Dear,

Thank you for indicating your interest in being one of those that God will   use us to minister His grace unto. We are delighted and consider it a great privilege. We trust that He will enable us do this effectively. ‘For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.’ (1 Corinthians3:9, NIV)

The goal of ‘Pens For Christ’ is to help others grows in their relationship with God. You will agree that every journey begins with a first step. Similarly, you can’t talk of the growth of a thing that does not even exist. The same is true of our relationship with God. 

Therefore, we want to believe that you have requested to receive our articles because you have actually started your journey of faith, by receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. If you have done this, then you are on the right track and could not have made a better decision. All the same, we will like you to share with us your salvation (experience) and your walk with God so far.

However, if you have not even began your journey of faith by receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, then this might just be the opportunity for you, and we hope that you will seize it.  We will begin by helping you to understand some basic truths about yourself in relation to God, as revealed in His Word. These include:

i. God made you and me

ii. We all deviated from (rebelled against) God

iii. God sought us out

iv .God’s way out

Now let us look at each of these points a little more closely, trusting the Holy Spirit to grant you insight.

(1) God Made You & Me

Now, not too many of us have a difficult time believing the fact that we did not just come into existence, but that rather we were formed after the likeness of God.

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created Him: male an  female he created them (Gen 1:27, NIV)

“For You created my in most being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”(Psalm 139:13-16, NIV)

Now, imagine that as an engineer, you were able to invent an automated machine (robot). What would you expect of this robot of yours? For one thing, it is yours and is expected to do nothing else but serve your purpose and do all that you desire of it. It does not exist for itself but for you. It does not belong to anyone else, not even to itself, but exclusively to you.  The same, if not more, is true of our relationship with God and His ownership of our lives. “For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created” (Revelations 4:11b, NLT)“ Everything has been created through Him and for Him’ (Col 1:16c, NLT)

(2) We All Deviated From (Rebelled Against) God

Ever since our first parents – Adam and Eve, disobeyed God and chose their own ways against God’s own, we all inherited the same ‘sinful’/rebellious’ nature against God. We were born with the nature, and lived according to its desires. Worst of all, we withdrew ourselves from under the authority, rule and ownership of God and submitted ourselves to the devil.

By God’s verdict, nobody is an exception to this, no matter how good or bad he/she may seem. ALL of us are guilty of the same offense of rebellion against Him. We committed acts of sin, because we inherited the sinful nature. To put it in another way, we manifested what we were genetically predisposed to do.

Suppose that all Nigerians are banned from entering a particular country because of an offense by one of her top citizens, do you need to commit the same offense to be banned as well? Not all! You simply need to be a Nigerian and that you have no power over, if you already are. What applies to one applies to all.

“We all, like sheep,have gone astray,each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6a, NIV).12

“When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”(Romans 5:12, NLT)

(3) God Sought Us Out.

In His great love and mercy, it pleased God to seek us out, even when we  were not seeking Him. Now when two people have a conflict, it is only natural to expect the offending party to take the first move towards reconciliation. But in this case God took up the initiative of seeking for us.“This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10, NLT). “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though some one might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:6-8, NLT)

God decided to seek us out, not only because we were not seeking Him, but also because we could not even help ourselves. Ever since the entrance of sin into the world, the human nature simply could not please God (even if it tried to). The Bible describes it as being hostile towards God’s laws.“For the sinful nature is always hostile to God.It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.”(Romans 8:7, NLT)

Hence it became necessary for God to provide us with a way out.

(4) God’s Way Out

God’s provision of a way out is found in the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ. Only He meets God’s requirements and only through Him are we acceptable to God. “Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty, He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.” (Rom 3:24-25a, NLT)

Jesus died for our sins. He laid down His life for us. He did this so that all who receive Him might be free from sin and obtain God’s eternal life free of charge. ”God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21, NIV)

What Will You Do With Jesus?

Now that you have understood the state of man and God’s way out, what will you do in response? If you never have received Christ by faith, you can do so right now. You can say a prayer like this to God:

‘Lord, I thank you for loving me. I am sorry for my rebellion against you. I thank you for Jesus Christ who died to pay for my sins. I accept Christ as my Lord and receive in Him as the only way of salvation. I confess with my mouth“ Jesus is Lord” and believe in my heart that you raised Him from the dead. Thank you for accepting me. In Jesus’ name. Amen!’

If you have said that prayer sincerely, congratulations! You have taken the greatest step of your life and will never regret. You can trust in Jesus’ promise in John 6:37: ”All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (NIV) We expect to hear from you in order to help you further.

In His love

Babatunde  Adewole

For ‘Pens for Christ