GOD IS NOT MAD AT YOU!

“Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him!” (Romans 5:9)

One night, having just fallen asleep, I heard a voice telling me “God is not mad! “ I don’t mean that I heard a voice outside of myself, and yet, I definitely opened my eyes to see if there was anyone else in the room! Reassured that I was still alone in my bedroom, I was puzzled. I hadn’t gone to bed thinking that God was mad; truth be told, I hadn’t gone to bed thinking about God at all. I said, “OK, God, I’m not sure why you are telling me that, because I hadn’t gone to bed thinking that you were mad, but still, I’m glad to know that You aren’t.” Then I went back to sleep.

 

Soon, the same voice that was not audible but so clear and distinct in my head, woke me with the same message: “God is not mad!” 

I am embarrassed and ashamed to say that I was just a little frustrated. I had gone to bed early because I was so tired, and now I kept getting awakened, and I hadn’t even been worried about God being mad. What was going on? Still, the voice was so strong and emphatic, I started to think about that concept…God is not mad…God is not mad…He isn’t mad at me…He isn’t mad at you…He isn’t mad at us…God is not mad…” and once again, I went back to sleep.

The voice awoke me for the third time. By this time, I guess He felt like He had to spell it out for me: “God is not mad. Tell the people, ‘God is not mad.’ Tell the people I am not mad at them.” As I heard these words, I now also felt the Lord’s compassion for His people, for us. He wants us to know He loves us; He wants us to know He isn’t mad at us. It is important to Him that we know.

This time I did receive the message, and I lay there for a long while, letting that message soak into me. So many of us struggle with accepting God’s love, because we feel or think He is mad at us. We struggle to make it on our own, because we’re afraid to ask for help. We’re afraid we will get a lecture or a, “You got yourself into this, you deserve to suffer” response. We settle for lack in our lives, because we think we are being punished. We feel like the anxious, rebellious teenager who would rather do anything than to go home and face the angry, disappointed parent.

We know that God is holy, righteous, and just; we know He hates sin. And we know that we continue to sin. Even if we are Christians, we may still believe God is mad at us, because we know we are not living sinless lives. The Apostle Paul makes it clear that none of us can fulfill the standard of perfection that God requires, and to fail in one part of the law is to fail in all.

 "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  Romans 3:23

God’s holiness demands that sin be punished. Sin separated us from God, with no way for us to get back to Him. We were lost. How can an unholy people be reconciled to a holy God? How can an unrighteous people serve a righteous God?  So far, it might appear we have good reason to fear that God is angry with us. He certainly would be blameless and justified if He were. But the gospel, the good news, is that God Himself made a way that allowed us to be justified and reconciled to Him!

“But God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from his wrath through him.

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”  Romans 5:8-10

Even while we were lost in our sin, enemies of all that was holy, God Himself provided the solution.

Jesus, the Son of God, gave up His divine power and authority to come to earth as a man. Although He was sinless, He took all of our sin and all of us upon Himself. Jesus, Son of God and Son of man, became sin, and bore God's wrath that rightfully belonged upon us.

Why would God do that? Why would God the Father allow His Son to suffer in our place? 

Because He was so mad at us? Because He wanted to punish us, pour out His wrath upon us? That, obviously, makes absolutely no sense; for it was God Himself who paid the price for our sin!

It was His love for us, not His wrath against us, even in our fallen and sinful state, that led Jesus to the cross to suffer the punishment for our sin.

Sisters and brothers in Christ, God is not mad at you. He loves you.

 

And, if you are not a Christian, guess what? He isn't mad at you, either! He loves you! He wants to rescue you, to save you, to adopt you into His own family!
 

"Now unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen." Philippians 4:20

 THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION

 

Ø  Is there any part of me that believes God is mad at me?

Ø  How could it change my life if I knew that God isn’t mad at me?

Ø  Do I believe God loves me? Really loves me?

Love, Hugs, and Blessings,
Syandra

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Have you believed? If not, choose to believe what the Bible says: God loves you; Jesus took your sins upon Himself on the cross, dying for them; God raised Jesus from the dead. If you believe it, then profess it, confess it, and declare it out loud. Jesus has already done the heavy work; all we are asked to do is believe and receive what He has done for us. Satan offers death. Jesus offers abundant life now and eternal life when we leave our earthly bodies behind. Choose life!

