On 24th of April, Pastor Ross from Australia came to preach a sermon in Potter’s House, Kota Kinabalu. He shared how we need no pretense before a God who loves us.
“We may feel that we are very small… yet the things that we think are not important to God, are actually important to Him”.
We have a God who feeds the birds of the air who do not sow or reap or store away in barns (Matthew 6:26); indeed, Jesus Christ cared enough to turn water into wine when a wedding ran out of wine (John 2:1-11).
‘As a father has compassion on His children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him (Psalm 103:13)’. We can cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).
But many of us do not understand God’s love…
That is why Paul wrote to the Ephesian church, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19)”.
Do we grasp and know this love of God that surpasses knowledge? ‘God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16). And if God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things (Romans 8:32)?
“What is your need in life? What do you believe God for? Jesus wants to do something in our lives. But it is important that we don’t pretend but bring to Jesus what we need.”
Some of us cease to ask from God because of the discouragements and disappointments we faced. But the truth is that God ‘is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us’ (Ephesians 3:20)!
What is this power that lies in us? This power is ‘the same as the mighty strength He (God) exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms’ (Ephesians 1:19b-20). That means we have the resurrected power of Jesus Christ in us! We can overcome all difficulties in our life not by our might and power, but by the power of the Spirit of the LORD Almighty (Zechariah 4:6).
Do you know that we have a God who can do all impossibilities? He is a miracle-working God! He multiplied five loaves and two fish to feed 5000 men. He healed the sick and raised the dead. If God did these miracles in the past, He can certainly do these miracles today. We know this is true because ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8). Like the psalmists, we can say, “Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8)!
But before we come to God with our need, we must first believe that He is able to meet our needs, even in our impossible situations. Two blind men came to Jesus for healing. But before Jesus healed them, He asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said yes! And Jesus said to them, “According to your faith, let it be done to you (Matthew 9:29b).”
Do you believe that Jesus is able to do this for you? According to your faith, it shall be done to you!
“Say, ‘Yes God, we are not pretending anymore. I need you to do this and change me for what I cannot change.’ Say to God, ‘This is what I am and who I am now. God, do something real, change me according to Your Will.’”
‘For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God’ (2 Corinthians 1:20).
Let our hearts be real with God now. Come as you are. We need no pretense before a God who loves us.
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Note | This article is written according to the sharing of Pastor Ross, with further elaboration by the writer. Although this article has not been vetted by the church, it has been written according to the sound doctrine of the Bible.
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