You are justified!

Romans 5:1
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

The word justified in this verse and context, means that God has declared you right and acceptable in his sight. Like he said to Jesus, God the Father says to you, You are my beloved child, in whom i am well pleased.

If we are justified, that means we were guilty at some point. Because of Adams disobedience, every one who came through Adam is declared guilty by God. Humans cannot control this because by birth every human is pronounced guilty and condemned and is trapped in the clutches of sin and spiritual death with no way of escape. Every human on earth is by nature the child of Gods wrath, destined for eternal damnation.Jesus, who was born of the Spirit, obeyed the Father by suffering for the sins of humanity and thereby paying the complete price for eternally redeeming mankind from the clutches of Satan, sin and death. By his resurrection, he defeated Satan, Sin and Death. Any human on earth who believes what Jesus has done, anyone who believes the obedience of Jesus will be justified and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Friend, God is not angry or mad at you. Because you have accepted his son, you have escaped Gods wrath and eternal damnation. Glory to God !!! You have peace with God. God smiles at you. He is pleased with you and He approves and accepts you. It has nothing to do with your good works or bad works, it has only to do with Jesus and his obedience to the Father. Be conscious and aware that Jesus has justified you and that you have peace with God. This revelation will help you live a justified and a peaceful life and thereby a God honouring life. You will never be the same. This is your time. Jesus is Lord and the best is yet to come.

The entrance of sin.

Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Sin entered the world through one man, Adam. God created the earth and gave Adam authority and dominion over it. Adam declared independence from God and connected himself to Satan, who is sin. The day Adam disobeyed God, sin and death entered the planet.

All around the world we can see the consequences of Adams mistake, sin and death dominating the planet. This is the reason many ignorant people question the existence and the character of God. Well, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, Jesus to redeem mankind from clutches of sin and death. By his death, burial and resurrection, Jesus defeated sin and death and gave the ones who believe in Him, dominion over sin and death. This simply means you can triumph over sin and death because of what Jesus did for you. Sin and  death is still in the world but 'In Christ' is the only place where sin and death have no power. The body of Christ is the only body that cannot be touched by sin and death because Jesus, the head of the body of Christ has defeated sin and death.

Friend, the day you accepted Jesus, you were included in the body of Christ as an esteemed member in a specific place for a specific work. Because you are in Christ, sin and death has no power over you. As you walk in the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, you will walk free from the law of sin and death which is still in the world today. The law of the Spirit of life is the law of the word, it is the law of love, which simply means obedience. Jesus said if you love me, you will obey me. The obedience of Jesus brought you into the body of Christ, but its your obedience that keeps you free from the law of sin and death. Do the word, follow the Holy Spirit and let the world see your light. Live like Jesus! Glory! Jesus is Lord!

The choice is yours!

Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that  I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

One of the greatest privileges God has given humanity is the ability to choose. He has given us a free will to choose what we want. He didn't make us like robots or preprogrammed machines. Praise God.

Since we have the ability to choose, we are responsible for the decisions we make. God gives us options and then help us by saying choose life, choose blessing. He does that because he's our loving Father and wants the very best for each one of his precious children. Jesus gave us a new commandment, Love one another as I have loved you. You have a choice to obey or disobey the command. No one can make you do it. You have to make the choice and decide to do it. No one can make you read the word, you choose to do it. No one can make you sit at Jesus' feet but like Mary you have to make a decision to do it. God gives us his word so we can have good amount of information and thereby make the right decisions in life.

Friend, choose the word and make it the oxygen of your life. Breathe the word. Let the word be your clothing. As you carry your bags to your offices, carry the word of the living God in your heart and your mouth. As you see yourself in the mirror every day, see yourself in Gods word everyday. As you drink water and eat food everyday, drink and eat the word everyday. The word will help you make the right decisions, decisions that you won't regret later. The word will make you wise, insightful and you will command the respect of the world. The choice is yours!

Wealth beyond imagination.

Revelation 21:21
The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.

John is talking about the holy city, the Lamb's bride called the New Jerusalem which is our eternal home. You remember, Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you. It's extravagant!

As believers, the New Jerusalem spoken about in the last book of the Bible is our eternal home, where we will dwell with God and God will dwell with us forever and ever. The wall of the city is made of jasper, and the city is pure gold, as clear as glass. The foundation of the wall of the city are decorated with all manner of precious stones. The city has twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. The twelve gates are made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street is made of pure gold, as clear as glass. The city shines with the glory of God and sparkles like a precious stone. Can you imagine a city where the roads are transparent pure gold and each gate is made up of a single pearl? This is immeasurable wealth and we can enjoy it now for Jesus said God's will be done on earth just as it is done in heaven. By this he made it clear it is Gods will for you to live in and enjoy wealth immeasurable.

