Salvation!!!- Forgiveness for JOY

Remember, we are alive for a purpose, nothing is simply by random chance. You can truly be happy because you ARE loved.

Before reading this, I would very strongly suggest you pray. I would say that praying is simply conversing with God, your Heavenly Father. Do to forget to repent. In a conversation, both parties should be allowed to speak. Believe it, if you ask genuinely, with all of your heart (not emotions), He will speak to You. By speaking to you, He can prompt your heart and give you understanding. Surrender fully to His will because He loves you and has good plans for you (Jeremiah 29). Pray in continually and in accordance with Matthew 6: 6-13 

*How are Christians forgiven by Jesus Christ dying for our sins? Why not buy a box of chocolate instead?

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*What I learnt about forgiving people

FORGIVENESS

• Jesus Christ and His forgiveness for us through salvation
• Our forgiveness

Salvation! That's such a good word. I mean the sound of it is amazing, let alone the meaning. Freedom in Christ, that's what it means. Being free because you know that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, because He loves you so much. (John 3: 16). It was hard to comprehend how huge His sacrifice was at first.

I used to think like "why would Jesus Christ die for my sins? Why death? Why crucifixion?" ...right? Was there no other way?

Finally, the magnitude of His deed dawned on me. It's because He loves us. He loves you. He loves me and you SO much that he laid down His life for us. It's so much better than money or a box of chocolate. There is no greater love than laying down your life for a friend (John 15: 13). In the same book of John 15, He COMMANDS us to love each other just as He loved us. THATS A LOT OF LOVE. 

Paul tells us in the book of Philippians us to have the same mindset as Jesus Christ who being in the very nature or form of God, did not consider His equality with God to be used to His own advantage; rather He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found as a man, he humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death (Philippians 2:6). Simply put; Jesus Christ is God. God took the form of a human being and became obedient to death so that we may be forgiven. As soon as I got to understand this, I realized that I have an amazing and humble God. 

~Why did He die for us? -For us to be FORGIVEN

~How are we forgiven by Him dying for our sins? Well...

(To understand what I will say next, understanding baptism is very fundamental) : 

 N/B: It is possible to know the God and have a relationship with Him before being baptized. 

When we are baptized in Jesus Christ, we are baptized into His death. Pretty simple to understand right? XD  

It means that Jesus Christ dying on the cross was God's will because by His death and burial, we were also buried with Him through baptism 

[probably why they dip someone's body in the water backwards symbolizing burying the person]. 

Because we were united with Him in a death like His, we are also united with Him in a resurrection like His! Because we know that our old self was crucified with Him, so that, the body ruled by sin may be DONE AWAY WITH! Therefore through repentance, we are no longer sinners no matter how big or small our sin might have been. It really doesn't matter. 

Here's more good news...if we died with Christ, we believe we will also live with Him, because He was raised from the dead. YES, He actually got raised from the dead!! He cannot die again, death has no hold on Him. He died to sin.This is good news because He died for our sin. In the same way, we should count ourselves dead to sin but alive in God, through Jesus Christ. Right? 

The entire text answering the question "How are we forgiven by Him dying for our sins?" is based on Romans 6

Back to the topic: F O R G I V E N E S S 

Note taken; Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins so that we may have salvation, through repentance, in Him  

This means that He must have forgiven us and still does.

Believe it or not, this is very vital to talk about. The number of times I've gotten angry at someone is honestly u n c o u n t a b l e ! Ephesians 4: 26 says that we should not let the sun go down while we are still angry. This is because anger and lack forgiveness keeps us away from God and without God there is no freedom and true peace and overall, no joy. It doesn't matter whether you are offended or you are the offender, it's always right to forgive and forget. Not forgiving keeps you away from receiving forgiveness from God. (Matthew 6:15, Mark 11: 25)

In the story of Joseph, it was amazing how he ended up forgiving his brothers after they SOLD him into slavery and almost killed him. WHY WOULD ANYONE FORGIVE SOMEONE WHO TRIED TO KILL THEM?! Forgiving no matter the wrong might not sense but why not forgive if I am forgiven by God over and over again each time you repent right?  

Even when we deny Him, Jesus Christ forgives and forgets ALL our sins as soon as we repent. That's INCREDIBLE with all the murder, abuse and violence that goes on in the world.  He also commands us to do so. We cannot love anyone as He loved us without being willing to forgive them (this can mean over and over again).  

In Matthew 18: 21, Peter asked Jesus Christ how many times whether he should forgive seven times and Jesus Christ replied with seventy seven times (don't start counting now). He says this to mean that we should forgive a lot of times. 

Jesus Christ goes on to talk about the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew through the story of the servant and the master and ends His parable showing how crucial it is to forgive. Holding a grudge can undoubtedly hurt us and not just the person in the wrong. By forgiving as Christ forgave us, we will in turn get peace and peace brings joy. 

I want to live a life sparking with joy, with a continuous burning passion for Christ, don't you?

Prophet Tb Joshua giving a sermon on forgiveness

Passion met by Passion AMAZING message