Its all About Jesus Christ

I was deep in the mud clay , drowning in my own sin, but He chose to die just for a sinner like me.There was nothing desirable about me, but He chose to bestow His love on me, I wasn't good enough, but He used me still.I wasn't perfect at all, but He chose to call  me His own.

Who is this man?

He is Jesus Christ, The first begotten of all creation, The Lord of Lords, King of Kings.He is Love incarnate ,The Alpha and Omega.He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.… John 1:2-3

For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.…Colossians 1:16 -17

I LOVE HIM MORE,BECAUSE HE LOVED ME FIRST....HE LOVED ME THIS MUCH.....

Why Christ Had To Do The Job

 If God is the executor of judgment, why can’t He also pardon everyone?

People wonder—and with good reason—why Jesus Christ had to die for our sins. After all, since God made the laws, wouldn’t it have been easier for God to arrange a “pardon” for everyone without sacrificing His Son? The Bible provides the answer, but understanding the answer requires understanding ourselves first.

Why We Want Laws

Everyone wants some personal rights. To have rights, you need laws. The alternative—having no laws—results in anarchy, where everyone is free to do anything they wish to anyone. Under that system, nobody has any rights. (Remember, you do not have the right to tell anyone “no” if they can do anything they want with you or your possessions.) That said, everyone will agree that we want laws for the protection of our lives and property.

Enforcing Laws and Setting Penalties

Those who establish the laws also set the penalties and arrange their enforcement. For example, if a pet violates a household rule that it did not make but the owners did (getting on the dinner table perhaps), the owners will carry out the penalty regardless of what the pet thinks. Our society works in a similar way. If someone murders a person, those who enforce the laws put the violator in jail to await trial (and possible execution), regardless of the opinion of the murderer.

Sometimes the pet does not get punished because the owners did not want to take the time to enforce the rule. Sometimes a murderer is not caught, or is not punished when caught. None of these is an example of a pardon, they are examples of a “shortcoming in law enforcement.” We do not expect an automatic pardon in any case.

What “Sin” Is

We refer to breaking God’s laws as “sin.” The Bible refers to several types of sin, but most of them fall into one of two types, represented by the Greek words hamartia (used in Matthew 1:21, 3:6, 9:2 and many other verses) and parabasis (used in Romans 2:23, 4:15, 5:14 and other verses). Hamartia implies missing the mark—and is the word most commonly translated “sin.” Parabasis is usually translated as “transgressing” or “breaking” a law or command. Therefore, sin can be missing the mark (like the pet example—hamartia), or doing what we know is wrong (like the murderer example—parabasis). Under both types of sin, the penalty should be carried out. If it is not, the law has no value and offers no protection. Remember, most of the civil laws such as “do not murder” came from the Bible originally (in Christian nations).

God’s Character

That brings us to God’s character. God does not change. That means if He says something, it has to happen. (This is good. We would not want to go to heaven and have Him say, “well, I’ve been thinking about Christianity and changed my mind.”)

You may not have learned this, but this also means that God does have some limits. For example, He can not sin and He can not go back on his word. Therefore, once God establishes a law, He can not violate His own law and forgive our sins without proper payment.

The Penalty for Sin

It does not take too much reading in the Bible to learn that the penalty for sin is death. In other words, the payment of the penalty for sinning (also called atonement) is made by shedding blood. We may not like it, but God set the rules and He is not deviating from them. (Remember, this is good.) Here are some examples:

Leviticus 17:11For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 Hebrews 9:22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

Why Christ Had To Pay the Penalty for our Sins

Once we sin (and it happens to all of us sooner or later) we have two choices:

•     We pay for our own sins.
•     Someone else pays for our sins.

For example, if you got a traffic ticket, you could pay for the ticket, or you could ask someone else to pay for it. However, since the payment for sinning is death, it is a little tougher to find someone who is willing to pay your penalty!

These two choices are real. We can choose to pay for our own sins—and be cast into hell. This is not a choice we would expect most people to make on purpose. Still, we realize that some people do not take heaven or hell seriously. Unfortunately, they will realize the error of their decision one minute after they die.

The other alternative is to find someone else to pay for our sins. One thought that comes to mind is sacrificing a criminal or someone who “deserves to die.” That way you get rid of someone who is dangerous to society and pay for our sins, solving two problems at once. The Bible tells us why this will not work in Malachi chapter 1 (among other places).

    13 “You also say,‘Oh, what a weariness!’ And you sneer at it,”

         Says the LORD of hosts.  “And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick;

         Thus you bring an offering!Should I accept this from your hand?”Says the LORD.

    14 “But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male,And takes a vow,

         But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished—For I am a great King,” Says the LORD of hosts,

         “And My name is to be feared among the nations.”

So now we see that only an unblemished (perfect or sinless) sacrifice is acceptable. Unfortunately, no one is perfect. From the beginning of time until the time of Christ, no one came close. In fact, God had to literally become the father of the Savior, since God knew that no person born on this Earth could remain sinless without that divinity.

Since the law required that someone unblemished had to pay the penalty for sin, God offered His Son, Jesus, the only unblemished person in history. This payment for our sins is quite a gift (but what you might expect from a loving God). All we have to do is accept this free gift; something that makes sense—especially since God has given us evidence proving that all of this is true. Still, acceptance is a free-will decision and nobody is forced to accept it. We hope you will—otherwise, you will have to pay the penalty yourself

Reflections

Not long ago I came to the faith albeit after a long struggle with self, and little did I know that, a simple decision to lay down my life at the cross and accept Christ’s sacrifice and saving grace would lead me into a life filled with many spiritual adventures. 

Here is my story….

I was born  in a family of four, and being a second child shielded me from many responsibilities, so I grew up a laid back fellow. I would say I was born in a traditional Christian home but all I knew about Christianity was to go to church on Sunday, participate in whatever activity there was and forget everything on Monday, all to start the circle again on Sunday-a Sunday type of Christian so to say.

You know without a personal relationship with God; you will take everything for granted…life is just, life. You don’t have any sense of urgency in you; no desire to see others coming to the faith like you. All you want is safe Christianity.

This is what I leant the harder way, and you know how painful it is to learn things the harder way. When God calls you there is no denying, no matter how you try to run away, when your name is called in the heavenly throne room you throw caution outside the window and plunge yourself into the deep. That’s the story of my life. God did not call us to a life of peace, the devil has no rest, why should we. This is war, good verses evil, the devil and his cohorts verses God and His children.

Yes peace might be inside us but outside is war, outside are wolves ready to strike, remember we are still in the world though we are not of the world John 15 : 18-20 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19"If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20"Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.…

I have come to know and understand God more through His grace. Growing up, all i knew about God was He is a Father and should be respected as such, having coming to a personal walk with Him I understood Him to be a personal friend and companion for life. I have come to understand that knowing God is not just enough. Most of us know Him so much we know who He is, we know what He wants but have never understood why and how part.

There should be a knowing with understanding in our relationship with God. Understand His workings and His being and your walk with Him becomes an easier one.1 John 5:20. And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

Paul adds in Ephesians1:17 and 18 ; 17 I cease not to pray…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,…

The spirit of wisdom and of revelation are a must have, you can’t function fully as a Christian without these free gifts of the spirit. God has laid up spiritual blessings for us in his Son the Lord Jesus; but requires us to draw them out and fetch them in by prayer. 

Even the best Christians need to be prayed for: and while we hear of the welfare of Christian friends, we should pray for them. Even true believers greatly want heavenly wisdom. Are not the best of us unwilling to come under God's yoke, though there is no other way to find rest for the soul? Do we not for a little pleasure often part with our peace? And if we dispute less, and prayed more with and for each other, we should daily see more and more what is the hope of our calling, and the riches of the Divine glory in this inheritance. It is desirable to feel the mighty power of Divine grace, beginning and carrying on the work of faith in our souls. But it is difficult to bring a soul to believe fully in Christ, and to venture its all, and the hope of eternal life, upon his righteousness. Nothing less than Almighty power will work this in us. 

It is Christ the Saviour, who supplies all the necessities of those who trust in him, and gives them all blessings in the richest abundance. And by being partakers of Christ himself, we come to be filled with the fulness of grace and glory in him. 

