Saved By Grace

New Reality PT1: Reconstruction

2023-10-29T21:58:00.007-07:00

"If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker." Galatians 2: 18 NIV

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david kimutai · New Reality Part1 Reconstruction

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The context of this verse was to emphasize the permanency of the work of Christ. Reading from the previous and proceeding verses you notice Paul's passion for this monumental event that happened to and for the universe. He is confronting his fellow apostle Peter for disassociating with the non-Jews of Antioch, (an ancient Greek city) when a Jewish delegation from James the Apostle came to visit. The underlying issue here was, through Christ, the gospel message didn't favor any nationality, gender, class, race, etc, but consider all as children of God by Grace deserving of full privileges that come with being Diety's descendants (Galatians 3:26-29).

Reflecting on the prophecy Jesus gave the Samaritan woman by Jacob's well we can draw a parallel. “... believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem... Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4: 21, 23 &24 NIV. Here, Jesus is answering the woman's question regarding the right place of worship seeing that they would go to the mountains while the Jews then would do it at the temple in Jerusalem. He answers that we are already in a time period where true worship and connection with God would be done outside of these so-called "sacred" spaces but in the heart/spirit of the temple of the holy spirit ie the body.

The notion that no building is now referenced as church but the body is such a big aha moment for every human being. Not that the subject is new but it's the fact that we are so used to a "reconstructed" view of what Christianity and the worship of God looks like. There is a notion that some places are "holier" than others, some people more vital to the kingdom than others, some gifts more precious than others, etc. Our bodies being the temple of the holy spirit as opposed to a particular place or day of worship is a reality that is yet to fully materialize in many of us.

The verse above brings to light a very common challenge in internalizing the reality of what Christ accomplished on the cross and to what extent it affected the course of the universe: rebuilding what had been previously destroyed. This means, as much as we take on the gospel of Christ but we still have an idea that there are some things that weren't completely overhauled by his once-for-all act on the cross, then we carry them into the gospel and mix it with what was pure and holy by itself. To do this as the verse says is to become a lawbreaker. Christ doesn't associate with a bit of the law. It is Jesus himself who said a little yeast leavens the whole bread and new wine is stored in new wineskins. What was accomplished by Christ is taken whole... in fact, we died and we no longer live but Christ living in us.

Friends, as we navigate this phase of the world, let's rest assured that the Spirit of God is in us guiding us to fully depend on Christ who is being revealed with ever-increasing glory like the shining of the sun. Even greater, here is the assurance that the dispensation of the law is obsolete and the new has come according to the book of Hebrews: "By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear." Hebrews 8:13 NIV

The Good Worker in Us

2013-06-15T05:02:00.001-07:00

"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:4-6 NIV

courtesy of http://rescuinglittlel.wordpress.com/

Paul here is writing to the Philippians with great joy, and his joy is because of these people's partnership in the gospel.

In the business world, partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate for a common benefit, governed by some form of terms and conditions.On the other hand, in the church world when we hear partnership, it's an encouragement to support a particular cause or church establishments. But the partnership in the gospel, yes it involves us and God, but it's totally different in terms of the agreement detail.

The apostle was joyful, not because the Philippians were supporting the cause of the gospel financially, but he was referring to another partnership in the gospel that the Philippians had come to know and embrace.

"... being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" This is the detail in the agreement that Paul was pointing at. This statement about God, who started a good work in the Philippians and was faithful to complete it, is the very foundation of the partnership in the gospel that was seen in the Philippians.

We can draw a lot from this.We realize here that God's foundational agreement with man is that He becomes not only the Alpha and Omega in His divinity, but also that He Alphas and Omegas in us , in the same capacity as He is. The verse says He who began a "Good" work in you... Only God is Good, And if He began a Good work in us, then the impact of this Good work, is God-likeness. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God. This good work began in the word, this good work began with Christ, the good work began in us, is Christ the completion of the work ,is Christ. And I dare say,that the day of Christ Jesus meant above is the day when the sons fully realize who they are, Christ-like."When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." col 3:3 NIV , "...But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" 1 John 3:2b. So, we shall appear with him being like him. And that's all that God intends for His creation, as expressed in Genesis1:26-31

The covenant of Grace, the reason for Christ's coming to earth was to instigate this kind of union, where God becomes man's worker, where God, Knowing everything was under His power, rises up and takes a servant's towel, servant's position and washes His disciples feet. A God who sends His only son, in whom the wisdom of creation resides, in whom the power of existence consists and through whom the world is created and sustained, to become the carrier of the world sorrows, purge her and present her to Himself as Pure Holy spotless bride, with no blemish or wrinkle. This is the agreement of the Gospel, the Covenant that God stands and says "I will forgive all their iniquities, I will remember their sins no more, I will write my statutes in their hearts and minds, I will be their God, They will be my people, They will all Know me". This is the Joy that Completed Paul who was also enjoying the same partnership in the gospel.

Friends, this gospel has been given us, not for us to box it, downgrade it, or handle it with insulation, this gospel, this Christ was given us to become in us the Inheritance of Good things. The presentation of this message of reconciliation with God must be laid down in this context, for the work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal to us what has been freely given us in Christ 1cor 2:12. He is faithful to do it, from your start to end, and He did it, Before the foundation of time and Manifested it on the cross. What is this he did? He made us completely complete, As He is. God is the Good worker in us. This is the Good work in You. Enjoy!

The Other Side

2013-01-29T09:49:00.001-08:00

"But there is a place where someone has testified:“What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.”" Hebrews 2:6-8a NIV

"It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come..." This line of hebrews 2:5 captured my entire attention. The implication of this statement couldn't be clearer. God is openly saying, that everything that is to come, IS NOT under the subject of angels. So, the obvious questions should be, to whom has he subjected it? and what is this "world to come"? in the following article i endeavor to answer these two questions.

From the verse quoted above, David was asking what God saw in man that He would mind so much about him. And now we start to confirm the wonder that is man. God has made him lower than the angels, yet crowned him with Glory and honor and put Everything under his feet!!!.

Let me scoop the normal waters of churchianity and highlight one of the greatest concerns I have noticed. It's very interesting and weird at the same time, how we have embraced and settled for half truths even as we play church. By this I mean, we will readily accept the fact that we have been made lower than the angels, we will quickly absorb the aspect of us being less, but it gets kind of hard to equally accept the other half of the story, the part that says we have been crowned with glory and honor. I bet most of us know by heart the first part of this statement in romans 3: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,..." I too, for a long time rested my case there, and it would sit well with me, not realizing that this is one half of the sentence and it ends with "...and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.".

It's very weird and disheartening that we have plunged to settle for the lower half of the truth. But as I was looking through scripture, i noticed the same behavior in the times of Jesus, after he had fed the 5,000 they ended up following him to the other side of the Lake Tiberias, so when they find him, Jesus responds to them: "Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”" John 6:26-27.

Just to paraphrase, Jesus is saying here that the primary reason for this guys following him all the way was not because they realized the implication of the multiplication of bread, rather their bellies being full of bread. These people didn't get why jesus did what He did feeding them, they didn't see God's supernatural provision for mankind, they didn't realize that He was the bread that Gave life that was to be multiplied to many, they didn't realize the significance of christ, and all they could settle for was the inferior feeling of settling for a stomach fill. Jesus is telling them here, that He has the father's approval, He is the bread of life, but all they saw from him was their lowly need for their stomach to be filled. Not that it is wrong to ask for a fill, but it's very disheartening to beg and borrow for a droplet when the giver wants to give you an ocean.

