Signed, sealed and delivered

Jul 17, 2022 News

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==My Testimony==

By Sharmain Grainger

Kaieteur News – My true purpose for living is only now beginning to unfold, but for years prior, I was literally doing the most to run from it.

As I come to my senses, I must confess, I did have an inkling of who I was meant to be – a fighter.

From as long as I can remember, I always had a fighting spirit; although there were times that I would try to accept the bare minimum of what life had to offer, even though I deserved it, I simply couldn’t settle for that.

But even as something inside kept pushing me to want more out of life, there were ever prevailing forces that tried to keep me from doing so.  There were times I literally felt like a prisoner in my own body – this translated to me doing destructive things that I didn’t want to do but somehow felt compelled to do. It was absolutely perplexing to actually have a front-row seat to my own destruction, by my own hands.

I simply hadn’t the will to save myself thus I was convinced I would be the literal death of me. But even in the midst of all that my spirit was fighting for a way out.

Today I can say with absolute certainty, once your spirit doesn’t settle for less – that gut feeling that you deserve more (don’t feel bad for thinking you deserve more) – you have a fighting spirit too and it is the only thing that will help you find your way to your true destiny.

My true destiny lies in living a life pleasing to the true and living God. He didn’t allow his son, Jesus, who is one with Him (don’t ask me to explain how, I just believe), to die on that cruel cross for me to live a defeated life for eternity. He died and rose again so I can live my purpose as stated in Ephesians 2:10. That biblical verse tells me that I am God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for me to do.

But for many years I was being hindered from seeing this purpose of mine. There was, however, certain hope for me because I always believed there was truth to the popular John 3:16 scripture: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

I currently don’t have the unction to explain the details of how I was eventually freed from the unseen trap I was in, but my reading of scriptures has helped me understand how I got there. I have come to understand that sin, which is anything contrary to pleasing God, is what helps to push you further and further away from your true purpose, and except your spirit fights against this, you will remain trapped with no hope of redemption.

When I read Romans 7 in the bible, I am astonished at how much I understand the age-old writings of Paul the Apostle. He states at verses 19 and 20: “¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

It is for this very reason – this perpetual trap that we find ourselves in through sin – that God had to send Jesus to die for us so that we could be set free. So because of this wonderful gift – Jesus dying on the cross as a ransom for our sins – I no longer have to settle for the less that sin condemns me to. Instead of slavishly embracing things that are opposed to God, I now have freedom to fervently choose good over evil, and in so doing, I was freed from debilitating oppression.

Instead of merely fighting for myself these days, I am now able to fight for others and I will continue to do so until they too learn to fight for themselves. Because of my new lease on life, I will not sit idly by and see the vulnerable around me trampled upon; I will not sit idly by and see people trapped in prisons of their own making and not let them know that there is a way out.

My testimony today is to help you understand that once you have Jesus, you have everything that you need to navigate this life. However, you stand to lose everything if you disregard this priceless but readily available gift. This is best summed up in Roman 6:23: “For the wages of sins is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Despite the many wrongs I have done, and still feel inclined to do sometimes, I believe that because of my faith in Jesus, my destiny is already signed, sealed and delivered.

“…Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14

 

 

 

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