You can’t have it both ways. When you say “Yes” to Jesus, the broken relationship between God and you is restored. But that doesn’t mean you can manipulate His unearned and unmerited favor to your advantage. That’s what we’d call cheap grace. It’s an attitude of entitlement and presumption that you’d rather beg forgiveness than ask permission.
Tag: romans
Romans 15: 32 ” So that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.”
When we come together as God’s family, my spirit and yours are refreshed. (I Cor. 16:18) The Lord has opportunity to minster through you and me to touch others with encouragement when we meet together. He can also move corporately throughout to refresh…exhorting, inspiring, and spurring on. But when you decide not to go to Church or Bible Study or Prayer Group for selfish reasons, you are denying others the blessing of giving and receiving hope and inspiration through your absence. Never believe that you don’t matter in the Family of God, for you are a very important and intricate part of the spiritual community called the Body.
Colossians 2:12 ” …having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, Who raised Him from the dead.”
The act of water baptism is full of symbolism and meaning. For those watching, it’s a public declaration of the person’s inner decision. For the person being baptized, it’s a time of newness of soul and spirit. In Romans 6:4 it says, ” We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Therefore, within the action of water baptism, our old self dies, and our new self emerges out of the water.
Romans 8:35-37 ” Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors.”
No matter what the world throws at you this coming year…remember that with the Lord you can overcome it. Whether it be troubles pressing down upon you from the outside, or anguish that comes from within…you can rise above them all with His help. Don’t try to make it on your own…God is there, ready to take those burdens. And in the end, you’ll rise victorious over all the pain and suffering.
Romans 1:11-12 ” I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.”
There’s no way around it…we all need to be around fellow Believers. There’s nothing like being with like-minded Christians…sharing, listening, and bearing each others burdens in prayer. All of us need encouragement and our faith strengthened by interacting with other Believers…we all need to hear how God is moving in other’s lives. As it says in Proverbs 27:17, ” As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Think of it…something the Lord has brought you through is exactly what someone needs to hear today.
Romans 12:2 ” Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Change us O Lord. We are a people more concerned with keeping up with fad and fashion than allowing our character to undergo a metamorphosis…a renewing of our minds to become more like You This corrupt world has us believing that we can’t do anything to change ourselves…that we are just victims with no hope. We need to become a radically different people…a people rejecting the status quo and reaching for Your plan and purpose for this nation and world. Change us O Lord.
Romans 5:8 ” But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
God’s love for you was being manifested even while you were far from Him…His care and kindness were being revealed, even while you used His name in vain and scorned His very existence. Yes, over the course of your life God has continued to make it very clear that He loves you…to the point, that if you were the only person on earth – Jesus would have died to save your soul.
Romans 6:23 ” For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. “
If we live a sinful life, in the end, our compensation for all that evil will be death and eternal separation from God. But if we accept the gift of salvation offered to us by Jesus Christ, we are redeemed by way of His death and resurrection. That free gift of Salvation isn’t something we can ever begin to pay for…for Jesus has already paid the price for us.
Romans 3:23 “…for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Every one of us has missed the mark in our relationship with God. No one is found right before Him, for even our “good works” are like filthy rags in His eyes. We are a desperate, sinful people, living in a dangerous, evil world…unable to save ourselves…incapable of redeeming our souls.
Romans 1:17 ” For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ “
Our Christianity hinges on one little word…faith. We believe what we can not see. We put our trust in someone we’ve never physically met. We have confidence that when we die we’ll have eternal life. Our spiritual walk from beginning to end is entirely based on assurances we’ve read in an ancient book. Yes, Christians are a curious lot…a group of people who stand on faith alone and live by it daily.
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