Our Daily Grace: Shining Light

"You are a miracle worker for those around you. You have the power to heal, to love, to laugh, to forgive. You are created as a unique being with the ability to spread your light. Let it shine."

Aaron Murphy

"Your lives light up the world."

Matthew 5:14

There is a glorious light shining in us. It's the light of love, and truth, and beauty, and good. It's the light of God. We naturally shine with this light. We are carrying miracles of life, hope and healing to this world. Every bit of light and love that comes from us, every act of kindness no matter how small, is lighting up others' lives and changing the world. You have something special in you that makes this world a better place to be, and God is naturally shining out in rays of love through you every day. You make a difference just by being you.

A Thought: I bring miracles of light and love to those around me!

Our Daily Grace: Liked the Way You Are

"You've made this day special just by your being you. There's no person in the whole world like you, and I like you, just the way you are."

Fred Rogers

"Therefore, accept each other in the same way that Christ accepted you. He did this to bring glory to God."

Romans 15:7 (NOG)

You are special and adored, just as you are right now. If you never changed a thing about you, God would still call you perfect. Your heavenly Dad thinks you're beautiful, thinks you're wonderful, thinks you're awesome. Feel free to look in the mirror and say, "Hey, you are pretty special and I love you!"

A Thought: You are wonderful as you are; don't change a thing!

Our Daily Grace: Little and Weak

"It's okay to be weak."

Susannah St. John

"Turn all your troubles over to Him, because He cares for you and is watching over you."

1 Peter 5:7 (WE)

It's okay to be weak and need help. We're God's little children, and little children need lots of help. They need their parents to take care of them; they expect it. We can know that our heavenly Dad is always taking care of our needs. He knows we are little and needy, and He knows we can get scared, upset, confused and hurt. He understands. All our feelings are okay with Him. So we can tell Him all our worries, fears, troubles and cares. It's okay to be weak. God our Father is strong for us. He is carrying the weight of all our cares and concerns, so we don't have to try to carry them.

A Thought: I will tell my Father all my troubles - He will take care of me!

Our Daily Grace: Fortress

"Love is a fortress where everyone feels protected."

Francois du Toit

"He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me."

Psalm 62:7 (NLT)

We are safe in the fortress of His love, safe in the shelter of His care. We are not facing life alone. Even when we feel scared, or anxious, or troubled, we are always in the strongest fortress of all, God's loving presence.  A fortress is a place that is unaffected by any outside disturbance, and that is where we are right now. We are safe in our heavenly Papa's lap, protected and loved and secure no matter what storms blow outside. His loving arms are stronger than anything that comes our way.

A Thought: Papa holds me safely.

Our Daily Grace: Bedrock

"When you fall down to the bottom, you fall on solid ground, the Great Foundation, the bedrock of God."

Richard Rohr

"God is bedrock under my feet."

2 Samuel 22:2 (MSG)

Sometimes we can fear that we have failed too much and fallen too far to still have God with us. But no matter how far we fall, we never can fall out of His presence. He is the bedrock of our whole existence, the foundation of our whole lives. His loving presence holds us together at every moment. He is solid ground under us, the rock we can count on to always support us, strong and stable and secure. His love  and presence are solid and unfailing, even when we fail. Even when we hit rock bottom, God is still holding us up, so we are truly safe. We cannot fall away from God.

A Thought: When I fall, I simply land in His arms!

Our Daily Grace: His Eye on the Sparrow

"You have God's undivided attention!"

Francois du Toit

"You can buy two sparrows for only a copper coin, yet not even one sparrow falls from its nest without the knowledge of your Father. Aren't you worth much more to God than many sparrows? So don't worry. For your Father cares deeply about even the smallest detail of your life."

Matthew 10:29-31

God cares for every single creature in this world, down to the most common little sparrow.  We don't have to work to get His notice.  He is always watching, loving and caring for everything He made, especially humans! He knows more about us than we ourselves know, and He is concerned about every single detail in our lives. It is as the old song says: "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me."  He is crazy about us, His kids! We are always on His mind and in His heart. We cannot overestimate our value to Him!

A thought: I am never out of my Father's thoughts.

Our Daily Grace: The End of Judgment

"Noone can be judged again for what Jesus already died for. We have all been declared blamelessly innocent."

