All Who Call on My Name
Note from Jesus Dear Follower, Paul was My apostle with a special commission to the Gentiles, but he deeply loved and was deeply concerned about his fellow Israelites who had not come to faith in Me. In Romans chapter 9, Paul powerfully and emotionally said these gut-wrenching words: Now let me speak the truth as plainly as I know it in the Anointed One. I am not lying when I say that my conscience and the Holy Spirit are witnesses to my state of constant grief. It may sound extreme; but I wish that I were lost, cursed, and totally separated from the Anointed — if that would change the eternal destination of my brothers and sisters, my flesh and countrymen. (Romans 9:1-3) What Paul wrote was a display of overwhelming love — he was willing to be lost eternally if that would lead his fellow Jewish people to be saved. This commitment makes his words in this section of Romans (chapters 9-11) all the more poignant. He did not write out of anger or hostility, but out of love. He wrote these truths to heal the racial divide between Jew and Gentile in the church in Rome. He wanted to help the Christians there understand the message of salvation. That message was clear: All can be saved, both Jew and non-Jew. However, salvation comes only through the Father’s grace received through faith in My death, burial, and resurrection as God’s Anointed, the Messiah of Israel and Lord of all peoples. While there were Jews in Paul’s time who accepted this message — “God has preserved a remnant, elected by grace” (Romans 11:5) — most rejected it. For these Jews, I was a “stumbling stone” (Romans 9:32-33). In fact, if you go back and re-read about Peter’s sermon and the events on Pentecost in the book of Acts (Acts 2:17-41), you will find the message of salvation Peter preached that day to Jews was the same basic message as what Paul wrote the Roman’s in today’s verses (Romans 10:9-13). That basic message from Peter and from Paul was: Believe in your heart the Father raised Me from the dead. Commit to living a life that’s right with God. Confess Me as your Lord. Call on My name as your Savior in baptism. Be saved. Paul had experienced this same kind of conversion himself. If you read the accounts in Acts of his conversion, you will find these same things were emphasized (Acts 9:15-18; Acts 22:8-16). Paul wanted believers in Rome to realize three truths that are so important for those who love Me and believe in Me. These are important for every generation of believers! First, as I mentioned in My Sermon on the Mount, I AM the fulfillment of the law (Matthew 5:17). Paul said it this way: You see, God’s purpose for the law reaches its climax when the Anointed One arrives; now all who trust in Him can have their lives made right with God. Second, no one is going to be saved based on law-keeping. All who are saved, both Jew and non-Jew, are saved because they have been called by the Father’s grace that they received through faith in my crucifixion and resurrection (Romans 10:3-4; Romans 9:30-32). Third, those who send others and those who share My good news with others are very important because people cannot be saved unless they believe. They cannot believe unless they hear about the Father’s love demonstrated by My incarnation, death, burial, and resurrection. People cannot go and share this message unless someone sends them. As Paul did so frequently throughout chapters 9-11 in Romans, he quoted the (Old Testament) Scriptures and wrote: Because what Isaiah said was true: “The one who trusts in Him will not be disgraced.” Remember that the Lord draws no distinction between Jew and non-Jew — He is Lord over all things, and He pours out His treasures on all who invoke His name because as Scripture says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” So send those who will proclaim this message. Share this message yourself when you meet people who are open to receiving it. Know that the Father wants all peoples — Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, politically conservative and liberal, male and female, young and old — to hear His call to grace and to receive that message with faith! Verses to Live Paul wanted all people saved. He made clear in these verses how that salvation comes to people. I hope you will read these verses and not only be heartened, but also be motivated to send and share the message of the Father’s love demonstrated by My life, death, and resurrection. My brothers and sisters, I pray constantly to God for the salvation of my people [the Israelites]; it is the deep desire of my heart. What I can say about them is that they are enthusiastic about God, but that won’t lead them to Him because their zeal is not based on true knowledge. In their ignorance about how God is working to make things right, they have been trying to establish their own right standing with God through the law. But they are not operating under God’s saving, restorative justice. You see, God’s purpose for the law reaches its climax when the Anointed One arrives; now all who trust in Him can have their lives made right with God. Moses made this clear long ago when he wrote about what it takes to have a right relationship with God based on the law: “The person devoted to the law’s commands will live by them.” But a right relationship based on faith sounds like this: “Do not say to yourselves, ‘Who will go up into heaven?’” (that is, to bring down the Anointed One), “or, ‘Who will go down into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring the Anointed One up from the dead). But what does it actually say? “The
