Paid in Full
Have you ever went to pay a bill only to find that someone had paid it for you? It has happened me a few times and it is a lovely surprise. Or maybe you have went to pay a bill and thought you had enough money but realised the bill was more than you thought - that is not a nice experience.
I custom paint furniture, so get a lot of messages from people asking for a quote to paint a piece of furniture for them. They want to know who much it is going to cost up front, before they decide whether to get it painted or not. I am very cautious about giving a quote, because I don't want to underestimate the cost and likewise I don't want to overcharge. When I first started this work, I did underestimate the work required a few times, and just had to take the loss. Because I'm working with the un-known - someone will send me a photo of their piece of furniture, but from the photo I can't always know what preparation work it will need etc. You see when I first started giving quotes for my work, I didn't have enough experience and knowledge, but though time, I gained more and more knowledge. I made some mistakes in the early days but I have learnt and have become more confident.
This got me thinking about how we can underestimate God's promises and His Word and overestimate other things concerning our lives. And how we grow in knowledge and confidence in our lives. God told the Prophet Hosea, "My people are destroyed for the lack knowledge" or another translation puts it this way "My people are destroyed because they lack knowledge of me".
The greatest thing about accepting Jesus Christ and His gift of Salvation, is that He HAS paid the debt of our sin in FULL - a price we could never pay. He didn't underestimate and leave us half way with no help, but He is More than Enough in every way and in every situation. Once we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, He writes PAID IN FULL over our lives and adopts us into his family. I love 2 Corinthians ch 5 v 21 which tells us that "for our sake He (Father God) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God". We grow in knowledge step by step with him.
The gift of Salvation is free to us but it was very costly, Jesus paid with his life and his precious blood. He bought and paid for every promise of protection, healing, provision, peace and strength. Did you notice that God was talking to his children in Hosea? So many times in our Christian lives we struggle with things that Jesus has already paid the price for. We are continually growing in the knowledge of our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus. We grow by knowing Him more. Not just knowing more about him, but by knowing him. This is what makes true Christianity different from all forms of 'religion'. God desires a personal relationship with us.
My husband and I work together so we spend a lot of time together and one of the things that we have noticed is that, we think the same things at the same time, or just as one of us says something totally out of the blue the other one will say I was just about to say that. We laugh about it. But this is what relationship is about - you don't just get to know about someone - you really get to know them. There is an old saying "you don't know someone until you live with them". It is very true. The same is true with the relationship with our Heavenly Father. If we only worship or pray to him when we go to church etc, we won't ever get to know him. But when we welcome and acknowledge him into every situation and talk to him and listen to him. We get to know him personally. When my husband asks me "Where do you want to go for holiday or just out for a day?" I always say "I don't mind, where we go as long as I'm with you". He thinks it is just something I say to get out of choosing a place to go. But I really mean it, I'm just happy to be with him, no matter what we are doing. You might think that I'm just an old romantic, but I'm not really, we just enjoy each others company so much. We don't get fed up or tired with each other. This is how Jesus wants us to be with him, that we will not want to go anywhere or do anything that he is not welcome. Jesus came to redeem us back to relationship with the Father and he wants us to experience and live in relationship with him. To be like Moses when he said to God “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. Exodus 33v15
Moses understood what it was to talk with God and to live in his presence.
My husband and I work together so we spend a lot of time together and one of the things that we have noticed is that, we think the same things at the same time, or just as one of us says something totally out of the blue the other one will say I was just about to say that. We laugh about it. But this is what relationship is about - you don't just get to know about someone - you really get to know them. There is an old saying "you don't know someone until you live with them". It is very true. The same is true with the relationship with our Heavenly Father. If we only worship or pray to him when we go to church etc, we won't ever get to know him. But when we welcome and acknowledge him into every situation and talk to him and listen to him. We get to know him personally. When my husband asks me "Where do you want to go for holiday or just out for a day?" I always say "I don't mind, where we go as long as I'm with you". He thinks it is just something I say to get out of choosing a place to go. But I really mean it, I'm just happy to be with him, no matter what we are doing. You might think that I'm just an old romantic, but I'm not really, we just enjoy each others company so much. We don't get fed up or tired with each other. This is how Jesus wants us to be with him, that we will not want to go anywhere or do anything that he is not welcome. Jesus came to redeem us back to relationship with the Father and he wants us to experience and live in relationship with him. To be like Moses when he said to God “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. Exodus 33v15
Moses understood what it was to talk with God and to live in his presence.
What are you struggling with today? Are you underestimating his power to set you free?
Whatever it is - it has been PAID IN FULL.
Remember how you got saved and accepted the gift of Salvation?
