WHO LOVES YOU?
There are some things I need to tell you, and I hope you’ll take them to heart. I will try to tell you these things as honestly as I know them, not as I have heard these things spoken from a pulpit, but by experience and revelation from the Holy Spirit of God.
In 2004, I had an experience which changed my life forever. I came to a point in my life where I desired death more than living. I called upon the Name of the Lord, and HE heard me. It was a slow process of trusting in the truth of God’s Word by speaking the Name of Jesus against every thought which had tended to lead me into a mindless state of hatred. Then one day, without any foreknowledge of it coming, God poured HIS love into me so intensely that I could feel it literally going through every part of me. It began at the top of my head, went throughout my entire body, and exited through my feet. And it happened over, and over, and over as I praised God with sincere thanksgiving after something wonderful had happened for me an hour before the incident. At that moment, God wiped out any doubts I had as to the realness of HIS Being, and I knew JESUS LIVES!
By experience and the testimony of those whom God has shown, I know:
A.) There really is a living God greater in strength and power than we are oft times able to conceive or understand. All mankind was created by God, but man sinned against God thereby separating himself from God.
B.) The living God, the great I AM, did in fact send HIS only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to earth because God loves man and desires that which HE created to have a way for HIS creation to become acceptable to HIM.
C.) Jesus came for three reasons: To redeem mankind back to God, to teach mankind how to love one another, and to empower us with the ability to live happy, prosperous lives by rectifying that which was lost by the sin of Adam and Eve. Jesus did so by sacrificing HIS sinless life in place of all the lives of mankind. It was the Will of God for Jesus to do all these things which Jesus accomplished when HE allowed HIMSELF to be killed, by those HE came to save, at the cross. Without Jesus, on one’s life would be acceptable in the eye’s of God.
D.) The way one accepts the work of Jesus at the cross is by sincerely confessing one’s sins to God, and asking for forgiveness of your sins by the blood of Jesus. Then, by asking Jesus to come into your life, your life will change.
E.) Failure to accept God’s only acceptable sacrifice for all your sins, the precious, sinless life of Jesus, at some point in your life prior to your death is the same as rejecting God by rejecting Jesus. Doing so will cause God to bring everlasting judgment upon your soul which will send you to Hell. You will not see death coming so continuing to wait and see is foolishness at its finest.
F.) The torment of Hell exceeds anything anyone has ever had to endure on earth. Man’s imagination cannot grasp how terrible Hell truly is because man has never experienced individually or collectively such unceasing, relentless, and eternal torment. Hell is forever. God will not save you from Hell once you have died and rejected the love of God by rejecting the way God made available to you through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
G.) Jesus did defeat death by coming back to life. HE was seen by several people after having done so. HE did ascend into heaven. HE also said HE was coming back to gather those who believed in HIM (those who have called upon the Name of the Lord and honestly repented of their sins) and bring them to heaven to live with HIM forever.
Those are the facts as I understand them. However, how the facts are presented will either cause a person to accept or reject them. Many, many years ago had I read the proceeding written by another, I would have thought someone needed some professional help. Yet having come to know the truth by the power of God, I find myself in a most troubling state. Now, instead of being the one who didn’t want to hear it, I am on the other side of the fence hoping people will listen.
Yet, the problem is not wanting to hear the message. The problem is hearing the message the way Jesus intended for it to be shared with others. Far too often, it is presented as a form of condemnation instead of what I believe was meant to be all along, a message of freedom (I.e. salvation).
The day God poured HIS love into me (baptism), HE blew away ninety-nine point nine percent of what I thought was true about HIM. Once that happened, I jumped into the Word of God with the intense desire to know all I could about the ONE who had changed my life forever. I found myself looking forward to prayer (speaking to God), and ever so slowly began to experience things in my life which no amount of human logic could explain. When Jesus, through the Voice of the Holy Spirit, began to speak back to me, I was awestruck. Day after day, month after month, continuously seeking after the Lord caused me to come to the full realization that God truly desires to have a relationship with HIS creation. Only by the shed blood of Jesus and acceptance of HIS authority over my sin nature, did the Lord God make it possible for me to know more about HIS sincere loving kindness which HE had intended all along before my life ever came to be.
