What Will You Do With Jesus? –By Cordelia Masalethulini

I was reading on Facebook the other day, a not so uncommon argument against the very existence of God. The argument went, if God is real, why is there so much suffering on this earth. Other writers and individuals across the pages of history have also stated that if indeed He is all mighty and all loving, why would He permit so much suffering? This is also a question I have struggled to get the answer to through the years I have believed in Jesus. Especially when it came to the question of how Jesus Christ feels about women and how important we are to Him.

In South Africa, one thousand three hundred women are expected to be raped a day. That’s one woman every seventeen seconds[i]. According to one source, a woman born here, even in 2011, still has a greater chance of being raped than of learning to read.If that alone wouldn’t have someone questioning the very existence of a loving God, then I wonder what would. Sadly the abuse does not end there.Even in institutions ranging from government to churches and other civil entities, women have been kept in ungodly submission, the abuse of power is rife, abuse along gender lines and the crystal clear racial inequalities. Women of all races, from childhood, are taught to hate at least one thing about themselves. This ranges from their gender, their height, their weight, their skin tone or any other thing, which when really explored in depth, has little to nothing to do with what their inherent value or worth is.

Then comes my favourite phrase in the bible-“But GOD.” What many of us are quite aware of, is that our predecessors of every shade, made choices still that affect us today. Many of our problems, we did not bring upon ourselves, someone else did. So somebody had to do something so that the end of our lives would not read like the pages out of a book written by a thoroughly twisted sadist. That somebody was God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whomsoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.”[ii] Scripture after scripture unfolds the incredible love of an amazing and powerful God who heard humanity’s cry “and pitied every groan.”[iii]

This same God saw what really happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve broke just one law. He saw that the serpent was the mastermind, and mankind the victim. He was not prepared to destroy man because He loved man, even though the sentence was death. God is a god of law and of order. He is so pure and holy, that He cannot gaze upon sin. But though He hates sin, He loves man. He also created man with the wonderful gift of choice. When we look at our lives, we also see the results of our choices,both positive and negative. The sins of our ancestors, He does not hold against us. But the sins of our ancestors can keep us in bondage[iv]. God made provision for complete release from the power of those sins as well as the power of our own sins, through the Blood of Jesus Christ[v]. He did it by Himself because of His endless love.[vi]

Once I began to grasp what the love of God meant for my own life, suddenly, I looked at my skin in the mirror and began to appreciate its beauty. Once I began to grasp the plans and purposes God had for my life, I began to appreciate my womanhood. Slowly but surely, as the light contained in God’s word began to dispel every darkness in my life, I began to understand that God loved me too much, to let the false rules and regulations made by man, limit the scope of what God wanted to do in and through me[vii]. God loved me too much to force anything on me[viii]. Rather, He loved and respected me enough to let me make my own decisions, and to let me live with the consequences of those decisions.

Because God is truth and in Him there is no lie[ix], I had to swallow the very bitter pill of truth. The truth being that in the case of adults, we choose whether or not to suffer. We choose how long we will suffer for, and we choose when we will end that suffering. I learnt that God loves women, all women. I learnt that He is no respecter of persons, what He has done for one, He will do for another[x]. Therefore, though we do not get to choose our pasts, we get to determine our tomorrows by the choices we make and act on today. We also get to choose whom we will walk through each day with, and whose voice we will listen to; ours, other people’s or God’s. The children we see starving to death? It is because an adult entrusted with the responsibility of looking after that precious soul has shirked their God given responsibility. Every woman who has been violated in any way by any man is a victim of somebody who avoided executing their mandate to defend and protect her. That young man who is on drugs and/or is holding people at gun or knife point in order to rob them of their possessions or even life? He is also the victim of poor leadership including denial of his right to being loved and raised right.

But God loves all of us too much to leave us in the mess we create or had created for us as a result of someone not stepping up to their God given assignment. He left us with the powerful weapon of choice. The choice of what we will do with Jesus Christ. This is singularly the most important decision anyone can make. We cannot get so advanced that we forget about the cross of Calvary and what it really means for each of us on a deeply personal level. That choice to remember the cross, and to decide what we will do with the Christ, is our direct doorway to freedom, or to remain in bondage.For truth to be truth, it must be absolute. So the decision has to be taken as to whether Jesus Christ is the son of God as He said? Or whether He was a fanatic and a liar? Until that decision has been made, although applying biblical laws and truths can improve the quality of your life drastically, they cannot set you free from the law of sin and death. So my question to you today is simply this. What are you going to do with Jesus Christ?

