“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” – Luke 5:32

There was a day I was studying the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah from Matthew chapter 1. I was touched by how merciful God is to have allowed Jesus to come out from the set of people that made up his descendant. Many of them were sinners, dirty and corrupt people who received forgiveness from God.

I specifically want to write about David and Bathsheba. Matt 1: 6. 2 Sam 11:2-4, 14-17,26-27; 2 Sam 12:24-25. One evening, David, who was supposed to be at work, was lazing around his house when he saw a woman who was bathing. He inquired about who she was, and he heard that she was married to a man called Uriah, one of his soldiers. Despite this, David refused to let go of his interest in this woman. He slept with her and killed her husband. He eventually married the woman. Nathan, a messenger of God, came to rebuke David for his atrocities. David asked God to forgive him, and he was forgiven. Bathsheba gave birth to Solomon, who became King after his father. He was blessed with riches and wisdom. From his generation came Jesus, our Saviour.

You are carrying something big in you. Your future is great. God loves you and has great plans for you. Many a time, we remember all our sins, and we feel they are too big to be pardoned by God. Allow him to transform your dirty past into a shining future. Let him showcase his lovingness through your life. Jesus did not come because of the righteous; he came for the sinners. Out of your filthiness will come the righteousness of God. Do not be discouraged, and do not stay in your sinful position, move up and turn to God. Your tomorrow is glorious.

Angie was so determined to get to the end of the finish line. She had always won the marathon race since her junior school. Sweat was running down her beautiful oval face. She thought of the fame attached to her name Angela Briggs. Everyone in school knew her. The guys keep flocking around her just to get a chance to be her friend. Some girls liked her; others simply envied her. Being a talented athlete, keeping a slim body, and keeping fine curves come with a price, she thought. She was not ready to drag her name to the mud by not emerging as the first person in this race.

“I’ve run the marathon four times in this school, and everyone knows I\’ll win even before the race gets started,” Angie thought.

She looked behind her and could not see any of the athletes in the race. As usual, they were much behind and might never catch up with her or, so she thought. Finding a can of Soda wasn’t difficult as they were placed on the road’s sides for the athletes in the race. Gulping down half of the can, Angie breathed deeply and aloud. She decided to sit on a bench in a shelter by the roadside and rest a little more, shunning the words of some spectators around who encouraged her to keep running. Leaning on the wall, she was super convinced that she had everything in control.

“Wake up, Angie, wake up”! Said one.

“You’re gonna lose the race! Wake up”! Said another.

Slowly opening her eyes, she saw her fellow students around her and then her eyes went to the road immediately. Angie saw other athletes running down the road to the finish line, just a few kilometres ahead. Within few seconds, she was on the road, running with more speed than when she started. In the bid to outrun others, she lost control and fell on a bent knee.

Lying on the stretcher and thinking about her fame as an athlete more than her knee, Angie wished she hadn’t been too confident in herself. She was being carried away from the road before the race ended.

Finishing is better than starting! Patience is better than pride! Ecclesiastes 7:8 TLB

Solomon himself could witness that it is not the beginning of a man that matters but the end thereof. It is at the end that we know those who ran well, those who persevered, and those who really ran with God. Stay on track. Run on your lane, so you will not be disqualified. Stick to the ministry or vocation God has called you into. Let it be your testimony that you finished your course as Paul testified.

Sometimes, nature calls- we get tired and want a break from life. Nevertheless, our rest does not come from sitting and doing nothing. Our rest is in Christ Jesus. When we learn to live and not survive, we stop struggling. You may need to go for a vacation, have a retreat, and just move away from busy life schedules. But your prayer life, worship, word study, and your entire relationship with God cannot be on vacation. You need them 24/7, not for activity’s sake, but for love’s sake.

Remember, the race is not for the swift nor the battle for the strong. Keep looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. You are not only going to finish the race, but you will finish strong!

Tara and King got married last valentine’s day. Today is their wedding anniversary. They would not have celebrated today if not for what they discovered during their divorce counselling.

After five years of marriage, Tara could no longer endure the tension in their marriage. Hence she opted for quitting the marriage. She filed for a divorce, and counselling was set up for them.

King was a very loving and disciplined man who would go to any length to present his love to his beloved wife. However, King lacked control of his finance and owed lots of money on credit card loans. Finance was a major cause of tension in their marriage. Hence, they lived daily arguing about money. Another challenge was recurrent pregnancy loss that prevented the marriage from producing a baby. They both felt frustrated for their failure to raise a family. They concluded that they were probably not compatible.

Since they were on the path of divorce, they went through different routines of counselling. The wise counsellor asked a question that turned things around. The counsellor asked, “hey Tara, what is the most beautiful word that attracted you to King?” It had been five years; Tara could not forget that word, then she said,” well, he had been trying to date me for three years. He would send my friends to me, but I was not just ready. One day I thought about considering him in my life, and we went out on a date on valentine’s day. Then he told me, Tara, I love you, and I know that love never fails. I didn’t stop thinking about that statement, “Love never fails.” I decided  to marry him.” The counsellor thanked her for the answer. They fixed another date for another counselling session.

