The Best Equation Ever!

Who loves maths eh? Certainly not me. But the following is one equation dat will
change your life forever. This was shown to me by Suling via sms~ I never realised
until then~

The most impt equation is this:

3 Nails + 1 Cross = 4 giveness (forgiveness)

Cool huh? 3 nails... 3 long nails dat nailed the two palms and feet of the Messiah
Jesus Christ on dat 1 terrible cross which brought about forgiveness for all the sins
of Mankind. And i wonder whether anyone has wondered why only Christianity offers a
forgiveness of sins :)

Actually this answer is simple. The bible says dat God does not delight in seeing
His creations, dat is us, go to hell, but instead wishes dat all be saved by faith
through Jesus Christ. And being God, He knew dat we couldnt save our lives for nutz.
Which is why He became flesh in the form of Jesus Christ, to endure every temptation
dat has plagued Man, to experience all dat Man goes through in life and yet no sin
was found in the Son of God.

There is only ONE WAY to God the Father, and that is through the Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except
through Me!"

And the way to receive this salvation is through FAITH in the death of Jesus Christ
on the cross to save the souls of Man and His subsequent victorious resurrection.
I've a fren whom i met on the mission trip to KL whose name is Faith, and i like the
acronym her name forms: 'F'orsaking 'A'll 'I' 'T'rust 'H'im!

1. Forsaking ALL!

Forsaking all is the essence of carrying one's cross daily and following Christ
against all odds. And sometimes, the dearest things we hold on to in life, God asks
us to surrender and submit them to Him to test us and see wat our hearts are like.
It is easy to say dat you want to follow Jesus, but your words DUN mean a single
thing unless it is translated into ACTION. Just like when God told Abraham to
sacrifice Isaac on the alter as an offering to God, Abraham OBEYED. He prepared the
location of the offering, firewood, the alter, the knife to sacrifice his son etc.

You can be sure just what kind of anguish must have been going through the mind of
Abraham at that time. Abraham was ready to give up his ONLY son, demonstrating the
ultimate act of sacrifice and forsaking ALL, including possibly his own
principles, his values, his ethics, basically forsaking all dat he represented and
stood for. He probably couldnt figure wat was going through his mind when God told
him to sacrifice Isaac.. and he definitely couldnt figure out wat was going through
God's mind when he was asked to kill his own son! But he picked up His cross and
obeyed the command of God even though He didnt know the reasons why!

And many a times, we are so reluctant to sacrifice, to part away from our dearest
possessions in life, whether our family, our money, our relationships, our ministry
and wat not. But then, as Abraham was about to stab his son, GOD STOPPED HIM! God is
indeed the most merciful of all! And He never ever hurts His own children!

2. 'I'!

'I' is 1/3 of the unholy trinity. Dunno whether you heard of it but if you havent,
the unholy trinity basically is 'Me', 'Myself' and 'I'. Yes~ there you go. The self-
centred, self-indulgent, egotistical, arrogant, proud, conceited and haughty thing
called 'I'.

The bible says dat without faith, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God. The bible did not
say without ministry, it is impossible to please God.. nor did it say without
praise and worship, it is impossible to please God.. NO. It says without FAITH. Thus
in whatever you do, if you do not do it with faith, what you do is meaningless
because it does not give glory to God nor does it please Him.

Most of the time, what keeps us from having faith in God is ourselves! It is the 'I'
dat insists on doing it my way. It is the 'I' dat would rather choose to put my
trust and confidence in the things of the world rather than dat in God. It is the 'I'
dat is too proud and arrogant to admit that without Christ, 'I' AM NOTHING!

To have faith in Jesus Christ, is to forsake ALL including 'I'! To deny yourself, and
pick up your cross daily and follow Jesus, even if it should mean to the point of
death! When the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer forced Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego to bow down to his image, they refused to! On top of that, they replied to
Nebuchadnezzer,

"O Nebuchadnezzer, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown
into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue
us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if He doesnt, Your Majesty can be sure
that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up."
(Daniel 3:16-18)

The NKJV bible version says something like, 'Let it be known that we will not bow
down."

We WILL NOT BOW DOWN!

They were all ready to FORSAKE themselves and hold on to the
promises of God! They denied themselves! Even their lives! So the King had them
thrown into the furnace, but guess wat! God preserved their lives! They came out
with not a hair on their heads cinched, nor did they smell of smoke!

They had FAITH enough to believe dat God will come through and true for them! The
bible says dat if you have faith as little as a mustard seed, you can move mountains!
And it also says dat whoever who tries to save his life WILL LOSE IT, but he who
loses his life for the sake of the Lord Jesus WILL KEEP IT. Shadrach and company did
not forsake God in their time of need! Hebrews 13:5 says dat, "I (God) will never
leave you, nor will I forsake you."

So we must never forsake God but have complete faith in Him!

3. Trust Him!

Trust in God with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your
ways acknowledge Him and He WILL direct your paths!

Trust God with every single aspect of your life! When your life is totally
surrendered to Him, He will make ALL YOUR PATHS STRAIGHT! It doesnt mean dat your
life will be smooth sailing or a bed of roses.. no. The bible says dat He will make
your paths straight!

For God to STRAIGHTEN out your path, your path must have been one dat is a mess! And
dat goes for every single one of us because we are sinners. As a sinner who has not
experienced the grace of God, our paths in life continue to be crooked and filled
with obstacles and harsh elements. After receiving our salvation, God goes before us
and lays out a path dat is better, that is in His will for us to walk on. Of cos,
this path will never be easy because we are living in a world full of sin and
corruption. Our paths here on this earth will never be perfect UNTIL Jesus comes back
to earth a 2nd time to reclaim His kingdom here! Hallelujah!

When you put ur trust in others, YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED! Make no mistake about
dat! Just like in the book of Isaiah, when the Northern kingdom of Israel put their
trust in the Assyrian might to destroy its enemies the Syrians. But after putting away the
Syrians, the Assyrians moved down south to attack Israel and totally decimated the kingdom.

This is a stern warning to those of us who choose to put our faith, our trust in the
things of this world. It could be your parents, your financial adviser, your gf or
bf, your parents, your company etc etc!

But in God, all things are possible! Dat is why we need not have any fear dat God
will short change us or fail us. God never fails to bring to past what He has already
purposed. Therefore, walk close to Him and put your full trust in Him and whatever
you ask for in Jesus's name, the Father will give you!

In conclusion, it takes faith to believe in a saviour who saves, but it takes even
greater faith to deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Jesus. The bible says
dat either you're with Him or against Him. There is no space for a luke warm
Christian in the kingdom of God, for God says in the book of Revelations to the
church in Laodicea 'If you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of My mouth!'

Let's reignite our fire for God each and every new day and seek new refreshing rivers
of oil! Let's continue to walk closer and even more closer to God and seek His Rhema
for our lives. Indeed, the Christian must not remain where he is but each day grow
in wisdom, righteousness and holiness, from glory to glory in the Lord Jesus! Let's
continue to fight the good fight! :D