May 20 – The Confession That is Real

“…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” – Romans 10:9-10 (ESV)

God saves us because He chose to do so. Our salvation happens when we believe that truth and confess with repentance to God. Our verse of promise says, “Confession is made unto salvation.” We are not saved by our mouth’s confession, but rather, our mouth testifies readily of the grace of God in Christ which we received by a gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8).  This is not a simple acknowledgment that He is God and the Lord of the universe, since even demons acknowledge that to be true (James 2:19). This is the deep personal conviction, without reservation, that Jesus is our own master or sovereign.  Paul emphasizes the importance that this comes from our heart. The heart is not merely the seat of affection or emotion. As used in the Bible, our heart is the hub of the wheel of human existence and life – intellectual, emotional, and volitional. First of all there must be faith in our heart. Without such faith a confession with the mouth would be mockery. But even if there is faith in our heart, confession with our mouth is altogether natural when our faith is genuine.

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May 11 – The Power Dwelling Within

“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”  Romans 8:11 (ESV)

If we were to look back two verses we find that the Apostle Paul was confirming that all who have God’s Spirit dwelling in them are no longer bound like a slave to their old life of desires and actions of the flesh (the natural man). We know that when Jesus Christ rose from the dead it was a marvelous miracle. It was something that only God could do. It was the very action that gives us new and eternal life. Our verse today reminds us that God's power is available to us even while we're living here on earth in our earthly bodies. Yes, God has made this power available to us through the Holy Spirit. The things that we could never do in our own strength we can do by His Holy Spirit power. So when we find it difficult to do God's will in specific instances we can trust God through His indwelling Holy Spirit to enable us to do it. God does this for us using the same marvelous power that raised Christ from the dead. Since we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us we are assured us of this promise.

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August 28 – Not Condemning But Praying

“Who is the one who condemns?  Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” Romans 8:34 – (NASB)

Can we imagine that the One who has the right to condemn us for our sin is the One who willingly gave His life and died in our place?  He took on the condemnation we deserved because of our sinful rebellion and rejection of God.  All the fault and consequence of our sin was placed on Him.  And He remains the one who has the right to condemn us but does not because we have believed and accepted by faith, His sacrifice that was for us.  Because He died for us and was raised up to a new life, and then He returned to heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father as Jesus, the Son of God, He is the one who intercedes for us on our behalf. The intercession is on-going because Jesus is involved in our lives every day.  He knows the challenges we do and will encounter, and the difficulties and disappointments we face. He is intimately familiar with our failures and on our behalf, He prays for us to God our Father.  We are redeemed by His grace and mercy we are protected by His mighty hand.

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July 29 – If Then Seek

“ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”  Colossians 3:1 (ESV)

We are thankful for the new life which God has promised and given us when we put our faith in His Son Jesus Christ.  We are still living on earth in our human existence and can be attracted to things which are fleshly and not of God.  But our hearts can be occupied with truths of heavenly and spiritual value.  We can think of Jesus dying on the cross for us but then we realize that He is still doing something of eternal value for us as He is at God's right hand praying for us.  Yes, we can pray to God in the name of Jesus and God will hear our prayer and will help us each day.  It is very important that we keep these spiritual facts in mind every day.  We can be and are tempered to seek things of this world for our fleshly pleasure filling our minds with earthly things but we also have reason and cause to seek the things which are above with Christ and fill our minds with things that come from God.  Our promise is that Christ is seated above at God's right hand and advocating for us.  

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June 10 – There Now By Promise

“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,” Ephesians 2:6  (NIV)

This promise in today's verse is about our position in Christ after we have believed and received the gift of salvation which He provided for all people.  Before we believe in Jesus, we are spiritually dead in our sins,  When we choose to believe God gives us a new life.  We become one with Christ and He comes to live in us.  Our verse then reminds us what this new life really means.  After Jesus died for our sins He rose from the grave and then soon after that He ascended back to heaven.  He is with His Father as part of the heavenly realms.  We are part of that because we are in Christ.  So where Christ is, so are we spiritually.  We are physically here on this earth as long as we are alive in our earthly bodies but our spiritual position is with Christ even in heaven.  We have front row seats reserved as part of our inheritance and in Christ we are there now by promise because of Him. 

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May 6 – New and Eternal

“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” Romans 8:11 (NIV)

We know that when Jesus Christ rose from the dead it was a marvelous miracle. It was something that only God could do. It was the very action that give us new and eternal life. Our verse today reminds us that God's power is available to us even while we're living here on earth in our earthly bodies. Yes, God has made this power available to us through the Holy Spirit. The things that we could never do in our own strength we can do by His Holy Spirit power. So when we find it difficult to do God's will in specific instances we can trust in the indwelling Holy Spirit to enable us to do it. He who raised Christ from the dead assures us of this promise.