For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever shall believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

How wonderful it is that Jesus went to the cross for the sins of the world. No longer do we need fear the judgment of almighty God because God put His judgment on His Son on the cross for us. We have such good news to share, the news that all our sins are forgiven. We don’t need to beg, we don’t need to plead, it is all done. All we need to do is turn our lives over to God, repent of our sins and confess Jesus as Lord and that He died for our sins and God rose Him from the dead, that He is the only begotten Son of God. Once that happens then we are saved from an eternity of hell and as we get to know Him more and more, great change happens in our lives. The things we once did we no longer do. The struggles we have, we fight against!

When we decide to follow Jesus and receive the Holy Ghost, conviction sets in to change who we once were. It is His goodness and godly sorrow that leads us to repentance. God is looking for those who will follow Him, not those who are perfect. Allow God to change what needs to be changed. The change that God brings is out of His great love for us.

My whole life I was seeking to change myself in order to be right with God. I was raised in a religion of works. My frustration brought me to a place of never being good enough to be accepted by God. When I finally realized that all my goodness is as filthy rags before God and it is His righteousness that saved me, is when my poor choices and continuing sins started to change. You see once the pressure of self change and works is off of us, then we are free to be changed by God’s Spirit.

There does have to come a time of change in our lives. There must be a turn from evil to good, but that change has to come by God’s love and grace, not by the self righteousness of others or own self will or by being pounded with,”if I don’t change I will burn in hell”. When we change for any other reason but love for God and out of reverence toward Him, it will not last. I am a living example of years of striving to change to be accepted which brought heartache and pain. True change and transformation came to me through a wonderful word from God and accepting that He loved me as a sinner. Yes, He loves liars, thieves, sexually immoral people, murderers and whatever else you can add to this list. His love will truly cause the people living in sin to change and that is the example and fruit of someone who truly knows Jesus. They are changed! Change takes time and everyone’s process doesn’t look the same because we have all been through different things in our lives.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11,” Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.“

In the past when I read this scripture, I always disqualified myself from the inheritance of God’s kingdom. I interpreted this as if I do not meet up to certain standards, I can never reach heaven. If you read this scripture correctly, you can see that it says you WERE washed, you WERE justified. Meaning even if you struggle with certain sins, God sees you as washed and justified because you belong to Him through the sacrifice of His Son’s Blood! When we come to Christ our identity changes. We are no longer seen as greedy or as slanderers or as drunkards. One may still struggle and battle with these sins but they are no longer our identity because we’ve been washed in His Blood! To believe that once we come to Jesus that we never battle with sin is a lie. When all we focus on is sin, then sin is empowered. This is why we need to understand God’s Law (truth) so that we recognize our need for Jesus (grace). Along with truth and grace, He gives us time to work our our salvation.

God’s power changes, cleans, justifies, sanctifies and makes holy. We always need to recognize where we fall short so that we continue to run to the One who saved us, Jesus. Just don’t live in the area of recognition of all we do wrong, move on from that place to the place of grace to receive His peace! There is nothing greater than God’s love. How Jesus loves!

Pastor Michael Cannatello

lazarusministry.com