Mike Parsons

"In dying our death He cancelled the detailed record which testified against us. Every stain on our conscience, reminding of the sense of failure and guilt, was thus fully blotted out. In Him dying mankind's death, He defused every possible claim of accusation against the human race."

Colossians 2:14-15 

Christ took away all our sins on the cross. He also took away all the guilt, condemnation, shame and punishment that the law said we deserved. He died our death and we were completely cleansed. The verdict of the cross is that we are innocent, clean and righteous.  Any other judgment about us, whether from the law, society, other people or even ourselves, is completely cancelled. We are innocent!

A Thought: There is no judgment on me.

Our Daily Grace: God's Justice

"Our Father, may we come to know what Your justice really looks like. May we understand that You judge in righteousness and not in condemnation. May we realize that true justice is rooted in mercy and forgiveness."

David Adams

"But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before Him."

Colossians 1:22

The world's way of justice is payment due for crimes committed. It is the way of retribution and punishment. But God's beautiful way of justice is forgiveness given for all sins. It is the way of restoration and reconciliation. God doesn't count our sins against us - that is forgiveness. He brings the whole world to Himself - that is reconciliation. And He presents all humanity before Him holy, blameless and without reproach - that is restoration! God's way of justice is not about punishing people for sins with death; it is about healing people from sin and death. And the amazing thing is that God performed these acts of justice, of "making everything all right" between us and Him, on the cross of Christ before we even believed it, knew about it, or were even born!

AThought: God's justice means that He restored me to Himself without my help.

Our Daily Grace: Rescue Mission

"He shared our darkness so He could bring us into the light."

David Adams

"He rescued us from the power of darkness, and re-established us in the kingdom of His beloved Son, that is, in the kingdom of light."

Colossians 1:13

It is like we were children of a king in a beautiful bright kingdom but were kidnapped while young, taken from the palace, and enslaved in a foreign land. We were told that we were nothing but filthy, worthless slaves, and we forgot our true parentage and began to think we were from that dark place. But our older brother the Prince came to the land of darkness and rescued us from captivity, and when we saw His face we could see the family resemblance and knew that we belonged with Him. He brought us back to the light kingdom and to the palace, our rightful home, and reintroduced us to our true Father. That's what Jesus did!

A Thought: I never belonged to the darkness; I always belonged to the light!

Our Daily Grace: Good Humanity

"Each of us as humans has been made in God's image. We are declared to be good - complete - as we should be. This is the assessed value given to us by God Himself."

Ryan Harbridge

"And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good."

Genesis 1:31

God called us very good when He created us.  The Hebrew word for good is 'tov,' which means good, lovely, complete, and as it should be. That is how God made us. No failure on our part can change our basic design or the value God gave us, which is 'very good.' Christ was not ashamed to take on human form, showing us there is nothing wrong with our humanity. Every single person on this planet has equally high value before God. Our human life is precious, beautiful,  and very good!

A Thought: I am good and complete before God, and just as I should be.

Our Daily Grace: His Deserving Children

"We all deserve to heal. We all deserve to be loved unconditionally. We all deserve the very best God has for us."

Gina Leake

"How precious is Your constant love, O God! All humanity takes refuge in the shadow of Your wings."

Psalm 36:7

The whole human race, all of us, are God's offspring, His own children.  We are like baby birds sheltered under their mother's wings. As God's children, we belong with Him, are cherished and sheltered by Him, and we deserve all the love and care He has to give us.  That is our birthright. We don't have to beg for Him to notice, accept, love or help us. We have all of His love, care and undivided attention right now. Everyone has equal value and deserves love, healing and help, and we can be sure our heavenly Dad is hugging, loving and helping us in every moment. We can also be sure that anytime we spread love and kindness, we bring God's healing love to those who need and deserve it!

A Thought: You deserve God's very best just by being yourself - His beloved child!

Our Daily Grace: Perfect Oneness

"There's nothing left for you to do to get close to God. You and God are one. There is no separation."

Dan Stone

"He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him."

1 Corinthians 6:17

We are living in union with Him. In union, there is no distance between the two. In union, we are perfectly united as one. In union, there is no barrier, no separation. Nothing is ever amiss or off-kilter. We and He are knit together as 'one heart' in unity, transparency, sharing, and real communion. We are bonded and melded together, human spirit and Divine Spirit. In that place of oneness there is constant peace, overflowing joy, and perfect love.  In that place we are face to face with God at all times, in an endless divine embrace. Nothing can ever alter this oneness we have with God!

