Who is Jesus to you

(Colossians 1:16-17)

16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him. 

17 And he is before all things, and in him, all things hold together.

(Revelation 22:13)

 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

(Matthew 28:18)

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

You know I must apologize this devotional is actually not for you, this is for me. For you see I tend to forget who Jesus is. Even though we are told in Matthew 11:28-30 to bring all our issues to Him in prayer.  My issue is that I don't leave it all at the throne of God. If Jesus is who He claims to be then, why do we not trust Him enough to leave it all at His feet? If He is Jehovah Jireh then what then should be fear?  Let us come before the throne and lay all of our burdens down and take upon ourselves His perfect peace and walk in the joy of the Lord.

Despised for our sake!

 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted

(Isaiah 53:3-4).

Do we really understand the price that was paid for us?  How could we, we were not there! We have water down version of a love that was so great. That not even death could stop this groom for coming for His bride.  He proved How faithful He is to his bride, even when daily we prove to be unfaithful. Thank you Jesus of the amazing love that you have for us! A redeeming love, a sacrificing love, a never ending love!

How easy we forget the price

 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed

(Isaiah 53:3-5).

How easily I forgot the price that was paid for me! Was paid in blood and suffering. Why do we walk around acting ungrateful and with a chip on our shoulder? Jesus did it all for us. He told us that we would have troubles and trials in this thing we call life. Lord God fill us with your joy  and peace!

The Love God has

 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him

(1 JOHN 4:16).

To my own shame I must admit  I have endeavored to walk with the Lord for decades, only in recent times have I started to really believe God loves me.

My problem was that I kept focusing on myself, instead of God.

I saw myself in my immaturity with all my faults and failures. I was not looking at Jesus the perfect sacrifice, but focused on myself and my shortcomings.

Even though I preached messages on the love of God, I never had complete confidence that God truly loved me just as I was. Instead I thought more in terms of God tolerating me, but not being too happy with me.

I was trying my best to do what I thought God wanted, not really realizing that I could never earn God's love.

Now I am realizing that God's love is not dependent on me, but is entirely dependent on God alone. He does not love me because I am lovable, but because by nature He is perfect love.

As long as I thought God's acceptance of me and good standing with Him was based on my performance, it made it hard to believe God loved me.

I could believe God accepted me, that He didn't want me to go to hell. I could believe God tolerated me. But I did not believe God was happy with me. I did not think He took any delight in me.

Have you ever had a child? I can tell you, as a parent, that it is a great delight! Every child, no matter how many you have, is very special to you. You love them so deeply it is difficult to express.

So I have decided to believe the Bible. God is my Father. He is the perfect father, so He loves me! 

He Has Overcome

"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” -John 16:33 (NASB)

Jesus is preparing His disciples for His death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.  This is His promise to them: You will have troubles.  You will suffer.  Life will not be easy for you.  That should put paid to any health and wealth, prosperity, false gospel.

But he doesn't stop there.  He says "take courage."  The King James translates this "be of good cheer."  He is calling His disciples to joyful confidence.  Why should they have joyful confidence?  This world says trials and suffering are not something to be joyful or confident about.

Jesus gives them the reason.  What do we expect here?  Why would we be joyfully confident in this suffering?  Is it because He's going to take it away?  No.  Is it because He's going to protect us from it?  No.  It is it because ultimately it's all for our good and we'll look back on it in the future and say "Thank you, God, for letting me go through that?"  No.  It's none of those things.

Here's why we can be joyfully confident in the midst of every tribulation and trial and sorrow and suffering:  Jesus has overcome the world.  Not "He will overcome it."  Not "He's overcoming it."  Not "He might possibly redeem what you're going through."  Our Lord has already overcome the world.  We serve a King who reigns over every circumstance, over every suffering, over every sorrow.  And He took them on Himself on the cross.  His wounds poured out blood for the healing of the nations and for the healing of our sinful, broken hearts.  Thank you, Jesus!

Looking to Jesus

 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope

(Romans 15:13).

I can not speak about you, but this verse. I claim for myself as I’m surrounded by darkness. So I must look to Jesus. My government, my job or my family will not save me from the dark times that are upon us! Lord renew my mind and strengthen my body. Let my mind be upon you, instead of focusing on the enemy. For you are God all by yourself . There is no one greater than you. Which is why I must put my eyes and my hope upon you oh Lord. Deliver me from weak flesh filled with fear, worry, anxiety. Replace it with your perfect love!

Our hope must be

 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake

(Psalm 23:1-3).

My hope is in the fact that Jesus Christ is our redeemer! He wants you and I to fully trust Him with more than our money, but with our hearts and our lives. Are you ready to blindly trust Jesus both in good times and in hard times??? Has He not keep you this far?

No other Name but Jesus

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”

(Acts 4:12 ).

So to make sure I understand, there is no other way into salvation? What if I were a good person? Well I would never be good enough, for you see we are measured by the one who was and is good enough. This is not like horse shoes, close enough does not work! Only through Christ are we  redeemed making us right with God. So there is no other name in heaven or the universe that we can be saved by. It Christ alone. If you think you can stand before a just and perfect God without Christ as your advocate you will not like how that will end. But for those of us who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior and have placed our trust in Jesus as our Savior. We are the redeemed of Jesus!

 

Be strong in the Lord

 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm

(Ephesians 6:10-13).

Every day I that I don’t lean into the word of God and pray I find my old Master ready to welcome me back. His name is fear. Yet I keep crying out to my Father for I know that no weapon formed by man or the evil one can take me from the hand of God! I must learn to dress for battle daily! When I fail, like Peter I must cry out Jesus after all He is my Savior and Redeemer! That is no storm to great that He can’t calm!

Thy name is selfishness

 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things

(1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

This is the type of love God has for us!

Selfishness is  a disease/ the first sin. Some believe  it is natural for a human being to be selfish to look out for our self. I say no this began in the garden it was a lie that was believed. This is why Jesus told us we need to be born again. We need to become "new creations" with a new nature the nature of divine love. We need to have the love of God in our hearts.

Then we will have the ability, if we so choose, to walk in divine love and put the interests of others before our own. When you have everyone doing that, you have heaven.

Buddha does not offer this cure. Mohammad does not offer this cure. Only Jesus Christ offers this cure for mankind.

There is only one way to be cured from this fatal disease of selfishness receiving Jesus Christ. When you receive Him, Jesus imparts His life to you giving you a new nature.