Promise for Today - No Coupon No Discount

Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 The Message

Here's what we think. If we bought it, and we paid for it, and we have the scars to show for it, it's ours. We can do what we want with it. But the Truth of the matter is, we didn't buy it, and we couldn't pay for it, and although we may have scars from the battles we've chosen to be part of IN our lives, our scars are not part of or proof of the purchase price paid FOR our lives.

Only Christ did that. He bought it. He paid for it with His own blood, and He has the scars to show for it.

I love the way 1st Peter 1:18-20 reads in The Message: "Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God. It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in. He paid with Christ’s sacred blood, you know. He died like an unblemished, sacrificial lamb. And this was no afterthought. Even though it has only lately—at the end of the ages—become public knowledge, God always knew He was going to do this for you."

God ALWAYS knew He was going to do this for you and for me. It cost God plenty, and He paid in full.

Prayer:

Father,
           Open our eyes to see the great price that was paid for our redemption. Open our hearts to recognize and know that, apart from You, we have nothing and are nothing. Help us to walk in the fullness of life that You have provided for us through Christ Your Son. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Friends' Favorite - Rest Area

Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.

1st Timothy 1:14-16 NLT

Have you ever been on a long road trip and so determined to get to where you are going that you didn't want to stop for a break? You know the trip is long, and it will be hard, and you've counted the cost, and know that you're gonna have to fight your way through to the end. You might pass every rest area in 3 different states before you decide that it's okay to stop for a quick moment. And then after you take the break, you feel so much better and wonder why you didn't stop before...

So often in our walk of faith, we're just like that. We're on this eternal trip - trying to make Heaven. And we become so focused on trying not to sin so we can get there that we wind up being hypnotized by the road. And after a while, the trip is so long and so hard that we dare not, care not to look where we're going or where we've been. We become so consumed with where we are and how to put one foot in front of the other, and yet we still want to minister to others about Christ and who and what He is and who and what they can be IN Him, and we forget this one incredible, awe-inspiring, all-consuming Truth - that God the Father sent His only begotten Son to pay the ransom for our sins.

He paid the price IN FULL and bought us back - lock, stock and barrel. There's nothing left owing. No one can come and repossess us for lack of payment or unfulfilled promise of payment or even for back taxes. We have been bought with a great price. Inflation, recession, market crashes, poor decisions by us or by those who we have no control over - nothing can affect or change that Truth. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...and He did exactly what He came to do.

Selah...

I don't know about you, but sometimes I think we just need to stop. Stop asking, stop begging, stop whining. Just stop. Stop long enough to reflect on the magnitude of what has ALREADY been done for us...and praise Him for it. Take a 10-minute break with me and just praise Him for what He's already done. This is a rest area...

Prayer:

Father,

         We come to You with praise and thanksgiving for all that You've already done for us. Your Son's life for ours is beyond our comprehension of love but teach us to walk fully in that Truth and to unconditionally express it toward those You have placed in our lives. Give us the opportunity to share Your Good News. Make the music of the salvation You purchased for us come alive in our hearts and souls. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen