THE GOSPEL: DON'T TAKE IT FOR GRANTED!

The gospel is very great indeed, its message has freed me from my guilt and condemnation, it has freed me from all laws and traditional practices and it is great to know that above all, God loves me unconditionally and nothing can separate me from his love, not even sin. My name is Jude Asuqua, a 200L student of the Dept of micro biology, UNIBEN and this is a story of how I took God for levity because of my misunderstanding of the Gospel, its implication on my life and how I escaped. It was in June 2008 when I first heard the true Gospel; it is a great and wonderful news, I have previously heard the gospel but all I heard was guilt instead of freedom, fearful worship instead of joyful worship, mandatory giving instead of willful “out of love” giving etc. hearing the true gospel was awesome and great, I thought I was in the light, I never knew I was in darkness up until June 2008. I discovered scriptures like romans 8:38-39, Colossians 2:14, 1 Thess 4:17, Colossians 2:9-10 and many more great scripture. I was excited about this and I just worshipped God all the way for I experienced what the scripture says in 1 peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” and Romans 5:20 “The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly”, I was so happy, this was when my lackluster began. It started in May 2009, I discovered that I don’t even commune with God any more talk less of a serious relationship with him,” Grace has done it all” I would say to myself, in fact, I barely had time for God, I focused all my attention on something else, at times, I wouldn’t even go to church, I felt I knew it all, I felt I have completely known God and this continued until the 6th of January 2010, my family got into financial crisis, I trusted God for a breakthrough because of his word in eph 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” I believed I did not need to talk to God about it, I would say to myself “God knows”, this crisis continued and it tore my family apart, my mother left home because of it and yet, I still didn’t commune to God about it. Things turned out for worse as the year wore on, my father could barely pay my fees, I became frustrated, I began to question God and wondered if he was still alive, my faith in him began to quiver, I was mad at God, my father and myself for having them both, at times, I will just sit and cry and wonder if God truly cares. One morning, 16th of Oct 2010 to be precise, something that changed my whole paradigm happened. I woke up without even regarding God because was bitter. I got up from the bed and went to the kitchen to check if there is going to be breakfast for that morning and to my shock, there was nothing, I was pissed and angry and in my anger, I heard a very still voice and it said “have you spoken to God about it”, I couldn’t believe my ears, I have never heard such calm voice before, was it the Holy Spirit talking to me? I asked myself. I sat down to think about it “have you spoken to God about it”, these words kept echoing in my mind and then I realized God was calling me to order and there was a surety in me that it was the Holy Spirit. It is true, I haven’t spoken to God for a very long time now, I got down on my knee and told God that I was sorry, I told him things about my life and the areas I needed change in, I talked to him about my family and what we were going through, I didn’t realize until after the prayer that I spoke to God for 1hr 30mins, I was happy, I felt peace in my heart, I called all the members of my family and we prayed together, I could feel the atmosphere of change settling In my life, three days after, my mom returned home and my dad’s shipping consignment was released, I went back to my bible to read and I asked the holy spirit for better understanding. I discovered that Grace is to make us even worship God the more and not sideline God, I discovered the scripture in the book of Titus2:11-12 telling us what Grace has done for us and what it will do for us ”For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world” I also discovered that the whole essence of our salvation is for us to be closer to God and have a wonderful relationship with him and not being full of ourselves and eternal life is all about knowing God in John 17:3 “This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ”. I just hope this little story of mine inspires you and I pray it touches you where it supposed to and if you are in this shoe right not, please run back to God, his arms are outstretched waiting for you.

Thanks to Jude Asuqua 400L, Dept of microbiology, UNIBEN, for sharing.