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May the Lord bring divine clarity, divine perspective, and divine direction, as we continue to meditate upon the promise of God to us, to hear Him speak into your heart and mine to build us up – For the Lord builds up Zion; He appears in His glory. (Psalm 102:16) And He does it in a relationship with you, in which by grace and faith in Christ Jesus, you become a child of God, having the right and privilege of calling Him, Abba Father. Therefore you need not go back once again to slavery and bondage to fear. For the Holy Spirit is given to you to be your Helper and Comforter. And it is when you know that you need help that you are blessed. He is the Spirit of truth, who leads you into all truth, to Truth, that is the Person of Jesus. And though many may speak words concerning Him to be politically correct, it is the revelational knowledge concerning Him that involves a revelational experience of who He is in you, that makes the difference.. And it will lead you to know and experience that knowing God, and being known by Him, is the greatest blessing in your life, both now and in eternity. And it is the Holy Spirit who is your Teacher and Empowerer >in the outworking of it in you, as He discloses the truth of the Personhood of Christ and the centrality of the Cross in you. It was where He became that you may become, and need no longer be, what He became.
What did Christ become?
He became sin, that you may become the righteousness of God, and need no longer be in sin. And He became a curse, that we may become the blessing of God. As it is written , Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse for us, for it, is written,’ Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised Spirit by faith. (Galatians 3:13,14) A curse is a force that is devoted to your destruction, to bring you down, keeping you below. Blessing is the power of God in you and upon you that prospers you, lifts you up, to be above, and not below. It was the Lord’s call upon Abraham, that he would be surely blessed, to become the father of many nations. But then, as one can observe even now, there is plenty of evil and destruction all around that can only be what is a curse, and definitely not a blessing. It could very well be signs of the last days, but what can bring comfort in your soul is the unalterable truth that in the midst of it all, God is sovereign. And He sticks to His promise of blessing, for He has redeemed us from the curse of the law.
How did the chaos of the curse come into play?
The law is good; it has been given by a God of grace and truth. Therefore, the curse that prevails even now in a world that is under the sway of the evil one, was certainly not God’s original design and purpose in creation. Therefore, one needs to find out the reason behind it all, for God is not an unreasonable God, distributing random acts of destruction that cause chaos and confusion. Deuteronomy chapter 28, describes the effect of the curse in great detail, after first mentioning the goodness of the blessing of God upon His people if they chose to obey His word, His wise counsel that would prosper them. It was why the law was given to them; that they would reap the good rewards of their obedience, to be blessed in every aspect of their lives. And being a just God, the cost of disobedience was costly and painful when they chose to disobey the law that had been given for their own good. The law that is intrinsically good has been instilled in the heart of a man by a God who is forever good. But something went wrong in man and it was how sin and death entered and corrupted man, establishing the need in him for a Savior who is also the Redeemer. By one man, Adam, sin entered, and death reigned … (Romans 5:12) And what lày behind what he did, was more than just eating the fruit forbidden by God. For the root of sin is unbelief. He did not believe God’s word to him, and therefore his action was contrary. It is why the apostle Jàmes counsels you and me to be doers of the word of God, not merely hearers. For when you doubt the word of God, you will end up believing Satan. There is no spiritual vacuum. And rejecting God’s word is accepting the word of the evil one. For, whatever your circumstance may be, it is hearing what God has to say concerning it, that can lead you on the right path that will see you prosper and find satisfaction and fulfillment.He who has ears let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches..’ is the counsel of the Risen Lord to us, who are His church, today. And it is the Holy Spirit in you, who brings to your remembrance what the Lord has spoken to you in His word, that what is impossible with man, may be possible with HIm. It stresses the need to be sensitive to hearing His voice, and you become sensitive to what you give your attention to. Therefore focusing solely on what God has spoken in His word, needs to be the one thing that you do, that you may move forward.
