Creation Can’t But Redemption Can!

When Adam sinned and fell, everything about creation fell. Yet, people today are still putting their trust in creation. For example, they try to become healthy by eating what is called the “Eden diet” — vegetables and no meat. They are acting as if creation did not fall, as if there is still hope in it. They also forget that there are people who eat well and exercise regularly, and still drop dead in the prime of their lives! 

John 9:7
⁷And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Thank God that what creation cannot do, redemption can and did. Jesus demonstrated this when He spat on the ground, made clay with the saliva and put it on the blind man’s eyes. (John 9:6–7) Now, it is certainly unusual to put clay on a blind man’s eyes because he would become doubly blind!

So why did Jesus do that? He was demonstrating to us that all our body parts come from the ground and that because creation is fallen, the work of creation cannot open a blind man’s eyes. But the work of redemption can! That is why He sent the blind man to the pool of Siloam. The word “Siloam” means “Sent”, referring to the sent one, Jesus. When the blind man washed his eyes in the pool of the sent one, he received supernatural healing for his eyes. 

Beloved, when we go to Jesus, the sent one who came to redeem us with the price of His blood, and we rest in His finished work, we will receive our miracles. If we believe that by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5), we will have greater health than those who trust in creation. 

Jesus was sent to redeem us from every curse that came upon creation with the fall of Adam. (Galatians 3:13) He has redeemed us from sickness, pain, sorrow, depression, poverty and even death. The world may know Him as the Creator. But today, we know Him as our Redeemer. Where the work of creation cannot save us, His work of redemption can and has!

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Covered With Jesus’ Robe Of Righteousness

Covered With Jesus’ Robe Of Righteousness

Leviticus 1:6
⁶And he shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces.

Do you know who in the Bible first clothed man with coats of skin? It was God Almighty Himself, when He found Adam and Eve hiding behind the bushes after hearing His voice! They had become fearful and conscious that they had sinned against God. In his sin-consciousness, Adam realised that he was naked and that the glory of God which was his covering was gone.

So God killed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve with coats of skin. (Genesis 3:21) An animal had to die and its bloodied skin was their covering. This speaks of the blood of Jesus that covers you when He became your burnt offering. The Lamb of God did not just take away your sins. He also gave you His righteousness.

You are covered by Jesus’ blood. You are righteous by His blood. God has clothed you with the robe of righteousness which was paid for by Jesus’ blood. I am not talking about a physical robe made of cloth. I am talking about the robe of righteousness that was on Jesus when He said to the storm, “Peace, be still!” and there came a perfect calm (Matthew 8:23–27), when healing flowed from Him to the sick and when He raised Lazarus from the dead. (John 11:38–44)

When you believe that you are righteous because of Jesus’ blood, you will see the effects of wearing Jesus’ robe of righteousness. You will see miracles happening before your very eyes. You become a blessing magnet, a favour and grace magnet. And it is not your righteousness, but the robe of righteousness of Jesus you have put on, which is attracting all these blessings of God in your life.

My friend, have the consciousness of being clothed with Jesus’ own robe of righteousness. Every day, come to God and say, “Father, I thank You that Jesus is my burnt offering. He covers me from head to toe with His righteousness. What He is to You, I am. As He is now, so am I. I am in Him.” And you will see the manifestations of the blessings of health, wholeness, protection and prosperity that the robe attracts!

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Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathaniel asked. - John 1:46

If anyone ever came from a Podunk town, it was Jesus. Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, sat on a hillside in a remote valley southwest of the Sea of Galilee. Along one of its dusty alleyways, lined with sun-baked mud walls, Jesus’ father ran a carpenter’s shop. Certainly there were no bragging rights about being from Nazareth. 

Nazareth was such a backwater town that when Nathaniel first heard that Jesus was from there, he exclaimed, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” But after meeting Jesus, Nathaniel changed his mind. In Jesus of Nazareth, he met the one who fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, the one for whom the people of Israel had been waiting and longing. He had met the Son of God and Son of Man.

Not only had Jesus of Nazareth come to fulfil God’s promises to the people of Israel, but as the Son of Man, Jesus said, he would open the gates of heaven and be the way for all humanity to find peace and full life with God.

The invitation to know Jesus of Nazareth began with a simple invitation from Nathaniel’s friend Philip: “Come and see.” 

Won’t you offer your family and friends today the opportunity to come and see Jesus? Then they too may know his presence in their lives and worship the Son of Man.

Prayer

Jesus of Nazareth, forgives us when we fail to see who you really are. Help us to recognize you today as King of kings and Lord of lords, and to share you with the world. Amen.

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God makes us new

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! - 2 Corinthians 5:17

Do you ever wish you could have a “do-over,” a chance to go back and do something differently, to avoid a big mistake you made? Most of us can recall times when we did something foolish or sinful.

