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Redemptive Thinking- And It Was Very Good

A few blog posts ago, I introduced you to the concept of redemptive thinking with an understanding that it begins from knowing and believing that God is good. But how can we believe that God is good when we do not see goodness in ourselves or in the people around us? I recently saw a post titled, “My first abusive relationship was with God” and it truly gave me pause. I had to really think about that post not because it is true but because it represents a sentiment felt by many today who have abandoned their faith or are at a point where they are questioning if Christianity is worth it.

Many of us have been socialized to view salvation in a one-sided light and it becomes easy to fall into a trap of feeling low self-worth when we should be feeling like princes and princesses of a Glorious King. We have heard and come to believe that God was angry with humankind and did not like us because of our sin and the only way He could deal with us was to send His Son to die for our sin. God is a perfect God, who demands perfection and sin separates us from the perfect God and so Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God paid the price of sin and now imputes on us His righteousness. So when God looks at us, He sees the sacrifice of Jesus for us and is able to relate with us because of the blood of Jesus.

Now while this narrative of the gospel has many elements of truth embedded in it, there are still pieces of the salvation message that are grossly underdeveloped. One of these is that God first loved you in spite of you. Even before the blood of Jesus washed you of your sins you were first and foremost loved. This is a very important principle in being able to live a victorious Christian life, free from the guilt and condemnation that Satan brings as we try to live lives that are pleasing to God. In Gen 1:31a the scripture says:

And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good. BSB

It was very good. Humankind was very good. YOU were very good. Before the blood of Jesus, it started out with a God who made you in His own image and likeness and declared that you were very good; and He is trying to get you back to His vision of very good for you through the sanctifying work of the blood of Jesus. When He looks at you, He sees you- where you are today in His perfect plan and the you He created you to be. As we strive to live and walk with God on a daily basis, we sometimes falter; we are not our best selves somedays; and sometimes sin gets the better of us. This is why it is important to remember that while we were yet sinners, God’s love for us was so great He died for our sins. Even though Christ never sinned and so this is not an exact illustration, there is a powerful illustration of this point at the baptism of Jesus which I heard in a sermon last week.

Did you know that when the heavens opened and God said of Jesus, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased”, Jesus was yet to perform a miracle? He had not started doing all the amazing things we would come to know Jesus for and yet God spoke over Him that He was loved! What a powerful way to begin His ministry on earth, empowered by the love of the Father. Can I advance to you that before you become or became this amazing Christian whose walk with God is flawless, that Holy Ghost filled believer whose faith can move mountains, that powerful prayer warrior that is tearing down the kingdom of darkness, that person who loves the word of God, that man or woman who is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, etc., GOD FIRST LOVED YOU!

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 NIV

Love came before the blood. Our ability to be victorious over sin and the condemnation of guilt and shame is in the fact that above all, we are loved and because of this great love Christ died and we are now in Him (and being in Christ give us a positionality over sin that is a whole new ball game and deserves a topic of its own). The love that God has for us gives us confidence in this world and confidence to stand before Christ at the day of judgement.

And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgement for in this world we are just like Him. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:16-18 BSB

Once we come to an understanding of how much we are loved, this knowledge does not give us a license to keep living in sin or in our brokenness. Instead, this knowledge should drive us to see ourselves as God sees us…as very good and to motivate us to work with God to attain this perfect state! Our sufficiency, our successes, our goodness comes from Him through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. This is certainly not the characteristic of an abuser. This is who our God who loves us and wants to restore us to the Manufacturer’s setting through the blood of Christ. Do you sometimes feel you are not enough? Even in my shortcomings, He is there to let me know His strength is perfect in my weakness and I am enough because I am loved!

Yours Truly.

P.S. I was totally blown away by this encouragement and so I am going to share it with you. As a mother, there are many times when I have felt clueless and unsure of what I am doing. I have felt discouraged and have beaten myself up more times than I would like to admit. Last week during the sermon, the pastor in expounding on the fact that ‘Christ is in us, therefore we are enough because He is enough’ said, “If God needed someone else to mother those children He would have found someone else. He chose you! So choose you! I encourage you to choose you this week.. because God saw that everything He had made including YOU was very good!

Posted on by intentional4christ

Redemptive Thinking-“O God Why?”

This week’s blog is by Pastor Kwashie Tettevi and begins the blog series, “Redemptive Thinking”. As I delve into the book of Job and grapple alongside Job with the realities of loss and grief, this post offers a great perspective into understanding the goodness of God which is a paramount in redemptive thinking. So let’s begin by looking at some scriptures:

Psalm 135:6 (KJV) “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places”

Daniel 4:35 (KJV) “He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”

Isaiah 14:24, 27 “The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.  For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?”

