JESUS IS A LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT(4)

*WISDOM FOR TODAY.*

*JESUS IS A LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT (4)*

*Scripture Treasure.*

Psalm 118:17 *I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.*

*Insight and Highlight.*

Ask Jesus to give you life rather than ask Him to take it!

*Scripture Commentaries.*

It has always been with joy when we receive the news that a baby is born.

Jesus says in John 16:21 that *" A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.*

However, it has not always been so.

The day of birth has brought mixed feelings of good and bad.

Solomon says the day of death is better than the day of birth, Eccl 7:1.

Solomon says the day of morning is better than the day of feasting and celebration.

He says in Eccl 7:2  *lt is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.*

He says in Proverbs 14:13 that *"Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in sorrow.*

The Psalmist told God to show him his end, Ps 39:4-5.

Sorrow occupied the hearts of some women as they gave birth and hence badly named their babies born in their sorrows, ref Gen 35:17-18, 1 Chr 4:9,

Job cursed the day he was born but not his mother, and there were those who celebrated his birth, Job 3:3.

He despised his life. He was disgusted. Job 10:1.

He questioned why God brought him out from the womb.

He said *".....Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!*

How much he preferred that he had *".....been carried straight from the womb to the grave!,*, Job 10:18-19.

Job felt suicidal throughout his travail, Job 7:16. He even described the day of birth as a day of trouble and a man's continued life in it as *'....full of trouble....."*, Job 14:1.

He wished God would crush him and cut him off, Job 6:8-9. In Job 17:1, he says that the grave awaits him. In Job 30:23, he said God would bring him down to death *"....to the place appointed for the living"*

Jeremiah caused the day he was born and the mother that bore him, Jer 15:10. He even cursed the man who brought his father news of his birth. It was a hard curse on the poor man who brought the news of Jeremiah's birth, Jer 20:14-18 though no record that his mother and father were sorrowful when he was born, Jer 15:10.

Elijah wished he would die, 1 Kgs 19:4, so did Jonah, Jonah 4:3.

We do not need to regret that God formed us in the womb or delivered us from the womb.

Having been delivered into this world, we do not have to ask that He takes the life away from us.

It is like telling God He did not know what He was doing or it was not good of Him to give us life.

Of all the people that asked for their lives to be taken from them, none was answered by God.

We can not take away His attribute as a Life-giving Spirit.

We must not be like those who took their own lives, ref Ahitophel, 2 Sam 17:23, Judas, Matt 27:5.

Only God gives and takes away life, Job 1:21.

He promises you life more abundantly.

Do not wish yourself otherwise!

*Remorse corner*

Nothing deserves an exchange for your life.

No amount of worldly success can compensate for the loss of any life!

Take life easy. Do not live it without Christ!

*Call to Word action.*

Your life is not negotiable.

Your life is unique and precious and can not be bought or sold. 

Matt 16:26 *For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?*

*The Christian clarion duty.*

Jesus is a Life-Giving Spirit.

He gives it freely!

*Prayer.*

Lord, l declare that l shall live and not die, in Jesus name.

Good morning all, and have a blessed day.

God bless you.