THE GIFT

THE GIFT

It is wonderful to receive a gift especially from someone special. It brings such joy to my heart to know that this special someone knows exactly what I was hoping for. I am ever so grateful and thankful and I show my appreciation by valuing this gift and the effort this person put into it with the intent that I would treasure it. Most of us have been blessed by the wonderful gifts given to us for some special occasion or for some event by someone we deemed special to us. It makes us feel loved and cherished and yes, appreciated. This is a good feeling to know the endeavor and the time taken to bring us joy and delight.

Do you know these gifts we receive from others most times are fleeting and just momentary? After the initial acceptance and pleasure has waned we look for a place to put it away. May be a closet or a clothing box, or some drawer depending what it was. It may have gone out of style or the relationship you had with this special someone may have ended and the gift no longer holds any significance as it did at the time you received it. There can be many reasons why the gift that was once valued and treasured are no longer meaningful to you.

I want to tell you a story of a special Gift. Our world was in chaos much as it is now and it was dark and void of life. Nothing was alive in this world that I speak of except a few evil spirits and their leader. God saw the darkness and knew He could not allow His children to live in this world as it was. So, while the Spirit of God hovered over the deep God spoke and everything was changed from darkness to light. Everywhere you looked there was life abundantly. There was a sun to give light, a moon and the stars to shine the way at night and to alert us when it was time to rest and sleep. There were trees and food for His children and all the good of the land you can imagine.

However, as the story was told this evil leader, called the Adversary, sought out God's children and he tempted them to sin. They fell and died not in the sense you might think but a spiritual death. You see there was a time before God's children sinned, God would come and visit with them and walk with them in the cool of the Garden. He spent time with them. God allowed them free access to everything in the Garden except the tree of "the knowledge of good and evil". He said to them, if they disobeyed this command they would "surely die." The story went on to say the woman in this story, one of God's children, fell for the lies perpetrated by this evil Adversary. She committed this grievous  sin and so did the man who God had put in charge of the Garden and everything in it.

It was devastating for this couple and the entire human race. God had created this paradise for His children and gave them everything they wanted or needed and they allowed greed to rob them of an everlasting beautiful life with The Father, God. God was hurt and disappointed and He tried to make the best of an already bad situation. When they partake of the fruit of the tree they were forbidden to eat of their eyes were opened and they saw themselves naked. The glory that was their covering, the same glory that is on God, they lost. They were now naked and God knew they had been duped by the Adversary. The children of God tried to make themselves a covering to hide their nakedness and shame with some leaves. It was a crude and poorly attempt to cover their skin. God took mercy on them and covered them with skin of an animal from the Garden and banished them immediately.

The children could no longer stay in the Mighty Presence of God. They could no longer stay in the glory if they did they would have been extinguished by its intensity. God did not want them in the Garden anymore to contaminate the tree of Life. God told everyone involved in this travesty what the consequences would be even the Adversary. That special connectedness they had with the Father was no longer possible because of their now sin nature. Sin separates and divides. They were now separated from the glory and from the Garden and from The Father.

To make a long story short, many things transpired for God's first children- the man and the woman. God knows everything about us even before we germinate a thought He already knows. Nothing is hidden from Him and there is no place we can run to or hide from God. God knew His children will disobey Him and He made concessions for us by giving us a very special Gift. God is amazing and the Best Father anyone could have. If you do not know your earthly father, or your relationship with your biological father is strained you don't need to look any further. You have a Loving Father in heaven who loved us so much despite our shortcomings and messes and flaws. He gave us a Gift that will last for eternity.

This Gift is Jesus Christ, The Anointed One, God's Son. John 3:16: declares, "For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son[a] so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (TLB). Verse 17: God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it." (TLB). Remember, God had to save His children and He had to send His Son to redeem all of His fallen children. When the woman and the man sinned, there was a ripple effect of all of their future children, that is you and me. From then on, every child that was born into this world was born already in sin even though the child obviously did not sin. This was the ripple effect of our fore parents' sin. We needed a Savior. God gave us the only Gift He had so that we all would have an opportunity to freely accept this precious Gift- Jesus.

This Gift came into our lives without pomp and glory but in a simple and unassuming way. He lived among mankind as fully man and fully God, yet without sin. His ministry lasted three years but during that time His work was to serve mankind. He healed the sick of all their diseases, He ministered to thousands of people and children, His work was exhaustive. He raised the dead and cast out demons. He left a legacy for those who believe in Him to emulate. He told us to go out and preach to the world so that world too will be saved. He lived, He died a horrific death and paid the ransom for our sins. He arose on the third day. During those three horrendous days He descended into the bowels of hell and claimed salvation for the old testament fathers from hades and overcame death and damnation for all mankind. " And these men of faith, though they trusted God and won his approval, none of them received all that God had promised them; for God wanted them to wait and share the even better rewards that were prepared for us. (Hebrews 11:39-40, TLB)

The wicked remained in Hades (hell) until the final judgement. Those of us who accept this wonderful Gift and live our lives for Jesus we have nothing to worry about. We have a place, a beautiful mansion waiting for us and all that God has prepared for those who love and serve Him. So as Jesus descended to Sheol (hell) He also ascended to Heaven to be with His Father, Our Father. "The psalmist tells about this, for he says that when Christ returned triumphantly to heaven after his resurrection and victory over Satan, he gave generous gifts to men. Notice that it says he returned to heaven. This means that he had first come down from the heights of heaven, far down to the lowest parts of the earth. The same one who came down is the one who went back up, that he might fill all things everywhere with himself, from the very lowest to the very highest. (Ephesians 4:8-10).

God gave everyone- every man, woman or child this wonderful inheritance of a free gift offering in His Son, Jesus. However, to receive this gift you have to be willing to accept it freely. No one is exempted not even the worst reprobate, criminal or offender. This is an equal opportunity offer but there's a time limit. Now is the best time to receive this gift. This is how you receive it:

Heavenly Father, I accept the Gift of Your Son, Jesus into my life and make Him my Lord and My Savior. I renounce the lord of this world, Satan, from my life. Please forgive me of all of my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I confess today that Jesus is Lord of my life and that He died for my sins and was buried for me and He was resurrected so that I can have life eternally. I am no longer separated from my Father and I can live my life in obedience to Your will, in Jesus Name.

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Shalom