Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a You Tube video of images from the group Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing … Your Grace Still Amazes Me, poignantly and prayerfully expressing the thanks of all of us who deserved death but have been granted life by the grace and love of our Lord.
Highlight Passage: Romans 5:8 [NKJV] …
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
… His “amazing grace,” extended to sinners who deserved death … yet were extended life by His love.
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Highlight Context … Romans 5:6-15 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s ultimate grace taking our place while we were sinners to set us free from the bondage of our own sin.
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Reference Passage #1 … Lamentations 3:22-23 [NKJV] …
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; … great is Your faithfulness.
… God’s mercies are new every morning and we can trust them just as we can trust that the sun will rise in the east.
Reference Passage #2 … Ephesians 2:8-9 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s grace is His gift of life extended to those who deserve death; yes, … to any/all who come to Him in repentance and receive His love gift by faith.
Reference Passage #3 … Revelation 3:20 [NKJV] …
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. …”
… Jesus, by His grace is willing to come in and fellowship with us as long as we’re willing to open the door to His grace in faith.
My Journal for Today: … Our Daily Bread author, Jennifer Schuldt, used a personal story about her son being granted the grace to complete a test and get a grade he didn’t likely deserve. She wrote: My son’s blue eyes sparkled with excitement as he showed me a paper he had brought home from school. [The test was] marked with a red star and a grade of 100 percent. As we looked at the exam, he said he had three questions left to answer when the teacher said time was up. Puzzled, I asked how he could have received a perfect score. He replied, “My teacher gave me grace. She let me finish the test although I had run out of time.”
A cute story which does illustrate getting a grade in life that we, as sinners, most certainly don’t deserve, do we? As the Apostle Paul wrote about in Romans 5 God has extended His grade of eternal life when we deserved nothing short of death; but when His Son, our Messiah, shed His blood to save us on that cross.
And God’s grace didn’t stop there, did it? … No, every day, He has promised (see Rev. 3:20) to come in and extend His sanctifying grace to those who, in faith, are willing to open the door on that promise. Think about it. What do we deserve on on the faith test of life? … “F,” right? … But what grade - what grace - does He offer us? “A+” … and we can receive that grade every day through His grace (see Lam. 3:22-23 and Eph. 2:8-9) if we just respond in faith to receive His amazing grace.
My friends, I’m like Phillips, Craig, and Dean in their song above, … God’s grace always amazes me; … but I gladly and thankfully receive it … today and all days.
My Prayer Today: O, Heavenly Father, … I gratefully receive what You offer me … life and it more abundantly expressed. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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