A MORE THAN CONQUEROR IN CHRIST JESUS: IT’S AT A COST – THE COST OF LOVE!
“This is my commandment, That ye LOVE one another, as I have LOVED you. 13 GREATER LOVE hath no man than this, that a man LAY DOWN his LIFE for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I COMMAND you” John 15:12-14.
LOVE is an ESSENCE of life that everyone talks about daily, wants to both have, give and experience, but how many know and understand the huge cost of LOVE – to receive it and to give it to another? Every great relationship that has stood the test of time has absolute commitment, dedication, and self-denials for the good of the other. They ensure the bedrock of LOVE they are founded on is NEVER shaken by any factors known and unknown that contradict the LOVE in essence. [1 Peter 1:19; Acts 24:16; Ephesians 3:17-19; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13].
And as a child of God in Christ Jesus stead, I know how much you want to daily experience being a MORE THAN CONQUERORS in Christ Jesus as you appropriate the ESSENCE. I am here to tell you that it’s at a cost – LOVE cost. The MORE THAN CONQUERORS essence is born out of the COST of LOVE. And it’s in our going through the journey of knowing and understanding that LOVE is at a COST, that makes the essence meaningful and fulfilling as we appropriate.
“WHO shall SEPARATE us from the LOVE of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 NAY, IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS through him that LOVED us. 38 For I am PERSUADED, that NEITHER death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to SEPARATE us from the LOVE of God, which is IN Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 8:31-39.
I want to emphasis emphatically that being able to exercise the essence of being a MORE THAN CONQUERORS in Christ Jesus stead, is at a cost – and it wasn’t just a mere GIVEN. It’s not cheap and it’s out there at no cost. It’s at the cost of LOVE. It COST God His Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and it COST His Son, Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ His LIFE at the CROSS of crucifixion, through the pains and pangs of suffering even unto death.
“And HOPE maketh not ASHAMED; because the LOVE of God is SHED abroad in our HEARTS by the Holy Ghost which is GIVEN unto us. 8 But God COMMENDETH His LOVE toward us, in that, while we were YET SINNERS, Christ DIED for us” Romans 5:5, 8.
And this matter of His life COST (given) to us by Father God, was and is – LOVE. Meaning therefore, that God’s LOVE – the AGAPE love, is unconditional, principled, non-sentimental, transcending, superseding, surpassing and it’s scriptural. And in the context of LOVE, God loves us; and this He expressed and authenticated by giving us His only Beloved Son – the first begotten from the dead – and by whom, it beholds Him to call us BRETHREN; and He expended it all in LOVE at a cost for our sake without a shadow of turning. [Romans 8:28; John 3:16; Revelation 1:5-6].
Therefore, it becomes apparent, that it takes a PURE CONSCIENCE of God’s genuine LOVE at a COST, which sometimes and most times, where possible, takes a toe on us, for one to actually and genuinely APPROPRIATE the MORE THAN CONQUERORS essence in Christ Jesus. Hence, the characteristic of LOVE is a vitality to ensure a genuine LOVE cost. [1 Timothy 3:18; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Romans 12:9-21].
And I ask you today – do you want to experience the fulness, wholeness, perfection, completeness and maturity of the MORE THAN CONQUERORS stead in Christ Jesus? How much PREPARED are you to LOVE God in Christ Jesus stead, no matter what befalls you for the cause of living, in following Him all the way? How PREPARED are you to take a daily stand in the Lord, facing life’s huge challenges and being BUFFETED for your FAITH in God through Christ Jesus? Can you be emboldened to say I love the LORD and His cause and you will follow along irrespective of these but not limited elements of opposition to your FAITH and devotion to God in Christ Jesus: condemnation, or tribulation, or distress, persecution, or famine, nakedness, or peril, or sword, or death, or life, or angels, or principalities, or powers, or things present, or things to come, or height, or depth, or any other creature and such like. [Romans 8:31-39].
May I say you need to be fully PERSUADED and CONSTRAINED to LOVE God with the LOVE He’s GIVEN us through His Spirit – to actualise it in essence in your being, in MORE THAN CONQUERORS dimensions, following God by FAITH in Christ Jesus. [Romans 8:35, 37, 39; 2 Corinthians 5:11-15; Romans 4:17-21)
To be MORE THAN CONQUERORS over your ENEMY and COHORTS, you have to count the COST of LOVE according to God’s WORD. It DEMANDS loving your ENEMY and COHORTS, feeding them if hungry, quenching their thirst – as scriptures says, it’s in Pleasing God by obeying SCRIPTURAL TRUTH that you can genuinely appropriate being A MORE THAN CONQUERORS in Christ Jesus stead. [1 John 5:1-5; Matthew 5:43-48; Romans 12:20-21; Proverbs 25:21-22; Proverbs 16:7; Hebrews 11:6; Galatians 5:6].
