"For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

John 3:17 

Happy Easter everybody!

I hope everybody has a blessed day and celebrates the day that our Saviour rose from the grave.

Today I want to speak about a topic that a lot of Christians don't seem to understand, or rather, don't apply to their lives. I too am among these Christians but God is currently teaching me this lesson, which I would like to share with you. 

We are under grace, not condemnation.

What does this mean? You may ask. To explain this I must firstly briefly talk about what Jesus did for  us. When Jesus Christ was on earth, he was a perfect human being. He never once sinned and he lived a life that pleased God. Us human beings, on the other hand, were full of sin. We were slaves to sin, whether we realised it or not, and lived a life of rebellion to God. Our sin prevented us from having a relationship with God. Why? Because what is pure (God) and what is impure (sin) cannot cooperate. However, God still loved us. Even in our sin and rebellion against him, he loved us. So he chose to give up his Son to save us from the penalty of our sins. If not for Christ's sacrifice, we would face the punishment for sinning - which is death and hell. (The Bible makes it clear that in order for sins to be forgiven by God, a sacrifice must be given). Jesus Christ was the only sacrifice that could make up for the sins of the world because he himself was God, and there is nothing better than God, therefore he was the perfect sacrifice. He was the greatest sacrifice that could have been given. But Jesus' death and shedding of his blood was a seal to a new covenant (promise) between human beings and God - a covenant of grace and not condemnation.

What is grace? Grace is when we don't deserve something but God gives it to us anyways - out of his great love and mercy. Christ Jesus died so that humans could now have a relationship with God again. This act was done out of the grace and love of God. We did nothing to deserve Christ dying for us. We deserved death, we deserved condemnation. But God decided to treat us otherwise. Our sins originally distanced us from God but his sacrifice caused a reconciliation and restoration.

"And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God."

Romans 5:9-11

God wants us to embrace his new covenant of grace. Because of what Christ did for us, we no longer are condemned for our sins. ("So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus" Romans 8:1). Okay Sophie, but what does this actually mean..why is this important..you may be thinking. What this means is when you sin now, you are not condemned (given that you repent).  (Take note that this applies to those who are in Christ, who are genuinely saved). A lot of people misunderstand God for this person who is very strict and you must obey his laws or else you will die and no no no, that is not who God is. God is a God of love and patience and mercy. He WANTS to forgive you when you sin. He does not want to condemn you!

A lot of the time, when we sin, we feel extremely guilty. We feel like we have disappointed God. Well I do anyways. Sometimes when I mess up, I get so discouraged and angry at myself that I feel too embarrassed to approach God. I feel too ashamed of myself to even ask for mercy. I say to myself "Ugh, I keep saying I will stop with this sin, yet I keep finding myself doing it. God can't keep forgiving me because I am making a fool of him.". God has been showing me recently that this is wrong wrong wrong. This is the wrong mindset to have. God is a God who is FULL of forgiveness and mercy. When we mess up, he WANTS us to come to him. It is totally against human logic. In our minds, when we do something wrong to someone, it's better to leave them alone for a while. For example, if you steal money from your mum and she finds out, the chances are that you will not approach her for money for a while. The chances are that you will keep your distance from her for a while because you believe that she is still hurt and is not ready to forgive and accept you yet. But God is not like human beings. He behaves opposite in this sense. When we sin, God especially wants us to approach him. He wants to forgive us and help us deal with it. You must understand that God himself came as a human being and was tempted too. He understands what it is like to be tempted by sin (Hebrews 4:15). He knew how to overcome it therefore he wants to help you overcome it too.

When you sin, don't drown in a sea of guilt. Rather come to God and admit to him that you are helpless and unable to fight sin by yourself. Admit to him that you need him. Repent of the sin and BELIEVE that he has forgiven you. Many of us unnecessarily live in guilt because we don't think we are forgiven. We think that our sin is too bad for God to forgive us. We think that we have sinned so much that God has run out of patience and no longer wants to forgive us. All of this is wrong. God loves us and if we confess our sins to him, he will forgive us (1 John 1:9).  Although we deserve condemnation, his grace says "no condemnation, I want them to have eternal life through me". Do not live condemning yourself because you have done wrong. God still loves you and his love for you can never run out, no matter how much you sin (Romans 8:38-39). So believe that you are forgiven. However that does not mean you can continue to live in sin with the idea that God's mercy will always be available to you. Living in such a way proves that you don't love and fear God, and someone who doesn't love God cannot enter heaven.