Job 42:5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.We all need God and my prayer is one of these days God will open the eyes of your heart to see Him clearly. To be continued……

Contend for the Faith

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Jude 3

If ever we fancy to see the old faith intact , this is the time to fight for the TRUTH. This is something we need to do these days: We need to earnestly contend for the faith. Earnestly means seriously without compromise.

We shouldn't fool around with this. We shouldn't pick it up and lay it down. No, we should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. We need to earnestly contend, that we don't let those things slip that were once given.

We also need to earnestly contend for the Lord to give back those things that have ceased, to where they are in full bloom again as they were meant to be.I remember growing up in the house of God and seeing the saints young and old crying with groins in prayer, i remember seeing tears flowing down as if it was raining , i remember seeing and hearing testimonies that moved you closer to God.Nowadays testimonies are just exciting stories that have no God inside them.

Here in Jude 3 we are exhorted to earnestly contend for the common salvation. That is what it's all about! We shouldn't let that slip.
Are you holding on to the common salvation yet letting many things about it die on the vine, not getting back to all that God gave when He brought this common salvation to us?

Looking Back 

We can look back to that day when the church was formed on the day of Pentecost and see what God gave us at that time.Another word that may help put the emphasis where it belongs in this Scripture is the word restore. For God to restore is for God to bring back things which have been lost for one reason or another: things which the church has drifted away from, things which it puts little importance on, things which it doesn't practice any longer.

The church doesn't see any need today for those things which were so important in days gone by.
If you go back to the beginning — back to the book of Acts — and start to look from there, you will soon find when the common salvation came to the Gentiles: Acts 10. Back there is where God gave the Gentiles the same gift of the Holy Ghost that He gave to Israel in the upper room.
We should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered, considering all that was given, going to work on it, making sure we're not laying it aside.

We need all of those things that God, in the abundance of His grace, has provided for us. Why, then, should we lay something aside? It may have been laid aside a long time ago by others, but why should we continue to leave it laying aside?

The Baptism of the Holy Ghost was laid aside for a long time. Going back many generations, you find very few who had the Baptism. It wasn't a common thing back then.
It was in the 20th Century that a great revival came forth of the outpouring of the Spirit, and God began pouring out His Spirit wonderfully. When it became manifest what God was doing, multitudes sought it out. And, certainly, this past century has seen some great revivals where God has poured out His Spirit.

God gave it, and, thus, it is something we want to earnestly contend for. Let's not be satisfied to take less.Now, when I say that, I don't mean that we're in control and can tell God what to do. I don't mean that at all. I mean that God gave it and that we may not be doing anything with what He has given. There are a lot of things that may be just laying idle.

If we're not doing anything with that which God has given, let's pick it up and get back all that we can by prayer and supplication: seeking God, studying His Word, embracing the promises, doing our best to enter in to those things.Let those things be manifest in our hearts and in our lives. It's there. What are we doing with it?

God inspired Jude to see this and to sit down and write a warning: that we should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Understand that it's up to us in a way to take hold of what God gave us. It's what we do, many times, with what we have. We have it and then we lay it aside, letting it slip.
God doesn't let it slip. We let it slip.

What Have You Let Slip?

Now, what have you let slip lately? Where have you slipped back a little? Where do you look and see that you're slipping back?I'm going to talk about you, personally, for a minute, and ask you a question: Why don't you have the gifts of God in your life? Is it because God took these gifts back? Is it because He's laid them aside? Or is it that you don't seek them out, that you don't have any interest in the gifts of God?

That's all it takes: losing your grip where you just don't have an interest, where you don't take time to pray. You don't seek it out from God, and, therefore, you don't receive it.

When was the last time you got down on your face and sought God in prayer.Praying on our knees has became  embarrassing in some eyes but the Lord said,"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels."

Be not afraid to stand firm for the Lord , be not afraid of the eyes of man for their is no benefit in them.When you see evil in the house of  God ; speak out, when the man upfront errs speak out, when the TRUTH is not preached ,speak out!.

Somebody has to rise up and contend.Let's contend earnestly. Let's not just lie down, just sit down, and take it easy. The times merit our best service unto the Lord. The times merit our best.

Earnestly contend. Pray for restoration of the TRUTH in His Church. Contend for spiritual things! "God, give me a heart after spiritual things! Yes, God, give me a heart after spiritual things!"