Zanele Tlhakanelo

When we allow the power of God to work in us, we are strengthening our faith because we do not believe in our own limited understanding. There are so many doctrines and false prophets that the Word of God warns us about and the Word says, even the elite will be deceived. The only protection we have is when we obey the Word of God and keep all His commandments. We can only do this through prayer and reading His Word. The Word of God says 'Without Him, we can do nothing". It is therefore important to rely and trust in God alone. Along the way we disappoint God by our actions, thoughts and speech, but that does not make God to remove us from the Book of Life which I believe that those who trust in Him are already written there. We have been discussing predestined in the previous questions and I believe that God knows who will be with Him until the end. I am reminded by what the thief who was hung along our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that did he was promised to be with the Lord in Paradise that very moment. God in Omniscient.

Man cannot come to God without the help of the Holy Spirit. I always believe that it is only the Holy Spirit who guides, leads, directs, advises and helps us do the right things and choose to do the right things. When Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, He promised us that He will not leave us alone but will send the Holy Spirit because He understood that our unrepentant hearts, our stubbornness need the Holy Spirit to work in us. The Holy Spirit is very gentle and will not force any man to make a decision without willing to do so. Again, the sufficient grace comes into play because if it were not sufficient, God would have long given up on mankind. Even if we do not listen to the Holy Spirit, He does not give up. Silently He knocks at the door until we are ready to open for Him, then He will come in and dine with us.

I believe predestination functions well with grace because we do not choose both of them. God chooses what we are to become and His grace, which is the unmerited favor takes us there. I am one person who clearly understands that when God has decided what I have to become, He paves ways for you and when you acknowledge that it is not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of the Lord, you surely flourish and excel. Predestination is glorious because our God wants the best for all of us. It is only when we move away from His grace that that which God has planned for us does not get fulfilled. God has made us to be heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore it means that He has the best interest for all of us. God grace is glorious because it does not impose itself on us. We have a choice of believing that His grace is sufficient for us and solely depend on Him for everything. When we go through trials and tribulations and God says "Be still and know that I am God", you need to be still because if you juggle around and want to put the pieces of the puzzle on your own, you will surely hit the rock bottom. Trust in His unfailing love and know that His grace is indeed sufficient.

When the Word of God says He is Omniscient, it means He knows everything. God says in Jeremiah 29 verse 11 "For I know the plans I have for you", God knew us before we were even formed formed in our mothers' wombs and sanctified us. God predestined us and foreknew everything about. His Word says God knows out thoughts and this basically translates that there is nothing that can be hidden to Him. God allows us to make mistakes but knows that we will come back to Him when the odds are against us. He knows are intents and therefore, we cannot deceive Him and pretend to be righteous. It is only through Grace that we are saved. God is faithful and always gives us the opportunity to repent. Faith is us believing that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and when we serve God's people we are doing not only doing that unto men but unto God as well. We are not buying faith through our works but we are showing our gratitude to God through our works.

The Spirit assists us to obey God's commandments and walk in humility, understanding that we did not save ourselves but it is only through grace that we are saved. We therefore have to allow God to work in us. It is a process because change does not happen overnight. We do not have to condemn ourselves when we see areas of sin but need to trust that God's real work has begun in us. While working it out, God is working too. God planned before we were even born to do special "good works" in us. He gives us spiritual gifts so that we can continue to work out or salvation with reverence and fear. We need to understand that God is rich in mercy. We need to allow God to continue working in us until the fruit of the Spirit become evident in our lives.

The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom, knowledge and understanding to know God's unconditional love for all mankind. He is persistent in making us understand that we do not have to work for our salvation but believe that it is the gift from God. The Holy Spirit convicts all who are spiritually dead, making them aware of their sins. The Spirit removes self-doubt when you think that other Christians are better than you. He comforts us in knowing that we are enough as we come to God just as we are. The Spirit reveals God to us and not the other way. We need to understand that God is patient and us for us to repent. He grants us the opportunity to come back to Him like He did with Saul/Paul. God does not impose Himself to us. I have seen people who have hardened their hearts coming back to God because of His unconditional love. God waits for us to be ready to accept the wonderful gift of salvation. There are many prodigal sons and daughters that come to their senses and fully give their lives to God. The role of the free will in salvation is that the Holy Spirit guides, leads, directs, advises and helps us in revealing the importance of salvation through faith and not through works. Our lifestyles, actions and works are evidence of the faith we have in God and bring up the understanding that salvation is for all mankind.

