DEEP GROANING

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

Exo 2:24

And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.

Exo 6:5

When God heard the groaning of His servants: the Israelites; He remembered His covenant and sent Moses to deliver them from their bondage.

In the New Testament [new covenant], we see a different kind of groaning:

...but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.

Rom 8:26 [Amplified Bible]

            You see, we have received a Spirit whereby we cry; Abba, father;

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Rom 8:15

            The Israelite’s groaning enforced their covenant rights as servants of God, so God had to deliver them but via the Spirit of adoption, when we groan in the Spirit in the place of prayer we enforce our covenant rights as Sons of God.

            You see God has to hear you when you pray in the Spirit, because He keeps His Covenants.

            Servant-hood changes, son-ship doesn’t!

LESSONS FROM THE TOMB (2)

IN THE TOMB

            So, we know that Jesus gave up His life to save us, and is the propitiation for our sins, then it may interest us to just behold the perfectness of His eternal sacrifice.

In Jn 20:6-12 we see a beautiful picture of the resurrection morning, but notice the picture that Mary saw when she stooped to look into the tomb:

·         Two angels sited; one to the left and the other at the right.

·         The blood drenched clothes of Jesus in the center.

 Look familiar?

You see in the old testament, the priest went into the holiest of holies which contained the ark of God, which was covered with a mercy seat on which 2 cherubim (angels) where placed;  one to the left and the other at the right.

And then he would sprinkle the blood of the atoning sacrifice for that year on the mercy seat to cover the sins of the people for that year.

I guess you've figured out by now.

Jesus is the platform on which we enjoy the mercies of God: He is our mercy seat

His blood- His own life is the atoning sacrifice, and because He lives forever, our sins are much more than covered: they are blotted out!

The Ark of the Covenant contained:

·         Manna: God’s provision, despite man’s ingratitude [manna means ‘what is this?’].

·         The Rod of Aaron: Divine election vs. Man’s opinion [They revolted against God’s choice for the priesthood]

·         The law: Man couldn't uphold it.

All these grievances of men were kept under the mercy seat, so that an acceptable sacrifice could ascend to heaven. Therefore;

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace[Jesus], that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Heb 4:16

LESSONS FROM THE TOMB (1)

·         The stone was rolled away!

In Matt 28:1-3 there came the faithful (Mary Magdalene and the other) to render service to God via anointing the body of Jesus, but then something held them back- THE STONE! But as they looked up on that resurrection morning the stone was rolled away- Jesus was alive.

You see, the stone represents anything that causes us to draw back from service to God-guilt, sickness, poverty and any disability. The stone is already rolled-off our way in the light of the resurrected Christ. All you have to do is look up and see the finished work- He’s alive!

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus...

Rom 8:1

That’s not all- He also sat on it!

This indicates restfulness- permanence if you like. That stone was not just moved away it’s also not moving into our way so far as God is concerned. I don’t know about you- but I’m so glad that guilt can’t get in the way of my service to God.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Jn 8:36

BEYOND THE GRAVE

What did the resurrection of Jesus Depict?

1.      Victory!:

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Col 2:14-15

The Cross shows that He fought the battle; the resurrection shows that He won!

2.     Reconciliation:

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

2Cor 5:18-19

It may interest you to know that ‘reconciliation’ from the passage above literally means ‘exchange’. It’s an old word that was commonly used to refer to the business of coin exchange, because at the cross, He paid the price, and His resurrection is the proof that the transaction is completed!

3.     Ratification of the New covenant:

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and [I will]write it in their hearts; and [I]will be their God, and they shall be my people.

... for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Jer 31:33-34 [emphasis mine]

            God made a covenant with Israel based on 10 things that they shouldn’t do, (which of-course they failed to do), but through Jesus, He put into effect (ratified) a better covenant which is based on 5 things that God said, He would do (i.e. the ‘I wills’), and we know, from Bible convention that the number 5 is representative of Grace.

            The focus of this covenant is on Jesus and not our deeds or misdeeds; the old covenant says; thou shalt. The New says; I will.

4.     Son-ship.

Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

            Jesus’ resurrection gave us something that even the perfect man- Adam didn’t experience: SONSHIP. Adam had a creature-experience of God, the law gave us the servant-experience of God, but Jesus gives us the son-ship experience of our loving Father.

