AM NOT ASHAMED OF MY SALVATION!

How many times do you sit down and start judging your salvation may be because you feel it is not up to date?  Well, I will tell you, you do not need to judge yourself but surrender your life to Christ and you will understand when I say I am not ashamed of my salvation. 

In the past I used to really struggle with sin and most of the time when I knew I have sinned against my God I would hide and never go to church because of the guilt.  When I say sin, I did not find lying, gossiping, getting annoyed, not loving, and the rest as sin.  To me the biggest sin of all these was the sin of fornication.  That was my very big sin to my God and it really weighed me down so much.  But in the recent past, I chose to have a personal relationship with God and I will amaze you how God is delivering me from my sins because there is no sin that is bigger than the other.  All are sins.  I want to encourage you, who is struggling with sin and you are wondering will you really make it and will God really help you to overcome them?  I will answer you and tell you, if He did it for me, He can also do it for you. 

It is a walk I chose last year 2011 and to date, I am not regretting my stand and my decision that has enabled me love God more and more and stop complaining and pitying myself because of my past life.  I am saying this because most of the time we associate our weakness to not being able to stand in our salvation but I will tell you it is not about your weakness but your condition of heart that will make you overcome all your sins.  Jesus did once and for all on the Calvary by dying for you and me.  He did it once; He does not need to go back there in order for you to believe surely he has done it again and again.  He did it once and for all it is just a matter of you realizing that He did it to a sinner like you and me and it was finished at the Calvary.

When I talk to you this way, I do not mean I am a perfect lady.  No! what I mean, is, I have decided to have a personal relationship with Christ who is now enabling me overcome all my weaknesses bearing in mind, on my own, I cannot.  Please be encouraged as I continue helping you understand that there is nothing that we do on this earth that we do on our own.  We might cheat ourselves just because there are things that God has put on our way and life seems smooth (May be you have money, a good job, good family e.tc).  But wait until a storm comes your way and then you realize it is not about you and all what has always made you be fine, but you and your God.

I was just doing my devotion in the morning and I read through Romans 5:1-5 (Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character; hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us). 

As I went on reading, I wanted the Lord to help me understand exactly what his word is telling me and I had to analyze it word by word and I was excited.  I realized that for me to be able to be a child of God and to access my God is through Jesus Christ His Son.  And I asked myself, for me to delight in the Lord in his Glory both on Earth and in Heaven what is my first step? First, it is to know Christ and accept Him as my personal savior of which I have already done and for me to be what I am today, it is just because of the Grace that I now stand on because I am not yet perfect but the Lord is perfecting me day by day.  When I suffer, I do not suffer because the Lord loves me suffering, no! but because he is making me and molding me to be like him day by day by making my character to be like His.  This excites me and I know I have a hope in everything that I go through, whether good or bad because I know I am not doing it alone, the Lord is always with me.  How is the Lord with me every day?  I will tell you my dear friend the secret is the Word of God.  If you have no fellowship with Christ daily you will always have issues just like I had in the former days.  I am very proud because, the decision I took 2011 to have a personal relationship with Christ has tremendously changed me.  I do not need to prove it to anyone, but the fruits of my work will talk it more and more.  And the fruits of the Holy Spirit are evident because they are clearly described in the word of God  (Galatians 5:22-21  ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law).  I know there are some that I am still struggling with, but I will tell the devil to move out of my way because when I realize I have weakness I do not cover them under my blanket but I accept I have them and make a personal decision, that I will work on them.  That is why the Holy Spirit will always our  guide because He is in our Hearts and the Lord poured Him in our Hearts when we accepted Him as our Lord and savior. 

I have purposed that I will not entertain my mind with the things that will not build me spiritually because most of the time we make a scape goat that we have no time because of our busy schedules, but I will say, we have to have time for God because usually we have time for the things of this world, but we have no time for God.  I was meditating and memorizing (Psalms 119:18 ¹⁸ Open my eyes that I may see
wonderful things in your law).  This is a very powerful prayer that I made from this verse because as short as it looks I kept on forgetting it and its among the verses I had pinned in my office wall just to meditate and memorize on it.     I have purposed to meditate and memorize my daily verses by putting them somewhere I can visibly see and keep on reading them so that they stick in my mind and heart and by so doing I will always remember them and put them into practice. 

Let me tell you, that verse looks very small and easy to remember but when you are filled with many things in your daily activities, it can be hard to memorize but one word hit me on the verse and it was the word Law.  I kept asking myself what is the Lord telling me about the Law and which are these Laws?  And it dawned to me, it is not a set of rules, but the WORD OF GOD!  Clearly I remembered the verse (Joshua 1:8 ⁸ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful). Just see how the Lord will be speaking to you daily when you focus on His word.  That, He will remind you every word that you will keep in your heart and you will be able to do everything that is written in it.  Let me tell you my dear friend I have now the secret of my salvation.  It is not fear, nor intimidation, but meditating on the word of God because it clearly indicates to me that I will be able to do all what is written in it.  Now that I have found the secret, I want you too to get it and you will be totally a changed person just as I have indicated how it has changed me tremendously and I would want to share my experience with you my reader. 