Eccl 3:14 “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him”

These verses introduce us to God who is a sovereign supreme ruler, has ultimate power, is completely in charge of His creation, and does what pleases Him in His universe. And when disasters strike, like devastation caused by earthquakes, hurricanes, accidents of all kinds or in the face of accidents, poverty, breakdown of family units, abuse of various forms, violence, wars, illnesses (terminal or otherwise), and death, it is human nature to ask, “O God why? Why?” “Why did you allow this or that to happen?” “Why did you not intervene and prevent this or that from happening?”

Some Christians believe that if they have sufficient faith, God will not allow them to suffer severe trials or tribulations. However, this is an erroneous, non-biblical belief which is often a manifestation of the false gospel called the “prosperity gospel” where adherents declare, “No tragedy or calamity can touch my life!” or “I can never be sick!” or “I can never be poor!” and so on and so forth. When adherents of the “prosperity gospel” make such declarations, they place a huge burden on Christians who are going through struggles with tragedy, sickness, loss, etc. which can be very discouraging and can potentially overthrow their faith during those times. The reality is that such declarations misrepresent God and His plan for His people. Tragedy, trials, and tribulations do not negate the fact that God is good but they are not meant to leave us in hopeless despair either.

There is no scriptural teaching that promises a life free of tragedy, suffering, sickness, or losses. What we are assured of is that God is with us in our earthly sufferings (Jn 16:33). He comforts us, helps us, and enables us to endure them. He also redeems and makes our suffering serve His good and glorious purposes (Rom 8:18, 28). There are three truths I would like us to ponder on.

First, Jesus Christ understands our suffering.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

2 Corinthians 1: 3-4 NIV

We do not have an unfeeling High Priest who is far removed from our suffering. He is the Father of compassion and He comforts us in ALL our troubles. For some the comfort comes right away, for others it may take some time. Regardless of the timeframe, He comforts us in every single one of our troubles. Our comfort overflows in Christ (2 Cor 1:5). He promises to be with us through all of lives circumstances – rejoicing over us with singing and accompanying us through our darkest days with His comfort.

Secondly, God is always working everything out for our good and to achieve His good purpose.

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:28 NLT

The Old Testament illustration of Romans 8:28 is found Genesis 50. In that story, Joseph’s brothers betrayed him, sold him into slavery and falsely presented him dead to their father. Decades later, Joseph says this to his brothers:

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Genesis 50:20 NIV

We see two wills at work here: Joseph’s brothers’ who successfully perpetrated evil, and God’s will that successfully brought about good from their evil. There is a principle involved here – God sovereignly works so that the evil committed by men or Satan or his demons are dramatically reversed to achieve God’s good purposes. God is sovereign over the schemes of men and hell and He is working everything out for our good, to bring about an expected end. Now, God is explicit about His expected end in Genesis 50: 20, as He is today: the saving of lives! Restoring people back into fellowship with Himself is His ultimate goal and He works out this “good” in every situation of our lives.

And finally, our earthly suffering is temporary and cannot be compared with the transformation and joy we will experience for eternity in the world to come.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Romans 8:18 KJV

When we are going through difficult times, it can be a hard thing to believe assuring words like those above. When we witness or are plagued with horrific illnesses, the aftermath of wars, or when death snatches away a loved one, it is difficult to fathom how it “works for our good” and how the glory of God will be revealed in that situation. It is easier to ask, “Why doesn’t God do something about the suffering to begin with?” Let me tell you something dear friends: He has!

The cross is God’s answer. God did do something! Jesus’ death brought about an end to the reign of evil and suffering. Born into this fallen world, Jesus Christ suffered the punishment which was due us. He who was without sin suffered the guilt, pain, and humiliation of having the sins of the world placed on Himself (2 Cor 5:16–21). In His agony on the cross, and at the point of death, Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “It is finished” and scripture records that the veil of the temple was torn into two (Mark 15:38). Our sins were fully atoned for and the power that sin (and suffering and pain) held over us released its grip and was broken forever. Now here is the “good” and expected end God worked for us through Jesus’ sacrifice:

Eventually, we will be able to identify with John who said, “I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever’” (Revelations 21: 3-4 NLT).

