Legalistic thinking says; “I messed up big time in this pilgrim journey and I am disappointed with myself.  God is seriously disappointed and mad with me”. Grace gospel says; “Your God is not in a mood swing. He is not mad at you, neither is He disappointed with you. He is madly in love and affectionate towards you, to restore you beyond measure”.

Isaiah 54:7-9 – For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.

God exhausted all the wrath that you deserved on Jesus Christ, that you may experience the blessings of Abraham. Jesus paid the debt He did not owe because you owed righteousness demand from the supreme justice of God, you could not pay. Did Jesus do all that for you because of your talents or good looks? You deserve death but He gave you life, you deserve condemnation but out of the riches of His kindness, gave you the free gift of righteousness by grace through faith. This is too good to be true. He did it because He loves you.

Sadly to say; the Church of Jesus Christ have become so beat down in sin consciousness, guilt and condemnation. We focus more on Sin (weaknesses, imperfection, inadequacies, and all the negatives of life) than focusing our emotions on Christ Jesus, and of His righteous acceptance towards us. She has no confidence and assurance to come before God in boldness to receive grace and mercy. Many believers are struggling in this area I have just mentioned, because of a system of belief which says “God reward us on our goodness and punish us on our imperfections” This is not scriptural but a perverse gospel to put people into bondage again, in their Christian life.

God is not angry with you. He’s already dealt with the sin issue and exhausted His full wrath on Jesus on our behalf. God does not condone with sin in His covenant with us, so to keep us on sinning spree. Under grace, He does not impute our sins and weakness, imperfections against us. Paul affirms that in the book of Romans…

Romans 4:6-8 (KJV) Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

 There is nothing you can do to make God love you more or less. He loves you not because you are lovely; He loves you because He’s love. Are you being weighed down by your weaknesses and blaming yourself for what you could have done right? There is freedom for you my friend!! Today, focus on the blood of Jesus Christ which atoned for your sins ones and for all, with the eternal benefit of a clean conscience, through forgiveness and allow the Holy Spirit to remind you of your completeness in Him. The mercies of God are revealed through this Messianic prophecy by  Isaiah, the prophet. God dealt with the Old Covenant saints according to their performance. But now God says, I am establishing a covenant with you through my Son, to meet all the demands of justice. After Jesus has taken our sins and wrath upon Himself; do we still beat ourselves down? If the accuser of the brethren point you to your weaknesses and mistakes point him to your position in Christ. Satan specializes in distracting you from who you are in Christ so that you will be conscious with your self weakness and past mistakes. he does that to poison your mind and heart from embracing the free gift of the quality life which flows from the Spirit of grace. What do you see?

UNBREAKABLE – The covenant that our heavenly Father have with us cannot be broken by anything. God is not pointing His mighty hands on you in disbelief for not fulfilling your part in this covenant. God is not rebuking you! Yes, He is not; under the new covenant of grace. He is always mending and restoring covenant with us through the finished work. The last time you messed up, God did not change his mind towards you and neither is He treating you special because of your performance level.

For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. (Isaiah 54:9)

Under the New Covenant of Grace, God is not condemning you, neither is He disappointed with you. He is not disappointed with you because you are not doing too much or you made a ridiculous decision in the past. Receiving His love and goodness when we are weak in our faith is what cures our inadequacies, so that we can be empowered to do good works. It is time to reckon our righteous position and allow grace to influence our thinking and the emotions of our heart. Sin persuasions do not change God…it rather blurred our eyes from seeing the overflowing stream of His grace and loving kindness in our direction.

THE SECRET TO WALKING IN PEACE – Beloved, you have to position yourself in the arena of peace between yourself and that of God. Not knowing that the battle between you and God has been resolved through the shed blood of Jesus will always keep you in a position, trying to earn peace with God through your performance. God was mad with humanity through the original sin of Adam, but has now received us through His tender mercies, not on the basis of our performance or works, but through Jesus. You now have peace with God. The curtain of separation has now been torn into two, with complete access to the Father of love and mercies. He has not hidden His face from you, because of your sins and neither has He withheld His goodness because of your low par performance in your Christian life. Here is the good news as recorded by Apostle Paul through the Spirit, in the book of Romans.