Today’s Verse – 2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. —2 Corinthians 9:8 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… What a powerful promise! If we are willing to generously share with others in the name of Jesus, as the apostle Paul discusses in the previous verses, we will always have what we need to bless others, and our lives will be full of good deeds that bring glory to God and his blessing to many. So let’s remind ourselves of one of the first lessons we should have learned as young children: share… share what we have… share generously! Only this time, as children of God, let’s share in the name of Jesus to bless others so they receive his grace in tangible ways. My Prayer… Thank you, Father, for all the incredible blessings you have poured into my life. You have richly blessed me physically and spiritually. Now, I ask that your Holy Spirit will help me be generous with the gifts you have so richly poured into my life. O LORD, may I be a conduit of your blessings so that others may come to know your grace through the blessings you’ve given me. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Receiving God’s Promises Through Faith
Note from Jesus Dear Child of Grace, Many people in your fallen world accept or reject others based on race. They exclude those who are not of their race. The Christians in Rome, and really all over the world during the time Paul wrote his letter to the Roman Christians, struggled with the issue of race. The separation between Jew and Gentile was a hard one for many of the early Christians to overcome. As I look at your time, My heart breaks at both the physical violence done in the name of race and also the more subtle forms of exclusivity, prejudice, bigotry, and racial arrogance. Sometimes this racial prejudice is acted out publicly. Other times it goes on in people’s hearts as they fake racial acceptance to get along in culture. Please understand something that Paul made very clear to My disciples. I came to tear down racial divisions and bring about a new humanity not based on race (Ephesians 2:11-22). I came to establish “one new humanity” based on faith. I came to create peace between different peoples through My sacrifice on the cross (Ephesians 2:14-16). The future I will bring has all nations, races, languages, and peoples joined together in joyous worship, praise, and fellowship (Revelation 7:9-12). My human racial identity was Jewish. I came as the answer to the Father’s promise to Abraham and David. I came as the Anointed One, the Messiah of Israel. The Father chose Israel to be His people. He did not choose them because they were better, wiser, more numerous, or more powerful. The Father chose Israel because of His love and faithfulness to His promises to the great Israelite patriarchs — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and later King David. John the Baptizer, My cousin and forerunner, had warned people that being Jewish descendants of Abraham didn’t guarantee their righteousness. John reminded the people that the Father “is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:7-9 ESV). Both John and I warned that if a person claims to be a descendant of Abraham, he or she must live a life of faith like Abraham (Romans 4:13; Galatians 3:6-9). So what Paul said in chapters 9-11 of Romans about the relationship of Jews to the Father shouldn’t be a complete surprise. We will be looking at Paul’s message in these chapters for a few days. Paul wanted everyone to know that just as all have sinned, both Jew and Gentile, all can be children of God through faith in My sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection. Race is not what makes a person a part of God’s Israel, his chosen people. Faith is what makes one a child of Abraham (Galatians 3:26-29). The Father, in His Sovereignty, chose Israel and gave Israel the great benefits of “the glory, the covenants, the gift of the law, the temple service, and God’s promises” as “their rightful heritage”. So the Jewish people should be loved and respected because they provided the story, the heritage, the Scriptures, the promises, and the Messiah (Me) that make salvation available to all people. However, Paul reminded Jewish Christians: The truth is that not everyone descended from Israel is truly Israel. Just because people can claim Abraham as their father does not make them his true children. For a time, all but a small group of Jews had stumbled because of the truth that is found in Me, the Anointed, the “rock”. But just as many Gentiles have been brought into My family through faith, a time is coming, and indeed has already begun, when My fellow Israelites will find themselves a part of the Father’s promises by faith. Verses to Live Today and the next several days, you will be reading from Romans chapters 9-11. Paul’s discussion can appear confusing at times because he was using the way of teaching he learned as a young rabbi. But the basis of his reasoning is fairly clear. The Father is sovereign. He works in the way He does to fulfill His promises and to fulfill His desire to bring salvation to all people who will receive His grace. Rather than race, ethnicity, law-keeping, or heritage being the guarantee of this salvation, the Father accepts people based on their faith in Me. In this way, salvation can come to all people, and all people can be accepted into My family without