  

LESSON FROM THE PRODIGAL SON

[Lk 15:11-32]

Jesus’ words attracted publicans and “sinners” and naturally the religious mafia were envious and murmured, so what exactly was He saying;

            Now from Jewish tradition the 2^nd born was to obtain half as much as the first born, so he took one-third of his father’s estate and blew it off in a far-away land. It’s good if we understand the implications of the illustrations that Jesus used: The prodigal son was sent to feed pigs (we’re not sure if he was paid); now the Jews wouldn’t even eat pigs, thus feeding them was the depth of shame for a Jew; a son of God, he desired the food of the pigs, but no one gave him that luxury- in fact, that phrase literally implies that they “kept refusing him”; he kept begging and they kept saying NO!

            Then, he came to himself.

I will arise and go to my father...

Notice the change of focus now; he now looks to his father rather than to himself. It seems to me that;

“Until God is everything, He won’t mean anything to us”

Now a lot changed about this particular son: He went from riches to rags, from benevolent to beggar, from landlord to homeless, but before his father one thing remained: He was still a son and when he saw him yet a great distance away, he ran, embraced him and kissed him; in fact that word literally implies- “kept kissing” him, still in his rags and ‘swine aroma perfume’.

            Then, instead of the scolding he deserved He gave him the best robe (righteousness) to put on, a ring (royalty) and sandals (freedom- only freemen wore sandals in those days), best of all there was the feast with the fatted calf as the delicacy.

Can you see the restoration: the son squandered one-third of his father’s lively hood and here the father gives him a three-fold blessing; the robe, the ring and the reception.

At the beginning of the story, both sons were referred to as Uihos- the Greek word for mature sons (Lk 15:11), but at the end only this prodigal son retained it, the father later referred to the service-conscious elder brother as Teknon- the Greek word for a child (Lk 15:31) because Servant-hood changes, but son-ship doesn’t! So, like a little child he still needed to learn the love of the father.

There’s always restoration and solace when you see God as your father.

EUAGGELION!

Much More than a “good news”

Euaggelion is the Greek word which is normally translated gospel in the scriptures. Of course literally it means well message or good news, but the contextual sense of this word is more interesting.

I’ll like to compare it to that exhilarating, spontaneous and very joyful noise that follows when a goal is scored in one of the big games: GOAL!!! [You know, you can’t deny it, irrespective of what side of the team you’re on.]

A Proclamation of Victory

            Euaggelion! Euaggelion! That was the jubilant word used in ancient Greek culture when a battle was won; it was "a technical term for news of victory" (Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the NT, Vol. 2, p. 722).

            Victory, because:

...having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it [His cross].

Col 2:15

            Through the Gospel, we see:

... God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

2Tim 3:16

            It’s amazing when we consider that God became man, was crucified and through death put an end to death. He disarmed and rendered paralyzed the evil one by putting an end to the law (Col 2:15), and qualified us for the higher life in Christ, by His grace where Christ is made for us:

...wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption...

1Cor 1:30

            Just go ahead and scream it: VICTORY! Halleluyah.

HOW NOT TO BE BLEST

DON’T FAKE IT!

            Our heavenly wants to bless us as we are, any efforts to be nicer, more moral, more law abiding or even more spiritual in order to earn it, won’t just cut it. Have you ever wondered why virtually everybody that Jesus healed in His earthly ministry were not big fans of spirituality, but they sure knew how to fall at His feet, exactly the way they were ‘sinners’, and His ever-ready hand reached out to them all.

            A case study is shown in the scriptures:

And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.... But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.  And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.

Matt 15:26-28

                  In essence, a Gentile came in the guise of Jew (for she called Jesus; Son of David), and she got no response, then she took off the mask, and devil in her daughter took off, moreover she got commended by Jesus for her ‘great’ faith.

            Not only her, the prodigal son came back in all his filth, the lepers came with their leprosy, and countless sick came and they all received a perfect touch. Guess who never received a touch from the master? Yea, my guess too, the scripture quoting, prayer reciting, flowing garment wearing, law abiding, tithe giving, finger pointing, pretentious Pharisees and Sadducees- The religious mafia.

            God loves you, the way you are, and only His love is strong enough to create the desired change in your personality and any other aspect you desire.

THE TRUTH ABOUT CAIN’S OFFERING

Since I was a little boy, I have been reading and hearing about cain and abel but what never really occurred to me was the real reason why God decided not to accept cain’s offering. At that time there were no laws regarding offering to God so the million dollar Question is this, which law did cain break?

But now I know better! Because the truth of God’s word comes only through personal revelation. Let’s scrutinize the scriptures that cover this particular story meticulously.

3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented SOME of his crops as a gift to the LORD.

 4 Abel also brought a gift—THE BEST of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD ACCEPTED Abel and his gift,

 5 but He DID NOT ACCEPT Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

                                                                                                           Gen4:3-5(NLT)

Now it gets clear doesn’t it? Hilarious indeed! I have been reading these scriptures since I was a boy but never got the understanding until now. You know people could also have other revelations concerning this scripture. I have also concurred that one of the reasons why God did not accept Cain’s offering was the fact that God had earlier cursed the ground, and Cain brought forth SOME crops from a CURSED ground! Okay now tell me that’s not insulting enough for our BIG Daddy up there.

Same applies to present day Christians. How do you give offerings, praises, worship and thanks to Big daddy? Do you give him SOME out of convenience or THE BEST out of reverence?

The Life Transplant

            

            So, we know of organ transplants of different kinds, but I’m sure that no earthly physician has ever done a life transplant. So what-the-heck am I talking about; well I saw the movie “My sister’s Keeper” sometime ago and the plot was about a couple with a daughter diseased with cancer, who through in-vitro fertilization “developed” another child, as a genetic match for her elder sister, who was in-essence supposed to be her spare-part bank, where they occasionally got compatible blood and tissue from to keep her elder sister alive, well long-story-short is that things got complicated and the girl eventually died of cancer. Sad isn’t it!

            But my point is this: As Our natural lives depend on the presence and use of air, water and food without which we wouldn’t be alive, in the same way; our spirits are also dependent on the presence of God in us, without that holy presence in us, a void is created that nothing else can fill.

            See, man was diseased by the original sin, and he died when he ate from that tree of good and evil, you can’t survive for up to 3 mins without air, your spirit also dies immediately God is absent; it was made to be dependent on the true God, even the atheist can’t deny the hunger for something more than the ordinary.

            So Jesus came as a 'genetic match' for us, fully God and fully man, so He died and gave up His Spirit, our sins met the claims of divine justice on the Cross, and He resurrected to secure our redemption.

            You see, those that receive Him, by believing on Him as the resurrected lord; receive the very life that Jesus carried i.e. the very life of God. It’s a life transplant: the dead carcasses of our spirits are now revived by the Spirit that He gave to dwell in us. Adam, had the life of a perfect man, and he lost that when he sinned, [so Mr Perfect died in Eden; (ladies stop looking for him!)] but via this new life, we become much more than perfect men; we become gods:

“I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”

Ps 82:6

            Yes, God said it and He meant it! I don’t know about you, but this speaks to me about my heavenly Father, who values me as much as His own life, in that He laid it down for me. I’m not sure I’ll ever figure out why He did, but I’m eternally grateful that He did. Hallelujah!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Jn 3:16

Be anxious for nothing!!!

           

          Maybe you've heard that before but that’s exactly what philipians 4:6 says; “Be anxious for nothing...” you know it’s easy to do what follows after that phrase “... but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving make your request known unto God...” naturally even the unbeliever will cry out for help when he comes to a dead end in life, so the believer is not so different when he cries out to God in times of need.

            The difference however comes when we put that scripture in its proper context, by that, the first thing we ought to do is to be anxious for nothing, that’s what makes our prayers effective: It’s no use praying, if you’re going to pray and worry. Our heavenly father loves us so much he not only dealt with our sins once and for all on the cross, but he wants to deal with our concerns and anxieties on a per time basis.

            No one said it will be easy to ignore anxieties when they come, but let’s understand that our only labour as Christians is the labour to remain in His rest:

“Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

Heb 4:11

         You see, God calls unrest unbelief . It’s only natural to fret when that big exam is coming up, it’s natural to worry when business is running slow and income is not forth coming, and every one will understand, if you’re anxious about the failing health of a loved one, but it’s divine when despite the circumstances, you choose to be anxious for nothing and absolutely nothing, whether great or small.

            We don’t help anybody when we worry, but we do them a world of good when we let God make the desired change, anxiety only prevents the interference of God in our situation. Jesus said:

“... for without me ye can do nothing”

            We read that, but what we interpret most of the time is; “without Him, I can’t do some of the most important things in my life” you know, we expect Him to oversee the seemingly big things in our lives and want to be responsible for the ones we feel that we can handle, but it’s always peaceful when we let our responsibility be a response to His ability working in us, here we see Him even in the smallest things and this honours God.

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            “Hey, so I just fold my hands and do nothing, while my whole world comes tumbling down; I have to do something or else nothing gets done!”

***********************

            Really? You’re alive, did you do anything about that? No! Your priceless life was arranged by your father who is more, far more than enough. That being said, my answer is no, you’ll either be dead or paralyzed to not react when bad things happen.

