JESUS PAID IT ALL :
John 8:28 "Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things."
This is the second of three times that Jesus spoke of Himself being "lifted up" (1st - Jn. 3:14; 3rd - Jn. 12:32-33). As the scripture explains in John 12:33, this was a reference to crucifixion as the means of His death. The lifting up is speaking of being lifted up from the earth and suspended on a cross in crucifixion. The Jews understood that Jesus was speaking of death.
The crucifixion didn't just happen. It was planned by God. Does this mean that God bears all responsibility and those who were actually instrumental in the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus are not guilty? Not at all. Jesus came to the earth to die in our place and thereby purchase redemption for us. That was His plan but He didn't force anyone to fulfill it. His ministry and message placed Him in direct opposition with the devil and his followers. Their hatred for Jesus caused them of their own free will to crucify Jesus.
God, in all His wisdom, simply knew what man would do and He determined to use their rejection of His Son to accomplish His will. He never controls our will to accomplish His.
If a person truly understands the message of the cross, then he understands grace. Jesus didn't just make a token sacrifice for us. He paid it all. There's no sacrifice that we can make that will add to or replace the sacrifice of Christ. He did it all, and we can thank Him forever!
THE LIGHT OF THE LAMB
The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. —Revelation 21:23
For countless generations people have looked to the sun and moon to light the day and the night. Whether illuminating our path or providing the life-giving radiance for fruitful crops and the nutrients our bodies need, the sun and moon are part of God’s marvelous provision of light. The book of Genesis tells us that God gave “the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night” (Gen. 1:16).
But someday God will provide a different kind of illumination. Of the eternal heavenly city, John writes: “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light” (Rev. 21:23). Interestingly, the word translated “light” here is more accurately rendered lamp. Christ in His glorified state will be the spiritual lamp that lights up that joyous new world.
The Lord Jesus Christ is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He is also the source of spiritual illumination that makes those who follow Him “the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). But in eternity He will be the Lamp that lights our way (Rev. 21:23). What a thrill it will be one day to live in the light of the Lamb!
No darkness have we who in Jesus abide—
The light of the world is Jesus;
We walk in the light when we follow our Guide—
The light of the world is Jesus.
The Light of the world knows no power failure.
OPEN THEIR EYES TO THE LIGHT :
If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. - 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
Since God doesn't save anyone against their will, does it really do any good to pray for people who consciously refuse to receive Jesus as Lord?
Yes. Yes! YES! IT DOES!
You see, in spite of the fact that most all unbelievers who have purposely refused to receive Jesus as Lord think they've made that decision of their own free will, the truth is, they haven't. The Word of God says they've been blinded by Satan. He's blocking their perception of the truth. So their decision hasn't been freely made at all.
That's important for you to grasp. Because through the prayer of intercession, you can interfere with the satanic forces and help take those blinders off! You can also change circumstances with your prayers and help create situations that will bring them in contact with the Lord. You're well within your spiritual rights when you do that.
I prayed with a friend of mine once who'd been praying for his lost brother for years. Jesus said in Matthew 12:29 to first bind the strong man and then enter his house and spoil his goods. So we said, "You spirit blinding the eyes of ______________, you stop what you are doing to keep him out of the kingdom of God. In Jesus' Name, you stop NOW!"
Jesus also said in Matthew 9:38, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." So we prayed, "Lord, send someone to ____________ with the Word of God. You know who he will listen to. We claim _____________ for the kingdom of God. We believe we receive his salvation and deliverance. In faith we praise You for it."
In almost no time at all his brother called him. "What have you been doing up there?" he asked. "In the past few days, everybody I've come across has started preaching to me!"
Our prayers had interfered with the forces Satan had been using to blind this man to Jesus and created the circumstances to bring him into the kingdom. Sure enough, within a few days, he was born again.
Use this same prayer for your loved ones and believe when you pray and you'll see the same results.
Don't sit by and let the devil take your friends and loved ones without a fight. Pray. Pray! PRAY! Come against the "god of this world." Take off the blinders and open their eyes to the glorious gospel of God.
KNOW WHAT’S LEGALLY IS YOURS
ISAIAH 54:17 “No weapon formed against you shall prosper…This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord.
