Received on August 14th, 2006 - 4:34PM Last Updated: August 14th, 2006 - 4:40PM
I saw this image a few times over the last week and knew God was wanting me to share it with others.
He showed me a baseball game, and how sometimes a player will make a spectacular play, usually a catch, that will change the course of a game. In the process, the player usually has to sacrifice his body, risking injury, to make such a catch for the sake of his team.
That player will get rousing applause, on no initiation of his own, and eventually when that half of the inning is over, will go back to his dugout.
If that play is amazing enough and the fans realize it, they will continue to applaud, yell, and root for him to come back out of the dugout. Then the player does so, usually tips his hat and waves, and the crowd again cheers raucously.
However, to preserve what that player did, the team has to continue to play hard and imitate his effort so that the game can continue on that new course and be finally won in the 9th inning. Then when the game is won, that player again will get a tremendous outpouring of thanks and cheers from the fans!
Jesus made a spectacular play on the field of the Earth. He gave His body up for the sake of the team, to make a play to change the course of the game. The Cross was the ultimate play that no one expected to be made, that turned the game of Life around for His team and all the spectators.
Jesus did not and does not try to gain glory for Himself for this, but waits to see what we will do. He is waiting in the dugout to see if we will recognize the play that He made. He is waiting to hear the applause, the yells of His Name, the screams of thanks, before He comes back out.
The Spirit showed me that it is almost as though our praises of Him for His sacrifice of Himself to change the course of the game would "bring Him out" of that dugout, which is Heaven. Our thanksgiving, our praise of Him and recognition of the amazing thing He did on the cross, will draw Him from heaven to return.
Until the end of the game, we must imitate His effort by giving all that we have for the sake of the team. We must be willing to give up our bodies to make the plays necessary to gain and preserve the lead.
His return from Heaven will initiate the final and ultimate rousing from the crowd at the end of the game that will deafen those cheering. It will be a time of joy, happiness, unending thanksgiving, as we again see the One Who turned the Game of Life around, surprising the doubters and giving victory to the Home Team!
Praise the Holy Son of God, JesusChrist, for the tremendous play He made for the Team—He gave up His own Body to make the play, and turned the game around!
If you are on His team, a member of His Body through faith in His blood, imitate His passion in playing and preserve the lead He has gained for us!
Worship Him until He comes back out from where He's been waiting; let Him know we appreciate Him for what He did, and He will show Himself for all to see!
As you read this site, you will hopefully come to know Yahweh more fully.
But all of this continuing knowledge is useless unless and until you come into union with Him. I use the word union because it is truly a marriage. It is that deep connection we all seek, for which we most often look in other people. However, the truth is that our hearts will only be fulfilled when we enter that union in fullness with the One Who made us.
This is the grace of God, that He has not stayed distant for us only to worship as Creator. But He has come unto us, even become one of us—in His Son, ChristJesus—in order to share an intimate union with us. He desires such closeness that it truly will envelope our entire life, transforming us into something new and wonderful.
You may have already entered this union with Him and only seek to know Him better through reading here. But if you have not, as you do read, let this Gospel sink into your heart as you read it now.
God loves you, and has cast your sins into the sea. He has sent His only Son as the Savior of the world—that includes you.
That Son, JesusChrist, was born as a man through a virgin who had given her life to Yahweh; He lived without sin, reflected the glory of His Father, God, in all His words and deeds, and was persecuted even unto death because of it.
His death upon a cross was the powerful explosion that separated you from your life of death. It remains for you, now, to enter into that death with Him. As you die to the one you are now, a person separated from God from your many sins, you will be born anew, with a nature predisposed to live rightly. This gift is free to you, with nothing you can do to earn it. It is the mercy of God to offer it to you, as He loves you so much! All you must do is receive it by trusting Him to have delivered you. Simply place your life in His hands and embrace the freedom that came through that death on the cross.
The Gospel is that Jesus did not remain dead, but rose again on the third day after His crucifixion! Death could not hold Him, as He was without sin. And so death will not be able to hold you, as you identify with Him fully through your trust in Him. Let go of yourself and confess Him as Lord of your life. The power of His death and resurrection will work in you all that your Creator has destined for you. You will truly enter a new life and experience that intimate union you have been seeking all of your life.
So ponder these words as you read here of this great God—Yahweh—and all that He has revealed to His creation. Let His Spirit testify to your heart that these words are true, that God is Love, and that He sent His Son so that you might receive the life that is unbound by time and space. As you feel that witness in your heart, simply believe and receive what He is offering to you, even now, and begin your new life as a child of God.
Please write to me and let me know when you take this step, as I will be your brother in Christ—we will be one in Him!
Scripture Quotes: World English Bible Translation.
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