Brothers and Sisters 😊

📖 In Ephesians chapter 1 today we see Paul’s favorite and most important unity phrase in the entire New Testament, as he pens…

“IN CHRIST”, over 40 total times in his letter to the believers at Ephesus.

Q. In light of the innumerable and irreversible blessings and benefits connected with being “IN CHRIST”, is there any sweeter reality or better personal identity that you could hear about or imagine?

Q. What is your favorite Gospel truth about being IN CHRIST?

🙏 Heavenly Father thank you so much that you have granted us…

– Unconditional election “IN CHRIST” (vs 4),

– Eternal sonship & adoption “IN CHRIST” (vs 5),

– Forgiveness and Redemption “IN CHRIST” (vs 7),

– The fulfillment of your perfect plan “IN CHRIST” (vs 9),

– Final restoration & unity of all things “IN CHRIST” (vs10).

🙏 Lord Jesus we praise Your Holy Name above all names today, and we do not cease to give thanks to you for sacrificing all for us, so that we could have all in you…

✝️ “IN CHRIST we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.…and also when you heard the Word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and believed IN CHRIST, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit…to the praise of His glory forever and ever, amen!”

Ephesians 1:11-14

Brothers and Sisters 😊

📖 In Galatians chapter 6 today we see the apostle Paul calling all believers to adopt the mindset of Jesus, and follow after His true character…

“Brothers and Sisters bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (vs 2).

Q. When you bear someone else’s burden, what perspective do you usually have – Honor and opportunity for the glory of God, or drudgery and discontentment over lost comfort?

Q. What did Jesus mean when he told His disciples…

“It is more blessed to give than to receive?”

🙏 Heavenly Father I confess to you the many times my heart has been cold toward serving your church, or when I have selfishly hesitated knowing someone else was in need of help – Please rescue me from myself and give me more of you.

🙏 Lord Jesus we praise you today for being the ultimate burden-bearer, fully lifting the enormous weight of our sin off our shoulders, and bearing the curse of the law upon yourself – Help us all to stay focused on your grace, consistently sow to your Spirit, and cause our desires and affections to be increasingly transformed to abundant love for you and your people…

✝️ “Let us not grow weary in well doing, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Gal 6:9-10

Brothers and Sisters 😊

📖 In Galatians chapter 5 today we see the ongoing war of good and evil at work inside of every believer…

“The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed & continually in conflict with each other” (vs 17).

Q. Is it not absolutely amazing to think that the Spirit of God who is sovereign over the entire universe is also living inside of us, giving us the power to overcome our rotten sin within, and love others the way we have been loved by Jesus?

🙏 Heavenly Father thank you so much that “Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world!!!” Please let love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control exponentially increase in us – For the good of your people, compassion for the lost, and the glory of Christ.

🙏 Lord Jesus we praise you today that as you ascended to heaven to go and prepare a place for us, you sent us the Comforter who will abide with us forever – Please help us all consistently surrender to (and keep in step with) your Spirit, waging war against our selfish nature and crucifying the flesh (the old self of sin).

🙏 Holy Spirit give us a living and active faith that produces repentance & love, knowing that our obedience to you is not our means of justification, but rather the proper response to the abounding grace of God…

✝️ “For you were called to freedom brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to gratify the desires of your flesh, but through love serve and seek the best for one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in a single command…’You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Gal 5:13-14

Brothers and Sisters 😊

📖 In Galatians chapter 4 today we see Paul’s genuine & urgent desire for believers in Galatia to “Rediscover the Gospel of Grace” that they were so quickly abandoning, and to specifically avoid returning to useless habits of old…

“Do not turn back again to the weak & worthless elementary principles of the world that enslaved you” (vs 9).

Q. Although the Gospel has granted you the immeasurable and incomparable gift of being adopted into God’s royal family (and having subsequent eternal co-heirship of all things with Jesus Himself), do you find yourself sometimes returning to old habits, idols, or the false gods of your former identity for comfort?

Q. In what way does the same Gospel that saved you, encourage you when you fall?

🙏 Lord Jesus we praise you today for rescuing us from the slavery & hopelessness of untrue beliefs, aimless wanderings, purposeless life, and insufficient righteousness – Please forgive us when we seek our satisfaction in worldly things, and remind us often of our true identity as redeemed & favored children of the promise.

🙏 Heavenly Father your amazing grace and steadfast love is overwhelming on every level – like the song says, You are a good good Father, and we are loved by you…

✝️ “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we could receive adoption as sons. And because we are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba! Father! So we are no longer slaves, but God’s children, and if God’s children, then heirs through Christ!”

Gal 4:4-7

Brothers and Sisters 😊

📖 In Galatians chapter 3 today we see Paul illustrating how our own good deeds and the “works of the law” are completely incapable of saving us or reconciling us to God…

“Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith.” (vs 11).

And also that God’s law is good, right, and perfect, and is God’s decreed will that we consistently pursue it with zeal and enthusiasm…

“Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not!” (vs 21).

Q. Knowing that all Scripture is truth for our instruction and growth in Christ, how do we reconcile these two seemingly contradicting verses by Paul and James…

“No one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith” (Gal 3:11), and

“Faith without the works of the law is dead” (James 2:17)???

🙏 Lord Jesus we praise you today for redeeming us from the curse of the law and becoming a curse for us by loving us to death, even to death on the cross – Please help us daily surrender to you and be WORKING OUT our salvation by acting out the miracle that you’ve caused in us through the regenerating and transforming power of your Spirit. But let us never make the mistake of WORKING FOR our salvation that has been graciously purchased by your shed blood and atoning work at Calvary…

✝️ “In Christ Jesus you are all sons and daughters of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus!”

Galatians 3:26-28

Brothers and Sisters 😊

📖 In Galatians chapter 2 today we see Paul unpacking our new-life identity and freedom in Christ, as he highlights our justification & sanctification, and explains how the law “Pronounced the sentence of death” on our old self-centered way of life…

“For through the law I died to the law (and its impossible demands), because salvation is provided through the death and resurrection of Christ, so that I might from now on live for the glory of God” (vs 19).

Q. As a born-again child of God, is your former dead self (with all of its old self-glorifying goals, prideful desires, and selfish agenda’s) still controlling your life?

Or is it Christ (who now lives in you) that is directing and empowering your daily walk?

🙏 Heavenly Father forgive me for so often returning to the old dead man of sin in my thoughts, words, and actions when you have so graciously provided a far better way of living through the indwelling power of your Holy Spirit – Please help us all surrender to you moment to moment, and give up the fleeting pleasures and temporary trinkets of this world for an infinitely better and far more satisfying others-centered life in Christ.

🙏 Lord Jesus we praise you today that because of your costly sacrifice, our past sinful identity was nailed to the cross to die at calvary, and that through your gift of faith we now have eternal union with you to live a liberated life and honor you daily – Thank you Jesus for making us clean, and setting us free…

✝️ “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20

Brothers and Sisters 😊

📖 In Galatians chapter 1 today we see the apostle Paul strongly confronting the churches of Galatia and addressing their urgent and radical need to return to the true Gospel of grace, and avoid the disastrous repercussions of misleading theology and false doctrine…

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel…Even if we ourselves, or an angel from heaven, or anyone else should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we have already preached to you, let him be accursed” (vs 6-9).

Q. Do you believe (as I once did) that you need to add anything to the atoning work of Jesus in order to be forgiven, favored, redeemed, justified, and adopted permanently into God’s eternal family?

Q. Are there any works apart from Christ’s that are necessary as a requirement for salvation?

Q. What does it mean to be “Saved by grace”?

🙏 Heavenly Father please help us to know and understand the true definition of your good news Gospel message, and give us clear discernment to identify and fully reject any distortions or additions to it.

🙏 Lord Jesus we praise you today for your once for all finished work at the cross, where you fully took upon yourself what we truly deserved for our sin, absorbing all of the punishment, receiving all of the judgment, and drinking the entire cup of God’s wrath down to the dregs for our eternal benefit and endless good – Please help us be bold in consistently sharing this best of the best good news with others…

#SavedByGraceAloneThroughFaithAloneInChristAlone…

✝️ “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to Him be glory forever and ever, Amen!

Galatians 1:3-5

Brothers and Sisters 😊

📖 In chapter 13 today Paul sums up his Second letter to the Corinthians with a strong warning, in hopes of restoring and building up God’s people in unity and love…

“Test yourselves to see whether you are in the faith, or do you not realize this, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail to meet the test” (vs 5).

Q. What is the “Test” that Paul is referring to here?

Q. Is there truly a way to know for certain that the work that Christ has done for you, is producing God honoring works that He is doing in you?

🙏 Heavenly Father thank you so much for your clear call to us for unity, forgiveness, and love toward your church – Please help us in all areas, no matter what age or what level of sin we have committed, to pass the believers test, and grant us repentance to consistently surrender to your Spirit and be doers of your Word and not hearers only.

🙏 Holy Spirit we praise you today and ask that you would captivate our hearts and fix our eyes on the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ – Empower us to consistently battle our pride and give constant praise to our glorious Trinitarian God…

✝️ “Finally brothers and sisters, rejoice! Aim for restoration, comfort one another, be like-minded and live in peace…the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all!”

2 Corinthians 13:11,14

Brothers and Sisters 😊

📖 In Second Corinthian’s chapter 11 and 12 today Paul warns the church against false beliefs…

✝️ “Do not believe in a different jesus other than the one we proclaimed, or receive a different spirit from the one you received, or accept a different gospel than the one you accepted” (2Cor 11:4), and also relays the hidden purpose behind earthly sufferings as a child of God…

✝️ “A thorn was given to me in the flesh to keep me from being conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this that it should leave me, but He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in your weakness” (2Cor 12:7-9).

Q. When you have experienced trials or suffering in your life have you ever asked… “What did I do wrong?” or “Why would God do this to me?” or “How could this possibly be working for good?”

Q. What was Paul‘s response to his suffering?

Q. What was Jesus response to His?

🙏 Heavenly Father thank you so much for your all-sufficient grace in the lives of every born again Christ follower – Please help us all to avoid being deceived by false teachers who relay a toxic gospel, claiming that a lack of material abundance, physical health, or comfortable circumstances are always a result of weak faith.

🙏 Lord Jesus we praise you today for keeping us needy for you and building our faith by creating our storms, dwelling with us in our storms, and delivering us from our storms – Please cause us to embrace the true Gospel perspective of sharing in your sufferings with joy, knowing that thorns and trials are being granted by your kind and generous hand for our maturity, spiritual well-being, and overall good.

🙏 Holy Spirit please grant us understanding, patience, strength, perseverance, and peace in the hardships of this life, and help us suffer well when necessary in the short time we are here, entrusting our souls to our Faithful Creator and Glorious God…

✝️ “Therefore most gladly I will boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me…I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for the sake of Christ – For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭12:10

Brothers and Sisters 😊

📖 In Second Corinthian’s chapter 10 today we see Paul imploring the believers in Corinth to…

“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord, for it is not the one who commends himself that is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends” (vs 17-18).

Q. Have you ever given in to the human condition of trying to build yourself up from within, or compare yourself to others to overcome a lack of confidence and gain self-esteem?

Q. Are you familiar with the arsenal of spiritual weapons available to fight against self-glory, insecurity, and a critical spirit?

🙏 Heavenly Father please forgive me for the many times I have tried to find false and unsatisfying identity in my own imperfect accomplishments, successes, or the approval of others, instead of the perfect identity and righteousness you have given me (because of Jesus finished work at the cross) as your fully accepted, beloved, and commended child.

🙏 Lord Jesus we praise you today for the gracious gifts and powerful weapons you have appointed to us (Faith, Prayer, Your Word, Your Spirit, Your People, Your promises, and Sweet Communion and unification with You), in order to overcome our sinful wanderings and crush the barriers of our old nature – Please help us consistently seek and find rest in your eternal Kingdom, instead of the crumbling kingdoms of this world…

✝️ “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ!”

2 Corinthians 10:4-5