ONWARDS AND UPWARDS: Forgetting the Past...

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3: 12 - 14 NKJV

The Christian life is like a race, it's more like running a marathon really! It’s not a race to see who will get to heaven and who will not, no! In Christ, we have all passed from death to life, from darkness into light, so if you believe in Jesus and what He did for you, that He took all your sins on Himself on the cross, died and rose again from the dead after three days, and if you’ve confessed Him as your Lord and Savior, then Heaven is yours, no questions asked.

The Christian life is not a race to see who can do more for God than the next person, no! As part of the body of Christ, each one of us is a different member with differing yet equally important functions in the body (Romans 12:4-8). In His wisdom, God has gifted and graced each one of us uniquely, so don’t allow yourself to get pressured into doing something just because someone else is doing it, however godly and/or noble it may be, if you do and you aren’t gifted or graced for it, you risk piling up frustration, discouragement and even resentment on yourself.

⁷ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it – Ephesians 4:7 NIV

Just rest in the Lord  and trust Him to lead you and He will. You will find yourself doing what comes naturally and even seemingly effortlessly to you and others will be blessed by God through you. Before you know it, you’re in your “element” as it were. Just know this: God loves each one of us with His perfect Love, He doesn’t love us more or less depending on what we do, no He loves us completely, absolutely, unreservedly and eternally. He is Love, so yes you are loved, regardless of what you do or don’t do. Rest in His love for you.  

Now, how do we practically go about this? That’s where forging ahead and forgetting the past comes in. Taking the example of an athlete, to get on the podium, an athlete must be disciplined, focused and determined, they cannot entertain distractions of any sort, if they won in the past, they don’t dwell on the victories they’ve enjoyed in the past, no, they train for future victories. Should they fail to win, they go back and train harder, consistently and even more persistently hoping to do better the next time. So in like manner, let us also refuse to be held captive by our past experiences whether successful or not.

Should we camp around our successes, we run the risk of building monuments to them, and that reeks of idolatry, stagnation and pride. Let's keep on following the Good Shepherd wherever He may lead us, in His presence there is fullness of joy and a lot more! If we cling to our past failures and disappointments,  they will only serve to weigh us down with shame, guilt and condemnation. Let us be reminded that in Christ, we are free from any and all forms of condemnation (Romans 8:1) and God is not keeping a record of your past sins, as vile as they might have been.

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. – Hebrews 8:12 NIV

Source: Google Images

Don’t let the enemy weigh you down with your past, it’s under the blood, Jesus took all our sins, past, present and future, He put them away once and for all and He doesn’t remember them, so stop beating yourself up over nothing. Get up, dust yourself off, go forward and fulfill your destiny in the Lord. May these verses encourage you…

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith... - Hebrews 12: 1 - 2 NKJV

So forgetting the past with it’s victories and failures, run the race that is set before you… yes there is a specific race for you to run and you've been gifted and equipped just for it, don’t try to run someone else’s race, run yours. Focus on Jesus, He is the author and finisher of your faith, let Him empower, train, lead and guide you by His Holy Spirit who is within you, as you confidently run the race that He’s set before you today, your victory in Him is guaranteed!!

HE ALREADY PROMISED, TRUST HIM

Source: Google Images

God has promised to provide for you, He has promised to meet all your needs. Trust Him, believe His promises, hold on to His Word. Your Heavenly Father loves you with an everlasting love, He has given His very best for you, Jesus, He certainly will not withhold any good thing from you. Remember, He watches over His word to perform it. Here’s just one promise of provision we have from our Lord:

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. – Matthew 6:31–33 NKJV

God never changes, neither does He go back on His promises to us. Today, because of what Jesus has done, His Kingdom is within you and you are His righteousness, keep that truth front and center in your life, for it is your key to boldly coming before God expecting Him to supply all your needs. Jesus was condemned at the cross so that you may not only go free, but also have unreserved access to God’s unmerited and unrestricted favor in every area of your life. He has promised to take care of you, He is your Father after all and He is not  irresponsible, just put your trust in Him. He has a myriad of ways to supply all of your needs. He has made provision for you already…again, just trust Him and obey His voice as He positions you for His provision.

Look at how He provided for Elijah; First by the brook Cherith using ravens(1 Kings 17:2-4), then by the widow at Zarepath (1 Kings 17:7-16) and then by giving Him angel food (1 Kings 19:6-8). The thing is God provided for Elijah everytime, using different methods and sources. His ways and means are anything but monotonous; I guess He loves to surprise His children as He blesses and provides for them, so don’t limit Him. As you keep on walking with Him, you’ll quickly learn to expect His provision  through any means He chooses even through sources and means that you never even thought of. I’ve personally experienced this time and time again.  

God told Elijah where to go after He had commanded ravens to bring him meat and bread there and He was to drink from the brook Cherith. Ravens are known to eat almost everything meat and bread included, but these ravens were commanded by the Creator to bring food to Elijah. Not only that, ravens were unclean birds and Jews had nothing to do with them, but God in His great wisdom used what was considered unclean to provide for the prophet. There’s a whole lot of layers of revelation right there from the unclean being sanctified in the light of Acts 10 as the Apostle Peter was told, but I digress…

Then Elijah was fed by a widow woman at Zarepath, she had been commanded by God to feed the prophet and in doing so she and Her son were provided for as well. They lived through the famine and came out of it well fed by the standards of the day. The point is, God’s economy knows no recession.

Later as He fled from Jezebel and fell asleep somewhere under a juniper tree, Elijah was woken up by an angel and was served angel food and water twice and went forty days on the strength of that food. Isn’t our God gracious? Elijah was running away, discouraged, praying that he should die, right after calling down fire from heaven and destroying the prophets and priests of Baal. God still provides for him.

Let’s not forget  Elijah’s "regular" food was locusts and wild honey, just like John the baptist (Matthew 3:4) but God provided different and better food for him, by his day’s standards. Now, it’s interesting to note there isn’t a record of Elijah praying for provision for himself, He simply trusted the Lord to provide. He concerned himself with what he was called to do and even when he was discouraged, he somehow knew God was going to provide for him, even as he prayed that he should’ve died, I submit to you he didn’t mean it, he was just discouraged and God knew his heart. Think about it, why run away from certain death from Jezebel and then ask God to basically kill him? Doesn’t add up, does it?

If there’s one thing we can learn from Elijah’s account is this: trust God to provide for you. If he could trust God under the OT and be provided for, how much more will we who are under the NT with better promises see the Father’s hand providing for us above and beyond what we need?

You are in Christ so rest assured, your Father loves you, He will never leave you nor forsake you. He delights in you and in providing for you. In Christ all things are yours. Blessings!         

THE WORK GOD WANTS YOU TO DO

Source: Google Images

A large crowd crossed the Sea of Galilee and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus, a noble undertaking one would think, however, their motives were not right. They were not looking for Him for who He was or for the miracles they had see Him do... well...save for the one where He multiplied the five loaves and two fish and they had their fill and so now they were after an encore performance. Jesus called them out on it saying:

²⁶ Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” – John 6:26 – 27 NKJV

They were supposed to work, they were supposed to labor for food that endures to eternal life, not perishable food which is what they were doing up to that point. Our Heavenly Father has already promised to supply all our needs, our Lord told not to worry what shall we eat or drink or wear or where shall we sleep as those who do not know Him do. We have His promises of abundant supply and blessings for this life and the one to come.

These crowds had just crossed the Sea of Galilee, a decent sized lake actually, seeking Jesus intending to get Him to start what I'd call "the first free unlimited lunch” denomination, but He wasn’t falling for any of that. He showed them a better way by telling them to work for food that endures forever. Let's not get hung up on how God has met our needs in the past, He is a very creative loving Father, let's just trust Him to meet our needs whichever way He may choose, seeking to box Him into one way of doing things is limiting Him and trust me, we don't want to be doing that. Now after  Jesus had gotten their attention with His response, this is what they said to Him:

Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” - John 6:28 NKJV

His response:

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” – John 6:29 NKJV

So in essence Jesus is saying to them and to us today: BELIEVE IN ME! That’s the work we are to be doing, believing in Him, believing all that He’s said about Himself and all that He said about us is the truth, nothing more, nothing less. And the best part is, by His grace, God enables us to believe. 

When things seem contrary in the natural, choose to believe His Word, when it seems like nothing is going your way, choose to believe in His promises… He NEVER FAILS!

The faith that we have is a gift from God which we receive by His grace and it comes by hearing the Word of God. To hear the Word of God, speak it, listen to it, meditate on it and let it impart faith in you and you know what, you’ll find your speech aligning with what God says, not what the circumstances are trying to dictate to you. Remember, “we believe, therefore we speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13) not the other way round… and then we will only say what He has already said. “He has said…so that we may boldly say” (Hebrews 13:5 – 6). 

Believe in Jesus, the Living Word today, stop toiling and laboring for what is perishable, enter His rest and trust Him to fulfill His promises in your life.


Go on, do the works of God today – BELIEVE IN JESUS! 