Receiving healing from God is not about you begging Him for something that He’s already done. It’s about you knowing what is already legally yours because of the cross. It’s about you believing that the same way you have been righteously forgiven is the same way God has already righteously healed you.
When you have a revelation of this truth, once any symptom starts showing up, you will declare with faith in your heart, “NO SICKNESS in my body will prosper!” Once you are established in the right standing that God has given you through Christ, fears that you may have about not being healed will dissipate like mist under the blazing sun. Beloved, you’ll see every hope you have as the righteous manifest in your body and in every area of your life!
THE THREE THORNS (1) :
'It will produce thorns...for you.' Genesis 3:18 NIV
In Scripture there are three thorns that paint a picture of redemption. Let's look at two of them today and see what we can learn.
(1) thorn-cursed creation. When Adam and Eve sinned, God said, 'Cursed is the ground because of you... It will produce thorns... By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground.' (Genesis 3:17-19 NIV) Everything changed for us in that moment. Roses began to grow thorns, fellowship with God was broken - and man, who was born to live forever, began to die. It was tragic, but God had a solution.
(2) A thorn-crowned Saviour. 'When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head...' (Matthew 27:29 NKJV) The curse that fell in a garden was lifted in a garden! When God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, He placed an angel with a flaming sword at the gate to prevent them from ever re-entering it. But at the cross Christ, the last Adam, was cut down outside the gates to become our Saviour and substitute, and secure our salvation. Now we can re-enter God's presence. What did Adam lose? Fellowship with God, immortality and sinless perfection. At the cross Christ reclaimed and restored all these to us.
'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.' (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV) Notice the words, 'in Christ' - keep them close to your heart each day this month. Rejoice! God loves and accepts you 'in Christ'.
RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
MATTHEW 17:26–27 …Jesus said to him [Peter], “…lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”
Whatever you need, Jesus knows where you can get it and whom you can get it from. He can position you at the right place at the right time!
When Peter wanted to pay the temple tax, Jesus told him to get it from the first fish that he would catch at the sea. Then, when Jesus needed a donkey to ride into Jerusalem, He told two of His disciples which village to get it from. And when He needed a place to eat the Passover with His disciples, He gave two of His disciples specific instructions on who to meet and follow, and what to say to the master of the house, who had already furnished and prepared a large upper room!
Beloved, isn’t it wonderful to know that Jesus knows what you need and has already gone ahead into your future and made provision for your good success? As you put your trust and rest in His heart of love, His peace will lead you to do the right thing at the right time, at the right place!
CONDEMNATION IS THE ROOT CAUSE :
ROMANS 8:1, NASB - Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
When you have a plant with sickly leaves, it would be foolish to just treat the leaves without knowing the root cause of the problem. Similarly, when “leaves” of sickness, poverty and destructive habits start sprouting in your life, you need to know what the root cause is.
Experts will tell you that it is stress. They may go a little deeper and say that it is fear—fear of the future, of rejection, of loss, of death and so on. But is fear really the root? Or is there something deeper than fear?
The Bible shows us that the most fundamental cause of problems in our lives is condemnation. With condemnation comes fear. Fear then induces stress which brings about the symptoms of the curse.
This is what happened to Adam. Long before he faced poverty, sickness and eventually death, he had stress. Because of his sin, God told him, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.” (Genesis 3:19) Sweat speaks of stress. But before there was stress, there was fear because Adam told God, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:10)
But what made Adam fearful? Adam only feared when, seeing his nakedness, he realized that he had sinned against God. He felt so ashamed and condemned that he hid himself. God then asked him, “Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:11) There was no one else in the garden other than Adam and Eve, so we know that it was probably the devil who told Adam that he was naked.
My friend, condemnation is the root cause of the symptoms of the curse manifesting in your life. That is why you need to know that at the cross, God took all your sins, put them on Jesus and unleashed the full fury of His wrath against them until Jesus cried out, “It is finished!”
All your sins have been completely punished in the body of Christ who was condemned for you. The root cause of all your problems has been dealt with. This means that the devil cannot enforce the curse in your life apart from your receiving condemnation. So come to the place of no condemnation and no sick leaves will sprout in your life!
John 8:28 "Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things."
