DID YOU KNOW??
Do you know that the whole emblem of Christianity is a
cross and not a crown??
Am sure you must be wondering what am saying, but is all good I got you Chile (In Sarah Jakes Robert Voice)
Do you think it is a coincidence that Catholic members do in the
name of the Father (touch your forehead), and of the Son (touch your chest)
and of the Holy Spirit (touch your shoulders, left & right), think about
it. A symbol is being demonstrated in that simple act that sums up what
Christianity is all about. Don’t get me wrong, am not saying you have to do
that to be a Christian, no. What am saying is, the hidden symbol of the cross in that act is what Christianity is all about. However, your believe in what was done on that cross for you as an individual is what makes you a Christain.
The gospel is first about denying self, about carrying one’s
cross (the symbol of death), and about losing the life that one has, to gain
another one. It is first about dying, the death sentence of the gospel and the
starting point for the Christian life.
"If anyone be my discipline, pick up your cross and follow
me. For whoever will save his life will lose it, but whosoever loses his life
for my sake will find it" – Matthew 16:24-25
There is a passion that comes in knowing God, a peace that shields you when you are
in the presence of the Holy Spirit, a kind of love that drowns your
fear and covers you when you carry your cross and follow Jesus. For what He did on
the cross for you and I certified us for eternal life.
Have you ever wondered what weighs more in the festivals of
Christianity??
Have you ever thought about the fascinating thing about Jesus?
Trust me there are a whole lot of fascinating and thrilling things about Him
that even trillions of book can’t even explain nor millions of audio can describe,
nor graphics detailed enough can depict the height, the depth, and the length
of His Love but...
What if I told you His awesomeness started from His crushing process, what He did on the cross (His crucifixion) and not His birth?
What if I told you there would be nothing like Christianity but religion if Jesus didn’t lay His life down for you and I
Why do you think in Old Testament at the end of every year, the priest brings two goats, one of the goats gets slaughtered and its blood used
as an atonement for the Holy of Holies to wipe out the uncleanness of the Israelites,
then the priest places his hand on the forehead of the other goat and
confesses the sins of the people of Israel and sends the goat into the wilderness
for God to do justice? Lev 16:1-34
Why do you think that act was done? I will tell you, that act
was done because God can’t stand sin, for
the wages of sin is death but
because of the love, He has for His people, He decides to take out the judgment
which supposed to be for the people of Israel on the goat, in order to save them from eternal destruction but isn’t it ridiculous how the Israelites had to wait till the end of every year to get cleansed from sins and get forgiveness from
the Lord?
Think about it, isn’t it funny how we would’ve still been killing
goats; and priest will still be placing our sins on the head of a goat and leaving
it to find judgment in the eyes of God making we humans to lack a relationship
with Him and also lack an understanding of His ways and love, because you can’t
serve God with sin but can only serve Him in truth and in Spirit.
However, there wouldn’t be Salvation and insight into God’s pure
love and eternal life, if God didn’t come down Himself in flesh
Think about it, If He didn’t come down in a human body (Jesus)
to touch our filth, to get His beards plucked, His face bruised and His soft
youthful skin nailed to a rugged tree just for you and I (John
1:14) there won’t be any gift of righteousness and
abundant grace (Romans 5:17)
for us all.
Give it a second thought
His earthly birth didn’t only prove a prophecy when He said a
Messiah will be born (Isaiah 9:6),
but it also births the promise of an ever-flowing and precious pure love of God
through salvation and the gift of righteousness and eternal life. Ponder on it, in
Genesis, God created man in His Image and Likeness with the full access of His
love, grace and a direct intimate encounter with Him but when Adam fell off of
the loving grace of God which God had designed, a veil instantly fell upon
mankind hindering the close bond mankind and God had right from creation causing
the earth to be filled with sin. Despite the fact, God knew they will hurt Him
by their actions, He still blessed their union saying,
This promise wasn’t only targeted to the animals alone but every
living creature on earth.
Sooner than later violence, sinful deeds, and rebellious act spread
through the earth like a burning forest Gen 6:5-7 provoking God to wipe out every living thing on earth but after
a final look at what He created; God saw Noah, liked him, kept him and
sustained him. He was different from the rest, which made him find grace in
the eyes of the Lord as he was spared; establishing the second evidence of
God’s grace and love, before the birth of Jesus Christ in my opinion.
The thought of what the
first evidence might be must have crossed your mind real quick before you could
even discern it, but don’t worry I gat you.
After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God questioned their
act and cast them out of the Garden of Eden, when He (God) could easily wipe
them off completely and create a new set of mankind if He wanted too, but instead
He cast them out and still watched over them, regardless of their betrayal.