OUR SPIRITS: Dead in Sin or Alive in CHRIST?

Source: Google Images

God has created us, human beings with spirits, souls and bodies. We are a spirit, we each have a soul and live in a body. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 confirms this fact. With our bodies we relate with the world around us, with our souls we make choices and decisions; the soul is the seat of our wills, emotions and intellect. With our spirits we relate to God and to the spirit realm. I’d like to take a moment to zero in on some basic truths about our spirits.

God is spirit (John 4:24)and we relate to Him with our spirits, I believe that’s how Adam and Eve related with God but then sin came in between them and disrupted that relationship. God meant it when He said to Adam in Genesis 2:17 - “…you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die”, so when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they died spiritually that very day and later on died physically as well. The fellowship they had with God was broken, they couldn’t relate with Him as they used to, their spirits died. Now they were reduced to dead spirits, with living souls and bodies, and so was the entire human race that followed.

But God who loved mankind so much made a way for us to relate with Him again, and that way is through Jesus Christ, His Son, who came, lived a perfect life and died on the cross for our sins so we could be reconciled to God and enjoy fellowship with Him again. When we believe in Jesus and confess Him as our Lord, He regenerates our dead spirits by the Holy Spirit and we’re born again, born of the Spirit of God. When talking to Nicodemus the Jewish rabbi who came to see him at night, Jesus had this to say:

³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again… ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ – John 3:3, 5 - 7 NIV

The Word of God is clear, we were spiritually dead before we came to Christ to receive His life which recreated our dead spirits and we became born again, born of His Spirit. Outside of Christ our spirits are dead, but in Christ our spirits are re-created, made alive by His Spirit.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,-  Ephesians 2:1 NIV

And again,

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, - Colossians 2:13 NIV

And yet again,

…made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. – Ephesians 2:5 NIV

When we come to Jesus, our old nature, our old self is crucified on His cross and He gives us His life, doesn’t the Word in Romans say:

For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – Romans 6:6 NIV

Jesus Himself said:

²⁴ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. – John 5:24 NIV

No wonder the Apostle Paul could boldly say:

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  – Galatians 2:20 NIV

So when we hear the Good News of what God has done for us through Christ and we believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and we confess Him as our Lord, our spirits are made alive again, the Holy Spirit regenerates or gives birth to our spirits and that’s how we become brand new creations in Christ.

¹⁷ Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! – 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP

We receive His life in us, through His power, we become partakers of His divine nature, we can now relate to God as our Father for our spirits are now alive and joined to His, we’ve become one with Him. We get to know, commune and fellowship with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. How awesome is that! And that my friends, is eternal life, which shouldn’t be confused with living forever, because everyone will live forever – either in heaven or in hell. Put your trust in Jesus today, if you haven’t already, and start enjoying your Heavenly Father and all He has for you, you’ll be glad you did!

The Word of God says:

I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). – John 10:10b AMP

So there, Jesus the author of life came to give us ABUNDANT LIFE, believe in Him and receive His life if you haven’t already…and if you have, then you have the opportunity and privilege to share it with others around you. 

Much blessings to you!  

LET GO OF THE SHADOW, THE SUBSTANCE IS HERE

Shadows can be very misleading. Source: Google Images "shadow art"

A shadow is a result of the interaction of an object with light. Shadows can be manipulated by the slightest movement on the part of the light and/or the object. You know, like when it’s noon and sunny outside, your shadow is barely a few inches long but when it’s late afternoon and you go stand at the same spot your shadow will be quite long, but you, the substance, the real thing, haven’t changed one bit. 

Shadows can sometimes be so distorted to the point of having little or no resemblance at all to the objects creating them, and if one is to only look at the shadow they might not be able to tell what the object actually looks like, it can be that misleading. Some parts of the OT and the NT illustrate this quite vividly. Here’s one example of how shadows can be misleading:

In the OT, we read:

Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah – 2 Samuel 24:1 NIV

But the same account is recorded differently here…

Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. – 1 Chronicles 21:1 NIV

Talk about shifting shadows…was it God or Satan who tempted David to sin? See the problem with shadows? They can’t be entirely reliable, that’s why we must focus on the substance. In this case, however, the account given in 1 Chronicles 21:1 is a lot closer to the substance, the NT, Satan is the tempter not God.