Ephesians ch 2 v 8-9 " for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
I think of it this way for by Grace (the ACTION of God's Great Love through Jesus) I have been saved through faith (my Re-ACTION to God's Great love through Jesus). This helps me to understand that it is not my own works, I cannot save myself or heal myself etc - but that I am responsible for excepting and receiving what Jesus has bought and paid for in full. By worshiping and thanking him for what he HAS already done, we position ourselves to receive from him. If we lack knowledge about his promised forgiveness or deliverance how would we be able to thank and praise him for setting us free, for we simply wouldn't know. So we would perish for the lack of knowledge. Sometimes we ask for others to pray for us or we ask God for more faith, but what we need is to know him more. 2 Peter 1v2 says "May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. Religion has taught us to rely on a Minister to pray on our behalf. But Jesus gave the Pastors, the Teachers and Preachers to the Church to show us the way, to help us find our way to discover who God is and what Jesus has accomplished for us. But He desires us to have a direct and personal relationship with him. Others can point us in the right direction, but God wants to come and reveal himself directly to you. Many people will say, I want to have a relationship with God, but somehow I feel so far away from him. This is where it is important to find out what God's promises are to you.
We accepted His Grace through Faith, we believed in our hearts and confessed with our mouths that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died and rose again for us. We confessed "I am a child of God" - This is how we receive everything else from God. When the thoughts come that say - you're not good enough etc - you can rise up and say I know I'm not good enough, but Praise God Jesus was good enough and he took my place, NOW I AM a Child of God and I am made a new Creation in Him.
The Greatest thing about Salvation is that we have BEEN made a NEW creation in Christ Jesus, old things have passed away and all things have become new. Yet this is one of the biggest problems I see the children of God struggle with - Their Past. Many people have inherited problems and situations that cause great distress. Religion teaches that we have to pay for our mistakes and causes us to feel that we are never good enough etc - BUT the bible teaches us that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And also that God said he would blot out our sins and remember them no more. What is holding most people back is what is called a spirit of Condemnation. It is a lying, deceiving and tormenting spirit. The Holy Spirit will convict us of doing something wrong and lead us to repentance and to the right way, and as we yield to him he gives us strength to overcome and grow and move forward. But the spirit of condemnation will just hold us down and keep us from moving forward, and will lead to hopelessness and will say you might as well give up.
Philippians 4v 13 says I can do all things THROUGH Christ who strengthens me. We are not strong enough to overcome the struggles and trials in our own strength, but we can only THROUGH his strength.
And we cannot underestimate his strength. In our weakness his strength is made perfect. We do not disappoint or fail our God by being weak - but we do grieve him by trying to do it on our own. He wants to carry you, he wants to lift up, he wants to strengthen you. The enemy whispers to us and says you are not good enough, you are a failure, this is the way things have always been and this is the way things will always be. BUT Jesus is singing over you songs of deliverance and saying I love you and I have a good plan for your life. Allow me to reveal to you how much I love you.
I wrote this song a few years ago, when I was going through a very difficult time. I was heartbroken, I didn't know what to do, so I just ran to my heavenly Father and poured out my heart to him. He strengthened me and he changed the situation around for good. Praise God, He can turn your situation around and give you strength to overcome. Run to him today and let him lift you and carry you through. Remember God already knows all about you and he cares for you - don't underestimate his completed work of salvation - Jesus has PAID IN FULL.
The Greatest thing about Salvation is that we have BEEN made a NEW creation in Christ Jesus, old things have passed away and all things have become new. Yet this is one of the biggest problems I see the children of God struggle with - Their Past. Many people have inherited problems and situations that cause great distress. Religion teaches that we have to pay for our mistakes and causes us to feel that we are never good enough etc - BUT the bible teaches us that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And also that God said he would blot out our sins and remember them no more. What is holding most people back is what is called a spirit of Condemnation. It is a lying, deceiving and tormenting spirit. The Holy Spirit will convict us of doing something wrong and lead us to repentance and to the right way, and as we yield to him he gives us strength to overcome and grow and move forward. But the spirit of condemnation will just hold us down and keep us from moving forward, and will lead to hopelessness and will say you might as well give up.
Philippians 4v 13 says I can do all things THROUGH Christ who strengthens me. We are not strong enough to overcome the struggles and trials in our own strength, but we can only THROUGH his strength.
And we cannot underestimate his strength. In our weakness his strength is made perfect. We do not disappoint or fail our God by being weak - but we do grieve him by trying to do it on our own. He wants to carry you, he wants to lift up, he wants to strengthen you. The enemy whispers to us and says you are not good enough, you are a failure, this is the way things have always been and this is the way things will always be. BUT Jesus is singing over you songs of deliverance and saying I love you and I have a good plan for your life. Allow me to reveal to you how much I love you.
I wrote this song a few years ago, when I was going through a very difficult time. I was heartbroken, I didn't know what to do, so I just ran to my heavenly Father and poured out my heart to him. He strengthened me and he changed the situation around for good. Praise God, He can turn your situation around and give you strength to overcome. Run to him today and let him lift you and carry you through. Remember God already knows all about you and he cares for you - don't underestimate his completed work of salvation - Jesus has PAID IN FULL.
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