Friend, this is what Jesus has prepared for you. Its beyond human comprehension but its true for His word is true.  Don't fight prosperity and wealth as many religious nuts and hyper spiritual people do. God never wants his people struggling to get by and just living a surviving life like the beggar Lazarus. God wants to bless you beyond your thinking or dreaming capacity. Can you take it? Can you handle it? Are you willing to believe it?  His way of doing it is not by running after all these things. He said in Matthew 6.33, 'Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will added to you.' Believe God. Do what He says. Be obedient. This your time for wealth beyond measure!!

The apple of your eye.

Proverbs 7:2
Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

How do you guard the apple of your eye? Do you take it lightly? I am sure all of us guard it with great care and love.

God speaks to us in many ways. He speaks to us through His word, His Spirit and through his ordained ministers. If you have difficulty in hearing Him then you probably need to get into places where the word is being taught with a willing heart and open ears. Solomon says guard what you hear from God as you would guard the apple of your eyes. You can hear God and if you are not careful, Satan can steal the word out of your heart. For example, you heard the word on Sunday and by the time you came back home, you met with your friends and started talking so intensely about the corruption in our country, that you completely forgot about the word you heard hours ago and gave it away to Satan. Satan is after the word. Settle this in your thinking. No wonder Solomon said, guard it. If you guard the word in your heart and your mouth and allow no one or no situation to steal it, then you will begin to see changes like you have never seen before. Be conscious, that you are a word man, a word woman. Make it part of your daily confession so that it becomes a part of your mindset and vocabulary. I am word born, word controlled, word sustained, word led, word driven and word fed. I am a word being. Hallelujah to Jesus.

Friend, the word of God is your life. Once you hear Gods word, Satan uses different ways and strategies to steal the word from you. He can go to any extent to take it from your heart and mouth. It could be a misunderstanding between husband and wife, it could be gossipping, it could be the lastest news or some government blunder. Beware. Be careful. Believe the word. Speak the word. Guard the word and you will experience the power of Gods word. Jesus is Lord.

By God's strength!

By God's strength!
- Pastor Ashish Mathews

Psalms 18:29
For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall.

David, the writer of this psalm had confidence in God. He said with Gods help, I can crush an army and with Gods help, I can leap over enemy walls.

In the midst of facing severe challenges, how can someone say these things? Well, if we do what David did, then we can speak like he spoke and overcome like he overcame. David would have never said these things if he were focusing and meditating on the armies and the walls or even on his own ability. If he had made that mistake then like most people he would have magnified the armies and the walls of his life or would have magnified his inability to meet the challenges of life, which would have sucked the life out of him and would have made him completely hopeless. Most believers look at the challenges of life from the glasses of their own abilities, capabilities and capacities, which is the number one reason believers are depressed, frustrated and fearful. David focused on the Lord and meditated on his strength and ability and by doing so he found strength and courage to face the armies and the walls of his life and eventually overcame them.

Today you may be surrounded by a fierce army ready to devour you or may be you are up against a wall so huge that you see no way of overcoming it. Focus on Jesus. Focus on the word. Let the word strengthen and empower you like David so that by Gods power you can crush the enemies and leap over the walls of your life. If David can do it, so can you! Make a decision and let the world see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Jesus is Lord.

“Christ is my ability, Christ is my sufficiency. Christ lives in me and I live in Christ. The One who is in me is GREATER than all the troops and walls of this world. I trust the Greater One, I am unstoppable and I fulfill my destiny with excellence, joy and holiness. Hallelujah!”

Let the fruit grow.

Galatians 5:22‭-‬23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

The fruit of the Spirit does not refer to the Holy Spirit. Its talking about your born again human spirit. The day you accepted Christ, the fruit was deposited in your spirit. All of the nine fruits is in you right now.

Peter says you were born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed, by the word of the living God which lives and abides forever. You were born of the word of God and therefore you can only be sustained by the word. Consider a mango seed and take it in your hands and look at it. The seed has in it many mango fruits. In order to see the manifestation of the fruits, you got to plant the seed first. Water it consistently and one day you will see the mangoes. As you keep feeding on the word, meditating on the word, speaking the word and doing the word, you will begin to see yourself operating in the nine fruits of the spirit. Let the fruit grow and let your light shine.

Feeding on Gods word needs to be a daily routine. Plant the seed by speaking the word. Water it by consistently doing what the word says. Believe and see yourself possessing the fruit in you and walking in it. Speak and declare that you are walking in it and living a life like Jesus himself. You will never be the same. The best is yet to come and Jesus is Lord.