“Even though you were once distant from Him, living in the shadows of your evil thoughts and actions, He reconnected you back to Himself. He released His supernatural peace to you through the sacrifice of His own body as the sin-payment on your behalf so that you would dwell in His presence. And now there is nothing between you and Father God, for He sees you as holy, flawless, and restored, if indeed you continue to advance in faith, assured of a firm foundation to grow upon. Never be shaken from the hope of the gospel you have believed in…” Colossians 1:21-23 (TPT)

            When I read these words, my mind believes it, but my heart is still having a hard time receiving these words. What kind of religion says that all of our sins are forgiven or that we are already considered flawless, holy and restored the minute we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior? All other religions require works and if you are “good enough” and “did enough” at the end of your life, you might get into the afterlife or come back as something better (reincarnation).

            But this works-based mindset is dangerous with Christianity. Jesus Christ was perfect and sinless while here on earth and became the perfect sacrifice to atone for ALL OF OUR SINS: past, present and future for anyone and everyone who would believe.

After receiving this revelation and accepting Jesus as Savior King, you begin to get indwelled with the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that Jesus had and the exact same One that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. When that revelation hits you, you start to move and think differently and realize that you have something and someone very special dwelling inside of you.

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as My representative—That is, the Holy Spirit—He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” John 14:26

Most people think that life is hunky dory and everything is going to be rainbows, sunshine, and carefree living after receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and the Holy Spirit as your confidant. But they’re wrong. Life gets harder when you start to follow Jesus. Most people have this mindset that as long as you say the prayer and “click your heels 3 times,” you don’t have to change to get into heaven. This is a lie that has been pumped into the American church by none other than the devil himself, and it has settled in the church for far too long. The church back when it first started was bold and persecuted. Now, we are persecuted for speaking biblical truth and are told that we are close-minded and that Jesus loves everyone as they are.

            It is true that Jesus loves everyone, but He loves everyone too much to keep them in the state He found them in. If you are on your deathbed, Jesus will take you to heaven and you don’t necessarily have to change but if He saved you from drug addiction, imminent death, etc., after Holy Spirit has had time to heal you and make you stronger, you will have the urge to replicate what God did for you and help other people.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, He moves broken, battered, bruised, and confused people into new life. The hurt and broken become whole and then go on to help others who are broken too. God takes whatever we have been through and uses it to reach the people we once related to. This can only happen after Holy Spirit has had some time to work with you and show you the ways of God.

“Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’” Mark 12:29-31 (ESV)

            My personal journey, I have struggled with addiction, rejection, homelessness, neglect, verbal abuse, growing up with volatile parents, my own anger and rage issues and more. I have loved people too much who don’t deserve it, have talked to people that most people would be afraid to talk to, and done drugs in a way that most people never come back from…

BUT GOD.  

True salvation is a free gift. However, obedience is required to stay in the will of God and to receive the anointing required for your calling. I have noticed that I tend to not like writing when I stop writing for too long. If I miss a day, like I did yesterday, I feel off the next day. I am sure that once I am faithful for long enough in this blog, God is going to have me start writing a book about trauma and healing from it.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 (ESV)

Only God knows how to navigate us through this life so we can end up safely home in heaven at the end of it. There are demons waiting to pull us away from God so that we slowly fall away from Him and into their well thought out traps and snares. God will always track you down and rescue you when you cry out for help. But, the devil will stop at nothing to derail you, make you question your faith and forfeit your destiny. I have also come to find that the more you stay in the will of God, the less the attacks bother you and the less frequent they are.

“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them.” Psalm 34:7

This is why it is so important to stay grounded in Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made on the cross. This is the foundation for which everything else in the Christian walk rests upon. Without Christ, we would put our salvation on our circumstances, our accomplishments and our shortcomings. We must walk in obedience to receive eternal life and live a life we could only dream of living. Salvation is the free gift but maintaining it requires loving God and walking in His love. We do this by walking in obedience to His truth and doing what He personally tells you to do or not to do.

“Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.” Philippians 2:12 (NLT)

“Our faith in Jesus transfers God’s righteousness to us and he now declares us flawless in his eyes. This means we can now enjoy true and lasting peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us. Our faith guarantees us permanent access into this marvelous kindness that has given us a perfect relationship with God. What incredible joy bursts forth within us as we keep on celebrating our hope of experiencing God’s glory! But that’s not all! Even in times of trouble we have a joyful confidence, knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance. And patient endurance will refine our character, and proven character leads us back to hope. And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us! For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate his love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves.” Romans 5:1-6 (TPT)