“God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:5-9)
God is light and when we walk in His light we walk in fellowship with Him and with other believers. When we step out of God’s light we step into darkness. It is dangerous to live in darkness, because we will not know where we are going and our fellowship with our heavenly Father and with other believers will be broken. The darkest place of all is just outside of God’s light. This is why Christians who have gone back from standing in the light seem to be in greater darkness even than the unbeliever who has never yet known the light of Christ. Broken fellowship with the Father, however, can be restored though Jesus Christ who is our advocate with the Father. Our advocate, or lawyer, will take up our case the moment we ask for forgiveness. He will go to the Father’s presence and plead our case and restore our fellowship with God the Father. We can only be rid of our sins by confessing them with our mouths and turning from them. If we do this, God has promised forgiveness that he is so complete that He forgets we even sinned in the first place. “To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy-to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and for evermore! Amen.” (Jude 24,25) Christ died for our sins and took them all into Himself, but we need to avail ourselves of this work by verbally releasing them to God, i.e. confessing them. THE BLOOD OF JESUS There could be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. Since the law of God insists that the penalty for your sin is death, Jesus, the only sinless man, had to suffer to save you from your sin and bring you back to God. It is only through the blood of Jesus that you are cleansed from your sin. We are justified by Christ’s blood. This is God’s side of the work of redemption. We have been declared bankrupt in the matter of righteousness, but Jesus came and paid our debts on the cross. All His righteousness was paid into our account. The cross is the supreme act of God’s love. WHY FORGIVE? Love always forgives. Jesus showed this, even on the cross. Where would we be without a forgiving God? A forgiving spirit is what you must have in your heart, even before the other person says they are sorry. Jesus taught if you don’t forgive your brother you will not be forgiven by your Father in heaven (Matthew 6:5-15). “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32. Always be the one to forgive even when the other person is mostly or all at fault. You are responsible before God for restoring broken relationships, no matter who is at fault or how many times others have wronged you (Luke 17:3,4). “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37) If we will not forgive, then God cannot forgive us. Only forgiveness will clear the channel for faith to operate in our hearts. Forgiveness is an essential prerequisite before we are able to approach God in prayer. “Be very careful, then, how you live not as unwise, but as wise. Making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17) The most often asked question in a given day is 'What time is it?' Time is a very important part of our lives, and God has a great deal to say about how we should use it. Many people are aware of the fact that work has to be done on time. In fact, if you can't finish the tasks that require to be accomplished in a day, you presumably require a time management solution. It's not unusual.
There isn't anything we can do about time itself. It keeps ticking the same as ordinary but we can change how we deal with events though. We cannot change the amount of time there is in a day. No matter how we juggle things around, there is still only twenty-four hours in a day. This gives us a limited amount of time to work on during the year - in fact one might say that despite differing opportunities in life everyone has the exact amount of time, so the only thing we can do in our lives when it comes to time is altering the way we use it. Time is the least considered, worst managed, and yet most valuable resource we have. Once you realize this, you know that wasting time leads to a wasted job, project or even life itself. But if we are to become what God wants us to be, then Our Time must be brought under God’s discipline because the way we use our time reveals our values and priorities. Let’s see how Jesus made most of his time. First, in Mark 1:45, “…very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Before anything else, Jesus prayed very early in the morning, before doing any task, before making any decision or even before having his breakfast. Second, in Matthew 14:23, “After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.” Take note that after ministering to the people, by healing the sick, delivering the captives, preaching hope and salvation, Jesus often went up on a mountain side by himself to pray, giving thanks to the Father. Third in Luke 5:15-16, “Yet the news about Him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” The more Jesus’ name spread and the more He ministered to the crowd the more He often withdrew to lonely places and take time to pray. Lastly, in Luke 6:12, “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.”This time Jesus went to a mountainside for an overnight prayer with God! From the above illustrations of Jesus’ life we can derive at least some lessons in making use of our time here on earth. Firstly, Jesus knew that in His span of time on earth, the most valuable thing was spending time alone with the Father. The greatest time saver is prayer. As you seek God’s mind concerning your schedule, or what direction to take, prayer becomes like a compass in your life. Secondly, it isn’t how long you live, but what you do with the time God has given you. Thirdly, fill up your time with things of eternal value. Remember- “Satan Trembles When We Pray.” The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from prayer. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray!” Jonathan Edwards. The Most Important Thing- “O Brother pray inspite of Satan: Pray spend hours in prayer rather neglect friends than not pray, rather fast and forget food-and sleep too-than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we, must pray!” Andrew Bonar Are you drifting through life and filling up your time with things of no eternal value? Or are you investing your life to the glory of God? AGAIN WHAT TIME IS IT? IT IS TIME TO PRAY!!! |
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