Christ as Means and End

 Christ as Means and End

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Why did God create the universe? And why is he governing it the way he is? What is God achieving? Is Jesus Christ a means to this achievement or the end of the achievement?

Jesus Christ is the supreme revelation of God. He is God in human form. As such, he is the end, not a means. 

The manifestation of the glory of God is the meaning of the universe. This is what God is achieving. The heavens, and the history of the world, are “telling the glory of God.” 

But Jesus Christ was sent to accomplish something that needed doing. He came to remedy the fall. He came to rescue sinners from inevitable destruction because of their sin. These rescued ones will see and savor and display the glory of God with everlasting joy. 

Others will continue to heap scorn on the glory of God. So, Jesus Christ is the means to what God meant to achieve in the manifestation of his glory for the enjoyment of his people. No one would see and savor and celebrate the glory of God apart from the saving work of Christ. The aim of the universe would abort. So, Christ is a means.

But in that accomplishment on the cross, as he died for sinners, Christ revealed the love and righteousness of the Father supremely. This was the apex of the revelation of the glory of God — the glory of his grace.

Therefore, in the very moment of his perfect act as the means of God’s purpose, Jesus became the end of that purpose. He became, in his dying in the place of sinners and his resurrection for their life, the central and supreme revelation of the glory of God.

Christ crucified is therefore both the means and the end of God’s purpose in the universe. 

Without his work, that end — to reveal the fullness of the glory of God for the enjoyment of God’s people — would not have happened. 

And in that very means-work he became the end — the one who forever and ever will be the focus of our worship as we spend eternity seeing and savoring more and more of what he revealed of God when he became a curse for us. 

Jesus is the end for which the universe was made, and the means that makes that end possible to enjoy by justified sinners.

THE WORD OF GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2025.

SUBJECT : THE WORD OF GOD!

Memory verse: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1 vs 1.)

READ: John 1 vs 1 - 5:

1 vs 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2: He was in the beginning with God.

3: All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

4: In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5: And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

INTIMATION:

The Word of God is special revelation from God of Himself, and is the solemn declaration of His Will. And the Will of God is the expression of God. The Bible in First Samuel 3 vs 21 declares thus, "Then the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the Word of the LORD." The Word of God is the same with God (John 1 vs 1). It is an agent of creation (Psalm 33 vs 6), and by it all things are created (Genesis 1 vs 3 - 26). It is also the source of God's message to His people through the prophets (Hosea 4 vs 1), and it is God's law which is His standard of holiness (Psalm 119 vs 11).  

The Word of God is Christ (Revelation 19 vs 13), and Christ is God, and was with God in the beginning. God is everlasting, so is His Word (First Peter 1 vs 25). The Word is also a seed (Luke 8 vs 11). It was the seed (the Word) that God planted and it germinated into all that were created. The Word also, is a spiritual revelation of God, and living in the Word is living in Christ. He is the perfect Teacher, and in Christ's life we see how God thinks and therefore, how we should think.

The Bible is the comprehensive Book regarded as the ultimate authority on the subject of the solemn declaration of the Will of God—the Word of God. It contains the engagement entered into between God and man. These declaration is called Testament and the engagement is known as covenant. The Bible is the ultimate authority detailing the engagement entered into between God and man, either that with Moses (as expressed in the Old Testament) or that instituted by Christ (as expressed in the New Testament). 

The Bible has been with us for more than two thousand years, and the early books of the Old Testament have existed almost twice that long. Its enduring life attests not only to its great spiritual treasures but also to its amazing stories, astonishing miracles, and intriguing facts that continue to grip readers today. Even today, the modern scholar or scientist is hard-pressed to provide a logical, natural explanation for the events described in the Bible. We must rely on the Bible authors' interpretations to shed light on otherwise inconceivable happenings. Their confident understanding of these events points us beyond ourselves to consider the One who created all things.

Obedience to the engagement as well as observance of the declaration, is doing the Will of God, and obeying the Word of God. Living the life of obedience and observance, guarantees a partnership with God in living your life on earth and ensures an ever profitable and classic living, and ultimately culminates in receiving the crown of life, that is, living with God in eternity after life here on earth.

The Word of God is given the title "the Word of life" (Philippians 2 vs 26). And “the Word of life” is the combination of the two declarations in John 1 vs 1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," and in John 1 vs 4, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." It has been established that the Word of God and God is one (John 1 vs 1). Since God and the Word is the same, the Word is as effective as God. God is life, therefore, His Word is life and the life was the light of men (John 1 vs 4). 

Prayer: Abba Father, let Your Word dwell richly in me, that I may obey You, and observe to do all that is in Your Word. Let the light that Your Word gives illuminate my path of life, that I may dwell continually in Your presence, and partake of the fullness of joy in your presence, and the everlasting pleasures at Your right hand, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Perfect City

The Perfect City

He has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)

No pollution, no graffiti, no trash, no peeling paint or rotting garages, no dead grass or broken bottles, no harsh street talk, no in-your-face confrontations, no domestic strife or violence, no dangers in the night, no arson or lying or stealing or killing, no vandalism, and no ugliness. 

The city of God will be perfect, because God will be in it. He will walk in it and talk in it and manifest himself in every part of it. All that is good and beautiful and holy and peaceful and true and happy will be there, because God will be there. 

Perfect justice will be there and recompense a thousandfold for every pain suffered in obedience to Christ in this world. And it will never deteriorate. In fact, it will shine brighter and brighter as eternity stretches out into unending ages of increasing joy.

When you desire this city above everything else on the earth, then you honor God, who, according to Hebrews 11:10, is the designer and builder of the city. And when God is honored, he is pleased and not ashamed to be called your God.

 

THE LOVE RULE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2025.

SUBJECT: THE LOVE RULE!

Memory verse: "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (First Corinthians 13 vs 13.)

READ: Mark 12 vs 28 vs 31:

12:28: Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”

12:29: Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

12:30: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.

12:31: And the second, like it, is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

INTIMATION:

Love is having great affection for, feeling a passionate attraction to. Biblically, It is described as the basic first cause, and ultimate expression of God and man as well. It is the Christian gospel, and church ethics. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Love describes God; “God is love” (First John 4 vs 8 & 16). Love as used of God, expresses the deep and constant love and interest of a perfect Being towards entirely unworthy objects, producing and fostering a reverential love in them towards the Giver, and a practical love towards those who are partakers of the same, and a desire to help others to seek the Giver.

Christian love has God for its primary object, and expresses itself first of all, in implicit obedience, to His commandments. Self-will, that is, self-pleasing, is the negation of love to God. Christian love, whether exercised toward the brethren, or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered. Love seeks the welfare of all (Romans 15 vs 2), and works no ill to any (Romans 13 vs 8 - 10); love seeks opportunity to do good to all men, especially toward them that are of the household of the faith (Galatians 6 vs 10). 

The intent of God’s law is to promote love to God and others. Consequently, the Christian faith involves many rules that are meant to be governed by love. That makes love the highest rule, but it also moves Christians toward personal sacrifice, discipline, and responsibility, which are scarce resources in today’s world. When confronted with rules of your own or others, ask: (1) Does the rule serve God’s purpose? (2) Does the rule reveal God’s character? (3) Does the rule help people get into God’s family, or keep them out? (4) Does the rule have biblical roots that can be supported in the context of all Scripture? Good rules pass all four tests.

Everything concerning God is summed up in love. His laws can be reduced to two simple principles: Love God and love others. When you love God completely and care for others as you care for yourself, then you have fulfilled the intent of God’s Law.—the “Ten Commandments.” According to Jesus, these two commandments summarize all God’s laws. Let them rule your thoughts, decisions, and actions. When you are uncertain about what to do, ask yourself which course of action best demonstrates love for God and love for others.

Love can be known only from the actions it prompts. God’s love is seen in the gift of His Son: “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (First John 4 vs 9 - 10). Obviously this is not the love of complacency, or affection, that is, it was not drawn out by any excellence in its object: “But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5 vs 8). It was an exercise of the divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause save that which lies in the nature of God Himself.

Love explains: (1) why God creates—because He loves, He creates people to love; (2) why God cares—because He loves them, He cares for sinful people; (3) why we are free to choose—God wants a loving response from us; (4) why Christ died—His love for us caused Him to offer a solution to the problem of sin; and (5) why we receive eternal life—God’s love expresses itself to us forever.

Real love is an action, not a feeling. It produces selfless, sacrificial giving. The greatest act of love is giving oneself for others. The Scripture says, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (First John 3 vs 16). How can we “lay down our lives?” By serving others with no thought of receiving anything in return. Sometimes it is easier to say we’ll die for others than to truly live for them—this involves putting others’ desires first. Jesus taught this same principle of love, He said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15 vs 13.) 

