I was thinking yesterday about the ways God has revealed to me wonderful things about Him and His grace, and how those revelations have changed my life so much.
These are some of the things He has shown me that have just blown me away and swept me off my feet in wonder at His grace. They are wonderful truths and they are true for all of us who believe in the Son!
Because of Christ's finished work on the cross:
We are in right relationship with God and accepted by Him (we are justified, which means accepted as righteous and right with God).
We are completely forgiven of all our sins, past, present and future!
There is no condemnation on us, ever, and we will never be punished for our sins (because Christ took our punishment for us and took away our sins on the cross).
We are already in Life Eternal. We are new creations, and our spirits already are part of the eternal and cannot die.
We are safe and secure in God's hands, and noone can pluck us out of His hand. The Holy Spirit has been given to assure us that we are certainly in God's family and to assure us that we will receive the whole inheritance, including new resurrected bodies in heaven!
We are qualified - made worthy to be part of His family, His kingdom of priests, His ministering body, His special and chosen people. Thus we can approach His throne with confidence and we can pray and God will answer all our prayers.
We are favored and blessed in everything and we stand in His favor at all times.
We have been delivered from the bondage of the enemy and the ruin of sin, and we have our Big Brother Christ to back us up and the wonderful Holy Spirit on our side at all times, and we have been given authority over all the power of the enemy.
We are heirs, heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ, heirs of the world, recipients of a great inheritance in Christ, for all that He has is ours and as He is, so are we in this world. We reign in life with Christ!
We have the dear Holy Spirit in us as our closest Friend and Companion and Helper, reassuring us at all times of God's love for us and rising up within us with faith, power and love to tackle (and overcome!) anything that comes our way. We are never, ever alone again and never without a friend!
We are loved by God with an unconditional love that will never go away. He loves us freely, without any strings attached, forever! He has yoked Himself to us and bonded Himself to us in love for all eternity!
And it's all because of His wonderful grace, His immeasurable, vast, freely bestowed, unmerited favor! And it comes to us through the perfect, complete, sufficient, FINISHED work of Christ on our behalf. All of Him!
All glory to You, O God! To the praise of Your glorious grace, by which You made us accepted in the Beloved!
The elephants were my favorite act to watch...they seemed like these sweet and gentle giants. Though they had more power and brute strength than any of the animals in the whole circus, they seemed to have the gentlest disposition and seemed the most patient of all the animals! I loved how the elephant held his female trainer in his trunk, lifting her high above his head, yet always holding her very tenderly and never bruising her or dropping her.
It just reminds me of the Holy Spirit within us, how He is the strongest power in the universe, like a mighty, rushing wind, and yet with us He is so gentle, like the whisper of a Spring breeze.
He is so strong defending us from the adversary, and yet so tender touching us with His love!
He is so powerful in pushing back the lies and darkness that come against us, and yet so kind and sweet with us in all our woundedness.
He crushes the enemy opposition before us and makes the mountains in front of us turn into a plain! And yet, the bruised reed of our lives He will not break, nor will He extinguish the smoldering wick of our heart-light.
Tough and tender, great and gentle! What a wonderful Advocate, Helper, Comforter and Friend!
One Needful Thing
"The greatest way you can minister to God...is to sit at His feet and keep drawing from Him! That is what delights our Lord....He has not come to be fed but to feed...Only one thing is needful - to rest at Jesus' feet and receive from Him."
Joseph Prince
Joseph Prince
Some Favorite Quotes
Just wanted to share some of my favorite quotes that have really encouraged me about God's grace and loving heart:
Always remember, you are not a burden to God, you are His treasure. Mick Mooney
Grace is a Person. Grace is the Spirit of Christ Himself within, loving us and living through us. Rob Rufus
We don't fight sin; we experience LIFE! That's what the Christian walk is all about! Sammy Bilyeu (this may be a paraphrase and not exact words, not sure, but I love this idea..)
It is on a foundation of grace that the power of the Holy Spirit moves, not on human performance and effort. The kingdom of heaven is an ascending escalator. Rob Rufus
When He gives the Comforter...His pledge is that we shall live forever with Him. Catherine Marshall
[We have] the inward, invincible power of the Lord Jesus in our heart..In this power, He will live in you and carry out His work in you. As the indwelling Christ, He is bent on maintaining and manifesting His redemption in you..He will by His power...overcome sin in you. He will carry out His work. Andrew Murray
Always remember, you are not a burden to God, you are His treasure. Mick Mooney
Grace is a Person. Grace is the Spirit of Christ Himself within, loving us and living through us. Rob Rufus
We don't fight sin; we experience LIFE! That's what the Christian walk is all about! Sammy Bilyeu (this may be a paraphrase and not exact words, not sure, but I love this idea..)
It is on a foundation of grace that the power of the Holy Spirit moves, not on human performance and effort. The kingdom of heaven is an ascending escalator. Rob Rufus
When He gives the Comforter...His pledge is that we shall live forever with Him. Catherine Marshall
[We have] the inward, invincible power of the Lord Jesus in our heart..In this power, He will live in you and carry out His work in you. As the indwelling Christ, He is bent on maintaining and manifesting His redemption in you..He will by His power...overcome sin in you. He will carry out His work. Andrew Murray
Grace and Springtime
I feel ready for Spring, it just makes me think of new and good things coming. A friend of mine talks a lot about how God is doing new and good things and has good things on the way for us. I like that, because in the past I have lived under a lot of depressed feelings, suffering under the idea that things would never get any better but only worse. But God is always about uplifting, restoring, helping and bringing hope. There is always the hope of Springtime and new vitality with Him! I love that!
It reminds me of a verse I read recently: You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing. There shall be shouts of joy and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. (I'm writing that verse from Is 55, I think it is, from memory, so it may be paraphrased a bit.) He is leading us forth into joy and peace!
To me, His grace means He is with us no matter what hard or dark times we go through, even if we bring them onto ourselves sometimes. Doesn't matter. He won't leave us when we're down! He loves and accepts us just the same as always and we're still His righteous, beloved children.
And grace gets even better than that! To me, His grace also means He doesn't just stick with us in the hard moments, when we feel we've been overwhelmed with bitter cold and dark winter. Grace also means He lifts us up and brings Spring healing to our hearts! He breaks through the darkness with His loving, powerful Spirit of Life and Grace and Glory! He overcomes the darkness and drives it away! He lifts us up on our feet again, brings us out into Spring meadows where we can run free and shout His praise! All a gift of grace..
Thank You for Your grace, Lord, that accepts us no matter what and empowers us over everything that comes our way! It's like grace is just another word for YOU, working in us through Your dear Spirit, bringing us to enjoy the close and loving Communion with You, our Father, that Jesus bought for us, and also bringing out the very Life and Victory of the Son that He won for us on the Cross!
Kim Walker on God's Love for Us
There's a Place in God's Heart for Us
There's a wonderful place where we find we truly are accepted and cherished.
There's a wonderful place where we truly belong.
There's a wonderful place where we are safe and secure.
There's a wonderful place where we are delighted in and cherished.
There's a wonderful place where we are held and embraced.
It's a Spirit place. It's in our Father's arms, and the Holy Spirit makes us to be able to experience being in His presence, in His arms. That's where He has already put us in Christ. Christ has brought us into the very presence of God and we are safe in His hands, with noone (even ourselves) able to pluck us out!
He's got us where He wants us, in His embrace! Safe! Hugged! Right where He wants us, so He can love on us forever and sing songs over us, shower blessings on us, enjoy being with us in fellowship!
And the Spirit is sent into our hearts to flood us with the love of God and let us really experience that wonderful relationship of intimacy in Daddy's arms that we have!
We will be IN HIS ARMS forever!
Think about it - God has a special place in His arms, in His heart, that only YOU can fill. We talk about us having a God-shaped hole in our hearts, right, that only He can fill? Well, I remember hearing Kim Walker, a singer with Jesus Culture, talking about a conversation she had with God where He showed her that HE had a spot in His heart that was just her shape, a place where only she would fit, that was just for her!
We each have a special place in His heart! We are special to Him and He has a special place in Himself that is just for us, a place where we can rest in Him and feel the weight of our worries fall off our shoulders, a place where we are taken in and loved completely, unreservedly, unconditionally. Like a little child, at rest in their daddy's arms. That is a place where we can finally REST and be at peace, in quietness, safe, secure, comforted, taken care of, understood, a place where we know everything is okay, Daddy's handling everything for us. A place where we find ourselves WHOLE, with the broken places mended and the darkness and confusion gone, a place of restoration of lost hopes and of renewed hope where hope had been lost. It's the place of the Spirit. It's the center of God's heart! That's where we are today and tomorrow and forevermore!
There's a wonderful place where we truly belong.
There's a wonderful place where we are safe and secure.
There's a wonderful place where we are delighted in and cherished.
There's a wonderful place where we are held and embraced.
It's a Spirit place. It's in our Father's arms, and the Holy Spirit makes us to be able to experience being in His presence, in His arms. That's where He has already put us in Christ. Christ has brought us into the very presence of God and we are safe in His hands, with noone (even ourselves) able to pluck us out!
He's got us where He wants us, in His embrace! Safe! Hugged! Right where He wants us, so He can love on us forever and sing songs over us, shower blessings on us, enjoy being with us in fellowship!
And the Spirit is sent into our hearts to flood us with the love of God and let us really experience that wonderful relationship of intimacy in Daddy's arms that we have!
We will be IN HIS ARMS forever!
Think about it - God has a special place in His arms, in His heart, that only YOU can fill. We talk about us having a God-shaped hole in our hearts, right, that only He can fill? Well, I remember hearing Kim Walker, a singer with Jesus Culture, talking about a conversation she had with God where He showed her that HE had a spot in His heart that was just her shape, a place where only she would fit, that was just for her!
We each have a special place in His heart! We are special to Him and He has a special place in Himself that is just for us, a place where we can rest in Him and feel the weight of our worries fall off our shoulders, a place where we are taken in and loved completely, unreservedly, unconditionally. Like a little child, at rest in their daddy's arms. That is a place where we can finally REST and be at peace, in quietness, safe, secure, comforted, taken care of, understood, a place where we know everything is okay, Daddy's handling everything for us. A place where we find ourselves WHOLE, with the broken places mended and the darkness and confusion gone, a place of restoration of lost hopes and of renewed hope where hope had been lost. It's the place of the Spirit. It's the center of God's heart! That's where we are today and tomorrow and forevermore!
Springtime Photos
Joyful, joyful, we adore You, God of glory, Lord of love! Hearts unfold like flowers before You, opening to the Sun above!
Secure in Christ, Part 12 - We're Already There
One thing that amazes me and helps me to see how secure I truly am in Christ is the wonderful truth that our spirits are "already there!" Our spirits are already in heaven with Jesus! So really, when you think about it, we are not trying to "get" to heaven or wondering if we will "make it" to heaven, for we are already IN heaven in our spirit! It reminds me of a quote by Watchman Nee, something to the effect of "There is no need to struggle to get into a room in which you already are. Once you see that you already ARE in, you make no effort to enter." He was talking about the "room" of being IN Christ, and that is exactly where we are, IN Christ! Our life is safely hidden with Christ in God! Talk about safe and secure..we are already IN Christ, who is already IN God, who is already IN heaven! Our spirits are safely wrapped up in the most wonderful package of Christ Himself, sealed with the Spirit, held by God, safe already in heaven!
We live in the ALREADY with God!
We aren't trying to get reconciled, we already ARE reconciled!
We aren't trying to get forgiven, we already ARE forgiven!
We aren't trying to get saved, we already ARE saved!
We aren't trying to become justified, we already ARE justified!
We aren't trying to be at peace, we already ARE at peace!
We aren't trying to become holy, we already ARE holy!
We aren't trying to get close to God, we already ARE close to God!
We aren't trying to get to heaven, we already ARE in heaven!
I love that! I love how we live in the already with God. We aren't trying to work up enough faith to make any of those things so, for they already are a fact of our existence. What a relief..
We're already raised with Christ.
We're already seated with Christ in the heavenly places.
We're already blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places!
We're already home.
We're already safe.
We're already born of imperishable seed!
We're already part of the Eternal!
We're already new.
We're already those passed from death into life.
We're already MORE than conquerors.
We're already victors over the enemy.
We're already overcomers and already led in triumph!
We're already in the faith, for we live by the faith of Christ Himself!
We're already living with a new heart!
We're already living with a new nature - His divine nature!
We're already in the Kingdom of the Son.
We're already heirs of the Kingdom!
We're already sons and daughters of the Most High.
We're already in the family.
We're already His building, His temple.
We're already holy.
We're already the Holy of Holies and the dwelling of His Spirit!
We're already possessors of the Spirit.
We're already walking in newness of life.
We're already delivered from the old dead life and its corruption!
We're already free!
We're already whole!
We're already full!
We're already loved!
We're already accepted and taken in!
We're already in the secret place of His presence.
We're already overshadowed by His protective wings.
We're already held, carried and supported by His everlasting arms!
We're already kept safe and guarded by our Good Shepherd!
We're already led in paths of righteousness.
We're already protected from the evil one.
We're already overtaken by blessings!
We're already provided for!
We're already pursued by goodness and mercy!
We're already dwelling in the house of the Lord forever...
We live in the ALREADY with God! We're already in the new creation, already part of the permanent (and thus our spirits cannot even die)! Already full of the resurrection life of God! We are already, in our spirits, in glory! In glory! And when Christ appears, we also WILL appear with Him in glory!
Therefore, let's comfort ourselves with these words! Satan can't take away the joy we have been given of knowing Christ and realizing we'll be with Him forever! Safe in You, dear Jesus - thank You so much! So good to know my spirit, my real and true new creation self, is already safely in Your arms in heaven...
We live in the ALREADY with God!
We aren't trying to get reconciled, we already ARE reconciled!
We aren't trying to get forgiven, we already ARE forgiven!
We aren't trying to get saved, we already ARE saved!
We aren't trying to become justified, we already ARE justified!
We aren't trying to be at peace, we already ARE at peace!
We aren't trying to become holy, we already ARE holy!
We aren't trying to get close to God, we already ARE close to God!
We aren't trying to get to heaven, we already ARE in heaven!
I love that! I love how we live in the already with God. We aren't trying to work up enough faith to make any of those things so, for they already are a fact of our existence. What a relief..
We're already raised with Christ.
We're already seated with Christ in the heavenly places.
We're already blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places!
We're already home.
We're already safe.
We're already born of imperishable seed!
We're already part of the Eternal!
We're already new.
We're already those passed from death into life.
We're already MORE than conquerors.
We're already victors over the enemy.
We're already overcomers and already led in triumph!
We're already in the faith, for we live by the faith of Christ Himself!
We're already living with a new heart!
We're already living with a new nature - His divine nature!
We're already in the Kingdom of the Son.
We're already heirs of the Kingdom!
We're already sons and daughters of the Most High.
We're already in the family.
We're already His building, His temple.
We're already holy.
We're already the Holy of Holies and the dwelling of His Spirit!
We're already possessors of the Spirit.
We're already walking in newness of life.
We're already delivered from the old dead life and its corruption!
We're already free!
We're already whole!
We're already full!
We're already loved!
We're already accepted and taken in!
We're already in the secret place of His presence.
We're already overshadowed by His protective wings.
We're already held, carried and supported by His everlasting arms!
We're already kept safe and guarded by our Good Shepherd!
We're already led in paths of righteousness.
We're already protected from the evil one.
We're already overtaken by blessings!
We're already provided for!
We're already pursued by goodness and mercy!
We're already dwelling in the house of the Lord forever...
We live in the ALREADY with God! We're already in the new creation, already part of the permanent (and thus our spirits cannot even die)! Already full of the resurrection life of God! We are already, in our spirits, in glory! In glory! And when Christ appears, we also WILL appear with Him in glory!
Therefore, let's comfort ourselves with these words! Satan can't take away the joy we have been given of knowing Christ and realizing we'll be with Him forever! Safe in You, dear Jesus - thank You so much! So good to know my spirit, my real and true new creation self, is already safely in Your arms in heaven...
Secure in Christ, Part 11 - We Are Part of God's Family Forever
Being securely wrapped up in Christ is so wonderful. He just keeps us secure in so many ways and has it all covered, from beginning to end in our Christian experience! One thing that has really comforted me and helped me see how secure I am in Him has been the idea of being put into God's family permanently. We are brought into His family in several ways, I think, and in all those ways we are brought in forever, never to be excluded or thrown out, disowned or excluded..
We are born into God's family, born of the Spirit, born from above. We are rebirthed through the living and permanent and lasting Word of God that never dies or changes or fails! We are born again with a newly alive spirit, a righteous spirit that can never, ever die, for it has its life source in the very Spirit of God, the eternal Life of God Himself! His Life is our life now, is at the center of our being, and that is a fire that can't be extinguished!
Birth is truly permanent! Once a new being is conceived and born, that person is forever in existence. There's no way to go backward and be "un-born" or erase the spiritual DNA with which God has made and equipped us. We are part of His family with His spiritual DNA in us, made from His Life, with the family traits existent in us forever! Just as earthly parents would say a baby has their eyes, their nose, their temperament, our Father says of us that we have His nature, His life, His Spirit! We are forever and permanently His children because we've been reborn that way, made forever in His righteous image, thus righteous forever!
Another way we are brought into the family is by adoption. I am still learning about the meaning of adoption in the first century, but from some things I have read, it seems the term adoption was used differently than it is today. I read that "placed him as a son," so to speak, giving him full rights to his inheritance. It marked the time when a biological child of yours came into the full privileges of being a son, with the inheritance, authority, blessings and rights that came along with that. Everyone on earth was created by God and is in one sense His child. When we accept Christ through faith, we come into our full rights and privileges as His adopted children. He planned from before time began to adopt us like this! And all the gifts He has given us, grace upon grace and blessing upon blessing, all the blessings of our inheritance in Christ, - He planned all that for us from before the foundation of the world, a love plan beyond our comprehension. He always meant that we would end up graced, loved, blessed and full of all the family privileges, set into a permanent place of love and honor in His family circle! We are called sons, not just offspring! We are not servants who live in the house and can be fired at any time for poor performance - NO! We have been placed as sons! A servant does not abide or remain in the house forever, but a SON abides or remains forever! Jesus said we, as sons of the Father, remain in His house forever! He is never going to disown us or kick us out! He has given us sonship, and the Spirit of adoption testifies to that by crying out "Daddy!" within us! That is the best gift He has given us, too, in this inheritance - the gift of an intimate relationship with God whereby we can call Him "Daddy!" And all His gifts are irrevocable - He is our Daddy and FOR EVER AND ALWAYS we have the inheritance (which includes not just that wonderful intimate relationship, but also authority in Christ, peace, righteousness, provision, wholeness, joy, abundant life, eternal glory, etc.). The Son calls us his brothers and we are co-heirs with Him, will share in His glory! We can even say that the Lord Himself is our inheritance for always - "the Lord is my portion forever!" What a bright future we have with Him - Wow!