prejudice or racial division or any other distinction. Spiritual Israel, the people of God, is made up of those who receive the promises of God by faith and choose to share this grace with the nations. Now let me speak the truth as plainly as I know it in the Anointed One [Christ Jesus]. I am not lying when I say that my conscience and the Holy Spirit are witnesses to my state of constant grief. It may sound extreme; but I wish that I were lost, cursed, and totally separated from the Anointed — if that would change the eternal destination of my [Jewish] brothers and sisters, my flesh and countrymen. They are, after all, Israelites who have been adopted into God’s family; the glory, the covenants, the gift of the law, the temple service, and God’s promises are their rightful heritage. The patriarchs are theirs, too; and from their bloodline comes the Anointed One, the Liberating King, Who reigns supreme over all things, God blessed forever. Amen. Clearly it is not that God’s word has failed. The truth is that not everyone descended from Israel is truly Israel. Just because people can claim Abraham as their father does not make them his true children. But in the Scriptures, it says, “Through Isaac your covenant children will be named.” The proper interpretation is this: Abraham’s children by natural descent are not necessarily God’s covenant people; what matters is that His children receive and live the promise. (Romans 9:1-8) So what does all of this mean? Did the non-Jews stumble into a right standing with God without
Today’s Verse – Mark 9:7
Then a cloud appeared and enveloped [Jesus and his disciples, Peter, James, and John], and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” —Mark 9:7 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Who are you listening to in your life? We can hear all sorts of different voices and listen to all sorts of religious commentary and insight. However, we can follow only One as the Source of all truth and life. Who are we going to listen to as we make our decisions about morality, values, ethics, and character? Who has earned the right to be heard regarding truth, life, death, sin, and salvation? God makes it unmistakably clear at the Mount of Transfiguration: we must listen to his Son Jesus! Moses was amazing, and Elijah was bold and brave. Peter, James, and John were blown away to see them at Jesus’ transfiguration. But God made it clear: we must listen, obey, and follow only one as our source of truth, and God said of him, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” My Prayer… Almighty God, I need the Holy Spirit’s help to silence the voices of dispute, doubt, deception, and demagoguery surrounding me. Help me hear the voice of Jesus above the noise of politicians, influencers, and self-appointed experts of my day. I want to follow Jesus and obey him in all things, no matter what anyone else may choose to do or to whom they entrust their hearts. Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Blessed Assurance!
Note from Jesus Dear Child of the Father, All creation waits on tiptoe for the day I return and bring you home to the Father. On that day, you will experience “the total redemption of [y]our bodies that comes when [y]our adoption as children of God is complete.” However, I want you to realize that not only is the Holy Spirit your “guarantee, a down payment of the things to come,” but He is also My sustaining power and presence in your life and will help you in many ways. Here are three truths you will find in the verses today: The Spirit intercedes for you when you pray and even “steps in and articulates [your] prayers… with groaning too profound for words” when you can’t find the words to pray. The Spirit’s presence is a constant reminder that, because of My presence at the Father’s side, nothing can ever separate you from the His love. The Spirit Whose power raised Me from the dead is your assurance of ultimate victory just as I was victorious over sin, death, and hell. Treasure these assurances. Trust in the Spirit’s presence. Glory awaits! Verses to Live There are so many good things that await you. And I know that, even though you cannot see them now, you yearn for them. That is why I promised that I would not leave you alone, but that I would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to be with you and to help you until I come back for you (Acts 2:32-33; Titus 3:3-7; John 14:18-26). So today, the verses come from things that Paul wrote to the Romans about blessings that the Spirit brings to Christians, including you; I want you to read these verses several times. Find a few especially meaningful sentences to memorize. Then when times are tough, let the Holy Spirit remind you of these truths and fill your heart with the assurance that you are the Father’s child, My beloved co-heir of the kingdom of God, and a person in whom the Spirit of the almighty God lives. Now I’m sure of this: the sufferings we endure now are not even worth comparing to the glory that is coming and will be revealed in us. For all of creation is waiting, yearning for the time when the children of God will be revealed. You see, all of creation has collapsed into emptiness, not by its own choosing, but by God’s. Still He placed within it a deep and abiding hope that creation would one day be liberated from its slavery to corruption and experience the glorious freedom of the children of God. For we know that all creation groans in unison with birthing pains up until now. And