What the enemy meant for evil in crucifying the LORD was meant for good, even the saving of many lives and the permanent abolishing of death, and sorrow, and crying and pain. That is the glory we look forward to – the day when God will fulfil this promise. Lord hasten the day when our faith shall be manifest! Hallelujah!

When “bad” things happen to us, there is always God’s (hidden) purpose in it. He will use it for our good; He will use it for His glory—perhaps in this life we will know it as such; and if not, we can be assured that we will know it finally, at the return of Christ. So then, let us be men and women of great faith, trusting our God completely with all of our hearts! For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. This, dear friend, is a change in our mindset. It is redemptive thinking!

Yours Truly

P.S. Pastor Kwashie Tettevi is the founder of Glorious Liberty Outreach Church in Ghana, West Africa. He has been pastoring for almost 40 years and remains active in ministry.

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Derailed- A Dream Deferred

Did you have certain goals for your life that have not materialized? Have you ever felt like the plans you had for your self and the outcomes of your life have been derailed? My whole childhood, I groomed myself to be a medical doctor. I graduated one of the top of my class from elementary school all the way to high school. I got accepted into two reputable medical schools, got recommended for partial and full ride scholarships to three countries outside my home country to study medicine, and actually started to pursue a career in medicine by virtue of one such scholarship. Then through a series of events, I switched my majors with a hope to find my way back into medical school. 17 years later, I have settled in another career and with each passing day my career as a medical doctor becomes a distant dream…a what could have been! I know I am not alone in having a dream or life plan be seemingly derailed. Let’s look at a story from the Old testament:

One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.

Genesis 11:31-32 NLT

Terah was headed for Canaan, which was God’s promised land for the people who would come out of Abraham, the Israelites. This was land that God describes later as a land flowing with milk and honey… and Terah was headed towards his set destiny but got derailed. He stopped in Haran and settled there and there he died. His dream of a land flowing with milk and honey died with him in Haran. End of story. I could end my blog post here… he died and so did the dream of Canaan. But thank God for redemption.

I was recently introduced to the concept of redemptive thinking through a 2 minute podcast I heard from Susie Larson. I am going to explore this concept more in another post in the near future. But what I want to say about this for now is redemptive thinking is about changing the way you think and it starts by believing that God is good. When you believe that God is good, you can also believe that He works everything out for your good and for his glory. The dream of Canaan appeared to have died with Terah but it was always in the heart of God that the Israelites would possess the promised land. However, so much had to happen between when Terah had this plan and when his descendants would actually live in that land- including a name change of Terah’s great grandson from Jacob to Israel. And with each passing year, this dream became more a distant past but one day this happened…

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

Genesis 12:1-3 NLT

God put Abraham back on course towards the set destiny and plan! Funny enough, this dream was not Abraham’s to see fulfilled. In fact Abraham got to Canaan and there were people already there and so he had to move on. However, what Abraham had that Terah did not, was the blessing of God. God blessed him and his descendants and in so doing the dream even though was not fulfilled physically in Abraham’s lifetime, was fulfilled through his seed. The blessing of God ensured that God remembered Abraham long after he was dead and God fulfilled the promise of Canaan to him (Exodus 2:24). Abraham had a future and a hope and even though he died, the dream was preserved and fulfilled in its appointed time.

Many times we are so busy making and pursing our plans and desires that we forget to ask for God’s blessings. Other times, we forget that it is His plan for us that prevails despite our skilled planning. We forget that He is good and therefore His plans for us are good and are bringing us to His expected end… His vision of Canaan for us (Jeremiah 29:11).

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3 NIV

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21 NIV

When Abraham went through Canaan, there was no mention of a land flowing with milk and honey. In fact, there was famine in the land and so he had to go to Egypt. Abraham’s version of Canaan was not God’s expected end for Abraham and his descendants. I say all this to say that our plans are not always aligned with God’s expected end for our lives and so sometimes a dream “derailed” or deferred is not necessarily a bad thing. It could be the best thing that ever happened to us. The key is to trust God like Abraham did and even when plans seem derailed, God can bring us to His expected end.

There are a few concepts that I have touched on briefly that you can spend time reflecting on: God’s purpose [will] vs our plans; the blessings of God; the function of appointed time in the fulfilment of our plans; and the goodness of God. I will end with some questions and encouragement for you: Has your life in recent times or time past felt like a winding road? Have things not been going smoothly as planned? Does your career path feel like it is all over the place? Are you feeling tossed about by the billows of life? Then may you find encouragement in this:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight [emphasis mine].

Proverbs 3:5-6 BSB