God Surprise

Furthermore, the bible says that he came to himself – this is a very important moment in the life of every person, without which there will be no turning point, and his whole essence prompted him to return to his father.

Before that, he lived dissolutely, even though he had money to burn. While he had money, power and everything that is needed in life all people revolved around him. He thought they were his friends as soon as he ran out of money. They no longer need him – a friend in need is friend indeed.

As it turned out, they didn't need him, they needed money, that's all. Therefore, they pretended that they were his friends, and in fact, they pulled everything they could have from him. No money, no shelter, nothing to eat, he went to graze the pigs to nourish his belly. While the owner was engaged in other matters, the prodigal son at this time quietly began to eat pork feed.

I also remembered my childhood. One day my parents gave me an assignment to feed the pigs. Then the country was in an economically deplorable state, and we lived barely day by day. Then we kept the pigs, and fed them on black bread, along with other things. In the presence of my parents, I threw a loaf of bread into a bucket of water, and when they moved away from me, I took out this loaf, a part of which that had not soaked in water. Having cut off, with a knife, the dry part of the crust, while no one was looking, I ate it up secretly.

When I first read the story of the prodigal son, it seemed that this story was written about me, and for me.

Finally, it dawned on the prodigal son that food is much more important and more valuable than friendship. In addition, he learned the truth that a man without God can sink to the level of a pig's life. Then he came to his senses: what am I doing here nothing begging for food. After all, I have a rich father, who has everything to make happy life. Well, I will go to him and ask him to forgive me and my behavior! After that, he returned to his father, the father did not scold him, but threw a banquet, and even called the guests, and said: my son was dead but now found!

Such a banquet awaits everyone who will repent of their sins before God, as the prodigal son did. After that, the level of his pig life changed to the royal level.

King Saul had a son named Jonathan. He loved David, he even made an alliance with him that he would be faithful to him to the end. And Jonathan had a son Mephibosheth, he was crippled because of his childhood injury. One day a nanny was carrying him in her arms and dropped him.

As a result, he got injured two legs. Once upon a time David in

2 Kingdom 9: 5-13

And David said, Is there any one still left from the house of Saul? I would show him mercy for Jonathan's sake.

In Saul's house there was a slave named Ziba; And they called him to David, and the king said to him, Are you Ziba? And he said: I, thy servant.

And the king called Ziba, the servant of Saul, and said to him: Everything that belonged to Saul and to all his house, I give to the son of your master.

This is the mercy of God and grace, Mephibosheth, who considered a dead dog, by the mercy of David, he began to eat from one king's table until the end of his life.

Each parable contains a valuable lesson from which to draw valuable lesson.

In this story you need to find yourself, and then this story will have meaning in life. In the parable, the prodigal son, he did everything to free himself from the dependence of his father, so he begged his father for part of the property, and went to squander them. When there was money, there were friends, no money, no friends. Friends abandoned him because they no longer need him, but what did his father do? Every day he goes out to expect to see his son return because he knew that sooner or later he would definitely return home. Take a closer look at this prodigal son. Don’t you see yourself in him with his antics? In the person of the prodigal son, God shows us, describing the details of our behavior. The prodigal son is like us that having been separated from God, who chose our own path, and wanted to live according to our own laws, relying on our own righteousness, thereby justifying ourselves that we were not involved in sin. Waiting for the father with longsuffering is the heart of our loving God. Sooner or later, you will understand this truth. No one can help you but God.

I, too, was once the prodigal son, who wandered through life alone, relying on himself, and not noticing the Creator God. Lost, but found. After He made me a different person, I decided to fully devote my life to Him. Nobody could change my life except Jesus. For more than 20 years I have served Him firmly, and in this I find my calling. He is worthy of praise and glory!

Many years later, since I accepted Christ, and my life changed, I began to attach special importance to the soul – to cherish it, to keep it carefully clean. Jesus said: what's the point if we gain the world and hurt our souls. Jesus also said: Do not be afraid of the one who can kill our body, but fear the One who can kill not only the body but also the soul. Just think about the deep meaning of Jesus' words! If the mind is in place, then you will immediately understand what it is about, if your mind is far from this, alas.

Nothing is impossible with God!

