The Gospel According To Faith

God’s way of making people right begins and ends with faith – Rom 1:17 (ERV).

When the Philippian jailer inquired of Paul and Silas what he needed to do to be saved, he got the concise reply, “BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved” (Act 16:31). In several other places in the book of Acts this predication of salvation on Believing is repeated (e.g. 8:37; 13:38-39).

 

Paul explains this concept in Rom 10:10, “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”.

Even the most popular verse in scripture (John 3:16) explains that eternal life is obtained by “whosever BELIEVES on Him...” 

The Christian Gospel is a gospel of faith. Indeed, it’s so intrinsically associated with faith that it is severally simply referred to as “The Faith”.

Why is this important? Because the power in the gospel of Christ with respect to salvation is only to “every one that BELIEVES” (Rom 1:16).

The Christian life is about faith from start to finish. If we were saved by faith, then we are preserved by faith. If we were delivered from Hell by faith, then we’ll be delivered into Heaven by the same faith. Paul says that the righteousness of God as revealed in the true Gospel is “from FAITH TO FAITH: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Rom 1:17).

Beloved, Second-guessing your salvation every morning is NOT living by faith. Equating tragedy in your life to God’s disfavour is NOT living by faith. Basing the presence of the Holy Spirit in your heart on your feelings is NOT living by faith. We must get the boldness back into our prayer life, into our confession and into our walk. Being fully persuaded that “He who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Php 1:6).

The Gospel of Christ is not a Gospel of fear; it is a Gospel of FAITH.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

The Mixed Gospel

You shall not sow your vineyard with different seeds – Deu 22:9

On Thursday, 31^st August 2017, Christianity Today magazine published a “Pew Research” article that showed that, 500 years after Martin Luther’s Reformation, many Protestants have strayed far from the pivotal doctrine that defined their identity. Which is “Sola Fide” (justification is through faith alone), and “Sola Scriptura” (Scripture is the only ultimate authority for Christian belief and practice and does not need oversight from church leaders or tradition to be read and understood).

Shockingly, the research showed that 52% of American Protestants polled say that both Good Deeds and Faith in God are needed to get into heaven! But also quite revealing is the fact that the same number of persons that believed Good deeds are required for salvation also say the Bible is NOT the only authority for Christian belief.

This little trivia makes us know that the farther we go from scriptures and start delving into human traditions and sense logic, the higher the tendency for us to corrupt the undiluted doctrine of the Gospel.

The Bible never says salvation is through Faith and Works, the Bible says “The just shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17). We are saved by grace through FAITH” (Eph 2:8); and Rom 11:6 tells us that “if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”

The mixed Gospel message – one that says we’re saved by faith, but afterwards our right-standing with God is maintained by works – is a reversion back to the works-based theology of the Dark Ages and stifles fruitful living.

It’s also, as the Pew Research seems to indicate, evidence of biblical ignorance among Believers who are then forced to resort to logic and tradition instead. What the Church needs to get back to righteousness, is not more dogma and church doctrine, but more emphasis on scripture and the simplicity that is in the Christian Gospel message. (2Co 11:3).

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Share via WhatsApp

Fruits not Works

I’ve often met Christians who are angry that Christianity is presented to the world as something Easy. They claim that far from being easy, Christianity is a call to hardship, selflessness and rigour: a taking up of the cross and following Jesus! This doctrinal view places the mechanism of righteousness and godliness on the Believer.

However, Believers are not saved absolutely by faith ALONE and then afterwards left by themselves to live out the Christian life on their own strength. The same passage that says, “WORK OUT your own salvation” also affirms that  “IT IS GOD WHICH WORKS in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure;” (Php 2:12,13).

The Christian life is not “difficult” to live, the Christian life is Impossible to live! Because the absolute perfection upon which God predicates our relationship with Him is not a standard attainable by any form of discipline or regimen. (Only human-formed religions are Difficult but Doable.)

Overemphasising outward works at the expense of a preliminary working of the Holy Spirit will only lead to the crushing of those unable to live up to those standards and false righteousness to those who presume to do.

The New Testament life is only possible because of the inward workings of the Spirit, which then results in effortless outward manifestation. Hence, Paul designates the godly virtues of love, joy, meekness, etc. as “FRUITS” not “WORKS”, (Gal 5:22,23).

The solution to godlessness in the church is not rules and regulations, or thumping on an (endless) list of sins, but a constant emphasising of living in the Spirit.

For it is when we Walk in the Spirit that we shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Gal 5:16).

