LIGHT FROM THE WORD

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8

LIGHT FOR NOW: Christ died for our sin.

The giving of Jesus to us was not His birth or His incarnation. God gave Jesus to us on the Cross where He died. This is why the incarnation of Christ is not the gospel but it is fundamental to the gospel. To pay for sin requires only one step and that is death. Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Jesus took our place in death that we might have eternal life through Him. Romans 8:32 says “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things”. The word “spared not” is used for judgment. This means God allowed judgment to come on His only Son. Christ’s love for us became His motivation and it became a righteous act for Him to die. The word “delivered up” means to hand over, which is used for betrayal. God never delivered up Jesus to Himself  but to His enemy (death). His death for us was a willing death. Ephesians 5:2 says “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour”. Christ is not trying to love us but He had already loved us to the point of dying for us. He had destroyed him that had the power of death. Hebrews 2:14-15 says “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”. In all that Jesus has done, we are just the beneficiaries. We did not contribute anything. God’s attitude towards sinners is that of favour. God does not use sin, He does not tempt with sin, and He does not overlook sin. God favoured sinners on a legal ground (that is, by the death of His Son). The favour you receive when you have Christ is the same favour you will enjoy all through the days of your life. Matthew 26:28 says “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”. The word “remission of sin” is from the Greek word “aphesis” which means to take it away or no record for it. Both the nature and acts of sin have been taken away. The blood of Jesus is a permanent solution for sin. His blood has taken sin away from our relationship with God. The moment you come into Christ, sin loses its power over your relationship with God. God stood in eternity and paid for sin for life. This means our sin is eternally forgiven by the one-time death of Christ. Hallelujah!

INSTRUCTION: Acknowledge Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

PRAYER: Lord, thank you for paying for my sin with your life, in Jesus name.

DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: EXODUS CHAPTER 16; EVENING: LUKE CHAPTER 4

But God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” – Romans 5:8

LIGHT FOR NOW:  God does not talk about love; He acts it.

Jesus Christ is the embodiment of love. It was out of his love for you that made him leave his heavenly position to die for you in order to remodel you to be in his class. Jesus is God explaining Himself. When you see Jesus, you see all of God. Redemption was already designed by God. This is the literary meaning of the concept of predestination. It means to foreknow which implies to know beforehand. This is the true nature of God (Romans 11:2). God knew that Jesus Christ will die for the sins of man. This has to do with specific knowledge. The determinate counsel of God was for Christ to die for the sins of man. The love of God is seen in His demonstration. To know the love of God; you must watch His actions keenly. God does not talk about love, He acts it. Love is not in saying, love is in acting. Love must always come with a corresponding action. The birth of Christ was God’s first incarnation in the flesh. He was manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). Christ was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). There is nothing about the birth of Christ that can actually save a man. The giving of the only begotten son was on the cross.

According to Romans 5:8, God does not have any reason for loving you. He died for you even when you were a sinner and of no use whatsoever to him. When you understand the love of God towards you, you will never cease to worship Him both in your service and with your resources. God acted out His love for you.  You must also appreciate His love for you by constantly being at your place of service in church, give your resources to advance the gospel as well as witness Christ to your world. God’s love subsists. If you have the love of God, then you have everything you need in life.

INSTRUCTION: Stay with His love.

Prayer: Father, I appreciate your love for me. I pray for the grace to always appreciate this love by giving out my time and resources for the advancement of the gospel, in Jesus Name!

QUOTE: You have been accepted in the beloved.

DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: EXODUS CHAPTER 15; EVENING: LUKE CHAPTER 3

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues” – Mark 16:17

LIGHT FOR NOW:  The Supernatural is domiciled in you.

It is important to note that the realm of the supernatural is the believer’s nature. Nothing on earth is qualified to threaten a man who believes in Christ. The supernatural depicts the rearrangement of natural things. The moment a man receives Christ, he becomes an epitome of miracles. Miracles are not strange to the believer in Christ. There is a need for the believer in Christ to know who he is and what he carries. Miracles are the signs that follow a believer in Christ Jesus. What we see as a miracle is a sign of approval that there is someone behind the scene working things out for your favour. When you see a miracle, it is a pointer to something unique. Miracle is an attraction. It is not the real substance, but there is absolutely no way you can have Christ and miss the miracles. When you have “HIM”, the “IT” becomes all yours. The abandoned pot became the source of the sweetest wine because the “HIM” was involved. The make-up of a believer in Christ is miracles.

When you know your status, your stature does not matter. As a believer in Christ, you are to go about doing good just as Jesus did when he walked on the earth because, as he is, so are you in this world. God’s acts of kindness, compassion, goodness and love was ‘the doing good’ (Matthew 14:14). The healing miracles of Jesus were borne out of his compassionate nature. As a believer in Christ, you have no right to leave ugly situations the same way you meet them. You have been empowered to heal the sick, raise the dead, and turn mourning into dancing. Miracles defy time because time does not control God but God controls time.

INSTRUCTION: Believe in Christ and reclaim your miraculous nature.

Prayer:   Thank you Father for making me a product of miracles, in Jesus Name!

QUOTE: When you have “HIM”, the “IT” becomes yours.

DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: EXODUS CHAPTER 14; EVENING: LUKE CHAPTER 2

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his Son—to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him; and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit”.

1 John 4:7-13

LIGHT FOR NOW: Jesus is the embodiment of God’s love.

The love of Christ is not a mystery. It surpasses all knowledge that the physical world carries. When you know the love of Christ that passes all understanding, you come into the fullness of God. The love of Christ is the love of God. To know the love of Christ is to know the love of God as revealed in Christ. Jesus is the embodiment of God’s love. Jesus is the expression of the love of God. He is God’s love dispensed, poured out, expressed, manifested and displayed. To know the love of God is to know Christ. The moment you get born again, you conform to Christ. When you get born again, the totality of God, all of God’s power and anointing comes into your inside. You become the totality of God; Christ in you, the hope of glory. When Christ rose from the dead triumphantly, defeating sin, death and Satan, He became the first-fruit of the born-again. He was the prototype of the born-again. A prototype is an example. Today, when you believe in Christ and get born again, you are exactly like Jesus; no more, no less for as He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).

Whatever cannot fight Jesus cannot fight you. Whatever cannot defeat Jesus cannot defeat you. What is in Jesus is also in you. Whatever that cannot be found in Jesus cannot be found in you. All these identification is to bring us to the love of God. Jesus is the love of God demonstrated. When you look at Jesus, all you will see is the love of God. Jesus is God’s love communicated to mankind. He is God who became a man in order to reveal God to man. Jesus is God who came in human flesh to defend the singular character of God. Jesus did not come to explain God; Jesus is God explaining Himself. He is God revealing Himself in human flesh. This is the love of God.

INSTRUCTION: Believe in the love of God.

Prayer: Father, thank you for loving me this much, in Jesus Name!

QUOTE: Jesus is God’s love communicated to mankind.

DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: EXODUS CHAPTER 13; EVENING: LUKE CHAPTER 1

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16

LIGHT FOR NOW:  The consistent character of God is love.

Man sinned. The wages of sin is death. Therefore, man must die. And man did not have the wherewithal to pay for the wages of his sin. But God loves man. God looked at the planet and saw that man did not have what it takes to pay for his sin. Man did not have the resources. Man was broke, helpless and destitute. Nothing on the planet could pay for the sin of man. But God loves man. The consistent character of God is love. God does not kill and make alive. He only makes alive. God does not destroy, He only saves. Jesus is the embodiment of God in human form to give correction to man’s perspective of God. Out of love, God became a man. The earth could not handle God in all His majesty. God had to become a man in order to access the earth and help man (Philippians 2:5-7). Jesus is God in human flesh for the purpose of redemption. God becoming a man is the love of God demonstrated. God loves you so much that He became a man because of you. He did not need to become a man; but out of His love for you, He became a man on your behalf for the purpose of redemption. This is the love of God for you.

Love is the sacrificial work of Christ (Romans 8:32). When you receive Christ, you receive the love of God and when you reject Christ; you reject the love of God. The love of God is a person and not a feeling. Jesus Christ is the love of God. In the love of God demonstrated, the price was eternally paid (Hebrews 10:12). The love of God is demonstrated such that God has brought man into a place of identification with Him such that as He is; so are you in this world. The love of God is in Christ. The believer is in Christ. Therefore, the believer in Christ is in the Love of God. The believer has no love problem because the love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost.

INSTRUCTION: Believe in the Love of God.

PRAYER: Father, I thank you for your love for me. I appreciate the gift of your Son, Jesus to die for my sins and bring me into union with you, in Jesus Name!

QUOTE: The believer in Christ has no love problem.

DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: EXODUS CHAPTER 12; EVENING: MARK CHAPTER 16

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. – Romans 5:8

LIGHT FOR NOW:  The love of God is not a reward for good deeds.

The believer in Christ is enshrined, intertwined and secured in the love of God. The measure of God’s love is the expense of Christ. Christ is the measure of God’s love; a love beyond measure. The Grace of God is the explanation of the love of God. The love of God is explained by the Grace of God. It is God making us qualified for what He has already provided. In the natural, man loves you based on what he can get from you or as a reward for good deeds. Men’s love is conditional, temporary and emotional. The day you stop giving them what they want, they stop loving you. The good news is that God’s love is not a feeling. God does not have reason(s) for loving us. His love for us is eternal. The love of God is not a reward for our good deeds. We do not even need to be good to earn God’s love. God did not wait for us to be good before He started loving us. He is not trying to love us, he had already loved us. That is why Romans 5:8 says “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.

God loved us even before we loved Him. He did not wait for us to love Him but He already loved us even while we were dead in trespasses and of no use whatsoever to Him. The love of God for us is not a reaction. God does not react. Nothing takes God unawares. God pro-acts. Everything you need in this life has already been provided. The love of God is that God has brought us into intimacy and in union with Himself. Salvation is all about God coming to man. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made us one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself twain one new man, so making peace” (Ephesians 2:13-16). Therefore, you have no reason not to enjoy the peace of God. Christ has reconciled us back to God. He has made us one and united with God.

INSTRUCTION: Appreciate the Love of God for you.

PRAYER:  Lord, I appropriate all that the finished work of Christ on the cross has wrought for me, in Jesus Name!

QUOTE: The believer in Christ has no love problem.

DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: EXODUS CHAPTER 11; EVENING: MARK CHAPTER 15