Jesus is the eternal bread of life, but all that these guys could see was the immediate droplet and jesus loved them so much that he told them the truth. Isn't this in a way the situation now? where we have reduced our God into some form of materialistic satisfaction? where the greatest thing we can get from him is a car, a job, wife, husband etc? Not that these things are wrong to ask for, but Knowing the enormity of Christ the free gift given to us far dispels the question of whether we wont get these things or not, for He says If He gave us Christ, How can He not with Him give us all things! And that settles it.

So Jesus concluded the situation of these bread eaters in one statement that really clarified why they reasoned the way they did: "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing..." John 6:63. fleshly thinking settles with and identifies with the unworthy least, while the spirit settles for life and life in abundance. Flesh thinks of it's own capacity, Spirit confirms and trusts in the capacity of Christ. Yes, when we see the work of Jesus, the man who was made lower than the angels can finally agree that he has been crowned with Glory and everything Has been placed under Him.

The world to come "...In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." hebrews 2:8b-9. The world to come, is the world where man as over and above everything, crowned with glory and honor.

The world to come is the world of man reigning with God as one. And once again we reemphasize the supremacy of our salvation in beholding our prototype, our true example jesus. He was made lower than the angels, and now He is crowned with Glory and honor.. suffering death for everyone of us that he may lead us into this glory. So do we live in this reality? yes we do! by faith we partake of things of the ages to come. we are now seated with Him in that resting place of God's right hand.

Brothers and sisters, God's love is completed when we start to realize the similarities we have with him, that all of our being has been crowned with his glory, that he took us from our lowliness by becoming our lowliness and crowned us with glory and honor by becoming our glory and honor.

Finally, David's question is answered in the same chapter. the question was, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? here is the answer : "Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers" Hebrews 2:11 . This is the other side of man, the other side of this creature made a little lower than the angels: Man and God are FAMILY!

Carried!

2012-08-22T01:15:00.002-07:00

"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer[ of your souls" 1 peter 2:21-25

At first, these verses may seem to imply that we are bound to undergo some form of suffering in order to be like christ, and thus have been used to thoroughly send a chilling message to church christians that by accepting christ, they have just signed their death warant, and every other pain or anguish or sorrow then becomes a platform to issue pious cliches like "God is teaching me something" or "I must suffer like Christ suffered". But let us see this words for what they really say, because Paul puts it categorically in Gal 2:21: " I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" and in Hebrews 9:26 " ...Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself."

Realizing and accepting that it wasn't for nothing that Jesus Suffered, we are cosequently led to change our thinking about such verses, for they have to line with the understanding of Christ Crucified, who bore of all our suffering. The passage begins by the kind of calling we were given. This in itself tells us that we did not choose or plan or stepped into anything by our own fallen human decision, rather we were called by God through Christ. "Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example".... So Jesus comes and tells the people, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." luke 9:23. With the constant misunderstanding of these scriptures the deadly concoction of beating regulations into the body begins, the kind that paul talks about here in col 2:23 " Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.". So what did Jesus mean in Luke and how does it concur with Peter? well, we can see a clean picture of this in understanding first, that all the scripture talk about christ Luke 24:27,44. John 5:39. Secondly, God did not require nor desire any form sacrifice and an act of zeal from his people, thus He prepared a body through whom, the entire scripture would be fulfilled, for the entire humanity. hebrews 10:5-7. So christ, the lamb of God is the only one who can break the seal of the scroll ie scripture, and He fulfils everything. How does that tie with our verses? When jesus say take up your cross, ask yourself, whose cross was it that jesus carried? His? Nope! it was ours! If jesus Deserved to carry His own cross, which sin did He commit? Whose law did He break?... When peter says we are to follow Jesus' Steps, i believe peter is revealing to us, to find our full life already covered by Jesus' steps, to see ourselves included in every aspect, His example being our reference point and Where he has trodden, fought , conquered, we also have!.

He commited No sin, He did not hassle with His aggressors, and through that bought all of us from sin, and healed all our diseases. it couldnt be clearer than this, Jesus' Sacrifice goes all the way, and met us at our exact point of need, ushering us into the exact center spot of God's heart, where we belong. Jesus absorbed ALL so that He may Ransom all. Now we are found shepherded and overseen by God Himself. And this is where our Healing Comes from, Feasting on Jesus' life that took our place so that we may take His. This changes our attitude to everyone else, for If we are in Christ living His life, we will also be the same to the world, bearing up with one another, shining the light of how we are loved no matter where when or to who.. there is a bold awareness when we start to discover that our life has been hemmed and summarized and concluded as God's and in God. Even our Sufferings were His.He is the pioneer of our salvation, the payment of all our dues.

And this my friends is the flavor of extreme love, that we are carried by God all the way from the beginning to the destination, where we begin in God and mature into the fullness of the stature of Christ, all by God's grace, God's initiative and Love. This is the meaning of Salvation, for Jesus says " Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." john 15:13. God's awesome love is known, or proven in saving you and me! His Greatness is measured by the manner of our redemption, our carriage!! He is a Loving Loving God.

"But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered " Heb 2:9-10

The Heart of Salvation

2012-05-24T05:02:00.000-07:00

"The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." Romans 6:10

The heart of salvation is in intimately knowing who the Savior is and what he has done. wherever Paul preached about Christ and grace, he candidly underscored one reality of the Christ above everything else. This reality wasn't Jesus' miracles or parables, but the reality of His death, burial and resurrection and the consequence of this, to our entirety as human beings.

So let us today examine Christ in His death and resurrection. We are told in the verse above, that the death He died, He died to sin once for all. Now what is the meaning of this? We know that Jesus died, and from this verse we learn why. He died to sin. the wages of sin is death, and so when Jesus was dying to sin, he was paying for the sins committed. He became the price by which sin was fully cancelled, and not His sins, because he was sinless, but the sins of the World 1john 2:2. So in this case, Jesus became the transaction of purchasing us , His blood being the currency. If we were not sinners, then Jesus would not have died because we would not be needing any ransom, but since we had all sinned Rom 3:23, He died, and thus paid the full price to set us free from it completely, how complete? that we die in his kind of death to sin. As far as sin is concerned we are dead. What is the implication of this, well if sin was a debt owed by man, Jesus has offset it completely, and any form of accusation or double talk is mischievous and blasphemous to the transaction of the cross. Now what does it mean when they say He died to sin once for all? People read this as "...once and for all". but there is no 'and' in the sentence. I believe this means, He died once meaning, whatever the extend of sin, Jesus took all of it and suffered all of it all in this death. It means all the effects of sin, whether direct or implied, He took them all in one fell swoop.Once for all, to mean every end where sin affected, from our core to the entire universe, all were included in this payment that is the death of Jesus. So just a side note, even the air we breath has been cross-paid! halleluyah! He has done it all, for all and to all! For all creation.