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[i]Rape Statistics-South Africa & Worldwide. www.rape.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=875

[ii] John 3:16

[iii] Judges 2:18

[iv] Exodus 20:5

[v] Galatians 3:13

[vi] Hebrews 1v3

[vii]Romans 6:22

[viii] Deuteronomy 30:19

[ix]John 17:17

[x]

Forgetting what lies behind me

"Ah yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it."- Unknown

It is not easy to forget our painful past, but through God’s grace and meditating on His word we are able overcome condemnation due to those past experiences.

Just take a moment and think about the Apostle Paul trying to preach the gospel and these words he would hear daily,   “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”. Some of the believers even doubted his credentials; they could not imagine God anointing the persecutor of believers to proclaim the very same gospel he was trying to destroy.

The question is what is that is in your past that is holding you captive from becoming who God created you to be.

When you hear the enemy whispering condemnation in your ears, just proclaim these words over your life like the Apostle Paul:

·         Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. – 2 Cor 5:17

·         Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, - Phil 3:13

·         I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Gal 2:20

Tell the Disciples and Peter

Tell the Disciples and Peter
Mark 16:1-7
The women were headed to the tomb with spices to embalm the body of Jesus, but they both had a question of great concern on their minds, As these women walked right into the tomb where they were astonished to see an angel that appeared to them as a young man dressed in white.

Note this important message of the angel, "Don't be afraid. I know you're looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the one they nailed on the cross. He's been raised up; He's here no longer. You can see for yourselves that the place is now empty. Now - on your way. Tell His disciples and Peter that He is going on ahead of you to Galilee.

This was a message for all followers, but also for Peter and anyone else who felt they were a failure. The women must be sure to tell Peter. Jesus of course knew of the torment Peter was experiencing, his sorrow for his sin of denying His master.

If the angel had only said, "Go tell His Disciples." Peter might have thought that the joy of this good news must not belong to him. Peter might have sighed and said to himself, "I doubt that I can look upon myself as one of His disciples. Three times I denied Him. I disowned Him and deserve to be disowned by Him."

As a woman today, there might be a man in your life that failed you, cheated on you, betrayed you, abused you, or you may know a man, a brother who had great dreams and visions. This man was called to accomplish great things for God, but he has gone astray. He now lives in a spiritual pig sty – shame, guilt and condemnation are destroying his confidence.

Like the women in Luke 16, God is giving you an assignment to let that man know that Jesus still loves him and wants to restore him. God wants you to forgive him... Go Tell His Disciples and Peter... The Peter in your life is waiting to hear this message today.
jesusforwomen@gmail.com

Sonship

Romans 8:15. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father."

Friends we are no more slaves/orphans but we are sons and daughters of the most High God. Your father God loves you with an everlasting love.

Here are some characteristics of a son and a slave/orphan.

Son

See God as a loving Father

Rest and Peace

Totally accepted in God’s love, and justified by grace

Service that is motivated by a deep gratitude for being unconditionally loved and accepted by God

Slave

See God as Master

Insecure / Lack peace

Strive for the praise, approval, and acceptance of man

Seek to impress God and others or no motivation to serve at all.

"The Woman Who Was Forgiven Much"

... Luke 7:36-50
[36] Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. [37] When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, [38] and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears.,

This morning i stumbled upon this heart breaking story of this young lady.

“I’m not yet 30 years old, from a middle class background, successful academically and never dreamed I’d end up in prostitution. Now here I am, 2 years after I exited it and still suffering its aftermath, every day.
It kills me inside when people talk about prostitution being a ‘choice’, or ‘empowering’, or ‘harmless fun’ for women. Those words don’t even belong in the same sentence. In my experience, prostitution was the end result of addiction, self hatred, and years of extreme physical and sexual abuse by my ex-partner which left me feeling I deserved nothing more.

If you’re cut off from other people and their perspectives, and told not to trust them, and forced to rely on the person who abuses you, and gives other men access to abuse you, so that the hand that hits you and hurts you is also the hand that feeds you, and mops you up (sometimes) you get confused, what you are told and what happens to you are two different things and you lose the language, the words, to ask for help.
You think you’re going mad.
2 years on, and the shame still gets in the way. 2 years on, and I still find it hard to verbalise what happened to me, what was done to me, and what I was made to do, because it makes me sick, and frankly, I’m scared that other people will feel the same. I do therapy, I’m clean and sober now, and its 2 years on and I still struggle.

