GOOD NEWS

Good News!!!

Did you know that the gospel is “G00D NEWS?”

Most of us would say, “Of course!” but very few of us actually believe it.  (If you pause long enough to observe how you behave when you make a mistake or when something goes wrong in your life, you will see what you actually believe about the gospel.  What do I mean by this?  Do you live with a lot of guilt and shame?  Do you have an unrealistic standard for yourself?  Are you unconsciously punishing yourself for your past; for the bad decisions you have made; for mistakes; for not feeling like you  are worthy?)

The underlying message that most of us heard was that the gospel is “good news” if…… if you say this or say that; if you do this or do that; if you stay away from this or that; if you look like this or that; if you go after this or that; if you believe right about this or that.  But did you know that all of these phrases take our focus off of Jesus and put it onto us, which is actually the opposite of the gospel?  This is the same message that the serpent got Adam and Eve to believe in the garden – that there was something they had to do to make themselves be like God.  And did you know that this is the same message the enemy is still trying to get us to believe today.  He is still telling us that there is something we have to DO to be right with God.  But just like he was a liar in the garden of Eden – he is still a liar!

Guess what?  The gospel is not about us and it is not about anything that we have to do. The gospel is about the eternal plan of a loving father (God) uniting himself to humanity (through Jesus) and making us righteous, holy, flawless, and redeemed.  (Col. 1:21-22)  The truth of the gospel is that it is not up to us!  We do not make ourselves right!!!  Irregardless of what you have done, whether you believe everything correctly or not, where you are at in life – Jesus came to save you, not condemn you.

John 3:17 says,

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world (us), but to save the world (us) through him.

And

John 12:47 says,

If anyone hears my words but does NOT keep them, I do NOT judge that person.  For I did not come to judge the world (us), but to save the world (us).

Did you know that it was actually the eternal plan of God to have mercy on us all?

Romans 11:32 says,

For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all.

Even God’s chosen people, the Israelites, in the Old Testament, misunderstood His eternal plan.  They missed Him because they were trying to establish their own righteousness, not the righteousness that comes from God as a free gift.  (Romans 10:3)

Until we actually understand the message of the gospel and align our body, soul, and spirit with it – we cannot live fully alive.  At least this was true for me and so many people that I have talked with.  Our minds cannot rest, our hearts cannot be at peace, and our bodies cannot relax if we are trying to accomplish what only God can do.

So how do we embrace this?

We begin to take His word as truth instead of what our minds would tell us.  (Colossians 1:21 says that we were enemies in our own minds.)  Did you know that what we think or believe tends to become the reality that we experience in our everyday life?  Think about when you have a really bad hair day or when you are all bloated feeling.  What are your thoughts about yourself in this state?  How does this affect your day?  The same is true when we think or believe that we have to do/perform for our acceptance/love/worthiness from God.

So let’s experience His reality in our daily lives!!!

Let’s take this whole month and speak His truths over our body, soul, and spirit.  Irregardless of how we feel (and believe me, in the beginning I felt like “crap”) and let’s choose to make His truth our reality.  Like most things, this is a process and usually takes some time for our minds and feelings to respond to His truth.

But as we persist, our days will begin to manifest His truth.  ( I can testify – it is amazing!!!) We will begin to believe that we are loved; that we are complete; that we are holy and redeemed!!!  We will begin to understand how amazing we are and nothing will be able to shake us!!!  We will have peace in our spirit, soul, and body.  And we will find a rest that is not from this world.

So come, join us – Living Fully Alive – as we embrace these truths:

1 Thessalonians

• I am a daughter/son of the light and of the day!

• I do not belong to the night or to the darkness!

• God did not appoint me to suffer wrath!

• God appointed me to receive salvation!

1 Corinthians

• He will keep me strong to the end, so that I will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ!

• I was washed; I was sanctified; I was justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

• My body is a member of Christ himself!

• I have been made alive in Christ!

• God gives me victory through Jesus!

2 Corinthians

• God makes me stand firm in Christ!

• He anointed me, set His seal of ownership on me, and put His Spirit in my heart as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come!

• To God, I am the aroma of Christ!

• I am reconciled to God through Christ!

Romans

• I am reconciled!

• I have received God’s abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness, therefore I will reign in life through Jesus Christ!

• I am not under the law, but under grace!

• I am free from sin!

• The benefits I reap lead to holiness, and the result is eternal life!

• There is no condemnation for me!

• I have been set free from the law of sin and death!

Ephesians

• I was chosen in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight!

• In love, He predestined me to be adopted as his daughter/son through Jesus Christ!

• God made me alive with Christ!

• I have been saved by grace, through faith; it is the gift of God – not by works!

• I have been brought near through the blood of Christ!

• I am light in the Lord!

Colossians

• God has qualified me to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light!

• He has rescued me from the dominion of darkness and brought me into the kingdom of the Son he loves!

• He has reconciled me by Christ’s physical body through death to present me holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation!

• I have been given fullness in Christ!

• God made me alive with Christ!

• He forgave all my sins, cancelled the written code, and nailed it to the cross!

• He disarmed the powers and authorities, triumphing over them by the cross!

• I died, and my life is now hidden with Christ in God!

• When Christ, who is my life, appears, then I also will appear with Him in glory!