Archive for the ‘Grace of Jesus Christ’ Tag
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, And Colossians – Article – Andrew Wommack Ministries
The driving force behind all that I’ve done and taught is an absolute assurance that God loves me. He didn’t just love me before I committed some of my stupid acts, or He won’t just love me in the future when I get my act together. He loves me right now, independent of any worth of my own. It’s an unconditional love, not based on my performance. Therefore, I am assured it will continue.
God’s love for us is based on Him being love (1 John 4:8), not on our being lovable. That’s wonderful news that most Christians and people in the world have not heard. Most people think that they have to do something to earn God’s favor; therefore, not many people have much hope of ever measuring up.
The Gospel, as it is being presented today, actually drives people away from the Lord. Instead of telling people what the Lord has done for them, people preach about what we must do for the Lord. Many people are told that God’s acceptance and favor are conditional, based on them measuring up to His standard. This is not the truth. God’s true nature and love have not been accurately portrayed.
The only thing that God demands of us is faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ. This is such a radical truth that evokes such a response of love from us that the rest of the Christian life is nothing but a response to what Christ has done for us, not an effort to get Christ to respond to us. Praise the Lord! That’s awesome!
The Apostle Paul is the one who really brought this truth to light. Jesus demonstrated the grace of God as no one ever had before, but the Apostle Paul is the one the Lord used to give an understanding of this truth in Scripture. Paul shocked the religious people of his day by proclaiming justification apart from performance. The religious leaders couldn’t comprehend this. How could they control people if they couldn’t demand performance in exchange for God’s blessing? What would make the people do the right things?
Paul’s answer to these questions was that their love for God would compel them to live holier accidentally than they ever did on purpose. Love is a greater motivator than fear of punishment or rejection; however, the leaders of Paul’s day and the majority of the religious leaders today have totally rejected these claims.
It is commonly preached that God withdraws from us when we do wrong and draws closer as we do better. That is just another way of saying that He gives us what we deserve.
Of course, none of us really deserve anything from the Lord, so there must be a little bit of grace mixed with our performance to make this palatable to the masses. In Romans, Paul makes it clear that this theory doesn’t wash. Romans 11:6 says that it’s either all grace or all works, but not a mixture of the two. We are either acceptable to God based on what we do or on what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us — not a combination of the two. It has to be one way or the other.
The deadliest weapon against the true Gospel is not a total denial of its claims but an addition of other terms or conditions to the only thing that Jesus demanded: faith. Faith in Jesus plus nothing equals total victory. Faith in Jesus plus anything else equals failure. Our faith in Jesus alone is the key to experiencing all of God’s best.
This was the whole thrust of Paul’s teaching in his letter to the Galatians. The Christians in Galatia had received Christ as their Lord through Paul’s ministry and were genuinely saved, but legalistic Jews convinced them that faith in Jesus alone wasn’t enough to be in right standing with God. They were also told that they needed to live holy, according to the Jewish standard of holiness, or they would be lost. Paul attacked that doctrine with a vengeance.
The book of Galatians is one of the hardest hitting books in the Bible. Paul doesn’t mince any words. He tells it like it is, in almost brutal terms. He didn’t do this to hurt the Galatians but because of his great love for them. He considered this truth of the grace of God to be the heart and soul of the Gospel; therefore, any compromising on this issue was unacceptable. There is no true salvation apart from absolute faith in Christ alone. It was Paul’s great love for the Galatians that compelled him to invoke curses on any who would pervert the Gospel.
The book of Ephesians is a much gentler letter, but it proclaims the same great truths. Paul starts this letter with a prayer for the Ephesians, that they would receive wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of what they have in Christ. We have already been given everything in Christ. Why should we try and work for something that we already have? That doesn’t make sense. It’s just a matter of believing and receiving, not working and earning.