This is the second of three times that Jesus spoke of Himself being "lifted up" (1st - Jn. 3:14; 3rd - Jn. 12:32-33). As the scripture explains in John 12:33, this was a reference to crucifixion as the means of His death. The lifting up is speaking of being lifted up from the earth and suspended on a cross in crucifixion. The Jews understood that Jesus was speaking of death.
The crucifixion didn't just happen. It was planned by God. Does this mean that God bears all responsibility and those who were actually instrumental in the rejection and crucifixion of Jesus are not guilty? Not at all. Jesus came to the earth to die in our place and thereby purchase redemption for us. That was His plan but He didn't force anyone to fulfill it. His ministry and message placed Him in direct opposition with the devil and his followers. Their hatred for Jesus caused them of their own free will to crucify Jesus.
God, in all His wisdom, simply knew what man would do and He determined to use their rejection of His Son to accomplish His will. He never controls our will to accomplish His.
If a person truly understands the message of the cross, then he understands grace. Jesus didn't just make a token sacrifice for us. He paid it all. There's no sacrifice that we can make that will add to or replace the sacrifice of Christ. He did it all, and we can thank Him forever!
THE LIGHT OF THE LAMB
The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. —Revelation 21:23
For countless generations people have looked to the sun and moon to light the day and the night. Whether illuminating our path or providing the life-giving radiance for fruitful crops and the nutrients our bodies need, the sun and moon are part of God’s marvelous provision of light. The book of Genesis tells us that God gave “the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night” (Gen. 1:16).
But someday God will provide a different kind of illumination. Of the eternal heavenly city, John writes: “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light” (Rev. 21:23). Interestingly, the word translated “light” here is more accurately rendered lamp. Christ in His glorified state will be the spiritual lamp that lights up that joyous new world.
The Lord Jesus Christ is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He is also the source of spiritual illumination that makes those who follow Him “the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). But in eternity He will be the Lamp that lights our way (Rev. 21:23). What a thrill it will be one day to live in the light of the Lamb!
No darkness have we who in Jesus abide—
The light of the world is Jesus;
We walk in the light when we follow our Guide—
The light of the world is Jesus.
The Light of the world knows no power failure.
OPEN THEIR EYES TO THE LIGHT :
If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. - 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
Since God doesn't save anyone against their will, does it really do any good to pray for people who consciously refuse to receive Jesus as Lord?
Yes. Yes! YES! IT DOES!
You see, in spite of the fact that most all unbelievers who have purposely refused to receive Jesus as Lord think they've made that decision of their own free will, the truth is, they haven't. The Word of God says they've been blinded by Satan. He's blocking their perception of the truth. So their decision hasn't been freely made at all.
That's important for you to grasp. Because through the prayer of intercession, you can interfere with the satanic forces and help take those blinders off! You can also change circumstances with your prayers and help create situations that will bring them in contact with the Lord. You're well within your spiritual rights when you do that.
I prayed with a friend of mine once who'd been praying for his lost brother for years. Jesus said in Matthew 12:29 to first bind the strong man and then enter his house and spoil his goods. So we said, "You spirit blinding the eyes of ______________, you stop what you are doing to keep him out of the kingdom of God. In Jesus' Name, you stop NOW!"
Jesus also said in Matthew 9:38, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." So we prayed, "Lord, send someone to ____________ with the Word of God. You know who he will listen to. We claim _____________ for the kingdom of God. We believe we receive his salvation and deliverance. In faith we praise You for it."
In almost no time at all his brother called him. "What have you been doing up there?" he asked. "In the past few days, everybody I've come across has started preaching to me!"
Our prayers had interfered with the forces Satan had been using to blind this man to Jesus and created the circumstances to bring him into the kingdom. Sure enough, within a few days, he was born again.
Use this same prayer for your loved ones and believe when you pray and you'll see the same results.
Don't sit by and let the devil take your friends and loved ones without a fight. Pray. Pray! PRAY! Come against the "god of this world." Take off the blinders and open their eyes to the glorious gospel of God.
KNOW WHAT’S LEGALLY IS YOURS
ISAIAH 54:17 “No weapon formed against you shall prosper…This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord.
Receiving healing from God is not about you begging Him for something that He’s already done. It’s about you knowing what is already legally yours because of the cross. It’s about you believing that the same way you have been righteously forgiven is the same way God has already righteously healed you.
