NOW Ministries

Who You Really Are

One thing that really hit me hard earlier today was what John said in Matthew 3:2. I feel that there are so many people that misinterpret this verse and take it out of context. In Matthew 3:2 John said: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” When I really started to meditate on this verse, God was saying that this isn't a verse of asking God for forgiveness, this is a verse of finding your identity. Repent literally means to change your lifestyle or your way of thinking. My friends; what John is implying in this verse is to change your way of thinking because the kingdom of heaven is alive inside you. We just need to conform our minds to knowing that Gods kingdom lies within your hands. Paul said in Ephesians 2:10 that we are Gods workmanship, another word for workmanship is poems. For we are Gods poems. This is one thing I ask for you to do today. I want you to really think about what John was saying and pray saying this prayer that I prayed earlier. God, I know I am your poem now, how can you be my poem. Wow!!! This really changes your aspect on who you really are. Finding out who you really are is to manifest the spiritual effortless rest God freely gives you. Also, to know that your true identity is Gods sweet poems. Change your mindset because you are no longer dead to sin but you are alive in Christ!

Thought of the day: Don't just rest but manifest the rest of who you are in Christ. You are his Poem, now how can you allow God to be your poem?

Jesus Took Your Place So That You Can Take His

Matthew 27:46
46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli ,lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Do you know that it was at the cross that Jesus addressed His Father as “God” for the first time? He had always addressed His Father as “Father”. But at Calvary’s tree, He addressed His Father as “God”.

Jesus lost that Father-Son relationship when He was representing you and carrying your sins at the cross so that today, you can call God “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15) and have a loving father-son relationship with God forever. Jesus was forsaken by God and His world became very dark on that lonely hill so that in your darkest hour, God will always say to you, “I will never leave you nor forsake you!” (Hebrews 13:5)

At the time when Jesus needed God most, God turned His back on Him. God had to turn His back on His Son because His eyes are too holy to behold all the sin that was in His Son’s body. And because God turned His back on Jesus, He will never turn His back on you. Instead, you will see God’s face of favor shining on you all the time!

Jesus also took your place of no protection at the cross. For the first time, He gave up divine protection so that you can have it every day of your life! And because He became sin, He took your curse at the cross so that today, as you take His gift of righteousness, you receive only blessings from God.

Jesus received the full brunt of God’s wrath in His body once and for all when He carried your sins. All of God’s anger and condemnation fell on Him, consuming all your sins until God’s wrath was exhausted.

Today, God is not angry with you. The body of Jesus absorbed everything — your sins, curses, and God’s anger and condemnation. So live life expecting to see not the judgment, but the goodness and blessings of God!

Conceal like camouflage and absorb like a sponge. Many Christians, especially those active in ministry, perceive the love of God as a ministry tool not to spend on themselves, but only to give away to others. But the truth is we need to first receive the revelation of God's love in our own hearts, before we will ever be able to give it away to others. God wants us to bask in His love, marinate in His love, soak in His loving presence, so that His love can touch the deepest need in our hearts. When we become like sponges drenched in the love of God, then when we bump into people, they will get soaked with what we have been soaking in.
God is not watching us from a distance, but is closer to us than we could possibly imagine. His first priority is not that we save the world, but that we receive His love and simply love Him back. How do we do this? Do you know God has a love language? You see we get so caught up by saying the words I love you Lord and we tend to forget to put these words to action. God is pleased that you love him but if you do, show him. It shows us in john 14:15 if you love me, obey my commands. What are these commands? It shows us in Matthew 22:38 ““Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” This may seem like 2 commands but you see what he is saying here is that when you love people, you love God and if you love God, you will love people. We may never come to the full understanding of Gods love because it is way more than a human mind can take in. But when you begin to understand his love for you and who he is to you, you begin to love him more. I stated before that the key to understanding love is first knowing you are loved because love defines love. When we become like sponges, our hearts begin to drink in the extravagant love of God personally and intimately, before long it will begin to seep out of every pore in our bodies and truly impact the world around us. It says in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” This is why I said we need to conceal like camouflage and absorb like a sponge. We are all Gods sponges. Folks I'm going to end this by saying; we need to Learn to conceal like camouflage and stay ready for the right moment. Staying ready for the right moment means to stand firm and be strong with your faith and do everything in love. The truth of the matter is that You can only stay concealed for so long and the sponge can only absorb so much until it just starts naturally seeping. Just always know that you are loved and that no matter what you do in life, nothing you do can take Gods love away.

Thought of the day: learn to be Gods sponge and absorb everything he is to you! God Bless...