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

The Gospel of Fear: Missing the Obvious

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men – Tit 2:11

The ostensive or supposed reason why several Pulpits preach “The Gospel According To Fear” is to SHOCK the Believers into conformity and holy living. It’s presumed that if the people live constantly under the threat of judgment and retribution, they would live a just and sincere life before God.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. Fear does not CHANGE behaviour, it only CONCEALS it. This is a vitally important truth we must remember; or else we’ll only be populating our pews with conforming, moral persons who are not really regenerated in their hearts. The African proverb, “Even a mad man knows how to run when the market is on fire”, shows us that Actions based on threats are not indices of transformation.

We should take a cue from the way that God, our Almighty Creator, relates with us humanity. When He decided to come down to Earth in the Person of Jesus He could have come in His “Full” glory – with thunders, lightning and fire (the Full is in quotation marks because His real FULL glory would obliterate us entirely! 1Ti 6:16).

However, He decided instead to come as a weak baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and from there set on to woo us through His love and not through His power.

From God’s dealing with Man while in the Garden of Eden, it’s clear He doesn’t want robots that have no choice but to obey. Righteousness in the presence of options is the beauty of the Christian life.

While it’s most noble for us to adjure righteousness and moral uprightness in the Church, we mustn’t forget that it’s “the grace of God” – not fear – that teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and that helps us to live sensibly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. (Tit 2:11,2). 

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

The Gospel According To Fear

For God has not given us the spirit of fear – 2Ti 1:7.

The English term “gospel” and its Greek equivalent, euangelion, both literally mean “good news”. It is used by the ancient Greeks for any “proclamation of victory”.

This seemingly technical definition of the gospel is important; because there’re many ‘gospels’ being preached in the world and right inside the church today that are NOT “Good News”.

One of these is what I call “The Gospel According To Fear”. This ‘gospel’, which operates under the paradigm of terror, has fast ensconced itself into Church dogma today.

The true Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is presented as a PROMISE not a THREAT; it speaks of God’s Love, not God’s condemnation. John 3:17 says “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.” What the World needs, is not a reiteration of its problem, but a proclamation of the solution: JESUS CHRIST.

What is this “Gospel According to Fear”? It’s any “Gospel” that emphases

Judgment and damnation over forgiveness and restoration, the threatenings of God over the Promises of God, the works and activities of the Devil over the Finished works of Christ: the punishment of Hell over the reward of Heaven.

The “Gospel of Fear” has the distinguishing characteristic of gratifying the speaker but alienating the people; because, just like all the other pseudo-gospels, it only has informative but never reformative power.

The “Gospel of Christ” is the only Gospel that is the “power of God unto salvation” (Ro 1:16). It’s the only Gospel that saves; and until we preach that gospel – and ONLY that gospel – we’ll only be informing people without giving them power to live in the righteousness that we presume to be pushing.

We need, therefore, to check our message from now on; and make sure that whatever we’re preaching is really “Good News”!

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

The Divine Abomination

“He that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.” – Pro 17:15

The 18th century English hymnist, Joseph Hart, wrote in one of his hymns, “A sinner is a sacred thing; the Holy Ghost hath made him so”. It’s a strange construct, but checks out with scripture. Rom 4:5 calls God “Him that justifies the ungodly”.

That’s a very serious statement; because Pr 24:24 says, “He that says unto the wicked, you are righteous; him shall the people curse...”

What’s more, God told the Israelites in Ex 23:7 “Keep far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay you not: for I will not justify the wicked.” This verse seems to worsen the conundrum, because now it mentions slaying “the innocent and righteous”; which is exactly what happened at the Cross!

At Calvary, the One in whom the Father admits is the Son in whom He is “well pleased” received the full brunt of said Father’s wrath  so much that the Son cried out to Him “Why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 3:17; 27:46). When the prophet Isaiah presciently saw the Cross, he declared that “It pleased the LORD to bruise Him (Christ) (Is 53:10).

So, in one swoop, God justified the wicked (me) and condemned the just (Jesus), which is exactly the abomination Pro 17:15 talks about.

Or is it?

Completing our Isaiah prophecy, he says “thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin...” and Paul explains it further in 2Cor 5:21 when he says that God had “made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

So, no, Jesus wasn’t innocent at the Cross, He was there as ME – weak, sinful, and guilty of every just judgment of God. And I, – “through the operation of God” (Col 2:12) – stand faultless and justified through Christ’s righteousness.

God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. –  Eph 2:4-5 GNB)

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

“Who’s Afraid of the Cross?”

