Why Do We Fight Him?

Our whole lives as Christians can be a constant tug of war between our flesh and the Holy Spirit. Some of us live our whole lives without a total surrender to the One who loves us, the One who gave everything He had so that we might have LIFE - and yet we refuse this life, true life, by not giving all of ourselves to Him.

John 10:10 (NLT) "The thief's purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."

If your hands are already full, how can you accept a gift? Imagine that you are holding onto 2 rotten apples, one in each hand. Then a close friend comes along with 2 ripe apples, nice and red and juicy and crisp - 2 perfect apples. (I am making myself hungry here!) You look at those apples, and you know they are good. You know they would be much better for you than the rotten ones you have in your hands. Your friend desperately wants to give you his apples, but even though you want to do it, you can't accept the perfect apples he is offering you because you are still holding onto the rotten ones. You don't have room in your hands to have all the apples - you have to put down the rotten ones before you can accept the perfect apples.

Ok, I know that using apples is a little different, but I'm pretty sure that you get the picture. I know I do!

We hold on to our pride - we want to be in control of our lives, of our dreams, our goals, our relationships, our decisions, our whole lives. Jesus offers us LIFE, and we look at Him and we know that what He has for us is so much better than what we are holding onto, but we don't let go, so we cannot accept what He is offering us.

The great thing about Jesus is that His patience does not end - because His love for us doesn't end either! As long as we have breath, His offer of LIFE will not expire. Christians, as soon as you let go, you will be free to accept what He has to offer you! A rich and satisfying LIFE!!

We need to let go...learn to live our lives not with a closed fist, but with open hands. Open hands don't hold onto anything in this life; not possessions, not people, not dreams, and not even burdens or offences. Open hands. It gives God full freedom to do what He has always wanted to do in your life - give you LIFE!

God's Love For You Has Nothing To Do With You!

Did you have to read that title a couple of times? Think about it - God's love for you has absolutely nothing to do with you! Doesn't make much sense, does it? However, when you give it some thought, it really does!

The Bible says that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God. This includes us! Not even we ourselves can separate up from His love. God loves us, no matter what! There is nothing we can do to make Him love us less, and there is nothing we can do to make Him love us more. Therefore, His love for you has nothing to do with you!

If you are like me, you have probably struggled with feeling like you've gone too far this time, or that God has extended His mercy too many times, and soon He will take His grace away from you. I don't know why Christians find it easier to believe lies than the truth of God's own Word, but it is usually the case.

If you are struggling with these thoughts of condemnation, read Psalm 106. This Psalm talks about how the Israelites rebelled against God time after time after time after time. It says that they even went as far as to sacrifice their own sons and daughters to idols, shedding innocent blood! Then it talks about how God was angry, and gave them over to their enemies.

HOWEVER! In verses 43-46, it says: "Again and again He rescued them, but they chose to rebel against Him and they were finally destroyed by their sin. Even so, He pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries. He remembered His covenant with them and relented because of His unfailing love. He even caused their captors to treat them with kindness."

Christians! His covenant with YOU is His blood! There is no stronger covenant than this! Nothing can erase what He has already done for you - no, not even your sins! So do not accept condemnation. Instead, repent of your sin, and then move on from it, confident that He who has the final say has already forgotten it.

Grace Is For Christians Too!

Why are there so many Christians out there that are continually bogged down? There are a surprising number of believers who have to pretend at church on Sunday morning, that all is well and they are happy, happy, happy!
As Christians, it's okay not to feel happy all the time - in fact, Jesus promised us in the Bible that when you become a Christian, life will get harder! The good thing is that He will be with us to get us through the hard times.

There are many reasons why there are a lot of Christians who have to pretend to have joy, but I want to focus on what I think is one of the biggest. Grace. When someone new comes to Christ, we are so happy for them, and even the angels in Heaven rejoice and "party on" because of it. Why are we excited? Because that person has received the grace of God. Without grace, no one would be able to go to Heaven at all!

Let's focus on this new believer...he learns more about God, reads the Bible, prays, converts some of his family and friends, goes to church, worships with other Christians, and life is good. Fast-forward a few years. He is still going to church, still prays and reads his Bible (sometimes!) life is still good (sometimes!) but he still sins. Maybe he has a reoccurring sin that is weighing him down so much that it is all he thinks about.

Now he feels guilty, ashamed and condemned. He probably hears Satan whisper things like: "You're a hypocrite!", "How can God forgive you for this over and over again?", "God has given up on you because of this!", and "You might as well do it again because its the only thing that is going to make you feel good now!"

He starts to believe these lies, and he gets trapped further in his sin. But it doesn't make him feel any better; instead he feels more guilty, more ashamed and more condemned.

He will continue on like this unless he remembers how he came to God in the first place - empty-handed. You can't earn God's grace as an unbeliever, and you can't do anything to earn it as a believer either! His grace remains the same no matter what. It is us who change, not God's grace. Jesus died for ALL of our sins, not just the ones we committed before we knew Him! Also, He knew everything we would ever think or do (good and bad) before He died for us, and before He brought us to Him. You can't surprise God!

It doesn't matter how long you have been a Christian, or how much you know about the Bible, or how big your sin is. His grace is enough to cover ALL of our sins, and it is one of the many gifts He gives to anyone who chooses to take it - whether you're new to Him or you've been around for years.

Accept His grace, read Romans 8 and live a free life!