It distorts the essential gospel because we must all understand that salvation is a gift from God and not a reward for having done good deeds because if it were a reward, we will all be boasting for the good works that we continue to do. That is why the Word of God says "let your right hand not know what your left hand is doing". If salvation were because of our good works, the Cross would have been in vain. We must understand that there is nothing that would have rescued us from eternal death had it not been of Jesus Christ saying "Yes to the will of God". Absolutely nothing. We needed Christ to rescue us and give us eternal life. We do not have any sense of self-righteousness nor pride because we could not save ourselves. No matter how big we can go doing good to others, it just cannot take away what God has done for us. The good that we do for others is but temporary but what God has done for us is eternal therefore, we cannot look down upon others and think that we are better than them. There is nothing wrong in doing good for other people but that does not make us righteous. It is only the Holy Spirit that works in us to understand that salvation comes through grace and faith. God does not impose Himself to us by allows the Holy Spirit to do His work for us to understand His favor upon us.

God rescued us from spiritual deadness, that is, from our transgressions and sins that we have repeatedly engaged in. We have been rescued from following the ways of this world; from following Satan, who is the ruler of the kingdom of air; and from our own gratification. God has personally rescued me from my situation before Christ by showing me His abundant love. I could have died in my sin even though I was a church-goer from birth. He saved me from all terminal diseases and never contracted any. That how miraculous of God is and will forever be grateful for rescuing me. I want to belief that I did not have to work to earn my salvation. It was on through God's love and grace. It is a gift from God that I did not deserve.

Jesus Christ was the sacrifice for our sins because there was no one who could have done that but Him. When God saw how deep humankind was into sin, He knew that Only Jesus Christ could be our atonement, a Lamb without blemishes. We were all deep into sin and the only One who could save us from eternal damnation, was Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 says : For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him". He is called the Lamb of God because He was the perfect and ultimate sacrifice for sin. He was the spotless Lamb that could stand the test of time for all mankind.

We have been redeemed from slavery through the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ so that we maybe in right standing with God. We have been slaves to sin. We deserved to be punished for all the sins we committed but Grace saved us from dying as sinners. The price of our freedom was God giving us His only begotten Son so that He may die for our sins. Jesus Christ saying yes to the will of God saved us from the penalty of death. We are free when we believe that Jesus Christ became the sacrificial Lamb and died for our sins. We know that He paid the price and because we believe, we are set free. We are slaves when we continue to condemn ourselves and do not believe that God has truly forgiven us because the price was paid once and for all. Romans 8 verse 1 says "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit". 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new".

I believe that from Creation, humankind was basically good that is why God made us in His image and after His likeness. God had a good relationship with Adam and gave him dominion over everything. Sin creeped in and because of disobedience, when the serpent deceived Eve into eating the Tree of Knowledge which she shared with her husband. Even if we have been saved by grace, we continue to sin through our actions, thoughts and our speech but that does not nullify us as been good people. Our corrupt nature, the flesh, that is bent to sinning caused us to be corruptible. But thank God to the incorruptible seed who was His Son, came and redeemed us from destruction. We surely survive because of God's undeserved kindness and therefore all those who believe that Christ paid the price for us, have received pardon but not of our own work but by His grace. The Word of God says "the just shall live by faith". We have been justified by what Jesus Christ said on the cross " It is finished".

The impossibility of salvation without the miracle of grace clearly indicates that neither riches nor knowing the law front and back, will buy you salvation. Jesus Christ wanted to show the rich man that salvation is not earned but it is only by grace that we receive salvation. Unfortunately, the rich man missed the opportunity of receiving grace and decided not to listen to Jesus Christ when He asked him to sell everything. Jesus Christ wants us to understand that it is not the temporary things of this world that can buy salvation but it is only through the grace that we are saved. It is not righteousness as well because God saves all human beings that are ready to accept the wonderful gift of salvation. Grace goes into deep trenches of this world. It will search even people that the world has written off. There is no one that God will not save and that was hence we talk about the amazing grace. It is indeed amazing because if it were not amazing, we would all have perished.

The story illustrates salvation by faith in that it does matter how long or how short you put your faith in Jesus Christ as long as you believe that He is the Savior of the world. The thief asked Jesus to remember him in His Kingdom and because Jesus is full of compassion, He did not even say to him he must repent but there and then assured him that he will be with Him in paradise. Grace always triumphs over sin because even if the devil thinks he has an upper hand over our lives, grace kicks in and God wins. The devil is always a loser because we are hot his but God's. Even the last second and minute prayer of repentance will make grace take over and wipe all the sins. It doe not however give us the platform to crucify Jesus Christ over and over again by sinning. We need to understand that His grace is sufficient for us and the God we serve is faithful.