God has miraculously changed me, my habits, and interests in my life.

how much I was stained with indelible sin, that a little bit of a swear word comes out of my mouth. I didn’t even suspect that in this way I sin and defile my body. For more than 25 years I have forgotten what a swear word is. Although I, too, was a terrible swearing man, God's rod corrected me. I used to love to tell jokes, and make people laugh, but all my jokes are associated with swear words. But one day it happened that now I never swear. On the contrary, I make a remark to people when they swear. As a minister of the church, I told one man joke with swear word. After that, my tongue began to pinch and hurt, so it was unbearably painful and unpleasant for me. To whom and wherever I did not turn for help, but no one could help me. Even the ointments that were prescribed at the pharmacy did not help. I began to worry about what if it doesn't pass before Sunday, what about the translation. My wife read a sermon, and I translated her sermon. From unbearable pain, I went into my secret room, where I loved to spend time in prayer. Usually, before starting to pray, I read the Bible. On that day, before prayer, I accidentally discovered a place of writing, where it is very similar and logically written about our tongue. How to hit the mark! Only a fool will not be able to understand what is written there, but if a person is of sound mind, he will undoubtedly understand it. James chap 3 After reading this verse, I got goose bumps all over my body that I have had to repent for my dirty lips with tears. Then God touched me so hard that my heart was filled with peace, the flame of love flared up. Then, I again became convinced that the Bible was written not just by people, but God's living word. Yes, there is no doubt about what was written by people, but the thoughts were moved by God. Sometimes people say why you make us read the Bible, because it is written by people.

If the Bible were not written by people, but by the Spirit of God, no one on this planet would make it out.

God will never allow His children to dishonor Him with their unworthy behavior. Therefore, interfering in our life, He changes us into images pleasing to Him, sometimes uses a rod so that we do not dishonor Him. Whom God loves, He punishes. He does this not to kill and hurt, but to teach us a lesson, so that we glorify Him with our pure lips. Honor and glory to Him – He deserves it! After this incident, my pains and pinching disappeared. To confirm this, God gave me a word: 1 Peter 4: 1. He who suffers from the flesh ceases to sin. I definitely recommend reading this verse in its entirety. We are human beings, we do not want to admit that we are sinners; we always seek justification by relying on our righteousness. If we do not recognize it as it is, we will never taste the goodness of God. In fact, we are by nature, all sinners, we ourselves cannot change our lives, and get rid of our bad habits, if God does not intervene in our lives, nothing will happen. With any desire and effort, you will not be able to get rid of bad habits and unwholesome things that are of no use to you. On the contrary, they can only harm and make them look older. I feel sorry for people who do not value their health and ruin their lives. He looks old, when asked, he turns out to be young. Take care of your health when you have it, when you lose it, it will be too late to return. Appreciate now what you have and or else will be late!

God continues to change people. I have many examples on this topic, not only about myself, but about other people. Even God is changing people who were serving time behind bars. Having accepted Christ, they not only changed, but also bring great benefits to those in need of their volunteering. I have a lot of them.

And so I became a completely different person! In 2 Corinthians it says that our flesh decays, and our souls are renewed day by day. This is the secret of Christianity. Colossians says: For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When I began to change, even my friends were surprised at! I stopped coming to visit him as I usually did. Moreover, I stopped companionship for a glass of beer and other strong beverages, etc.

Blessed are those whose hearts are pure.

A few days later, I felt completely different. Finally, my conscience was set free from filthiness! The wounds and pains are gone, and there are no more struggles. God forgave my sins and made me what he wanted me to be. When people asked me where you were going, at first I was ashamed to admit that I was going to church, so I just lied to them that I was going to the meeting. A few more weeks flew by; I discovered that I had become a completely different person, not what I was. Jesus, secretly penetrating into my heart, changed my unsightly heart into the heart of hope. Not only my heart has changed, but also my outlook on life, and values, and interests and attitudes towards people have changed. The desire for alcoholic drinks and longed-for flesh has dulled. This is a real miracle that my life was transformed into the way God wanted me to be.

So whoever is in Christ is a new creation; the old is gone, now everything is new

2 Corinthians 5:17 – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Interweaving of two sins and its misunderstanding

Sins are of two kinds, just like the law. The Law can be statutory and spiritual.

1.A Spiritual law is kind of universal moral law written on the human heart,their conscience bearing witness which is based on the ten commandments given by God.

This law is written on the hearts of Christians because they are transformed by the grace of God. Grace and truth came through JesusChrist.

The law can not change people, but they can be changed only by the grace of Jesus.

It revealed that all humans, including the Jews, are under sin and that life cannot be obtained by “works of law.”

There is no country existing without crime as a result of which law enforcement agencies and places of detention were born.

The existing such places show that the physical law is only formal and unable to change sinful nature.

As long as the sin exists, the crime is inevitable.

