The alternative

“Do the riches of his extraordinary kindness make you take him for granted and despise him? Haven’t you experienced how kind and understanding he has been to you? Don’t mistake his tolerance for acceptance. Do you realize that all the wealth of his extravagant kindness is meant to melt your heart and lead you into repentance?”Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬ ‭TPT‬‬

This chapter is written to Jews in Rome. Paul is scathing in his attack on their self-righteousness. This reminds me of what it was like to be a Catholic. We believed we were right with God because we were Catholics. This chapter dismantles such arrogance. Self-righteousness slaps Jesus in the face and rejects His sacrifice as not enough. How dare we assume our own righteousness can be acceptable to God. If we live by the Law then we are judged by the perfect law, not our own. The law reveals sin. 

Without Jesus’ sacrifice we are under the wrath of God’s judgement. I do not want that option. I, rather, want the deliverance Jesus gave me and His goodness and righteousness. God’s wrath ends in eternal death in hellfire. No thanks!

Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and that life in abundance”(Jn 10:10). He also said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but through Me!”(Jn 14:6). This is serious folks! 

Roman’s 4:6 says ‘He will repay each one according to his works’. He sees the hidden things not just the Facebook image. He judges for all the hidden whispers, the dark sins that no one sees. The alternative is repentance and total trust in Jesus as saviour and Lord. He is the only alternative. Trust Him today! Amen!

Clothed

“This gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness—a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. This is what the Scripture means when it says: “We are right with God through life-giving faith!” Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬ ‭TPT‬‬

We all crave righteousness, we either manufacture our own or walk in faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. It is so easy to stoop to manufacture, as our old sin nature would love this; it enables sin to stay alive in our lives.

Accepting death to sin and the sin nature requires faith in Jesus and a willingness to yield our lusts and greed to the cross. We have so entrenched our lusts around food and drink we are reluctant to part with them. We boast about our love and addiction to coffee, to various foods, this further entrenches them. We boast about our addictions to shoes and handbags, clothes. Our houses bulge with the accumulation of our greed. One bad storm or fire and they are all gone. Then we sit in the ashes and weep.

Lusts and greed prevent us from seeing and doing what the Lord had planned. His ways are better than ours. When we stand before the Lord we will appear naked, knowing that we have clothed ourselves in less that the blood of Jesus. That garment is the only one that will suffice.

“We are convinced that even if these bodies we live in are folded up at death like tents, we will still have a God-built home that no human hands have built, which will last forever in the heavenly realm.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬ ‭TPT‬‬

May we come back to Him in repentance and choose faith in Him and His commission as all we need. Amen!

Free

“He himself carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we would be dead to sin and live for righteousness. Our instant healing flowed from his wounding.”1 Peter‬ ‭2‬:‭24‬ ‭TPT‬‬

For us mortals the sin nature is the problem. Whilst, for us who believe Jesus is our saviour, the legal truth is sin was defeated by Jesus, nonetheless, we battle with sin in our flesh wanting resurrection, daily. Why does this happen? Because we foolishly believe it is up to me to be holy. Wrong! It is faith in what Jesus has done that makes us holy; He imputes His holiness to us. We must live by faith in the finished work of the cross, this is called walking in the Spirit.

We do not need to defeat sin, it has already been done, we need to walk in trust and faith that Jesus did the work for us. Jesus took on sin and paid the penalty for that sin, He died, however, when He rose again He defeated the power of sin. Sin has no dominion over me unless I give it authority to do so.

What does Romans 5:1 say?

“Our faith in Jesus transfers God’s righteousness to us and he now declares us flawless in his eyes. This means we can now enjoy true and lasting peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us “.

Romans 8:1,2 says:

“So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One. For the “law” of the Spirit of life flowing through the anointing of Jesus has liberated us from the “law” of sin and death.” Amen!!!

‭

Life-giving

“This gospel unveils a continual revelation of God’s righteousness—a perfect righteousness given to us when we believe. And it moves us from receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. This is what the Scripture means when it says: “We are right with God through life-giving faith!”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Continual catches me. It was not just a once off righteousness given to me, it is a continual, ever flowing stream. Thank You Jesus! It was a perfect righteousness! Yes! No flaws as in my own righteousness.

 Next it moves us from just receiving life through faith, to the power of living by faith. In other words, this righteousness Jesus gave us is full of power, just as His word is full of power. Hebrews 4:12 tells us: 

“For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy, like a two-mouthed sword. It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone and marrow meet! It interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts.”

‭

We are right with God not through an old agreement, a long lost will. No, we are right with God through life-giving faith. The faith God gives us is alive and full of power. Amen!

What do I crave?

“How enriched you are when you crave righteousness! For you will be satisfied.”Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬ ‭TPT‬‬

These are Jesus’ words from His sermon on the mount. I do crave righteousness. However, I stoop to self-righteousness. Why do I do this? I find in myself a pride that is wrong. Pride is what caused Satan to fall. Pride will cause me to fall if I allow it room to rule. I also find myself being judgemental against my fellow Christians when they frustrate me (usually when I am trying to bring something to pass in my own strength).

Like Paul I must cry out: ‘what a wretched woman I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So, then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but my flesh, to the law of sin.’ (Romans 7:24,25 HCAB)

Paul also wrote: ‘none is righteous no not one’(Roman’s 3:10). Paul is repeating David’s words here from Psalm 14:1. David knew this truth and spoke prophetically about the coming saviour.

The answer to my quest for righteousness is Jesus. When I seek Him I receive His righteousness and so do not need to stoop to baking my own. The righteousness He gives is clean and free from corruption. It is pure in God’s sight. There is no need for pride because pride is manufactured by sin. What glorious freedom is ours in Jesus! Amen!

Tithing

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!”Malachi‬ ‭3‬:‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Some say, ‘yes but that was the Old Testament, we now live under the New Testament.’ However, they forget that Abraham existed before the law and he, it seems, initiated the tithe. He gave 10% of his war winnings to Melchizedek, the High Priest of God. We also need to be reminded that Jesus said:

“Indeed, I assure you, as long as heaven and earth endure, not even the smallest detail of the Law will be done away with until its purpose is complete.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭18‬ ‭TPT‬‬

The purpose of the law is to bring conviction of sin. Sin is still rampant. I don’t see the law disappearing any time soon.

So, anyone want abundant blessing? Tithe in faith! Watch God honour His word. Amen!

Doing my bit

“Put into practice the example of all that you have heard from me or seen in my life and the God of peace will be with you in all things.”Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭9‬ ‭TPT‬‬

As I read this I ask myself, ‘who’s life can I copy?’ I cannot copy anyone I know back in Australia; I do not know people in Nepal well enough to copy them; I am drawn to Jesus and perhaps Paul however, Jesus I have studied the most. Preachers I listen to, BillJohnson mostly,  have their own cultural ways and preferences that I do not share, but one thing I do share is my love for Jesus. I am encouraged in this.

Who will follow me? I am responsible for being an example to my children and grandchildren; those the Lord gives me to disciple; those I encounter as I share Jesus. I cannot live for selfish reasons and ambitions. I am a witness for what Jesus can do in a person.

Jesus laid down His eternal position to live amongst sinful man, He taught a new way of understanding of the Father and His ways; He gave His life on the cross for all sin and He rose again to give us all eternal life. If Jesus can do this for me, surely I can do my bit for Him. Amen!