It continues to say "but the life He lives, He lives to God". The same Jesus Who paid for all the sin of the world by becoming the sin and dying to it, was also risen! we also know this, but today lets intimately become aware of this, since we also are involved in it, so here we go. Rom 6:4 "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." Notice the bold sentence! halleluyah.. Christ was raised from the dead, but not just like that, but it was through the glory of the father... Meaning Jesus rose glorified, not by any other glory but His very own father's glory, meaning When He rose, He walked in the full mandate and power of the father. But this gets even more mind boggling when it says in the verse, just as he was raised (how? in such a way that he is now walking in His fathers Glory) we too may live a new life! halleluyah! this is the blast of salvation, we get to live God's Glorified Life, through Christ's work of saving us. thus salvation is actually living, breathing and being that very glorified life of God, and that is what we have received in His resurrection. He lives to God, as Paul writes... This means, everything about Him is drawn from God and mirrors God, and that is the same ransom we have received Through His death and resurrection.

These words are so heavy and can only give meaning to us when we awaken to realize that it was all for love. only love can explain why such a great God would want humans, and cherish them this much. When we see the true strength of Love, we will realize how it is independent of our hard labor to please Him, rather we will embrace God's own initiative of love that set creation in motion in the first place. God's love is the fire that paid for all our debts and made us fully live in His being.

Finally friends, just to nail it in the head, the next verse (Rom 6:11) "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." Yes, to count here is to mean, realize that you are unquestionably dead to sin and Alive to God.. in the same manner Jesus died and rose. O what a gift! and with this gift i see all perfected in Christ. The heart of Salvation is God.

You Are The One

2012-04-13T03:27:00.001-07:00

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts1:7-8

After He rose from the dead, Jesus appeared to His disciples and followers on several occasions. By now they obviously had accepted the fact that he had risen from the dead, and of course from the several prophecies and religious doctrines they had been given, they now were more interested in the times when all they had been taught about the kingdom of Israel would be made manifest. Up to now, these followers had in mind the Jewish nation, and the fruition of God's promises for their community. In such, time was a great player in the fulfillment of all the promises. Now that they have seen Jesus raised from the dead, their hopes for the next best thing was heightened and so they asked Him, knowing that He is Lord, whether he would now restore the Kingdom of Israel.

Jesus Shocked the group by telling them that it was never for them to know the times or dates that the Father has set by his own authority... What? The Jews have been taught for ages that the Messiah would come, and alleviate all oppression and set Abraham's offspring free to inherit their promises! This is the moment they have all been waiting for, and every Jew was, and most still are, looking forward to the glorious time and date that their redemption would come to light. Therefore discerning the time was every Jew's bread and butter because they were all in the business of waiting. Now Jesus comes and bursts their bubble, by saying it's not even their responsibility to know the times, because it is the Father that sets the time and date. So whatever they have been observing, was never their responsibility.

Instead, Jesus Tells Them what will happen, That they will Receive Power when the Holy Spirit Comes on them and they will be His witnesses locally and globally. First, they will receive power meaning Jesus wasn't demanding any of their effort for the work ahead, that the power was to be given by God to men. Secondly, this power will be received When the Holy Spirit Comes on them. Jesus did not say, Go pray hard and call the Holy spirit to 'rain'... No, He told them the Spirit will COME on them, When tongues of fire fell on them, it was not because of their effort, but Father's outpouring, Father's sending, Father's initiative, it is God who sent the Spirit. Thirdly, They will receive the Spirit.. The Spirit is the Gift of God that is God Himself, The Wholesomeness of God. Therefore when the Spirit of God Came on them, it Was God Himself now indwelling and infilling man. This leads us to the fourth point, where once this has happened, they would be witnesses of Him. What will they witness about Him? that He is near, He is in their mouths and in their hearts, He is the Kingdom and the Kingdom is now In them.. they would be witnesses of the proximity of God to man, by evidently revealing Him in them thus leading men to repent (change their minds) about the kingdom of God, that He is not far, but near, and at hand. Finally, They would be witnesses locally then globally, meaning they will witness internally then externally, within then without, inside, then outside, at home then internationally. The Spirit made them aware of Who they have become (Sons) through Christ, and out of this internal awareness, they then externally manifested this witness to the world who also received the gift!

Friends, this is what Jesus Had in Mind even for us! Exactly what He promised His disciples that this reality of Christ, by the Spirit of God will be Everyone's reality even to the ends of the earth. We have the Spirit and the Witness of God in us, because of God's own doing through Christ.

The disciples were looking for the time of restoration, but Jesus Revealed to them that they were actually the ones to be the Restoration! Because they would be witnessing of the Jesus Who is alive in Men, The Spirit of God Who is God and has come to Be with Man and in man forever!. When disciples were thinking of how Israel was going to be made a powerful Kingdom, Jesus Revealed to them that they were the ones to be that powerful Kingdom! that they would receive power and be witnesses when the Spirit comes on them. When the disciples where looking forward for the next best thing, Jesus Revealed to them that They were the ones to be that next best thing, because Jesus would indwell them and they would witness Him to the world! They were looking for times, dates and events, Yet Jesus was actually looking at Them! They were the true witnesses of God.

It is similar with us now as it was with the disciples. People are waiting for the 'Second Coming/ rapture', the time when there will be restoration, basically people are waiting for the next best thing, Yet the coming of Christ was the best thing and the next best thing was His indwelling us. What men are looking forward to, They already are the ones! Somehow we have been tricked into looking for something else, while all the while Jesus is looking at us and saying we are the Ones! We are the ones! Every promise made by God is yes and Amen in Christ... and Guess Who is in Christ? .. Exactly! you and me! Through Christ, We are the ones found In Him, We are The Circumcision, We are The Children of God, We are Sons of God we are the Heirs of God, Abraham's Offspring, the light of the world the Salt of the earth.. and All this not of our doing.. Remember we have received Power when the Spirit Came upon us to be Witnesses of Jesus, In the respect of Him being in us and Him actually being our life as the Spirit through Paul boldly declares in gal 2:20 and 2 Cor 5:14.

Friends, We have God in us. This ministry of the new covenant is God's own initiative, God's own master plan with God's execution in God's wisdom, And Paul's ministry among all the others displays this. Paul expressed great wisdom in word and deed, that it was and still is very clear that he could not have done it by himself, it was Christ in Him. Even with no audience, locked up in prison, he was and still is affecting the world by his words in writing showing that what he knew and who he was could not ever be bound in chains of the Romans or of time and history! The new Covenant is the ministry of the Spirit and the Spirit is God Himself in us operating in us. This is the signature of love, God having his Being in us, His life being ours through Inheritance, The Gift of God's Love towards us is His life in us.

The Beginning

2012-03-07T22:42:00.002-08:00

" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."John1:1

This opening phrase of the book of John reveals a truth that was, even before creation, even before what we now call home or life or anything in time. Having known this truth, it is clear that we cannot define what John reveals within the experience of time and learning, because its context is outside time, but what was revealed inside time serves to reveal this truth as a shadow reveals the real object.

In the beginning was the Word. This word, from the Phrase denotes that There was existence before creation. If we fast forward, this Word was God. So before creation Was the Word and He was with God (face to face). words as we know, are utterances either spoken or encoded in letters read , that convey a particular expression.There is no greater way to reveal the immense closeness, familiarity and common history between the existence of God and the word than declaring that the Word existed in the beginning.