But there's more! There's another way we are brought into God's family: through marriage to the Son! We are called the Bride of Christ, and the Spirit is our eternal engagement ring or guarantee that this marriage will be completely realized one day at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Talk about being loved and wanted and chosen! We are so special that we were picked to be the very Bride of the only begotten Son of God! God says in Hosea 2:19 "I will betroth you to me forever, in love and faithfulness." I like how the Message puts that verse: "I will marry you true and proper. I will neither leave you nor let you go." God will be faithful to us and never leave us. But also He will hold on to us and never let us go! He will never let us drift away from Him. He has put the fear or reverence of Him in our new heart so that we will not turn away from Him - our new hearts are good and are in love with Him forever, never to wander away. That's our new nature - to always believe, to always follow, to always stay with our Husband. As Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and they know Me, and they follow Me, and noone is able to snatch them out of My hand. My Father is greater than all, and noone is able to snatch them out of His hand." Even ourselves! He has given us a new heart and nature that won't desert our Lover. And we know for sure Our Beloved won't desert us, because He has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:6)! We can say "I am my Beloved's and He is mine!" He is ours and we are His forever! This is a forever marraige, never to be dissolved, and we will enjoy a wonderful relationship with Him forever!
We are brought into the family of God by birth, adoption and engagement/marraige - and all these things are permanent, always and forever. Thank You, Lord!
We are born into God's family, born of the Spirit, born from above. We are rebirthed through the living and permanent and lasting Word of God that never dies or changes or fails! We are born again with a newly alive spirit, a righteous spirit that can never, ever die, for it has its life source in the very Spirit of God, the eternal Life of God Himself! His Life is our life now, is at the center of our being, and that is a fire that can't be extinguished!
Birth is truly permanent! Once a new being is conceived and born, that person is forever in existence. There's no way to go backward and be "un-born" or erase the spiritual DNA with which God has made and equipped us. We are part of His family with His spiritual DNA in us, made from His Life, with the family traits existent in us forever! Just as earthly parents would say a baby has their eyes, their nose, their temperament, our Father says of us that we have His nature, His life, His Spirit! We are forever and permanently His children because we've been reborn that way, made forever in His righteous image, thus righteous forever!
Another way we are brought into the family is by adoption. I am still learning about the meaning of adoption in the first century, but from some things I have read, it seems the term adoption was used differently than it is today. I read that "placed him as a son," so to speak, giving him full rights to his inheritance. It marked the time when a biological child of yours came into the full privileges of being a son, with the inheritance, authority, blessings and rights that came along with that. Everyone on earth was created by God and is in one sense His child. When we accept Christ through faith, we come into our full rights and privileges as His adopted children. He planned from before time began to adopt us like this! And all the gifts He has given us, grace upon grace and blessing upon blessing, all the blessings of our inheritance in Christ, - He planned all that for us from before the foundation of the world, a love plan beyond our comprehension. He always meant that we would end up graced, loved, blessed and full of all the family privileges, set into a permanent place of love and honor in His family circle! We are called sons, not just offspring! We are not servants who live in the house and can be fired at any time for poor performance - NO! We have been placed as sons! A servant does not abide or remain in the house forever, but a SON abides or remains forever! Jesus said we, as sons of the Father, remain in His house forever! He is never going to disown us or kick us out! He has given us sonship, and the Spirit of adoption testifies to that by crying out "Daddy!" within us! That is the best gift He has given us, too, in this inheritance - the gift of an intimate relationship with God whereby we can call Him "Daddy!" And all His gifts are irrevocable - He is our Daddy and FOR EVER AND ALWAYS we have the inheritance (which includes not just that wonderful intimate relationship, but also authority in Christ, peace, righteousness, provision, wholeness, joy, abundant life, eternal glory, etc.). The Son calls us his brothers and we are co-heirs with Him, will share in His glory! We can even say that the Lord Himself is our inheritance for always - "the Lord is my portion forever!" What a bright future we have with Him - Wow!
But there's more! There's another way we are brought into God's family: through marriage to the Son! We are called the Bride of Christ, and the Spirit is our eternal engagement ring or guarantee that this marriage will be completely realized one day at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Talk about being loved and wanted and chosen! We are so special that we were picked to be the very Bride of the only begotten Son of God! God says in Hosea 2:19 "I will betroth you to me forever, in love and faithfulness." I like how the Message puts that verse: "I will marry you true and proper. I will neither leave you nor let you go." God will be faithful to us and never leave us. But also He will hold on to us and never let us go! He will never let us drift away from Him. He has put the fear or reverence of Him in our new heart so that we will not turn away from Him - our new hearts are good and are in love with Him forever, never to wander away. That's our new nature - to always believe, to always follow, to always stay with our Husband. As Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and they know Me, and they follow Me, and noone is able to snatch them out of My hand. My Father is greater than all, and noone is able to snatch them out of His hand." Even ourselves! He has given us a new heart and nature that won't desert our Lover. And we know for sure Our Beloved won't desert us, because He has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:6)! We can say "I am my Beloved's and He is mine!" He is ours and we are His forever! This is a forever marraige, never to be dissolved, and we will enjoy a wonderful relationship with Him forever!
We are brought into the family of God by birth, adoption and engagement/marraige - and all these things are permanent, always and forever. Thank You, Lord!
You Reach for Me
"Reach"
You hold the weight of the world
Still I don't slip through Your hands
Your love is bigger than just an ocean built by man
I fall again and again but You whisper, "You're still mine"
You feel the pain of the world but You never push mine aside
And You reach for me with a love that quiets all my fears
And You reach for me like a Father wipes away the tears
So many people in this world, but I hear You calling out my name
You reach for me, now I'm never gonna be the same
You know all of my fears, there's nothing Your eyes can't see
When I tried to give up, Lord, You never gave up on me
I give You all of my hopes and dreams, I lay them down
Of all the places I've looked Your the one truth I have found
You reach for me
You hold the weight of the world
Still I don't slip through Your hands
You put the stars in the sky
You know every grain of sand
Still I don't slip through Your hands
Your love is bigger than just an ocean built by man
I fall again and again but You whisper, "You're still mine"
You feel the pain of the world but You never push mine aside
And You reach for me with a love that quiets all my fears
And You reach for me like a Father wipes away the tears
So many people in this world, but I hear You calling out my name
You reach for me, now I'm never gonna be the same
You know all of my fears, there's nothing Your eyes can't see
When I tried to give up, Lord, You never gave up on me
I give You all of my hopes and dreams, I lay them down
Of all the places I've looked Your the one truth I have found
You reach for me
You hold the weight of the world
Still I don't slip through Your hands
You put the stars in the sky
You know every grain of sand
Peter Furler
Secure in Christ, Part 10 - We Are the Righteousness of God in Christ
It is wonderful to think how secure we are in Christ, all because of His finished work. His finished work not only took away all my sin, so that I am never seen as a sinner anymore, and therefore never judged, condemned, or punished - but His finished work also made me the righteousness of God in Christ! Now THAT'S righteous! That's a righteousness that can never fade or be marred or stained. That's perfect righteousness! That's unchanging righteousness! That's eternal righteousness!
This perfect righteousness is based on a perfect sacrifice as part of a perfect covenant made and upheld by God and Jesus (and not up to me to uphold or keep it)!
So it's a secure and unchangeable righteousness because it isn't based on me and my working and ability to keep things going but based on Christ and His doings and His ability to keep things going. He ever lives to intercede for me and that means the righteousness He has given me will last forever!
Christ's sacrifice was once-for-all and lasts for all time. By one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. By His sacrifice we are perfected once for all time! And since His sacrifice perfected me once for all, for all time, I am righteous before God for all time!
This righteousness isn't just a mask that I wear to cover up my ugly self that still exists underneath - no, I have been made the righteousness of God! I have been reborn as a righteous person! I have been infused with His righteousness at the very core of my being through being regenerated/recreated as a new creations with the Holy Spirit as my very life! My spirit has been recreated in union with His Spirit - they are one. All that He is has been infused into my spiritual DNA. I have the very holiness of the Holy Spirit at my core, in my new nature. I have been made a partaker of the divine nature! Now that's holy! Set apart for Him, beautiful, clean and pure, good and lovely and new! Innocent and also perfect before Him - a saint (holy one, consecrated one). I'm never a sinner again but always a saint in Christ Jesus! That's what has happened and is now forever true of my reborn spirit! That's a wonderful righteousness!
And another beautiful way to look at it is this: righteousness just means a state of rightness, being in right relationship with God. So for us to have been made the righteousness of God in Christ means that we have been put in perfect and right relationship with God, as perfect a relationship as God the Father and His Son have! We have been brought into the midst of that very relationship and have been made to partake of it, enjoying the same fellowship and love. Jesus said that as the Father has loved Him, He has loved us. He prayed that the very love of the Father that was in Him would be in us, and that is what He has accomplished through His death to take away sins and through the resurrection and new birth, putting His very Spirit in us. We have been brought into the family love circle of the Trinity!
We are safe and secure in His eternal hug! The Father won't ever stop loving Jesus, and because we've been brought into that same right relationship that Jesus has with the Father, the Father won't ever stop loving us! We now have this perfect love relationship with Him, which is what He wanted all along for us! And we have it irrevocably and permanently because we have been made the unchangeable, perfect righteousness of Christ!
