DO YOU HAVE A NEED FOR RECONCILIATION?

God had been taking me back over and over again to Isaiah 53 which speaks about what Jesus did on the Cross, about what He obtained for us through His sufferings.  I kept reading it out of different versions of the Bible, knowing that God was trying to tell me something.

One of the areas that kept attracting my attention was first Vs 4 where it states:

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”.  I heard a minister say that whatever trials we go through in life were the “griefs and sorrows” that Jesus had taken upon himself on the Cross.

The other verse that kept coming back to me was the end of Vs. 5 which states “The chastisement for our peace was upon Him.”  That same minister had said that Jesus was chastised in my place so that His peace was available to me as the fruit of the Spirit.

One early morning, wanting to check out yet another version of the Bible on Isaiah 53, I opened my Amplified Bible and a piece of paper fell out of it.  It was Proverbs 4:20-27 which reads as follows:

“My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.  Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.  Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.  Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you. Let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you.  Ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established.  Do not turn to the right or the left, remove your foot from evil.”

 I then went on to read Isaiah 53 from yet another version of the Bible, The Chain-Reference Bible which comes with an amazing set of “study tools”.  As I read this Chapter once again, as I came to the part of where Jesus took the chastisement for my peace, this bible referred me to a scripture in Colossians 1:19-20 which states:   

“For it pleased the Father that in Him (in Jesus) all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

Then it hit me!  God was plainly telling me that the cross and the blood of Jesus provided the peace of reconciliation for me, regardless of the situation!  But He was also telling me that it was going to require something on my part, that I keep my ears inclined to His sayings, put away deceit from my mouth and keep perverse lips far from me.

WOW!  Does God speak, or what?  

I understood perfectly (by His Spirit) what He was saying to me.  I must admit that He was correcting me BIG TIME!  I knew exactly what He was correcting me about and I humbled myself before Him and asked Him to forgive me for my perverse lips and to forgive me for not having understood the preciousness of the cross in this area before.

The idea that through the blood of His cross, he had provided a means for the reconciliation of my peace in whatever area I did not have peace or reconciliation in,  just blew me away (in a good sense)!  

But now, the task begins!  Instead of worrying and fretting and grumbling whether in thought or word, I am asking Him to endow me with the grace to follow His truth.  I already know that unless He helps me, I will surely fail and fail miserably!  But I also already know from past experience and from the faithfulness of His Word, that whatever He tasks me to do, my God is quite able to equip me with the grace and strength that I need to fulfill His instructions!

I knew exactly what situation He was speaking to me about and I praise Him for His instruction!

But what about you?  Where do you need peace and reconciliation?  Is it a family matter, is it a monetary matter, is it a health matter, it is a matter with your children?  It does not matter what the matter is (no punt intended).  The only thing that matters is that “It is written:  Colossians 1:19-20 ““For it pleased the Father that in Him (in Jesus) all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

Our God is a Great, Big God and He has an answer for every trouble, every trial that we will ever come across!  Didn’t He say in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Sometimes it takes us humans a while to “get it”, but God is always at work and God is always speaking!  I believe we are coming into the days where we will hear more quickly, where we will respond more eagerly, where obedience will be our natural response!

We are blessed in Christ beyond the curse!  The curse has been defeated because He became a curse for us on the Cross!  As it is written:  Galatians 3:13-14 “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

He didn’t deserve to die on the cross, we did, but He loved us so much that He took our place!