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May the Lord, by His word, speak into your heart, and minister in your life, as we continue to meditate upon His promise; those who seek the Lord, lack no good thing. [Psalms 34:10] And every good and perfect thing comes as a gift from above. [James 1:17] So salvation that you received is a gift from Him, and you are saved by grace and through faith. [Ephesians 2:8] And with a right understanding of salvation, you can appropriate what Christ has accomplished on the Cross, to say, ‘It is finished’. He has dealt with sin, and now He is seated at the Father’s right hand. [Hebrews 1:3]
Sin needs to be dealt with:
The writer of the Proverbs declares Sin is a disgrace for a nation. [Proverbs 14:14] The sin principle is present in you, even after you are saved. But you now have the power to overcome it, instead of falling prey to it. The apostle Paul described himself as a wretched man on account of it, who needed to be rescued from his body of death. And he then declares the victory that is his, through Lord Jesus. [Romans 7:24,25]
HIS goodness:
The goodness of God can become your experience only when sin is dealt with. And it is why we celebrate every day the One who is seated on the throne, having accomplished it all, now make it possible by faith even in you, giving you help in your time of need, as you approach the throne of grace. Your responsibility- In your time of challenge and need, there is a responsibility that is yours too when it comes to making what He has accomplished, your experience, and that is to start with God and not yourself.
1. Not individualism-
In the beginning, was the word. Any problem you face in your life, you need to begin with God. You need to have a conscious start, with an invitation unto Him in prayer, for ultimately He is the solution for all your problems.
Dependence on self – the world system:
Individualism is what defines the people of the world. People are caught in the trap of the world system, with each one choosing to satisfy his self-will. But there needs to be a paradigm shift in your perspective towards it, even as king Jehoshaphat was able to display in his time of crisis, to know that the Lord of Hosts was fighting the battle.
The battle is the Lord’s:
The king of Judah, on facing a huge army coming against him, turned at the very beginning, unto God, admitting honestly that not knowing what to do, his eyes were upon Him. The Lord took responsibility for the battle, guiding him to move forward with the singers leading the way to victory. [2 Chronicles 20:15-17]
2. Not the opinion of others:
What people say to you, regarding your situation, does count. But your primary premise should be that of God being at the centre of it all, and what He says ought to be of utmost importance. For, He is your refuge and strength, and very present help in trouble. His love is everlasting and unchanging. He remains faithful, even when we are faithless, for He cannot deny Himself. With people, it could be radically different, for the people who cried Hosannah, turned around to say, ‘Crucify Him’, as the Lord stood before Pilate. It drives home the truth that what God says to you is of primary importance.
3. New beginning with God:
And sometimes, as Christ Himself has pointed out, the traditions of men could take the primary place that needs to be given to God. ‘In vain do they worship Me, teaching human precepts as doctrines’. You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition. [Mark 7:7,8] Traditions are good only when they line up with the word of God. Often we see cultural traditions, that are not according to the scriptures and are invariably demonic causing trouble and divisions in families, and in society, all because they have nothing to do with God and His commandments. And good traditional values may be eroding, but what will remain is the word of God. And being not ‘mere men’, but men of God, even as you start with God, you receive dynamic power, for by what He has accomplished on the Cross.
He has rescued you:
He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His Beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. [Colossians 1:13,14] By redemption, the truth conveyed is that He has rescued you, and now He is restoring you. And the Lord restores you wholly, of all damage caused by the work of sin in you, that one day you may be presented unto the Father wrinkle-free, as you stand complete. Your responsibility lies in cooperating with His work of grace, as He embarks upon the task of restoring you, dealing with illness of the soul, the sin that has caused damage and pain in every realm of your life.
Standing firm, in His freedom:
The solution is already done; you have been rescued from the domination of the devil and transferred to the kingdom of light, a demonstration of His goodness. It is then that your responsibility, to stand firm in it becomes vital, as Paul writes- for freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. [Galatians 5:1] Not taking the grace of God for granted is so important, for the reality of life is that, one often tends to get back in the same problem. It is what the apostle Paul describes what is our condition to be before we were saved. [Ephesians 2:2] And it is the reason why the scriptures emphasize the need for our minds to be renewed by the word of God, that you may not think like the self-centered world system and satan dominated. [Romans 12:2]
And, when the ‘I’ is your focus:
You are important because God cares about you. It is God, and not yourself that needs to be your focus, as you fix your eyes upon Jesus, the champion of your faith. The devil garners your attention, by getting you stuck in the world system, unable to extricate yourself, and needing to be restored by God. And when the worries and cares of the world assail you, it is then that you need to know that you have a relationship with God, to know that, in the Savior’s own words, ‘In this world, you will have trials; but fear not, for I have overcome the world’. [John 16:13] And it is the promise of God that carries you through, when you face challenges, as you invariably will. The promise of God that is in your thoughts needs to be the declaration of your mouth.
For, You have a good, good, Father:
The Lord Jesus died on the Cross for you; He arose from the dead for you; and now He is seated at the right hand of God, having revealed Himself to you, and as you put your trust in Him, making you a sinner, a child of God, calling Him Father. And the Father knows what you need in your life. [Matthew 6:31] But, do you know that He knows, is the question that you need to ask yourself, for it is in knowing the truth that you are set free. The devil will bring doubts in you, but you only need to turn to God’s word, to find your answer and rest. It is how the Master, overcame the temptations of the evil one, and is also the model that needs to be applied by you and I, in our times of trial. [Matthew 4:4] Amid delayed promises, that birth doubts, knowing and declaring the truth that the One who has rescued you, will lift you at the proper time, will sustain you. And the light of His word will be the light of your path that you may be lifted from darkness and despair to a wholesome restoration. And may our prayer be Shine, in our hearts, Lord Jesus, that we may go forth to shine in this land, for the Father’s glory. You are seated on the throne, that we may make our beginning, in the power of what you have spoken, ‘It is finished’, having accomplished it all. And we thank Thee, for restoring our lives by appropriating it in our lives, as with a right understanding, and cooperation, it becomes our life’s experience. Amen.
