THIS VICTORY IS YOURS, CHILD of GOD! Part 1 of 2

Are you feeling discouraged of late? Depressed? Disillusioned with life? Maybe you've suffered a sharp and deeply painful loss; the death of a loved one, the dark struggles of addiction, the broken-heartedness of an unfaithful spouse or a divorce? A besetting sin that plagues you?

I would like to try and encourage you. Would you allow me a few minutes and bring to your remembrance some truths from God's Holy Word?

As one who is a child of God, one who has repented of their sinful life, and turned your life over to God, YOU child of God are now HIS responsibility, and He is the LORD: He is able to do all things for us! He is able to answer prayers beyond what we ask or even THINK (EPH 3:20)!

Remember, The LORD GOD LOVES YOU! How much so? Think about this, I mean, really sit still and ponder this powerful truth:

GOD the SON, The WORD, left the pure peacefulness and holy habitation of heaven to come into this dark, rebellious, sinful world because He was on a mission! He allowed Himself to be nailed on a cross, and as He hung there, something insurmountably incomprehensible happened. 

EVERY SINGLE SIN EVER COMMITTED BY EVERY SINGLE HUMAN BEING in ALL the HISTORY of the HUMAN RACE was poured into the pure, spotless, sinless soul of this LAMB of GOD!

Can you even imagine what that must have been like for the Holy Being that is GOD to have had endured such a despicable and destructive act?? But there was more that He suffered, FAR, FAR more than only this!!

The undiluted, complete, total and full fury of God's Holy Judgment against the entirety of mankind's entire volume of sin was then taken out on our LORD JESUS!! As terribly agonizing as the Cross had been, the physical aspects were nothing compared to the spiritual dimensions of what He endured!!

And yet, for all that unimaginable anguish and excruciating torture of sin and holy judgment against sin, our precious Savior experienced an inner joy. JOY?!? What joy could He have had??

HEBREWS 12:2
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

And this was the motive why He allowed Himself to suffer such a thing as He did: HIS LOVE OF YOU!! YOUR SALVATION and ETERNAL REDEMPTION is the source of HIS JOY!

No matter what else may happen to you in life, be assured of this, child of the Living God: HIS LOVE FOR YOU WILL NEVER, EVER CHANGE, DIMINISH, or GROW COLD! The depths of His passion and love for you is such that He WILLINGLY, WILLINGLY (!!) went to the Cross... just to save your soul, and bring you to heaven where you will know an ETERNITY of fellowship with your LORD!

These hardships, trials, sufferings that we endure on this Earth, we may never know the reasons for them all, but the LORD Jesus tasted every sorrow, every heart ache, all of the vile and bitter dregs that resulted from sins of our own (or even someone else's) doing.

He has allowed these things into your life for the purpose of refining you; fiery trials are sent our way by Divine Messenger, for this explicit purpose! To bring about a refinement in our soul that, in the skillful Hands of our Creator and Redeemer, will work a wonder of purification that could never be accomplished otherwise!

Likewise be assured that NO trial will ever last longer than absolutely necessary! As soon as it's done its work, you will know deliverance, but also a greater, and deeper reality of freedom than you have ever known before! ALL THAT GOD ASKS OF YOU IS A YIELDED, SURRENDERED HEART: One who's cry is, "LORD whatever You must do in my life and in my heart, TAKE ME, I AM YOURS! Do with me as You will!"

God will honor such a prayer and accomplish such things that we could never believe! He will take these bad, terrible, tragic experiences and bring GOOD from them! Take note: He won't merely override these bad things, He will actually USE THESE EXPERIENCES to bring about GOOD in your life!

How do I know this? Two ways - first of all, the scriptures tell us so!

ROMANS 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

ALL things! That means the good, AND the bad, AND even the ugly things in our lives, by the Almighty, miraculous, wonder-working power of the LAMB of GOD Who has taken away the sins of the world, He can take ALL things and work them together for good - to those of us that love God and trust Him with our very lives, those who are called according to HIS purpose (can you think of ANYONE more trustworthy than your Creator and Savior? The One Who is not only KING of the Universe, but also your LORD?).

Another way I know this is because of the Cross!
Think of when Jesus was crucified, and on that day the hopes, dreams and greatest aspirations of all the apostles were mercilessly crushed! The One that they had hoped would be the Messiah, that would inaugurate the KINGDOM reinstated from the time of King David; the greater KING and MESSIAH of Israel's body now hung DEAD - on the CROSS! What greater tragedy was there ever in the history of mankind? That's certainly how the apostles saw it!

YET - - - Three days later! Our LORD Jesus exploded out of Hades, and plummeted upwards, upwards, upwards until His Spirit was reunited with a glorified body, and that body raised itself up off that cold, cold slab of stone in the dark, dank tomb that itself was suddenly aflame with holy light! 

The stone that blocked the entrance into the tomb was no obstacle to the KING of Kings! The grave couldn't hold Him, neither could death! Nothing would ever prove an insurmountable obstacle to the LORD JESUS!! Can you honestly think of one thing in YOUR life that could prove this statement false?

This great tragedy was actually the GREATEST BLESSING and GIFT to all mankind, theirs for the taking, if only they would repent of their sins, and receive the LORD Jesus and His accompanying salvation, and the abundant of which it consists!

What tragedy, what trouble, what tribulation do you have that could match the death of the Messiah on a wooden, blood-stained Cross? Yet such a thing was turned around and was the very means to save sinful man from an eternity of hell fire.

Just think of what the touch of the LORD's nail scarred hand could do in your life, and with your sorrows and tragedy!

What love is there deep within the LORD's heart for you that won't be made manifest to you, as you yield yourself, your life, your problems to Him in sweet surrender! There is NOTHING that can ever separate you from the LOVE of GOD!!

ROMANS 8:37-39
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

While such dark, troublesome times may seem to go on forever, they won't! There is coming a day when we will suddenly find ourselves at the portals of heaven, and upon entering, we will meet our LORD and enter into His warm, everlasting embrace, and know forever the ecstasy and thrill of His unconditional love face to Face, just as we can experience His love here and now.

Draw closer to the LORD, ask Him that if there is anything that is unwilling to surrender to His perfect and holy will, that He would nail it to His cross, and thus bring you freedom from bondage and brokenness.

ROMANS 8:32
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?

There will be a part Two to this exhortation, posted soon, but in the meanwhile, I hope that you will listen to and be encouraged by this song by Chris Tomlin, entitled simply, LOVE

JESUS LOVES YOU!!!!