³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” – Matthew 4:3 NIV

Satan is the tempter, not God:

¹³ When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; - James 1:13 NIV

The OT is the Shadow while the NT is the Substance. We see types and shadows of Christ throughout the OT, we see Christ the Substance, the real thing in the NT. All the Jewish festivals, sacrifices and ceremonies were shadows, Christ is the substance. So we don’t need to fret over foods, days, drinks or any such shadows we see in the OT, for they are all just that, shadows:

¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. – Colossians 2:16 – 17 NIV

Let us fix our eyes on the substance, Jesus, not the shadows we see in the OT. Jesus himself said, “he who has seen me, has seen the Father”. And the Word tells us that Jesus is the express image of the Father. Look past the shadows in the OT and see the Substance, see Jesus. And every time you see Jesus, you see the Father.

        …Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father… - John 14:9 NIV

Jesus never condemned sinners, He welcomed them, ate with them, preached to them, healed them. His harshest words were reserved for the corrupt politicians and the self-righteous religious leaders of His day – He called Herod a “fox” – Luke 13:32, He called the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law “snakes and brood of vipers” – Matthew 23:33.  His heart was and still is about saving sinners not judging them or condemning them, that's why He gave His life on the cross for us. Of course there will be judgement for the unbelievers at the very end, not now. So believe that Jesus took all your sin, died on the cross for you and He was raised from the dead so you can be made righteous before God by simply believing in Him. God is for you, not against you. God is Love, He loves you with an everlasting love. 

On the road to Emmaus after His resurrection, Jesus took the time to open the minds of the disciples so they could understand the Scriptures. How did He do that?

²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. – Luke 24:27 NIV

⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures – Luke 24:45 NIV

Let me leave you with the old adage:

The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed

Much blessings to you!

IN CHRIST THERE IS NO RECORD OF YOUR SINS

Have you ever wondered why God neither punished nor rebuked Abraham for his sins? He lied twice about Sarah not being his wife, fearing he might be killed for her sake and Sarah went along with the lies both times…God’s response reveals His true nature, His unearned unmerited favor – His grace.

Source: Google Images

God’s response goes against everything religion stands for. Instead of chastising Abraham for his lies and for not trusting in the God who called him to protect him, He warns the kings who had taken Sarah of dire consequences should they fail to return her to Abraham, her husband and on one occasion He even tells King Abimelech that Abraham is a Prophet and that’s the very first time the word prophet appears in the Bible, of course there were others who were prophets before him but you get the point…God calls him a prophet after he clearly exhibited conduct unbecoming of a prophet of God… unbelievable, but so is the Grace of God, I’m convinced that we will never fully understand it even in eternity... Here is what King Abimelech is told:

⁷ So give Abraham his wife again. He is a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will live. But if you don’t give Sarah back to him, I promise that you will die. And all your family will die with you.” – Genesis 20:7 ERV

Abraham was declared righteous because He believed God, not because of anything he did or didn't do for that matter. Isaac and Jacob with all their flaws, were also recipients God’s unmerited favor. God never brought up their sins or failures.  

Have you ever wondered why God did not punish the Israelites from the time they left Egypt until the got to Mount Sinai? They complained from the time they reached the Red Sea and all the way to Mount Sinai, they murmured, they grumbled but God provided all their needs, food, water, clothes never wore out; He made sure they were all healthy, there was none feeble among them, He took excellent care of them. He carried them on eagle’s wings…

However, after Sinai everything changed when the Old Testament with it’s Law was given to them. Since then, every single time they violated the Law they faced the consequences and had to offer periodic sacrifices for their sins to be covered. They quickly found out that they couldn't keep the Law perfectly, though they had boasted in their ability to do so earlier.

Under the OT Law, even Moses who had such a spiritually loaded resume, the man who talked with God face to face, was not spared the consequences of sinning against God. Under the OT Law, even David, the man who God declared was after His own heart, when he sinned God rebuked him and consequences followed. That’s how unbending and inflexible the Old Covenant Law was.   

Fast forward to the time of Jesus, the Son of God became a man, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, fulfilled the entire Law perfectly and took all our sins on His body and by His death on the cross, abolished the OT Law of Moses as a means by which we are to be counted righteous before God, and by His own blood established the New Covenant or the New Testament. You see Jesus did not just take the sins of those who believe in Him, He took the sins of the entire human race(John 1:29) 

When we put our trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God considers us righteous, all our sin is completely wiped away, we become new, we are now holy and righteous before God, even if our feelings are contrary, we go with what the Word of God says, not our feelings. Feelings may change but the Word is forever settled in Heaven.

