The passion of Christ concerning His coming to the world, to be born of a woman in a manger, to die a shameful, agonising death on the cross is to redeem us from the curse, punishment and the eternal condemnation in hell fire.
He didn’t come because there was nothing for Him to do in Heaven, the Bible says in Hebrew 12: 2b “… who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame …,”. The major reason for Christ’s coming is to reconcile us back to our Father in Heaven. The glorious position that the Lord put man before it was handed over to the devil. 2Corinthians 5:18 “ And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation”. The ministry of reconciling the sinner back to the Lord is the major and the only work that our Lord Jesus Christ has given to each and every one of us. Every other thing that we may be doing MUST point sinners to The Reconciliation path with the Lord.
Unfortunately, today, we have thrown away the noble task and assignment that has been given to every believer, (the work that God did not give to even angels), ‘ we are saved to serve’. God is not asking us to serve tables for Him, but to serve Him through reconciling the sinners back to Him.
How many Christians today are faithfully carrying out this work of reconciliation? We thank God for those that are still holding the baton faithfully. Without mentioning names we know them. Alleluia to the Lord who has not left us without consolation. May the Lord bless these leaders in this generation in Jesus mighty name. Amen.
The Lord Jesus said in the book of John 14: 15 “If you love me, keep my commandments” We know that the last responsibility that the Lord gave us in the book of Mark is to “…go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
How many Christians are indeed ready to go ? And even when we do go, what is the motive behind our going? May the Lord show this generation mercy in Jesus name. Amen. This cry for mercy is not asking that God should overlook our disobedience, certainly NOT; but that we should AWAKE from our spiritual slumber and run with this Heavenly Vision while there is still time. The night is fast approaching when the Bible makes us understand that no one will work then. Evangelism is the major heartbeat of God.
Sadly, most of the programmes, conferences, crusades we hold today is mainly to boost our ego, or to increase the number of people in our churches, or to outrightly raise money for the needs of the ‘ministry’. We can even deduce that most of the problems we are facing today in Nigeria are as a result of lack of godly motives in evangelism, and other misplaced priorities.
The zeal for soul winning and to completely do the will of the Lord was the motivating factor that made the Gospel to spread like wild fire in the days of the early disciples. This should also be our motivating factor today. But alas, the love for our pockets has taken over the love of Christ in our hearts. Unless we go back to the original command that was given to us, this generation may have questions that we will not be able to answer before God on the Day of Judgment, and the consequence can be very fatal. We must arise and make our ways right NOW !!!
GOD, PLEASE HELP ME TO BE A GENUINE SOUL WINNER FOR YOUR KINGDOM
In John 17:11b, , the Lord Jesus says “… those whom thou hast given me that they may be one, as we are”, verse 21 says ” That they all may be one: as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”
This prayer was the last prayer that He prayed for the disciples before His arrest and His crucifixion. This is like the commandments that a dying father will give to all his children before passing away. Generally, people take the words of a dying person very seriously, unfortunately, we Christians that are supposed to be guarding the words of our Master jealously have thrown them away into the dust bin. Unity among Christians has become past tense, one will be more comfortable having dealings with people of other religions than with a fellow believer. Where is unity among Christians when PFN (Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria) and CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) could not put all their resources together to make sure that LEAH SHAIBU was released from captivity, because she is not their daughter? Thank God for women like Ivy Ekwesili’s BRING BACK OUR CHIBOK GIRLS campaign, but how much can she do? The girl’s offense was that she was not ready to renounce her faith in Christ according to the dictates of her captors. LEAH SHAIBU, I doff my cap for you!!!
Our generation failed her, failed her parents and I dare say, failed God. Why will the enemy not continue to capitalise on our segregationist attitudes and continue to persecute the church? May the Lord help us and show us mercy. We have sold our birthrights because we are not ready to be our brother’s keeper. The spirit of materialism and selfishness has eaten so deep into our lives that we could no longer see the cross, the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. The work is becoming too tedious and discouraging for those that are ready to go out to declare the true undiluted Word of God, to teach the people how to be ready and be prepared for the coming back of the Messiah, because there is no financial or even moral support for them, yet we are busy building skyscrapers.
The disciples of old did not hold anything back from their resources, they gave all for the sake of preaching the Gospel.
I really pity this generation because very soon, what we think we are gathering for ourselves and families alone will soon be scattered before our very eyes. Where is your passion for the passion of our Redeemer? Yet we call Him Lord!!!
Lord Jesus, I pray, give me the grace to feel your passion for the church.
Another passion of the Lord Jesus is for us to love one another. He admonished us in John 13:34 -35
Pst (Dr) Veronica Adigwu- Audu
Deborah Initiative
Dr. Veronica Adigwu-Audu is a missionary based in Badagry, Lagos State.