This story reminded me of the woman in Luke 7:36-50 who some scholars believe she was a prostitute. It’s high likely that she was going through what the lady in the story above was going through. A reject in society, used and abused by men on daily basis. Condemnation, anger and blaming herself were the order of the day.
The bible says when this woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. This was her way of pouring all her anger, sorrow, condemnation at Jesus. Immediately all her sins were forgiven.
What is it that you going through today, that secret thing you are ashamed of, thinking how would people react if they knew what you did in the past. Are people judging you based on your past? I have good news for you, like the woman in Luke 7, Jesus is waiting for you with arms open wide. Just pour out all that is holding you captive, your sorrows, condemnation, and anger at his feet. He loves you so much that he died and paid for all your past, present and future sins. Jesus loves broken, downtrodden women.

Not Him , Not Her

Luke 15: 29 -30 - But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ but when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“I have been serving in this church for twenty years and the Pastor is not giving me a chance to preach, look at him/her, after only three years he/she is part of the church leadership”.

“I have been singing in the church choir for thirty years, this lady only joined the choir last year and she is already leading worship”

“He cannot be anointed, how can an ex-drug user be used of God?”

Are these statements familiar? The parable of the prodigal son helps us to learn some important lessons about the grace of God.

 The elder brother believes that, through his moral efforts and by following the rules, God owes him. But Jesus’ death on the cross teaches us that God doesn't owe us anything; instead, we owe God everything. Therefore, we should not look down on the poor and broken in our midst because we know that, apart from Christ, we are equally poor and broken.

Knowing what he did for us must drain us of our self-righteousness and our insecurity. We were so sinful he had to die for us. But we were so loved that he was glad to die for us. That takes away both the pride and the fear that makes us elder brothers.

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this wealth in vessels of earth, so that it may be seen that the power comes not from us but from God;

God will often choose and use unlikely vessels in our midst. After all, God is no respecter of persons. His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts far greater than our thoughts.

Thank You Mum, You made the right choice

When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he said, “Hail, favoured one! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28b NASB).
This morning I called my precious mother for our usual morning chats when I am driving to work. One question I asked her was how she managed to go through pregnancy as a 24 year old single woman, and no husband to support her. I was the child she was carrying in her womb. I thanked her for not contemplating an abortion. Growing up in a conservative Christian church, she might have been excommunicated, ridiculed and shamed.
When pregnancy is such an intense stressor that the woman is contemplating abortion, she is making her decision under great stress. This means that she is likely to make a risky, premature, ill-thought-out decision based on what seems like the quickest way out of the immediate crisis.
There could be a young woman out there thinking of going the abortion route. We don’t know what she is going through and her state of affairs. However, there is a story in the bible of a young woman Mary who became the mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus.
Part of the price Mary paid was the doubt, suspicion, and rejection she encountered because of her virgin conception. Neither Mary nor her fellow believers were expecting a virgin birth.
Despite all this, Mary persevered. Although she experienced times of sorrow and despair, she always trusted in the Lord. She never decided to give in. When something bad happened, she continued on because she knew it was all a part of God's plan.
There are situations in life that makes us want to abort our dreams, visions. The discouragement, condemnation creeps in and the future looks bleak. Don’t give up on that dream and vision. Don’t give up on that baby; you don’t know what God made him/her to become. God is able to forgive us for the sin committed, but remember the child is not a mistake.
Thank you mum, you made the right choice. Look what the Lord has done. I am still here by the grace of God.

One thing is needed, Don't worry about Many things

Luke 10:42  But one thing is needful: and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

In a world filled with distractions, the story of Mary and Martha can help you set your life in order.

Jesus and His disciples arrived at the home of Lazarus, Mary and Martha about mealtime.An important lesson was recorded during that visit that should positively affect us.

Notice the exchange between Jesus and Martha: "She [Martha] had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.' And Jesus answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken from her' " (Luke:10:39-42[39]And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.[40]But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.[41]And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:[42]But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.).

Martha type - women who live their lives outside - in

They worry about many things: How beautiful they look in the church. What people will say about them. Want to be seen in the church and enjoy attention. They like to be involved in the ministries where they will be seen. This type enjoys compliments from people even if God disapproves. The motive is always to gain acceptance from people . This type doesn't have any revelation of grace, to them you must do something to earn God favour. They are always busy organising events in the church but not available for the fellowship.These are always busy, busy, busy never have time for the closet with Jesus. They don't avail themselves to Him in secret but want to be used by Him public.

Mary type - women who live their lives inside - out

They know where they come from with the Lord. They understand grace, hence they can take time to sit at His feet to listen to Him. These are thirsty and hungry for righteousness and they are filled at the feet of the Master. This type is sold out to the Lord to the extent that they can anoint the feet of Jesus, that is where they live AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER.They enjoy prayer because the only way you can sit at the feet of Jesus is when you are bowed down

This one thing that worth being concerned about, cannot be taken away from you. Not even the devil can take it away. This ONE THING David describe it profoundly in Psalm 27:4..... "The one thing I ask the of the Lord - The thing I seek most - is live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in His Temple."