            The point is to remove anxiety from your work process:

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... and take them where?

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“Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.”

1Pet 5:7 AMP

            Yes, our loving father wants us to throw all, absolutely all our concerns (once and for all) on Him and we do this by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

            This way we give Him the license to take over, while we take a bow. And when He takes over He takes us over, because He’s our loving Jehovah, Hallelujah!

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Phil 4:7 NIV

Conforming to this World?

          One of the greatest problems in the society today is a misplaced value system. Everybody values the wrong things more than what's truly important. People now value going to the cinemas than going to church. People now value watching movies to reading their Bibles. People now value chatting with men to chatting with God. What do you value? What's the most important thing to you? Is it a relationship? a device? a piece of clothing? Are you now your own god? Do you now live to please yourself? People now make important plans and important decisions without even asking for God's counsel. The world is now ignoring it's maker. 

          There is no greater mistake. What do you value most? Is God still your focus? Is Christ still the centre of your life or are you now conformed to this world? Have you been poured into their mould? TAKE A STAND FOR YOUR CHRISTIANITY. STOP TRYING TO CONFORM TO THE WORLD, THEY SHOULD BE CONFORMING TO US! The world should be copying us , not we copying them! We have the higher life, the life of God and yet we would ignore that to live the life of a mere man. How pitiful is this. Like Saint Jude said, "LET US WITH ALL OUR HEARTS TO GO ON FIGHTING STRONGLY FOR THE FAITH WHICH HAS BEEN GIVEN TO THE SAINTS." Jude 1:3

At the Cross...

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed”.

Isi 53:3-6 [KJV]

 Let’s just educate ourselves on a few thoughts that will help us apprectiate the atoning sacrifice of our Lord. What happened at the Cross? Well He was crucified (...you don’t say!) [just kidding].

Thinking about the crucifixion just fills my mind with so many ideas, but I’ll just stick to what happened At the Cross. I’ll try to analyse it sequentially;

First- He was taken to the place of the skull (Golgotha)-  Hebrew tradition affirms that, when David killed Goliath, he took his head and buried it on a mountain in Jerusalem that became known as the place of the skull, the Bible supports this fact;

“And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent”. 1Sam 17:54 [KJV]

So we see a shepherd boy stepping out in God’s name and taking away the reproach of God’s people (the Israelites) by defeating a champion that rendered them powerless. You’ll agree with me that, that’s a ‘type’ of the redemption work of Jesus (the good shepherd), when He came in God’s name and took away our reproach (sin) by defeating the devil through the cross;

“And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it (the cross)”. Col 2:15

 He was indeed the son of David! Another ‘type’, we see is Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac (the promised child) that made him father of many nations; So we see Jesus (the promised messiah) being sacrificed to bring many sons unto the Father, many scholars agree that mount Moriah (where Abraham sacrificed) is one and the same with mount Calvary where Jesus was crucified.

Second- He was nailed to the cross;-

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross”. Col 2:14

In order words, He blotted out the law; i.e. by being condemned He condemned the law and in case you’re looking for it, you can check the cross! You see, the law exposed man as sinful and restricted God from reaching out to His people as the Father that He is, so sacrifices were made to God periodically to cover sin, but Jesus made the final sacrifice that ended the law (notice at the cross He cried God, not Father) and thus started a new dawn for men to find a Father in the God that they knew.

Third- There were two criminals crucified by His sides; yes He was numbered with the transgressors, so you can’t number transgressors without numbering Jesus (the inscription on his cross read “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS”) and you also can’t mention Christians without mentioning Christ; since Jesus is the very Christ (God with us), the cross is thus the only platform on which God could interact with man, thus reconciling God and man from the ‘beef’ that started in the garden of Eden.

Fourth- He was forsaken;

“...Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matt 27:46

Well, He was forsaken, the Greek word implies; “God left Him behind” needless to say; He bore the full implications of the law. Gal 3:13

            Fifth- His outer Garments were parted into 4 places among 4 soldiers and they cast lots for His inner coat. I know that many metaphors could apply here, but we see Jesus making an aspect of the Jewish culture (their dress code) to be sought after by Gentiles; see salvation was to the Jews first and then the Gentiles, it’s as if He was giving an invitation card, saying to the Gentiles- “People are getting saved over here, you’re all invited”. Halleluyah!

            And I’ll rest at this point, He cried, “It is finished”, the veil of the Holy of Holies was torn in two from top to bottom; the Holy Ghost was released from His ‘Holy Chambers’ and is now available to dwell in the heart of men and women all around the world. He put an end to the law and He took over the duties of the priesthood when Caiaphas the high priest tore his clothes (which was unlawful for him to do) before the eternal high priest- after the order of Melchisedec, and that was the end of the Abrahamic Covenant (testament) and the beginning of the new testament.