 

 “…The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”  Romans 10:8-10, NIV  

  

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23, NIV

"He himself (Jesus) bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed." I Peter 2:24, NIV

“Salvation is found in no one else (but Jesus), for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12, NIV

“…If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9, NIV

Sin brought us death. Jesus, through His blood shed for us on the cross, offers us abundant life now and eternal life when we leave our earthly bodies behind. I would love to hear from you when you accept what Jesus has done for you, or if you have questions.

 

EVERYWHERE I GO, THERE I AM

“For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:22-23; 25, NIV

Have you ever known anyone who seems to make the same mistakes over and over again? Leaving one abusive relationship just to end up in another? Going from one job to another? Have you ever caught yourself making the same mistakes? Sometimes, it seems we are our own worst enemy, caught in a circular trap of doing what we don’t want to do and not doing that which we want to do. Here is how Paul describes it,

”I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do … For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it… What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” Romans 7:15-24, NIV

We try to effect change in our lives through changing our outward circumstances; we change our church, our spouse, our job, only to find that we still have the same root problem… us; for everywhere we go, there we are. I have certainly done my own share of marching in circles, resolving to do better, be stronger, more disciplined, only to end up exactly where I started from. Only now it was worse. Now I had not only the burden of the original sin I was trying to overcome, I also had the frustration and condemnation of failure. Like Paul, I cried out, “Who will rescue me?”

And like Paul, I finally understood that in my flesh is no good thing; all of my resolutions, all of my willpower could not deliver me… I was my own worst enemy.

Trying to serve God in our flesh is always going to fail. We mean well, but the flesh, our old man, is always subject to the law of sin and death. We can try to “pretty it up” (The phrase, “trying to put lipstick on a pig” comes to mind!),  but the reality is that we are all born with Adam’s sin nature and are therefore sinners; “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23, NIV   

Now for some good news:  “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” Romans 6:6, 7, NIV

Paul admonishes us to “… reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:11, KJV

Paul says it is a done deal!  We have been crucified with Christ. Our old man is dead. Our new man is alive in Christ. The problem is that most of us are still carrying that “old man corpse” around with us. Instead of releasing it and bidding it, “Farewell,” we’ve strapped it onto our back, taking it with us everywhere we go! We might dress it up in fancy clothes and spray it with perfume, but it will never be anything but a dead corpse  –  powerless to help us and a hindrance to our living a victorious life.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”                                                         2 Corinthians 5:17

It is time to cast off that old man who reeks of failure and powerlessness, and to “… put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:24, KJV

Everywhere I go, there I am.

The question is, Which “am” am I taking with me?

Is it the old man, crucified, powerless, and reeking of sin, death and decay? Or, is it the new man, created in righteousness and holiness, God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works …? (see Ephesians 2:10)

Everywhere I go, there I am.

¹ "So, the cross is always ready and waits for you everywhere. You cannot escape it no matter where you run, for wherever you go you are burdened with yourself. Wherever you go, there you are." —Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, ca. A.D. 1440

Everywhere I go, there I am. And everywhere I go, the cross goes with me. The finished work of Jesus on the cross had delivered me from sin and death; has redeemed me from Satan’s kingdom and translated me into the Kingdom of God; has created in me righteousness and holiness. The enemy has been vanquished. Everywhere I go, the Holy Spirit of God goes with me.

¹  http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2006/002/14.73.html

 

THOUGHTS FOR REFLECTION

Which “am” am I taking with me everywhere I go?

        “The Holy Spirit of God goes with me everywhere.” What does that mean to me?

 

 Love, Hugs, and Blessings,

Syandra

Have you believed? If not, choose to believe what the Bible says: God loves you; Jesus took your sins upon Himself on the cross, dying for them; God raised Jesus from the dead. If you believe it, then profess it, confess it, and declare it out loud. Jesus has already done the heavy work; all we are asked to do is believe and receive what He has done for us. Satan offers death. Jesus offers abundant life now and eternal life when we leave our earthly bodies behind. Choose life!

 

 “…The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”  Romans 10:8-10, NIV  

  Have you believed? If not, choose to believe what the Bible says:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Romans 3:23, NIV

"He himself (Jesus) bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed." I Peter 2:24, NIV

“Salvation is found in no one else (but Jesus), for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12, NIV

“…If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9, NIV

 Sin brought us death. Jesus, through His blood shed for us on the cross, offers us abundant life now and eternal life when we leave our earthly bodies behind. I would love to hear from you when you accept what Jesus has done for you, or if you have questions.