When you have a revelation of this truth, once any symptom starts showing up, you will declare with faith in your heart, “NO SICKNESS in my body will prosper!” Once you are established in the right standing that God has given you through Christ, fears that you may have about not being healed will dissipate like mist under the blazing sun. Beloved, you’ll see every hope you have as the righteous manifest in your body and in every area of your life!
THE THREE THORNS (1) :
'It will produce thorns...for you.' Genesis 3:18 NIV
In Scripture there are three thorns that paint a picture of redemption. Let's look at two of them today and see what we can learn.
(1) thorn-cursed creation. When Adam and Eve sinned, God said, 'Cursed is the ground because of you... It will produce thorns... By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground.' (Genesis 3:17-19 NIV) Everything changed for us in that moment. Roses began to grow thorns, fellowship with God was broken - and man, who was born to live forever, began to die. It was tragic, but God had a solution.
(2) A thorn-crowned Saviour. 'When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head...' (Matthew 27:29 NKJV) The curse that fell in a garden was lifted in a garden! When God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, He placed an angel with a flaming sword at the gate to prevent them from ever re-entering it. But at the cross Christ, the last Adam, was cut down outside the gates to become our Saviour and substitute, and secure our salvation. Now we can re-enter God's presence. What did Adam lose? Fellowship with God, immortality and sinless perfection. At the cross Christ reclaimed and restored all these to us.
'Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.' (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV) Notice the words, 'in Christ' - keep them close to your heart each day this month. Rejoice! God loves and accepts you 'in Christ'.
RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
MATTHEW 17:26–27 …Jesus said to him [Peter], “…lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you.”
Whatever you need, Jesus knows where you can get it and whom you can get it from. He can position you at the right place at the right time!
When Peter wanted to pay the temple tax, Jesus told him to get it from the first fish that he would catch at the sea. Then, when Jesus needed a donkey to ride into Jerusalem, He told two of His disciples which village to get it from. And when He needed a place to eat the Passover with His disciples, He gave two of His disciples specific instructions on who to meet and follow, and what to say to the master of the house, who had already furnished and prepared a large upper room!
Beloved, isn’t it wonderful to know that Jesus knows what you need and has already gone ahead into your future and made provision for your good success? As you put your trust and rest in His heart of love, His peace will lead you to do the right thing at the right time, at the right place!
CONDEMNATION IS THE ROOT CAUSE :
ROMANS 8:1, NASB - Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
When you have a plant with sickly leaves, it would be foolish to just treat the leaves without knowing the root cause of the problem. Similarly, when “leaves” of sickness, poverty and destructive habits start sprouting in your life, you need to know what the root cause is.
Experts will tell you that it is stress. They may go a little deeper and say that it is fear—fear of the future, of rejection, of loss, of death and so on. But is fear really the root? Or is there something deeper than fear?
The Bible shows us that the most fundamental cause of problems in our lives is condemnation. With condemnation comes fear. Fear then induces stress which brings about the symptoms of the curse.
This is what happened to Adam. Long before he faced poverty, sickness and eventually death, he had stress. Because of his sin, God told him, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.” (Genesis 3:19) Sweat speaks of stress. But before there was stress, there was fear because Adam told God, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:10)
But what made Adam fearful? Adam only feared when, seeing his nakedness, he realized that he had sinned against God. He felt so ashamed and condemned that he hid himself. God then asked him, “Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:11) There was no one else in the garden other than Adam and Eve, so we know that it was probably the devil who told Adam that he was naked.
My friend, condemnation is the root cause of the symptoms of the curse manifesting in your life. That is why you need to know that at the cross, God took all your sins, put them on Jesus and unleashed the full fury of His wrath against them until Jesus cried out, “It is finished!”
All your sins have been completely punished in the body of Christ who was condemned for you. The root cause of all your problems has been dealt with. This means that the devil cannot enforce the curse in your life apart from your receiving condemnation. So come to the place of no condemnation and no sick leaves will sprout in your life!
Free
Christian Ebooks http://walthope.tripod.com
Fair
Use Notice: There is some copyrighted material on this site, the use of which
has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are
making such material available in an effort to our efforts to advance
understanding of serious issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of
any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US
Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on
this site is distributed without profit for educational purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment