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By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us - set us right with him, make us fit for him - we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand - out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary - we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah! (Romans 5:1-11 The Message Version)
May this be a Tuesday of tremendous blessings for you and yours dear Friend!
The Apostle Paul had an exiting job to put it mildly. He worked with full knowledge of how he would die; he just didn't know when. He experienced the revelation of Christ from Jesus Himself and then tried to theologically explain all that he knew so that his readers in Rome, and later, us, would know how to better understand God and God's work on our behalf. He begins by explaining the right relationship that God desires from us. We call it salvation or we call it justified by faith. It was our "coming home" to Him that God wanted all along. And the only way to do that was to sacrifice His only begotten Son, Jesus. Paul writes that as we open the doors to our hearts and lives, we discover that God has already opened His heart to us, and we find that we stand in the "wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise." And that is just the beginning, for there is more to come. And our praise does not get drowned out by our troubles, because we are in right relationship with Jesus, troubles will develop passionate patience, and in turn patience turns into virtue, that this version calls, "the tempered steel of virtue." And that makes us "alert for whatever God will do next." It is then that the Holy Spirit (and I apologize for not catching in yesterday's devotional that auto correct changed Spirit to Sport. Someone pointed that out to me on FaceBook and I said that the Holy Spirit is a good Sport about Otto Korect). "generously pours out" from God those things that help us face whatever is next. And it is Christ who arrives to make this happen. We don't need to be ready, as He presented Himself for the sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to even attempt to get ready. Paul knew that there are many aspects of faith that we cannot do ourselves - we need the three persons of the Godhead to do these things.
The Wesleyan understanding is knowing the way that God's grace works. The first is prevenient grace, that unmerited love of God that seeks us out and invites us into the right relationship with God. Once we humble ourselves before God and repent of our sins, we are under the grace from God called justifying grace. While sinners we are deemed unacceptable. Once we surrender to God, His grace marks us as acceptable and thus justified; made right and in the right relationship with God. From that moment forward begins the sanctifying grace of God at work in our lives, guiding and blessing us, leading us onward and upward, perfecting us in love. Each day, if we are obedient, we can ask ourselves if we are closer to God than we were the day before. Our answer should be yes. This is part of the "resurrection life" that Paul addresses that says "our lives will expand and deepen by means of His resurrection life." This adds to our reasons for praise.
Eradio, this is not as complicated as it may sound. God is at work in our lives for the better, having already given us Jesus as Lord and Savior, and the Holy Spirit as He who builds us up and guides us. Our take away is this; we are now closer to God than we have ever been. And no matter what we are facing, God is making us stronger by His power and presence. And regardless of our troubles, our praise should be ever stronger and louder for Him.
PRAYER: Loving Father, guide us to faithfulness and fruitfulness. We thank You for all You, Jesus, and Your Holy Spirit have done for us. Strengthen us and make our voices loud in our praises to You. This we pray in faith in Christ Jesus, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Sing a song of praise today in your loudest voice.
Blessings of love and peace,
Eradio Valverde
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