Romans 5:1-2 “1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

The message of the angels to the poor shepherds is the greatest news of pure joy God sends to humanity, when God came down in the person of His Son, to reconcile men to himself. This  message of peace on earth and goodwill towards men is not just a cliché on Christmas season. It paints a glorious picture of the place of mankind through the lenses of the perfect sacrifice of Christ. The war is over; a new day of salvation, acceptance, love and favor is here for those who will believe in Christ. Stop fighting your way through the jungles of life and let His peace wash your heart.  Luke gospels trumpet it clearly;

Luke 2:13-14  (NKJV) ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

When it feels like God is mad with you and disappointed in you because you haven’t done enough to make Him fulfill His part of the bargain; you completely falls from grace. God’s healing grace or physical provision cannot be earned by how holy you are or perfect your days has gone by. The gift of righteousness has brought us into the grace terrain to get access to God’s goodness through the persuasion of His great love. God’s goodness towards you is not to condone with our mistakes. Should one not deal with his mistakes before you ask for favor from God? It is only God’s goodness which can break the power of weakness and failure. On our own; we are dead!! Scripture says that;

You surely don’t think much of God’s wonderful goodness or of his patience and willingness to put up with you. Don’t you know that the reason God is good to you is because he wants you to turn to him? He is not afraid to be Good. (Romans 2:4 CEV)

Why should I be afraid to receive His abundant grace, to meet all of my needs? So ask, knock and seek…surely you will find Him when you least expect. He is not angry but closer to you than a brother. I have had people complain to me with anger in their face. They say things like; “I have prayed, paid my tithe, anoint myself with oil and done all there is to be done and yet God has not restored my life”. My friend you don’t deserve any good thing from the Lord on the basis of what you do. He loves you and therefore cried out; calling you to come to His throne when you have even messed up. Lighten up and come to the end of yourself and run to Jesus, even now. Prayer, tithe, and offering are scripturally encouraged, but they are not a means to which God will cause His healing on you. (This is another subject in itself)  What about giving money to God to motivate Him? As a covenant child of God you are guaranteed to walk in the blessings of God according to your position as the righteousness of God. Your giving to God is motivated by His love for you and your confident trust in Him, as your source of sufficiency.

ON YOUR MARK, GO! – The book of Hebrews reveals the heart of our high Priest. Christ Jesus, our chief priest sits on the right hand side of God through His complete work on the tree in royalty and power. He can be touched with our infirmities and weakness. He is not throwing tantrums every passing minute of the day. He has thrown a wild open invitation for all who believe in His name to come;For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

At what time do we come to the throne room of grace? When we feel we are too okay in our own right or when we have needs? I believe scripture challenges us to come with an attitude of boldness and not of shame and self defeatism heart and beat down conscience, trying to negotiate with God with our tears and religious emotions. It is a matter of a complete and sincere knowledge of true righteousness and our supernatural connection with God which goes beyond any human limitation. Nothing; absolutely noting should keep you from the love embrace of the Father.

A PRAYER TO PRAY- Thank you Father God for loving me just as I am! Today I come into your very presence; Jesus my high priest to receive grace and mercy. Thank you for saturating my heart with eternal pleasures and beauty for my ashes

A TRUTH TO REMEMBER- I am love and crazily accepted by the God who created heaven and earth. His love for me changes my perception towards life and my relationship with Him

A THOUGHT TO CHEW ON – As a covenant child of God you are guaranteed to walk in the blessings of God, according to your position in the righteousness of Christ.

A LIFE TO LIVE- I will share the truth of God’s mercies to those who are beat down in condemnation and sin consciousness by point them to God’s goodness and open hands.

   My deepest love to you my dear friend. With your eyes on Christ, the victory is a done deal. – McDaniels Gyamfi