God has promised us that in this New Covenant that we have with Him, He will not impute sin to us and neither will He remember our sins, He is our God and we are His people (Jeremiah 31:31 – 34) In Christ, we are free from any and all forms of condemnation. No accusation against you can stand, for His Word says:

³³ Who can accuse the people God has chosen? No one! God is the one who makes them right. ³⁴ Who can say that God’s people are guilty? No one! Christ Jesus died for us, but that is not all. He was also raised from death. And now he is at God’s right side, speaking to him for us. – Romans 8: 33 -34 ERV

He is the one who chose us and drew us by His Grace, Jesus said…

¹⁶ “You did not choose me. I chose you… – John 15:16a ERV

Source:Google Images

So enjoy your relationship with your loving Heavenly Father who chose you and made you righteous in Christ, let Him guide you and lead you by His Holy Spirit, not by the letter of the OT Law. He does not keep a record of your sins and failures, Jesus took them all. He is not waiting for you to blow it so He can smite you, no! He is waiting for you to discover the truth that by the perfect sacrifice of His Son Jesus, He has completely and permanently put away all your sins. His love for you is unending and His mercies for you are new every morning, His mercies are from everlasting to everlasting. Blessings to you!  

THE ACCUSER HAS NO CASE AGAINST YOU: He’s bluffing!

The devil is called the accuser or Satan, which in Hebrew means advesary or prosecutor. From the time the Law of Moses was given, Satan used it the to oppose and prosecute the nation of Israel, a couple of examples come to mind, Balaam, the greedy prophet, suggesting that Balak should get Israel to sin so they may be vulnerable to curses,  I believe that thought was satanically inspired.

“They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. – Numbers 31:16 NIV

Another example when satan enticed David to number Israel which was in violation of the Law of Moses which resulted in dire consequences.

Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel – 1 Chronicles 21:1 NIV

There’s also the account of Satan accusing Joshua the High Priest in Zechariah.

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. – Zechariah 3:1 NIV

So it is abundantly clear that Satan used the Law to accuse people before God. Today the enemy cannot use the Law of Moses against us because Christ fulfilled it and did away with it completely; He nailed it to the cross, essentially disarming the devil of whatever accusatory powers he had armed himself with, using the OT Law of Moses.       

Many believers have no problems believing the Word of God when it states that Jesus took all our sins on His body on the cross and that He also took all our sicknesses and diseases, but some have a hard time believing that Jesus took the Law of Moses, which was against us and nailed it to the cross, effectively rendering it powerless over us and that we’ve been freed from it. The Word of God tells us exactly what happened to the Law of Moses as Jesus hung on that cross for all those hours.

The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, when describing what our Lord has done for us, makes this powerful declaration:

¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. – Colossians 2:14-15 NKJV

So essentially, the devil and his minions have been disarmed, don’t let him for one moment tell you any different… don’t accept his condemnation, refuse to go on the endless guilt trips he’s been sending you on. It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Never forget this truth: Regardless of what you’ve done, the devil has no right to accuse you.

He has nothing to accuse you with, the Law which he so successfully used in accusing the brethren before the crucifixion has been nailed to the Cross of Christ, he has been disarmed and he’s also been denied the access he had into the presence of God to accuse people. 

⁷ Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸ But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven…¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. – Revelation 12: 7, 8, 10 NIV

And so the adversary, the enemy, the accuser lost the access he had to heaven. He had used it to accuse and prosecute people before God from the time of Job. How did he get that access in the first place? I’ve got some ideas but I digress…Rest assured, it is God who justifies us and the enemy can do absolutely nothing to change that!

But the thing is, the devil is a liar, a deceiver, that’s his nature, so he’ll come along and try to deceive you into doubting what God says concerning you, that’s his modus operandi, exactly what he did in the garden of Eden, always trying to get you to second guess what God has clearly said. God says because you believe in Jesus and in what He has done for you at the cross, that he took all your sins once and for all, he took all your sicknesses and diseases, he freed you from the Law and its curse, just because you believe that, He declares you righteous before Him, He declares you free from the Law, free from the curse of the Law and that you are not under condemnation anymore! Now that’s Good News that should empower you to live your life in joy and peace knowing that God is for you, not against you.

Now, in keeping with his character and nature,  the enemy comes around and tries to get you to doubt all that God has said, and once you give him any attention he starts tormenting you with your past, your failures, your insecurities and whatever else he can drag or conjure up. No wonder the Word of God tells us not to give him any place and not to be ignorant of his schemes. The Word also warns us to be sober, to be vigilant because the enemy goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, he cannot devour at will, one has to co-operate with him to be devoured.

Walk in the freedom that is yours in Christ, your accuser is nothing but a disarmed faker. If you are in Christ know this, there is no condemnation on you, you are complete in Christ, yes you are!