Leaving it to God

In my English class in High School I listened to Katherine Antel tell my teacher that she felt frustrated that she has to sit in class when there are so many people who don't know the good news of Jesus. I now appreciate what she meant by that statement. I am praying for Jesus to be revealed to my family and friends who don't know him as their personal Lord and Saviour. I am praying for my boss, my co-workers and many others in the city for the glory of Jesus to be revealed to them. I am not seeing the results. I want to see then now! I was listening to Matt Chandler preach and he reminded me that God saves. Jesus saves according to the will of God. The Holy Spirit reveals the truth. I must continue to pray and believe in their salvation. 

We serve a mighty God. He really cares about his creation especially mankind. When God created man he said let us make man in our image Genesis 1:26. Man not realising that they were already like God were tricked by the snake into believing that by DOING something they could be like God (Eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil). That is the lie that man bought into, that had to do something to gain something that they already had - the likeness of God.  Because of this choice, we are unclean and no amount of doing can make us right with God because God is so Holy that our "doing good" doesn't measure up to His goodness. The bible puts it this way All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags Isaiah 64:6. But God  is love. He so loved the world that he gave us his one and only son, that whomsoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). 

Jesus is the son of God. He was born of a Virgin and conceived of the Holy Spirit. He preached the truth, many could not take it and they killed him. He was crucified, a death reserved for the vilest of criminals. He was buried and on the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and has been exalted to the right hand of the Father. My Father, the Lord God Almighty. Jesus shed his blood and on that cross ALL my sins were forgiven. I like to personalise the crucifixion and imagine Jesus taking the beatings by naming all my sins and imagining Jesus taking them all upon himself so that I can be saved. My sins and the sins of others were so vile that they separated Jesus from God. God couldn't fellowship with Jesus because of my sins and Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli lema sabachthani?" which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46). Jesus came into this world to make me righteous with God. My righteous actions could not do. The blood of Jesus brought me into right standing with God.

                                     

Realising that I still could not fully walk in holiness on my own, Jesus brought the Counselor - The Holy Spirit. If you believe in Jesus Christ, repent your sins and surrender your life to God then you became a Christian. A christian is a new creation in Christ. As a christian, the Holy Spirit of God dwells in me. That's why I have to keep my body clean from fornication, adultery and anything that defiles my body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 puts it like this - Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you are bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. 

I pray that many people may be saved. I pray that they may know God through a personal and intimate relationship with him. I pray that they may be in awe of what Jesus has DONE on the cross. May the promptings of the Holy Spirit guide their path as they do the will of God. May they realise that they are called to be tools in the hands of the perfect master - The Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, Lord of Lords, King of Kings! The only true God whom I call Father. 

(image courtesy of goodle images)