I have seen many former prisoners whose lives had cardinally been transformed into an image of getting close to Jesus .

2. A physical law is kind of statutory law which is formal written on paper.

This law is way too stern but powerless and less effective to change people's minds.

This law was given through Moses.

Why was this law given to the Jews ? It was given to make the Jews realize that they are unable to keep the given law so they were destined to look for something more powerful than the law which is the Messiah.

1. An intentional sin is something we do consciously on a daily bases without admitting that we are committing it because we justify ourselves by relying on laws that do not exist.(the none existing law to fit to individuals) Misunderstanding of sin, mostly it was believed that sin is defined as a serious crime: murder, theft, etc. Those actions that are mentioned above is an act of the consequences of sins.

2. An unintentional sin that we do unconsciously on a daily bases, but can not be accepted as conscious sin being acknowledged as a sin in the eyes of God.

This type of sin differs from the above in that we can't avoid it even if we wanted to. While we are in the body, we are involuntarily prone to sin – visually and mentally. Jesus said: it had been said to the ancients, do not commit adultery, but I say, if anyone looks at a woman with lust, he has already committed adultery in his heart.

What did Jesus mean by this? there is no righteous one. By this he clearly shows that all humans are sinners, and there is no exception. However, the sin that is committed unintentionally is not considered as sin.

Therefore, the apostle John says that whoever is born of God does not sin because God's love is in them.This means that the person who has been changed by God does not continue to sin just as did he did before.

… This refers to the 2nd type of sin that we do not intentionally sin. Sin has the power to tempt us, and we easily succumb to it. We live in a world dominated by sin, from which we cannot run or hide. It is exposed to us, but all we need to do is to keep away from it as far as possible. That's why we need to strive for holiness. The holiness is the solution to problems of sin. To become holy is to be separated from sin by thoughts and actions. We need to be as far away from it as North is from South and West is from East. Rom 6. The law of sin is given to confirm that we are all born as sinners. At first it may seem that it is impossible to live without sinning, but in fact the Holy Spirit will help us, because the experience of life shows that nothing is impossible with God, and the rest is just an excuse to live and sin.

How can you manifest His power and the work of the Holy Spirit without knowing Him? If you don’t tell people about Jesus whom you have received in your heart, you will never know His will and His blessing. Praise the Lord who is worthy of praise. I want to confess that I was the last sinner, went all the way from the cradle to becoming a Christian. However, now I am forgiven, as my heart is poured out with peace and joy.

I used to be judgmental, self-centered and fond of arguing, and never yielded to my opponents, but God changed me in such a way that no one can recognize me. When I was transformed into a positive image, my friends laughed at me that I had turned into a strange person. Before that, I could keep a company with them and drink strong drinks to such extent that I was unable to control myself. Now my appetite for alcohol has changed to reading the bible. I am totally anchored to the word of God. I have not been changed into an image that I wanted to, but rather into the image that God wants me to be. If you want changed, do not rely on your knowledge, but rely on God. He is able to set you free from the bondage of sin into freedom, from darkness into the light that God has prepared for you.

What can you say about the change that has taken place in me in Christ? Is this self-hypnosis as people like to say? And I think it's a supernatural phenomenon. In other words, through Jesus Christ we become the people that God wants us to be. Consequently there should be nothing surprising at this. Most likely you need to be surprised at the image of what you were like before coming to faith.

Regarding the change in my life, my assumption is that a person must be changed, and the transformed image is the image into which God wanted to transform. Thus, it shows that God is the author of our life. The changed image is the blueprint according to which God created us before the creation of the world. Thus, the changes that we experience are not special, but natural, as we should be. From self-centered to God-centered, and from lawlessness to righteousness is possible only through the intervention of the Holy Spirit. 2nd last John 3: 8-10.

But when people continue to sin, it shows that they belong to the devil, who originally sinned. However, the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who are born into God's families stop sinning, because of the love of God through Christ dwells in us. Now we can surely distinguish between who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

Therefore, every time sin draws me to itself, I proclaim the power of the cross, which is foolishness to those who perish, but the power of God to those who are being saved. Despite our strong decision to follow Christ to the end, we have to fight sin at the same time. We tend to sin because of the sinful nature that we are born with. We are tempted to sin every day when we live in a sinful world, because sin attacks us with arrows, but we cannot do anything on our own. Cast down your sinful thoughts upon Jesus and He will keep you holy and pure. This is the best way to protect yourself from sin and temptation. Therefore, there are two sins condemned by the Creator.

