Page 7 - MyFaith Mag April 2017

The problem was, the devil had missed the big picture. Be-
cause of his selfish, misguided quest, he failed to see that
the very source of authority and dominion and the power
to sustain it, belongs to God alone. And without a heart that
is completely yielded and intimately connected to His ab-
solute love and excellent nature, it can never be attained.
Only a counterfeit copy, a shadow of the reality can be
obtained. And that, at a very high cost. The cost of constant
strife and struggle and fear of losing something you never
really had to begin with.
That’s why in order for us to truly know the freedom of being
complete and fulfilled, has everything to do with finding our
identity in the One Who created us and redeemed us to be
His own. It’s in Him, not independent of Him, that we truly
live, and move forward in this life and have our purpose
and being - which is our sense of belonging. (Acts 17:28).
So, if we ask the question again, “Why should we surrender
all and completely sacrifice our own self-preservation,
to become one with our Creator?” The answer is, “Because
He gave all for us.”
By coming to earth, Christ gave up His authority and sover-
eignty, the very thing the devil so earnestly covets (Philippi-
ans 2:7). He laid it down, put it aside as less important than
His object of affection, mankind. You see, the devil believes
that Christ’s identity is His power and authority, His ability
to reign and have dominion and be sovereign. When in
actual fact, Christ’s true identity is in the love of His Father. our Heavenly Father gave up His only Begotten Son. His Son,
He knew exactly Who He was, even without the trimmings
of power and authority. Jesus knew His Father loved Him,
unconditionally and completely, and that was and always
will be the foundation for His reference of identity. Being
secure, fulfilled and complete in His Father’s love is what
motivated and compelled Jesus to absolute obedience to
His Father’s will. Because Jesus loved His Father so much
and was so loved by His Father, He willingly did what He
knew would bring His Father pleasure. For God so loved the
world, that His own Son, willingly gave Himself as a sacrifice.
Jesus was so confident in the love of His Father, that the very
thing His Father loved, became His love too. That would cer-
tainly make sense, considering the nature of their relation-
ship. The Father and the Son are One. While on earth, Jesus
spent every day of His life demonstrating the true nature of
His Father. He was the epitome of complete unselfishness.
He lived to serve and minister to the needs of all.
When Jesus obeyed His Father, by going through the waters
of baptism, He received the full measure of His Father’s pres-
ence and power, through the Holy Spirit - the third Person of
the love trinity. Jesus, for our sake, showed us how to live
guided by, and yielded to the Spirit of God on a daily basis.
He demonstrated how to live completely dependent and
reliant on the Spirit of truth. He never said or acted on His
own impulse or desire, but always, first sought what the will
of His Father was, and only acted on that. And as He did,
He touched this world with perfect love, compassion and
peace. His absolute unity with His Father, through the Spirit,
brought healing and freedom. Freedom for all who were
oppressed with fear and poverty of soul. This intimacy was
for our sake, to show us how our relationship with God, can
produce a full, fruitful and highly productive life. His being
vitally connected to and completely dependent on His Fa-
ther, through the Holy Spirit, caused Him to live on purpose.
Then the day came where He refused to elevate Himself in
any way, but as an obedient sacrifice of perfect love. He
demonstrated a love that can never be equalled. The love
the Father has for us. Jesus gave up EVERYTHING to show us
how real, and deep, and powerful His Father’s love is. And
who loved Him completely and selflessly to the point of ab-
solute trust and obedience, to become the sin of the world.
Jesus didn’t just suffer death in the most cruel and horrific
way, at the hand of mankind. He suffered the assault of the
devil himself, and all the demonic hosts. What kind of love is
this? That the Son of God, would willingly give up His life for
us? It’s the ultimate, perfect, unconditional love of our God.
It’s completely unselfish and sacrificial and that, dear read-
er is where it’s power lies. This kind of love is perfect and can
and will, never fail. It will always triumph, even over death.