TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (Monday 1st February 2021)
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should [a]not perish but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” John 3:14-26 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 32ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS
Glory be to God in the Highest for bringing us to the second month of the year. He has not dealt with us according to our sins but according to His mercies. He commanded His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The same love is what have been guiding and keeping us.
One major thing I know is that we will never understand the depth of God’s love until we step into the very realm of glory that our fathers are currently. There are things about this God that we will never know until we stand before the LORD at the parley gates of Heaven. The love of the LORD motivates everything He does to mankind. Even when He is punishing sin, iniquity or trespass, it is done because of His love.
The Bible says God is love. It did not say God loves. It says He is love personified, which is deeper than saying God loves. He is love therefore is not capable of hating anyone in his image and likeness. That is why He expressed that love towards us by coming to die on the Cross. One of the early apostles who wrote about it puts it this way;
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” 1 John 4:7-8 NKJV
The coming of Christ to the world is the highest expression of God’s love towards us. This expression made it possible for all to be declared saved from sin, its practices and its consequences. It plucked us back from the grip of the evil one and brought us into God’s kingdom. The Bible says,
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified [a]freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God set forth as a [b]propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, Romans 3:23-25 NKJV
All sinned when Adam sinned in the garden of Eden, and brought eternal damnation upon the human race. All were redeemed and justified when Jesus died on the cross; the highest expression of God’s love. In other words, the original sin of Adam brought death upon the human race but the love of God brought redemption to us cancelling the eternal consequences of the original sin.
THAT IS WHY PEOPLE CAN NOW MAKE HEAVEN.
Because in His Forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. Hallelujah! This was done when He became man to be able to die our death since the wages of sin is death. He paid our wages for us. He paid the debt; an expression of the Love of God.
That is why no human should be in hell. The love of GOD has covered all our sins and remitted them. But sadly, many are there and many are on their way there. The reason lies in our rejection of GOD’s love. It is when we reject this love from GOD that we become eternally damned.
Jesus, the manifestation of God in the flesh to die on the cross and save us from our eternal judgment, came preaching and urging mankind to come to Him for the love of God to be expressed in our lives. He said,
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am [a]gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV
The rest He is talking about here is not just rest from Satanic activities and life problems, but rest from eternal judgment. It comes as a result of the expression of His eternal love for us. There is an eternal judgment hanging upon the human race which His death, burial and resurrection dealt with.
Only an expression of His eternal love for us will save us form that eternal judgment. But it cannot be expressed until we accept Him (Our lover) into our lives.
When you are loved and you refuse to accept your lover you cannot come into the blessing of his love for your life. Those who are or have been in romantic relationships can testify of that. You cannot be loved and enjoy the benefits if you do not accept your lover into your life.
JESUS IS OUR LOVER WHO DIED ON THE CROSS TO SAVE US FROM ETERNAL JUDGMENT.
His coming is the greatest expression of God’s love. But if we do not accept Him, we will not come into the blessing of his love for us – the blessing of escaping eternal judgment. Our devotional text puts it better. It says;
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The condemnation is no longer in what Adam did but what we are doing with Jesus Christ. It is in what we do with His love for us. So people will not go to hell for what Adam did, they will go for what that are doing with God’s love for them; not just God’s love but the manifestation of God’s love Jesus Christ. That is the secret.
He came, taught, and died on the cross, got buried to burry our sins and was raised form the death to raise us from eternal death, and has now sent His holy apostles and prophets and servants to invites us to the table of relationship with Him so that we can receive the gift of salvation and be saved from that judgment by receiving Him the lover of our souls.
But many do not even believe in what I have just shared.
How then can they be saved? Many who do have not even accept Him into their lives as LORD and savior, they are just paying lip service to their relationship with Him, going for his power to grant them their earthly desires not his person to live and reign through them. How do you expect them to be saved?
The issue here is salvation form eternal judgment – the judgment of hell fire. The issue is not getting married or free from any attacks of the devil. It is not getting us healed, rich with earthly treasures or anything like that. The issue is more than all that.
WHAT IS AT STAKE IS OUR SOULS NOT OUR EARTHLY PROSPERITY.
The Bible says,
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before [a]God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.
The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second [b]death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15 NKJV
Salvation is getting our names written in the book of life so that we will not be cast into the lake of fire in the day of judgment. And that can only happen when we accept the one who loves us into our lives and allowing Him to live in us a life that is called righteousness.
I reiterate again that when you are loved and you refuse to accept your lover, it is frustrating. Those who are or have been in romantic relationships can testify of that. One of the most painful experiences to have in life is to love someone who does not loves you. The pain can be more than one can bear. It can lead to a lot of frustration, depending on the depth of the love you have for the person.
This is a new month, if you have not accepted Christ into your life, you can do that right now. That will be the best way to start the month. If you claim you have but there is no fruit to show, please repent of your hypocrisy and accept Him genuinely. A lot of us who claim to saved live very wicked lives. If you are really saved, the lover of our souls will be living in your heart by faith.
If He is living in your heart by faith you will not live a wicked life. Men and women will see His righteousness in your character. That is how we live as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. People who are the righteousness of God in Christ do not live in sin and submit their body to the sinful passions of the flesh. They do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. In other words, they live as slave of righteousness.
So if you do not fit this description, please give your life to Christ. Ask Him to come into your life and make a vow to live for him and walk with Him. Ask Him for His Holy Spirit and He will be given to you. And this month will be started in a good footing.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who[a] do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For to be [b]carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the [c]carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:1-8 NKJV