Alexander MacLaren, a famous Scottish preacher, once wrote: ‘We may have as much of God as we will. Christ puts the key of the treasure-chamber into our hand, and bids us take all that we want.’
As a believer, God has placed within you everything you will need to live your newly created life. He has not done this begrudgingly, nor does it come through instalments as we journey through life longer with Him or reach new levels like in computer gaming. Everything you need is freely and unconditionally given to you the moment you believe.
Because of your belief in Jesus, who He is and what He accomplished, God sees you as righteous.
This means that God regards and treats you as approved and acceptable in His sight.
Let that statement sink in.
Yesterday, we talked about being a child of God and what that means. What good, loving Father would ever choose to constantly tell their child that they aren’t good enough? Think about the end result there
Following on from yesterday, with new life came new status.
You are now a child of God.
Think about what that short statement means. You are now under God’s protection and care and He will provide for you and meet your needs. As with any good parent, He wants to see you grow and develop, to know and experience fullness of life and He will encourage and guide you at every stage
The moment you believed in Jesus, you were made new. You are not a polished, cleaned up version of your old self. For something to be considered a ‘new creation’, it cannot have existed before. It’s something fresh or unprecedented. This new life comes from God and it’s His Spirit who now dwells within you and all who believe.
My son plays in an Under 11 football team. This season was his first and it started really badly. Defeat after defeat (by huge scores) brought him to the point where one day he came home and said that he was finished - He had had enough and was never going back. There was genuine sense of hopelessness around him.
As a dad of young kids it never ceases to amaze me how one minute they can be full of excitement and how in an instant there can be tears that would make you think that the world is about to come to and end. All in the space of a few moments. Likewise ur emotions today will probably lead us to many different places. That is normal. There will be times of happiness, anticipation, anxiety or fear. We all know what it is like to experience a change in our emotional state thought the day.
Ever asked if God's promises are so great and so true then why am I not seeing the results in my life? Most of us ask that question a lot. We have 2 choices - Firstly God is a liar. We cannot trust Him as He is so inconsistent we do not know where we really stand. Secondly God is true to every promise every time. If my life does not reflect the word of God then it is not that God is a liar.
When I worked in the bank I had to visit London often to see my boss. He was very senior & important. I remember the first time I was going to meet him - I sat nervously outside his office watching people walk past, all the time feeling pretty nervous. When I was ushered in though I realised that I was there because that was my place and that it mattered to him that I was there.
I remember the first time I was eligible to be picked for my primary school football team. We all lined up against the wall as the teacher started to read the names of the boys who would represent the school. My heart was beating so fast that it felt like it would pop put of my chest. Was I in or not? Would I chosen or left out? It’s an awful feeling.
I remember when I became a Dad for the first time. It took it a long while to sink in. We waited a good number of years for our first child and so I had got used to living & thinking as a man with no kids. In fact I forgot to book our son a flight for our first family holiday after he was born. That was an awkward moment explaining it to my wife.
I often talk to myself. I used to be embarrassed about it whenever people would catch me on but now I don’t really care. I just tell them that it is the best conversation that I get! The Word says that we have creative power in our words - they have power over us for good or bad. Often whenever my feelings are leading me to a negative place I find myself speaking out all kinds of negativity and nonsense. When was the last time you played out an argument that you would have with someone?
Yesterday we talked about the simple fact that faith is a gift from God. He gives faith to you. What is faith? Faith in the NT simply means belief, trust, confidence. God, through the Holy Spirit, continually births in you the ability to trust Him. The issue is that many of us put our trust in what is carnal - what we can see, touch and what we hear.
My wife & I struggled with a medical issue for a number of years that was extremely painful and at times felt like it was too much for us to carry. Most well meaning believers at the time would pat us on the back and try to encourage us with nice words but most were careful not to get our hopes up that anything would change. We felt like we had to resign ourselves to whatever came our way.
Welcome to Day 1 of our new devotional! Everyone needs some encouragement every day and we want to bring you a little hope at the start of each day that will point you to Jesus - His love, His grace, His promises and His hope.
Yesterday I used some verses from Romans 6 in a message called "one way love" from our This is Love series. They are amazing. There is a problem in our belief about how God loves us. We understand that God saves us when we are far from Him but then afterwards many of us have found ourselves in a position of earning His love , His favour, His blessing
Recent local news events have caused me to reflect upon the power of our words in our lives.
Our words have incredible potential to do good, to encourage, to challenge, to restore, to create and to heal. Reflect for a moment on someone who used words positively towards you – a parent, a friend, a teacher, a colleague even a stranger. How did this impact you?
This time 3 weeks ago we welcomed our son Elijah into the world.
Our daughter is 16 months old and her birth was far from what we had prayed about, so we had been hoping for a more 'enjoyable' experience this time. In hindsight we realise that the fear of childbirth for the first time and the unknown had taken over last time and we had lost our focus on God as Lord.
I've stopped trying to help God. This week I spoke about lots of the silly religion that is in us. It comes out of us like garlic after a meal - especially when we talk to God.
This week I was discussing my future career choices with a colleague of mine when she came out with this phrase ‘Jessica sometimes its not about how good you are or how much you’ve accomplished, its all about your contacts and who you know’, to be fair I agreed with her.
As I drove home I was listening to my worship music when this phrase came through my speakers ‘the one who reigns forever is a friend of mine’.
27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:27
I have been parked on this well known verse from Colossians for a couple of weeks now, and it has really encouraged and blessed me!
So many Christians can spend their time unknowingly searching out this “mystery”. Searching for, and trying their best for a “closer” connection to God. Thinking that their emptiness...