All of HIS words are truth:
And what you and I need to bear in mind as Christians are that when it comes to the word of God, we cannot pick and choose, to accept and pay heed only to what suits us, and reject what is confrontational, challenging, showing us the need to change. God’s word is truth, and it is knowing the truth that sets us free. And God is the God of all comfort, who strengthens and empowers us through learning moments that come in our path. Let the righteous rebuke me is the earnest plea of the psalmist. But there is a basic premise concerning God that seems to be at odds with what is happening all around. God is a good God; then why is there so much evil in the atmosphere? It begins with the very first couple, Adam and Eve, who allowed Satan to destroy the ideal state for which God had so lovingly created them. (Genesis 3:17,18) From a very superficial point of view, it could seem that Adam listening to his wife, lay at the root of it all, and it can also lead to a wrong interpretatioN of the truth. For, what is in line with God’s word needs to be the determining factor, whether it is spoken by the husband or the wife in a marital relationship. And one finds the Lord instructing Abraham to listen to what Sarah said, in a situation, that to Abraham personally, was very painful. The husband needs to see his wife as the helpmeet whom God is bringing to him, to complement him, that they may go on to fulfill God’s vision and calling, for sometimes what is oblivious to one, could be very obvious to the other! And the only wise God knows it well! But both Adam and Eve rejected God’s word that gives the higher perspective, over and above man’s calculations and intentions that are invariably limited when compared to His plan and purpose. It was the spiritual maturity that Elkanah, the wife of Hannah displayed, as he surrendered willingly to the word of God that came to them through her, concerning Samuel their long-awaited and longed for son, who had been born as an answer to Hannah’s prayer – He may have had inner qualms, for, at the temple, Eli’s sons were known to be vile and disobedient unto the Lord. But he bowed in submission unto the confirmation of the Lord’s word to them. And may it be your prayer this day that the Lord would confirm and establish His word in every aspect of your life, to make it complete and whole. (1 Samuel 1:23)
CROSS-the curse removed:
It is the marvelous, glorious truth, and when unpacked in all its splendor you will know and experience the truth of being free of every curse. The truth of God’s word reveals that curse, the evil effects of it, is a result of disobedience to His word. But then, Christ who was born to redeem us from the curse of the law was never disobedient. The Father Himself testified about Him saying, ‘This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’. And in order to set us free – Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8) He was made a curse so that you can become the blessing of God.
The obedience of Christ:
He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the Cross. (Philippians 2:8) The Cross was the punishment for our disobedience that came upon Him. It was cruel, not a sight to behold. But, when it comes to the Cross, one ought to look deeper than what was patently visible – The Cross -where His obedience came to us; God’s righteousness and love crossed on the Cross. At the center of it all was Christ who bowed to His Father’s will and gave Himself for us in love, that the Father may glorify His Name in Him. And our disobedience and His obedience crossed on the Cross, to bring blessing back to us, one that was lost because of our disobedience to the law of God. And the blessing of the promise of the Holy Spirit, delivers you from slavery to the bondage of sin, empowering you to reign in life. Paul explains the result of putting your trust in the gracious work of the Cross in you, in his letter to the Romans- The principle of sin works in every human being, because of the first man Adam’s sin. (Romans 5:18,19)
But redemption has come in Christ Jesus, the last Adam. And therefore what He has accomplished on the Cross also works in you much more powerfully, to not only deliver you from sin and curse but to do something higher. Obedience to the word of God, and rejecting the word of the devil, saying ‘no’ to his evil promptings is now possible by the blessing of the Spirit in you. (Galatians 3:14) A simple portrayal of it would be, not only a clearing of all your debt but also having the power in you not to fall into debt again According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and the sprinkling with His blood. (1 Peter 1:2) The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in you leads you to obedience, to be able to say in the Spirit’s power that all things are possible to you through Christ who strengthens you. The greatest blessing is the power of the Holy Spirit in you, is His imparting of the power that enables you to say ‘no’ and resist the devil so that you may prosper in every area of your life, as the hand of God accomplishes mighty things in you, that God’s Name may be glorified. The psalmist describes the life of a man, who fears or lives in obedience to His word thus – Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. (Psalms 128:1)
The impact of the CROSS:
And even this day may the prayer of Elkanah be yours too, that the Lord would confirm and establish His word on you, all by His grace and His mighty power. You have a faithful God. Pardon for sin, a peace that endures, His blessings are yours, for great is His faithfulness. Father, the full impact of our disobedience, and the obedience of your Beloved Son is what we can see on the Cross. Help us to know the truth, and xperience the blessing that has come upon us, the power with which we can say ‘Yes’ to your word, and ‘no’ to the voice of the evil one, that in obedience, your blessing may continue to be the portion of your people. In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
