In the past, struggles used to be the norm on how to be pleasing before God.  There were set of rules to follow, yet we always fall short of the glory of God.  We always find fault among ourselves.  Feeling guilty, ashamed and condemned were defaults in our hearts, truly unworthy to even call upon the name of the Lord.  I used to wonder, how can we get out of the mess we are in and stay out of the mess?

Hmmmm … with man, it is impossible.  But with God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

Thank God for His great love for us, His agape love that already thought of an absolute redemptive solution even before the fall of man.  He knew that left on our own, we can do nothing.  He knew our limited capacity to rise above our human nature that is bound to fail.

In the old covenant, the high priest had to offer a blameless, spotless and perfect sacrifice to atone for the sin of Israel for one whole year.  BUT God Who is rich in mercy and abounding in love made such obsolete and gave us a new and better covenant with better promises.

Jesus Who is the perfect and powerful demonstration of our Father’s love was given, that IN HIM, you and I will forever find favor before His eyes.  IN HIM is our place of safety that we cannot be touched by the judgment of God any longer for His wrath was exhausted in the body of Jesus Christ at the cross.  God has forsaken Jesus because He Who knew NO SIN became sin that we may become the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM.

This may boggle your mind as it did to mine.  Do you know that our righteousness IN CHRIST is the same as God’s righteousness?  And the only way we can receive this superior reality is when our minds are renewed by the power of God’s word revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.  Only our renewed minds can tap into this heavenly reality that there is NOW NO MORE CONDEMNATION to those who are IN CHRIST.

“Jesus, the perfectly innocent was declared “guilty” to make us, the perfectly guilty, INNOCENT.  The perfectly innocent Jesus was sentenced to death to sentence the  perfectly guilty TO LIFE! ”  (Pastors Alvin-Mitch de la Pena)

There is no sin greater that can withstand the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ.  Name it, He’s got the power to blot it out and cleanse it.  But, it takes humility to acknowledge and receive what Jesus has done at the cross.  It takes submission, yieldedness and surrender to be able to partake of what has been given to us.  Righteousness is a GIFT given that is meant to be received.  And receiving is an act of humility.

Sin binds us to hopelessness.  Do you know why?  Because it keeps us away from God.  Remember when Adam and Eve fell?  They hid themselves from God because of shame, guilt and condemnation.  BUT GOD’s mercy, love and grace is greater.  He gave us JESUS, Who is the HOPE of all glory.  He took our sin away by becoming sin Himself, nailed it to the cross for it to NEVER have dominion over us again.  After three days, He rose again and the same power Who raised Him from the dead lives inside you and me, the Holy Spirit, Who graces us to live in the fullness of what God has in store for us.

“The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.  So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.”  (Romans 8:3-4 NLT)

Jesus is The WAY!  He is The Way OUT from sin that brings about our separation from God.  He is The Way IN for us to be grafted into God’s family.  Jesus is The ONLY WAY Whom we can call God, “Abba”, “Our Father!”  Many call God, God, but those Who believe in Jesus Christ are privileged to call God, “Daddy!”

We live in an orphaned world, hungry for the AGAPE LOVE of our Father but unless we come to know the ONLY ACCESS to the heart of the Father, we remain empty vessels looking around to fill our emptiness with the ways of the world that can never satisfy.  He desires relationship with His beloveds for He knows that this is the only way we can be filled in and be fully satisfied.

NEW LIFE has been made available.  It is a life of RIGHTEOUSNESS that comes from being IN CHRIST, totally rooted and grounded on His finished work.  It is a life of PEACE, totally reconciled with our Father, with an everlasting intimate relationship with Him.  It is a life being fully ACCEPTED, LOVED, EMBRACED, CARED FOR, BLESSED, SANCTIFIED and FAVORED unconditionally. It is a life full of HOPE, a confident expectation that we will taste and see His goodness.  It is a life of unspeakable JOY that becomes our strength and carries us through.  It is a life of REST knowing that when we call upon His name, He hears and answers us.  It is a life with full confidence that we will forever be WITH HIM as He promised, “Behold, I am with you ALWAYS.”

“I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]  (Hebrews 13:5 AMPC)

This NEW LIFE that He has given us is for us to be conformed into His image and likeness, line upon line, precept upon precept, from faith to faith, from glory to glory.  It is a life that you and I will become SO LIKE HIM that those around us will come to know the HOPE OF GLORY, JESUS CHRIST by the power of His love flowing in and through us.

His utmost desire is for the earth to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea, and we are His chosen temples Who will diffuse His fragrance and radiate His Light for the world to come to know HIM, not just in their minds, but ALIVE in their hearts.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You for choosing us to come to KNOW the truth of  Your perfect love that results in who we are IN CHRIST, revealed to us by Your Spirit.  Jesus, thank You, for dying for us and forgiving us from all our sins that we may become the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God in You.  Thank You for the gift of reconciliation that PEACE may dwell in our hearts richly.  Truly, apart from You, we are nothing and can do nothing.  But with You, ALL things are made possible.  Thank You, Holy Spirit for gracing us with Your presence that we may be able to live righteously.  It is not by might nor by power, but by You alone.  Amen!