She lifted her hands with tears flowing like a river in her eyes. Her belly is filled with uncertainty, before Her God. She is has rehearsed every word she will carefully and fearfully speak to her God, in her sin conscious state. She cried with pity and weakness in her voice; “Oh Lord I am a sinner saved by grace; have mercy on me”. The weight of her sin filled soul cast a gloom over her righteous heart. Though she has been redeemed, washed, perfected and made whole by the once and for all sacrifice of Christ, she still see herself as the worst of sinner she was, twenty years ago. Alas, she knew not of how highly she is regarded by her Father in heave. Her sad countenance was washed away by the echoes of His tender voice. He looked through her dimmed eye into the core of her inner being, and whispered against her doubts the living word that shook her wrong belief; “You are mine and I am your”.

Are we sinners saved by grace or we were once sinners, but are now made righteous through God’s gift of grace through faith?

It’s either you are righteous before God or you are a sinner. You cannot be both. Most Christians has spiritual bipolar syndrome…They see themselves as righteous and confident before God when they act right and run into their shells of guilt and sin consciousness, when they fail in their walk with God. The lack of proper understanding of our righteous position in Christ Jesus has caused a lot in the body of Christ to be flatly weakened with fear and all kinds moral vices. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 (AMP)²¹ For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [^[a]endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness]. The Holman Christian Standard Bible renders 2 Corinthians 5:21 this way; “ He made the One who did not know sin to be sin^[a] for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him“. Almost every Christian believes that Jesus was made sin for us but not all Christians believe in we becoming the righteousness of God in Him. We cannot pick and chose or follow blindly. The truth is what sets us free. Do you see yourself as the righteousness of God in Christ, before God or you see yourself as disgusting, shameful sinner, working your way to reach a righteousness goal.? Righteousness is not an exit goal my friend. Righteousness is a departure goal.

Strong concordance of Greek words defines righteousness from the root word dikaiosýnē (from 1349 /díkē, “a judicial verdict”) – properly, judicial approval (the verdict of approval); in the NT, the approval of God (“divine approval”). 1343 /dikaiosýnē (“the approvalof God”) refers to what is deemed right by the Lord (after His examination), i.e. what is approved in His eyes.

Jesus passed the demands of heavens judicial system to perfection when He was hanged on the tree. It is on the basis on His innocence, we are deemed right and approved in God’s eyes. When God look at me and you, He is not seeing sinners, He sees a reflection of Himself. Friend, there is now no condemnation for me and you, in Christ Jesus. But McDaniels; “I am not doing enough to mantain my position”. To be righteous is not right doing. Christianity is not a religion which focuses on obedience to rules, laws or right doing, for one to be qualified as righteous. Righteousness is a free gift of God through the obedience of the faith, which produces right doing. The just shall live by faith and not works of the law. Do you see the difference?  There are some unbelievers who do charitable acts and helps society in many ways. The question is, does their good works justify them as righteous before God? Nope!  One is a sinner not because he or she sins; one is a sinner because one has not believed in the finished work of Christ, to be justified from the original sin of Adam, which produces condemnation of death. In the same token, one is righteous because he or she has received the new birth through the sacrificial act of Jesus Christ and have been translated from death to life. Apostle Paul paints a beautiful picture of our righteous position in Christ Jesus in his epistle to the Romans. He writes;

“¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift overflowed to the many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. ¹⁶ And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.^[a] 17 Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ So then, as through one trespass there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act there is life-giving justification^[b] for everyone. ¹⁹ For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. [Romans 5:15-19 HCSB]

DESTINED TO REIGN – Many died effortlessly by the trespass of one man’s [Adam]. Therefore sin can be defined as missing an inheritance in God. The original sin changed our spiritual position and affected the way we function as God’s children. We were dead and operated form a wrong platform of self, producing death, guilt, shame, poverty, lack, evil, rejection, loneliness and all its siblings. Against this background, Jesus came on earth through His act of obedience in meeting the demands of God and the price we could not pay, to restore us to the righteous position, as God intended. Through the overflowing, super abundant, over the top love and the gift of righteousness to those who trust in Him, we shall reign in life through Jesus.