We tend to accept the visible and not accept the invisible. I know many people who accepted the Lord and then turned their backs on Him. They did this because the world of darkness being visible seemed to them more attractive and voluptuous than the kingdom of God which is invisible. They believe that this is simply absurd. Sooner or later, they will regret leaving God.

The eyes are limited to a large extent that they cannot see what they should.

Handicapped a man

In order to share with an amazing experience that happened in the past (a turning point in my life), while we are at it, I cannot fail to emphasize the beauty of the Sakhalin Island, though I have spoken more than once in an another section of my book.

Although many missionaries have been fascinated by the beauty of Sakhalin nature, to me was nothing special. For I have seen this nature all my life, so there was nothing but ordinary: fauna, flora and so on.

It turns out that I have been blind all my life to nature, it's because I was blind to God.

I remember how they had spent for hours enjoying the nature of the island especially on the seashore by cooking natural seafood. I don’t remember a single missionary who didn’t admire it .However, for me, the Sakhalin nature was so familiar that I did not find anything to be attractive. It was not amazing, no beautiful, as it seemed to the missionaries. I've seen it all since childhood – slender birches, poplars so on. Although there many beautiful flowers can be seen in the forest in summer, I do not pay attention to all these creations until the blindness to God was removed. We humans are not physically blind, but are spiritually. We are born blind to nature and to God, no one can deny it.

After my life had radically been changed, along with it my attitudes toward nature and life. If you cannot see what God wants you to then you must have been blind to God and his creation. Blindness prevents you from getting closer to God. We can see not everything what was created by God, just a part of it. I feel sorry for those who are considered alive, but can not see what they should. I used to think the same way as you do, but now I can see what was impossible to see before. Now I do not just live, but enjoy life, I rejoice every day. Now I want to testify how God revealed himself to me in the light of nature. In other words, what he revealed himself to me through two revelations – general and special.

What are general and special revelations?

Well, with regard to the former, every person is born with. It is a manifestation of God through the nature. The latter is given God when we are born again. Doctrinally it was believed that is a bible and its full manifestation of the invisible image of God which is Jesus Christ in human flash.

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Jesus said in the gospel of John..

That's why we call it a special revelation. We tend to long for nature and its beauty, is it really so. Of course not it's not because of nature but because of something bigger than that which is hidden behind the nature that is God. Our Souls cannot be deceived but what can easily be deceived is our intellect which is the mind. In fact, They have already been deceived by the blindness of the power of darkness. 2 Corinthians 4: 3-4. It says the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of Jesus.

I have been in such a state all my live until the blindness had been removed.

This is a testimony I believe it will fascinate you as you read it through.

What happened was it was somewhere in the middle of spring, the sky was clear and I could feel the freshness of the morning dew being seen on the leaves of the trees glistening with small drops of. Although the road was broken with bumps and cracks, in this brokenness I have seen something to be admired.

With the onset of spring, the bumps slowly begin to smooth out, leaving behind cracks. It repeats like this all year round.

Although I was accompanied on the road by all God's living creatures, I did not notice this until that hour when God revealed himself to me. Who could have though that after that day everything would change into a new perspective – my view of nature, and my worldview forever?

That day, as usual, I went and picked up a missionary to take her on business. On the way there because we got busy chatting as we ended on a road that leads to the capital of the Sakhalin Island. I still remember everything in detail. To be honest, usually when I'm driving I don't look around for the sake of safety but that day I had difficulty where to look because of the beautiful panoramic view. As we moved forward to our destination, all of a sudden I was a bit blinded by the bright light of the nature being full of colorful sprink flowers of its kinds as if a dark room were lit up by candles. And the high way was all broken, because this road was very familiar to me. I have traveled on that road more than a million of times since childhood. Suddenly before my eyes, the road with cracks and bumps that had not yet recovered from harsh winter. It feels as though I was riding on a carpet that was being lowered by God from heaven. And on both sides of the road, brightly freshly bloomed flowers of various types gave such beauty, as if I was flying over a real carpet of unearthly origin. I saw all the beauty in all its goodness of the surrounding nature, as if I saw it from a bird's eye view. Honestly, I can't find such words to describe what I saw – the color of leaves, trees, flowers, etc. It seemed to me that I really was driving on the most beautiful carpet that nature can create. I also felt as if God gently lowered this carpet for me from heaven, opening the curtain of his world, beckoning me into his world, showing how beautiful it is. From the joy of what I saw, tears began to welled in my eyes. Thus the divine encounter began the transformation of my life. The greatness of beauty was only given me to have tasted only once. However even now I can see it, not in the same way as I did on that day.