This perfect righteousness is based on a perfect sacrifice as part of a perfect covenant made and upheld by God and Jesus (and not up to me to uphold or keep it)!
So it's a secure and unchangeable righteousness because it isn't based on me and my working and ability to keep things going but based on Christ and His doings and His ability to keep things going. He ever lives to intercede for me and that means the righteousness He has given me will last forever!
Christ's sacrifice was once-for-all and lasts for all time. By one offering He has perfected forever those who are sanctified. By His sacrifice we are perfected once for all time! And since His sacrifice perfected me once for all, for all time, I am righteous before God for all time!
This righteousness isn't just a mask that I wear to cover up my ugly self that still exists underneath - no, I have been made the righteousness of God! I have been reborn as a righteous person! I have been infused with His righteousness at the very core of my being through being regenerated/recreated as a new creations with the Holy Spirit as my very life! My spirit has been recreated in union with His Spirit - they are one. All that He is has been infused into my spiritual DNA. I have the very holiness of the Holy Spirit at my core, in my new nature. I have been made a partaker of the divine nature! Now that's holy! Set apart for Him, beautiful, clean and pure, good and lovely and new! Innocent and also perfect before Him - a saint (holy one, consecrated one). I'm never a sinner again but always a saint in Christ Jesus! That's what has happened and is now forever true of my reborn spirit! That's a wonderful righteousness!
And another beautiful way to look at it is this: righteousness just means a state of rightness, being in right relationship with God. So for us to have been made the righteousness of God in Christ means that we have been put in perfect and right relationship with God, as perfect a relationship as God the Father and His Son have! We have been brought into the midst of that very relationship and have been made to partake of it, enjoying the same fellowship and love. Jesus said that as the Father has loved Him, He has loved us. He prayed that the very love of the Father that was in Him would be in us, and that is what He has accomplished through His death to take away sins and through the resurrection and new birth, putting His very Spirit in us. We have been brought into the family love circle of the Trinity!
We are safe and secure in His eternal hug! The Father won't ever stop loving Jesus, and because we've been brought into that same right relationship that Jesus has with the Father, the Father won't ever stop loving us! We now have this perfect love relationship with Him, which is what He wanted all along for us! And we have it irrevocably and permanently because we have been made the unchangeable, perfect righteousness of Christ!
Already Accepted, Already Worth Knowing
Sometimes I feel I'm not worth knowing. I wonder why other people would be my friend or want to hang around me. I don't see anything special in me; instead, I see myself as a little bit of a weirdo, a little quirky around the edges. I see faults. I see hangups and insecurities.
Case in point: I have these two really good friends who have never met each other, and I even have this fear that if they ever met, they would see how goofy and less special I am compared to each other, and they would just drop me and go off and be best friends themselves! It seems so childish (and it is), yet where does this silly fear come from? It comes from a lie! A lie of Satan! He lies to me and tells me that I'm no good, not special, weird, not worth knowing, a nobody.
But God says the opposite, and what God says is TRUE!
I got the picture of God holding out something - a gift - and of Him putting this gift into my hands. It is the gift of ACCEPTANCE. He has already (ALREADY!) given me this gift. This gift is already mine for free, freely given through Jesus! If a gift is already yours, what do you do? You don't keep trying to get it or act like it isn't yours. NO! You enjoy it! You enjoy what is already yours for free! You smile, and relax, and rejoice, and say "Thank You, Daddy!" So I don't have to struggle to get this acceptance or specialness or worthiness or chosenness. It's already mine in Christ!
I am not trying to be worthy or worthwhile. He has already made me worthy!
I am not trying to become special. He already says I'm special, special to Him, the One who really counts!
I am not trying to get picked or chosen. I am already chosen, picked, called out, significant, important, valued!
I am not trying to get love. I already have love, the best and purest love in the universe! I am loved, right now, as I am!
I am not trying to get acceptance. I already am accepted forever by Him, which means I'm an acceptable person, and I can even accept myself! I can look in the mirror in the morning and LIKE the person I see there! Even with all the personality quirks and failings!
We are in the already with God!
We are already loved, known, cared about, chosen, precious and special.
You and I are worth knowing! We are wanted! We are accepted! We are welcomed in!
Thank You, Father, for loving and caring about us!
Secure in Christ, Part 9 - Sins Are Remembered NO MORE
One of my favorite New Covenant truths is that our sins are really GONE! This is something I did not realize for years as a Christian. I always felt my sins were weighing down on me, always felt guilty, always felt I needed to confess and repent all the time to try to "get right" with God again and again, always felt "out of fellowship" with Him, just felt unacceptable to Him so often. What I didn't yet understand was that when Jesus died on the cross He literally TOOK AWAY my sins and they just aren't there on me or in me any longer! Ever since the day I had first believed, I had been right with God and acceptable to Him, not ever guilty, not ever "out of fellowship" or anything. This wasn't because of me keeping my life free from any failure, no, it was because of Jesus' perfect sacrifice for me and the wonderful New Covenant, by which He became my sin on the cross and I became His righteousness! So my sins are truly gone, they got killed off at the cross, went into the grave, were buried, and stayed buried! They are gone, gone, gone!
God says as part of the New Covenant, "Their sins and iniquities I will remember NO MORE!" My children and I have memorized this verse together, and I always like to really emphasize the NO MORE part! Those sins are gone! Past, present, and future, all sins that I ever have or ever will commit are gone! God says He will remember them NO MORE! He has cast them behind His back, thrown them into the sea of forgetfulness, removed them from me as far as the east is from the west! God isn't thinking about my sins! So I shouldn't be dwelling on them and thinking about them either!
Well, this has great implications for me - especially, it means I am soooo secure in Christ! My salvation cannot be lost because I can never be damned, never! Why? Because the thing that could condemn or damn me to hell - sin - has been eradicated from my life, taken away forever by Jesus on the cross! "My sin, not in part, but the whole, has been nailed to the cross and I bear it no more - praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul!"
In the New Covenant, sins are remembered no more, so there' no need to pay for, deal with, or be punished for sin. There is eternal redemption from the law of sin and death. I've been lifted up out of that law (that says, if you sin, you die), and have bee put in the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (that says, if you have Christ's Spirit, you live!). There's eternal redemption from the curse of the law - death.
My sin has been taken away and removed, so there's no sin in me to be judged a sinner/lawbreaker. Because I am not judged a sinner, there is no way I can be condemned to death. Because there is no condemnation or death sentence, there is no way I can be punished with eternal death. There is no punishment for me! (God even promises that not only will I not be punished, but He won't even get angry with me or rebuke me! There is nothing to get angry about or to rebuke, even!) Because there is no punishment for me, there is no way I can end up in hell! Wow, because my sin has been taken away by Jesus and God promises to remember it NO MORE, there is NO judgment, no condemnation, no punishment, no hell for me! And since He promised to never ever remember my sin - that's forever - then the benefit of escaping condemnation and punishment is FOREVER as well!
Wow, what a Savior, what a God, what a Redemption! And what security in Him!
God says as part of the New Covenant, "Their sins and iniquities I will remember NO MORE!" My children and I have memorized this verse together, and I always like to really emphasize the NO MORE part! Those sins are gone! Past, present, and future, all sins that I ever have or ever will commit are gone! God says He will remember them NO MORE! He has cast them behind His back, thrown them into the sea of forgetfulness, removed them from me as far as the east is from the west! God isn't thinking about my sins! So I shouldn't be dwelling on them and thinking about them either!
Well, this has great implications for me - especially, it means I am soooo secure in Christ! My salvation cannot be lost because I can never be damned, never! Why? Because the thing that could condemn or damn me to hell - sin - has been eradicated from my life, taken away forever by Jesus on the cross! "My sin, not in part, but the whole, has been nailed to the cross and I bear it no more - praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul!"
In the New Covenant, sins are remembered no more, so there' no need to pay for, deal with, or be punished for sin. There is eternal redemption from the law of sin and death. I've been lifted up out of that law (that says, if you sin, you die), and have bee put in the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (that says, if you have Christ's Spirit, you live!). There's eternal redemption from the curse of the law - death.
My sin has been taken away and removed, so there's no sin in me to be judged a sinner/lawbreaker. Because I am not judged a sinner, there is no way I can be condemned to death. Because there is no condemnation or death sentence, there is no way I can be punished with eternal death. There is no punishment for me! (God even promises that not only will I not be punished, but He won't even get angry with me or rebuke me! There is nothing to get angry about or to rebuke, even!) Because there is no punishment for me, there is no way I can end up in hell! Wow, because my sin has been taken away by Jesus and God promises to remember it NO MORE, there is NO judgment, no condemnation, no punishment, no hell for me! And since He promised to never ever remember my sin - that's forever - then the benefit of escaping condemnation and punishment is FOREVER as well!
Wow, what a Savior, what a God, what a Redemption! And what security in Him!
Strong Enough to Save by Tenth Avenue North
This song has come to mind lately, and I believe that God has brought it to mind to encourage me. I wanted to share it here. I love that it doesn't matter if we are weak, because HE is strong enough to save, no matter what our problem or crisis or issue! I love that we're never too far from grace - in fact, His grace is all over us because of what Christ has done to make us right with God forever! I love that He answers every prayer and never, ever fails to help us! Love never fails...His love will never fail us!