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God. – 1Co 1:18

There's a direct, deliberate attack on the Cross of Christ in the world today, and I'm not referring to ISIS. Rather, this attack is coming from the other side of the globe, the West. From Supreme Court decisions to the Liberal professors at institutions of higher learning, to the secular media in charge of news and entertainment, the Cross has been made an object of hate and ridicule.

Twice during U.S. President Obama's tenure, he gave a speech at a certain Catholic University and twice a Cross and other religious symbols in the hall were covered up for the occasion, ostensibly for the sake of  "consistency" (whatever that means).

When I was a kid, the regular vampire horror movies followed a certain trope: vampires cannot handle the sight of a cross, even those on gravestones! At the sight of a crucifix, they'd begin to shriek, scratch and choke.

This is the picture I see anytime the World reacts aggressively against the any sight of the Cross.

This anger and aversion to the Cross by both ultra-right Islamic terrorists and ultra-left liberal/secuscholars shows that the god of this World's system,  Satan, is scared of undue exposure of people to the Cross.

Human experience has shown us that exposure to the Cross will save the most hopelessly lost, transform the most vilest sinner and convict the most hardened critic. So ultimately, Satan is the one that's afraid, nay, terrified at sight of the Cross. Because in it is the solution to all of humanity's problems.

Therefore, this season, more than ever, let's make sure the Cross gets the fullest exposure to the World, they may be blinded but that's the only way they can be free.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

THE REASON and THE RESPONSE

Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God. – 1Jn 3:1.

The Incarnation is undoubtedly a mystery, and not just in Paul’s sense of the word. Think about it: God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, taking on the form of lowly human flesh. The implications are so eternally profound, it’s mind-boggling!

And why did God do it? Because He loves you!

When God gave you Jesus, He gave you His ALL. We often highlight that Jesus is God’s beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased, (Mt 3:17). But have you considered that He was willing to give that said beloved Son up for YOU? (Jn 3:16).

 “But God has shown us how much he loves us – it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us!” (Rom 5:8 GNB)

But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved. (Eph 2:4 ,5 GNB)

You are the especial object of God’s love, and you may never be able to comprehend, grasp, fully assimilate, or fathom just how much you mean to Him. This is why Paul in Eph 3:14-19 says his earnest prayer is for you to “have the power to understand the greatness of Christ's love – how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is.” (ERV)

All through this week, we have been reminding ourselves on the full import of the Incarnation. The Devil will always try to make you feel unloved or maybe just tolerated by God. He wouldn’t want you to know that you’re highly precious and valuable in God’s sight.

Because when you know that, your spiritual life will change. 1Jn 4:19 says, “We love him, BECAUSE he first loved us.”

Beloved, I beseech you, regardless of those “light afflictions”, (which are but for a moment), to never lose sight of what God, in Christ, has done for you.

 “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jud 1:21.

“May the Lord always be on your heart... because you’re always on His.”

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JESUS IS FOR YOU

Most people today, even liberal/secular scholars, would readily attest to the moral probity of the man Jesus while He was on Earth.

But Jesus was more than just morally upright, He was SINLESS.

1Pe 2:22 says He “did no sin”, 2Co 5:21 affirms He “knew no sin”, and 1Jn 3:5 declares “in Him is no sin”. He was “in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin;” (Heb 4:15).

This is a great testimony...until you consider that Jesus is actually God in the flesh, (Jn 1:1,14; 1Tim 3:16). Of course, He would be sinless.

But why did God come all the way down to perfectly obey His own laws? To show off? Or was it, as some teachings claim, to set an example for us to follow? No!

The POINT of His righteousness, was to take upon Himself the consequence of our SIN, and to give us His RIGHTEOUSNESS.

 “For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,” (1Pe 3:18).

 “For he has made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” (2Co 5:21).

 “Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, (1Pe 2:24).

(See also Is 53:5-10; Rm 3:22-26; 5:19; 8:3; 1Co 1:30;  Php 3:9; etc.).

I know we always say Jesus took away our sins; but we need to complete that sentence. He didn’t just take away our sins, He then gave us His righteousness. The whole point of Jesus being righteousness as Man was FOR YOUR SAKE.

Beloved, as a Born Again Believer, God is not simply pretending that you’re righteous (even though in reality you’re not). NO! He didn’t pretend to punish Jesus on the Cross when Jesus took your sins in His body; Christ bore the full brunt of God’s wrath because of you. Therefore, your righteousness is not a pretend one; it is real, it is Jesus’ righteousness.

Halleluyah!!! Take a moment to thank Him for that every day.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

THE WEALTH OF JESUS IS FOR YOU

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. – 2Co 8:9.

Jesus is God, He owns the “cattle upon the thousand hills”, (Ps 50:10). In Rev

5:11-14, John talks of seeing “millions and millions” (CEV) of angels, along with every creature in Heaven and Earth worshipping Him.

So I find it absurd to hear teachings that try to claim that Jesus was never poor as a man, (citing things like the kind of clothes He wore, the type of donkey He rode, etc.). They miss the point totally; that’s like praising superman for flying first-class.

The Apostle Paul declares that a good way to understand the grace of God is to consider the Incarnation: “though he was rich”, yet for your sakes he became poor...”.

If Christ had been born in the best hospital and lived in the most luxurious home on Earth, He’d still have been wretchedly poor compared to what He had before.

And here comes the good news: He became poor, “that you through his poverty might be rich”. What a glorious substitution.

 “But Bro Greg, I’m so broke right now; it seems they forgot to jot down my bank account details when my name was written in the Book of Life at my salvation.”

Beloved, if you want to know what you got at salvation then look at what Christ gave up for your sake! It wasn’t a fat bank account or a beach house on the Caribbean. It was “power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing” (Rev 5:12).

If you find that incredible then you can understand Paul’s incapability to properly communicate to us the extent of what we have “in Christ”. In Eph 1:15-19, he says he prays continuously for the church to be able to understand “the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe.”

 

Beloved, the wealth of Christ has been made available to you. Your entire lifetime is too short to discover all of it, not to talk of exhausting it. Do not allow the Devil to keep you so enmeshed in one want after another that you don’t look up to see that your God shall supply all your need “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Php 4:19).

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS IS FOR YOU

... All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go you therefore... – Mat 28:18-19.

Have you pondered on the fact that the man Jesus was actually God in the flesh? Think about it. As Creator of the Universe, He has absolute and total authority over everything. Indeed, Heb. 1:3 says that ALL things are sustained by the word of His power.

It is impossible for God to lose His authority or power, let alone to a lowly creature like Satan. Yet we see Him in Mt 28:18 declaring “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” What is He talking about?

He’s talking about the power and authority Man had in the Garden of Eden. Ps 115:16 says, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s: but the earth has he given to the children of men.” God gave Adam total control to rule over Earth. Whatever he declared, as far as Earth was concerned, stood, (e.g. Gen 2:19).

However, when Adam fell to the subtlety of Satan, (Gen 3), he relinquished that authority to him, and automatically made Satan the “god of this world” (2Cor 4:4) with ownership of the kingdoms of this world, along with their powers and glory (Lk 4:5-7).

But, Halleluyah! In the fullness of time, God came down in the flesh as Man, (Jn 1:1,14; 1Tm 3:15, etc.), took our place on the Cross and went to Hades to wrest back the authority and power that belonged to us in the first place.

Today, Satan has NO power or authority. ALL power now belongs to Christ. And that authority now belongs to us who are “in Christ”. That’s the whole essence of the Incarnation, the Cross and the Resurrection: it was all FOR YOUR SAKE. Today, we have much more than Adam lost (he lost Earth, Jesus gave us Heaven AND Earth).

Eph 1:22 puts it clearly, “God has put all things under the power of Christ, and for the good of the church he has made him the head of everything”, (CEV).

 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever.” – Rom 11:33,36.

Take a few moments to thank Him today.

AMEN.

GREG ELKAN

IN THE FIRST PLACE

And without doubt great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh... – 1Ti 3:16.

Have you ever wondered why the Bible makes a big deal about Jesus’ miracles? I mean, after all, He is God Almighty, isn’t He?

He’s the Creator of Heaven and Earth: from the super-galactic to the sub-atomic, the corporeal to the spiritual, from grains of sand to the sands of time... “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” (Jn 1:3)

When you consider these things, you realise that the issue is not that He cursed the fig tree, but that He stooped so low to speak to it. The mystery isn’t that He walked on water but that the Holy Writ considers such triviality worth recording. Indeed, the big deal isn’t that He rose from the dead, but that God could die at all, IN THE FIRST PLACE!

* Unable to handle the shame of the Cross, the Sun, scandalised, hid its face for 3 hours, (Lk 23:45).

* Death, panicking at the prospect of LIFE Himself bowing to it, lost grip of the souls that had been in its care and graves began to burst open (Mt 27:52).

* At the wedding at Cana, when the jars were uncovered, Water realised it was its Maker looking down at it at such close range – and blushed!

If we speedily read through the life of the man Jesus in the Gospels and miss the incredulity of it all, we will miss a vital revelation of the Incarnation.

The whole point of God coming down to Earth in human flesh is to take YOUR place! That is why it’s a big deal that He walked on water, that’s why it’s newsworthy that He could heal the sick, and yes, that is the only reason why the episode at the Cross makes sense.

