Promise for Today - Making It Right

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. 

Romans 10:9-10 (NLT)

The Bible says in Romans 1:17 (NCV), “The Good News shows how God makes people right with himself”.

How does God make you right with himself? Through Jesus. Here’s an explanation of what that means:

You can’t make yourself righteous.
Heaven is a perfect place. There’s no sin, sadness, evil, or injustice. But here’s the problem: All people are imperfect, and God can’t let sinful people into heaven because then it would be full of sin too.

Romans 3:20 says, “No one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are” (NLT).  The only people who think they can keep God’s laws are those who don’t know them—because God’s laws are perfect, and none of us are perfect. We cannot be made right on our own, and so God made a plan to rescue us from our sin and bring us into a relationship with him.

God sent Jesus to pay for your sins so you could be declared righteous.
When you break man’s laws, you pay man’s penalty. When you break God’s laws, you pay God’s penalty, which is eternity in hell. Somebody must pay for all the things you’ve done in life that hurt other people, yourself, God. And so God sent Jesus on a rescue mission. He essentially said, “I’ll send my Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty. He will take your place so you don’t have to go to hell. You can be with me forever.”

Do you understand why the gospel is called Good News? The gospel says that everything you’ve ever done or will ever do wrong in life has already been paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross. Through Jesus you can be made right with God. That’s Good News!

The Bible says, “[God] saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:5 NLT).

You need to accept by faith what God did for you.
To be made right with God, you need to believe and accept by faith that Jesus paid for your sins when he died on the cross. The Bible says, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved” (Romans 10:9-10 NLT).

Hallelujah! We all can be saved—no matter who we are, what we’ve done, or how long we’ve done it.

Today is the day to settle this. If you aren’t sure you’re going to heaven when you die, please pray this prayer: “Dear God, thank you that you created me, that you have a plan and purpose for my life, and that you made me to know you. Thank you for the choice that you’ve given me to accept or reject your offer of salvation. Today I repent of my sins and humbly ask you to save me—not based on what I’ve done but based on what Jesus Christ did for me. I don’t understand it all, but as much as I know how, I want to put my trust in your Son. God, I want to get to know you. I want to learn to love you. I want to hunger and thirst for righteousness the rest of my life. I put my trust in your grace and in your forgiveness. I want you to be the Lord of my life. Amen.”

Talk It Over

If you’ve already accepted Jesus, describe how and when that happened.

In what ways have you tried to live a righteous life on your own? What were the results of those efforts?

What does it mean to you to know that everything you’ll ever do wrong has already been paid for by Jesus?

- by Pastor Rick

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Prayer:

Father,

          Thank You for Your plan and provision for our salvation. We want to be right with You. Help us, O God. In Jesus'Name we pray. Amen

It Bears Repeating - Right or Righteous

Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder.
Romans 12:9-12 The Message

Practice playing second fiddle? Okay, confession time. I've been angry for most of a week…at the same person. I think I get over it and he comes back a little later and does the same thing or something in the same vein, and I'm angry all over again. I haven't hit him, I didn't swear. I didn't throw anything. I didn't yell or scream.

I've been patting myself on the back, thinking, 'What a good girl am I' because I didn't hit him, I didn't cuss. I didn't throw anything. I didn't yell or scream. Pitiful… Pathetic... PA – THET – IC! 'Ick' being the operative sound there. I was thinking that I was being angry and not sinning…after all, I was right and I knew I was right. Self-righteous, filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6, But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…

Do I want to be right or do I want to be in right-standing with God? Our text for today reads a little differently in the King James. Verse 10 reads, Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another... There was no way my actions could even remotely be misconstrued as preferring one another in honor...

James 3:17-18 reads ...the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Right or Righteousness? And as my heart is convicted within me...

Father,
           Forgive me, O God, according to Your Word in 1st John 1:9, that if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The only thing I have to be right about is being right with You. Help me, Father. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen

More Than > Less Than

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Romans 8:37 NKJV

What is the first word to come to your mind when you make a mistake or forget something? What is your perception of yourself as a human being - Is your focus on strengths first or weaknesses?

I have noticed that generally, the first word out of someone's mouth when they make a mistake or forget something is one of three in their self-talk: Dummy. Stupid. Idiot. On top of that, self-perception usually focuses on inadequacies, flaws, weaknesses. Bottom line. We're human. We have all of those and often it makes us feel 'less than'.

Although, if we're purposefully following Christ, our identity should be in Him. However, I can count on one hand the number of people I know who can look in a mirror and see the 'fearfully and wonderfully made' person in their reflection. (King David, Psalm 139:14)

It's perfectly okay to be honest with ourselves about our weaknesses, as long as we recognize and walk in the grace of God and His love which enable us to overcome. But in being that honest about weaknesses, let's not buy into the subtleties of the enemy of our soul whose goal it is to keep our focus on our 'less thans'. Remember, he wants to kill, steal and destroy our lives and purpose.

The point I want to make is this - let's be sure when we experience those weaknesses that we remember (or seek out) the Truths that are written in His Word. For starters - in our weakness, God is strength (see 2nd Corinthians 12). (If you want/need more examples, Google "We say God says".)

If God is in it, we will win it! He makes us more than our less thans... because He is.

Prayer:

Father,
            Thank You for making provision for our every need - spiritual, physical, financial. Your love is overwhelming and overwhelmingly good. Teach us to trust You in ALL things and help us to get our Truths from Your Word only. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Can You See Me?

The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the Lord turns his face against those who do evil.
1st Peter 3:12 NLT

I remember when my children were small, I couldn't decide if my name was "Mom-watch!" or "Mom-c'mere!" Either way, it involved me looking to see what my children were doing. Now, they're adults and when we get together, it's "Mom, look at this!" "Mom, did you see...?"

Our Promise for Today tells us our Heavenly Father is watching over us. Isn't that reassuring? And His ears are open to our prayers... "See, Abba? See? Do You like what I'm doing? Am I doing it the way You want me to?"  It's amazing how some things don't change that much. 

According to Peter, God is watching and listening if we are doing right, but He turns His face against those who do evil. 

So the big question is, "Can You see me?"

Prayer:

Father,
          Create in us a right spirit because we want to be right with You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Right or Righteous +

Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder.
Romans 12:9-12 The Message

 Practice playing second fiddle? Okay, confession time. As a somewhat normal human being, that is not something that comes easily to me. This was driven home to me a few years back when I realized that I'd been angry for most of the week…at the same person. I'd think I was over it and then he would come back a little later and do the same thing or something in the same vein, and I'd be angry all over again.  I didn't hit him. I didn't swear. I didn't throw anything. I didn't yell or scream.

In fact, at one point I was patting myself on the back, thinking, 'What a good girl am I' because I didn't hit him and I didn't cuss. I didn't throw anything. I didn't yell or scream. 

Pitiful… Pathetic... PA – THET – IC!  'Ick' being the operative sound there. I thought that I was being angry and not sinning…after all, I was right and I knew I was right.  Self-righteous, filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6, But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags… 

Do I want to be right or do I want to be in right-standing with God? Our text for today reads a little differently in the King James. Verse 10 reads, Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another... There was no way my actions could even remotely be misconstrued as preferring one another in honor...

James 3:17-18 reads ...the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

So, I had to ask myself - Right or Righteousness? And as my heart is convicted within me...

Father,
          Forgive me, O God, according to Your Word in 1st John 1:9, that if we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The only thing I have to be right about is being right with You. Help me, Father. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen