Happiness in God comes from seeing God revealed to us in the face of Jesus Christ through the Scriptures...Our eyes are divinely opened to see what a lovely Being God is! And this good, gracious, loving, heavenly Father is ours, our portion for time and for eternity.” Knowing God is the key to being happy in God.
With this in mind, from this week onward, we will start of a new series called "knowing God". The aim of this series is to know God by examining the Scriptures closely. Our maturity as Christians are not by knowing how long we have been in church but is by how much we know about this God we worship. Amen!
Ok, if knowing God is our objective here, let's start-off by asking ourselves these questions. Who is God really? Why are we seeking Him? How does He see us today? What is He thinking now? How do I gain more favor from Him? How do I know if God is talking to me?
The list can go on and on..... We maybe confused at times when God doesn't seem to response to our prayer or perhaps wondering why healing is not forth-coming despite our faith in Him. But, one thing for sure, the answers are all in His Book, the Bible.
"But then, the Bible know me but I don't know the Bible leh?" "Every time, I read a few verse, I fell asleep." "So difficult to understand God's Word..." These are some of my thoughts when I first become a believer. I remember I read the entire Bible twice or maybe thrice (one year scheduled bible reading) throughout my time as a believer. But to be frank, I hardly remember much about what I read. Even when I understand the story of David and Goliath, it is merely a story-telling novel to me back then. There seem to be something missing.
The key to all these complication is knowing who is the author. A good author of a book will always contain a powerful message. We know the author of Bible is God. Not only it is the all-time best seller today, it is divine. Wait till you go into the "Bible codes" you will see how this book has been divinely arranged.
Of course, we are not here to crack the code. We would have miss the point if we do. But, it is this divine arrangement in the book that tell us "Yes, it has to be God, man can never put up a book like this."
Today, if there is just one word to describe God, it would be the word "love". We know God is love, we heard enough from people, pastors telling us God is Love.
Let's be clear about this love we are talking about... let's not think of it too loosely. "Yeah, God love me, God love my cat, God love my bird, God love the trees, plants God love everything and anything... hmmm" No No No... This is not the lovey dovey kind of love we are talking about.
God did not send His Son to die for the cat nor the bird nor the tree nor the plant, not even angels! God sent His Son to die for YOU and I! Amen!
Imagine, if you are God, you sent your Son to die for human mankind. Instead of being thankful, they spat at Him, they beat Him up with their fists, torn His garment apart, put the crown of thorns on His head, scourged His back till it look like ribbons...
Oh goodness, wicked it is for men without God. It is one thing that His blood redeem all of us. It is another thing to say "His blood be on us and our children" Basically, they were saying "Crucified Him and we take responsible of His death, including our next generation." They wanted Jesus death not because they knew they will be redeemed from sin by His blood, they were simply driven to the peak of their emotion in hatred and unbelief. I wonder who drove their emotions to such extend...You know the answer.
What a self-righteous proclamation, isn't it? But, God was watching when all these were taking place. How would He think? His Son was being tortured and going through something which no one seem to appreciate at that moment. Worse of all, they humiliated Him and wanted to be responsible for His death!
At this peak of great evilness, God did not speak a word. But, He allowed Jesus to go through all these.If it is our son going through this, we probably would say "Forget it, no one seem to appreciate what we are doing here... I don't think our son deserve to die this way." At this peak of great evilness, what is God thinking? We do not know since the Bible did not record any verbal word from Him.
But, Jesus said this at the cross "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." Why would Jesus said this to His Father? Don't God know what He is doing? Of course, He know. Jesus said this for our benefit.
Today, we shout "Hallelujah! Praise be to God and His favor on us." Because Jesus already said at the cross, our Father in Heaven forgive us. How can He? By His Son's shed blood, by His Son's perfect work on the cross! Hallelujah! It takes a God of great heart to love us this way, isn't it? Until now, we can never understand completely nor fathom God's love for us. No amount measurement is enough to contain His unconditonal love for us!
Let's us settle this once and for all. The Truth is Jesus died for our sins and God did not stop nor withold Him for us.This is because God love us. If God does not love us, He would have stop Jesus from going to the cross. In fact, God won't even need to send His Son to die for us! But, He did, this is the Truth. He love us and that love is displayed permanently and eternally on the cross! Amen!
Today, we shout "Hallelujah! Praise God for His wonderful plan!" because we are now on favored ground, no more cursed-ground. We are no longer need to be sin-conscious because all our sins were purged at the cross! Amen! We are qualified and are now righteous-conscious. We can deserve all the favor from God today because Jesus, our sacrificial Lamb paid the price. Amen!
With this, I leave you with this verse to meditate:
Romans 8:32 (AMP)
32 He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?
God is with you and God is for you. His grace is sufficient for you. Amen!
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