The Mary type enjoy the Presence of God and there is where they want to live. Come, The Master is waiting for you to nestle at His feet.

You are not alone: We all have issues

Luke 8: 43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44: Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.

Have you ever felt like you could have stopped something from happening to you in the past? Or you could have done something different. This one thing haunts you day and night. Now you are sitting with a bag full of regret, guilt and shame.  You feel unworthy and useless, not deserving anything good.  Day by day you just go through life not expecting anything from God. This is how you feel “God is angry with me, I deserve this”

Imagine a girl gang raped after a night out with friends and there is no one to turn to for help. She blames herself for being out at night without the parents’ permission and all her adult life she keeps this to herself.  Another woman who had to do an abortion because her husband or boyfriend felt the baby was a mistake or unplanned. There is that woman, committed and faithful to her husband, only to be infected with an incurable disease by her unfaithful husband, now she cannot disclose to anyone for fear of rejection.  Imagine the shame on this woman labelled a “marriage breaker” after going out with this married man. 

 These women have one thing in common, they all have issues. The bible relates a story of one woman who also had an issue; hers was an issue of blood. This heart wrenching account of a woman who had spent all her means trying to be healed of haemoraging, is a story of terrible desperation and affliction. She had suffered with this condition twelve years and having spent all her money on physicians was no nearer healing than anytime before. She was according to the Mosaic law "unclean" and was an outcast of society, just the same as any leper.

So when she saw Jesus and reached out and touched the fringe of Jesus garment, she was doing something she wasn't allowed to do. Technically she had made Jesus unclean. That is why she was not quick to own up, when Jesus asked who touched me? She only admitted when Jesus insisted and then fell down before him trembling, she was clearly in fear of what might happen to her, because she had touched another and made Jesus unclean. When she fell before Jesus trembling she spoke of why she touched him and also declared to the crowd the mighty act which God had done for her in stopping the blood which had flowed continually for twelve years. Jesus response to her is not of rebuke and correction, rather he comforts her and tells her that her faith has made her whole and tells her to go in peace. Jesus wants to the same for every man or woman having issues. Just reach out and touch him and see what He can do for you.

Don’t despair, you are not alone: We all have issues.

Where are your accusers?

John 8:2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?" ……Jesus looked up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again."

It all started innocent. She was a maid in this house and she used to do all of the cleaning and cooking and looking after the young ones. The couple she was working for were in business and they often were away for nights at a time and sometimes his wife was away and he was left at home taking care of the business.

He was a smooth talker and he liked to sit down with a glass of wine after a meal and have a good chat. He did that with his wife most of the time when the children were in bed but on the few occasions she was away, On this particular day he came to the maids room and invited her down for a chat and a couple of wines.

She was young and didn't have the body of a lady that had given birth to three children. It was a summer's day, and he had laughed a few hearty laughs, and drank a few too many drinks when he grabbed her and began to kiss her. At first she was shocked but as he kissed her, she had to admit to herself that this was really her secret heart's desire. She responded and for a night she saw him very happy.

Of course in the morning it was hard for them to be civil with each other. With the sexual union, something had changed and there was tension in the air now as he made it clear that it was only the wine that had allowed him to make such a bad mistake.

It isn't very flattering for a girl to lose her virginity to a man that she loved, only to be told in the morning that it was all a mistake and that if it wasn't for the wine he would never have been so stupid. Soon she was reduced to a constant feeling of shame. The lady of the house suspected them from the first week but she was so busy and so driven she must have just put it to the side. But one day out the back when she was hanging the washing out she confronted her with it and in tears she made her confession. She promptly kicked her out with one week's income and she was homeless and heartbroken.

This could have been a woman caught in adultery and was brought to Jesus by the Pharisees. Under the Jewish Law She would have been stoned if she had not met Jesus that day. She was guilty of a bad sin and deserving of death and the hellfire. But thanks be to God that Jesus looks to the heart and could see that her sin was only a matter of bad circumstance on her part.

Like this woman there are a multitude of women who still live in condemnation and shame because of the sexual sin they committed in the past. You don't have to worry how big your sin seems to be. Jesus can free you of that sin if you would just let Him. He has the power and the anointing to heal you and you can be set free if you choose. So confess your sin and walk in freedom today. And in the words of Jesus I leave you. Where is your accuser dear friend? Therefore go and sin no more! –

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, – Roman 8:1