Why Did Jesus Die? (day 52/365)

Nicky Gumbel in his book “Questions of Life“, points out a problem –

We do things which we know are wrong.

There are consequences for the wrongdoing (sin).
– Even one sin makes our lives unclean.
– Some bad behaviours become addictive – bad temper,
selfishness, envy, pride, slander, sexual immorality.
– Our sin deserves punishment.

Here’s the solution -

Jesus paid the penalty. He endured a cruel, inhumane death that often saw the sufferer’s veins laid bare: muscles, sinews and bowels of the victim often open to exposure. Jesus suffered the physical pain of torture, the emotional pain of the weight of our sin, but mostly the spiritual agony of being cut off from His Father.

The Result -

Death and demonic powers were defeated. Jesus’ resurrection won the victory. Now we can live in complete freedom.

What a fantastic message.

Blessing Not Judgement (day 3/365)

Have you ever had the guts to say, “I did wrong. Please forgive me”.

In Kenneth E. Hagin’s book  Love. The Way To Victory, I have today been reading his recommendation to judge yourself and not judge others.

He believes there is a consequence for sowing strife and discord and for judging others. (I agree!).  He says we instead need to act in love (God love) to reap the rewards of health, healing, long life and prosperity.

We need to love our enemies, bless them, do good to/for them and pray for them.

Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Matthew 5:44

When we pray God’s blessing on our enemies, our heart no longer condemns us. We are then able to inherit a blessing.

I don’t know about you, but I can say I want a blessing and an uncondemned heart more than I want to continue hurting others.

Another decision made.

Healed vs Not Healed (day 2/365)

Have you ever wondered why some people are healed instantly at healing/revival/faith meetings or in their local church when others aren’t and some even die?

It’s a question that has been on my mind recently.

Kenneth E. Hagin in his book Love. The Way to Victory may have discovered the answer. It certainly makes sense to me as far as the non healing of some minor ailments I have been suffering from.

My understanding is that when we harbour resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness towards anyone (when we’re not walking in God love) it doesn’t allow the full potential of our faith to resonate through our body, soul and spirit to be able to pick up the gift of healing.

Indeed the said resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness can be the cause of disease and illness.  Think about the last migraine you had. Chances are you were harbouring ill feelings toward someone prior to the onset.

Personally, I know some bad feelings I have had toward someone has caused me to suffer several ailments recently.

So what can it hurt for me to change my attitude, my thoughts, my words, my actions?

I choose love.

I choose forgiveness.

I choose tolerance.

I choose compassion.

I choose health.

How about you?

Official Day 1

How awesome it was having time on planes and buses the last two days to read.

Five chapters into “Love. The Way To Victory” by Kenneth E. Hagin has enlightened me about the weakness of our human love and in comparison, the everlasting victory, strength and power of God love.

I’ve learnt that  if I am walking in God love, I won’t take account of evil done to me.  ie. hold grudges against others. In contrast to that,  if I am not loving my neighbour with God love (because my own fails) my faith cannot be effective. Or said another way, that if I refuse to forgive someone, my faith is affected and will not be strong enough to receive the blessings of God.

It has been a timely reminder also, that when we forgive, we also need to forget.

Kenneth teaches that when we accept Jesus as our Saviour, our spirit (heart) is made new. Our mind and flesh however are not. We need to work on renewing our mind and subjecting our bodies to God’s will so we can do the forgiving and loving.

So I would have to say that I am encouraged that God love is available for me to tap into, encouraged that my spirit is made new, encouraged that my mind and flesh can be trained to live according to God’s will.

I choose to live a better life with my whole being working toward the freedom of renewal, living in God’s will.

I choose to forgive and forget.

I choose to hold no grudges.

How about you?