You can tell an ungrateful person by the nature, length, and number of his or her complaints. What many of Believers complain about is not worth a draw of blessed breath. Ever try praising God for the breath you are taking and complain in the exhale? Me neither.

Complaining is like gossiping about God to the Devil. If you have any problems about how He is monitoring and blessing your life, take it up with Him. But come plain before Him—not complain.

That appears as a cheesy cliche, but there is a worthy message in it. But first, here are a couple of verses to consider.

“The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.”— Proverbs 15:19

“And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.” — Mark 7:35

The Hebrew word for “plain” in that verse is “sawlal,” to exalt or make the righteous one seen.

In the second verse, the Greek word for “plain” is “orthōs,” meaning, in a straight manner, correctly (also morally), rightly. Continue reading

What does the word “obey” mean to people? Nowadays, people usually only obey at gunpoint. I hear and read many professing Christians stating, “The Lord used (or uses) me.” They also remark, “The Lord told me,” and “the Holy Spirit led me.” Afterward, they do or say what is clearly not of God. Why do they only engage in what brings attention and honor to them? Why don’t they ever just obey and bring honor to God?

The fact is, one cannot obey unless he or she knows God’s word, or He speaks to him or her via the Holy Spirit. He cannot get through to most people because they are too busy and interested in what someone else claims God told them. Do they ever hear Him speak something that requires saying or doing what the majority rejects? Continue reading

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” — Matthew 7:13-14

God did not design the path to heaven wide because He knew the great majority of people would refuse to surrender fully to Him. There is a good reason there will be few people ushered into heaven. Certainly, the number that fully surrender will be significant, but only because of God’s interaction with humanity for thousands of years. Satan drew a third of the angels into rebellion. He will draw many more into deception. There will be a small number that remain faithful relatively to how many that reject or depart from God. Continue reading