there is more; it’s not just creation — all of us are groaning together too. Though we have already tasted the firstfruits of the Spirit, we are longing for the total redemption of our bodies that comes when our adoption as children of God is complete — for we have been saved in this hope and for this future. But hope does not involve what we already have or see. For who goes around hoping for what he already has? But if we wait expectantly for things we have never seen, then we hope with true perseverance and eager anticipation. A similar thing happens when we pray. We are weak and do not know how to pray, so the Spirit steps in and articulates prayers for us with groaning too profound for words. Don’t you know that He Who pursues and explores the human heart intimately knows the Spirit’s mind because He pleads to God for His saints to align their lives with the will of God? We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan. From the distant past, His eternal love reached into the future. You see, He knew those who would be His one day, and He chose them beforehand to be conformed to the image of His Son so that Jesus would be the firstborn of a new family of believers, all brothers and sisters. As for those He chose beforehand, He called them to a different destiny so that they would experience what it means to be made right with God and share in His glory. So what should we say about all of this? If God is on our side, then tell me: whom should we fear? If He did not spare His own Son, but handed Him over on our account, then don’t you think that He will graciously give us all things with Him? Can anyone be so bold as to level a charge against God’s chosen? Especially since God’s “not guilty” verdict is already declared. Who has the authority to condemn? Jesus the Anointed Who died, but more importantly, conquered death when He was raised to sit at the right hand of God where He pleads on our behalf. So who can separate us? What can come between us and the love of God’s Anointed? Can troubles, hardships, persecution, hunger, poverty, danger, or even death? The answer is, absolutely nothing. As the psalm says, On Your behalf, our lives are endangered constantly; we are like sheep awaiting slaughter. But no matter what comes, we will always taste victory through Him Who loved us. For I have every confidence that nothing — not death, life, heavenly messengers, dark spirits, the present, the future, spiritual powers, height, depth, nor any created thing — can come between us and the love of God revealed in the Anointed, Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:18-39) Response in Prayer O Father, thank You for the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Thank You for the Spirit’s ministry of intercession for me, His work in me to transform me, and His presence in me to be my Comforter. I
Today’s Verse – Nehemiah 9:6
[The people of God stood and worshiped him, saying:] “You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” —Nehemiah 9:6 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… God is the Creator! Life is defined in him and by him. The multitudes of heaven worship and adore the LORD for his creative power and love. For me, that means two very important things. I need to give him my heartfelt worship and praise. When I praise God, I am doing something eternal and joining with the host of heaven in worshiping the LORD! You and I won’t take much out of this life into the next, but among those things is our praise to our God and Father. Praise be to God, not just now, but forevermore! Video Commentary… ToGather Worship Guide | More ToGather Videos My Prayer… Thank you, dear God, for creating the universe in its incomprehensible expanse. Thank you, holy Father, for re-creating me in Christ so that I can share in your glory as your beloved child. Thank you, almighty LORD, for creating life that endures forever. I look forward to that Day when I see you face to face and praise you with the multitudes of heaven. In Jesus’ name, I praise. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Animated by the Spirit
Note from Jesus Dear Precious One, Live animated by the power of the Father’s “indwelling presence,” the Holy Spirit within you! Your flesh — “your fallen, corrupt nature” — cannot overcome the power and pull of sin unless you live led by the Spirit. As yesterday’s note emphasized, trying to be righteous by law-keeping awakens the power of sin to use your fleshly nature to corrupt the righteous demands of the law and lead you to become enslaved to sin. Your power to overcome your fleshly nature is found when you partner with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to work in you. Today and tomorrow, I want to use Paul’s teaching in Romans chapter 8 to help you recognize what a great gift of grace the Spirit is for you. When you live “animated” — led, empowered, and guided by the Spirit — you are freed from law-keeping that is weakened by your flesh. The Spirit, on the other hand, helps you “live up to the justice demanded by the law” by helping you with “life-giving power” and giving you the assurance that you are the Father’s child. As “you have invited the Spirit to destroy these selfish desires [of your flesh], you will experience life.” You will be transformed and liberated to become more and more like Me with ever-increasing glory (2 Corinthians 3:17-18) and begin to more fully display the fruit of the Spirit’s presence in your life (Galatians 5:22-23). Today, begin to ask the Holy Spirit to take a more forceful lead in your life. Specifically ask the Spirit to transform you to become more like Me each day and to help you display the Holy Spirit’s fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When you pray, address the Father as “‘Abba! Father!’ as [you] would address a loving daddy,” reminding yourself of the precious and tender relationship the Father wants to have with you. When you struggle with doubts about your worthiness or My presence in your life, ask the Holy Spirit to give you comfort. Pray for the Holy Spirit to minister to your spirit continually, even as you sleep. Ask the Spirit to give you discerning eyes to distinguish between God’s truth and the world’s lies and to give you the power to live according to God’s truth. Verses to Live Today’s verses are the beginning of an extended teaching from Paul on the power and presence of the Holy Spirit within those who are My disciples. Tomorrow we will cover the remainder of his teaching in this chapter of Romans. However, I encourage you to get a notepad or use your computer or mobile device and note the things that are promised about the Holy Spirit in both today’s and tomorrow’s messages. Living by the Spirit liberates you from law-keeping and the power of the flesh to control you. So seek for all that Paul teaches that the Spirit longs to bring you! Therefore, now no condemnation awaits those who are living in Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King, because when you live in the Anointed One, Jesus, a new law takes effect. The law of the Spirit of life breathes into you and liberates you from the law of sin and death. God did something the law could never do. You see, human flesh took its toll on God’s law. In and of itself, the law is not weak; but the flesh weakens it. So to condemn the sin that was ruling in the flesh, God sent His own Son, bearing the likeness of sinful flesh, as a sin offering. Now we are able to live up to the justice demanded by the law. But that ability has not come from living by our fallen human nature; it has come because we walk according to the movement of the Spirit in our lives. If you live your life animated by the flesh — namely, your fallen, corrupt nature — then your mind is focused on the matters of the flesh. But if you live your life animated by the Spirit — namely, God’s indwelling presence — then your focus is on the work of the Spirit. A mind focused on the flesh is doomed to death, but a mind focused on the Spirit will find full life and complete peace. You see, a mind focused on the flesh is declaring war against God; it defies the authority of God’s law and is incapable of following His path. So it is clear that God takes no pleasure in those who live oriented to the flesh. But you do not live in the flesh. You live in the Spirit, assuming, of course, that the Spirit of God lives inside of you. The truth is that anyone who does not have the Spirit of the Anointed living within does not belong to God. If the Anointed One lives within you, even though the body is as good as dead because of the effects of sin, the Spirit is infusing you with life now that you are right with God. If the Spirit of the One Who resurrected Jesus from the dead lives inside of you, then you can be sure that He Who raised Him will cast the light of life into your mortal bodies through the life-giving power of the Spirit residing in you. So, my brothers and sisters, you owe the flesh nothing! You do not need to live according to its ways, so abandon its oppressive regime. For if your life is just about satisfying the impulses of your sinful nature, then prepare to die. But if you have invited the Spirit to destroy these selfish desires, you will experience life. If the Spirit of God is leading you, then take comfort in knowing you are His children. You see, you have not received a spirit that returns you to slavery, so you have nothing to fear. The Spirit you have received adopts you and
Today’s Verse – Nehemiah 9:5
And the Levites … said: “Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.” —Nehemiah 9:5 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… “Stand up and shout it if you love my Jesus!” That’s a song our children love to sing! But what happens to our youthful exuberance and joy at worshiping the LORD? God doesn’t want us to lose it. Read through the Bible and highlight all the physical acts used to reverence and praise our awesome and eternal God — standing, bowing, kneeling, prostrating, lifting hands, clapping, shouting… and on and on we could go. In a world that regularly uses God’s name in vain, isn’t it time we stood up as believers and praised him for all he has done, is doing, and will do in the future? Shouldn’t we do this not only in church buildings (our private worship) but also in our daily devotional times (our personal worship) and in the way we live daily (our public worship)? Yes! Let’s “Stand up and praise the LORD [our] God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.” My Prayer… You alone are God and are worthy of all of my praise. Please receive my praise in my worship, whether I offer it in private with other Christians, in my daily personal worship times, or in my public worship, as I live as an example before my family, friends, and coworkers. Please receive the praise I seek to offer you in my life and through my words. In the name of Jesus, I praise you. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Miserable or Relieved?
