I was going through the Word of God some days ago, and I found something precious which I would like to share with you today. I've always read Romans chapter five before now, and its an inspiring portion of scripture about the justification that is in Christ Jesus and the abundant love of God coupled with the extravagant grace which we also receive in Him. Only this time around, I decided to read it in a new and simple-to-understand translation.
Thank God for the King James Version. Its a great translation of the Bible. But I think the church should be more concerned about clarity of the Word of God in our day. There are many gems in the Word of God that slip above our heads simply because we do not read It with simple enough English translations. You'll be amazed at how much understanding you'll receive from the Word if you'll spend some time to compare translations. Anyway, as I read through Romans 5, I came to verse 20 where it says: "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:" It sounded normal and ordinary to me until I read it in the "Message" translation (MSG). Read it for yourself.
"All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down." Romans 5:20 (MSG)
When I saw this, the Holy Spirit began to minister to my heart the truth I am about to share with you now. If God is a good, loving, merciful, kind and righteous God, why do people run away from Him instead of towards Him? Think about that. Why do people feel more at home with doing the bidding of Satan rather than God's? Have you noticed that people "seem" to be more at ease with Satan than with God? The answer is what the Holy Spirit showed me from that scripture.
People think God is angry and mad at them because they are sinners. They think God does not even want to hear the mere mention if their names because they have committed unpardonable sins and that they are doomed forever. Many have even stopped going to church out of the sincerity of their hearts thinking "I must be a devil to hear all this teaching and preaching only to go back and lead this kind of life." They think "why should I continue in this hypocritical lifestyle of going to church as though I was a saint but in the secret, I have all these darkness, evil, addiction and wickedness. Its better to stay away from God and to stop deceiving myself and everyone around." What a pity! Religious Christianity does not even help the issue. They tell people that God is angry with them and that their sin separates Him from them. They say the wages of sin is death, but they forget to complete the same verse that says that the gift of God is eternal life. (see Romans 6:23)
Now, what caught my attention in Romans 5:20? Its that little description of the grace of God to be "AGGRESSIVE FORGIVENESS." God is not in the business of destroying His people or punishing them for their sins; He is in the business of AGGRESSIVE FORGIVENESS. The word aggressive means to be 'forceful' about something, to be 'self assertive' or to be on the 'offensive' about something. Good News! God is on the offensive against sin for your sake. He is forcefully destroying the claims of sin and death on your behalf. He is enforcing His mercy and His grace on your behalf. He's not holding your sins against you, He's forgiving them! You may say 'what have I done to deserve that?' Nothing, emphatically NOTHING.
Your sins are forgiven and cancelled completely because of what Jesus did on the cross for you, not because of what you did or didn't do. God would have to apologize to Jesus today if He still held you accountable for your sins. You don't have to believe me, just look at it for yourself in the Bible, then you can believe.
'But all things are from God. Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with him]. It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, NOT COUNTING UP AND HOLDING AGAINST [MEN] THEIR TRESPASSES [BUT CANCELLING THEM], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor) 2Corithians 5:18,19 AMPLIFIED BIBLE (Emphasis mine)
Wow! Did you see that? God is not counting up or holding against you your trespasses, but He is aggressively forgiving you. Why? So that He can restore you back to favor with Himself, so that He can restore you back to a Father and Child relationship with Himself. The cross of Jesus was not in vain. Christ didn't die only for you to work to earn relationship with God and make heaven by your own efforts. No! No, No, No, a thousand times No. If you could, there would have not been any need for His death. All you have to do today is to stop striving, struggling and trying to make it work. Only see this truth of what Jesus has done, believe it and receive it in Christ. This is the key to an effortless love-based relationship with the Father. Every other form of relationship with Him will be fear-based. Obeying Him because we are afraid He'll send us to hell if we don't.
Say this out loud: Lord Jesus, I realize today that by strength shall no man prevail. I see now that my right standing with the Father is not based on what I can achieve, but on what you have done. I now know that God is not angry with me and He's not holding my sins against me, but He's forgiving me aggressively and cancelling them out because of what you did for me. Thank you for your eternal sacrifice. Today, I boldly receive God's love and favor towards and for me. I receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness and I become a messenger to tell others about your gracious love, tender mercies and aggressive forgiveness in Christ Jesus. Thank you Jesus for revealing these things to me. In Jesus name, amen.
