In John 16:33, Jesus encourages us to hold our peace through our inevitable troubles. He gives us hope, because He has overcome the world. 

It sounds so simple doesn’t it? 

But it really is. Matthew 24:35 says that heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word of God will never pass away. 
This world as much as we dislike thinking about it, is not our home. Once we accept that this life is not the end, that Jesus has given us the gift of salvation and has overcome the world, we wouldn’t be moved by the troubles we see around us presently. 

In a world full of fear, we can choose to trust Gods word. God has called us to be a peculiar and holy nation.(Peter2:9) We are called to be different. When the whole world is in panic, we have the opportunity to share the good news with them. (Well, I can’t find a synonym for the word ‘good’ that can correctly express this news.) 
JESUS OF NAZARETH HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD! 

We don’t have to fear our future. All we have to do is accept Jesus into our hearts and let Him take control of our lives. We can rest assured that our eternities are safe and secured. 

Don’t forget to spread the good news. People need hope, and Jesus is the only one that can present us with hope and peace that surpasses all understanding. 

Last weeks blog was about how Jesus loves us so much that He died for us while we were yet sinners, not even knowing if we’re going to love and accept Him as our Saviour. 

This love is unfathomable. 

There’s a sad sad reality. When people have walked a long road of wrongs, they feel as if they can’t give their lives to Jesus because they’re ‘too sinful’. Sometimes even worse, they think that Jesus wouldn’t love them anymore. 

This is one of the most critically mistaken notions. 

The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ 
There is no perfect person. Jesus was the only sinless man to walk this Earth. When the scribes and the Pharisees in John 8 had brought a woman who was caught up in adultery for stoning to Him, He said “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” When He had said that, they started leaving one by one with the realisation that they all have sinned. 

If you’re thinking that you’re too much of a sinner for Jesus to love , I want you to know that it is so extremely far from the truth. We all have sinned and we all fall short, but the most comforting fact is that we are all justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus through the cross.  

There’s nothing that could ever stop Jesus from loving you. How you respond to His love and His call is what matters the most. 

If you had the choice to wander the desert for forty years or to live in the promise land flowing with milk and honey (all things good). The probability of choosing to wander the desert is feeble.
Some of us are wandering the desert now. Lost. Miserable. Heartbroken. Lonely. Forgotten. Naturally we didn’t choose it, but sometimes we miss the route to the promise land. How do we miss the route?

When Moses in the book of Numbers, delivered the Israelite’s from slavery, out of Egypt, God told them that He would lead them to the promise land. He could have taken them using a faster route, but God knew that His people would get distracted by the war and become terrified and run back to Egypt. So He leads them through the wilderness – the longer and trickier way. The former prisoners to slavery grew annoyed following Moses in the wilderness. They were even willing to return to shackles and bondage. God made them comfortable, but they were never grateful. They were always moaning and grumbling for more. Soon as the Israelite’s could see the promised land, they sent in spies. The spies came back saying that the people who already lived in the promise land were big, strong and intimidating. The Israelite’s were now afraid to move into the land and doubted God and His promises. This is when God became angry, he told them they will not see the promise land and instructed Moses to lead them back into the wilderness.

Like the Israelite’s, sometimes God may take us down the longer route to protect us. To lead us to our promise land without us being distracted, scared and unprepared. We however, become restless within the process. Most disturbingly, we wallow in ungratefulness. Then we fail to trust God, we doubt His promises and instead of reaching the promise land, we find ourselves incapable and unworthy of entering it.

We can learn from the past mistakes of the Israelite’s and avoid walking in the wilderness for 40 years. We have to learn to trust God with all our heart, soul and mind, and to let go of complaining and grumbling. (Philippians 2:14) Asking Jesus to uproot ungratefulness by filling our hearts with contentment. God is good, and He will never ever deny you access to the promise land if you trust Him and allow Him to work on you, creating within you the fruits of the spirits.