Take time today and always to ask yourself on how much to go to LOVE God back in His LOVE definition stand, that’s GIVEN to you by the bestowed Holy Spirit to ensure, as He loves you, just as for His Son to SUFFER in LOVE to genuinely LOVE you too. That’s how to live through LOVE in FAITH toward God and His Christ in all matters of doing life and living godly and through the avenues of any relationship but not limited in – Marriages, Friendships, Colleagues, Businesses, Careers, Leaderships, Ministries, Communities and such like.
It’s time to SELAH – PAUSE AND THINK, that LOVE is at a COST to ensure one to be able to appropriate to the FULNESS, a MORE THAN CONQUERORS in Christ Jesus stead.
May God find you faithful and steadfast in His BLESSEDNESS, experiencing the cost of LOVE, to be MORE THAN CONQUERORS in Him, through Christ Jesus stead. Amen.
SCRIPTURAL THOUGHTS WORTH PONDERING IN CONTEXT:
“BEHOLD, what MANNER of LOVE the Father hath BESTOWED upon us, that we should be CALLED the SONS of God: therefore the world KNOWETH us not, because it KNEW him not” 1 John 3:1.
“And HOPE maketh not ASHAMED; because the LOVE of God is SHED abroad in our HEARTS by the Holy Ghost which is GIVEN unto us. 8 But God COMMENDETH his LOVE toward us, in that, while we were YET SINNERS, Christ DIED for us” Romans 5:5, 8.
“Who in the days of his FLESH (HUMANITY), when he had OFFERED up prayers and supplications with STRONG CRYING and TEARS unto him that was able to SAVE him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 though he were a Son, yet LEARNED he OBEDIENCE by the things which he SUFFERED; 9 and being made PERFECT (COMPLETE, WHOLE, MATURED, FULNESS), he became the AUTHOR of eternal salvation unto all them that OBEY him” Hebrews 5:7-9 (Emphasis Mine).
“For this is THANKWORTHY, if a man for CONSCIENCE toward God ENDURE grief, SUFFERING wrongfully. 20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be BUFFETED for your faults, ye shall take it PATIENTLY? but if, when ye do well, and SUFFER for it, ye take it PATIENTLY, this is ACCEPTABLE with God. 21 For even hereunto were ye CALLED: because Christ also SUFFERED for us, leaving us an EXAMPLE, that ye should follow his steps: 22 who did NO sin, neither was GUILE FOUND in his mouth: 23 who, when he was REVILED, REVILED not again; when he SUFFERED, he THREATENED not; but COMMITTED himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” 1 Peter 2:19-25.
“For God so loved the world, that he GAVE his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3:16.
“This is my commandment, That ye LOVE one another, as I have LOVED you. 13 GREATER LOVE hath no man than this, that a man LAY DOWN his LIFE for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I COMMAND you. 15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” John 15:12-16.
“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having LOVED his own which were in the world, he LOVED them unto the END. 2 And supper being ended, the DEVIL having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to BETRAY him . . . 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have LOVED you, that ye also LOVE one another. 35 By THIS (LOVE) shall ALL men know that ye are MY DISCIPLES, if ye have LOVE one to another” John 13:1-2, 34-35 (Emphasis Mine).
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt LOVE thy neighbour, and HATE thine ENEMY. 44 But I say unto you, LOVE your ENEMIES, BLESS them that CURSE you, do GOOD to them that HATE you, and PRAY for them which DESPITEFULLY use you, and PERSECUTE you; 45 that ye may be the CHILDREN of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye LOVE them which LOVE you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye SALUTE your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore PERFECT (WHOLE, MATURED COMPLETE FULNESS), even as your Father which is in heaven is PERFECT” Matthew 5:43-48 (Emphasis Mine).
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be FOR us, who can be AGAINST us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but DELIVERED him up for us all, how shall he not with him also FREELY give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that JUSTIFIETH. 34 Who is he that CONDEMNETH? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh INTERCESSION for us. 35 WHO shall SEPARATE us from the LOVE of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through him that LOVED us. 38 For I am PERSUADED, that NEITHER death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to SEPARATE us from the LOVE of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 8:31-39.
REV. CHUKIE MORSI
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