The word was there, the word was synonymous with God and God was synonymous with the Word the Word Was With God. Now we see that there was a relationship and intimacy between the word and God, that they were in perfect unison and union and friendship and completion. And the Word was God! This really changes the whole perspective of understanding this verse, that This word that Was so familiar with God was in intimate relations with God, was Actually God! Remember words are here to express fully.. So the Word fully expressed God, The word Had the a b c of God and would reveal who God was completely in perfect accuracy. This Word is not just a written word or a spoken word, but the Word is God, Meaning the Word Exists, Functions, has the same nature and character as God. Even More, God is one, and thus This Word is the God one and Only, by the truth that God's union with the Word is God Himself and there is no Separation, for the Oneness is the relationship that is God. Without any shadow of doubt.

The word is Complete the word is God complete The word is perfect and wholesome and pure and whole, God kind of whole the word is God! This word reveals the working of God, as God Himself, Reveals that Whenever the word is Spoken, God is fully manifested. We know that Through the Word, There was creation.. and thus Creation is synonymous with the creator. Even greater, When God saw all He had made in Genesis, He said it was "very Good" .The Good God, Saw Creation and Called it Good! just think about that... it's the Father Recognizing Himself in the Son, The Vine the grape, the tree the branches, God, the Word! This is the massive glorious revelation that this word declares, that that which was from the beginning is exactly what has manifested in creation and redemption. In creation as the created is in union with the creator and in redemption where the created is awakened to this union realization.

Then it is very apparent that Since God reveals who He is in every way, Then Christ is Who God is, and Christ is the finished work of Christ, Because even on the Cross Jesus Was revealing Who He was, The Lamb Who Was Slain!... Life as We have it Now Changes Completely with This Truth, we now know that We are, We are with God, and We are One with Him, Just as the Word is With God. That now We are actually enrolled and registered into That which was from the beginning, that existed in the unlimited possibilities and realities of eternity, that which was God.. We are found inside we are the manifestation of this union. How? By God's own doing "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made " john 1:3 Through who? through Him. who is Him? The word that was with God the word that was God! Every Scripture screams this word in us, and Reveals Righteousness, And Jesus, Being this very Word Has Come and of His FULLNESS we have received! What is His fullness? He was from the beginning He was with God and He was God, Of His Fullness we have received! This Tells us that What was Eternal and without beginning, we have, and we are! Thank you for Realizing and Enjoying your Sonship today!

The Gift of Death and Life

2012-01-18T22:12:00.000-08:00

"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:11

This verse puts in the open the degree of our implication in the death burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus, and the first four words of the verse couldn't be any subtler; "in the same way"! Allow me to be repetitive just to emphasize on these four words. The very Death of the Messiah, was ours, The very Burial of the Messiah was ours, the very resurrection was ours, because we have been told in this verse that in the same way, the same way he died, was buried and resurrected, that we, count ourselves dead, not our hardworking selves dead , not our praying selves not our outer selves dead , but plain simple ourselves dead, making it a complete general full participation of our entire being in the activities of the Messiah.

"The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God."Rom6:10. This is where we refer the four words of verse 11 from. Christianity evolves around the works of Christ in saving mankind, but we mostly refer to his work on the cross in the light of what we now must do, to at least act like we have been saved, and frankly even in this verse most of us would see an activity that we must do, to be better Christians, and so we try counting ourselves dead by our own strength, where we resort to serious prayer time, fasting, declaring, shouting among the many usual ammo we wield. And we have such phrases as "we ain't there yet, but we keep on keeping on" or " we are counting ourselves dead daily and this ain't an easy thing, you have to deny your flesh" etc. And from this, it is clear that not many Christians have really understood the work of Christ, and thus are not walking in the bliss of salvation. This is because Christianity has been made out to look as a work and a reward earning system where, the more you work the better you become and the more cookie points you get with God. My friends this is not Christianity, in fact it is the exact opposite of what it is for in Romans4:4 we are told "Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness." There is only one word that sums up true Christianity, and the entirety of what it is all about. We often hear it being mentioned every once in a while but not the summation of salvation. The word is GIFT

It easily goes to the head to believe that eternal life is a gift, no questions, but we often think that death to sin and overcoming the desires of the world is a process that must be worked on so as to be rewarded with the eternal life. The second thought has totally busted the first one and revealed that we really didn't take eternal life as a gift but a gift with strings attached, you know as long as you quit sinning then you get it, which makes it no longer a gift, but a reward. This really gives Christianity a messed up bizarre face even to the world making the death of Christ look kinkier in a bad way.

The verse above however gets us out of the water about this. Even our death to sin, He died! So in the same breath we count, recon or agree with our death to sin, we also count ourselves alive to God in Christ. Jesus is the Way, to our death burial and resurrection, the truth to our death burial and resurrection, the Life that died was buried and raised as us. The way He died to sin is the way we died to sin, the way He lives to God is The way We live to God... IN THE SAME WAY.

This reality is what has been in God's heart that we always were defined in Christ that Christ is our life and our death, hence the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of time. My friends today we realize that overcoming sin is a gift that we have received already through Christ, and who you are is a sin conquering, resurrected, Sons and Daughters of God, and nothing can disqualify you because the one who offered the gift, is the gift Himself and He is perfect and so is The Gift. We were born embraced, chosen and loved as He is So are we in this world and so are we in Him!

The Lamb

2011-12-26T23:25:00.000-08:00

"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." 1 pet 1:18-19 NIV

The beauty of redemption is that, it reveals the original worth of that which is being redeemed. Let us try to describe the quality of our redemption price Jesus, for in seeing who He is do we get to really understand who we are in Him, and how He looks at us.

From the above passage we see that our redemption was not with perishable things like silver or gold. These are a type and shadow of all the precious elements this world has to offer, things that people have died for, things that the world is desperately looking unto as source of worth! But the bible calls these things perishable, inferior weak and momentary. This statement ushers us to the incomparably wealthy and superior substance that was placed to ransom us, the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

Peter continues to reveal this lamb in this statement " He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake." v 20. This lamb was chosen before the creation of the world! He has been there ever since. And from the book of John, we know that the Word was God, and the word became flesh, and when John the baptist saw Him, He said, Behold the LAMB of God who takes away the sin of the world! so The word who is God, is the Lamb of God. So God is the Lamb! And Jesus, the Lamb comes and manifests the fullness of God in flesh, and the same fullness of God in the flesh is hanged on the cross to ransom every one! This was the body of God Himself the creator of all things, God Himself ransoming to Himself the World. But what was He redeeming? and Who was He redeeming us from? He was redeeming His image and likeness in us, and He was redeeming His image in us from our fallen mindset that believed a lie about ourselves due to the disobedience of one man. Jesus came to redeem us from our fallen perception of who we are, and as we examine this glorious sacrifice, our eyes are unveiled to the worth we hold before God.

Even more, in Rev 5, standing in the center of the throne is the lamb who was slain before the foundation of time, and all the heavenly host, the angels, the creatures and all that is in heaven, forever fall down in worship of the lamb crying worthy is the lamb worthy is the lamb who was slain, this lamb is the center focus of the throne of God in heaven. Then Jesus goes ahead and says eat my body, drink my blood!! The same lamb in the throne of God is the very flesh and blood that we partake in communion! Behold the manner of Love, that we are feasting in the Most Holy sacrifice of God's own Lamb. This is the greatness of the love that God has manifested to us declaring, greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends. This lamb this beautiful sacrifice is God laying down Himself for us! Who are we? who are we that He is so mindFUL of us? the Psalmist asked!

