16:16

God First!

written by: Wayne Johnson

What do I mean by “God First”?

April 15, 2021 / Wayne Johnson / 0 Comments

God’s Greatest commandment is that we love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Scripture tells us to do everything to the glory of God. That, “…from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

When I use the term ”God First,” I intend to encompass ALL of God (the Trinity), Our Heavenly Father, Jesus (The Son), and the Holy Spirit. I use these two words, “God First,” to state my belief that God should be First in our lives every second of every day.

Scripture tells us that as we draw closer to God, He draws closer to us.”(talk about inspiring motivation)

However; It’s impossible to put ”God First” if we chose not to do God’s will and keep His commands which we find in ”The Holy Bible”

The Bible is God’s completed Word, the same Bible that tells us ”All Scripture is God-Breathed” and where Jesus tells us, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Mark 12:30

1 Cor 10:31

Romans 11:36

John 14:15

James 4:8

2 Timothy 3:16

1 Corinthians 13:12

God First!

What can we give to God?

April 1, 2021 / Wayne Johnson / 0 Comments

We are God’s creation; We are the focus of God’s love! During the steps of creation, we find this phrase stated several times “And God saw that it was good” However, it was after God created man in His image that scripture tells us, “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 )

Jesus died that we might have eternal life with Him, That our souls could have never-ending life in heaven in a new heavenly body. (2 Corinthians 5:1-10)

What can we give to God?

God wants us to love Him; He’s given us every reason to love Him. Our love is the only thing we can give God because it’s all we have to offer.

What does God want from us?

God wants us to recognize that He is, our God, the only God. He created us and everything we know and understand. He has made us a home beyond this world if; we chose to accept His grace and keep His commandments.

May we all seek God First in our lives, Love each other as Christ has loved us, and show Jesus that we love him by keeping his commandments.

Genesis 1:1-31
John 3:16
Mark 12:30-31
John 14:15
John 13:34

God First!
written by: Wayne Johnson

If you were to die tomorrow, what would you wish you had gotten done today?

March 31, 2021 / Wayne Johnson / 0 Comments

Several days each week, my sister-in-law Julie and her two teenage children meet to go on evening walks with some other brothers and sisters in Christ. Yesterday, on the ride there, in an attempt to spark conversation with her teenage son, she asked him this question: “If you were to die tomorrow, what would you wish you had gotten done today?”

She expected a secular answer, but his response: “Be Baptized.”

This lead to further discussion, and my nephew Michael Jr. Johnson (affectionately known as Mikey) made the absolute best decision any of us ever make in this life. Mikey decided he wanted to have eternal life in heaven by being baptized and following Christ for the rest of his life.

So, last night, Michael Jr. confessed Jesus as the Son of God and was baptized into Christ in the name of The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of his sins. Later, Mikey told me he had been thinking about it for a while. You just never know what’s on someone’s mind.

The timing of his mother’s question and a follow-up question of “why wait?” Seemingly perfect.

Welcome to the Lord’s Church, Michael Jr. Johnson

God First?

written by: Wayne Johnson

Category: God First (Page 13 of 14)

God Provides the Growth

Life Coach Recommendations