A Thought: Deep down I am one with God and everything is perfect.

Our Daily Grace: Not Punishing

"Jesus punishes nobody!"

Richard Rohr

"He forgives all [our] sins...He does not punish us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our sins and wrongs."

Psalm 103:3,10

God is not a punishing God. He does not punish or pay us back for our wrongs. He simply loves and forgives us, not matter what. Christ exemplified what God's response to sin is: on the cross, He asked His Father to forgive those who crucified Him. That is a vivid picture of God's heart towards the sinful. His great abundance of kindness and forgiveness draw us to feel safe in His presence, draw us to feel safe telling Him all our failures and troubles.  He will gently and tenderly help us.

A thought: I am forgiven of all my sins. 

Our Daily Grace: Everything Will Be Okay

"Love holds us, Love carries us, Love does all for us, Love will never fail us!"

Susannah St. John

"Relax, everything's going to be all right; rest, everything's coming together; open your hearts, love is on the way."

Jude 1:2

God carries us through every challenge we face. So we can be happy no matter what, for we will make it through, all is well and all will work out. Whether we rant and rave or whether we relax and trust, He will keep on carrying us along to the happy ending.  All feelings are allowed, every thought and feeling we have is valid and okay. We don't have to act, think or feel a certain way to be okay or make things okay; we are already okay right in this moment, and everything is okay because He is here embracing us and our circumstances and feelings in totality! He is the One responsible for our lives, so the good ending is assured.

A Thought: Nothing depends on us - everything depends on Him, and He never fails!

Our Daily Grace: Always God's Child

"Jesus came to show us who we are: God's children."

 Anne Cary

"We all come from Him. We are actually His children."

Acts 17:28

All people are God's offspring, His children. In the parable of the prodigal son, the two children of the father were always still sons, no matter what state they were in. And it's true for all of us. Sin may have tried to claim us, but the God who made us has always had the higher claim on us! No matter what sinful situations we have come to, we have always belonged to the Father - we have always been His children. Jesus came to remind this world that even if we killed Him, He was still our brother and God still called us His children.  You have never been orphaned or rejected or alone; you have always been God's child!

A Thought: I have always belonged in God's family and in God's arms!

Our Daily Grace: No Separation

"There is no distance or separation from God no matter what your choices in the past, present or future."

Kathleen Hovda

"He's not remote; He's near. We live and move in Him, can't get away from Him!"

Acts 17:27-28

We may have thought at times that we were far from God or that He was so distant from us. But Paul told the people of Athens who didn't even know about God yet that they actually lived in God all the time! He has never been separate from mankind. He is not staying far away until we believe, repent or pray to Him; He has always been near each one of us, so near that we are in Him at every moment of our lives. He has always been there. He has been with us through every pain and sorrow, held us through every challenge, uplifted us through every part of our journey. He cares so much about each of us that He has never left us alone and never will!

A Thought: There is never any distance between God and us!

Our Daily Grace: Redeemed

"You have never lost your value."

Ryan Harbridge

"You were redeemed from your empty way of life...with the precious blood of Christ."

1 Peter 1:18-19

We sometimes think we have little value, but  God sees something else when He looks at us - He sees someone good and precious and worth fighting for! Jesus showed us what we are worth to God - our value is equal to that of Christ, for He willingly gave His own life, shed His own blood, to set us free. When something loses its sense of value, and that sense of value is restored, it's been redeemed. That is what Christ did for us - He restored to us our sense of value, showed us we're worthy, valuable, good, worth saving. He regained for us what we had lost - the sense of our worth and goodness before God.  We have been redeemed!

A Thought: My value is equal to Christ.

Our Daily Grace: With Us

"Jesus has always been with us."

Kathleen Hovda

"He came to His own people."

John 1:11

All things - all creation, this whole world, all people - were made through Christ and by Christ and for Christ. This is His own creation, and we humans are His own people. There has never been a time when He hasn't been with us, when we haven't belonged to Him. We have always been cherished and claimed by Him as His very own!  We have never been separated from Him, distant, alone, or rejected. He has always been with us!

A Thought: I have never been apart from Him and I never will be.

Our Daily Grace: Dancing God

"We make God so happy that He jumps for joy!

