It is FINISHED!

During an emotional crisis which once would have knocked me out of faith, I turned to the Lord for comfort instead of giving into fear. I kept believing His promises and His Word despite what I was seeing in the natural, and learned that He Himself is comfort, and peace.  It is something of what His presence brings to the table when he is seated at the head of it. Comfort is not so much something that Holy Spirit gives to us or does for us; rather it is a result of His presence. When we are baptized into Holy Spirit, we have all of Who He is living on the inside of us.  It promises to be an earth shaking realization, the more the truth inside of His Word is revealed to us.  Thank you for letting me be part of this, Father. Thank you for this amazing, incredible plan you’ve had for everything, since before you even made us.  You are awesome.

In the night, I’d been looping the go-to song I put on when otherwise I’d be sucking my thumb. (“In Christ Alone”)  I have listened to this song at least 1500 times, and that is no exaggeration. And every time I hear it, it is fresh and inspiring.  I could sing 300 Beatles songs word-for-word in my sleep, but when I sing this song to myself I can’t even remember all the words.  It’s weird.  Anyway, my ears picked up one phrase in the middle of the night “Till on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied, and every sin on Him was lain. Here in the death of Christ, I live."

The Lord showed me something in a way I hadn’t seen or understood before.  He showed me that on Him and through Him, all of the righteous justice on which God’s Throne is founded was poured out.  That is an understatement.  I saw, though it is too incomprehensible to fathom, all evil – all thoughts, words, actions; all death, destruction, and failure; all hatred, bitterness, lack, loneliness, poverty, sickness, disease, injustice, injury, betrayal, abandonment; all cruelty and wickedness; everything wrong that has ever existed since Eve paid attention to a talking snake – all of it.  Everything not pure, holy and perfect poured completely through Him – Him being Jesus Christ.  (Being from the South, I have to add about Eve “bless her heart”)  Jesus actually took into and onto Himself every single thing that has ever occurred since Lucifer invented pride.  And what happened next, after the entire black torrent rushed through Him, God, His Father and our Father, exacted His perfect wrath, punishment, and justice.  The entire Throne of God, and all righteous consequence of evil, landed completely, with all of its force and holiness, on Jesus.

I dare say that even those of us who have given our lives to the pursuit of knowing Him have not yet scratched the surface of how huge, awesome, and mighty Jesus actually is.  He literally took all sin, and every consequence of evil, for every single human being that has ever lived or will ever live. He took all unrighteousness and everything imperfect onto Himself, and not only that – He took all punishment each of us would have to receive in light of a Perfect God, onto Himself. Every single human being, there is no exception. Sin, in every conceivable form, has been dealt with. It was dealt with in one moment in time, and by One single Person.  That person was both God, and human – uniquely existing. There is none like Him. Again, an understatement.  And why did He do this?  He chose to do it.  It was His choice. He volunteered, willingly, before anything was even created.  He is “the Lamb Who was slain from before the foundation of the world.” He did this because… He loves you.  That is why He did this – because He – Loves – You.  He is personally and acutely aware of every single pain, trauma, heartache,  fear, sadness, grief, and pain that you have, right at this exact moment. Right… now. He is more aware of it than you are, and He knows it more intimately than you do. He took it – He took it – He took it-  for you. For you. For YOU.  He already took your heartbreak. He already took your headache. He has already experienced all of these things for you.  The things that you don’t even realize yet that are in you? He does, because He went through it all for you.  And why did He do this incomprehensible act of Love?  So that you. You. Yes, You. So that You can have abundant life, in all its fullness.  Fullness.  Abundance. Full and abundant life. His life, His own life of fullness and abundance. Jesus Christ came and did all of this so that you can have what is rightfully His.  Because you were intended to be a child of God. And you have the right to be, when you believe on His Name. You were made in the hopes that you would trade your junk for His righteousness and become an heir to God. Yes, an actual heir to all that God is, and has.  I don’t know about you, but I think that’s worthy of our attention.

Does God love you? Yes, I’d have to say definitively that He does love you.  Does He know your need, your hurt, your lack, your pain?  I believe that He knows it more than you do. And what’s more, because you are worth everything to Him, He is yearning for you to trade whatever is yucky and ugly about you with His own righteousness.  He will do this every time you notice something yucky or ugly in you – a thought, a feeling, a desire, an act, a word, a memory… everything. He has done His part, forever.  All that is necessary for you to benefit by what He has done for you is to accept and embrace Him yourself.