That’s how unconditional His love is.
You might ask:
“Was there Grace before the birth of Jesus?”
Well, why don’t we grab a glass of juice or a cup of coffee as
we dive through and become one with the scripture together?
Prayer,
Father as I am about to dive into the scripture, please open my
mind to understand that which You have installed for me, open my eyes to the
insights of Your words, open my heart to accept Your pure love for me as I walk
in it as your precious little kid daughter/son. I seek to have a direct encounter
with You Lord, Heavenly Father grant me these I pray. Amen
“And
the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the
earth, both man and beast, and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for
it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found GRACE in the eyes of
the Lord. These are the generations of Noah” Noah was a just man and perfect in
his generations and Noah walked with God. Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence.
And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me; for the earth
is filled with violence through them and behold, I will destroy them with the
earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and
shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which
thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the
breadth of it fifty cubits and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt
thou make to the ark and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above and the door of
the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second and third
stories shalt thou make it. And behold, I even I, do bring a flood of waters
upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under
heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I
establish my covenant and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons and
thy wife and thy son’s wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh,
two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee,
they shall be male and female of fowls after their kind and of cattle after
their kind and of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of
every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of
all food that is eaten and thou shalt gather it to thee and it shall be for
food for thee and for them. Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded
him, so did he”. Genesis
6:7-22 (King James Version)
Many have the truth but not grace (which is legalism) and some
have grace but no truth (which is lawlessness) so it takes both grace and
truth; and Jesus Christ was the consummate perfection of both of these. We
can’t have truth without grace (that’s brutality) and we can’t have grace
without truth (that’s pragmatism). If the instruction God gave Noah isn’t a manifestation of the existence of Grace, then I might be unaware of what Grace
is because even in the presence of our sins before grace was established, He decided
to give mankind a second chance by instructing Noah to do what he did. After years
with lack of understanding, lack of insight, self-righteousness, self-established
agendas and lack of wisdom His people had, God decided to come down on earth for
His people, by becoming the son of man giving Him a physical body because if a man brought us into this mess of a sinful world then it will have
to be a man that will bring us out of the mess Romans 5:12-21.
So, He decided to manifest in flesh through the body of Christ John
4:24-29, Colossians 2:9 by sending His only
begotten son John 1:14, the One filled
with Grace and Truth, the One who will break every Law of Moses with a touch of
Grace, the one who is ready to go all miles and all extent for us, the Messiah,
the savior, the miracle worker, the one willing to go all measure to show and
express His love to you and I in every scriptural and morally way possible, the
one on whose mention of His name every knee trembles and every mouth confesses,
the Alpha and Omega, Emmanuel, the one who is ready to climb any mountain, go
down any ocean, walk any distance just to be with us, Advocate, Bread of Life,
Deliverer, Faithful and True, Good Shepard, Redeemer, the beginning and the
ending, the One who is, who was and who is to come, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, Olowogbogboro My Friend, the one who can fill any broken
and empty part in our lives and heart, the God of “I AM” who brought abundant
grace and the gift of righteousness through His cross and crucifixion in Romans
5:18 and Galatians 3:13&14. The God of I Am
whatever you need me to be, whenever you need me to be, wherever you need me to
be. Is it in your home? Or in your place of work or in your school or in your
finances, do you need me as a brother or as a husband or as a sister or father
or mother or friend, or aunt, uncle, grandpa, as your granny or as your wife? What
do you want and need me to do? Do you want me to kiss the tears of your eyes,
the pain from your memories, the clouds from your skies? What do you need me to
be for I Am the I Am that I am! The I Am with anything you decide to attach
with it. I Am the great lover, I paid the price to bear the name, I wrote you a
love letter with my own flesh used my own hands as paper and released my blood
as ink showing you how much I really do love you in the most vibrant color of
red becoming the evidence, and the judge of this world to throw your case out
of court. Because of me, YOU ARE FREE!!! Hallelujah, somebody!!
NB: - The presence
of the crucifixion is victory over long-suffering, sickness, diseases, poverty,
iniquities, fear, anger, low self-esteem, depression, suicide thoughts, malice,
cancer, brokenness, sin and every obstacle you can ever think of. It is a daily
celebration of eternal liberation, victory, and Grace. For we aren’t sinners
because we sin but we are sinners because we were born into sin and yet with
that, when a child is born, there’s Jesus in the labor room ready to pull that
child into redemption, to pull that child into abundant grace, to pull that
child into salvation, there is Jesus right there in a position to snatch that
child right after the mother pushes out her baby, from the claws of destruction
in which the child was born, (Revelation 12:4).
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