The Parable of the Prodigal son teaches us that God is Love. He is a true Father who does not give up on His children no matter how wayward we turn out to be. He is patient, kind and ready to receive us with open arms. About repentance- God is patiently waiting for us. He wants us to take our rightful places as the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, His own special people. God will not impose Himself to us but gives us time to come to our senses just like the prodigal son did. About grace- no matter how red our sins may be, God forgives us all of them. God will not count how many times we sinned against Him but when we ask for forgiveness and repent from our sins, He loves a repentant heart and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

The king shows grace by canceling the debt of the servant who owed him a lot of money. This is symbolic to what God has done. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us". Like the king, God has written of all our iniquities and allowed mercy to rewrite our lives. The forgiven servant withholds grace by beating the other fellow who owed him money and did not show him any mercy. Moreover, he had the man arrested and put to jail until all his money was paid up. It is interesting to learn that the beaten man only owed him little money but the servant owed the king huge amounts. It shows that we sometimes lack forgiveness. We want people to forgive us for the wrongs we do but we do not want to forgive others. No, we cannot withhold grace as Jesus disciples. The Word teaches us to forgive and let go. It is wrong to remind a person of the wrongs done even after that person has asked for forgiveness. We cannot pray daily Matthew 6:12-13 and yet we still harbor anger and unforgiveness in our hearts.

The Samaritan is portrayed as a hero because Jesus Christ wants to show us that both Jews, Greeks and Gentiles are all made in the image of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We are therefore all important in His eyes because the Word says "God is not a respecter of persons. He showed undeserved favor because he did want to know the nationality of the person who was injured. He saw a man about to die and acted kindly by assisting at all costs. He did not even ask the man to pay back all the cost incurred. In the modern term language, he did not discriminate against anyone but applied the principle that Jesus Christ taught us on "love your neighbor as you love yourself". Foreigners because the community believes that they are the ones that commit too much crime and all the negative things that happen in our country are caused by them. That they are easily employed because some employers want to exploit them. As the Christian community, we must show love to everyone. Not all people commit crime because we have our own who do that. We must preach Christ and Him crucified so that people understand the sacrifice that Christ displayed when He said "Yes to the will of God".

John 3:16 displays God's unconditional love that is insurmountable. We all did not deserve this but because of His love, He sacrificed His Only begotten Son for us to gain eternal life. Grace is the unmerited favor from God, that which we do not have to toil for to reserve but because of Him being the Loving Father, He continues to forgive us of our trespasses daily whereas giving does not have conditions. God does not expect us to pay Him back for giving us His Only begotten Son, but wants us to believe in Him and have eternal life. God's love that cannot be measured. The love that is unconditional and is for all mankind. This relates to grace because while we were still sinners, God loved us anyway and He had to sacrifice His Son so that we may receive the wonderful gift of Salvation. We paid nothing for salvation and this is all because of His Love and Grace.

Bonhoeffer stated that the attitude that justifies sin and not the sinner; the preaching of forgiveness without repentance; baptism without church discipline; communion without confession of sin; grace without the cross and grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Indeed, without all these, there is no grace. No, we do not have to work for it. We must seek after it again and again. We must ask for it by knocking at the door. We must follow Jesus Christ all the time. It is costly grace because it costs a man his life, and it gives a man the only true life. It condemns sin because grace justifies the sinner. It is costly because it cost God the life of His Son. We have been bought at a very high price, the Life of Jesus Christ our Savior.

Yes, there is good in humankind as we are made in the image of God and after His likeness. There are people who sacrifice their lives and serve others. People who look after the homeless, the destitute and orphans using the little that they have. Indeed, there is so much good that is done by a lot of people and unfortunately, media does not say a lot about such people. I believe that there are good people and bad people. If it were not so, we would not have too much crime , corruption, racism, deception and acts of malice especially in our country, South Africa. Good people continue to do what pleases God and those that do evil, actually break His heart. When we are jealous when other people progress in life, pride, selfishness, boastful, rude. 1 Corinthians 13 verses 4(b)-6. I also like Matthew 5 verses 27-30 when Jesus teaches about adultery. A deceitful heart can corrupt us just like the snake did to Eve and Adam. It creeps into us unawares and we end up in sin. We must at all times request the Holy Spirit to guide, lead, direct, advise and help us so that we can be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