If death reigned over mankind without effort, you have to reign in power, authority, prosperity, dominion and fruitfulness in all spheres of life. You carry the very life of God to shine, my friend. The more you look into the eyes of Christ Jesus and believes that He is your righteousness, radical fruit of righteousness becomes the testament of your life. God did not made us righteous so that we can go to heaven. He made us right so that we can freely partake of His life, on this side of life. Just as He is so are we…We can stand before Satan and his cohorts without fear or guilt. We have become masters over principalities and powers. Death has no more dominion over us…because we are under the influence of the free gift of righteousness (faith base life) and not on the basis of the law (self effort). Apostle Paul’s profound question, thousands of years ago, still echoes in this dispensation. He boldly asks….

^{Romans 5:17} Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ

WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD, NOT WAR – God i s not hunting you down with a mega score-book in His hands, to vent His displeasure, according to your deeds. Honestly, God is not mad at you, neither is He angry with you for whatever reasons. Friend, Let this truth I am about to share with you smash into pieces all your fears and the confusion you’ve been nursing over the years. Are you running from God because you think He is mad and at war with you? Today, there are millions of believers who are hooked to a wrong belief that God has unleashed sicknesses, failure, poverty and pain to discipline them or to test them of their faithfulness to Him. Is the devil on vacation? Does God work for the devil? Don’t you know my friend that every good and perfect gift comes from your daddy in heaven. I doubt you will give your kids stones if they ask for bread. I doubt you will you take them to their school parking lot and let all the pupil walk over him, because you want to test his or her loyalty to you, as a father.

Here is the simple but powerful truth that can set you free; THE WAR IS OVER!! You are not hearing the good news if your heart is not full of gladness and freedom that the gospel offers. The good news is not about the bad news that God is angry with you, America, your family, friends and everything around us. The good-news infuses hope to a hopeless world. It paints a picture of enmity at the back of the cross, but on the front of the cross, its paints a glorious picture of a God whose arms are wide open to receive the most hardened sinner and the condemned saint into love. Read carefully and prayerfully; the annunciation of the birth of Jesus Christ to the poor shepherds in Luke gospels and unlock this powerful truth….

Luke 2:9-11 (HCSB)⁹ Then an angel of the Lord stood before^[a] them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.^[b] 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:^[c] 11 Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David.

This might be too good to be true for you. God’s news is simple and fantastic. The Angels proclaimed the favorable heart of God towards humanity in the face of Christ Jesus. God was saying; “I was angry with you but now because of my Son, the war is over and I am satisfied, content, and take pleasure in you”. Your Bible says it this way;

” Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors! [Luke 2:14 HCSB].

This is not peace between one another, its peace between God and man. The curtain of separation is broken. The door of eternal forgiveness is available to connect with your heavenly Father. Isaiah, the prophets anticipates the heartbeat of God through the new covenant. God declares through His servant that; “I was angry for a moment and hid my face from you; but with everlasting grace I will have compassion on you,” says ADONAI your Redeemer” [Isaiah 54:8 CJB]. There is nothing you can do on this earth to discredit you from the favor of God. You are loved and accepted. Stop hiding and lets His peace permeate your life. Understand this my friend; “being favored and had peace with God through Christ Jesus does not mean we are all saved”. Yes, the price is paid in full, yet not everybody who will receive this gift. Both the sinner and the saint had their debts cancelled….it is through this payment that God’s anger has ceased. Apostle Paul opens Romans chapter 5 to his readers who were still controlled by the legalistic mentality of you do good you get good and you do bad you get bad treatment from God. We call it karma, today. In God’s covenant of grace; ‘he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities [Psalm 103:10]   Why?

     – McDaniels Gyamfi –