Strong Enough To Save
You fought, but you were just too weak
So you lost, all the things you tried to keep
Now you’re on your knees
(Now you’re on your knees)
You’re on your knees
(You’re on your knees)
But wait
Yeah everything can change
In a moment’s time
You don’t have to be afraid
Cause fear is just a lie
Open up your eyes
And He’ll break open the skies
To save, those who cry out His name
The One the wind and waves obey
It’s strong enough to save you
Look, now is not too late
Lift up your head
Let the rain fall on your face
You’re not far from grace
And He’ll break open the skies
To save, those who cry out His name
The One the wind and waves obey
It’s strong enough to save you
Break open the skies
To save, those who cry out his name
The One the wind and waves obey
It’s strong enough to save you
I know the weight of this world
Can take you down like gravity
Yeah I know the current of yourself
Can take you out
Out to sea
But hold on, hold on
You’re not too far from grace
And He’ll break open the skies
To save, those who cry out His name
The One the wind and waves obey
It’s strong enough to save you
Break open the skies
To save, those who cry out his name
The One the wind and waves obey
It’s strong enough to save you
Tenth Avenue North
Secure in Christ, Part 8 - We're Benefactors in a Perfect Covenant That Cannot Fail
I love our security in Christ, and how it is not based on me and my flimsy willpower or fluctuating strength. It is made and kept going, formed and sustained by the mighty will and power of God Himself! Thus, it is an unbreakable and perfect covenant! This covenant, the New Covenant, is eternal. It is held together by God and won't ever fail.
This covenant wasn't even made between me and God - it was made between God and Jesus, His Son! They made this agreement, and with two perfect, unchangeable, unfailing, totally trustworthy, completely able parties making this covenant, we can be sure it will never be broken, fade, change, or be revoked! It is sure and settled, as sure as any of God's Words, which are forever settled in heaven!
Because the covenant wasn't between us and God but between Jesus and the Father, we ourselves can't mess it up or break it! Once we have believed, we enter into the covenant as benefactors of all its blessings through Jesus and His priestly work on our behalf. We get all the benefits of the covenant without doing anything; we simply receive them by grace through faith. This blessing of receiving all the benefits (like the inheritance set up in a will) is the gift of God, based on His promises, not our promise to 'do' anything to earn or keep earning the benefits. And God's gifts are irrevocable: we experience the full benefits of this covenant irrevocably!
This covenant is based on perfect things. It is based on better and perfect promises, that God, who cannot lie and who is perfectly faithful, will be sure to keep for us. It is inaugurated by a better priest/mediator, Christ Himself. It is set up through a better, perfect sacrifice, the sacrificial death of Christ Himself, the perfect and spotless lamb slain from the foundation of the world! It is written in His own precious blood, the blood that speaks better than any sacrificial blood and which doesn't just cover our sin but actually takes away our sin! This blood sacrifice is so perfect and so sufficient that it needed to be offered only once, once for all it did the job of making us perfect before God forever!
This covenant is an eternal covenant that is in place forever! It lasts for as long as Christ's perfect sacrifice lasts - Forever! It lasts for as long as His intercession for us lasts - Forever! It lasts for as long as His perfect righteousness given to us lasts - Forever! It lasts for as long as God is faithful - Forever! It lasts for as long as God's Word endures - Forever! It lasts for as long as God Himself lasts - Forever!
That means we are secure forever in this perfect and beautiful NEW covenant!
This covenant wasn't even made between me and God - it was made between God and Jesus, His Son! They made this agreement, and with two perfect, unchangeable, unfailing, totally trustworthy, completely able parties making this covenant, we can be sure it will never be broken, fade, change, or be revoked! It is sure and settled, as sure as any of God's Words, which are forever settled in heaven!
Because the covenant wasn't between us and God but between Jesus and the Father, we ourselves can't mess it up or break it! Once we have believed, we enter into the covenant as benefactors of all its blessings through Jesus and His priestly work on our behalf. We get all the benefits of the covenant without doing anything; we simply receive them by grace through faith. This blessing of receiving all the benefits (like the inheritance set up in a will) is the gift of God, based on His promises, not our promise to 'do' anything to earn or keep earning the benefits. And God's gifts are irrevocable: we experience the full benefits of this covenant irrevocably!
This covenant is based on perfect things. It is based on better and perfect promises, that God, who cannot lie and who is perfectly faithful, will be sure to keep for us. It is inaugurated by a better priest/mediator, Christ Himself. It is set up through a better, perfect sacrifice, the sacrificial death of Christ Himself, the perfect and spotless lamb slain from the foundation of the world! It is written in His own precious blood, the blood that speaks better than any sacrificial blood and which doesn't just cover our sin but actually takes away our sin! This blood sacrifice is so perfect and so sufficient that it needed to be offered only once, once for all it did the job of making us perfect before God forever!
This covenant is an eternal covenant that is in place forever! It lasts for as long as Christ's perfect sacrifice lasts - Forever! It lasts for as long as His intercession for us lasts - Forever! It lasts for as long as His perfect righteousness given to us lasts - Forever! It lasts for as long as God is faithful - Forever! It lasts for as long as God's Word endures - Forever! It lasts for as long as God Himself lasts - Forever!
That means we are secure forever in this perfect and beautiful NEW covenant!
More Thoughts on How We are Special, Chosen, Valued by God
I was pondering more on being chosen by God, cared about, valuable to Him, special, worth something, accepted..
Think about it:
You weren't an accident. You didn't just 'arrive' on the scene. God the Father wanted you! He loved you into existence!
He cares about you and wants you around. You matter to Him more than you'll ever know. He moved heaven and earth, literally setting aside the old creation on the cross through Jesus' supreme sacrifice, and opening up a whole new creation, in order to get you into His family. His Son was willing to give up His life to see you welcomed into the family.
You are precious and valuable. You are important and special. You are chosen and picked by God!
We can say with our heads held high, "I am chosen and dearly loved by my Father. I am precious and honored in His sight."
We can all rejoice that each of us is God's first pick, His favorite, the apple of His eye, since He would have sent Jesus to die just for us if you or I were the only one that needed rescue! He still would have done it. He still would have died, and that makes it so personal.
We are so special to Him! He planned our lives before we were even born, He thought about us and planned our adoption into His family even before the creation of the world! Wow!
And this plan that He's set in place He will surely complete! God has accepted us and loved us forever, no turning back. He has committed Himself to us and freely given us the gift of His eternal life to be inside us as our very life. He has linked Himself to us forever. His plan is perfect and He'll finish what He started in us, wrapping things up one day with the redemption of our body. Our destiny is secure and set in the spiritual concrete of the finished work of Jesus in the New (and Eternal) Covenant!
Chosen, special, dearly loved, wanted, desired, delighted in by the Father..that's you and I!
Think about it:
You weren't an accident. You didn't just 'arrive' on the scene. God the Father wanted you! He loved you into existence!
He cares about you and wants you around. You matter to Him more than you'll ever know. He moved heaven and earth, literally setting aside the old creation on the cross through Jesus' supreme sacrifice, and opening up a whole new creation, in order to get you into His family. His Son was willing to give up His life to see you welcomed into the family.
You are precious and valuable. You are important and special. You are chosen and picked by God!
We can say with our heads held high, "I am chosen and dearly loved by my Father. I am precious and honored in His sight."
We can all rejoice that each of us is God's first pick, His favorite, the apple of His eye, since He would have sent Jesus to die just for us if you or I were the only one that needed rescue! He still would have done it. He still would have died, and that makes it so personal.
We are so special to Him! He planned our lives before we were even born, He thought about us and planned our adoption into His family even before the creation of the world! Wow!
And this plan that He's set in place He will surely complete! God has accepted us and loved us forever, no turning back. He has committed Himself to us and freely given us the gift of His eternal life to be inside us as our very life. He has linked Himself to us forever. His plan is perfect and He'll finish what He started in us, wrapping things up one day with the redemption of our body. Our destiny is secure and set in the spiritual concrete of the finished work of Jesus in the New (and Eternal) Covenant!
Chosen, special, dearly loved, wanted, desired, delighted in by the Father..that's you and I!
Secure in Christ, Part 7 - We Are Chosen by God
It is wonderful to think that before I was even born, I was chosen by God to be His! He wanted me in His family. He cared about me way back in eternity, when I was just a dream in His heart. He already had His eye on me then, He already had wonderful plans for me, to bring me into His family and make me His child through both adoption as a 'son' and being born again of the Spirit by His own will! What a love plan!
We aren't accidents. We didn't just stumble into God's house. We didn't just find ourselves their by some lucky circumstance or even ultimately by our own doing. God planned for us to be His! We are important and valuable and He MEANT for us to come into His family!
I look back on my conversion and see lots of things that happened that God used to bring me to the end of myself, to the point of looking to Him. I look back at my decisions and at the things that happened that led to my trust in Him, and I see His hand all over things, and all over me! So many of the things that I decided, I see that He led me to the point of deciding.
I am not saying that as clearly as I want, but I think what I mean is: I made the choice to believe, but when I look back I see His hand and purpose led me to that choice. I believed, but I see how He gave me that faith and motivation to believe. I changed my mind (repented), but I see how He worked in His kindness and opened my mind to lead me to that repentance. In the end, I see with relief that I chose Him, yet, I ultimately really didn't - He chose me!
I chose Him because He chose me first! I loved Him because He loved me first! I believed in Him because He believed in me, believed I could be something, could be His child, first! I made my free decision with my will, yet His Spirit was behind the scenes working and bringing me to that point of decision! I think of Jesus saying to the disciples, "You did not chose Me, but I chose you.." He had a plan all along, had a purpose for my life that He brought about!
That is beautiful to me. It means it isn't ultimately up to me to get this Christian life going or to keep it going. I know if He chose me to be here with Him, He will keep me here with Him! I don't have to keep myself! I am chosen! God chose us, that means He'll keep us! We don't have to worry about "deciding" to be lost or losing this salvation. God chose us and brought us in, appointed us to eternal life, granted us repentance that leads to life, gave us like precious faith, leading us to repentance with His kindness, working out His will that He had before time, having predestined us to adoption as His sons: He foreknew us, He predestined us, He called us, He justified us, He glorified us! Done deal!
We are the elect, which just means we're chosen of God! Wanted, cared about, special, chosen! It isn't possible for us to be un-chosen, since the gifts of God are irrevocable! We have been given this gift of being chosen by God. We are elect, dearly loved children and He meant for us to be His all along! We aren't unimportant, we are of infinite value to Him! He has been thinking of us since before time began! He has been loving us all that time, marking us out, planning for us to know Him and to find ourselves in that love! In love He planned for us to be in His family always, held in His arms, enjoying His grace forever and radiating that His grace and love and glory and presence to the world, to bring more and more children into the family! What a wonderful God! Hallelujah, what a Savior!
We aren't accidents. We didn't just stumble into God's house. We didn't just find ourselves their by some lucky circumstance or even ultimately by our own doing. God planned for us to be His! We are important and valuable and He MEANT for us to come into His family!
I look back on my conversion and see lots of things that happened that God used to bring me to the end of myself, to the point of looking to Him. I look back at my decisions and at the things that happened that led to my trust in Him, and I see His hand all over things, and all over me! So many of the things that I decided, I see that He led me to the point of deciding.
I am not saying that as clearly as I want, but I think what I mean is: I made the choice to believe, but when I look back I see His hand and purpose led me to that choice. I believed, but I see how He gave me that faith and motivation to believe. I changed my mind (repented), but I see how He worked in His kindness and opened my mind to lead me to that repentance. In the end, I see with relief that I chose Him, yet, I ultimately really didn't - He chose me!
I chose Him because He chose me first! I loved Him because He loved me first! I believed in Him because He believed in me, believed I could be something, could be His child, first! I made my free decision with my will, yet His Spirit was behind the scenes working and bringing me to that point of decision! I think of Jesus saying to the disciples, "You did not chose Me, but I chose you.." He had a plan all along, had a purpose for my life that He brought about!
That is beautiful to me. It means it isn't ultimately up to me to get this Christian life going or to keep it going. I know if He chose me to be here with Him, He will keep me here with Him! I don't have to keep myself! I am chosen! God chose us, that means He'll keep us! We don't have to worry about "deciding" to be lost or losing this salvation. God chose us and brought us in, appointed us to eternal life, granted us repentance that leads to life, gave us like precious faith, leading us to repentance with His kindness, working out His will that He had before time, having predestined us to adoption as His sons: He foreknew us, He predestined us, He called us, He justified us, He glorified us! Done deal!
We are the elect, which just means we're chosen of God! Wanted, cared about, special, chosen! It isn't possible for us to be un-chosen, since the gifts of God are irrevocable! We have been given this gift of being chosen by God. We are elect, dearly loved children and He meant for us to be His all along! We aren't unimportant, we are of infinite value to Him! He has been thinking of us since before time began! He has been loving us all that time, marking us out, planning for us to know Him and to find ourselves in that love! In love He planned for us to be in His family always, held in His arms, enjoying His grace forever and radiating that His grace and love and glory and presence to the world, to bring more and more children into the family! What a wonderful God! Hallelujah, what a Savior!
"I Adore You" by Jesus Culture
We adore You, Jesus! We will sing it for all our days!
Thank You for being so loving and good to us!
Thank You for giving up Your all so we could be welcomed into Your arms!
Thank You for Your perfect, finished work that makes us right with God, accepted and acceptable, clean and beautiful, free and perfect and Yours forever!
Thank You for Your heart of love and grace!
Thank You for looking at me with tender eyes of love and understanding me as I am!
Thank You for never leaving or forsaking me, never giving up on me!
Thank You for always delighting in me and always having a word of hope for me!
Thank You for rescuing me from my depression and fear and for driving away the darkness I have felt!
Thank You, dear Jesus, I adore You!
What Grace Means to Me
This is what grace means to me:
Grace is the unconditional favor, acceptance, love and blessing of God freely and irrevocably given, a gift that I don't have to try to earn through my good performance and that I don't have to worry about losing through my bad performance!
Grace is what sets me free to be myself before Him, knowing He completely accepts me and is on my side to do me good! His gracious heart toward me lets me know I can trust my Daddy to always hold me, always take care of me, always understand me, always bless me, always protect me, always be with me, no matter what!
C.S. Lewis, I think, talked about grace being "love that stoops" - I like that: God's grace toward me is His love constantly flowing toward and over and within me, the love that seeks me out in my dark places of confusion or failure or hurt or enemy oppression, the love that is with me in my pain, and the love that lifts me up out of that pain into the Sonlight of joy, peace, freedom, release, victory, hope and enjoying all that is my birthright as His child - especially enjoying the wonder of a UNION relationship of perfect, open intimacy with my wonderful Father through work of His Son and the gift of His Spirit within me, one with my spirit!
I am known, I am delivered, I am healed, I am whole, I am accepted, I am welcomed, I am embraced, I am provided for, I am protected, I am safe, I am secure, I am free, I am righteous, I am clean, I am understood, I am enjoyed, I am befriended, I am filled, I am forgiven, I am new, I am alive, I am beautiful, I am HOME! Home with my Daddy God forever..that is what His grace has done for me and that is what His grace means in my life!
Praise You, Lord! Thank You, Lord, for Your matchless grace!
Grace is the unconditional favor, acceptance, love and blessing of God freely and irrevocably given, a gift that I don't have to try to earn through my good performance and that I don't have to worry about losing through my bad performance!
Grace is what sets me free to be myself before Him, knowing He completely accepts me and is on my side to do me good! His gracious heart toward me lets me know I can trust my Daddy to always hold me, always take care of me, always understand me, always bless me, always protect me, always be with me, no matter what!
C.S. Lewis, I think, talked about grace being "love that stoops" - I like that: God's grace toward me is His love constantly flowing toward and over and within me, the love that seeks me out in my dark places of confusion or failure or hurt or enemy oppression, the love that is with me in my pain, and the love that lifts me up out of that pain into the Sonlight of joy, peace, freedom, release, victory, hope and enjoying all that is my birthright as His child - especially enjoying the wonder of a UNION relationship of perfect, open intimacy with my wonderful Father through work of His Son and the gift of His Spirit within me, one with my spirit!
I am known, I am delivered, I am healed, I am whole, I am accepted, I am welcomed, I am embraced, I am provided for, I am protected, I am safe, I am secure, I am free, I am righteous, I am clean, I am understood, I am enjoyed, I am befriended, I am filled, I am forgiven, I am new, I am alive, I am beautiful, I am HOME! Home with my Daddy God forever..that is what His grace has done for me and that is what His grace means in my life!
Praise You, Lord! Thank You, Lord, for Your matchless grace!
Secure in Christ, Part 6 - The Spirit is our Seal and Guarantee
"In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." Eph. 1:13-4
"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." 2 Co. 1:21-2
One of my favorite thoughts when pondering our secure position as believers is thinking on the beautiful Holy Spirit's presence in our lives. He was given to us as a seal of our salvation and also as the guarantee of our future bodily redemption. To me, that simply means that I'm going to make it to heaven and to being resurrected for sure, because the Holy Spirit is making sure that happens! Just His presence within shows that it is guaranteed and set. And Jesus promised that the Spirit would be with us forever (Jn. 14:16-7), so this is a permanent seal and guarantee that we have within us, a Someone that won't leave us and that we cannot lose! The seal is permanent and its effects are permanent, hallelujah!
We were sealed with the Spirit - I read a couple of things that helped me understand what that means, that the Spirit seals us to the day of redemption or marks us as God's own. The word "seal" carries with it the ideas of ownership, protection, and destination. The Spirit is a seal, meaning is He is God's "mark" that was put on us, a mark of ownership, showing that I belong to God, that I'm an authentic, genuine Christian. Also, He is our seal in the sense that, just as a seal on earth secures the contents of a document or package against loss or damage, the Spirit protects us against any loss or damage. And lastly, a seal carries with it the idea of destination - it ensures that the package sent will arrive at the destination intact; that is what the Spirit does for us, for we were sealed for the day of redemption - He ensures that we will arrive safely at our heavenly destination with our glorified body (Eph.. 4:30)!
Another related idea is that of the Spirit as our guarantee. He is called the guarantee of our inheritance in Eph. 1:14, a deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Co. 1:21-2). Studying on this word "guarantee" was really interesting. It is the word meaning "engagement ring" and is like a down payment ensuring the full payment to come. The Spirit is our down payment, assuring us that we'll get the full inheritance in the future - the resurrection of the body and all the joys of knowing God's presence in heaven fully experienced! It's wonderful to think that Jesus has given His Bride such an "engagement ring" - the Holy Spirit, His very Spirit within us, one with our spirit, within us as the very Eternal Life of God, abiding in us and filling us to overflowing! The Spirit as our guarantee assures us that we'll see our Bridegroom face to face and celebrate the wonderful Marraige Supper! What a day that will be!
Thank You, Lord, for Your Precious Holy Spirit living within us, reminding us that we really are destined for the heavenly joys of being Your Bride forever! Thank You that the Holy Spirit is our assurance of that day to come! Thank You that the Spirit's wonderful presence that we enjoy within us now is just a down-payment on the future complete inheritance we'll experience later of being with You in glory! Thank You for sealing us with Your Spirit unto the day of redemption, and thank You that Your Spirit in us marks us as Your own possession, protects us from any loss, and ensures that we'll safely arrive in heaven! Thank You for how You abide in us and we abide in You through the Spirit! Amen..
"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." 2 Co. 1:21-2
One of my favorite thoughts when pondering our secure position as believers is thinking on the beautiful Holy Spirit's presence in our lives. He was given to us as a seal of our salvation and also as the guarantee of our future bodily redemption. To me, that simply means that I'm going to make it to heaven and to being resurrected for sure, because the Holy Spirit is making sure that happens! Just His presence within shows that it is guaranteed and set. And Jesus promised that the Spirit would be with us forever (Jn. 14:16-7), so this is a permanent seal and guarantee that we have within us, a Someone that won't leave us and that we cannot lose! The seal is permanent and its effects are permanent, hallelujah!
We were sealed with the Spirit - I read a couple of things that helped me understand what that means, that the Spirit seals us to the day of redemption or marks us as God's own. The word "seal" carries with it the ideas of ownership, protection, and destination. The Spirit is a seal, meaning is He is God's "mark" that was put on us, a mark of ownership, showing that I belong to God, that I'm an authentic, genuine Christian. Also, He is our seal in the sense that, just as a seal on earth secures the contents of a document or package against loss or damage, the Spirit protects us against any loss or damage. And lastly, a seal carries with it the idea of destination - it ensures that the package sent will arrive at the destination intact; that is what the Spirit does for us, for we were sealed for the day of redemption - He ensures that we will arrive safely at our heavenly destination with our glorified body (Eph.. 4:30)!
Another related idea is that of the Spirit as our guarantee. He is called the guarantee of our inheritance in Eph. 1:14, a deposit guaranteeing what is to come (2 Co. 1:21-2). Studying on this word "guarantee" was really interesting. It is the word meaning "engagement ring" and is like a down payment ensuring the full payment to come. The Spirit is our down payment, assuring us that we'll get the full inheritance in the future - the resurrection of the body and all the joys of knowing God's presence in heaven fully experienced! It's wonderful to think that Jesus has given His Bride such an "engagement ring" - the Holy Spirit, His very Spirit within us, one with our spirit, within us as the very Eternal Life of God, abiding in us and filling us to overflowing! The Spirit as our guarantee assures us that we'll see our Bridegroom face to face and celebrate the wonderful Marraige Supper! What a day that will be!
Thank You, Lord, for Your Precious Holy Spirit living within us, reminding us that we really are destined for the heavenly joys of being Your Bride forever! Thank You that the Holy Spirit is our assurance of that day to come! Thank You that the Spirit's wonderful presence that we enjoy within us now is just a down-payment on the future complete inheritance we'll experience later of being with You in glory! Thank You for sealing us with Your Spirit unto the day of redemption, and thank You that Your Spirit in us marks us as Your own possession, protects us from any loss, and ensures that we'll safely arrive in heaven! Thank You for how You abide in us and we abide in You through the Spirit! Amen..
Affirmations of God's Beloved Child!
My dear friend Julie and her husband have a daily devotion they write and post on their website, Harvest International Ministry, and this one that they posted recently was so good. I love these affirmations of who we are in Christ! I just love seeing the lies of the enemy ("you are worthless, you are a failure, you are shameful, you are unloved, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum!) pushed back by the TRUTH of God and His Word over us that we are Loved, Delighted In, Righteous, Alive, Free, and Spirit-controlled! So I wanted to share their devotion here, and they've kindly given me permission:
Who I Am in Christ
Isaiah 61:6
“And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God.”
Today I would like to share with you a wonderful list of confessions on who we are in Christ! It is so great to discover who God has made us as we are in Him and He is in us. When we realize just how powerful we are in Him, then satan can’t steal the truth from us. We won’t get down in the dumps or stuck in fear about ourselves when we’re centered on all that God’s Word declares about us. So read this list and begin to meditate on it. Ask God to give you a real revelation of the Power of Jesus that is within you!
I am a servant of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:1
I am set apart for the gospel. Romans 1:1
I am blessed because my sins are forgiven. Romans 4:7
I am justified by faith and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
I am reconciled to God. Romans 5:11
I am alive to God in Christ. Romans 6:11
I am set free from sin. Romans 8:18
I am under no condemnation. Romans 8:1
I am controlled by the Spirit. Romans 8:9
My spirit is alive because of righteousness. Romans 8:10
I am a son/daughter, so I received a Spirit of Sonship. Romans 8:15
I am an heir of God and co-heirs with Christ. Romans 8:17
I am God’s child. Romans 8:16
I am predestined, I am called, I am justified, I am glorified. Romans 8:30
I am more than a conqueror. Romans 8:37
I am Abraham’s seed and an heir. Galatians 3:29
I am redeemed so I’ve received the full rights as sons. Galatians 4:5
I am a son and because I am a son, I am an heir. (Everything God has is mine.) Galatians 4:7
Prayer: Dear Father, I am amazed at all You’ve done for me and I praise You for it. I ask that as I meditate on these truths, that You’ll give me great revelation in Your Word, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Affirmation: I am God’s beloved child!
Steve and Julie Strozier
Harvest Ministry International
"How to Have Faith, Hope and Love" from "Come! Sit With Me" Blog
I read this post/poem recently on Ming Sing's blog, "Come! Sit With Me (http://mingsing0221.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-have-faith-hope-and-love.html) and just loved it. I wanted to share it here. How can we have faith, hope and love rise within us? We know that the Spirit is all those things in us, and we know that the new heart God has put within us as new creations has faith, hope and love, so how can we see those things naturally manifest or burst forth? I love Ming Sing's ideas on this topic:
"How to have Faith, Hope and Love"
And we have such trust through Christ toward God." 2 Corinthians 3:4
When Christ was born and lived among men,
we started to have faith that God is a good God,
a compassionate Father.....again.
When we see Christ hanging on the cross,
we start to realize HOW MUCH God was willing
to give up His only beloved Son
in order to redeem us.
We start to believe that God really had loved us......again.
God displayed His love for us the CLEAREST
when He sent His Son, His only Son,
The Son that He loves to die on the cross
for the sins of every single one from Adam
to the last baby born on the earth.
"But God demonstrates his own love
for us in this:
While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
When we see Christ,
we start to believe in Love again,
because He is Love.
"He is kind and patient,
never jealous, boastful,
proud, or rude.
He isn't selfish
or quick tempered.
He doesn't keep a record
of wrongs that others do.
He rejoices in the truth,
but not in evil.
He is always supportive,
loyal, hopeful,
and trustworthy.
Jesus never fails!"
(1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,CEV, paraphrase mine)
When we see Christ,
we start to have hope again,
we know, He will do it for us.
And indeed, He had.
He had finished it perfectly once and for all
on the cross,
and its effect is valid until eternity!
Truly our hope is not something wishful but
SURE!
Hallelujah!
Therefore, by seeing Christ,
we shall have faith, because He is our faith,
we shall have hope, because He is our hope,
and
we shall have love, which is the greatest of all
because Christ is God's Love
personified.
Ming Sing
I really love the paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13 that Ming Sing has, putting Christ in that passage and showing us that He, who is Perfect Love, is therefore all those wonderful things listed as qualities of love. That is beautiful and that is certainly the wonderful Lord I'm coming to know more and more. He is PURE, PERFECT, 100% unadulterated LOVE mixed with nothing else, marred by no other thing, ALWAYS, EVER and ONLY LOVE toward us! What a relief! We can trust this Lord because He is only going to be LOVE toward us all the days of our lives. He is NEVER going to fail to be there for us in all His loving ways. When we SEE HIM, we SEE LOVE and it makes faith, hope and love rise up from within our own spirits! I love You, Jesus, and I love the revelation that You are LOVE!
"All That Jesus Is Before God, You Are" - A Joseph Prince Devotional I Really Like
Here's the devotional from Joseph Prince that I read a few days ago. I just wanted to share it here. It's really good; he makes wonderful points about how two different Old Testament offerings are pictures of Jesus' offering for us. Very encouraging!
Here is the devotional:
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
When an Israelite brings an animal as his sin offering, he lays his hand on it before killing it. (Leviticus 4:1–4) By laying his hand on the sin offering, his sins are transferred to the innocent animal. The animal dies for his sins and he goes free.
In contrast, during the burnt offering, when the Israelite lays his hand on the animal (Leviticus 1:3–4), the beauty, worthiness and acceptance of the unblemished animal are transferred to him. God accepts the perfection of the animal sacrifice on his behalf to make atonement for him. Because God accepts the unblemished burnt offering, the offerer now has right standing before God.
Do you know that the two offerings speak of Jesus’ one offering of Himself when He hung on the cross? He is both our sin offering and burnt offering — “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us [as our sin offering], that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [as our burnt offering]”. The moment you put your faith in Him, just by His one sacrifice, your sins were transferred to Him, and His righteousness was transferred to you. That is the grace of God toward you!
As our sin offering, He offered Himself once and for all. (Romans 6:10) The sin offering was never a daily offering because God does not want His people to be sin-conscious. However, the burnt offering was both a morning and evening sacrifice (2 Chronicles 13:11) because God wants His people to be righteousness-conscious.
Beloved, God wants you to lay claim daily to Jesus as your burnt offering and say, “Father, I thank You that Jesus is my burnt offering. All that Jesus is before You — His righteousness, excellence, beauty and perfection — has been transferred to me. Jesus has Your unclouded favor, so I enjoy Your unclouded favor in my life. Jesus is the righteousness of God, so I am the righteousness of God in Christ. As He is before You, so am I.”
Because Jesus became your burnt offering, what He is to the Father today, you are! That is what it means to be in Christ.
Thought Of The Day
All that Jesus is before the Father — His righteousness, beauty and perfection — has been transferred to you.
© Copyright Joseph Prince, 2009
Here is the devotional:
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
When an Israelite brings an animal as his sin offering, he lays his hand on it before killing it. (Leviticus 4:1–4) By laying his hand on the sin offering, his sins are transferred to the innocent animal. The animal dies for his sins and he goes free.
In contrast, during the burnt offering, when the Israelite lays his hand on the animal (Leviticus 1:3–4), the beauty, worthiness and acceptance of the unblemished animal are transferred to him. God accepts the perfection of the animal sacrifice on his behalf to make atonement for him. Because God accepts the unblemished burnt offering, the offerer now has right standing before God.
Do you know that the two offerings speak of Jesus’ one offering of Himself when He hung on the cross? He is both our sin offering and burnt offering — “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us [as our sin offering], that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [as our burnt offering]”. The moment you put your faith in Him, just by His one sacrifice, your sins were transferred to Him, and His righteousness was transferred to you. That is the grace of God toward you!
As our sin offering, He offered Himself once and for all. (Romans 6:10) The sin offering was never a daily offering because God does not want His people to be sin-conscious. However, the burnt offering was both a morning and evening sacrifice (2 Chronicles 13:11) because God wants His people to be righteousness-conscious.
Beloved, God wants you to lay claim daily to Jesus as your burnt offering and say, “Father, I thank You that Jesus is my burnt offering. All that Jesus is before You — His righteousness, excellence, beauty and perfection — has been transferred to me. Jesus has Your unclouded favor, so I enjoy Your unclouded favor in my life. Jesus is the righteousness of God, so I am the righteousness of God in Christ. As He is before You, so am I.”
Because Jesus became your burnt offering, what He is to the Father today, you are! That is what it means to be in Christ.
Thought Of The Day
All that Jesus is before the Father — His righteousness, beauty and perfection — has been transferred to you.
© Copyright Joseph Prince, 2009
Son-Conscious and Righteousness-Conscious, NOT Sin-Conscious
Sometimes I hear that tired old lie from the enemy: "God wouldn't bless or help you because you are so sinful, sinful, sinful...just look at your faults, the wrong things you've done and are STILL doing! You've got so many hang-ups, only when you get them all in line or at least show some effort to improve, only then is God ever going to listen to your prayers or help you! Doesn't the Bible say your sins have kept God from hearing and answering your prayers??"
Guilt, guilt, guilt. I feel it, I see my mistakes, my irritable outbursts toward my kids, my self-centered actions (I'd rather read this book and be lazy than clean up this house), all the ways I could improve myself and yet I haven't (I could have read the Bible instead of surfing the net for an hour), etc. etc. If I look at myself and my behavior, I get sin-conscious and feel so low.
Yet God is so loving and kind. He has already taken care of my sin problem at the cross, and He reminds me of that! I think of how He reminded me of that just recently..
I was hearing those tired lies of the enemy, feeling guilty and sin-conscious, examining myself and my motives and seeing more faults than ever..and then last night I had a dream. In this dream, I was talking to someone and they were saying, "Oh, when we sin we go out of fellowship with God and He's not going to bless us" - something along those lines. And in the dream, I was thinking of the verse in 2 Co. 5:21 and wanting to share that with this person: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Or as the Phillips translation says it: "For God caused Christ, who himself knew nothing of sin, actually to be sin for our sakes, so that in Christ we might be made good with the goodness of God." Our sins were put on Christ and He became sin for us, and His righteousness was put on us and we became His righteousness. Wow!
Anyway, this morning I was going to read a couple of the devotionals in my Destined to Reign Devotional book (by Joseph Prince) and so I just opened it up to read about 4 of them. And there was a whole devotion on the verse above, 2 Co. 5:21! It was wonderful and uplifting and just what I needed to hear! Mr. Prince talked about how we are meant to be focused on how we are the righteousness of God in Christ and not focused on our sins, which are gone! God said He would remember our sins NO MORE - that's an awfully long time! And if He isn't thinking about them, then I don't need to either. I can just rejoice that I am the righteousness of God in Christ and thus qualified to the inheritance in every way. Through Christ we have received blessing upon blessing - He has blessed us already with "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." That is wonderful to me!
Thank You, Lord, for reminding us that You are thinking of us as righteous in Christ, not as sinful or guilty! Thank You, dear Lord Jesus, for the finished work You performed to make that so! I can truly say I am a righteous person today, all because of You! Not because of my perfect performance, but because of my Perfect Redeemer!
Guilt, guilt, guilt. I feel it, I see my mistakes, my irritable outbursts toward my kids, my self-centered actions (I'd rather read this book and be lazy than clean up this house), all the ways I could improve myself and yet I haven't (I could have read the Bible instead of surfing the net for an hour), etc. etc. If I look at myself and my behavior, I get sin-conscious and feel so low.
Yet God is so loving and kind. He has already taken care of my sin problem at the cross, and He reminds me of that! I think of how He reminded me of that just recently..
I was hearing those tired lies of the enemy, feeling guilty and sin-conscious, examining myself and my motives and seeing more faults than ever..and then last night I had a dream. In this dream, I was talking to someone and they were saying, "Oh, when we sin we go out of fellowship with God and He's not going to bless us" - something along those lines. And in the dream, I was thinking of the verse in 2 Co. 5:21 and wanting to share that with this person: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Or as the Phillips translation says it: "For God caused Christ, who himself knew nothing of sin, actually to be sin for our sakes, so that in Christ we might be made good with the goodness of God." Our sins were put on Christ and He became sin for us, and His righteousness was put on us and we became His righteousness. Wow!
Anyway, this morning I was going to read a couple of the devotionals in my Destined to Reign Devotional book (by Joseph Prince) and so I just opened it up to read about 4 of them. And there was a whole devotion on the verse above, 2 Co. 5:21! It was wonderful and uplifting and just what I needed to hear! Mr. Prince talked about how we are meant to be focused on how we are the righteousness of God in Christ and not focused on our sins, which are gone! God said He would remember our sins NO MORE - that's an awfully long time! And if He isn't thinking about them, then I don't need to either. I can just rejoice that I am the righteousness of God in Christ and thus qualified to the inheritance in every way. Through Christ we have received blessing upon blessing - He has blessed us already with "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." That is wonderful to me!
Thank You, Lord, for reminding us that You are thinking of us as righteous in Christ, not as sinful or guilty! Thank You, dear Lord Jesus, for the finished work You performed to make that so! I can truly say I am a righteous person today, all because of You! Not because of my perfect performance, but because of my Perfect Redeemer!
I woke up with this song on my mind - so many times worries and fears try to crowd in like a heavy cloud over me, and He breaks through that darkness with His light shattering the yucky thoughts and feelings! He breaks through with His truth, His grace, His joy and love, His presence! In His presence, darkness must flee, doubt must melt away, fear must be banished, worry must be gone!
In Your Presence is fullness of joy!
Thank You, O Lord, that You come after us! You don't leave us in darkness - You seek us us and shout Your love to us! You woo us and win us! We are overcome with grace and knocked off our feet by Your marvelous love and power!
The joy - JOY! - of the Lord is our strength - not our own joy but His! You are our shelter from the storm where we can actually rejoice in the shadow of Your wings while the troubles pass by. Thank You for handling every concern we have today!
And thank You that in this new year, we can expect good things because Your plan for our future is all good! Thank You for being a good God and having good plans for us, to give us hope and a looking forward to good things to come. You are WAY stronger than the evil one and have already defeated him by the finished work of Jesus on the cross, and we want to know all the good things You've already done for us and already given us - show us all those things and shower Your love upon us all! Fill us all with Your beautiful Spirit!
And we go out with joy and are led forth with peace into this day because we're alive again in You! You've shattered our darkness and we walk in the light of Your countenance! In You - what a wonderful place to be! In Jesus' name, Amen..
Happy New Year to all!
With love from Sparrow..
Lyrics for "Alive Again" by Matt Maher:
I woke up in darkness
Surrounded by silence
Oh where, where have I gone?
I woke to reality Losing its grip on me
Oh where, where have I gone?
'Cause I can see the light
Before I see the sunrise
You called and You shouted
Broke through my deafness
Now I'm breathing in and breathing out
I'm alive again
You shattered my darkness
Washed away my blindness
Now I'm breathing in and breathing out
I'm alive again
Late have I loved You
You waited for me, I searched for You
What took me so long?
I was looking outside
As if Love would ever want to hide
I'm finding I was wrong
'Cause I can feel the wind
Before it hits my skin
'Cause I want You,
Yes I want You I need You, and I'll do
Whatever I have to just to get through
'Cause I love You,
Yeah I love You
(This last part about "I want you...I'll do whatever I have to just to get through" - I can also see God singing that to us, saying that He'll do anything to get through to us, that He wants us around because He loves us so - and that makes my heart sing!)
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