15 June 2014 by Natasha Kim CM-
“God wants everyone to see the beauty of His son because once you see the beauty of Jesus your life will never be the same! You’re going to want more of Him,” shared Michelle Dela Pena, Associate Pastor of New Life Christian Centre (The Fort, Manila, Philippines) at Jesus Festival Malaysia, Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre on the 24th of May 2014.
Do you like beautiful things? This is a question that everyone would say yes to. There’s something inside of us that loves beauty and that is something that God placed inside of us.
“When we see Jesus, everything else will pale in comparison of who He is and what He has done and that is true beauty. When we talk about Jesus first in our lives, we are going to see a little bit more of what God wants,” she said
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2The same was in the beginning with God.3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4)
Firstly, we need to understand the word “first” means to come before all other things in time, order, and importance.
“There is a purpose when something is first,” said Michelle.
In this case, at the very beginning, the first thing God did was to speak the Word.
“It was something that had to be first in all of creation. Purposefully God said it first, and then life came to being. Without the Word, who is Jesus? There is no life,” she said.
Everything that God created has a purpose in, including the people you meet, whether you like them or not.
“When Jesus walked the earth, He was very purposeful about things. The first thing He would do is get to a place where He was alone with the Father. Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good, He came to make dead people alive,” she shared.
Jesus could have done things His own way but He loved the Father, and that’s why everything He did was following the will and purpose of God.
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. (Colossians 1:16)
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. (John 6:38)
For this is My Father’s will and His purpose, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up [from the dead] at the last day. (John 6:40)
“There should be no limit to the life you have, when you have the life that Jesus has, His very life given to you!” said Michelle.
There is no doubt that life can be hard when you are trying to work solutions out and live life on your own. With God however, life continues to be challenging but it ceases to be super-hard; you can always overcome life challenges because you know that the life you have is not your own but it’s Jesus’s life.
I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)
“I love how it says, ‘it is no longer I who live’ because when you talk about I, I, and I, it’s all about you and it’s about pride, but when you say it’s no longer about me but Christ who lives in me, you begin to say, ‘Lord I humble myself in your mighty hand. Whatever you want me to do I am willing and I trust you,'” said Michelle referring to Galatians 2:20.
Christ loves us and that is why we trust Him. Why would you believe somebody who is willing to hurt you? Why did you receive Him in your heart if you didn’t believe who He is? Why ddi you receive Him if you didn’t believe that He loves you and that He has the best for you?
“Sometimes we forget what it was like in the beginning when we received Jesus. We should always be at that place where we first received Him and that should always be our attitude because the time we received Him in our hearts we said, ‘Lord I cannot do this on my own and I need your help.’ And God goes, ‘Yes you do’,” said Michelle.
This should be our daily attitude; even though you may be able to do it on your own, you still say, “No, I want what you want, God. And I’m going to go the way you want because I need your wisdom in this.”
Not every open door is from God.
“If you see a whole bunch of open doors, which one are you going to walk into? You need the wisdom of God that lights up the door in your life, where you can say, ‘That’s the one I’m going to go into!’” she said.
You can live your own life, but when you look back at all the life decisions made without God’s involvement, how many of you can say that you are 100% accurate? How many of you can say that you don’t regret those decisions when you did it your way?
“The theme song of hell is ‘I did it my way,’” she shared.
Know that God will never force you to follow His way. He gives you a choice because that’s what you do when you love someone, you do not force them to follow your way. God will not show you everything at one go because it takes faith to walk this life. The beauty of takingthat step of faith is that you suddenly find yourself excelling much faster than before; it is as if your steps have been made easier now and you are not as tired as before because now with God, you’re moving on an escalator.
“You take one step and God takes you the rest of the way up! All you have to do is to simply make a choice to take one step up!” she shared.
You will be amazed at how you got to where you are when you trust God!
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