Note from Jesus Dear Faithful Follower, Today’s verses are different selections from chapter 7 of Paul’s letter to Christians in Rome. In previous parts of the letter, he had written about grace being made available through: My sin-offering on the cross (Romans 3). Your faith in My sacrifice for your sins being credited to you as righteousness (Romans 4)., My sacrifice given for you out of the Father’s loving grace, not because you deserved it (Romans 5). My saving death, burial, and resurrection where you died to sin through your baptism into My death because of your faith (Romans 6). Paul wanted you to know that as a baptized believer saved by grace you are dead to sin and alive to live for God as His righteous child. But how? How will you live for God righteously? How will you live up to the Father’s demands to be righteous as His child? Will you use law-keeping to try to be considered righteous? That was the easy answer for those who grew up living under the Mosaic law. So in today’s verses, Paul explained that any attempt to be considered righteous by living under a law — any law, but especially the Mosaic law — is ineffective to obtain righteousness before God. While the Law was a precious gift and it points out the righteousness the Father demands, it has no power to change you and make you holy without My sacrifice. Paul wanted to help you understand that law-keeping cannot make you righteous. The problem is not the law — it is holy and just; the problem is the deceptive power of sin that takes the law and uses it to lead you to sin. Your fleshly nature — “living in the flesh,” also called “the fallen human realm, owned by sin” — “awakened [y]our lust for more” sin. While My sacrifice saves you from sin and death, if you try to be righteous by law-keeping, you end up “absolutely miserable” and in bondage to sin once again! You do what you do not want to do — you fall back into sin again and again. Sin “owns you” and “has taken up residence in” you. The only relief is to remember that you died to sin and to the whole law-keeping way of trying to be righteous and that you can rely on the Holy Spirit to lead you to righteous living. Paul said it this way: But now that we have died to those chains that imprisoned us, we have been released from the law to serve in a new Spirit-empowered life, not the old written code. (The Spirit’s power will be the focus in tomorrow’s verses.) The Father’s grace brings you salvation and righteousness by providing the sin offering (My death on the cross) that atoned for your sin and by giving you the Holy Spirit to empower you to righteous living. Everything about your salvation is a gift, so don’t try to earn your salvation or think yourself superior because you obey the law, any law. Recognize that the Father’s grace is the only way you stand before Him as His righteous child! Verses to Live Pay attention as you read these verses. They remind you that you are dead to the whole law-keeping principle because obeying the law cannot save you. Your fleshly nature and sin’s deceptive power to use the law to trip you up lead you back to the principles of sin and death. Your faith in My sacrifice for your sins and the indwelling Spirit’s power to help you become the person you want to be, provide your only way to live righteously as the Father’s child. My brothers and sisters who are well versed in the law, don’t you realize that a person is subject to the law only as long as he is alive? So, for example, a wife is obligated by the law to her husband until his death; if the husband dies, she is freed from the parts of the law that relate to her marriage. … My brothers and sisters, in the same way, you have died when it comes to the law because of your connection with the body of the Anointed One. His death — and your death with Him — frees you to belong to the One Who was raised from the dead so we can bear fruit for God. As we were living in the flesh, the law could not solve the problem of sin; it only awakened our lust for more and cultivated the fruit of death in our bodily members. But now that we have died to those chains that imprisoned us, we have been released from the law to serve in a new Spirit-empowered life, not the old written code. So what is the story? Is the law itself sin? Absolutely not! It is the exact opposite. I would never have known what sin is if it were not for the law. … There was a time when I was living without the law, but the commandment came and changed everything: sin came to life, and I died. This commandment was supposed to bring life; but in my experience, it brought death. Sin took advantage of the commandment, tricked me, and exploited it in order to kill me. So hear me out: the law is holy; and its commandments are holy, right, and good. … This is what we know: the law comes from the spiritual realm. My problem is that I am of the fallen human realm, owned by sin, which tries to keep me in its service. … I know that in me, that is, in my fallen human nature, there is nothing good. I can will myself to do something good, but that does not help me carry it out. I can determine that I am going to do good, but I don’t do it; instead, I end up living out the evil that I decided
Today’s Verse – Acts 9:4-5
[When the light from heaven flashed around him, Saul] fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. —Acts 9:4-5 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… When Paul later teaches in his letters that the Church is the Body of Christ (Romans 12:3-4; 1 Corinthians 10:10-16-17; Ephesians 5:23, 29; Colossians 1:18, 24), he isn’t being theoretical. The Church IS Jesus’ presence, his Body alive and at work in the world. What is done to the Church as a collective group of people is done to Jesus. What is done to individual Christians is done to their Savior. Jesus made this clear to Paul, then known as Saul, by emphasizing that Saul’s persecution of believers was also persecution of Jesus — “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Jesus is present in the world today through his people! The saying is true: the only Jesus many will see today is the Jesus they see through you and me. My Prayer… Dear Father, please “Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, all His wonderful passion and purity; May His Spirit divine, all my being refine; Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.” In the name of my Savior, I pray. Amen. (From the song by Albert W.T. Orsbom.) All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.