Finding Life

“Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.” Matthew 10:39.

How beautiful this verse is to the one that understands. I found life in Him, the worth of my life, the beauty in my life, the purpose of my life, the purpose for His life. To live a life in Christ is to know all that He is we are in Him.

 We all struggle to create our lives, create who we are and what we do but somehow it’s never enough, we are never satisfied. When I stopped searching for the life I thought I knew, I found a life I never thought I could know. I am satisfied!

My dad told me a story once about how he would always walk with his face looking down as a child. He didn’t know why he did that but it became his habit. He told me one time when he was walking with his mother in a crowded area, not paying attention he grabbed the hand of a big scary man. To his surprise it wasn’t his mother! Mom soon came to the rescue of course. But he finally found that habit was a bad habit once he ran smack dab into a phone booth. I can’t help to be reminded about how this relates to the life I use to live. I was always focused on my circumstances so caught up in my little world I didn’t watch where I was going, I didn’t take the time to look up. You see if you don’t look up for help in directing your walk your bound to walk into something that’s going to shake your world or grab the hand of a stranger.

Look to Christ, walk with your head held high not focused on your circumstances but with your eyes always on Christ. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight Proverbs 3:6 NIV. You will truly be surprised how everything seems to fall into place once you let go and just devout yourself to loving the Lord.

Who was I before I knew Christ?

I was a control freak I knew that, everything I had to work at. Everything I felt I had to fix, it just had to be my hand in it all and it was tiresome. Two years ago God revealed to me the Gospel through Pastor Joseph Prince. I speak of him specifically because that is who God but put in my own life to reveal Jesus to me and to really help me start and build my intimate relationship with Jesus, something I never had before. I kept coming back to his sermons hungry for just hearing about who Jesus was and how much He loved me.

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you Jeremiah 29:13

Always coming back was me searching for Christ. Soon I grew a more intimate relationship with Him but I found myself without even that intention. I never heard the Gospel explained that way before Joseph Prince. The Holy Spirit speaks through him of good news, and that’s what I needed to hear. I needed to hear how much I was loved by God, how much I was worth and who Christ made me through His sacrifice. I kept being filled with the Holy Sprit when I heard how much Jesus loves me for me and that soon effortlessly empowered me to live a Holy life. Like Paul, it was like the scales on my eyes fell. I was certainly blind but now I can see!

You see all this time, I kept hearing about how I needed to be something I could never be. I kept hearing and believing that I was a filthy sinner and I had to be free of sin in order to be pleasing in the Lords sight. How could that ever empower me to walk this earth with my eyes focused on Jesus. I tried and I tried to live a right life, a Christian life and when I failed I hid myself from God ashamed. Until I finally came to that realization, knowing that every effort of mine to be perfect and clear of sin in Gods eyes was not going to happen by my effort, I couldn’t see what God did in His effort to already make me all that. You know I believe that’s the biggest barrier in our Christian lives today. We try so hard, we need to do this, we need to be that, I have to act like this, I need to pray like that, so on and so on that it keeps focusing on WE, ME, and I. When does HE come in? We spend much time focused on ourselves with good intentions of course but there is an easier path to your transformation and intimate relationship with Christ.

We say that Christ is in us but why do we preach, glorious Jesus, ugly us. No! Glorious Jesus, glorious us.

I heard my pastor preach once that the amount of money in a man’s checking account affects the way he goes about his day. Our walk is affected by the knowledge of our wealth. Do you know how much you are valued?

Sometimes we get so analytical about everything. Why is it so hard for us to believe we are saved? Truly saved! No I’m not talking halfway saved, saved one day but not the next, saved when I got my life in order but not when it’s a mess. Do you truly believe and act like you are saved? Look at it with childlike eyes Saved is saved. God’s ways are very simple but still man finds a way to make everything so hard, so complicated. It’s the simplicity of God, its just a look but for mans perspective its one of the hardest things to look away from self and look to Christ.