These verses teach us that we were spiritually dead and violated the prescripts God laid before us. We transgressed, rebelled against God and walked according to the standards of this world following our desires and following the tricks of the devil. We followed what the world offered us thinking that we will get fulfilment and satisfaction by all that happened around us. We thought that what the world offered was perfect and permanent and deceived by the devil who offered us all the riches of this world just like he did when he tempted Christ Jesus to worship him by showing Him all the beauty of the world. The devil must be reminded that he created nothing and there is nothing that he can offer us. Conscious motivations are the desires of our hearts and the lusts of the world that make us to heed the call of God but harden our hearts to do what satisfy us and not do His will. We are easily deceived by the temporary pleasures of the world and forget the permanent and eternal life God promised us. Unconscious motivations are things that the devil creeps in our lives and end up doing wrong things that hurt God. The world of the Lord says "even the elite/elect will be deceived. All the chosen people, those who are faithful to the call of God, will also go through this deception.

Verses 6-8 show how dire humankind was in that we were living in deep sin but while we were still sinners, God demonstrated His love for us and Christ died for all our sins. Christ did not wait for us to repent but He died for us anyway. What is remarkable about Christ's death is that it did not pick any race, gender and creed but died for everybody. There was no righteous man nor good man who would have given his life for mankind but Christ did it for us. What motivates that sacrifice is God's Love and His Grace. The unmerited favor that made Christ leave His Heavenly Throne and came, dwelt among men so that He may understand the pain and suffering that men go through. Having experienced that, He says to God "Let this cup pass by, not my will but Thy will be done". The sacrifice was fulfilling God's will that humankind should not go to eternal death but have eternal life.

The gift of salvation given to every man, paved the way for us to be in the state of grace. God loved us so much that He deemed it necessary to pave the way for us by giving the world His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not die but have an everlasting life. The state of grace is everlasting. God still has hope for the Jews and Gentiles who are hardening their hearts that they will one day understand that the state of grace is still open for all of us even now. The role of faith is that we do not give up hope to those who still live in sin. We have family members who do not want to believe that God is alive but we need to stand in faith and continue to pray for them and the world that is still living in sin. Romans 1: 26-31 state the ungodliness that people live in but we do not have to judge them but have faith that God will open the eyes of their hearts and will come back to God and repent from their sins. What we see happening in the world today, we just need to proclaim that "we live by faith and not by sight" and that God will surely seek the lost and they will all come back to serve Him. The Word of God says "Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord". Let us keep the faith that sinners will also see the Light. The opposite of "peace with God" is "rebellion with God". I mentioned that there are people who have heard the Word but are hardening their hearts and say that God does not exist. There are those who challenge the way God made them as explained in Romans 1:26 and continue to sin. We do not deserve the grace but we have been justified by faith.

Yahweh wants to show us that He loves all mankind as we are made in His image and after His likeness. He is not God who selects a certain class of people because we are all His people. The story teaches us that God loves as as we are. He gives us chances to repent over and over again. He is God who remains faithful even if we are not faithful. God forever waits for His people to come back to Him as our Father. Even if we go astray and worship our gods, He is patient to give us a chance to repent. His relationship with Israel shows His unconditional love. Love that is patient and immeasurable and prepared to win us back from the claws of the devil. It teaches us that His grace abounds more. Like the prodigal son, in some translations he is referred to as the lost son, God is always there, waiting for us to come back and He sees us from afar and runs to welcome us back to His Kingdom.

God will definitely forgive those who humble themselves, acknowledge their sins and repent. All kinds of sins will be forgiven as we repent but the Word of God says " Only the sin that blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. Those that harden their hearts and refuse to receive the mercy will not be forgiven. Those who continue to sin even if they know the truth about God's forgiveness.

When we read the Book of Exodus, we see how the Israelites over and over turned against God. How they forgot the good and precious things God did for them. But God still remained faithful and kept His promises that He made to their forefathers. In Exodus 32 we read about the Israelites asking Aaron to make a gold calf that they will worship. Did God remove Aaron to be the Priest? Not at all. Despite Aaron disobeying God, He still allowed him to serve His people. God is forever patient with us. How many times have we disobeyed Him but He kept His promises because He is just, faithful and forever gracious and merciful. His Word says" He who has promised, is faithful". Let us not take His grace for granted by sinning but note that He will forever be our Heavenly Father.