Apart from the finished work of Jesus Christ, God’s holy presence can never be freely approached, let alone be dwelt in.  But believing and receiving what the powerful precious Blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus, purchased and fully paid for, once and for all, forgiving all our sins and unrighteousness and remembering them no more, we can boldly and confidently come before the throne of grace anytime and anywhere to obtain mercy and find grace in time of our need.  His precious blood gave us right standing with our Father, never to be rejected nor neglected any longer, but received and embraced in the Beloved.

 ^“For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness].”  (2 Corinthians 5:21 AMPC)

Life nowadays is totally different from the years past.  Ever since this pandemic stepped in, many were shaken, are still being shaken and will somehow be in the same situation if they do not seek for a new perspective in life which only comes in seeking FIRST the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.  We all have the tendency to live life as usual yet expecting a different result.  It does not happen that way, because as a man thinks, in his heart so is he.  But God Who is rich in mercy and abounding in love had already revealed to us THE ANSWER, THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE, and His Name is Jesus Christ, THE HOPE OF GLORY.

Every cloud has a silver lining, meaning that there is hope or something good to be found in every seemingly bad situation.  We are to look at things “half-full” instead of “half-empty”, fueled with faith that ALL things work together for our good ALL because we have a GOOD, GOOD Heavenly Father Who has only GOOD plans for us.

Many times we focus too much on our comfort that we tend to forget that in everything we always have a reason to “REJOICE ALWAYS, PRAY  UNCEASINGLY AND IN EVERYTHING WE GIVE THANKS FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS FOR US” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).  Not that we rejoice because we have challenges.  No.  We rejoice because we have a GOOD Father Who will turn things around for our good.  There is always HOPE in Him, and it is the kind of hope that never disappoints.  It is a confident expectation and anticipation of good that is about to breakthrough.  When we rejoice, pray and give thanks always, we are in faith and are trusting God with all of our hearts, leaning not on our own understanding.  When we acknowledge Him in all our ways, He surely will direct our paths.  That is having faith in Him and it pleases Him.

The Passion Translation says, “Let joy be your continual feast.  Make your life a prayer.  And in the midst of everything be always giving thanks, for this is God’s perfect plan for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

In truth, we are to see our trials as pruning times for more fruitfulness to come forth in our lives.  The enemy will always try to convince us that bad things are authored by God to give us a good lesson.  Be fully persuaded that everything that comes from God are only GOOD.  Jesus said, he (the devil) has nothing in Me.  I love how it is stated in the Amplified Classic Version that says, “I will not talk with you much more, for the prince (evil genius, ruler) of the world is coming. And he has no claim on Me. [He has nothing in common with Me; there is nothing in Me that belongs to him, and he has no power over Me.]” (John 14:30)

God is good.  We have to be fully convinced by this truth.  Many even say He allows bad things to happen.  Hmmmm … for me, I do not think so.  You may disagree 🙂  He has given us the free will to choose what to think and what to do and we open ourselves to the results of the consequences of our wrong decisions and wrong doings.  Think with me on this, how many of you are parents who would allow anyone to hurt your child?  Hmmmm … instead, you are there to protect and to defend.  How much more our Heavenly Father?  His thoughts of us are always good and we are to tap into what He is thinking about us to benefit from His promises that are “yes and amen!”  He is always on a lookout to save us and prosper us, to give us a hope and a beautiful future.  Always keep in mind that our lives will go according to our most dominant thoughts.

Because our identity in Christ precedes our activity, we have to have a vision of our ourselves how God sees us, what His thoughts are about us according to what He has spoken in His Word about us … righteous, blameless, new, clean, anointed, victorious, overcomers, more than conquerors.  We are to get in alignment as to what He is saying about us that we can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us, that there is nothing impossible to us who believe.  Only in Christ alone are these make a reality in our lives.

Little things matter.  Revelations unveiled are powerful truths that we can stand on and put a stop to the lies of the enemy.   He is an adversary who roams around like a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour.   That only means, he cannot devour everyone.  Once we have the truth in us, no lie of his can come against us.  Therefore, the meditation of His Word is such a vitality.

The Word of God is the vision of God put on paper.  It is the vision of God put on words.  When God speaks, He paints a picture that splinters confusion, doubt and unbelief and births faith.  When He speaks, it transmits and transfers from His realm to revelation, to manifestation. The revelation that He gives to us is not only to feed us but to lead us.  Vision gives us a blueprint. It creates direction in our lives. It guides our steps as we trust in His Word that is the light upon our path and the lamp upon our feet.  We trust His leading one hundred percent every time because He knows where to get us and He knows how to give us success in our lives.

JESUS IS THE VISION!  Jesus authored the book that produces faith.  He is the Word of God made flesh and dwelt among us.  He is Clarity.  He is the Way.  He is Healer.  He is Savior.  He is Prosperity.  He is Success.  He is The Good Shepherd.  He is The Truth.  He is The Life.  He is The Light.  He is The Door.  He is Resurrection.  Whatever we need, He is.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he.” (Proverbs 29:18)

This is the reason why we need to get in to hearing and hearing the GOOD NEWS that is steadfast in nature.  It is the same yesterday, today and forever.   It is living and powerful.  It is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproach, for correction, for INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Need instructions? Need encouragement?  Need guidance?  Need comfort?  Need direction?  Go back to the manual of life which is the Word of God.  It SURELY is profitable.

No wonder His word says, “Listen carefully, my dear child, to everything that I teach you, and pay attention to all that I have to say.  Fill your thoughts with my words until they penetrate deep into your spirit.
Then, as you unwrap My words, they will impart true life and radiant health into the very core of your being.”  (Proverbs 4:20-22 TPT)

I so believe that the time we are in is equipping His people to KNOW WHO OUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS, TO KNOW THE ONE ONE WHOM HE HAS SENT, JESUS CHRIST, AND TO KNOW AND FELLOWSHIP WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS RESIDENT IN US.  He is doing a new thing where He will pour His Spirit upon ALL flesh but He needs vessels in whom He can co-labor with.  Slowly but surely, with ever-increasing and ever-progressing revelation, He is changing us, His wineskins, from glory to glory, and we are being wooed and passionately invited to change our mindsets in alignment to His.  His thoughts and ways are higher, and with the Holy Spirit in us, we can have the mind of Christ.  We are to break the rules from religious mindsets that are bound to be “self-worth and self-effort” and into the relationship mindset that comes from finished work of Jesus Christ.  We as His temples are to be open to the  fresh breath of God, the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit for us to be ready for His new massive move.  Our eyes are being un-scaled and unveiled to see the truth of Who Jesus is, His suffering and the power of His resurrection.  We, as His divine containers, are being enlarged and strengthened to be ready for the NEW WINE that He is about to pour into our lives.  This new wine is blessing of every kind in every area of our lives and for us to be able to be carriers of His glory, our mindsets need to be renewed day by day.

In Christ, the Kingdom of God is in us.  And the time has come for this Kingdom to flow through us.  We are not the end of the blessings.  We are the channels in whom all the people of the earth will be blessed through us.  His presence in us is ready to be poured out through us, thus, this is the perfect time to get in one accord with Him.

I have always pictured this like a combination lock of a suitcase.  For us to be able to open and put in something inside, we need to have the correct number combination.  The same way, for us to get something out from a locked suitcase, we need the same correct number combination.   Hmmm … can you imagine if our spirits, our souls and our bodies are in alignment into the Word of God, how much of His presence can flow in and through us.  IT IS NOT BY MIGHT, NOR BY POWER, BUT BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.   It is never about us.  It is all about the knowledge of the glory of God that is to cover the earth as the water covers the sea that is about to be released through you and me.

The kingdom is not discovered in one place or another, for God’s kingdom realm is already expanding within us.   “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but RIGHTEOUSNESS and PEACE and JOY in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)

RIGHTEOUSNESS is God being able to speak to man because of the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross where His precious blood made a way for us to have right standing with God FOREVER.

PEACE is when we can come boldly before God because of the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross where His precious blood made a way for us to commune and speak to God confidently.

JOY is what fills our hearts when we are in the presence of the Holy Spirit.  His Word says, in His presence is fullness of joy.  The joy that fills our hearts will overflow from our lives and into those around us.   It is the joy of intimately knowing Him and seeing how He works with us confirming His Word with signs following.

The relationship we have with our Lord Jesus Christ creates the way for us to make peace with our Heavenly Father, allowing us to receive His great love for us and His mercy and grace to forgive us.   The revelation of how much He loves us enables us to make peace with our very own self, to make room for us to forgive and love ourselves.

Condemnation keeps us bound in our situation.  It is a mindset that is solely focused in oneself and one’s performance that always falls short of the glory of God. Our own works cannot merit us anything.  In and of oneself, the righteousness of God cannot be obtained.

But, praise be to God that “there is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1) Having the freedom to live our lives holy and pleasing to Him not by our works but by the Spirit of God Who guides and leads us in the way that we should go sets us free from giving ourselves a hard time.  Freedom from putting pressure upon ourselves displaces the demands of us putting pressure on others towards us.

Being greatly loved by the Lord our God graces us to love ourselves and eventually love others the same way.  Then, we become blessing-carriers, love-carriers, joy-carriers, peacemakers, for others to come to know the goodness of God through us.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Above all, this earthly life that we live is short and temporary.  Praise God that in Christ we are privileged to live a “heaven-on-earth’ life that is not subject to the world, for He called us to be overcomers in Him.  But the spiritual life that we have is eternal and it is God Who has given us eternal life, and this Life has its Source in His Son.  “Whoever has the Son has eternal life; whoever does not have the Son does not possess eternal life.” (1 John 5:12 TPT)

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You that You have unveiled our eyes to see the truth of how GOOD, how FAITHFUL, how MERCIFUL, how GRACIOUS, how FULL OF LOVE You are, by allowing us to KNOW the One You have sent, Jesus Christ, Your Beloved and Begotten Son, to truly reveal WHO YOU ARE.  Apart from believing and receiving in our hearts Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will never come to know how GREAT and GREATLY TO BE PRAISED You are.

Thank You, Jesus, for not withholding Yourself from us.  You came to die for us and You knew it all, yet You did it all because of Your great love for us.  You never desire for anyone to perish but for all to come to eternal life in Whom You are the Source. “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.  Be my Lord, my Savior and my King.”

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for showing us the redemptive way of how to look at things from Your perspective of the truth of the gospel that we can always HOPE that the best is yet ahead of us.  Have Your way in us.  In You we live and move and have our being.  Amen!

Photo Credits:  Erik Quianzon