Thanks for taking out time to read this. I am sure you are blessed. You can call or send a text to this number to let me know what God has done through this post +2348068253270, +2348114427241. Or send an email to sundayyabi@yahoo.com I will be glad to hear from you. I love you in Christ and remember: you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Shalom!
Thank God for the King James Version. Its a great translation of the Bible. But I think the church should be more concerned about clarity of the Word of God in our day. There are many gems in the Word of God that slip above our heads simply because we do not read It with simple enough English translations. You'll be amazed at how much understanding you'll receive from the Word if you'll spend some time to compare translations. Anyway, as I read through Romans 5, I came to verse 20 where it says: "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:" It sounded normal and ordinary to me until I read it in the "Message" translation (MSG). Read it for yourself.
"All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down." Romans 5:20 (MSG)
When I saw this, the Holy Spirit began to minister to my heart the truth I am about to share with you now. If God is a good, loving, merciful, kind and righteous God, why do people run away from Him instead of towards Him? Think about that. Why do people feel more at home with doing the bidding of Satan rather than God's? Have you noticed that people "seem" to be more at ease with Satan than with God? The answer is what the Holy Spirit showed me from that scripture.
People think God is angry and mad at them because they are sinners. They think God does not even want to hear the mere mention if their names because they have committed unpardonable sins and that they are doomed forever. Many have even stopped going to church out of the sincerity of their hearts thinking "I must be a devil to hear all this teaching and preaching only to go back and lead this kind of life." They think "why should I continue in this hypocritical lifestyle of going to church as though I was a saint but in the secret, I have all these darkness, evil, addiction and wickedness. Its better to stay away from God and to stop deceiving myself and everyone around." What a pity! Religious Christianity does not even help the issue. They tell people that God is angry with them and that their sin separates Him from them. They say the wages of sin is death, but they forget to complete the same verse that says that the gift of God is eternal life. (see Romans 6:23)
Now, what caught my attention in Romans 5:20? Its that little description of the grace of God to be "AGGRESSIVE FORGIVENESS." God is not in the business of destroying His people or punishing them for their sins; He is in the business of AGGRESSIVE FORGIVENESS. The word aggressive means to be 'forceful' about something, to be 'self assertive' or to be on the 'offensive' about something. Good News! God is on the offensive against sin for your sake. He is forcefully destroying the claims of sin and death on your behalf. He is enforcing His mercy and His grace on your behalf. He's not holding your sins against you, He's forgiving them! You may say 'what have I done to deserve that?' Nothing, emphatically NOTHING.
Your sins are forgiven and cancelled completely because of what Jesus did on the cross for you, not because of what you did or didn't do. God would have to apologize to Jesus today if He still held you accountable for your sins. You don't have to believe me, just look at it for yourself in the Bible, then you can believe.
'But all things are from God. Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with him]. It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, NOT COUNTING UP AND HOLDING AGAINST [MEN] THEIR TRESPASSES [BUT CANCELLING THEM], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor) 2Corithians 5:18,19 AMPLIFIED BIBLE (Emphasis mine)
Wow! Did you see that? God is not counting up or holding against you your trespasses, but He is aggressively forgiving you. Why? So that He can restore you back to favor with Himself, so that He can restore you back to a Father and Child relationship with Himself. The cross of Jesus was not in vain. Christ didn't die only for you to work to earn relationship with God and make heaven by your own efforts. No! No, No, No, a thousand times No. If you could, there would have not been any need for His death. All you have to do today is to stop striving, struggling and trying to make it work. Only see this truth of what Jesus has done, believe it and receive it in Christ. This is the key to an effortless love-based relationship with the Father. Every other form of relationship with Him will be fear-based. Obeying Him because we are afraid He'll send us to hell if we don't.
Say this out loud: Lord Jesus, I realize today that by strength shall no man prevail. I see now that my right standing with the Father is not based on what I can achieve, but on what you have done. I now know that God is not angry with me and He's not holding my sins against me, but He's forgiving me aggressively and cancelling them out because of what you did for me. Thank you for your eternal sacrifice. Today, I boldly receive God's love and favor towards and for me. I receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness and I become a messenger to tell others about your gracious love, tender mercies and aggressive forgiveness in Christ Jesus. Thank you Jesus for revealing these things to me. In Jesus name, amen.
Thanks for taking out time to read this. I am sure you are blessed. You can call or send a text to this number to let me know what God has done through this post +2348068253270, +2348114427241. Or send an email to sundayyabi@yahoo.com I will be glad to hear from you. I love you in Christ and remember: you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Shalom!
Thank you Jesus.
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