The more you come to God in prayer and worship, and the more you spend time with him by meditating on his Word, you will find sin leaving you. Your desire for sin will start going away because your love for God is growing bigger. Being a believer does not mean you do not struggle with sin anymore. You are being transformed daily through Christ and he is helping you overcome sin because he lives inside of you and he himself has overcome sin. So be encouraged.

Thank you for your time reading this today, I hope you can apply this message to your life.

But remember, you must be saved in order to be under the covenant of grace. You must have accepted Jesus Christ into your life for these things to be a reality for you. If you have not, I have another blog post titled "I'm too broken for God" (http://okaysophie.blogspot.ie/2015/08/im-too-broken-for-god.html) I hope you can read this.

Have a lovely day everybody.

Jesus loves you.

"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

Hebrews 4:16 

"And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

John 1:5

Many of us are going through depression, sorrow, pain, experiencing feelings of emptiness and are clueless to why. Why is it that I always feel sad for no reason? Why is it that I keep finding myself falling back to this person who is causing me pain? Why is it that this sin won't stop tormenting me? My friend, it is because you are sitting in darkness.

We live in an age of so much darkness that we no longer see it as darkness again. We have picked up "night time goggles" which disillusion us into believing that we can actually see in the dark. But we can't. "The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble." (Proverbs 4:19) 

You see the thing about darkness is that it is so deceptive. Turn off the lights in a room you have never been in and try to make out what things are. You can guess. You can assume. But you can never know until the lights have been turned on. Many of us are living in this dark mentality and it is dangerous. We are living in so much darkness and have gotten used to it that, hilariously, we think we can see. Jesus warns us about this in Luke 11:35 where he says "Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness." The type of darkness described here is the one to which too many people fall victim to, maybe even you. I know I have myself before. It is when you think you are a "good person" - forgetting that ONLY God is good - and you don't need anything like Jesus because you're already fine. You think you're in the light. You can't relate to this at all. It's all a lie of the devil, please, don't fall into that trap. It could eventually cost you your life in hell.

But here's the catch..

You don't have to live in darkness anymore.

You must understand this. Jesus declares in John 9:5 that "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." Read the book of John chapter 1 and you will learn that Jesus is the light of men. That's right, he is the light for both you and I. Here's the thing about light. It has so much power in it. In the beginning of the world "the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:2) BUT THEN, God said "Let there be light" and there was light.

See I don't think you get it yet. God said let there be light, AND THE DARKNESS FLED. It ran away! If you turn off the lights in your room now, the room will fill with darkness. But as soon as you turn the lights on, the darkness runs and lights fills the room. Why? Because, as we read in John 1:5, "the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." Darkness cannot understand light so it runs away from it! What God is telling you today is that the darkness in your life can and will run once you let Jesus, the light of the world, in! 

This is the reason why I don't believe that 'religion' - that is, the custom of  simply 'following rules' - works when it comes to knowing  Jesus. Jesus doesn't simply desire you to follow a set of rules, he desires a relationship with you. And once you get into a relationship with Christ, you will find yourself obeying those commandments. It will not be a burden. It will not be boring. None of that. This is the mystery that people don't often tell you about Jesus Christ - HE CHANGES YOU. How? Because once you accept him and believe in him, he comes to live inside your heart. And if Jesus, the light of the world, is living inside of you, his light cannot BUT shine inside of you. And...drumroll..consequently, the darkness in you flees! 

Just like that.

I am a living testimony, as well are thousands of others. The darkness flees and the light reigns.

Darkness cannot stand light and that is why you can never see a place that is both dark and lighted at the same time. It's one or the other. The light may be dim in a room you may argue, but ultimately, there is light! And in the areas in which the light shines, darkness doesn't stay. 

But in order for Jesus to abide i.e stay inside of you, you must stay in his word, that is the Bible. 1 John 1:1 tells us that Jesus IS the "Word", therefore when we spend time meditating on God's word, we are allowing Jesus to come more and more into us. We are allowing Jesus to shine more and more of his light into our hearts. You may not see it initially but the more you spend time, trusssttt me - fruits will show, meaning you will start seeing a change. Psalm 119:105 says "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." It is light. And the only way for the light to shine in you is by meditating on this his word as often as possible. It is food for your soul. You wouldn't go a day without eating a proper meal so why do you starve your spirit from it's food, the Word of God?