For since we have become one with Him in dying as he did, in the same way we shall be one with Him by being raised to life as he was. (Rom 6:5 GNB).

Buried with Him in baptism, in which also you are risen with Him... And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; (Col 2:12,13)

Therefore, by the wisdom of “the operation of God” (Col 2:12), whatever Jesus did, was done as YOU. You were right there in and with Him. He did it all, FOR YOUR SAKE.

Take a few moments to thank Him today.

AMEN!

GREG ELKAN

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? (Part 5)

Greetings Brethren, and welcome to the last part of What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Thanks and God bless you for all the various feedbacks and comments.

Throughout this week, we have been meditating on some popular but scripturally incorrect images on the web.

However, in my research on these images, I discovered that there are actually a lot of images out there that do exactly what ART is supposed to do in the first place: INSPIRE.

So what’s wrong with this picture?

Well, NOTHING!

This picture well captures the essence of Christian art. It even took me a while to fully get the message it was passing across.

It’s imaginative, conceptual, thought-provoking  and  most of all, inspiring.

I won’t be able to itemise all that’s right with this picture, so I’m throwing this open to the house.

Share what you think about this image, or if you have your own inspiring faith-based art that has inspired you, share with it us using the hash tag #WRWTP (What’s Right With This Picture?) so we can also be blessed by it.

Thanks once again, and God bless.

AMEN

More Blessings await you; you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

GREG ELKAN

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? (Part 4)

I smiled guiltily the first time I saw this image. It was as though the artist could see into my heart. I admit to this because many years ago, I really, really, really wished this was what happened at the Cross. I wasn’t comfortable with the humiliation, shame and pain that Jesus had to go through in the hands of those vile Roman soldiers and Jewish leaders.

When the High Priest asked that Paul be smitten he got a terse, acidic reply from the Apostle, (Acts 21:1-3);

When King Jeroboam merely assayed to arrest a prophet his arm froze dead (1Kg 13:1-4);

Yet my Lord was spat upon, slapped, flogged, mocked and crucified. And nothing happened.

In my childish mind, I had actually fantasized about this Cross-breaking Jesus: after he has been scourged mocked and crucified, just when they though they’ve given Him the most public of all humiliation, they hear a...

CRACK!!!

Centurion: What was that?

Soldier (stammering): It’s, it’s the cross sir.

Centurion: The cross what?

Soldier: The cross, the man has broken his cross!

(camera pans from centurion to the Christ on the Cross, all muscularly pumped up; he slowly descends to the ground – Iron Man levitating style... and crouches (picture the iconic crouching image of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator movies);

There’s confusion everywhere: the soldiers are running around, the women are screaming and pointing at the silent Christ, the Pharisees and High Priest are struck with fear knowing that they have gone too far this time;

Jesus rises and looks around at them all:

“Thou dareth crucify Me?” He thunders;

“Dost thou know who I am? I AM the Son of the Living God! NOBODY can touch me!

Then, partly out of madness and partly out of fear, the soldiers rush in on Jesus. Screaming defiantly with weapons raised, they descend on Him; hundreds and hundreds of them...

The battle will be EPIC!

Jesus Christ the SUPERMAN, Jesus the faster-than-FLASH, more-powerful-than-HULK, more-awesome-than-THOR Christ; against all the Roman soldiers.

It would have been an awesome battle...

 “AND YOU WILL STILL BE DEAD IN YOUR SINS TODAY AND DESTINED FOR HELL”, Said a voice in my spirit, abruptly cutting my fantasy short.

“That is exactly what Satan wanted Him to do when he instigated the people around Him to provoke Him with mockery and jeering” (Mat 27:39-49).

“He wanted Him to get down from the Cross because that would have been his (Satan’s) way of doing things.”

“Satan’s way is all about

·         proving a POINT,

·         SHOWing them

·         telling THEM

·         etc.

MY way, on the other hand, is always LOVE”.

“Allowing myself to be crucified may look foolish and weak, but 1Cor 1:25 says, the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men”.

I felt terrible about my fantasy after that Divine rebuke; because it seemed that it was I now who was making mockery of God’s weakness.

I turned back to the Cross…

CRACK!!!

What was that?

It’s the heart of Jesus, broken in sorrow for me: “Father, forgive him; for he knows not what he does”. (Lk 23:34)

Use this moment to thank Jesus, for obeying the Father’s will to the very last. If He didn’t, we wouldn’t be here today.

AMEN

More Blessings await you; you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

GREG ELKAN