Susannah St. John

"He will dance with joy over you with singing."

Zephaniah 3:17

The dear Holy Spirit of God celebrates over us. He dances and sings and leaps and twirls with joy that we are God's beloved children. He has pure delight and happiness about us. His joy is like dolphins leaping from the sunlit ocean or like children's playful laughter filling the air. His joyful presence in us is the constant reminder that we are loved, accepted, cherished and delighted in by God Himself!

A Thought: I'm twirling and swirling in God's dance of joy!

Our Daily Grace: He Sees the Best in Us

"He always looks upon the soul with gladness."

Julian of Norwich

"Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others."

1 Corinthians 13:7

God believes in us, He believes the very best about us, for He sees the very best in us. He sees the beloved, innocent and adorable children He made. When He looks on our inner person, it fills Him with joy! He is a safe place to be because He will always uplift us and see the good in us that He Himself put there when He made us in His good image!

A Thought: God thinks very highly of me.

Our Daily Grace: Our Beginning

"Man began in God."

Francois du Toit

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you."

Jeremiah 1:5

We were known and loved from before our formation in our mother's womb.  God already knew us, loved us, and had a special and beautiful plan for our lives. None of us are accidents.  None of us really began with the decision of our earthly parents.  We began in the mind and heart of God and we have always been wanted, cherished, known and loved, since before we were ever born. This earth is not the beginning of our story. Our story began in the love of God, and He is our true Father from whom we come!

A thought: My origin is in the heart and mind of God, which means I am pretty special to Him.

Our Daily Grace: Our Value

 "Our performance is never a measure of our worth - His Love is the measure of our worth."

Susannah St. John

"You are precious in My sight, and honored, and I love you."

Isaiah 43:1

Our value is not determined by our performance. Our value is determined by His Love, and that Love is infinite, eternal and unconditional!  That means our worth and value is infinite, eternal and unconditional. Just as our own children are worth the world to us and we would do anything for them, so we are priceless and beyond valuable to Him, worth the whole cosmos times infinity! For the magnitude of our dignity and honor before Him is beyond infinite, beyond price, beyond understanding. You are His treasure, His whole world. You mean everything to Him!

A Thought: I have infinite worth to God.

Our Daily Grace: The Cross Shouts

"In Jesus, God our Father came to say: I would rather die than live without you!"

Rudi Louw

"By this we know and have come to understand the depth and essence of His precious love: that He willingly laid down His life for us because He loved us."

1 John 3:16

The cross of Christ forever stands as proof of God's love and our value to Him. The cross shouts for all eternity, "I came to My own and you, My very own children, are worth it! You are worth My very own Life. You are so special and beloved and accepted in My sight that I'd rather die than miss out on fellowship with you. I can't get you out of My heart, out of My thoughts, out of My existence! I am forever on your side, forever for you. You're My very own children, and I'd do anything for you! I will never leave you or forsake you, I will never turn you out in the cold, never forget you. You're everything to Me, and I will never let anything keep us from enjoying sweet communion together forever and always!"

A Thought: The cross proves God would do anything just to be with me!

Our Daily Grace: Christ Manifests His Life

"Christ will manifest His life in you without your help."

Susannah St. John

"You don't lack anything - you are fully qualified. You have every reason to expect the Lord Jesus Christ to be made visible through you."

1 Corinthians 1:7

Christ doesn't need our help to be Himself in us. Christ naturally acts like Himself, Christ naturally lives, manifests His true nature, loves others, overflows with kindness and goodness, flows with divine vibrancy, uplifts others - in and through us! He does it without our 'help' for that is what grace is all about. He does the living, so we can rest. Christ is manifesting His life through us right now!

A Thought: Christ is visible in me.

Our Daily Grace: God's Escalator

"The kingdom of heaven is an ascending escalator. It's on a foundation of grace...not on human performance or effort. And the amazing thing about this ascending escalator is even if you fail or make a mistake or sin, as you fall down on an ascending escalator...when you get up, to your amazement the escalator hasn't stopped - it's kept going, and you look around you and you're still going up!"

Rob Rufus

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."

