“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
II Corinthians 5:14-15 NKJV
*****
This past weekend was Easter celebrations – we celebrated the death and resurrection of our King Jesus! Merely writing about it makes me smile… but I was hit by an entirely different angle of the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection. One that stretched me and seemed to place a demand on the meaning of Christ dying for me and for you.
You see, last year when I took time off to spend some time at Jesus’ feet, when He began to speak to me about my calling in Him, He started from the fact that I AM DEAD.
He had led me to a message by brother Gbile and as I listened I cried because all of a sudden it dawned on me that the life that I live cannot be mine any longer.
And this year He began to place a demand on my deadness.
What does being dead mean? And what does it have to do with Easter celebrations?
Most of us Christians celebrated “He is risen!” and He is (hallelujah!) But what does that really mean?
What does Jesus want it to mean for our lives?
Apostle Paul found the answer. He said:
“…because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
The occasion of Jesus’ death for every Christian should mean that WE NO LONGER LIVE FOR OURSELVES BUT FOR THE ONE WHO DIED FOR US AND ROSE AGAIN.
There is a bit of the message of salvation that got all skewed up/that we weren’t taught when we came to Christ.
No one REALLY TOLD us what being alive in Christ really means (or maybe God leaves us till we grow to a certain extent before He releases this new area to us).
We had the honeymoon stage with God where we love up on Him and get all goey inside but then we didn’t know that the TRUE MEANING of Him being Lord over our lives translates into the fact that WE ARE DEAD; HE LIVES IN US.
What should this mean?
It means that we do not hang onto our lives, plans, will or desires. It means that we truly die so ONLY the life of God is lived in us.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”
John 12:24 NKJV
But somehow what we see these days is Christians dragging their lives with God. We scream, I cannot let go! No Lord, No!
But should the clay argue with the potter?
“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
John 12:25 NKJV
Sadly we love our lives so much we hold on tightly; od which the life isn’t even ours to begin with.
I was confronted by Christ saying this to me this Easter weekend:
“Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Matthew 9:35-38 NKJV
How can we have so many Christians celebrating Easter but the Lord still is crying out that the harvest is plentiful and there are no labourers to reap the harvest?
What’s happening with everyone who is saying that they love Him?
If you love Him, you will keep His commandments. You will know and understand that you are not the one who is alive; you are a dead man walking simply being a vessel walking and working on the earth for the Lord.
What that means is that when the One who owns your life says “this is the way to go”, you say “yes Lord. This life is your life, we go wherever you lead.”
Getting to this place isn’t easy but like Apostle Paul said, if we truly understand the meaning of His death and resurrection, then this is what we would judge: that He died for me, so I would no longer live for myself but for the One who died for me.
What does it mean to live for Him in the context of what He wants in these end times?
He says that the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few.
“Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
John 4:34-38 NKJV
Is your food to do the will of the One who sent you or to do your own will?
Where are the labourers who know that the time of harvest is now?
If Jesus was here and alive, what work would He be doing?
And if we truly understand the meaning of His death and resurrection and who He died for, won’t we be finishing the work of the One who loved us?
What is His work for these end times?
What is He saying?
“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
II Corinthians 5:18-20 NKJV
His heart burns for His harvest to be reaped for Him. There are still a lot of His lost sons and daughters who He wants to hear the message of reconciliation.
Who is going to share it with them?
He gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Do we love Him enough to go reap the harvest with this message of reconciliation?
Are we dead men walking indeed with our only aim ONLY TO LIVE THE LIFE OF JESUS AND TO FINISH HIS WORK?
Who are you living for?
Did He really die for you?
Do you really understand what He did for you by His death and resurrection?
If you did, then what do you judge?
“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”
II Corinthians 5:14-15 NKJV
Does His love compel you? Or are you compelled by your own selfish interest?
Prayer:
Lord I surrender all to you.
Let the full consciousness of what you did on the cross dawn on me. I relinquish hold on my life. I lose it so I can find you. I die. You live in me.
*****
Have you come to this place of death in the Lord?
Do you find that you give up your life and take it back again?
The Lord is looking for laid down lovers He can send in these times. Men who have nothing else in their hearts but “LORD WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO?” (Acts 9:6)
Decipher the times. The time is so short. Whatever you are doing now, the Lord needs you in His service. That His death and resurrection would not be in vain in your own life.
He wants those who can cry “Lord, here am I, send me”.
Are you one of those people?
JUST A FEW THINGS:
1: My new book “Prayers For your future seed” is set to be released next month!
We have been planing the launch/prayers for Lagos when God said to go to Jos.
I am a bit flipped over my back but I said yes to go whereever He wants me to go and these days I see His daughters in the North when I pray.
Preorder my new book PRAYERS FOR YOUR FUTURE SEED here
Or pay directly into:
Frances Okoro
0153528160
Gtbank
And email okorofrances@gmail.com to confirm. Cc books@hephzibahfrances.com
PS: This is in faith. Every pre-order we get goes towards the kingdom trip to Jos and plans. If you want to sponsor beyond pre-orders please email us.
If you are in Jos or in the North and your heart is tugged on please reach us too at okorofrances@gmail.com
God bless you.
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