Gracious Lord, hold my hand, help me stand. May those famous words from the hymn bless this reader. In Jesus' Name, amen.
John Wesley's question of admittance to his society (small group) meetings was: "Are you willing to flee the wrath of God?" A positive answer gained you admission. A "no" would have kept you out. Would you today be willing to be asked such a question? Are you aware of what such a question asks? We find in Ephesians what Paul knew: If you stay "dead through the trespasses and sins in which (we) (live)..." we would be "children of wrath." That means, if we never seek to repent of our sins and never seek the redemption that Christ Jesus offers us, we are going to die and be eternally separated from God. Wesley's question reminded those who wished to join about that, and a YES got them into a fellowship that stregthened them in their struggles for the week ahead.
As you plan for today and the week ahead, are you living a life that is life? Or are you living a life that is, sadly, a living wrath? We don't have to live in that way. Ours is the freedom life offered to us by Jesus. We have been saved by grace. We have been raised up with Jesus and we have a seat right next to him "in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," all this as a gift from God.
PRAYER: What a wonderful gift You have given to me, dear Father, through Jesus. I claim that freedom and those "immeasurables riches" of Your grace as I seek to live a life that pleases You. I thank You for my salvation and I pray that I might live as a person who blesses You and others. In Jesus' Name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
"You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3 All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ —by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
tuesday We find in Ephesians 2:1-10 some words from Paul about the power of grace to save. Find and read that passage and let it bless you.