Romans 8:2

The kingdom of heaven is an ascending escalator!  Even when we fail He is still bringing us up, up, up!  His Life trumps all our sin, self-effort, struggle and falling.  All those things are just shadows of the old creation, which is death.  But we've been placed into the new creation, which is Life.  And Life trumps death every time!  We are carried up and away by His LIFE!   We are sustained and uplifted by the power of an indestructible life, by the power of the resurrection life of Christ Himself within us through His Spirit.  So up we go!  

A Thought: With God, I have nowhere to go but up!

Our Daily Grace: His Way of Tenderness

"Tenderness is what happens to you when you know you are deeply and sincerely liked by someone."

Brennan Manning

"You should be like one big happy family, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds."

1 Peter 3:8

God asks that we be tender-hearted and understanding towards each other, because this is the way Christ lives with us within the very family circle of the Trinity.  He not only loves us, He likes us.  He likes having us around, so we can be ourselves with Him.  He truly accepts us and enjoys us, and we can share our deepest thoughts, troubles and fears with Him. He is so genuine, soft-hearted and understanding, and in His tender acceptance and friendship we can treat ourselves with tenderness, can truly accept and befriend ourselves.

A Thought: God likes me so I can like myself.

Our Daily Grace: Love Everlasting

"Out of His love I came forth; through His love I am who I am."

Brennan Manning

"I have loved you with an everlasting love."

Jeremiah 31:3

God is everlasting.  He has always been and always will be. And His love is everlasting.  It always has been and it always will be.  That means that as long as God has been God, He has been loving us.  Before we were created, He already knew us, chose us to be His very own, loved us, and saw every single moment of our existence.  As long as forever - that's how long God has been loving you!  We came forth and were created out of the love of God. His love makes us who we are. And who we are is God's beloved!

A thought: Before this world began, God was already loving me.

Our Daily Grace: Free Life

"It was for FREEDOM. Not so we'd worship Him. Not so we'd obey Him. Not even so we'd love Him. For freedom. That alone was the purpose of Him freeing us: just so we would be free. That's what real Love looks like."

Matt Pandel

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free."

Galatians 5:1

God is not a God who puts restraint and pressure on us. He is a God who takes away restrictions and burdens. His way is not that of human performance systems, where you have to behave to earn acceptance or else get rejected. His way is the way of grace and freedom. We are truly free to do anything and know we are still loved, accepted and in perfect friendship with God.  He wants nothing from us. He just wants to see us live freely, knowing we are loved.

A thought: Christ wants me to enjoy being free!

Our Daily Grace: Enveloped in the Perfect Son

"You are as perfect right now as you ever have been or ever will be. Why? Because you are enveloped into the ONE Who IS perfection. No labor. No effort. Just being."

Matt Pandel

"For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by which we draw near to God."

Hebrews 7:19

What hope did we imperfect humans ever have of perfectly keeping the law? None, really!  But God gave us a better hope - the perfect Christ.  He perfectly united Himself to our humanity and perfectly fulfilled the law for us.  There is no need to struggle and strive; we can simply BE right where we are - in Him! We are wrapped in His perfection, and that is enough. 

A thought: I am perfect before God because I am in the Perfection of His Perfect Son!

Our Daily Grace: The Overcomer

"You will not be overcome."

Julian of Norwich

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; when you pass through the streams, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not harm you."

Isaiah 43:2

Whatever we face, we have the Overcomer inside us and we will make it through!  The floods won't wash us away, the fires won't burn us.  The troubles in this world are many, but He has already overcome this world!  It is not up to us to overcome, be strong, act fearlessly, or even remain calm and faithful.  He is the One taking care of it all. He is right here with us, whether we feel His presence or not. It's up to Him to get us through, and so the victory is assured..in fact, in Him it's already won! 

A thought: No problem can defeat me because no problem can defeat Jesus who is in me.

Our Daily Grace: Belonging

"In Your Presence I've finally found where I belong."

Cory Asbury

"Don't be afraid, because I have saved you. I have called you by name, and you are Mine."

Isaiah 43:1

We have a home, a place of belonging and safety, and it's in God. He tells us we are safe in His arms.  He calls us by our name, knows us and loves us individually! He stands before us looking with love into our eyes, saying, "You are Mine!" Evil and fear, alienation and abandonment have no claim on us, because God claims us as His own - we are family! He is our Father, Protector and Friend.  We are in His presence, right where we belong. He is the home and family we've always wanted.

A thought: I hear Him say my name and tell me I belong!