2014/02/18

A Good Father



Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Mark 11:24


How do we know that God is a good God and a good Father?

Jesus dealt with this question simply by asking another question: "If earthly fathers, imperfect as they are, know how to give good gifts to their children, don't you think that your loving Father who is in heaven will be even better?"

If your child asks you for bread, would you give him a stone? Certainly not. You would give him the best bread you can find. How much more then will your heavenly Father give good things to you when you ask Him!

Know in your heart that God is a good Father to you. So if you need something today, just ask Him for it. And as you ask Him, believe that you have received it from Him, and you will have it!


Have Everything





But of Him you are in Chris Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:30


When you love someone deeply, you would want to give that person your every best. To show your love to that person, you would give him or her what you value the most.

That's exactly what God did when He gave you Jesus. Jesus is the apple of God's eye, heaven's darling Son. Yet, God gave Him up for you because that's how much He loves you. God wants you to have His very best!

Jesus is God's best for us because when we have Jesus, we have Everything! Jesus is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, our success. In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge!

you are truly rich because you have Christ. And in Christ you are Complete. Don't wait to have this or that before you feel complete. You are already complete in Christ - your all in all!



Your All In All




... Chris, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2-3


When God gave us Jesus, He gave us everything. We are truly rich because we have Chris, our all in all. When you need wisdom, Chris is your wisdom. When you need righteousness, Christ is your righteousness. When you need sanctification and redemption, Christ is both to you. When you need faith, He is your faith.



The Great I am




... you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.  Colossians 2:10


When you are fearful of the odds against you, Jesus is your favor.
When you are weak, Jesus is your strength.
When you are troubled and anxious, Jesus is your peace.
When you feel vulnerable, Jesus is your shield.
When you are lonely, Jesus is your faithful companion.
And when you are sick, Jesus is your healing and health.

Jesus is the great I AM and He says to you, "I AM to you whatever you need Me to Be!"


God So Loved You

 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?  Romans 8:32


God is a good God. He is a God of love. But we will never know how much God loves us until we know how much He loves Jesus, because He gave us Jesus, His beloved Son. 

Do you remember the story of Abraham in Genesis 22? Abraham's heart must have been broken when he led his one and only promised son, Isaac, up Mount Moriah to be sacrificed.

What about God's heart when He led His Son, Jesus, on the Calvary for you?

God so loved His Son, but He so loved you too, that He was willing to give up His Son for you. That's how much He loves you! And if God was willing to give you heaven's best - Jesus - do you think that He will withhold anything good from you?














God's Love




... the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.
Deuteronomy 23:5


When you change the way you see yourself and God, you will see changes in your negative circumstances.

Believe that you are greatly, immeasurably loved by your Father in heaven, and you can't help but see His goodness in your life!

Reign In Life



... much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Chris.   Romans 5:17


The power to reign does not depend on your family background, your educational qualifications, how you look or how much savings you have in your bank account.The power to reign is based entirely on Jesus and Him alone.

You are destined to reign in life. Whatever your vocation is, you are destined to reign in life because Jesus is Lord of your life. When you reign in life, you reign over sin, you reign over the powers of darkness, and you reign over depression, over poverty, over every curse, and over every sickness and disease. You reign over the devil and all his devices!

Receiving Grace


...much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Chris.   Romans 5:17

The Bible states very clearly that we are to reign in life through Jesus Christ just by receiving two things from Him: The abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.

God's ways are contrary to man's ways. Man thinks that for God to bless him, he needs to deserve, earn and merit God's favor and blessings by his own efforts. Man thinks that God's blessings are based on his performance and good works.

However, this is not God's way. His way is not about achieving, but about receiving. He promised that when we receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, we will reign in life. He did not say that when we achieve grace and our own righteousness, we will reign in life. But for some reason, many Christians continue to live based on a system of achievement!


Grace



But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Chris... and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.     Ephesians 2:4-6


What believers do is that they take the system of the world and apply it to their Christian life. Instead of depending on God's grace for His favor and blessings to flow, they depend on their self-efforts to try to deserve God's favor and blessings. Yet, God's way is not for us to be blessed by our own efforts. You cannot earn God's blessings by your performance. God's blessings are based entirely on His grace. His blessings over your life have to be undeserved, unearned and unmerited. In other words, there is nothing that you can do to deserve His blessings, for they are based entirely on receiving Jesus, and through His finished work, the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.

God wants us to stop trying to achieve, and to begin receiving the favor, blessings and healing that Jesus accomplished on the cross.

It is Finished


When Jesus hung on the cross some 2,000 years ago, He cried out with a loud voice, "It is finished!" Everything that you and I require to reign in life was accomplished at Calvary on our behalf. That's why we call what Jesus did on the cross His "finished work"! He finished it. He completed it. It is Done! The only thing that works is the finished work! Stop doing what's already Done! Stop doing and start receiving what Jesus has Done!

We have been taught to focus on achieving, on doing and on relying on our self-efforts. We are driven to "do, do, do", forgetting that Christianity is actually "done, done, done". The world tells you that the more you do, the harder you work, and the more hours you put in, the more success you will achieve. The world's way is to nag you to work harder, to forget about attending church on Sundays, to spend less time with your wife and kids, and to spend more time in the office working through the nights, weekends and holidays.