We wish we could take back that one conversation or email, that one deed that remains imprinted on our minds. Perhaps some of us wonder whether God could ever accept us with such a blemish in our past.

The good news of Jesus is that God makes us new. He not only wipes away our past sins; he creates a new person by reconciling us to himself through Jesus. When we confess our fall from the goodness of God’s created intent for us, God offers us the gift of redemption in Jesus. When we trust in Christ, God does not count our sins against us. What a gracious gift!

This awesome truth gives us new freedom as we live. God knows that we are sinners, but our status at the judgment is not “sinner.” Instead, we are redeemed and newly created in Christ. God sees in us the perfect love of Jesus. He calls us to live for Jesus and to share the good news of his love with other sinners who are in need of the same grace.

God has given us something better than a do-over. He forgives us and makes us new in Jesus.

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Jesus, you rule over all things by your Word and Spirit

“What is this? A new teaching—and with authority!” —Mark 1:27

When Jesus comes on the scene, something new happens. Our hope, our longing for change, takes on a different shape. Hurting people, sinful temptations, human brokenness, and disease are confronted with authority.

The people in this story recognized Jesus’ authority in regard to two specific things: his teaching and his power over impure spirits (demons). There was something about Jesus that made him different from the other religious teachers of his day. In fact, this is the first thing mentioned in Mark’s gospel about Jesus’ public ministry: it was a ministry of authority.

We often long to witness the authority of Christ confronting diseases, financial hardships, broken friendships, and injustices of all kinds today. But we do not pause as often to consider the spiritual dimensions of our suffering. The apostle Paul reminds us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood” (Ephesians 6:12). Rather, we contend with demonic powers that want us to think that our circumstances, not our hearts, are the problem.

It’s worth noting that Jesus’ teaching, not just his healing, triggered a reaction from the crowds. But “being amazed,” by itself, is not a response to authority. Jesus’ teaching demands either submission or rebellion. He calls us to bring our hurts, our diseases, and our hearts under his authority. How will you respond?

Prayer

Jesus, you rule over all things by your Word and Spirit. Enter our lives with your authority today, we pray. Amen.

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“Are we there yet?”

Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. (Mark 1:3)

 “Are we there yet?”

Parents often hear these words from their children as their family travels on a long trip—or even a short one. Young children have an underdeveloped sense of time and distance that prevents them from understanding how long a journey will take.

God’s people often have an underdeveloped sense of the gap that exists between our lives and God’s kingdom vision. We would like to think we are decent people who just need a few minor adjustments to become right with God. We might rationalize, “If I lose a little weight, try a little harder to be nice to my neighbours, and give a little money to charitable causes, then I will really have my life together.” In reality, there is much more that keeps us from God’s ideals.

The distance between God’s ideals and humanity’s ideals was so great that Jesus did not merely come into the world without advance preparation. God sent someone to get us ready for him. John, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, came to help people recognize that the condition of this world needed a major turnaround. He called God’s people to repent and to experience a new way of life (not just a few minor adjustments) that would be signified in baptism. John helped people to realize the problem before they could be prepared to see the solution in Christ.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, help me to glimpse the kind of glory you are calling me to, so that I am ready to make a radical turn from the ways of this world, to embrace you. In your name. Amen.

Taken from Today Daily Devotional.

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Be Full Of The Consciousness Of God

1 Corinthians 2:12

¹²Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

I believe that you know the story of David the shepherd boy who defeated the 10-foot-tall Goliath, a champion warrior. Ever wondered why David succeeded while the others failed? 

David’s secret was that he didn’t know defeat because he was not conscious of a God who cannot. He was only conscious of a God who had rescued him time and again.

You can imagine him saying, “One day, I was taking care of my sheep when a lion came and took one of them. I was not willing to settle for that! I went after the lion, caught it by its beard and smote it. The Lord delivered me from the lion’s mouth. On another occasion, a bear came and took one of my flock. I went after the bear and smote it. The Lord delivered me from the bear. This same God, who delivered me from the paws of the lion and bear, will deliver me from this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:34–37)

David was conscious of what God had done for him. He knew that God was the one who was for him, loved him, favoured him and gave him success. You can also remind yourself that the same God, who did tremendous things in the past for you, will do the same for you again.

Be like David, who was full of the consciousness of God. Do not be like the army of Israel, who were full of the consciousness of the words of Goliath. I believe that they must have talked about Goliath’s threats, rehearsed his words and, as a result, filled their hearts with fear and trembling. (1 Samuel 17:11, 24)

Do not feed on man’s words nor the devil’s which only give you anxiety and fear. Feed on God’s Word by reading the Bible and listening to messages about who you are in Christ and what He has done for you. Pump yourself up with God’s Word until you are filled with the consciousness of God, that you might know the things that have been freely given to you by God!

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