In the beginning there was God – Perfection.

In the beginning was God & God spoke and it was so.

There were heavens, Earth, light, day, night, sky, stars, moon; trees with fruit, creatures of the

Land, sky & sea… God saw that it was good. – Perfection

In the beginning was God & God said “Let us make man in an image like Ours” and it was…

Not just so

Cause this time, He opted not to just simply speak us into being but He stopped what He was doing (cause we’re worth more than multitasking) & with careful consideration,

He reached down in into DUST…

(He must’ve gotten His hands dirty but I bet it didn’t matter cause He was SO caught up in this masterpiece He was about to make)

& He reached down into DUST…

(somewhat symbolic of what we are before His touch)

He reached down into DUST and gave that dust form & with His touch, He gave that dust identity & with His breath, He gave that dust Life.

He breathed His breath into the nostrils of that well-sculpted dust & instantly dust became a MASTERPIECE.

I imagine the angels lifted their heads & turned in awe as they tried to sneak a peak of the Creator’s most precious creation. (The creation story alone ought to tell us our worth!)

Perfection.

In the beginning there was -  Perfection.

And then came Deception

Slithering into the garden’s perfect equation, a fraction of truth with a whole lot of lies

Hoping we’d not recognize his disguise…

And I guess we didn’t…

Cause we bought into the lie and bit into the fruit believing that God had withheld good from us.

See, that’s where the story goes downhill. We believe that God withholds good from us…

Not realizing that by believing his lies, we’ve shut out True Light.

Deception

See, that’s all the devil needs…

To make us think that the God who created us knows not how to take care of us.

To make us think that the God who says He loves us withholds good from us.

To make us think that thinking twice or thrice about obeying God’s law is right

And so he plants seeds of “baby lies” into our hands and

Enticing us, we take it to our mouths and

Swallowing, we pass it to our blood

Not knowing that it’d eventually reach our hearts.

But our hearts have within it the dirt that these seeds need to grow and so they grow until they’ve become great lies that now feel like they’re a part of us.

Our stomach gets upset

As we try to expel them from our system… thus starting the War.

DECEPTION

His thoughts vs. God’s truth

God’s truth vs. his lies

He throws his punches one after the other.

Telling us:

“God doesn’t have your best interest at heart.”

“He’s slow to protect”

“Slow to provide”

“Why should you be the one to go through this trial?”

DECEPTION

Since the inception of time

The prince of this world has specialized in denying us truth.

A master of his craft, he skillfully makes good seems bad and bad seems good. He bends and twists his lies until they’ve taken the form of truth.

Walk & talk like truth.

Sound and even feel like truth...

But not until examined closely under the Light will see through Lucifer’s lies.

Haven’t you realized…

that he specializes ONLY in counterfeit?

Truth – counterfeit

Joy – counterfeit

Counterfeit life which only leads to eternal death.

But in the beginning was the Word & the Word was with God and the Word was God.

In the beginning was the Word & had that Word not come to life to give light to those lies, we’d still be deceived.

REDEMPTION!

Oh redemption that we cannot repay.

Sweet redemption that continues to save.

Redemption… to break us from the web and chains of deception.

Redemption to set us free from the bondage that kept us hostage to sin

REJOICE for redemption has come!

Praise God for redemption has come!

(but just a sec’) Redemption came at a cost my friends…

Someone’s blood now covers that price tag

Reminding us of our promise

To give our lives

To give our hearts

To give our time

To spend ourselves in devotion to the ministry of the Redeemer…

Remember that promise?

When did submerging ourselves in the ministry of Christ get out of style anyway?

When did we become entitled to use “our” time and resources the way we see fit?

Remember your promise?

Remember when we believed He was worth it?

Out of love Jesus paid it all.

Out of love, should we not give Him our all?

Reflection.

Ellice Prout

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I would be selfish beyond recovery if I were to sit here in my little Christian corner & experience Christ by myself. 

I know what it feels like to want MORE... 
I know how it feels to realise that no friend, parent, loved one, gift or amount of money can satisfy the soul 100%. Even as a Christian I've had my days [correction: months] of feeling hopeless. I've questioned God...just like you might have. My friends could tell you that I've made enough mistakes to last... for a while & well, like yourself, I think I've had my fair share of pain. I've been on the road of confusion and loneliness many a times. But at the end of it all, (or maybe I should say "in the midst of it all") GOD IS STILL FAITHFUL. I just want to say that again... GOD IS STILL FAITHFUL no matter what your circumstnces look like or no matter what your emotions tell you. Friends, no one is more faithful than He is. Trust me, no one loves you like He does. All that you've ever wanted lies in His touch. His embrace can heal your heart. His voice can enlighten your darkness. His BLOOD can save you. =) 

I know you've heard this before but GOD IS PERFECT. He isn't like us. He doesn't know what it is to mess up & I can't help but find comfort in that. This life isn't perfect and so pain will be inevitable but what if you did not have to endure it on your own? Don't you want to understand the freedom there is when we cast our burdens on Him? If your burden is not light, give it to God. I really mean give Him EVERYTHING and He will give you comfort. 
Give God a chance. Please. He's given us many. Break down those walls of doubt, fear, pride and skepticism that prevent you from running to the One who loved you first. Give Him a chance to have your whole life this time. Don't ever think that things are too bad for God to handle. Just tell Him that you need Him and that you are His and have faith that He will take you on a new journey. 

If you've never given your life to Christ or if you've only given Him a part of your life, then join me in taking a stance. Choose to dedicate or re-dedicate your life to the only Saviour. If there's a part of you that is not completely fulfilled, if there's a part of you that still desires something more from life, then that means there's a part of you that knows you should draw closer to Christ. 

Salvation was not made available to us because Christ randomly felt like leaving His throne of Glory to experience the "thrill" of crucifixion on Earth. 
HE DID IT FOR YOU. 
He was not forced. He CHOSE to do it for YOU. 
God- the king of the world; the creator of Heaven- became flesh [FOR YOU] 
He subjected Himself to every kind of pain possible [FOR YOU] 
He allowed sinners to ridicule Him and de-crown Him [FOR YOU] 
He allowed men to spit on Him and abuse Him [FOR YOU] 
He allowed a crown of THORNS to be placed on His royal head and His sides to be pierced [YUP...that would be FOR YOU as well] 
He endured the pain and the humiliation [just because HE WANTS YOU] 
Yes, it's unbelievable but it's true! 
Don't believe me? 
I bet you've never wondered then why He did not call it off, why He did not cry "You've taken this too far. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!" ? 
You see, He knew all along that you'd be worth it. 
God became like an insect in His OWN company [for OUR SAKE]. 

He is waiting...God is waiting on you to come to Him, to receive His gift ( and if you've already received it, then to enjoy His gift). He's waiting on you to get closer to Him. 

I can picture Him glancing at those nail-pierced hands daily, with no regret in His heart and only love in His eyes, as He whispers to an angel "It was worth it. You see, I'm just waiting on this one to realise that I am MORE THAN ENOUGH."

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