WORDS

Believe in Jesus’ love

The salvation comes through the faith in the Lord and through recognizing Him as God. You have to accept that.

29/01/2017

By: Apostle Valdemiro Santiago

Article by: Victor Correa

We have to understand the love of God. In Luke 23.33, the Lord was crucified with one malefactor on the right and another on the left. Jesus was together with sentenced people despite doing good to people. No one had ever seen another person who did as much good as Jesus before. He was considered a harmful person to the society. It was suggested that there were three criminals, but the most dangerous one was Jesus.

He was the manifestation of the love of God on earth. When they crucified the Lord, He looked at those who crucified Him and said, “Father, forgive them because they are not aware of what they are doing”. That people doubted, mocked, affronted, and teased Him. At that moment, one of the biggest miracles of the Bible took place. We have seen many miracles, but this one is different because it`s about one of those sentenced malefactors` salvation.

When I came to Jesus, I was going through hard moments to make my ends meet, grievance from deep of my heart, but I saw conditions that touched me and made me sure there was a God who suffered and died for me. You probably have a similar history or reason that made you change your mind, made your faith stronger and believe in God This malefactor, however, didn`t have any apparent reason. It`s different when you see God performing miracles in front of you or receive the miracle in your life. That malefactor saw an afflicted bloodstained defeated man begging for a glass of water. More than seven hundred years, the prophet Isaiah had prophesized things would be that way, it means, the Lord would be deformed and unrecognizable. Jesus was the symbol of the perfection of God and no one was so handsome as He was. When the prophet said He had no look and no beauty, it was because our history of suffering and pain was lying on His Body; we were being saved. Everyone, who reads it, has the access of this grace, this salvation, without being concerned about the situation of the problem. God may revert any situation when we rely on Jesus. However, at that moment, Jesus was ugly and sick because of our diseases, deformed because of our punishment put on Him. Jesus gave up everything and even so He isn`t recognized not even in His land, but He keeps loving everyone. He is different from us and loves without being loved. He loves for us to understand that a Christian life is to love anyhow. We shouldn`t love anyone and hope to be given rewards for that. Being a Christian means love without being loved, means to forgive without being forgiven, it means giving yourself. That`s the price of eternal life. People can`t believe that someone came to the world, lived and gave this example, there on the cross, that malefactor succeeded while his fellow mocked and cursed him. Under that circumstance, it`s comprehensible that, who met Jesus in that condition, wouldn`t be able to believe in Him. He could have left; He had power to get rid of it, but He was given for our salvation Jesus wanted to avoid having pains, but followed our God Father`s wish. That shows us His wishes are for us to be saved, no hate, no greed, no filth in men`s lives. We don`t preach the cross is the symbol of our victory, mainly because the Bible says it is faith. The cross was the signal of evil death as if it was a capital punishment in electric chair. The Lord`s lesson is that we shouldn`t have images to support our faith or motivate it, not even His, nothing that is above or below heaven. The faith is the signal, it leads, it approaches us to the Lord, justifies us, opens doors, and touches God`s heart. This malefactor saw the bloodstained man through the eyes of flesh, but he saw a skillful and rich man through the eyes of faith. That`s the way we have to live, being dependent just on our faith in Jesus Christ. We have to overpass our sight. The stronger our faith, the bigger our conquest is. Never think you depend on anyone because you just depend on God and on your faith. When it manifests, He will manifest His Power in your life too. The malefactor called Jesus as God, even seeing a person made of flesh and bone, bloodstained, moaning, thirsty, and recognized who He was. When the malefactor recognized the Lord, this man, who was a criminal, found the solution in the justice of god, which is very different from men`s justice. According to men`s justice, we have committed crimes which we wouldn`t be acquitted, but according to the justice of God, there is no sentence that takes long time because it depends on your faith. That`s the justice the world is in need. We have nothing to offer God that He doesn`t have, so the only thing He wants is our pure faith. This faith a criminal becomes a good man, criminals are restored, sanctified, forgiven, wars come to the end, and the hate fades away. The faith is the only weapon that may change the situation worldwide in any condition Life, our forgiveness, and God`s justice in our lives arise from faith. Even if you are a righteous person and fit into the world patterns, but you are not faithful, you won`t be justified. On the other hand, if the biggest sinner of the world manifests his faith, he will be justified. No one may change that, it`s the rule, the law of God. That malefactor, under a capital punishment, could have had a lighter sentence, a life sentence. On that day, that man, who committed dreadful crime and for recognized God and manifesting his faith, got to heaven as the premise of God`s Work. Its purpose is to give us examples of what faith may do in our lives. It`s able to change us. It`s so powerful that if I come back in time, I`ll find myself on the floor looking for death full of hate and grievances. Today, I fulfill a dream, which is to preach to a crowd in Israel. At the last minute, that man who was dying received his eternal life. When you recognize Jesus and manifest your faith, your life is changed. That man recognized that Jesus was God and this faith changed him from a criminal to a good man. Anyone who recognizes the magnitude of the Lord will be saved and will have quality of life. Whoever it might be, when receives the opportunity of recognizing the Lord and does it, is given all of his wishes. It`s within reach of everyone. You have to believe that there`s no limit. It doesn`t matter what you receive, nothing is bigger than God`s love. We might have an idea of how big this love is when we manifest our faith. Jesus took a criminal as premise of His Work to show that He came for those who were lost. The access is to recognize that He is God. You have to accept Him as being the Lord and Savior. You still have time to recognize Jesus as God. There`s no ritual, sacrifices, other ways, the Father wants you to call Him God from deep of your heart likewise the thief recognized Jesus. Everyone who cry out the name of the Lord will be saved.