In Ephesians, Paul reveals that we are saved by grace through faith and not of ourselves. He also reveals that experiencing the love of God will fill us completely with all the fullness of God. If we aren’t experiencing the fullness of God in our lives, then we aren’t experiencing God’s love in its entirety. The unconditional love of God is the key. Actions are a byproduct of love, not the other way around.
Paul didn’t promote ungodly living. He promoted a relationship with the Lord independent of our worthiness. Once an individual comes into relationship with the Lord by faith alone, it becomes the nature of that person to live holy as love becomes the motivator. In the book of Ephesians, Paul exhorts the Ephesians to live holy, but from the positive motivation of love instead of the negative motivation of punishment that is so common today.
The book of Philippians gives tremendous insight into the personal life of the Apostle Paul. This letter was written to Paul’s biggest supporters and some of his best friends in the ministry. He praised God for their partnership in the Gospel, and he bared his heart to them. He revealed that he was not only willing to die for the sake of Christ, but he was actually looking forward to doing so. He was actually in a struggle as to whether he should stay in this world so he could preach the Gospel or just go on to be with the Lord, which he would much rather do.
How could Paul say such things? How can a person reach a point to where their own life is not the most important thing to them? Paul gives the answers to these questions to his friends in Philippi. He learned how to be content. It didn’t come naturally. He chose to be the way he was. The key was that he had died. You can’t threaten, intimidate, or kill a dead man. Paul was dead to himself and alive to God.
How did this happen? It was through the love of God. Paul had such a revelation of the unconditional love of God that it caused him to die to himself and to all his own desires. The love of Christ constrained him to live the way he did. No law could ever do that. No rule or regulation is worth dying for. It was the personal relationship he had with the living Lord Jesus Christ that caused him to count all of his accomplishments as dung in comparison.
Although written from prison, Paul’s letter to the Philippians has more references to joy and rejoicing than any of his other letters. Paul told us to rejoice in the Lord always. Just in case this seemed so impossible that people would think Paul surely made a mistake, he said it again. It is only when we find our identities in what Jesus has done for us, and not in what we do for Him, that we can experience joy unspeakable and full of glory.
In the book of Colossians, Paul reminds the believers in Colosse that they have already been made worthy to partake of the inheritance Christ bought for them. They’ve already been placed in Christ’s kingdom and are heirs to all His benefits. Understanding this is the foundation of faith. All the deception that the enemy uses against us violates this fundamental principle. Understanding our completeness in Christ as a total work of grace voids the power of the devil. The only real power the devil ever had against us was our sins. They have been dealt with through the atoning work of Christ.
We are already seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We aren’t headed toward victory. We are coming from a victory — Christ’s total victory over the devil. Colossians is a powerful book that describes victorious Christian living.
These four letters that Paul wrote reveal some of the most powerful truths about the grace of God in the Bible. They provide practical understanding as to how God can love us unconditionally and still be just. Feelings fluctuate, but facts fix our hearts in truth. These letters will help establish you in the unconditional love and grace of God.
Thoughts on God’s grace:
Think about for a moment; Jesus came to earth to die for everyone’s sins. That’s proof that God shows no partiality or have any favorites among us. Since the Lord showed us His love like that, do you think He would show favoritism among those who are saved? There are so many and too many in the body of Christ who performs to outdo one another. The sad part is it isn’t necessary. That’s how the world acts. If we perform to get God to do for us, then wouldn’t that mean He shows favoritism? Yes. 1st of all, God’s love isn’t conditional. It isn’t based on how we perform. If it was He would not have sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die for the sins of the world. He would have sent Him just to die for the godly. There are so many scriptures that back up that statement. One being when the Lord Jesus said He didn’t come for those who didn’t need a physician, but for those who did. SN: He is the great physician. The main scripture to help is John 3:16; “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. Another is 1 John 4:10; “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins”.