My friends, from this, it is plain as day, that God's love for us is immeasurably great, and that we are beings so so so loved by our creator that He values us worthy to partake of the lamb who was slain! and Peter said, He was revealed in this time for our sakes! Halleluiah! There is a lot that we can say about our redeemer, and our redemption, that we cannot even exhaust in a billion years! But one thing is guaranteed, we can rejoice and feast and partake of Him forever, because He has fully given Himself completely to us in love!

The Express Image

2011-08-23T04:20:00.000-07:00

"who (The Son) being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high " Heb1:3

In the beginning, God created all things, and then made man in His own image.John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. Therefore, looking at the two, we now know that Jesus Christ is the beginning, because Jesus is the Word and through the word, all things were made.

We are told in Heb 1:3 that Christ is the brightness of the Glory of God and the Express image of His person. This to show that when God said, let us make man in our own image, The Express image of God is the Man Christ Jesus. 1 tim 2:5 "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus". This is an overwhelmingly glorious Position that God Has put us, because we know that the first Adam was man, and all men were born with Adam's express image. But in Romans 5:14 we understand that Adam was a Pattern of the things to come. wait a minute! Adam was not the original? let us see. Genesis1:26 "Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,^[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” " Genesis 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." Adam was formed from the dust of the Ground, but the Man in genesis 1:26 is in the image of God.. and in His likeness.. meaning He is not man of the ground He is man of God!!!.. Jesus Christ is the Genesis 1:26 man! why? because He was the reality! He is the reality of the image of God col 1:15 "The Son (Christ) is the image of the invisible God,..."

So what are we saying? that Jesus, the Second Adam, came, to annihilate the shadows and the deceptions of the first Adam, why? because He was the real thing, Chosen before the foundations of the earth (gen2) and revealed at such times. And thus Jesus is the Original Family, the Original Man, the Original image of God is Jesus Christ. And we were Chosen in Him! Eph 1:4. The Gospel, is the revelation of Who Christ really is and Who we really are because It is Him living in us.Then If God is Love..then We are Exhibiting the Same Image of Him. This is How God Has Spoken to the World, Through the Expression of Himself in His Sons.. And that is Who we are!

We Have been United with God, And that Has been our state since the beginning of the world as expressed through the son of God Jesus Christ Whom God sent to Open our eyes to who we really are. We are Sons of God.. and Sons of God look like the Heb 1:3 man!! This is to show us that our lives don't come from us, but we reflect the life of God, Empowered by God and radiating back to Him. For if any man be in Christ He is a new creation, the Old is Gone.

Righteousness Pt2: Grace

2011-06-27T01:17:00.000-07:00

"But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith inJesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Rom 3:21-24 NIV

This is one of the many great and powerful revelations that Paul received from the Lord for the sake of His church. There is infinite wisdom in these lines and a revelation as big as the heavens hidden in these words, it is even humanly impossible to exhaust the significance of what is written above in writing or in any other fora which tries to analyze this truth that is Christ Jesus Himself.

Paul starts off by saying, Now... apart from the law.. the Righteousness of God has been made Known! Apart from the law.. to mean separate from, away from, besides the law is a righteousness of God revealed or made known. The Jews had taken upon themselves to justify themselves by the law, by trying to observe it with their own human might, thinking that righteousness only came by the works of the law. And Paul radically declares that the Righteousness of God, the Righteousness of the Almighty God has been made known and it's not in the path of observing the laws that the Jews had zealously embraced. Moreover, this Righteousness was being testified to by the law and the prophets! What is the meaning of this? This righteousness is apart from the law and was testified by the law and the Prophets! I believe this means That the purpose of the law, Or the mandate of the law was not to bring the righteousness, but to testify to the one bearing such standards of righteousness, The law was put forth to highlight the infinity of Who God is for man to see the end of himself and receive full salvation from such a Great God.

The prophets declared the dawn of the new Jerusalem, the Day of the Lord, The outpouring of the Spirit and the manifestation of Sons of God who walk uprightly as bright light among the nations, And this was the testimony of Christ being declared before He came so that When He comes He would fulfill the testimonies and thus become the true Messiah for the whole world upon whom the world will put their full trust. Now in the previous article we saw that that the law was to silence every mouth and to hold the Whole world accountable before God and the law's agenda was to increase the consciousness of sin in every individual and this is how everybody would be silenced before God, by seeing our inabilities when we are doing things apart from Him, The Jew and the Gentile alike.

So now we hear about a righteousness that is apart from the law, now this shows that this righteousness does not operate under the realm of the law, because under law every mouth is silenced and people are conscious of sin, but this righteousness does not silence, neither does it make us conscious of Sin because this is the righteousness of God, it is the Holiness of who He is and The loveliness of Who He is. And we know this because we see the Faithfulness of Jesus Christ Toward Him, trusting Him all the way and Becoming a sacrifice for everyone because He believed in The Goodness of God and His joy in bringing many sons to the light. He did not fear, He did not condemn, He did not abstain, He went straight in, He touched the lepers, He ate with the outcasts, He was a friend of sinners He was not against them And He loved us To the point of Hanging naked on the cross to show us His utter Love for Sinners.

There is Good news for sinners! it is that they don't have to seek righteousness by their feeble strength anymore, the Righteousness of God Has come Straight to the point where sin abounded! and With so much power are we saved because of the Faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Justification is in the point of Redemption and it is all by Grace. To say that God does not Justify us because we improved, But he Justified us When Jesus redeemed us from our ungodliness, and Jesus redeemed us because He is full of Grace, and So Grace is the fullness of God that brought Redemption to sinners so that They are now justified! Grace justifies! and thus the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus is Seen Received and Lived in those who Freely receive this Gracious redemption of Jesus Christ. Remember the Law silences the Whole world, thus if we are dead to the world and the world is dead to us then we are free from the law because one who has died has been set free from sin!

The law demanded that sinners die, And Jesus through the law became our death to the law ie our death to sin, and He rose again begetting us from the resurrected life! we are born from above. We are in this world and not of this world! And because we have received this righteousness, then we Exhibit the fullness of God's nature thus living, effortlessly to what the law demanded, apart from the law. Because we have received the Real substance which is Christ, the righteousness of God, As we rest upon this truth then we produce godliness effortlessly as the fruit of the Spirit.

Receive the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus For you, Through your Redemption on the Cross by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen!

Righteousness Pt1: The law

2011-06-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

"Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin."Romans 3:19-20

Every jot and tittle in the written law is for those who are under the law. And we know who those are, Everyone! "...so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God", so that through the perfection expected by the law of each and everyone in the world are held silent, muted and because we haven't and cannot attain it! Everything the law says it says to everyone in the world , why? For the purpose of silencing each and everyone holding us accountable to God by showing us how far we are from Him and how guilty we are, far a way from attaining any measure of righteousness.

Now with such tremendous power to show us our depravity, it is very apparent that the same law will never declare us righteous before God in any way Rather declare us unrighteous in every way! Look at the declarations of the Law! They all point out how sinful we are how undeserving we are and all the failings that pile up our short lives in this world! The biggest lie is in trying to keep them and start working out the bearable ones meanwhile as we beat ourselves into the bigger ones, which all ends up in futility, wrath, condemnation and bondage since sin takes the opportunity to manifest in the presence of a law administration. The verses above puts it crystal clear.. "no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin" No righteousness but more sin consciousness whenever law is declared. So, through the law, one thing is hailed and that is sin. 1 cor 15:54.

