Saturday, October 6, 2012

New life in Jesus Christ

New life in Jesus Christ

Romans 6, 11 "So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ".

My sickness has made me to experience a tough battle with Satan. Prior to being sick life to me was taken for granted. I never realized my life was a precious gift from the Almighty God. Life is precious, indeed so precious that we must always thank God and praise him for giving us the gift of life. When you take life for granted Satan is in peace with you. Satan knows you are in his dragnet. Actually I knew God brought me into this world but my relationship with him was at a distance. I was not close to him. As a child of God we must be close to him. He is our father. Only a bad child runs away from the father.

I got my baptism when I was young. The significance of this act was short lived. I was excited to know about Jesus Christ and successfully completed the doctrinal or ‘inquirers classes’ as it is known by Baptists, the church I belong. I wanted to be baptized. To me baptism was a sign of maturity. It was part of growing. I took it to be stage in my life development.

I went for ‘inquirer classes’ with my elder sister and we were baptized on the same day. She actually received Christ in her life. I did not. I had not actually understood the significance of becoming a Christian. This happens to most young people. I went to church on Sundays, did not care to read my bible at home, nor participated in church activities such as prayer groups, Christian meeting etc. I just went to church as a routine activity since we were brought up by our parents to go to church every Sunday.

Going to church to me was just like going to the school, market or to play with friends. In church we enjoyed meeting new friends and singing together, we listened to bible stories which were very interesting at times visual presentations accompanied the lessons. Sunday school was great so on Sundays I and my junior brothers were always ready to get into Dad’s car for another Sunday outing.

I grew up like this. I never took Jesus Christ very strong in my life. I knew I was a child of God, this was said in church several times. That God created me and Jesus his only Son came and died for our sins. In 1989 at a national youth camp my faith was strengthened and I received Christ in my life. This is when I started to understand how strong Jesus was. The theme of the youth camp was ‘Freedom from Fear’. I returned home spiritually strong, but as a teenager had friends who were neighbors, none Baptists or whose Christian lives were not strong. Some were elderly and introduced me to alcohol consumption and dating, thus weakened d my Christian life. This is common at adolescent stages in life. Young people become adventurous and the company they make can influence their lives. As children of God we must shun away from this. We must avoid sin. God hates sin and is ready to accept you as his child when you turn-away from sin.

When you are not following God’s ways, Satan is happy with you. Satan hates people that choose to follow Jesus Christ. He does not like when anyone rejects him and follows God’s ways. Satan is jealous and fierce but the blood of Jesus is above him. When I was not following God’s ways, Satan was at peace with me. Immediately Satan realized that I had decided to accept Jesus Christ in my life he put forth a tough battle with me. We must all stand strong when we take the decision to become God’s children. Stand firm, very strong in your faith and it will save you from Satan’s cruel hands.

By accepting the blood of Jesus Christ  we are all saved. There is no power above the blood of Jesus Christ. Satan becomes powerless by this blood. No room for Satan. Jesus reigns and lives for ever and ever. By his grace I am saved.

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