So if I have to perform in order for God to bless me then that takes away what Jesus did for me; for us all. He died for the whole world, not for some. We are ONLY made righteous by faith in Jesus and what Jesus did (Ephesians 2:9; Romans 4), not by our works. Look at talent shows. We clap the hardest for the one who performed the best. They are the one who win. That’s not the way it is with God’s grace. All who accepts Jesus as Savior; the One who died for their sins and accept His grace are winners and receive the prize of Heaven. Jesus is the ONLY door to Heaven, not our works. Jesus tells us a story in Matthew 7 about how some will come to Him to enter into the kingdom of Heaven based on what they did. They will say they prophesied in His name, they cast out devils. Some may even say, we went to church every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we paid our tithes and offering from each pay, we did this and we did that. But the problem with those statements are it’s about what they did and not about what the Lord did. Those are good works, but those works don’t make us righteous. They are righteous acts, but they don’t make us righteous. The Bible is clear on who make us righteous; and that is ONLY Jesus.
Even the rich young ruler tried to be called righteous based on what he did and the fact he stated he followed the law from his youth. But Jesus asked him to do something that would require His (Jesus) help in which the rich ruler to not get any credit. The Lord told Him to sell all his possessions, and the young man went away grieved. So, if we think following all of the Ten Commandments are going to get us in Heaven, it’s not. The Ten Commandments were holy and good. God brought them to serve a purpose, but that purpose has been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus. Not only that, we are under the New Covenant. The old has been done away with (see Hebrews 8). When we become born again, His laws are written on our hearts and we follow His Holy Spirit as our Guide (Romans 2:15; 2 Corinthians 3:2-3). So all the work and labor we do to get God to do for us is all in vain. He has already done it through His Son. When we understand and accept His grace, we do righteous things because we love Him. Isn’t it better to do it out of love and to do it knowing you are righteous ONLY because of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.
James 3:17; But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
Ephesians 2:4-9; But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Romans 4:4-5; Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Hi all,
I’m currently reading a book titled “Grace; the Power of the Gospel. It is a blessing to me. While reading a part talking about what Jesus did for us made me think about a statement my god-daughter told me back in January concerning Beyonce. I thought about that statement and thought it’s a shame to want someone to go to hell. Jesus died for our sins. He took our payment for OUR sins. To want someone to go to hell isn’t thinking like Jesus. I want to re-post that message from January, 2014 concerning the goodness of God, the Creator, the Father of Jesus Christ, who is Lord AND Savior. I pray you all receive His Grace and receive His good news. That wages (payment) for sins have been paid by Jesus so He can give us the free gift of eternal life. Even those who live their Christian life not in God’s grace but condemning people like Beyonce, instead of being angry with them, pray for their eyes to be opened to the Love that Jesus has for us all. Jesus paid the price for all our sins. Everyone deserves God’s goodness.
This past Saturday morning my granddaughter, who just turned 6 this month, said she wanted to draw a picture of God (see above). Me and her mother was saying we really wanted to see the finish product to see what she felt God looked like. So when she was done she explained what was in the pictures. In the picture there is a woman sitting on a camel with her hands on her belly and she’s crying. There’s a man holding a leash guiding the camel with the woman on it. When my grand-daughter explained the picture, she said that was Mary riding the camel and the man was God. I asked her why is Mary crying. She said Mary was happy because God is so good to us. What I didn’t know was my daughter in-law was in need of help from the Lord and that message spoke personally to her. Later that day while me and my daughter in-law was talking about the picture, the Lord gave her more revelation. She said “The woman was crying because she knows God and that He forgives us”. God’s loving-kindness, goodness truly do brings us to tears. Our God is so awesome. It IS the GOODNESS of God that leads us to repentance. Also, I’m posting an email I got the same day from Joseph Prince concerning God’s grace and His goodness toward us. Also, the next day on Sunday afternoon my 7 year old god-daughter came for a visit and she told me that her pastor said that Beyoncé sold her soul to the devil and she cannot come back from that. The Holy spirit instantly told me that was not true. That judgmental statement just takes away the purpose Jesus came to earth, which is to die for our sins. The Holy Spirit told me that he said that about Beyoncé to have an excuse not to pray for her. Beyoncé has the right to repentance as well as anyone else. Just like the apostle Paul, Peter, even Judas if he repented. In Revelations 2:20-21 says God gave Jezebel space to repent, but she didn’t. But the fact is His grace was given toward Jezebel. Our God is so awesome. Peace and blessings.