‘On the next day for King’s appointment with the counsellor. The counsellor asked him, “what is it that you admire most about Tara.” King thought for a moment and replied, “she usually reminds me that I told her that I love her and love never fail.” The counsellor scheduled a joint session with them.

In the joint counselling session, the counsellor told them I want you two to go home and think about what the statement “Love never fails” means to you. “Please write down your thoughts and bring them back to our next session.”

This task was the turning point! Tara could not hold herself as she sobbed when the Holy Spirit made her understand 1Corinthian 13:4-8. She decided to forgive King and hold on to loving him.

King admitted that he was wrong by not listening to his wife and not praying enough for their marriage. He told Tara that she should forgive him and let them work together because he loves her and loves never fails.

They both went to the counsellor and told her that they were no longer divorcing because love never fails, and their love will not fail them.

Lovers do have challenges, but they are not insurmountable. The beauty of love is that it has the power to heal wounds, forgive and uphold a relationship. LOVE NEVER FAILS.

In the beginning, God created heaven and earth, Gen 1:1.

Before man was made, everything that man would need to survive was made. God set up the earth before the advent of man. Everything God made was declared good and perfect. He carefully and wonderfully made man; man became His masterpiece and placed him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it. He gave man dominion over all other things that had been created. He gave him a helpmeet to be his companion. God was very pleased with everything He had made.

The initial plan of God is to have regular fellowship and communion with man who He made in His image and likeness. In the cool of the evening, God would visit man for fellowship and communion with him. This relationship was the masterplan of God well designed to make man live in abundance and love of God. He made man comfortable and provided all he needed. He told him what he should do and what he should not do. His instructions were simply laid down to man, and the consequences of disobeying His orders were made known to him.

God’s plan was working perfectly with man until an unfortunate day when man aligned with the serpent and disobeyed the command of the Most High. Man sinned, and he is condemned to die. God’s eyes are too holy to behold iniquities; for this reason, God cannot behold the sight of man any longer. The man had to be dismissed from God’s presence and be subjected to the consequences of his sin- eternal death. Sin brought separation between man and God. Sin has distorted the plan of God for creating man, which is fellowship and communion.

The death of man will make the universe God created for man to be nothing but a waste because all other things were primarily made for man and man’s use. God loved man and felt sorry for the man because his life had become nothing but a mist. The wicked shall not go unpunished (Prov 11:21), and the wages of sin are death. God’s own decree must stand; the man had to pay the penalty of his actions.

Being now in a sinful nature and already disconnected from God, man lives a hopeless life, and he is destined for destruction. Man has no means of rescuing himself because he can’t save himself. He has become prey to those things he once had dominion over and become an object of ridicule to his deceiver, the serpent.

God’s love for man was so much intense that God had to institute a rescue mission for man. If man should die, God won’t have communion again with His lovely creation He made in His image. For man to be saved, man needs to be reconnected back to God in a sinless form. How could this be done when he was already condemned to die? Someone who is worthy has to take up man’s punishment, which is death.

The Love God has for man made him send His Son who is without sin for man’s rescue (John 3:16). For the sake of man, God’s Son, Jesus, gave up his life, sinless nature, in exchange for man’s life, sinful nature. Thereafter, he took up the death judgement proclamation on the man so that man could live. Jesus was used for the atonement of man’s sin.

Jesus’ death brought an opportunity for man to be restored and reconnected back to God. If a man can take up the life Jesus offers and give up his own condemned life, Jesus will stand as the bridge linking him back to God. Man can only stand in God’s presence if he is without sin, and this can only be done if he takes up Jesus’ life, a sinless life.

John 14:6, “Jesus saith, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

With Jesus, man now has access to God and His Throne of Mercy. In Jesus is eternal life embedded because Himself is the life. Jesus’ sacrificial life brought the restoration of God’s initial plan with man, which is having a man in God’s presence where God can dine, commune and fellowship with him.

“Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.” Psalms 78: 41

Many times, we confessed that God is unlimited and He can do all things but when challenges come, we ignore this confession. This is true if we are speaking in terms of His sovereignty and power. The Bible confirms that with God, nothing shall be impossible. However, little did we know that our thoughts and actions can limit God. It is possible to limit God by our thoughts and actions because God honours his words and would not act against His words.

The question that might come up in your heart would be: how can I limit God?

As stated above, our thoughts, unbelief, and actions can determine the extent to which His power flows in our lives. When you raise the thoughts of failure, defeat, sickness, and death above God’s word, you are restricting the power of God in your life. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If all we think about are our failures, weaknesses, and unworthiness, it won’t be long before they begin to manifest in our lives.

To take this further, do you know that as powerful and anointed as Jesus was, He could not do mighty works in Nazareth because of their unbelief? “Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” Matthew 13:58

So STOP LIMITING GOD!

Our next question is, How can I stop limiting God?

Our answer can be found in Romans 12:1-2

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what that good and acceptable and perfect will of God is.”

to see God’s power manifest in our lives, we must

Present ourselves to God through constant fellowship with Him (in prayers, devotions and studying of His word)

Refuse to conform to the lies and unbelief that fly around us, and

Renew our minds by meditating on His word.

So start believing and trusting God for something big.

Ephesians 3:20

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

I have good news for you – what God cannot do does not exist. He has done it before, and He can do it again.