I used to walk in darkness. I used to be a victim of blindness. I used to live in total emptiness. But "whereas I was blind, now I see" as John 9:25 says. And you can too.

In order to understand God's word, however, you must ask him for the Holy Spirit. If you have any questions about this, feel free to reach out to me on my social media or my email.

Love you all.

Jesus loves you more.

"For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness."

Psalm 18:28

Happy New Year everyone!

It's crazy to think yet again one year has passed by and we have entered a new one. Firstly, glory be to God and to God alone that we made it into 2017 safe and sound. If not for his mercy and for his grace, none of us would be here to celebrate this wonderful start to the year.

I believe that 2017 is going to be a year of growth, love and giving.

Personally, I am going to work on myself in all of these areas so I decided to share just a few of the things that I plan to do this year and that I also encourage you to do also.

Forgive

I really believe that this year there should be a huge emphasis on forgiveness. We're currently living in a world where people see good as evil and evil as good. Being cold and cruel to others has become a fashion trend and many people are following it. Too many people. Too many people would rather hold anger and tension in their heart against a person, for the sake of being able to gossip about them, rather than to just forgive. 

You see the thing about forgiveness is that it doesn't only take the burden off the other person but the burden off you too. It's like a pin has been removed from your heart once you forgive someone of their offence. And, for me, the most powerful kind of forgiveness is the one given where no apology is made. I think we all need to work on this one this year. When someone doesn't say sorry, forgive them anyways. Forgive your dad for leaving you. Forgive your best friend for betraying you. Forgive those around you because it brings healing to you as a person and helps you to grow.

Love

Dedicate this year to loving God more and loving people more. Go deeper in your walk with God. Remind yourself everyday that your relationship with God is based on faith, not your feelings. It doesn't matter if you wake up feeling angry at the world, you have all the power to say no to those negative vibes and decide to show even more love than usual on that particular day. Praise God. Listen to music that glorifies him. Spend more time in his word. I promise you, because I am living proof, that if you spend valuable time in God's word, you will naturally begin to love more and you will find it so much easier.

Also, show love to your friends and family and strangers. Maybe think twice before insulting your friend as a joke. I know I need to work on that myself, but rather find other ways to make them laugh. Spread positivity and keep only good vibes around you. If you have friends who you know are not contributing to a successful future for you, or who are like dark clouds over you, let them go. 

Be joyful

Train your thoughts to think in such a way where they see the good in everything. It's not easy. It will take time. But gradually, if you work hard to do it, you will see outstanding results. When you go out, embrace everything you see around you and look for the beauty in it. Appreciate your friends and their uniqueness. Look in the mirror and tell yourself everyday that you are great, that you are wonderful, that you are beautiful. People don't realise how much power there is in the tongue and in the mind. So when you combine both of them together, amazing things happen. You will become more joyful if you work on focusing on the good. Stop looking for happiness because the more you look for it, the further away you will be from finding it. Just embrace everything by the heel and appreciate all that is around you and joy will find you.

Give

Give Give Give.

Give more. Give abundantly. Give like never before this year. Give your time, energy, love, commitment, faithfulness, kindness, character. Just give. Money is not the only thing that must be attached onto giving. Sometimes, the most powerful type of giving is when you give people things that hands cannot touch. When you give time and energy into making someone around you happier, by telling them something nice or performing an unexpected kind gesture, their happiness will bounce back to you. It has a mirror effect, trust me. 

More importantly, give yourself to God. Allow him to change your heart and mind. Allow him to give you a new beginning because here's the truth. I heard someone say the other day that "A new year doesn't put you on a clean slate, Jesus does," and this is so very true. Open your heart to him. Give your time and energy and dedication to him. If you have strayed away from him in the past, he is right here still waiting for you. Never forget the story of the prodigal son. Jesus says in John 6:37 "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." This means that Jesus will never say to you "Go away I don't want you." His arms are always open and he indeed is waiting for YOU to come into them.

Revelation 3:20

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

Jesus is reminding us here that he is knocking on the door. On the door of your heart. He is waiting for you to open it and let him in. He will transform your life, but only if you allow him to.

I hope you all have an amazing year.

God bless.

Love you all.