IT'S YOUR TURN TO GIVE

Spirit & Life Devotional
Wednesday, December 25
Chinaemerem Joshua Ibezim

IT'S YOUR TURN TO GIVE

John 1:10-11 NKJV "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him."

How would you feel if after investing a lot of your time, energy and resources to find and purchase a gift for your loved one, maybe you had to skip some meals so you could afford that gift, and then they reject it? I'm sure you'll feel sad even if you had all the money in the world.

While it's true that God would have still sent Jesus to the earth even if it was only one man in it, we shouldn't forget that His perfect will is that all men be saved. 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." But sadly till this day man continues to reject Christ. At Christmas, man has chosen rather to celebrate a holiday, life, get together with family and friends, and do several other things other than to receive God's gift to them.

The onus therefore is on you and I to represent God's gift of His Son to everyone around us. God gave Jesus to you, so you have Him: now it's your turn to give Jesus to someone else. Don't only distribute food, drinks, clothes and so on this Christmas, share the gospel of God's undying love and grace to your world!

I wish you a Merry Christmas!

HIS INTENTION WAS TO MAKE US HIS SONS

Spirit & Life Devotional
Tuesday, December 24
Chinaemerem Joshua Ibezim

HIS INTENTION WAS TO MAKE US HIS SONS

1 John 3:1-2 KJV "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."

After reading John 3:16, we can quickly conclude that Jesus came just to deliver us from the impending doom: and even though that by itself is a fantastic purpose for His birth, that's not just why He came.

Anyone can be delivered: a servant can be rescued; even non-living things can be rescued! The love of God for man was and is so great that He sent His only begotten Son, so we would not perish; but more importantly, to make us His sons! Hallelujah! Now are we the sons of God entitled to all the rights and privileges of sons! Wow! (I rejoice greatly in my spirit! ).God is so good!

By believing in Jesus we became children of God! Galatians 3:26 says, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." People think Christianity and being born again is all about escaping from hell; no! that's not the main thing: it's first about becoming the sons of God! Determine to enjoy your benefits of sonship! That's why Jesus came! We who were aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God, became members of the family of God! Glory to God!

HOW GOD LOVED THE WORLD

Spirit & Life Devotional
Monday, December 23
Chinaemerem Joshua Ibezim

HOW GOD LOVED THE WORLD

"For God loved the world in this way: so much that he would give up his Son, The Only One, so that everyone who trusts in him shall not be lost, but he shall have eternal life." John 3:16, Aramaic Bible in Plain English

I defined love as "doing something that's in the best interest of another person." You see, love is not only something sweet and pleasant, it can also be painful. Yes, love can hurt especially when we don't understand it. An act of discipline is certainly not a pleasant one; but it has to be done in the interest of that person. What matters is the motive behind the action. A break up might hurt, but it might leave you a lot better! Meanwhile, you could be clinging onto someone with a false understanding of love not realising that you are actually doing yourself a disservice (I speak not to the married).

You know, we all have our own expectations: we expect God to do things in a certain way, to prove Himself in a certain manner, to do certain things and at certain times; and we complain and get disappointed when He doesn't do it as we anticipated. But just as we express love to ourselves in different ways, God too has expressed His love in His own way. What we are to do is to receive it, enjoy it and be grateful for it.

If God does nothing more for man, it would be fine because He has already done more than enough by giving us His only begotten Son so we can have everlasting life! Receiving Jesus is the key to unlocking the doors of every other blessing that God has for man. He who freely gave us His Son shall with Him also freely give us every other thing that we need. Hallelujah!