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth”.

Rom 10:4

            So we see Jesus died to save us from sin (Matt 1:21), He is the very Word that cleanses us from sin (Eph 5:26) and He sent the Holy Spirit that empowers (Acts 1:8) us to live His resurrected life so as He is, so are we presently!

Salvation for the Unsaved

Just pray this prayer sincerely and partake of this free gift of salvation.

“Jesus, today I come as I am: for you said He that comes to You, You will in no wise cast out; therefore I believe in my heart that You died, were buried and resurrected for my redemption and justification, and by your finished work, I stand righteous before God, therefore with my mouth, I confess you as my Lord and saviour today the [date/month/year] and I am free from sin, sickness, and Satan and I reign in this life by your grace and have assurance of the life to come in Jesus precious name. Amen.”

NO CONDEMNATION!

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”.

Rom 8:1-2 [KJV]

Let’s analyse this topic a little. Condemnation in the above scripture implies a damnatory sentence- a guilty verdict. Condemnation is what our works deserve; it’s the best that we can afford by our own selves.  Jesus states this plainly;

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God”.

Jn 3:17-18 [KJV]

 So Jesus didn’t come to the earth to point fingers and declare whose right and who’s wrong, rather He came to keep us safe from judgement, and those that don’t believe this are already condemned. So we see two scenarios;

·         In the flesh

·         In Christ Jesus

In the flesh, irrespective of what I do or don’t do, I am already condemned. In Christ Jesus, I’m free from condemnation independent of my works, I don’t have to be guilty any more because the Bible says;

“Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us”.

Rom 8:33-34 [KJV]

            Yes, I’m in a safe house, because the only one who is qualified to judge me, (because He, Himself is sinless) is the very one who died for me; instead of judgement, I was justified- just-as-if I never sinned by God, because I have believed in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah! It’s like in the old testament when someone would accidentally kill someone else and the law demanded an eye for an eye, so a bereaved relative could come for revenge, but God provided 6 cities of refuge spread throughout Israel, where the person who killed could run to, and as long He was in any of those cities the avenger of blood was not allowed to take vengeance. (Josh 20:1-6). So we see a 'type' of redemption in the Old Testament.

            Let us consider this: It is not God’s will that any should perish, but by our deeds we can’t meet God’s standard of righteousness, hence we deserve judgement (2Pet 3:9), but justice must be meted out because He is a just God (Job 8:3), so God sent His sinless son to keep us safe from judgement (condemnation), who became sin and condemned sin in His flesh on the cross so we can become the righteousness  of God in Christ Jesus (2Cor 5:19-21) Hallelujah!

            Once again;

“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD”.

Isi 54:17 [KJV]

            So you see, it’s our responsibility to refute (condemn), damnatory suggestions of the enemy because our righteousness is of God.

But what happens when I miss it?

“We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check”.

Jam 3:2 [NIV]

            It’s good that we understand that we were called unto good works (Eph 2:10); we must be zealous of good works (Tit 2:14), hence when we miss it, our spirit judges (condemns) us, our conscience points out the wrong and blames us, but God knows better;-

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us.

For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ”

1Jn 3:18-23 [NIV]

Here the Bible explains that when we believe in the name of Jesus and love one another, that we abide in the truth and this makes our hearts settled in His presence even when our hearts condemn us, and this gives us the confidence by which we ask and receive from God. Thank God, He knows all things and is greater than our hearts, so I don’t have to remain in guilt, I’m confident in His presence because I do His command- I believe in the name of his Son.

Therefore; rather than accepting condemnation;

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Heb 4:16 [KJV]

            Yes that’s what we should do when we miss it- come boldly and obtain mercy. This knowledge will make you free from sin, (not free to sin)!

Salvation for the Unsaved

The Bible makes it clear; those in Christ cannot be condemned, but those outside of Christ Jesus are already condemned; so please make your choice Jesus or the world. If you want a condemnation-free life please pray this simple prayer sincerely.

“Jesus, today I come as I am: for you said He that comes to You, You will in no wise cast out; therefore I believe in my heart that You died, were buried and resurrected for my redemption and justification, and by your finished work, I stand righteous before God, therefore with my mouth, I confess you as my Lord and saviour today the [date/month/year] and I am free from sin, sickness, and Satan and I reign in this life by your grace and have assurance of the life to come in Jesus precious name. Amen.”