We are to love each other as Jesus loved us, and He loved us enough to give His life of inestimable value for ours that are completely worthless because of sin. We may not have to die for someone, but there are other ways to practice sacrificial love: listening, helping, encouraging, giving, caring. Evaluate your lifestyle, and measure your obedience to the highest rule! You can start right away: Think of someone in particular who needs this kind of love today. Give all the love you can, and then try to give a little more. Then make it a regular practice.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are love, and has poured out Your love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit You have given to us. Give me the grace and empowerment to love as You love, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Lincoln’s Providence

 Lincoln’s Providence

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! (Romans 11:33)

Abraham Lincoln, who was born on this day in 1809, remained skeptical, and at times even cynical, about religion into his forties. So, it is a most striking thing how personal and national suffering drew Lincoln into the reality of God, rather than pushing him away.

In 1862, when Lincoln was 53 years old, his 11-year-old son Willie died. Lincoln’s wife “tried to deal with her grief by searching out New Age mediums.” Lincoln turned to Phineas Gurley, pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington. 

Several long talks led to what Gurley described as “a conversion to Christ.” Lincoln confided that he was “driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I have nowhere else to go.”

Similarly, the horrors of the dead and wounded soldiers assaulted him daily. There were fifty hospitals for the wounded in Washington. The rotunda of the Capitol held two thousand cots for wounded soldiers. 

Typically, fifty soldiers a day died in these temporary hospitals. All of this drove Lincoln deeper into the providence of God. “We cannot but believe, that He who made the world still governs it.”

His most famous statement about the providence of God in relation to the Civil War was his Second Inaugural Address, given a month before he was assassinated. It is remarkable for not making God a simple supporter for the Union or Confederate cause. God has his own purposes and does not excuse sin on either side.

Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war might speedily pass away. . . .

Yet if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid with another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said, “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.”

I pray for all of you who suffer loss and injury and great sorrow that it will awaken for you, as it did for Lincoln, not an empty fatalism, but a deeper reliance on the infinite wisdom and love of God’s inscrutable providence.

WHY YOU ASK IN PRAYERS AND WILL NOT RECEIVE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 12, 2025.

SUBJECT : WHY YOU ASK IN PRAYERS AND WILL NOT RECEIVE!

Memory verse: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures.

" (James 4 vs 3).

READ: First John 3 vs 21 - 22; 5 vs 14 - 15

3:21; "Beloved, if our hearts does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.

3:22: And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

5:14: Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His Will, He hears us.

5:15: And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

INTIMATION:

Sometimes we may pray to God for something and receive no answers, because our faith and confidence may have been dampened by our unclear conscience. Your conscience may have been smeared by unconfessed sin, thereby impacting negatively on your confidence in God. If your conscience is clear, you can come to God without fear, confident that your requests will be heard. But if you have doubts, expect to receive nothing from the Lord.  The apostle James says; "But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord" (James 1 vs 6 - 7).

Sometimes we ask for the wrong things or with wrong reasons. And this is the obstacle that blocks the prayers of the materialist. He ask for riches that he can consume upon his own lusts. God answers those prayers that are expressed to Him with unselfish motives. He is always ready to grant our needs in accordance to His promise. He created us for His own purposes and desires, and not for ours. He knows our needs even before we ask them (Matthew 6 vs 8), and He is ready to provide those needs at His own appointed time, and in accordance with His plans and purposes for our lives.

When we communicate with God, we don't demand what we want, rather we discuss with Him what He wants for us. We must ask according to His Will, for God does not work contrary to His Will in answer to prayer. If we align our prayers to His Will, He will listen, and we are sure of receiving answer to our petition. We must ask upon the condition that we are obedient to His Will, for God works through the lives of those who are carrying out His work in the world. God does not grant requests that violates the principles of His kingdom. 

For instance, Jesus Christ taught us thus; "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" (Matthew 5 vs 44). When you pray to God to kill your enemies God will not answer such prayer because it is outside the Will of God. Though your enemy may die for incurring the wrath of God for evil he committed but not from an answer to your prayers.

The other reasons why we don't receive answers to our prayers include: 

1. When we ask for knowledge beyond our ability to understand or accept. For instance, in Judges 13 vs 17 - 18, when the Angel came to Manoah (the father of Samson) and his wife to announce the birth of their son Samson, Manoah wanted to know the name of the Angel of the Lord. The Angel responded "Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?". The Angel was saying that his name was a mystery and beyond understanding and too wonderful to imagine. Manoah asked the Angel for an answer he wouldn't have understood.

2. When you have not followed God's previous directions, answers to your prayers may be hindered. If you don't fulfill the responsibilities God has already given you, then don't be surprised when He does not give further guidance. Saul did not obey the voice of the Lord nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, When Saul prayed to God, he didn't receive any answers again. (Study First Samuel 15, and 28 vs 16-18).

3. When God may be directing you to a greater purpose in your life. David wanted to build a temple for God which He refused because God was planning to do something even greater in David's life than allowing him the prestige of building the temple. (Study Second Samuel 7 vs 8 - 16). Have you prayed with good intentions, only to have God say no? This is God's way of directing you to a greater purpose in your life. Accepting God's no requires as great faith as carrying on his yes. 

4. When you are not keeping God’s commandments (John 8 vs 29). When one lives an obedient life, however, he can know that God is working in answer to his prayers.

5. When you are not doing the things that are pleasing to God. We would assume, therefore, that God does not answer the prayers of those who willingly live a rebellious life against His Will. 

Prayer: Abba Father, I desire to do Your will always. By my strength I cannot prevail. Give me the grace to be obedient to You and to do the things that please You. Holy Spirit, my Senior Partner, help me to pray aright, that I may receive answers to my prayers, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Victory Over the Enemies

 Victory Over The Enemies

Today, we're praying against the enemies of progress, joy and happiness. We need to defeat them with our prayers not physically because it's a spiritual battle that we must fight as believers. May all our enemies be defeated in this year 2025 in Jesus Name 🙏🙏🙏!

1Samuel 30:8- 20.

Exodus 22:18.

Isaiah49:24-26

PRAYER POINTS

1. Father I thank you for giving me eternal victory in Christ Jesus amen.

 2. I declare that I have victory of all demonic oppression in Jesus name

3. I declare that I have victory over sin in Jesus name

4. I declare that no man shall stand against me successfully all the days of my life in Jesus name

5. I declare that I have victory over all my enemies in Jesus name

6. I declare that every strong man in my life and family is disarmed and destroyed now in Jesus name

7. I declare that wherever my name is called, I shall be victorious in the name of Jesus

8. I declare that no man shall prevail against me in any matter in Jesus name

9. I declare that I shall be victorious over those who are too strong for me in Jesus name

10. I declare that the mighty hand of God will continue to grant me supernatural victory in Jesus name

 11. Oh Lord, I bind every strongman trying to bring me down in Jesus name

 12. Father grant me divine tactics and strategies to continue to defeat and subdue the enemy in Jesus name.

13. I bind and paralyse the strongman employed or delegated to disgrace me, in the name of Jesus.

14. Let all the affairs of my life be too hot for my enemies to manipulate, in the name of Jesus.

15. O Lord, grant me supernatural wisdom to subdue all my enemies in Jesus name.L

16. O Lord, let all my adversaries be put to shame in the name of Jesus.

17. O Lord, I declare that I shall come out victorious in every court case I have with my enemies in Jesus name.

18. I close every negative door that the enemy might want to open, to harm me in the name of Jesus.

19. You satanic agents, I command you to clear out from the pathway to my victory in this matter, in the name of Jesus.

 20.  I cancel any demonic decision and expectation targeting my life, in the name of Jesus.

21. Father, let all my enemies be on there knees as I rule over them victoriously in Jesus name.

 22. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit purge my life from any evil mark put upon me, in the name of Jesus.

23. Let the Lord confuse the tongues of those gathered to do me harm, after the order of the builders of the Tower of Babel, in the name of Jesus.

24. Le my adversaries stumble and fall, in the name of Jesus.

25. I command every evil power and vessel sitting on my destiny to be violently overthrown, in the name of Jesus.

 26. I pursue, overtake and recover all my blessings from the hands of my enemies, in the name of Jesus.

 27. Let every counsel, plan, desire, expectation, imagination, device and activity of the enemy against this my life be rendered null and void, in the name of Jesus.

28. I terminate every journey into bondage and unfruitfulness designed for me by the enemies of my life in the name of Jesus.

29. I bind every money-consuming demon attached to my finances, in the name of Jesus.

 30. Father thank you for giving me all round victory in Jesus name.

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