Whenever the law is preached, People become more conscious of their inabilities, because sin takes advantage of the commandment, to rebel us against God and we end up producing the opposite of what the law says.

What is the conclusion then? the law is not bad, but we trying to fix ourselves with it is bad and ends up tragic, because it was not meant to fix but to expose sinfulness. Any preaching that suggests the application of any law, principle, command, step to better livelihood and to appear right before God is futile and a set up for sin to be manifested. In fact, for every law we give on people, we are assuming that the 10 commandments and the other 603 laws given in the old testament is not enough to 'fix' them.. so we are adding our own laws on top of what has been given thereby increasing the burden of life everyday with increasing measure.

Many a meetings and conferences are platforms for dispensing these regulations and principles and the slavery therein is great! it is burdening and yoking to a point of subservient, blind and numb sycophancy of the followers towards the 'law man' or 'preacher'. This is how people are manipulated and trapped into their own mysteries that is sin exposed by the laws.

My friends, when we know why the law was given and it's implications when declared, we will rest from trying to achieve them and will rest upon God who has already provided a savior a redemption and super abounding Grace where sin abounded. This has been an exposition of Romans 3:19-20 regarding the law and why it was given, in part 2 we are going to look at what Christ came to accomplish In Himself for us, The righteousness of Faith. you are blessed!

The Fellowship

2011-05-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

"We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ" 1John1:3

John, in the introductory of the above letter, drops this explosive truth on his readers. He declares that whatever he is proclaiming, is an open invitation to join him in the fellowship that he is in.

He says ".. So that you may have fellowship with us." this shows a plurality in the fellowship. He goes ahead and declares the participants in the fellowship, "is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ". Wait a minute, if Our fellowship is With the Father and With His Son, then, is this a three man relationship, we being the third? I believe it is more than that, because what we are receiving is an already established relationship of The father and the son. If we are made Sons, then our relationship with God is that He is the Father And we are His sons! The name of His son is Jesus Christ. Remember we were all under Adam, and Now the Second Adam Has stepped in And we are all in Him, and So we are called by His name ,"....because as he is, so are we in this world" 1jn4:17b KJV! and So Our Fellowship, our Partnership in God is that of A father and His Son. God sees us As His own son, Jesus Christ, and we are identified fully in Him and Him in Us. Jesus isalso in the Father, And the Father is in Him, and thus we are in the Father because He bore us as His Sons from His Heart and The father is in us because We are Of Him and Have His nature in Christ Jesus!..

Brothers and sisters, this is the very core of God's relationship with His People, that They are In Him as His Sons and He in them As their Father. And So we Don't begin a Relationship with God, We Inherit, enter into His perfect father- son union through Christ! O What Joy! Paul Says "It's no longer I Who Lives... But Christ lives in me"! this is the statement of a lifetime, because we are lost in the Fatherhood and Sonship in God which is in us as a gift of Gracious inheritance from God.

The assurance in the relationship of the father and the son is As Powerful as God Himself, for in the beginning, this relationship already existed and was one in God and of God. And this is where we are being restored into by the Sacrifice of Jesus. He brings to the reconciliation to who we are in God!.. Enjoy the fellowship!

Christ Our Blessed memorial, the body

2011-03-01T22:37:00.000-08:00

"The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” " 1 cor 11:23b-24

The 'night' that Jesus was betrayed, is the night that mankind's sins, curses and death was heaped upon Jesus. matt 26:1-2,mark10:33. He laid down His Life and became the victim for all our sins. In the passage above, Jesus, on the same night of betrayal, took bread, gave thanks and broke it saying that it was His body which is for us! Jesus, Came to rid all the sin and death brought by the trespass of first Adam, and He did this, not through any other method, but through His own body. His body was the offertory sacrifice, and He took bread to show forth who He was and was to be for this world. Through His body, the sins of the world was Judged, and death was destroyed. He won the battle through the same body, because He resurrected. Leviticus 7, psalm 50:23, these talk about the thanks giving sacrifice. Not only was Jesus the sin offering on the cross, He became the peace offering and the thank offering towards God, His sacrifice on the Cross was also giving thanks unto God, Who devised this salvation to all mankind.In this passage we see the shadow of what Jesus came to accomplish in that the same body having been judged (by God's fire) is the bread which He offered before God in thanks Giving, then this bread, which is the judged body of Christ, he broke it and gave it to the disciples, saying "this is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me".

I believe that Jesus was saying here that, "my flesh, after its been beaten, crushed and trampled by men and finally baked in God's fiery judgement on the cross for your sake and is resurrected , is the same living bread that i thank God for and it becomes the health giving, life giving food that i will give to you, so that as you partake of it, you will remember me, as the end to ALL your punishment, curses, the payment to all of your debt and your ever increasing blessing. My body is for you!". My friends all of our past, present and future sins, including the nature of sin itself that we inherited, find their end in the judgement of the cross. Romans 5:16b ".... but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification." Jesus' body, the gift offered on the cross, followed all of our trespasses and and brought fourth justification in all of them! So today, we are free from the grips of the past, that keep haunting us and influencing our present decisions to live fully in God's unconditional love, because Jesus Has followed all that past, and has brought forth justification in that situation. Same to the present and future expectations, we know that Great stuff awaits us because This body of Christ has followed all of our failures and brought justification! Partaking of Jesus is believing in The work of the cross, by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is true edification. This living bread edifies!

My friends, if in the past, there are things that we did or done to us that were wrong in all aspects, It's only the finished work of Jesus Christ that brings, remission, comfort, closure and Justice to the fullest. Let's embrace Him today and Let Him show us in details How He has justified our past present and future, and So we embrace your work Jesus, we Believe that your body, offered unto us as broken bread, testifies of your justification, for all of our trespasses, and that your Love nourishes and brings life in every dead situation, we desire to partake of your justice in all things Jesus, we want to remember you in vivid details as justification and blessings for all our past present and future lives, so that we will be perfected in the knowledge of your justification, your love and your grace towards us, To mature to the fullness of the image of Christ. Thank you for the Love! Amen

ALL!

2011-02-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

"I will give thanks to you, LORD, with ALL my heart; I will tell of ALL your wonderful deeds." Psalms 9:1 NIV

The book of Psalms is full of great songs, written and sung by great men of faith of old. These people were worshipers and prophets and poets, all anointed by God's Spirit unto such ministry, David being the major psalmist was named a man after God's own heart!

In this psalm, David declares prophetically how with his all heart he will give thanks to the Lord. But what strikes me most, is the second phrase that says, he will tell of ALL the wonderful deeds of the Lord. The Lord is God, and His ways are not our ways, His greatness is beyond human comprehensive ability He is a God who reigns from generation to generation, His righteousness is like a mighty mountain! Towards us He has great thoughts, thoughts that outnumber the sand!(Psalm139). Now David still declares that he will tell of All the wonderful deeds of the Lord!

