GLORIOUS ASSURANCE

READ: MATTHEW 5:13-16

Assurance of salvation is a Biblical teaching needed by all newborn babes in Christ. Since the process of getting saved is so simple, new converts need to e given assurance to enable them know that it is not feelings but facts and faith that matter. The price paid by our Saviour is so great that we can now obtain the benefits of Calvary with ease. By declaring, “It is finished,” the Lord is telling us that all we have to do to receive Christian graces is ask. Whenever you are ready to become a child of God and receive His purity and holiness, God is ready, too, to supply the needed grace. All you have to do is ask God for the free gift of His Son. His righteousness and life will become yours. If you would like to receive the righteousness, salvation and eternal life of Christ, say this prayer aloud: “Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that God raised You from the dead. I accept You as my personal Saviour and the Lord of my life. Come into my heart and cleanse me of all my unrighteousness. Grant me your purity and holiness that I may live for you in this world and with you in the world to come. Thank you for saving me and making me pure.” Did you say that prayer with all seriousness in your heart? I congratulate and welcome you into the family of God. Let me give you this scriptural assurance: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:1-3). Do not think about your feeling; focus your attention on the facts of Scripture. Look away from the impossible situation and concentrate your focus on the assurance given you in the word of God.

MEMORIZE: MATTHEW 5:48 –Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

TRUST AND OBEY

READ: DANIEL 3:8-30 When Jesus was about to leave this world, He left the Holy Spirit with us to be our guide. John 16:13 says; “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” Any time you need counsel, turn to the Holy Spirit for guidance. If you turn to human beings for guidance, they will guide you wrongly. Even if they wish to guide you aright, they can only guide you according to the limit of their knowledge. Jeremiah 17:5-6 says: “Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.” In fact, God promised to destroy the wisdom of the wise when they come contrary to His will (1 Corinthians 1:19-20). We have a good example of a good counsellor in the case of Ahitophel versus David. The Bible tells us that when Ahitophel gave counsel, it was as if such counsel came from the oracle of God. One day, however, he decided to go contrary to the will of God. He teamed u with Absalom against David. David then prayed for the counsel of Ahitophel to turn to naught. Ahitophel counselled Absalom to pursue David immediately but God quietly asked Absalom to seek the counsel of another fellow. Another prophet told Absalom to chase David immediately and Absalom agreed to this. By taking this advice, David was about to escape and re-organise himself. The best worldly counsellor will fail you. Only Jesus will lead you aright. MEMORIZE: 1 CORINTHIANS 3:19 –For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He catches the wise in their own craftiness.

DESPERATION

READ: MARK 10:47-49

There are times when the only thing you have to do to get results is to utter a cry of desperation unto God. The Scripture is replete with examples of people who expressed their desperation by crying unto God without any inhibitions. In Psalm 3:4, the Bible says, “I cried to the LOR with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill. Selah” Blind Bartimaeus cried out to attract the attention of Jesus Christ (Mark 10:47-49). He shouted until Jesus Christ stood still. When Peter walked on water and was about drowning the little moment he took his eyes off Jesus, he had to shout for help (Matthew 14:30). It is whatever you have inside you that emerges whenever you are faced with a crisis. At a time of crisis if you have the Holy Spirit in you, the Holy Spirit will speak out of you. If all that the son of the prophet said was “Alas”, then we could say it was the cry of the hopeless. The axe-head at the bottom of a deep river is a hopeless situation. None of the sons of the prophets could swim. River Jordan was not a clean river, judging from what Naaman said about it in 2 Kings 5:12. But how God brought hope into hopeless situation! There is Someone who is the hope of the hopeless. In Colossians 1:27, the Bible says: “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” When Jesus Christ comes into a hopeless situation, it becomes no more hopeless. The story of Lazarus is case study here (John 11). By adding “master” to his cry, the son of the prophet changed his cry to that of a desperate man. He admitted that his case was hopeless and knew that there would be a change because Elisha was at hand. People in desperation normally cry out to the helper. Jesus Christ is the True Master. He is the Word from the beginning: the One who is the Light of the world; the One who is the Rock of Ages; the Alpha and the Omega; the only One who can say: “I AM WHO I AM.” A leper came to Him in Matthew 8:1-3 with a cry of desperation. However, he was not sure whether Jesus Christ would heal him. Do you want to utter a cry of desperation to the Lord? Cry unto Him and He will meet you at the point of your need.

MEMORIZE: PSALM 37:39 –But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; He is their strength in the time of trouble.