IF YOU DON’T GIVE, YOU DON’T GET

The Law says the soul that sin shall die (Ezekiel 18:20) but grace says “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). Under the old covenant people caught in adultery were stoned to death but in the new covenant, Jesus told the woman caught in adultery to “go and sin no more” (John8:11). Does that mean that Jesus condones adultery? Certainly not! But God does not delight in the death of a sinner, He prefers that people repent and live (Ezekiel 18:32), that was why He gave His only begotten Son to redeem us. Under the Law, you had to repent and live but under grace Jesus spared lives so they could have a chance to repent, in other words, live and repent!

Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole (John 5:14-15 KJV)

I have met people who are angry at the “gospel of the God of a second chance”, they say it’s a teaching from hell. But if you read your bible carefully Jesus was the founder of this gospel. Another example was in the parable of the lost sheep and the prodigal son (Luke 15:1-32), Jesus revealed the depth of God’s love that He will not only seek out the lost but also give a second chance to those who ask of Him. In the parable of the prodigal son, the older brother can be likened to a lot of us, angry and jealous that people are giving a second chance in life when they fail.

We have to be careful not to oppose another getting a second chance because if we live long enough, life has a way of bringing us to a place where we too will be in need of God’s amazing grace called “a second chance”. If you spend your life opposing, slandering or attacking recipients of this mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, you may end up disqualifying yourself from receiving one when you find yourself in similar circumstances.

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! (James 2:12-13 NIV)

If you don’t give, you don’t get! This is a New Year; learn to be gracious, for God is a gracious God (Psalm 116:5-6)


Shalom!

With Warmth

Angela

YOU CAN'T DISAPPOINT GOD

We all hate to disappoint people we highly respect, people whose opinion of us make or mar us. It does not matter how confident you are at some point in your life, you are going to need someone to believe in you ad speak to the greatness in you and help pull it out. When you find that person, you tend to do all you can not to fall short of their expectations.
For us believers, there is one such person who truly believes in us – our Heavenly Father. Some people are afraid to step out in faith for fear of disappointing God. May times such fear is borne out of past failures.

The truth is we can only disappoint people who expect more from us than we are capable of. This is not the case with God as He knows the substance of which we are made (Psalm 103:14), He knows our every potential and will never expect anything from us that we are not built for and He knows how prepared we are for any activity long before we embark on the task. You cannot disappoint the One who sees the end from the beginning, the One who nothing takes by surprise. The one who has made provision for all the mistakes you are capable of making.

Give Up your flawed Personal History. The Past was perfect to get you here.

Do not allow your past failures to discourage you from pressing forward this year.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)


Shalom!

With Warmth

Angela

HAPPY NEW YEAR

What was the year 2008 like for you? Considering the current economic crisis, for some people it is one year they will live to remember for a long time, unfortunately not in a good light. But if we all take a close look at both sides of the coin, I mean the big picture, I am sure we will be able to find more victories in this year than we are giving it credit – for one, we still have the breathe of life in our nostrils.

There is no year that will not have its ups and downs. Jesus already warned us that as this age draws to a close, perilous times will increase (Matthew 24:7-12). In the world, things are not going to get better as some think. Things will never go back to the “good old days”. Jesus warned us that in this world there will be tribulation, but despite this we are to be of good cheer because He has overcome the world (John16:33). How can one be of good cheer when you’ve lost all your savings in the stock market? How can one lift up holy hands in worship after loosing all your life savings to a natural disaster? How can one continue to keep a joyful spirit when you’ve been waiting for years for a soul mate and another year is rolled by and nothing has happened yet? How does one continue to have faith when prayers seem to take much longer to be answered?

The answer is in one of the hymns many of us are familiar with – trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.
In times like this, we need to continuously pray Paul’s prayer over the Ephesians for ourselves and loved one – that the Lord may grant you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that you may know Him better and that He may enlighten the eyes of your understanding that you may know the hope to which H e has called you (Ephesians 1:17-18). It is only in knowing God better that we can trust Him and it is in knowing the hope to which we have been called that we can obey Him. This ingredient is going to be a key determinant of how we fare in the years to come.

As we enter a new year, let’s not forget there will be battles to be won and victories to be celebrated. Our confidence should be the fact that we have the Ancient of days, the ruler of the universe on our side. You and I can not see into tomorrow or the year 2009 to fully prepare for it and God is never going to give us more than one day at a time. Therefore fretting over tomorrow isn’t going to help us one bit, but rejoicing in the fact that the One whose has your back sees the end from the beginning, will be the source of faith, hope and strength.

You will need to enter this New Year with the right focus and confidence. The focus is going to be on things above not the things below (Colossians 3:1-2), you will need to view every challenge and success from an eternity point of view. You will also need to constantly remember that in the kingdom of God to which we belong, solutions always exist before any problem shows up. Before mankind had need for a redeemer, God already prepared the Lamb of God. Before Israel faced the Red sea, there was already a rod in Moses’ hand. Before Jesus needed to feed the five thousand there was already a boy in the crowd with the five loaves of bread and few fishes.

The year 2009 is going to be a year of fruitfulness, the year of birthing visions that you have been carrying in the womb of intercession for sometime now. It is going to be a year of walking in another dimension of God’s anointing and glory. But this also means be prepared to enlarge your tent because bountiful harvest is on its way. Be prepared to work as well and overcome challenges. When the challenges come, do not focus on them otherwise you will magnify them, rather focus on the fact that the presence of a challenge is an indication that the solution already exist!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

With much love

Angela