Veronica
Romans 2:4; Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Be Christ-Conscious – Joseph Prince
Have you ever woken up in the morning and said, “Today, I will not sin.” And as you leave your house, you say, “I must be careful not to fall into sin today. I don’t want to sin. I will not sin!” My friend, when you do this, you are no longer Christ-conscious but sin-conscious, even though you have not sinned yet.
Men, have you ever caught yourself thinking, “I don’t want to look at any woman in case I lust”? You are being sin-conscious when you think like that. And sooner or later, you will lust in your heart. You may not sin outwardly, but you will sin inwardly.
Have you also tried confessing every sin? I have! As a teenager, when a bad thought came, I would quickly say, “I’m sorry, Lord. Forgive me for this thought in Jesus’ name.” Then, another thought would come and I would quickly say, “Forgive me, Lord, for that thought in Jesus’ name.” Then, if I happen to doubt His forgiveness, I would confess my unbelief and ask for forgiveness: “Forgive me, Lord, for doubting You.” Before I knew it, I was oppressed in my mind and so sin-conscious instead of Christ-conscious!
My friend, when you fall into sin, God wants you to be Christ-conscious. This means that when you have missed it, God wants you to be conscious that in Christ, you have forgiveness of sins through His blood. God wants you to be conscious that Christ was wounded and bruised for your sins, and that the chastisement for your peace was upon Him. (Isaiah 53:5)
When you are Christ-conscious, you will have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:1) You will know that you are the righteousness of God in Christ because He who knew no sin was made sin for you. (2 Corinthians 5:21) He took your sin and now you have His righteousness.
So when you fall, don’t be conscious of your failure and feel bad or condemned. Instead, be conscious of who you are in Christ, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and continue your walk with God!
Edna’s miracle Baby Testimony!
Edna and Melvin’s miracle Baby Testimony!
I would like to glorify the name of Jesus through the testimony I am about to share. My husband and I were married in 2003. Prior to marriage we had planned to have a big family, at least 5 children. I remember sitting at a friends bakery one day (just a few months after I got married) and she was telling me about losing her pregnancies. I said in my heart, thank God these kind of misfortunes will never ever befall me. Little did I know the challenges that were ahead of us.
I became pregnant late 2003 and it was the most exciting news ever. I started spotting very early on in my pregnancy but I didn’t realize that this was an indication of something wrong. During the 3rd month of the pregnancy, I experienced severe bleeding in the bathroom and nearly passed out due to the blood loss. My 3 month old fetus then just fell to the ground. Being in a state of shock I was rushed to the hospital and a D&C was performed. My husband and I were devastated. Once out of the hospital, we tried to overcome the loss we went through by telling ourselves that this pregnancy was not God’s will for us.
We went on with our lives and in 2004, I became pregnant again. Excitement flooded us again when we found out but this lasted only a few weeks. The familiar symptoms arose, I started spotting again at the 2nd month and was admitted to the hospital. I was put on some medication and rested. After a few days I was discharged to go home and was on bed rest. I started bleeding heavily the same night of the discharge. I was rushed to the hospital and when the doctor did a scan the baby had no heartbeat. The doctor decided to immediately do a D&C. We lost the pregnancy at the 2nd month. We were heartbroken once again, and went through the same routine as we did before, encouraging one another and comforting ourselves by saying that this was not meant to be. We continued back with life.
In 2005, I fell pregnant again but I didn’t allow the excitement to get to us. When I went in for a checkup, the doctor said that it was a blighted ovum. Once again, another disappointment. My husband and I started asking ourselves what was happening? Weren’t we faithful to God, going to church every Sunday. My husband was a worship leader in church. We read our bible, tithed and ensured we prayed whenever we could. We were so focused on our works for God and never on what He had done for us.
In 2007 we went for a holiday and when we returned, I found out I was pregnant. This time around we decided to change our obgyn. I went in from the start for my checkups and informed the doctor of my history (first trimester losses). He did all the necessary blood tests and everything was good. He could not say that anything was wrong with me. He started me with some medications ad injections to help secure the pregnancy at the first trimester as my problem seemed to present itself only at the first trimester. And lo and behold I completed my first trimester without any spotting. My husband and I were so excited as we had never gone past our first trimester and this was wonderful. We went out and bought some clothes for the baby. At the 20 week detailed scan the doctor informed us that we were having a baby girl. We were thrilled. At my 21st week, I got up one night with slight cramping. In my mind I convinced myself that it was practice contractions (Braxton Hicks) or maybe I just had a tummy upset as I was totally convinced that my issues were only at the first trimester. The pain persisted so I rubbed some ointment on my tummy but the pain never left. The pain started at 12 midnight and by 7am I started bleeding. I was in a state of panic, I woke my husband up and we rushed to the hospital which was 5 minutes away. I was sent in to the emergency ward and the obgyn on call examined me. He said that my membranes had ruptured and it was hard to save the pregnancy. When a scan was done I saw my baby’s legs hanging out of my cervix. I was in a state of shock .An emergency procedure called a cervical cerclage was performed and I was then heavily sedated with painkillers. At around 12 midnight my water bag broke and my doctor had to remove the cerclage. I gave birth to my baby girl as she was too small to survive outside the womb she did not make it alive. My husband wrapped her up and took our dead baby back home. While I was still recuperating in the hospital, my family had a small funeral service for her and buried her. This was such a traumatic experience for us. I just wanted to die. It felt as if someone had reached into my heart and pulled it out, it hurt that much. My husband and I turned to each other for comfort. We were so tired of life and we wanted to just die. It hurt so much…We couldn’t even pray as we had run out of words. We asked God why He was allowing this to happen but we did not get any answers. With a heavy heart we picked up the broken pieces and continued on with life.
In 2008 I purchased God’s Plan for Pregnancy by Nerida Walker but didn’t pay much attention to it. My husband and I had plans to go to the US and Canada for a holiday that year. We purchased the tickets and applied for our visas. As we were preparing for our holidays, I found out that I was pregnant. This pregnancy really frustrated me as it was unplanned and it would disrupt our holiday plans. I was so angry with myself for getting pregnant and the thought of going through the pain of losing a pregnancy was still so raw to me. I was even tempted to abort the pregnancy. But I carried on and cancelled our plans to the US and Canada with much disappointment. We did some research to find a good doctor and found someone that specializes in treating women with various complications in pregnancies. We went in to see him and after listening to my history of pregnancy losses he came up with a plan on how to treat me for my first trimester. I completed my 1st trimester without much issues and entered my second trimester. During a routine check up at 16 weeks, my doctor found out that my cervix had opened up and surprisingly I wasn’t in any pain. I was rushed to the hospital and was warned not to move out of the hospital bed. I started bleeding profusely in the evening when I tried to go to the bathroom. The doctors immediately performed a cervical cerclage and I rested in the hospital. The doctors said that it might work as my membranes had not yet ruptured. My doctor performed a scan the next day but the baby had no heartbeat. The cercalage was removed and I delivered my baby boy at 16 weeks. The familiar feelings that comes with each losses flooded my husband and I once again. The heart ache and sorrow just swept over my husband and I. He took our little boy back home and when I was discharged, we buried him. Well meaning friends tried to help us by saying that there might be a generational curse in our family that we needed to renounce. My husband and I went on a journey trying to find out from both our parents where things could have gone wrong in our lineage and then we thought that was the key to us receiving our child. Maybe it was some idol worship in the past, or maybe someone had done an abortion and the curse had fallen on my husband and I. So this was our answer to what we went through. Never once did we have a revelation that Jesus had already borne ALL our curses and today as we believe in HIS finished work we are set free. But that revelation was not there for us yet.
During this time my husband and I started burying ourselves in our work as we held good positions in our respective area of work. This caused us to grow further apart from each other. Burying ourselves in work was our way of forgetting the sorrow and pain that we went through during the losses. We didn’t have the strength to comfort each other and this a loop hole in our marriage that allowed the enemy to sneak in and believe in a lie. The lie was that we were not meant to enjoy parenthood and that my husband and I should go our separate ways as we will never find happiness together. We bought into this lie as we did not have a good revelation of Christ and His Finished work for us. During this time my husband traveled a lot for work. This was perfect for us as we started living 2 separate lives. Our communication turned from bad to worse. We also stopped praying, reading the bible and continued going to church when he was around. Christianity wasn’t appealing to me anymore as it involved a lot of works on my part and both of us were tired. We did all the so-called right things but we seemed to be going through so much of heartache.
In 2010 I became pregnant again, this time around my doctor took extra precautions. He said that by the 13th week he would perform a cervical cerclage and it would help me carry the pregnancy full term. He finally diagnosed me with Cervical Incompetence, this is where the cervix opens up prematurely and most times women do not even feel any pain. At 13th week a cerclage was done and I was given treatment to strengthen and hold the pregnancy. Once I passed the 16th and the 24th week I was ecstatic. I told myself the cercalge is holding the pregnancy strong and nothing is going to happen this time around. For all my pregnancies I stayed at home as I was provided with compassionate leave by my office, so having complete bedrest wasn’t an issue. I also used Nerida’s book as a guide. I diligently quoted all the scriptures and said all the prayers. When I look back, they were just vain repetitions made due to my fear of the past losses. I did not have a revelation of the scriptures therefore I wasn’t truly meditating on them for my breakthrough. I got up one morning at my 24th week as there was a strange pain in my belly. I went to the bathroom and there was some pinkish discharge. I felt scared and called up the clinic. I was asked if I had any contractions and I said yes, I was asked to come in to the clinic and they kept me for observation using a CTG machine. My doctor was away for a conference, therefore I was referred to another doctor for care. The CTG didn’t seem to pick up any contractions. By then the pain had already intensified. I was admitted to the hospital and while lying in bed the pain worsened to a point of being unbearable. My husband was abroad for for work during that time and I felt so loss without him by my side. I was given all kinds of medications to stop the contractions but the contractions continued. I was given an injection to help mature the baby’s lungs if the baby was born alive. Despite all the medications, the doctor’s could not prevent me from going into a full blown labor. My water bag broke at night and I was rushed into the operation theater. A neonatal doctor came in to prepare me if the baby came out alive, he asked if I would like the baby to be resuscitated. He informed me of all the complications involved if I had the baby at 24 weeks. It frightened me. The list went on from the baby being blind, deaf, mental retardation etc,etc…it was just too much to handle. What made it worst was the absence of my husband in making a joint decision. After hearing what the doctor had to say, I told him “Doctor please do not resuscitate the baby if she comes out alive”- those the most painful words that I had to utter. I felt so helpless and lost. I gave birth to my baby girl but she did not come out alive. They swaddled her and passed her to me to look at. It was so painful. No words could describe the pain. As my husband was not around, my brother took her back and when I got home we had a funeral service for her. Before I left the hospital, the doctor told me that I will never be able to carry a baby full term as my cervix was too weak and I have there may be an issue of me going into pre-term labor. She said that the only way was to get a surrogate to carry my baby full term or adoption. This was devastating news to me. This was it, I told myself that death was much better for me then going on with life. When we were burying her I felt that I belonged in that grave with her. I cried and cried for days. My husband did not return home immediately as he didn’t want to carry another dead baby back home. Our relationship was so strained that we could not even comfort each other anymore. It came to a point where we did not have much to say to each other.
Early 2011, my husband moved out to another country on his own due to work and I lived my life in Malaysia. This caused us to further drift apart. Sometime in May 2011, things between my husband and I got so bad that we were on the brink of getting a divorce. But the Lord was not going to let this happen. God started doing something in my life. As I was about to walk out of the marriage, I was reminded of the vow I took at the altar and that Jesus was going to partner with me in restoring my marriage. I went to where my husband was and told him where I stood in the restoration of our marriage and that I would not give up no matter what. I returned home and trusted the Lord to give my husband a change of heart. In August 2011, he quit his well paying job and returned home to Malaysia with the thought of trying to salvage what was left of our failed marriage. We never realized that the losses had actually taken such a great toll on us as individuals and as a couple. In November 2011, God began the process of restoring us as individuals, as a couple, our marriage and our home. He showed us the importance of how we needed to establish our home based on the word of God. I took unpaid leave from work and spent at least 5 months with my husband. We spent each day listening to the message of Grace and this gave us a total shift in the way we viewed God. It was no more how much we did for him but rather how much God does for us through Christ Jesus. We had a better revelation of the love of God for us that He was willing to give up his only son so that we may enjoy all of heavens best. Because He gave us his best-Jesus, He will not withhold anything good from us. We spent time meditating on the finished work of Christ at the cross. Once this was at work in us, we walked in such freedom and there was a sense of lightness. The losses of the past were just swept away. The disappointments, the sorrow and sadness was lifted up. My husband and I enjoyed each other and our time together. God restored our marriage to a point that our love for each other was so much more sweeter then it was even before we got married. The cracks that were there before was not visible when Jesus intervened. Having children was not our priority anymore. It had always been a priority too us in the past, charting ovulation dates etc. But we learned to give it all up and just love life. We lived a let go life and enjoyed each moment of it. The whole of 2012 was a time of restoring our marriage.
December 2012, my husband and I went to US/Canada for a holiday. When I got back in January, I found out I was pregnant. This time around the excitement was there but it was filled with hope in the Lord and not what the doctors could do for me. I told the Lord, my trust is not in the medications or my cervix but my eyes are fixed on you Lord and your finished work on the cross. I decided that instead of being in fear, I would go to work and not stay home like previous pregnancies. I was happy, nothing frightened me. I didn’t even go to the doctors till my 3rd month. I was recommended medication for the first trimester but I declined it as I knew in my heart that Jesus was in the midst of the pregnancy and He was going to sustain the pregnancy for the 9 months. At 13 weeks the doctor recommended for a device called a pessary to be inserted at the neck of the cervix to hold it for the 9 months. There was no surgery involved. I was okay with it. The device was inserted and I went home. But not once did I put my trust in the pessary holding the cervix shut. Two days later, there was slight bleeding and I was besieged with fear of losing the pregnancy. We rushed to the hospital but ALL was well. As the 24th week (last loss) was approaching, fear gripped me once again but this time around my husband and I were prepared with the word of God and we knew the price that Jesus has already paid on the cross for us and no way were we going to lose this child as Jesus was holding him and that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Nerida’s book, God’s Plan for Pregnancy, meant so much to me this time around, the scriptures were alive and embedded in my heart. The miscarriage prayer was filled with authority when I said it. Jesus is so, so very faithful. His word is fulfilled to its very last dot. He never failed my husband and I. He who began a good work in us was so faithful to complete it for us! I was meant to deliver my son on 29 September, but God’s appointed time for his arrival was on 31 August 2013. He was born c-section. I remember that day, it was filled with so much of the peace of Christ that I was actually laughing while the c-section was being performed.
