Saturday, January 7, 2012

lessons in christ

At church this morning i was privileged to listen to some of my local fellowship talk while my pastor is away ministering in Dubai.
I wanted to share about something that was talked about this morning and that has been a huge part of my walk this past year.

Accepting gods gifts -
The biggest thing god ever did for us was everything. He gave us his WORD (his direction for living a rewarding life on this planet). He gave us his son as atonement for our fallen flesh. And with this gift of his son came everything we would ever need to have the life that god desired for us to have while we are fleshly creatures.And its the PACKAGE of this gift i want to spend a moment talking about.

BUT BEFORE i get to that, there is a very important point i want to stress. A point that has changed my life.
My love, my life, my actions are not suffient to gain gods favor. Not anyone of us can work our way to the heart of god. Its like asking the poorest person in the world to give all their worldly possessions to the king of the country.  Our love is fraught with human frailty, emotional instability, and selfish intent. That is the sinful nature of fallen flesh. This is who we are!

God KNOWS who we are, he gave us a lifeline in his PERFECT son. God doesn't want us to give him our works. What god wants of us is to RECIEVE his perfect, never ending, unconditional love. That right there is how we please god.

ACCEPTING and RECEIVING the death and resurrection of his son, to set us free from the condemnation of our fallen flesh. Is how we truly honor god.

John, was the only disciple who truly got how much Christ loved him. It wasn't a case of Christ loving him more. It was simply that John got it, and didn't let the condemnation of fallen flesh take away from the perfect love of God. What a wonderful place to sit. In all assurity of gods unfailing, love for each and everyone of us!

The ultimate Gift From God - EVERYTHING

God doesn't have more to give us. Asking god for his blessings is redundant. God has poured out his blessings on all of mankind. But how many of us have really received them?
With Christs death came a huge PACKAGE - it contains: endless health, abundance in all things, blessings, instruction on how to get the most from life on earth, forgiveness, redemption a list too big to cover. Refer to the bible for each and everyone of God's promises to YOU, and by accepting that GOD cannot lie...claim each one of these things for your life.

The catch - YOUR LIFE. haha, I'm not kidding. The good news?

Its your old life god wants. When we come to accept Christ as our savior in order to receive all he has to give us - we have to make some room. Its like as my pastor would say :"god wants to give you a shiny new car, but you cant put it into your garage unless you move out the old car."

Some of us want the new car and the old car. But this isn't really living in the victory of what Christ has given us.

What does it mean to give our life?

it means to understand that while we are imperfect, we strive to understand how gods method of living is and put that into practice in our life. REMEMBER gods grace covers our sinful nature, our sinful past, present and future. God wants us to take the "shiny new life" filled with all his blessings and use it to have the life of our dreams.  But this is our choice. While its what god wants for us, its up to us individually to accept and RECEIVE.

I have realized that many Christians including myself - were good at accepting, but horrible at receiving. Always allowing the condemnation of a past interfere with the blessings of a future.

Its by resting in god and his promises for us, that allows those blessings of the received package to manifest into physical realities. But when we are busy trying to prove things to god by our works, we are blocking the manifesting of his blessings that have ALREADY been poured, and are waiting for us.

So i encourage you all to seek god, and learn of his love for you. A love that surpasses any you have known. A love that never strays, that is always pure and that will sustain a lifetime. Don't fall into the trap of feeling unworthy, shamed, and condemned. These are simply traps from this worldly system to stop us believing that Gods love covers everything. And that its ours, no matter where you are in your walk. God loves the criminal as much as the priest. God's love is not bias. God only wants each and everyone of us to receive, and live our life as it was designed. That is the true nature of God's love.

Be blessed,
joanna xo

disclaimer: these are my personal interpretations of scriptural principles based on study and biblical teaching from faith friends church. I am sharing something that has set me free from religiosity within my walk.  I do respect the view point of others, and am in no-way putting down differing belief systems.

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