I believe that David here was speaking Prophetically about the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Only Christ Jesus Could declare all the greatness of God to the entire world, And He did it! He went to the cross, took away the sins of the world, died, and rose again, to tell forth to the entire world, how much God so loves us! Through His body, Christ Jesus gave thanks to the Lord, through His sacrifice on the cross in that the father was pleased with all the Son of God had offered for the sake of the world. Jesus wholeheartedly gave God the sacrifice of thanksgiving for His faithfulness and goodness, Because it is only through the wrath of God that sin was utterly destroyed in that cross! Think about it! Christ is the only one who can and Has fulfilled ALL that God ever required and requires and will ever require! Including giving thanks to Him!..

Now, what is our part in this? He who has the son, has life. He who has the son of God, has the witness of all the things that He has done. It was for our sake that He came, So that through Him we may participate in the revelation of the goodness of God through what Jesus has done. When we believe in Christ, and thus become God's righteousness in Him, We are declaring to our bodies and to the world, ALL that He has done! When we live by faith in His word, We are a walking, declaring and a praising people of God, who witness day and night of His marvelous goodness! Believe in the Son and all that God's wonderful deeds are yours to receive, and greater still we are restored into Great union and Perfect peace with God when we believe in Christ.

I will not expound on this but I will ask you friend, to ponder about it: the heading of this psalm 9 is "For the director of music. To the tune of “The Death of the Son.” A psalm of David."

Just As You Are

2011-01-31T23:25:00.000-08:00

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17

It is only those in debt that need pardon. It is insane, if not foolish to pardon somebody who did not owe the pardoner. Only those in debt celebrate the waiver. With no illness, medicine is worthless, and so is the doctor. Salvation operates in the same way, we are pardoned, because we were indebted to sin. Jesus is life where there isn't and hope where there isn't and peace where there was war.

The only thing that hinders us from receiving His touch, is the notion that we are fine, we are healthy, our works are enough, or we have a good history and we haven't done much to warrant much saving. We think because we have depicted traces of humanistic goodness, heaven owes us trophies and the blood of Jesus isn't that relevant. After all, we say, we are virtuous people who read the bible and know the right thing to do. This is the highest form of pride, that renounces Christ's mission on earth, it is the same spirit that was and still is veiling the Jews as they study and follow the law. It is the righteousness of merit, where we load our accounts with our somewhat positive points, then weigh our current balance with our own measures and consequently declare ourselves good enough or 'self-righteous'.

"For all have sinned..." Romans3:21.. This is where salvation starts. When the Lord opens our eyes to the sin in us, then thank God that we can finally confess Jesus as our sin remover! When we see our inability to make ourselves righteous and that every attempt comes to naught then the light of the savior has risen upon you. Arise therefore and rejoice, you sinner, you ungodly, for God justifies the ungodly, the sinner Romans4:5. This is the day to reckon Christ as the fullness of our salvation, by letting Him be who He is in us. We let Him be Who He is by being who we truly are, according to the light of the word, we were sinners but forgiven, ungodly but justified, and once we know our standing, the standing of the pardoned, we rejoice in His healing and saving power!

Christ, Our True Fast Pt2

2011-01-13T03:22:00.000-08:00

"Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?" Isaiah 58:7

Jesus Spent Himself, yet not for Himself but for our sake! Imagine waking up and realizing that your body is to be broken and served to people who even don't deserve! Yet He found Joy in offering all He had, He had no questions, no refrains, no grumbling because He trusted in His father's Love. And God, in one unpopular move, provided a living way through which mankind will access heaven. And the wealth of God has become the inheritance of man, and What God partook with His only son, has now been distributed to the sons of men who have become sons of God! The same Love the same peace and Joy He enjoys in Heaven, with Jesus, we have been made partakers of this too!

We were wanderers in the world, not knowing where to turn to, as everything godly seemed unreachable, and the thirst in our hearts was driving us crazy. Yet Jesus came and clothed us with His robe of righteousness, and made us a people and gave us a place and a voice in the universe! Now we have a Father, A brother and Many sons that Jesus Has united!. We are family!

Once Jesus Bore us into the kingdom of God, He didn't leave us there. He has sent us the Spirit by whom we Cry 'Abba Father' for such are His blessings. He constantly reminds us that we are not alone, that He is one of us, He is in us and He is our Savior forever. Never is He going to Leave us nor forsake us we are in His plan!

Friend, this verse Show How Jesus Christ, Through the fast of the Cross, made provisions for u in our lives, as was expected of the fast chosen by God. Jesus Fulfilled it all. We have been called unto the obedience of Faith, Which calls us to believe in Jesus Christ Who has done all these and Now we in Him, Have fulfilled all righteousness expected, and we don't miss out in any of the blessings that was entitled to His obedience. We are the recipients of the Promises of God through Christ Jesus. It's an empire of Love!

Christ, Our True Fast Pt1

2011-01-04T03:45:00.000-08:00

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?"Isaiah 58:6

Let us see in this passage What God has Chosen to be His kind of fasting:

To loose the chains of injustice. There is One Who Truly Denied Himself, so that he may bring Justice to the World. He Chose to take upon Himself the guilt of the World and God the Judge, Judged Him for all the Wrongs of Man. And So God's Justice was fully Met in His body. Christ Jesus the true Sacrifice. Rom 4:25

Untie the cords of the yoke. Christ Jesus canceled the written code, the law that really bound us to our own weaknesses and inabilities. The law burdened us in that it placed regulations (yoke) upon us that we could not attain in eternity. Christ Jesus Denied Himself so as to Untie this cords that bound us to the performance of the law and religion. Colossians 2:14

To set the oppressed free. Christ Jesus was anointed to set the oppressed free, He left His splendor of Heaven, and Emptied Himself, So that He may, through the anointing, release those who were bound in sin. Luke 4:18

Break every Yoke. Notice After the Cords are untied and we are Freed, Christ Jesus, Through His Sacrifice Also Destroyed the yoke, so that it will not come back to us once we are freed! Through Him, We are forever free from every Yoke. He calls out for us in matthew 11:28 to come to Him , Those who are weary and ..Heavy Burdened and He will give us Rest! He Breaks Every Yoke and He Becomes our covering and Protection from ever being yoked again! He becomes our new Yoke which is Easy and His burden Light! Because He is the freedom, He is the protection and the safety!

My friends, Jesus Denied Himself His Glory, His heavenly position, His Army of Angels for protection, His power, His purity, Splendour.. He is the Persionification of Perfect Denial, For the sake of Saving all of us. And God Has Chosen this Fast of Christ Jesus to be the True Fast. In Christ Jesus We are Freed, We are protected and We are Justified. When we believe in Christ Jesus, We enter into God's Perfect Plan of Love and we don't need to do any thing extra but believe in This Jesus Who is Our True Fast!

Walk by the Spirit

2010-12-21T21:40:00.000-08:00

"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Gal 5:16 NIV

For most of us, when the words 'desires of the flesh' are mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is lust, cravings, passion, sin and so forth. But these things, the lust, cravings and so forth are the works of the flesh or the acts of the flesh which are mentioned in verses 19-21.

"But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." Gal 5:19 NIV. in other words if you are led by the flesh you are under the law! so what are the desires of the flesh? self effort and human based works to attain the perfect standards of the law independent of God. The desires of the flesh is that it finds itself righteous, pure, perfect and blameless; wanting to become like God without God's intervention, which is basically the lie Adam and eve were given in the garden of Eden by the serpent leading them to partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In Gal 5:17, Paul states that What the flesh desires and what the Spirit desires are in contrast. The Spirit is God and Is in perfect union with God and desires that all be in relationship with God, through the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross. The Spirit desires that Christ Jesus be our perfection, our wisdom our righteousness and our holiness. The flesh however desires that we become our own gods, that we cultivate our own perfection, wisdom, righteousness based on the standards of the law independent of God!

