August 7, 2011

  • In the love of Christ

    For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39)

    Besides a verse of comfort during spiritual warfare with forces unseen and an assurance that no matter how outrageous things become, we are never separated from the love of Christ, we also come to understand more His love for us - how we love because He loved us first.  We would never come to know what love truly is and how to love another until we come to know and grow in God, who Himself is love, through Jesus Christ, who came in grace and truth.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross demonstrates His love for us while we were still sinners.  Repenting and accepting Christ and His death on the cross as atonement for our sins is the beginning of our salvation journey, which we should work out with the Father.  In our journey, we will learn more about Christ's love for us, how through that love, we were chosen and predestined to become Father God's sons and daughter with Christ as the firstborn over all creation.  Because life is created by Christ, death is conquered by Christ, angels and demons are created by Christ, time (past, present, and future) is created by Christ, and all authority/powers instituted by Christ, there is nothing in creation that will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.  He is firstborn over all of creation and as such, nothing in all creation can separate us from Him.

    Through my wife, I am learning more of the height and depth of Christ's love for me.  It is true that time, the past, present, and future will not be able to separate me from the love of God that is in my Savior. (1)  Our marriage is not a common one.  We did not date.  What happened is very simple.  God spoke to us both independently and confirmed to us that we are husband and wife.  While I am not going to get into the theologies and legalism involved in the thinking and imaginations of man and their contention that marriage is a choice that two individuals make (as the Bible states clearly that what God has joined, no man can separate), I am going to say one thing.  A life built upon a foundation that is Christ will stand firm against everything and a life built upon human imagination, human guessing, and human choices will not stand.  While one is motivated by love for God, the other is motivated by love for oneself/man and one's/man's imaginations.  All too often, there is "divorce" not because of the failure of marriage (marriage itself is instituted by God and thus, perfect), but the failure to follow the guidance and leading of God in marrying the one that He has for one.  Instead of letting God choose the mate, we are trained by the imaginations and falsity of this culture to think that the choice is ours.  The choice is not our choice as the word of God states, "what God has joined, no man can separate."  To think that we decide who to marry is a mockery of the God's word.  There is no such a thing as divorce and a separation proves to us that the people who were "married" did not marry in God's will (some Christians call this an annulment).  In this sense, there was no marriage at all because clearly it is not God who joined them, but they who joined themselves against the will of God.  If two "married" people separate, then they were never in God's will in the first place.  Remember, God says, "what God has joined, no man can separate."  Remember, no man can separate, and if the couples are separating the marriage, then it is clearly not God who has not joined them.  Talking about the imaginations of man and their thinking that the institution of marriage created and brought together by God is for them to bring together who they want to without God's involvement - what arrogance on man's part and our society is paying for it dearly.  

    God told me when I was a child that the person who leads me to Him shall be my wife.  Throughout my life, I anticipated who this special person would be.  Having a wife is one of the promises/prophecies that God Himself gave to me.  There were a few women under consideration, but none of them became my wife because they did not believe that God decides.  Their indecisiveness and second guessing whether I am the one for them is a sure sign that they are going about this in their flesh, evaluating and imagining what the results may/could be.  Furthermore with the prophecy, I came to understand that the person who would marry me will know that I am the one for her because God Himself will tell her.  And, this is what happened in God's timing.  God Himself told my wife that "I was reserved for her".

    As I reflect on my experiences of how the marriage that God has for me came to be, I realize that time, the past, present, and future did not separate me from the love of Christ expressed through my wife by faith.  In the past, I knew she was my wife by direct prophetic word; women have been rejected because they did not fit under the prophetic word.  And, I know through faith she will continue to be my wife here on earth, not because I like to think positively, but because I know that God spoke and what He speaks is reality.  Certainly, time did not separate me from my love for my wife because I knew of her over two-thirds of my life, having met her only about a year and a half ago.  It is through this being unable to be separated from her love for me that I learn more of what it means to know personally that neither the present or the future can separate me from the love of Christ. 

    (1) To expel the religious spirits that love to take things literally, clinging to the word of the matter instead of the spirit of the matter, it is true that the word of God states, "neither the present nor the future" can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  It is my contention that the past will not be able to separate us from God's love as nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from Christ. 

    Copyright 2011 by Christenstein

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