Why Your Past Doesn’t Matter to God
One of the great truths revealed in the story of the Prodigal Son is that the gospel is not about our past but our present and future. The happiest person at the party wasn’t the newly restored and forgiven son but his father. The critical, fault finding brother missed the homecoming celebration because he was busy working for what the Prodigal was receiving and experiencing freely through his father’s unconditional love.
Legalism blinds and distorts the true nature and character of God. It is only love that unveils the heart of God and can change the heart of the one who chooses to trust in God’s love personally. Don’t miss out on what God has for you because of guilt and shame from your past. Why remember what God has forgotten?
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12).
“God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10).
Ed Elliot
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” 2 Co. 5:17-19(NKJV)
This is New Year’s Eve and that is a good time to think about new things. The Bible says His “mercies are new every morning”. That means His grace is new as well. There is an old expression, sinned away his day of grace, but I question the truth of that saying.
If we are in Christ Jesus, all things are made new, and all things are of God. Mercy is renewed every morning so it never dissipates. Since grace belongs to God and He never changes it then grace is in His charge. We have nothing to do with grace except to believe in it. God is in charge of making it work. We can’t sin it away because we never had anything to do with it being here to begin with.
Our part is to just believe we receive it from God so He can reconcile us to Himself. We choose to be reconciled to God by faith in the blood sacrifice made by Jesus. It washed away our sins forever as long as our faith is in God’s works and not ours. Jesus died once for all time for our sins. Paul said, “ if righteousness comes from keeping the law, Christ died for nothing”. GAL. 2:21
1st Corinthians 13 (Christmas version)
If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another cook.
If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.
If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir’s cantata, but do not focus on those I love the most, I have missed the point.
…In other words,
Love stops the cooking to hug a child.
Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, and golf clubs will rust.
But the gift of love will endure. (anonymous)
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call His name Immanuel.” Is. 7:14 (NKJV)
Last Sunday Pastor Shirley preached a sermon she called, “What’s in a name” and she was referring to the name Jesus, which means “Salvation”. It was a good and thought provoking message. Today’s sermon is chapter two.
“You shall call His name Immanuel.” There are at least 17 different names for God in the Old Testament. All of them are used to present a unique characteristic of “I am who I am”, the name He revealed to Moses.
Jesus made it very clear in Scripture that He and God were one. Jesus was the Word in the beginning and the Word became flesh and dwelled among us. Jesus became God’s Son when He was conceived by Mary. The first name He was called was in Isaiah. You shall call His name Immanuel. The Word, Jesus Christ, Lord, and Immanuel are the names of the Son of God. Yes, all the other names used for God are said of Jesus but only two were given by the angel to Mary and Joseph, Jesus and Immanuel.
Last week it was Jesus and this week it is Immanuel, which means “God with us”. How awesome to know that God wanted us to know He is at home with us every day.
There should never be a day that we think God has left us. He promised He would never leave us or forsake us no matter what. Love never fails and God doesn’t love, HE IS LOVE. Jesus and God are One and we are One with them. Knowing and believing this should solve all the problems we might face in our lives.
THE FATHER’S PLAN
Luke 24:21 “But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel; and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.”
When the right time came, God sent forth His Son from Heaven in His pre-existent state, into the world. He was born of a woman (virgin birth) and was made subject to the requirements of the law. Jesus was sent at a specific time. The entrance of Jesus into the physical realm was not a random thing occurring at a haphazard time. There were developments that had to take place before Christ could come to earth and redeem man. The Father sent His Son to the earth at the earliest possible time. Anytime prior to the time Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, would have been premature.
His purpose for coming into the world was twofold. First, He came to ‘redeem them that were under the law,’ He did this by perfectly keeping the law, fulfilling it, and paying its curse (Mt. 5:17, Gal. 3:13). Thus, Christ delivered us from the entire system of the law. The Greek word for redeem means ‘to buy OUT OF the slave market.’
Secondly, Christ gave us the status of sonship with all its privileges. Not only were we redeemed from the bondage of the law, but we were redeemed unto sonship. Many people stop short, only realizing what they were delivered from, not what they inherited. Sure, we need to rejoice that we are redeemed, but we also need to move on, and realize the full benefits of our inheritance.
God created us for Himself but we sold ourselves into slavery to the devil. God bought us back through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. No amount of effort, human works, or man’s own righteousness could bring the divine favor that we needed. It was the actual life of God (Lev. 17:11) that purchased our redemption.
Andrew Wommack
Remembering the good things God has done will keep you encouraged. Now the enemy wants you to focus on those unanswered prayers. The enemy comes with “if God said”, “what if it doesn’t happen”. What are you focusing on today? The whispers of the enemy or the whispers of Holy Spirit. When we hear a condemning voice-you know that whisper that says, “you gotta do this to get God to do what you are praying, believing Him for”. Holy Spirit will never speak with condemnation to us. Holy Spirit helps us discern the voice of God or the voice of the enemy. He is our discerner and more.
John 16:7 tells us-”But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you. I like that word, “stand by.” According to the dictionary, a standby is someone to be relied on, especially during emergencies. ready or available for immediate action or use. It is a favorable or reliable choice or resource; it is one held in reserve ready for us. I don’t know about you but have listened to the voice of condemnation. Those whispers always made me feel less than. I am learning to discern the voice that brings condemnation or the voice of Holy Spirit who is my Helper.
The Greek word used in John 16:7 in reference to the Holy Spirit is Parakletos, which means one who is called to one’s side, especially to help.
May we be continually encouraged to remember the good things God has done. Listen intentionally to the voice of the Holy Spirit, who is God, who is standing by your side right now as you read this!.
For you will overcome and see the glory of your God. So continue to press forward even on the days you feel like all is to no avail. Yes, your Lord God will give you supernatural strength to keep on the journey called life. When others may look and say, “for surely they will not make it”. Your outcome is not what others say but what God has already declared over your life. The Word is Truth and faith is found in the knowledge of Truth. Hope will rise in you as you begin to gain knowledge of the promises of the written Word. The more you know about the promises of the written Word the more hope comes to you. And hope will keep faith alive until the promises of God manifest in your life.
Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen. Hebrews 11:1
Romans 8:24-25 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Hebrews 1:1-6 The Message
Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says–powerful words! After he finished the sacrifice for sins, the Son took his honored place high in the heavens right alongside God, far higher than any angel in rank and rules. Did God ever say to an angel, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you” or “I’m his Father, he’s my Son”? When presenting his honored Son to the world, he says, “All angels must worship him.”
We are now in the month of December. Soon this year will be behind us. I always try to remember that yes it is the end of a year but it is the beginning of a new year.
Psalm 23:1 was our Scripture for 2023-”The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack”. In John 10:11 Jesus declares that He is the good shepherd. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Psalms 100:3 As we look back I am sure we have seen the hand of the Shepherd in our lives. Our God has a good track record of taking care of those who put their trust in him. Just as God has taken care of his sheep in the past He will continue to do so.
The Word says in Psalms 65:11 “ You crown the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip with abundance”.
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