Sometimes we get ourselves in between the two, where the Spirit calls us to rest and believe in Christ, while in our minds we have plans to make things better for ourselves. The truth is Christ, Reality is Christ, Life is Christ, and therefore we need to know that Jesus Christ gave all of Himself , so that we may freely receive Him as a gift. I Pray that the first thing coming to our minds any time we want to do anything would be to wait of Him, and To receive Holy Spirit wisdom for that thing, instead of Jumping on it the usual way we know how. Because when we go by the flesh, the works thereof are a recipe for death Gal 5:19-21.

But when we walk in the Spirit, the fruit thereof is of life! Gal 5:22-23.

Woman

2010-12-14T02:26:00.000-08:00

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" Eph5:25
        Religion Has dealt a big blow upon creation by ensuring that the woman is suppressed, considered less and dominated, quoting such verses (they do so out of context) in their defense to advance chauvinism and manipulation in the world.

        Husbands are called to Love their wives, Just as Christ Did the Church. When we were in oppression of sin and bondage, Christ Loved us and gave Himself for us, so that He would seat us with Him in the Heavenly places, ruling and reigning with Him. Jesus Emptied Himself of everything for our sakes, He gave all He had and maximized His position as Son of God to Ensure that we become sons of God too!.This is How Christ Loved the Church!

      The DNA of authority and strength is found in man, But it's time for us to realize why God has given man these things. And Christ being our example, It is very apparent that man has no right to utilize his position of authority to suppress others and make sure that He is the only one that roars in the entire backyard, NO! This authority and Position Has been Given to man so that he may utilize it to uplift and uphold the woman!

Religion kills, and so is the worldly system, that oppress women, because God's order is that the woman should be lifted to the same position as the man! Christ Has lifted us to His position where we rule and reign with Him! We will beat many obstacles if not all when the world awakens to the potential Hidden in the glory of the woman!

New Wine Era

2010-12-10T01:48:00.000-08:00

"The vats will overflow with new wine and oil." Joel 2:24

Jesus is the New wine, We are the Vats. It is not of our works but because of God's Love , He poured His life upon us like wine. He continues to Pour Himself upon us by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is Who God Is! Just like our truest nature is in our spirits! Now since God so loves us and Keeps pouring Himself upon us Like New Wine and Oil for He is the New wine and the Oil, we, say, "Let the Vats overflow with your wine Lord!" There is Plenty for everybody! Have a merry weekend in the wine of the Holy Spirit! Let it bubble!

Gladness and Joy

2010-12-08T23:20:00.000-08:00

"Worship the LORD with gladness;" psalm 100:2a NIV

In the world today, emotions of joy, gladness and laughter are deemed appropriate only in informal gatherings and entertainment joints, they are a response suitable only in restricted environments.Such times are taken less seriously, and in the back of our minds we believe that nothing worth living for can be achieved with joy and gladness, though we need them. Most of us, even in churches while doing the "worship songs" put on a very serious face, accompanied by somber looks and occasional wave of hand in the air.

Now I don't presume that these are inappropriate display of worship, and I believe God Responds to our sincerity of Heart.

The above passage however puts the words "worship" and "gladness" in one sentence! We know in ourselves that when doing something important, we put our seriousness hat on. It is what we've been taught and served by this world! This passage goes on to say that the reason we need to worship with Gladness is: "... the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."psalm 100:5 NIV.

If God is good in Himself and His love endures forever, then why should we praise or worship Him? He seems to be doing pretty good on His own! (I'm arguing logically) .IT is because All His goodness, All His Mercy, All His love is All towards Us Forever!! Jesus is the goodness of God in Person, Jesus is The Mercies of God in Person, Jesus is The personified Love of God! And Jesus Was Given to us because God So loved the World... "All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you." Jn 16:15 NIV.

We know Jesus did not come to set a perfect standard, but to become the perfect substitute for us. He did not want us to try and match up to Him, But for us to come to Him so that He may give us Rest and match us up to Himself by His grace! And when We receive Him, He teaches us the Things of God, and Enables us to know what we have been freely given by our God! Now if God is good, Then by the Holy Spirit we now know that His goodness is our goodness! He has become one with us. Since our Lord is Joyful and He has been anointed with the oil of gladness Heb1:9, His Joy is Our Joy and His Joy is our Strength!..

To worship God with Gladness therefore is to worship God out of the revelation that God is residing in us, and He never changes, and His mighty grace is Flowing from Him to Us first Hand. We are His restoration. We are His property! we are In Him!...

My prayer for all of us today is that we may allow the Holy Spirit to release our Hearts unto the full rhythms of God That He has graciously bequeathed us to live in. That we may yield to the work of The Holy Spirit of glorifying Jesus in our Hearts by making known to us what we have been FREELY GIVEN in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! "He (the Holy Spirit) will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you." John 16:14 NIV

In Sleep

2010-12-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.Psalm 127:2b NASB

The culmination of Rest is the natural sleep. Sleep is the wholesome pause of the human system, where everything comes to rest. In the new covenant, God is calling us to enter into His rest. It is in the rest that we receive all that God Has freely given us in the finished work of Christ Jesus.

Adam Didn't work for the garden of Eden, God Placed Him there after He breathed on him, God finished the work before He gave Him. Adam was also put in deep sleep, only to wake up and find his mate Eve. Abraham entered the covenant with God in Sleep. Jacob,Joseph,Daniel,Ezekiel,Isaiah,John and many great men of God all received Great revelations in sleep. God's wisdom far surpasses human understanding and sometimes our understanding gets in the way of God's great blessings in our lives, since our understanding mostly roots from the world order, a fallen order since sin entered in. Thus our Father of all comfort and pleasure, first "..Makes us to lie down" in the green pastures.

We have to be made to rest in order to freely partake of His goodies. For a long time have we despised our resting time especially our natural sleep time, which for most of us would be our nights. For full restoration to come, we need supernatural sleep encounters, such that immediately we enter into that bed, we step into the supernatural realm of Heaven and God's flavorful blessings gush down into our beings.

My Prayer for us today is that we will Give To God our nights, our resting time, that we will allow Him to freely invade our nights and take over our dreams and visions. Lately, God has been ministering powerfully in my rest, that I wish it would be the same when I was awake or in a meeting! It truly attests to the truth that God uses the simple things to confound the wise, even our unconsciousness to confound our consciousness! And this really humbles us to His greatness and causes us to rely more on Him and His ways. Enjoy your rest with and in Him!

The Soul

2010-12-06T22:03:00.000-08:00

"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" matthew16:26 NIV

Jesus asks these questions to show the priceless significance of the human soul. In God's reality, The world and all in it is not worth much compared to what He has deposited in our Souls. Jesus shows us that What God Has Created in us is Of great value since it is eternal, invaluable, and capable of Holding treasures of much worth than the whole universe! It is only in Christ Jesus that we truly exploit and harness our full potential as beings of God. Eph 2:10 tells of our true identity in Christ Jesus and What we are here for! Therefore in Jesus we Have great value, We are God's investment, and for sure, He is the best Steward!