Increasingly, the Lord began to speak to me as I desired to know the “how’s and why’s” of my relationship with HIM. I have often heard HIM tell me HE loves me, often heard HIM say HE is always with me, many times admonished me to trust HIM, and many more times heard HIM ask if I believed in HIM. One day, out of the blue, I heard HIM say in 2006, “I am coming back soon.” Jesus has told me this several times in the last few years. In 2008, Jesus said to me, “Tell them who I am.”
The Lord showed me the following as a way for people to understand who HE, Jesus, is. If a car dealership sent every person a coupon in the mail for a new car, and all one had to do was bring the coupon to the dealership by a certain date, the person redeeming the coupon would receive a brand new car. Now you and I both know there would be a whole lot of people who would not go by reason of pure skepticism. Others would put it off with the intention of going, but eventually forget to do so. Then there would be those who would go to redeem the coupon and drive home in a brand new car. Once those who didn’t redeem their coupon found out it wasn’t a hoax, they would be going in droves to the dealership to try to get a new car, too, only to find out they missed their chance.
Folks, Jesus is God’s coupon to mankind for salvation and eternal life. The coupon expires on the day of your death. If you’ve redeemed the coupon prior to your expiration date, you receive forgiveness of all your sins and eternal life with the Lord God in heaven. If you don’t redeem God’s coupon, you don’t get any of the benefits which come to the person who does. What you will get, however, is the Judgment of God against your sins because you failed to accept the only way God made available for you to be forgiven of your sins; Jesus Christ.
Perhaps you’ll tell me that those who proclaim to believe in Jesus don’t act the way you believe they should. Using the car analogy, what would happen if you put a fourteen year old behind the wheel of a car, and it has a full tank of gas with the engine running? They would probably wreck the car. Does that mean they don’t deserve a car, or they’re not responsible for their actions while driving the car? No, it means they need to learn to listen to the driving instructor as to how to operate the car properly. Unfortunately, more times than not, learning comes by making mistakes and later correction. However, we as believers are no more able to differentiate fourteen year olds from forty year olds when discerning the course they’re driving or how they maintain their vehicle, and neither are those who don’t believe in Jesus. Then there are those who own a car, but will drive the wheels off of it, those who will put the car in a garage and never drive it, and lastly, those who will maintain a car keeping it in good working condition giving them an endless supply of transportation. In short, believers and unbelievers alike are perplexed by the actions and thinking of those who have and have not taken possession of a car. The truth is, most people don’t know what God the Father gave mankind when Jesus did exactly what HE was sent by God to do, nor do they know what is available to them by the sacrifice of Jesus on behalf of all. And I believe it is because almost everyone, at some point in their life has accepted something about God which isn’t true because they do not understand who God is and what HIS intensions are for men and women based upon HIS eternal loving kindness.
Based upon what I’ve learned by mistakes and correction from the Holy Spirit of God in the Name of Jesus, I’ll close with the following observations. Don’t make the mistake of judging God by those who have asked Jesus to be their Lord and Saviour. Those who believe in Jesus are no more or less perfect than those who do not believe. It is neither the intent or purpose of the Lord for believers to “fix” other believers or unbelievers. That is a work which only the Holy Spirit can do. God loves us as individuals, but HE does not love sin. Sin will never ever be acceptable in the eyes of God. Only Jesus will redeem you to God the Father. Without Jesus, you have no chance of going to heaven.
Acceptance of God’s Grace by asking Jesus to come into your life does not give one license to commit sin or continue in a known sin. Yet, by experience, I know the Grace of God through the blood of Jesus will set a person free from every situation which causes grief to believers either by trusting in the strength of the Lord to endure the situation of affliction, or by the power of the Name of Jesus to be totally set free of every affliction all together.
God loves you, but the only way you will ever be able to know the depth of just how much is by accepting into your life the only way HE made available for you to do so, Jesus Christ. Jesus wants you to know HIM. Jesus wants you to know all the power of God the Father’s love for you. You have not committed any sin which God, by the sacrifice of Jesus, will not forgive you of. If you had committed such a sin, you would already be dead. The Holy Spirit of God wants to teach you how you can truly have a life worth living and be blessed by God. It won’t always be easy, but it will always be rewarding. You’ll come to that place in your life where your greatest desire is to be with Jesus forever because your belief will not be based upon something you believe; it will be based upon something you know. You’ll know who loves you. |