I will say I have been saved for many years but I have never grown spiritually simply because I did not read the word of God.  As I write this down, I started just last year (2011) and to be sincere you will be shocked what God has in store for you if you make the same decision.  It is not late for you my dear friend, just make up your decision and purpose that you will have a daily walk with Christ through His Word.    It is just in my surrender to Christ that I have realized I have the Gift of Prophesy that I had never known before.  And as I walk with my Lord I am praying that He will reveal to me more and more gifts that he has given me so that I will be well equipped to serve in His Kingdom.  I will tell you my dear friend you will only know your purpose and the will of God in your life if you purpose to have a personal walk with your God.  Do not look at the people around you, just focus on God.  People around you, will judge you the way they see and know you but God will judge you according to the way He sees you as his child.  Our ways are not His ways nor our thoughts His thoughts and no one should intimidate you.  You are working out your salvation with fear and trembling because you know the God who has called you, because he is a Mighty GOD and no one can be compared to him. 

Salvation is not a walk over, but it is a process that will enable us to reach to our perfection.  But I will encourage you my dear brother and sister in Christ do not be driven by the things that surround you, but be driven by the word of God and you will never be the same again. 

I will give a small illustration about what I have been going through in the course of the week, just to encourage you.  I am doing a one month fasting with my fellow Christians in Church and it is such an amazing adventure and experience.  Well, sometimes when I call some of my friends to hear how far they are going on with the fast most of them are not fasting.  Remember as a Christian you should walk in a fellowship so that you will be accountable to each other.  Most of them are telling me that they are not fasting, I would ask myself surely I thought we are walking the same walk and they should be serious with the fast and I said to myself, it is not about them, but about me.  I do not know their reasons why they are not fasting because I know they have personal reasons. I also do not talk like this to judge them too, but I just wanted to get encouraged because I am not walking this walk alone we should be accountable to each other.  So, now that my friends are not fasting, do I also stop fasting?  Remember this is a personal walk.  If anyone who is around you whether born again or not will dictate your salvation I tell you the truth, you will be disappointed.   My point here is, since I realized that I have no reason as not to fast, I am accountable to myself also because this was a personal decision though we were doing it together as a fellowship and I should focus on God so that I can reach my goal.  I am not on medication nor am I having any healthy problem.  So what would make me not fast?  But as I went on asking myself the Holy Spirit ministered to me that, I am not the same Rose.   I am a changed one.  I made up the decision to surrender fully to my God and for me to be able to serve His people I should be directed by his Holy Spirit to do His will and since He wants I serve Him, He will only use me if I will grow in His ways because He cannot use a baby to do His work.  The baby has to be feed until it grows in order to grow spiritually.  I will ask you, are you a baby or an adult in the matters of God?  Do you want to remain a baby or do you want to grow?  You have an answer to this and it is important to tell God to help you do His will, if you will trust in Him and surrender. 

As I kept on writing the verses on my wall just to remind myself on them and meditate on them. A friend of mine came in the office and read all of them and I remember her telling me, “Rose I hope all those verses you have written there conform with your character because many will judge you because of all what you are writing and they are watching you”.  To be honest I did not take those words so kindly because I knew am struggling with remembering the verses and this was just a way of reminding myself not to show how saved I am or how perfect I am.  But you can see how the devil will always attack so that you interpret everything negatively whereas they did not mean anything to hurt you but to put you on an a lert note that you should be what you say you are.  This will enable you realize, its not about other people but about you so that you pin point all your weakness and work on them.  Did I really need to be offended by my friend’s remarks?  No!  But immediately I realized that I judged her wrongly and did not take her words that light the Holy Spirit reminded that, it is not about that persons remarks but me.  I did not need to be offended buy give her my answer as the Holy Spirit ministers to me and thanks be to God that I am now not a coward because I know the decision that I have made.  I would have removed the stack verses from the wall very fast and tell her, very true people may judge me and when I fall they will take it upon me and they will use these to pin me down.  But I remember telling her that, Christ will enable me to the latter.  He knows me and my heart so I do not have to be shaken by what the world sees about me.  What I know in my heart I have one judge and that judge is my God.  If I fall, I will not remain there, I will wake up and rub myself and continue with this journey because I know where my focus is.  It is not on my weaknesses but on my Lord whom I have hope that I will see Him when He comes.  Because He loved me before I even loved Him, by dying on the cross for me.  I now know that my redeemer lives and He will enable me in all what I do. 

What is your decision today? Do you want the world to be your judge and not your God and give them the opportunity to dictate to you how your salvation should be as a child of God?  Surrender to Him and He will not put you to shame.  God bless you and keep you. 

Remember to meditate on the WORD OF GOD day and night and you will be careful to do all what is written and you will become prosperous and successful!