Spiritual Menu
By Evangelist J.O Olorunnisola
"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Isaiah 40:1-2.
The love of God for man takes its root from the original conception of mankind when the Almighty Creator of all things said unto the angels “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them". Genesis 1:26-27. It could only take "Love" Himself to make His creature in His own personal likeness and to release all His five days works for the benefit of an untested creature. This sort of incomprehensible love is what led David to cry out in the book of Psalms 8 vs3-6, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet”
His amazing love and determination to ensure that man lives forever was further demonstrated after man had been declared guilty and sentenced to death (Rom. 6:23). He decided to substitute His own Son for a gruesome execution on the Cross in full payment for our sins. The Cross, therefore, is the ultimate expression of God's love to the world.
Too many Christians live without embracing the fact that their time on this side is limited and speedily rolling off. An act of goodness or evil takes only one second or less to accomplish. At age 50, we have succeeded in spending 65.7million seconds on earth. Opportunities to save lives, put joy in some sorrowful hearts, smiles on some miserable and dejected faces, and hope in a number of seemingly hopeless lives would have availed themselves in, at least, a quarter of the time. These opportunities to accomplish the demands of heaven are, however, wasted through struggle for recognition, fame, riches and power; through activities which are unedifying ( 1 Corinthians 10:23 ) and through listening to people rather than God (1Samuel 15:24). The good news is that God is never tired of forgiving us. He is never willing to give up on us. Despite our sins and failure His right hand is ever stretched out to receive us back graciously-(Isaiah 5:25, Luke 15:20-24).
The fact remains that all people start life as "lost beings", and most of the apostles and saints of old were worse before becoming better. Jacob, the great patriarch was once a deceiver and an impostor before being converted to Israel, Moses was considered a murderer and a fugitive before being anointed by God as the deliverer of His people -Israel, Aaron was responsible for molding a gold Calf /graven image to corrupt the Israelites in the wilderness and yet he was forgiven by God, Jefta was a son of an harlot and a member of a worthless gang and yet God chose him to deliver Israel from the Amorites. David, the great king of united Israel, transgressed the commandments of God many times and in various ways and yet he was forgiven, blessed and decorated with salvation when he repented, and turned completely with all his heart unto the Lord -(Psalms 51& 89). Mary Magdalene was a woman of easy virtue that was also possessive of seven evil spirits and yet, she was the first to see the resurrected Jesus Christ because she repented from all her sins, surrendered her life totally to Jesus Christ and lived the life of a disciple. Paul the apostle of Christ was once a principal persecutor of Christians but when he had an encounter with Jesus he surrendered his live totally for the service of Christ. God is love, He will never forsake you. He still loves you and desires passionately to come into your life and lavish you with His grace, blessing and mercy. " Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me."Revelation 3:20. All that is required is for you to acknowledge your sin, repent of the sin, return unto the lord and sin no more and he will restore all your lost glory and decorate you with salvation.
Even in your sin, the love of God is never withdrawn from you, otherwise you would have been forgotten in the land of the living. Deuteronomy 7 vs. 9 "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Over and over again, the Almighty promises never to leave us, never to forsake us and never to forget us. And based on my personal dealings with Him, I can assure you that The Lord God Who is Jehovah will never renege on His promises.
Every day, as we journey through life, we avert mishaps, diseases and great disaster purposed for us by the devil and his disciples through the mighty hand of deliverance of God. He is constantly fighting for His own, those who have dedicated their lives to acts of kindness and written their biographies in the ink of righteousness. He makes their pain His, and their problems His own, not because He has to or because we have earned it. No, He simply does it because He loves us. Look around your residence, look around your job, look at the faces of your family, look at the functioning parts of your anatomy, listen to the sound of nature, feel the presence of live and beauty about you and tell me you cannot find a single insignia of His love in your life. Things might not always go the way you want it to and you might not be in the best situation you have hoped for yourself. But there are always signs of the love of God in your situation if you're just willing to open your heart to identifying them.
This is not an empty appeal to always see the cup half full, but a real recognition of Gods' unyielding love for us. But you ask, where is the love of God in the unexpected death of a loved one, where is the love of God in your barrenness, spouselessness, or joblessness? Where is His love in your mental miasma, where is His unflinching affection in your emotional decadence. Indeed you ask? Did Hanna not ask and Job and Ruth and Joseph....and the list goes on. And how did their stories end, if not in great triumph and glorious celebration. I cannot tell you why you are in your current situation and I cannot presume to tell you how you should feel in your infirmity. All I tell you is to trust the reward of the faith of your forefathers, trust the miracles you have heard about from ancient times well documented in the bible and even those performed in contemporary times. Above all, trust God and His promises. He will never ever be a debtor. Feel comfortable to trust your unknown future to a faithful known God.
Isaiah 49 vs. 15-16 reassures- "Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me." Look straight unto heaven and behold the outstretched right hand of grace and love waiting to receive you back for a full blast of blessing and joy.