Isaac Hanan was born on 31 August 2013 at 1.55pm. Isaac means laughter and Hanan means Grace in Hebrew. We named him that because we are reminded that the Grace of God through Christ has brought much laughter in our lives. God reminds me of being a master builder. He first started working in our lives changing us and perfecting us as individuals. While that was going on he started working on us as a couple and restoring our marriage and our home. He then finally restored our bodies and made us whole to conceive our child and he carried us through the 9 months. While I was carrying Isaac, not once did my cervix shorten. It remained long and shut till the day he was born. My doctor did say for most women that have been diagnosed with an Incompetent Cervix that they would experience some shortening of the cervix during the pregnancy even with a cercelage. It was not the pessary that held the cervix but it was the mighty hands of Jesus. My husband and I are in our 40′s but God is no respecter of age. Our lives will never be the same again as we have tasted the Lord and He is so, so good. All glory and honor goes to Jesus for restoring to us the joy of our salvation.
Love, Edna
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS IN CHRIST – From Andrew Wommack Ministries
Matthew 22:11 "And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:"
MATTHEW 22:8-14
In this time, it was customary for the host to provide their guests with wedding garments to wear to the wedding. It was an insult of the highest degree to refuse to wear the clothing provided since the guests were brought in directly from the highways and streets. The wedding garment speaks of the righteousness of Christ that God so graciously provides for all who accept His invitation into the kingdom. It must be put on by both good and bad (Mt. 22:10).
Right standing before a holy God is not to be achieved in keeping the law but in humble trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. No one, who is trusting in his own righteousness, can have the benefit of Christ’s righteousness. The righteousness that gives men relationship with God is the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, and it comes freely through faith in Jesus Christ.
The way we obtain this righteousness is by putting faith in what Christ has done for us. When we place our faith in Christ, then the righteousness that Jesus obtained by His faith becomes ours.
Through faith in Jesus, we can receive the very righteousness of God as a gift. God’s righteousness is infinitely more in quality and quantity than man’s puny righteousness. No one can ever be justified in the sight of God based on his own righteousness which comes through acts of holiness. One must have God’s righteousness which only comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Paul said in PHILIPPIANS 3:9, "AND BE FOUND IN HIM, NOT HAVING MINE OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHICH IS OF THE LAW, BUT THAT WHICH IS THROUGH THE FAITH OF CHRIST, THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS OF GOD BY FAITH." THIS IS "THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD."
GROW IN GRACE – From Andrew Wommack Ministries
Luke 9:55 "But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of."
LUKE 9:54-56
Jesus was constantly being accused of breaking the law of Moses. He taught differently than the law of Moses (Mt. 5:21-48), and now He rebukes His disciples for desiring to do what an Old Testament prophet did with God’s blessing and power. However, Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law but to fulfill it.
Jesus came not to destroy men’s lives but to save them (Jn. 3:16; 10:10).
"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them" (2 Cor. 5:19). Jesus was just in doing this because He bore our sins (Isa. 53:4-6) and the accompanying wrath of God (Mt. 27:46; Heb. 2:9). Jesus didn’t reject God’s judgment against sin; He bore it (2 Cor. 5:21). Therefore, He was able to extend the grace and mercy of God to those who would have been doomed under the law of Moses (Acts 13:38-39).
The Old Testament law was like a judge passing sentence upon sin. Jesus became our advocate (or lawyer). Even more than that, He became our substitute, bearing "our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24).
He didn’t destroy God’s judgment; He fulfilled it in Himself, so that we could go free. This forever changed God’s dealings with sinful man. In light of what Jesus has done in the New Covenant, we would be rebuked for trying to release God’s wrath upon others as was done in the Old Covenant. Likewise, if Jesus would have been on the earth in His physical body, reconciling the world unto Himself in the days of Elijah, then Elijah would have been rebuked for his actions, as recorded in 2 Kings 1:9-15. There is a difference between Old Testament law and New Testament grace. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (Jn. 1:17). Grow in grace.
Free From Burdens 