How do we choose LIFE?

His Word says, “He who had the Son has LIFE; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1John 5:12)

“He who has the Son [by accepting Him as Lord and Savior] has the life [that is eternal]; he who does not have the Son of God [by personal faith] does not have the life.” (1 John 5:12 AMP)

Jesus being Lord and Savior matters most in life. His Lordship, being the One Who owns as, Who paid a steep price by the power of His Blood, bears witness as to the truth of Who our Heavenly Father is. He came to reveal our Father’s heart for you and me.

It is He Who demonstrated our Daddy God’s deep love for us by taking care of us, being with us, healing us, providing for us, constantly thinking of us and ultimately dying for us at the cross 2000 years ago that we may be reconciled back into our Father’s loving embrace, postured securely to never be separated from Him and His love again. This is His WILL and He delights to make Himself KNOWN to us and to be KNOWN by us as His beloved children by the power of His Word revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.

If we look around and see the people around us, there are so many who are orphaned by our Heavenly Father’s love. How do we know? Hmmmm … many lives are “lost” due to emptiness or too burdened to keep their faces above the water. This is so because our lives are NEVER meant to be lived independent of our Creator. He did not just create us for nothing. He thought of us before the foundation of the world, mind you.

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you …” (Jeremiah 1:5)

“He chose us IN HIM before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blamless before Him. IN LOVE He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will.” (Ephesians 1:4-5)

We can never reconcile the purpose of our lives if we are limited to think about ourselves alone. “What do I want to be? Our own goals, ambitions, dreams and desires can never reveal to us the real purpose of our existence, thus we fall short from being fully satisfied. We can be successful in our own little way but we can never be fulfilled. We are to go back and start with our Source, the Creator of all, the only One Who can reveal our true life’s purpose and the best part of it is that, He is our Father.

“It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone’s life is in his power.” (Job‬ ‭12:10‬ ‭GNT‬‬)

We can only KNOW Who our Father is through His Son, Jesus Christ. No one has seen the Father but Jesus appeared to many as we hear testimonies after testimonies. One encounter with Jesus changes lives and it definitely changed MINE!

Jesus only speaks what He hears His Father saying and does what He sees His Father doing. (John 5:19) He said, “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) He said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” (John 14:6-7) If we desire to know our Father, we press on to know Jesus in the Word.

In Christ there is NO DARKNESS! In HIM is life and life is the LIGHT of men. (John 1;4)

Think with me on this. When we go through a tunnel of darkness, when we are in situations where there seems to be a no way out, we normally think, “there is always light at the end of the tunnel!”

BUT the beauty of being in Christ Who is the LIGHT of the world residing in us is that when we keep meditating His word, choosing to worship Him while we are in the midst of darkness, the Holy Spirit breathes and illumines the Word that the entrance of the revelation of the Word gives HOPE to our circumstances. We do not wait to find ourselves at the end of the tunnel to find light. “His Word is the lamp upon our feet and the light unto our path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Every step of the way, with a revealed word to stand on, PEACE dwells in our hearts RICHLY. His Presence tunes down our worries and anxieties and tunes up our courage and strength to worship Him Who gives us the confidence to walk in the light of His Word.

“The ENTRANCE of His Word gives LIGHT and gives understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:30)

The word becoming flesh in our lives is when the spoken, Spirit-breathed Word of God is revealed and what is revealed our faith explores to experience it!

Remember this. In the dark tunnel, IN CHRIST we cannot be crippled! Instead, we will be filled with HOPE, a confident expectation that something GOOD is at hand. We walk by faith and not by sight. We TRUST in the One Who ordains our steps most especially when we cannot see where our next step will be, but He SEES and He guides us with His eye. We may surrounded by darkness but we are not overwhelmed by it because His presence is with us. His light illumines where we’re at and shines brightly as He makes known to us the path of life.

When I went to Israel some years back, our tour guide took our group inside a tunnel. Too bad I did not join this part of the journey but was blessed by the testimony of my friend. She said, when they got into the lowest part where everything was pitch black, water was running knee-deep and all they had were their flashlights, the tour guide asked all of them to switch them off. They stood still silently for a moment. Then the tour guide put on his flashlight and said, “See, even when you are in the midst of this dark tunnel, when Jesus is IN YOU Who is the Light of the world, He illumines your surroundings and causes you to SEE!”

The mysteries of God are vital parts of our faith journey in Him. There is where we develop our sensitivity on how to be led by Him when we do not see with our physical eyes, yet our hearts are at PEACE because He knows the way. In truth, He IS the Way and we trust Him for Who He is. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He never leaves us without support. This is where we discover how faithful He is to His promises spoken through His Word THAT NEVER FAILS!

When we KNOW Him by the power of His Word, we move by what we know!

“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, He had His eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose He is working out in everything and everyone.

It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.” (Ephesians‬ ‭1:11-14‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

A Song of Prayer by Brian Littrell:

In Christ alone
I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory
Let it be said of me
My source of strength
My source of hope
Is Christ alone