Like in any relationship, when you constantly remind yourself of your partners sins towards you it only holds back any progression in your relationship and if you yourself are constantly reminded of your sins towards them does that empower you to be better? Stop dwelling in your own self pity, guilt whatever it may be, that is only holding you back from progressing in your relationship with God. And likewise we shouldn’t teach others to dwell on their sins, its time to move forward.

Practice your salvation by praying with thanks.

“Lord, I’ve sinned. Today I yelled at my husband/wife and cursed it was ugly Lord but Lord, I know you still love me Lord, even with all my faults. Thank you father for forgiving me of my sins by giving your son, your only son to die on the cross for my sins.”

“Lord I’m a sinner, I’ve sinned against you, I’m not worthy of your love. I yelled and complained to my husband/wife please forgive me Lord.”

There is nothing wrong with those two prayers but one is practicing their salvation more. One of those prayers uplifts the sinner more, causing them to walk away feeling Jesus grace and mercy and empowers to go and sin no more.

Conquer step one first before anything else, believe in your salvation. You will never be free of sin but you can be free from sin.

To be honest, I have been struggling with what God has revealed to me since day one. My eyes have been opened to the message of grace, not finger pointing, CONFESS, CONFESS, CONFESS but pure love and grace however that seems to be all that people know how to do, condemn others and themselves. I hunger to hear about how great Jesus is, not how ugly I am.

For if by the one mans trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift overflowed to the many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. And the gift is not like the one mans sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.

So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification for everyone, For just as through one mans disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one mans obedience the many will be made righteous.

Let’s put Jesus back where He belongs. We need more sermons that unveil Christ in the scripture, not telling people what to do, what not to do. The lowest form of preaching is to tell people what to do, what not to do. There’s a place for it, its in the sermon but the highest form is unveiling Christ. ~Joseph Prince

Teach others about their salvation. People don’t need church to remind them of their sins, they already know, they know when they make them, they know when their at home by themselves with the guilt, they know about them when their on their way to church. What they need is to be reminded of Jesus and what He did and why He did it. They need encouragement, the good news, uplifting. We should come out of church encouraged and feeling loved, and pumped up about who we are in Christ not sad, discouraged and feeling unworthy. Preach Gods kindness and He’ll do the rest. That’s all were asked to do. Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that Gods kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Romans2:3-4.

There are only two kinds of human beings, unbelieving sinners and believing sinners. I believe in repentance but its what I believe repentance is that matters. Repentance is written in the bible, in Hebrew as teshuva, which is to return. In Greek, repentance is metanoeo, which means, to change ones mind, to change ones mind for the better.

Not everyone is going to accept the gospel. It seems too easy to say I don’t have to do anything but believe and I am forgiven. These are people who boast in their efforts. They have to receive grace by their efforts. Grace is owed to them.

The law is important, the Old Testament is important but lets bring Jesus forth from those. This is what will motivate and empower your people to go and sin no more. Take the Emmaus disciples, after Jesus death and resurrection they were discouraged, walking with one another disputing what had taken place because they did not see Jesus after his resurrection so it was hard for them to believe that He was the Son of God. So Jesus showed up but they were prevented from recognizing Him. Jesus ask them why they are arguing and they began to tell Him about how they had hope but because they didn’t witness Jesus resurrection they didn’t know what to believe. Remember they were prevented from seeing. Jesus tells them, “How unwise and slow you are to believe in your hearts all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scripture.

Luke 24:13-27

This encouraged the disciples, their hearts were ablaze within them as He was talking with them and explaining the Scriptures. This is a picture of us, we have the same equal opportunity as they, even though they did not see Jesus, they were encouraged and believed when He showed himself in the bible. That’s how you get motivation to think right, do right, show them Jesus in the bible.

I know there will be some who don’t agree with what I have written here but its ok, Jesus gives us the opportunity to decide for ourselves what we choose to believe. But I can truly say in my life, I did not start to transform on the inside and out until I realized Grace is a gift and not something worked for. Believers can fall from Gods grace but God is always there with them and once they return He is ALWAYS there with open arms.

You must believe that Jesus is Lord, for if there was never a Jesus there was never your forgiveness. With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:8-10

Jesus is Lord

God bless,
Marisa