JESUS TALK

H ave you ever questioned yourself why it's so difficult for me to feel complete? We've all felt incomplete, worthless, or hopeless at one point in our lives. The apostle Paul claims that we can be "filled up to all the fullness of God." Ephesians: 3:19 What does this mean? Only God can bring life to fulfilment. Many of us look to material things as comfort only to still feel inadequate or incomplete. Being filled with God's fullness is being aware of and yielding to God's presence, power and spiritual authority, living with moral excellence and character. That is God’s desires for us and his purpose for us. Only then can our individual lives be fulfilled. Being a Christian doesn't automatically make us feel complete. Fullness comes only when we experience God's love for us. I always knew that the Lord loved me but never experienced it in my life until I surrendered all to him. As I mature spiritually and become more intimate with him, the more I feel

Almighty God is righteous and just. Romans 3:23 tells us that all people have sinned and are inadequate to be in His presence. As a result of His wrath against sin, we were doomed to eternal separation from Him. But thankfully, the story doesn’t end there. In His love and mercy, God sent His Son to walk among us. Jesus experienced the hardship and temptation common to all people, yet He never sinned. The Savior chose to die a gruesome death in our place, paying the penalty for our wrongs. There is no deeper love, Scripture tells us, than a man who gives up his life for a friend. John 15: 13 Jesus went even farther—dying for us while we were still His enemies Romans 5:10 In fact, He would have sacrificed Himself even if you were the only person ever to exist. Promising forgiveness and eternal life, Christ asks sinful man to believe and follow Him. When we trust in Jesus, we are adopted as God’s children and receive His indwelling Spirit, who blesses abundantly with joy, peace, an

G od looks for the hearts who are perfect and blameless towards him. Earlier in my life, I used to think I had to be a perfect person in order to satisfy God, but I admit, I misunderstood the meaning behind this. When we read the scripture that says God’s eyes roam to and from looking for someone in whom he might show himself strong I always thought, I got to do better. Then I finally grasped the true meaning and definition of what it means to be perfect. What does it mean to be blameless and perfect in your heart? It entails a sincere, heartfelt desire to do what’s right and pleasing to God. When we have a perfect heart toward God it demonstrates that we are sincerely love him, despite our imperfections. We would still have to deal with fleshly issues like saying inappropriate things, making mistakes, and even losing our cool, but thank God we have the ability to repent and make things right with God by his grace. We can also humble ourselves and apologize if we offend someone. I

P eople often divide grace and law into two opposing ideas, and then give little thought as to how the two can come together. But they’re not polar opposites! They can exist and exist together, because only by the grace of God and His law is the splendor of His character and His care revealed to us. The law is not about what you have to do to make God happy. God’s standards reflect his heart, the safe path he’s provided so that we can glorify and enjoy him. His grace is what enables us to understand and carry out that purpose in our lives. We live for him because he first loved us and loves us enough to provide grace even when we fail. Grace, then, is not only freedom from the guilt of our sin; it’s actually the catalyst to living the Christian life!    You are my portion, O  Lord ;  I have said that I would keep Your words. I entreated Your favor with my whole heart;  Be merciful to me according to Your word.   I thought about my ways  And turned my feet to Your testimonies. I made

E veryone experiences fear in their life. Some may have a fear of failure or even a fear of death, or some may fear not having enough to get by, but the truth is they do exist. I know this is a big topic to cover, but I believe we have to understand what our fears are before we can truly learn to conqueror them. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 2 Tim. 1:7 Satan’s scheme Fear is a tool Satan uses against us to keep our focus off God and ultimately destroy our lives. He studies our thought patterns and stirs up emotions within us that can control us. Sometimes, so strong, we make wrong decisions and wrong choices.   I have made many foolish decisions in my life as a way to camouflage my fears, only to create more problems for myself. I put more focus on my setbacks, rather than believe God’s word and what he says about me, but only God’s in control.   We must make a clear decision to stop listening to Satan’s lies

F o r many years, I lived my life taking God’s grace for granted. I would ask for forgiveness only to fall back in the fleshly way of thinking. I was too busy yielding to those fleshly desires which continuously hindered my spiritual growth. I bet you know what I’m talking about. Thank God for his abundant GRACE! I had to learn to embrace the love of God before I could change and let it work in me. Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship,”   We are rendered holy and acceptable by God's grace. So, remember, our becoming holy and pleasing to God is a result of his works, not ours! Through Christ, God's grace offers us right standing with him. Let us rejoice at the fact that his mercy wins over his justice!   Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.