YEs Thank God I'm Forgiven! Coming to Jesus for forgiveness as we open the gift of faith leads to all kinds of promises we can count on like peace beyond understanding, strength for the journey, provision, protection, eternal life in His presence, spiritual gifts to help us grow like Jesus, to encourage each other and to grow His Church, and the ability to choose joy as we face all kinds of trials and tribulations. YES much to praise about! TGIF!
Good Morning Forgiven, Redeemed, Empowered, Peace-Bringers! Amen! God has been speaking to us throughout this week and threading all our studies together as He speaks to our hearts and leads us to His shalom. . evening we began a study on choosing joy in the storms. (Join us next week!). That study has spilled over to our devotionals and and has been applicable to my life this week and probably for some of you as well. Jesus slept on the boat in the storm and invites us to receive that kind of peace beyond understanding too. Have you ever experienced that kind of peace? Are you in a trial or someone you know that can lead to crying out for peace and help? How might God want to use you to be a peace-bringer? God knows, cares, is able, works all things together for good and promises us that we can choose His promised peace as we continue to persevere through life and seek to complete our races well. Amen! Help us Lord! Spend some time meditating on these things. Don't lean on your own understanding. Turn off the noise. Choose joy that flows from faith and receive His shalom. Check out the Upper Room and Our Daily Bread and the connection blogs that speak into and thread through all this and tie it together. Then be still in His presence and thank Him for His ever-present help, grace and mercy and the ability to know His promised peace and to choose joy as you trust, obey and allow Him to shepherd you through whatever you are facing . Redirect your thinking by getting out the gratitude list and reminding Him and yourself all that He has blessed you with and how thankful you are! Thank Him for His sufficient grace! He is the God of all and He is with us always and He promises us peace beyond understanding, the ability to choose it and the strength to endure as we run these races well for His glory! Amen! I'm praying for you to have an awesome encounter with our living and loving Lord ! Shalom shalom! Be still. Turn off the noise. Focus on the Able One! And worship! Amen Then go live and love like Jesus filled with His peace overflowing and maybe even bring His peace to someone who could use some . he has great plans for you! Go!
UR: God of All
Have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? - Matthew 22:31-32 (KJV)
Recently, I read Matthew 22 where Jesus quoted Exodus to the Sadducees who were questioning him. In Exodus, many people gain new names. For example, Abram becomes Abraham and Jacob becomes Israel. In the quote in Matthew 22:32, we have Abraham’s new name, Isaac (whose name never changed), and Jacob’s old name. With that in mind, another way I read the scripture is like this: I am the God of who you will be (Abraham), the God of who you are (Isaac), and the God of who you used to be (Jacob).
Have you ever thought of your life’s timeline in terms of your faith — before Christ and after Christ? We try to give grace for and have faith for , but sometimes we allow regret to reign over . We look back and see only our mistakes and failures. It was the heartache in Jacob’s life that led him to wrestle with the angel and receive his new name. But even after his name changed, God called him Jacob when God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush (see Ex. 3:1-6, 13-16), which is what Jesus quotes in Matthew 22. It’s as if God were saying, “I’m not just God of the new you; I’m God of the old you too!”
I’m thankful God is the God of who we are and who we’re becoming — and also the God of who we were.
's Prayer
Dear Lord, you are the God of , , and . Help us to see your grace in every stage of our lives. Amen.
ODB:
Strength to Endure
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7
Mark—a marathoner and a dedicated pastor who served two churches over the span of thirty-five years—recently retired. One gift presented to him was a pair of new running shoes. I ran with Mark once over twenty years ago, but throughout his life, he’s run the 26.2-mile race in numerous cities across the country. At his retirement celebration, people from the community and the churches he served also expressed their appreciation for Mark’s faithfulness. Because of God’s power and grace, Mark finished well.
Life’s more like a marathon than a sprint. At times we experience fatigue and we feel like giving up. Yet God’s grace and strength are unending for those who trust Him. As the imprisoned apostle Paul neared the finish line of life (2 Timothy 4:6), he encouraged his protégé Timothy, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (v. 7). Life’s paths take us to different places. But regardless of where we are on life’s journey, it’s always good to remember that faith-filled endurance is essential and rewarding (v. 8); that God is the source of our strength (v. 17); and that, by His grace, he “will bring [us] safely to his heavenly kingdom” (v. 18).
By Arthur Jackson
REFLECT & PRAY
When have you experienced God’s strength even as you wanted to give up? How can others’ Spirit-empowered endurance inspire you?
Dear Father, please help me to ever be mindful that those who trust in You are candidates for supernatural strength—“they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).
It’s remarkable to consider how much the apostle Paul suffered in his service for Christ and the gospel (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-28), and yet he stayed true to his calling and “finished the race” that had been set before him (2 Timothy 4:6-8). How was he able to endure such hardship? He answered that question himself in 2 Corinthians 12:9 while discussing one particular season of suffering. He learned that God’s grace was sufficient, and his weakness wasn’t a liability: “[The Lord] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ ” It was the opening through which God’s mighty power could flow. , when we face trials that cause us to feel like giving up, we can lean into His grace and rest in His power and strength.
Bill Crowder
Connection blogs
- You May Have Peace
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, ESV)
Jesus makes two very serious promises that believers of all generations must comprehend if they are to live in accordance with the words of Jesus. First of all, Jesus promises that in him we may have peace.
Secondly, he promises us that in the world you will have tribulation. Talk about contrasting promises!
Peace and tribulation don’t go together at all in our ordinary way of looking at situations. But Jesus knows how things fit together far better than any of us and we must heed his words.
Looking at the first promise causes us to see that Jesus lived what he promised. In his short 33 years in the flesh on earth, he was surrounded by turmoil and controversy that typically take away peace. Yet, he lived his years here modeling peace. He often was the only one who seemed to be under self-control in any situation. Especially during his arrest and trial, the Prince of Peace demonstrated what it meant to live out peace in the midst of chaos.
The promise of Jesus is that this kind of peace is what we can have. It is because that peace is in him and when believers choose to live in him, his peace becomes possible for us. If you are a Christian and not experiencing his peace, then I want to point out to you the exactness with which Jesus gives this promise. Jesus said, “in me you may have peace.” You have to desire this peace, ask for it in prayer, and commit to live it out.
The second, contrasting promise is what we are much more aware of in our lives. In this world, you will have tribulation. This is not an end-time remark about the Great Tribulation. It is a clear declaration of how we can all expect to face difficulties and tough times as we go through life. These tribulations so often steal peace from us and leave us upset and worried. Those who believe that the Christian life somehow makes everything nice and easy are just not listening carefully to the words of Jesus. The tribulation Jesus speaks of is for all of us.
Fortunately, Jesus gives us a third promise that brings great hope to all of us: “But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Yes, we live in a world that is filled with tribulation. But Jesus firmly declared and then modeled on the cross and in the resurrection that he has indeed overcome the world. Peace is possible in the midst of tribulation because of the presence of the overcoming Christ in our lives. That gives us hope and even great joy, no matter what is happening in our lives.
Regardless of the tribulations we face, the King of Kings is the overcomer. We can walk in peace in a life of stress and difficulty because that peace is in the heart of our Overcoming God. Yes, tribulation is in this world. Yes, we can have peace. And yes, Jesus has overcome the world, which opens the door for his peace to mark our lives.
, commit to asking Jesus for his shalom (peace). Depend on his overcoming the world to provide the peace you need to also overcome whatever tribulation comes your way.
Thank you, Lord, for being our overcoming God! You knew better than any of us how difficult this world would be and how desperately we would need your peace. So you promised that we can have that peace if we would desire it and ask you for it. You overcame the dark powers of this world and provided your peace for us. Thank you, Lord! Pour your peace into me now that I might demonstrate your overcoming power to those around me.
Pray that your pastor will present God’s message courageously, whether it is accepted or not (Ezek. 2:3-7).
Ask God to help all your church’s leaders to consistently follow God’s Word themselves (2:8).
Pray that the children have hearts open to God’s Word from their earliest years.
Ask God to help them the children to keep their ways pure by living according to his Word (Ps. 119:9).
Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayerleader.com. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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