Because of Jesus, you are free from all condemnation.

Romans 8:1 New International Version (NIV)

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

This is a wonderful promise that we can all take to heart. There is therefore now NO condemnation! Many of us struggle with feelings of shame and condemnation every day. This Scripture tells us that because of what Jesus did, we do not have to live under condemnation any longer.

However, when you read the WEB Bible translation of Romans 8:1, it seems like there is a bit of a disclaimer to the statement 'There is therefore now no condemnation..." The disclaimer is ...who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For me, when I was a young Christian and read this verse, I felt that if I somehow was walking after the flesh, then I would be subject to condemnation.

I truly believe that the heart of this verse is better translated in the ESV translation of the Bible which says in Romans 8:1-2...1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (ESV)

Notice that after the promise of no condemnation there is a period. The disclaimer (who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit) is not there... and it is not there in the original Greek translation either!

I truly believe that because of the finished work of Jesus Christ there is therefore now NO condemnation... period! The law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. Hallelujah!

If you confess your sins, I will be faithful to forgive and cleanse you.

1 John 1:9 New International Version (NIV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

God is faithful. God is just in all that He does. God promises to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All that He requires is that we trust in His goodness and risk exposing our heart to Him by confessing our shortcomings. When we confess our sins, we are vulnerable and honest before our God and Father.

When we confess our sins to God, we openly declare that we are relying on His mercy to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and that we can't do it ourselves. It takes faith and trust to live a transparent life before God, but that is the pathway to real freedom.

When we keep things in the dark, those things have power over us and will keep us enslaved in one form or another. When we bring things into the light that lurk in the shadows of our heart, we experience new found freedom over those things.

The amazing thing is that God is not surprised by what we confess, for He knows us better than we know ourselves. He does not judge us when we open our hearts to Him, but rather the opposite happens.  In Psalm 103:13-14 the Bible says...13 Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him. 14 For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust. (WEB)

When we are vulnerable and honest before God, compassion rises up in His heart towards us because He understands our frailties. The confession of our sins is for our benefit, not His. He has already dealt with the issue of sin that once separated us through the shed blood of Jesus... once and for all!

All God wants is for us to be completely free! Free from a guilty conscience and free from condemnation and the accusations from the enemy! So if there is anything that is keeping you from experiencing the intimacy of being with your Papa God, be assured in knowing that He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness!

I have blessed you in Christ with one outpouring of grace after another.

John 1:16 New International Version (NIV)

16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.

I love the Amplified version of this Bible verse...For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift. (AMP)

In Jesus, God the Father has blessed us with grace upon grace, heaped favor upon favor and blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven (Ephesians 1:3). Words cannot express the wonderful, bountiful outpouring of love and blessings that God has given us through the free gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

My prayer is that we would be able to tangibly grasp the unshakeable inheritance that is ours in Jesus Christ today. He exchanged His life for our life and made the way for us to be partakers of His divine nature and beneficiaries of all His blessings. Thank you God for your amazing grace and every good and perfect gift that comes from your hand (James 1:17).

Your life comes from Me because you are My offspring.

Acts 17:28 New International Version (NIV)

28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[a] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[b]

Today's promise comes from a passage in the Bible where the Apostle Paul is debating with Greek philosophers on Mars Hill about the existence of the one and only true God. In the midst of his conversation, Paul tells them that God is so involved in their lives that they actually live and move and have their being in Him.

Colossians 1:15-17 says this about Jesus...
15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. (WEB)

Every neutron and electron and every strand of DNA is held together by the very life of the living God. Whether we acknowledge this truth or not, it does not change the unshakeable fact that God is the very fabric in which the universe is held together. There is no denying it.

I have always found it interesting that when Paul was speaking to the pagan Greeks, he quoted one of their own poets that said... 'we are all His offspring'. The truth is that God created every person who ever lived because He is the very author of life itself.

We are all God's offspring through creation and it is His desire that every person on the planet would become His child through redemption by the free gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

I have chosen you to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation.

1 Peter 2:9 New International Version (NIV)

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Today's promise is an amazing declaration of who we are in Christ! We are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation and a people for God's own possession. You may be called to do many things today... Get up and go to work. Fix your children's meals. Work around the house, etc., etc. Even though today you may be called to do many mundane things, my prayer is that you would know in the midst of your daily routine how God sees you!

You are a part of His royal priesthood. You were chosen to belong to God and show forth His praises before the foundation of the world.  My prayer today is that whatever you do in life, you would know that you are part of a people of God's own possession who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light!

You are My workmanship, created in Christ to do My good works.

Ephesians 2:10 New International Version (NIV)

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Your life is the workmanship of a loving Father that planned your existence before the foundation of the world. Just as an architect designs a building in his mind before he ever puts it on paper, so God planned you! And in His amazing plan, He created us to be in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ so that we would be partakers of the same good works that Jesus does.

What an amazing promise! When you look in the mirror, do you see yourself as God's precious work of art or do you see something else? God wants you to be comfortable with the knowledge that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, created in the image of God and ordained to do the good works that He prepared for you in advance.

May our God and Father give us revelation today that our life has a divine purpose that was birthed in His heart before the creation of the world. May we simply agree with God's plan and continue to do the good works that we are called to do in Jesus Christ our Lord.

If you believe in Jesus, you will not be disappointed.

1 Peter 2:6 New International Version (NIV)

6 For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”[a]

I like the NIV version of 1 Peter 2:6 which says... For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

Shame is a powerful negative motivator. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed until they partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was then that they realized their nakedness and sought to cover their shame with fig leaves. The condition of shame still exists today in the carnal part of our soul. However our fig leaves look much different than Adam and Eve's did.

Perhaps we cover our nakedness through a relentless pursuit of success and material wealth? Perhaps through religious striving? Perhaps isolation and self-protection? There are many ways that we try and combat feelings of shame in our lives. The good news of today's promise is that anyone who comes to Jesus, will NEVER EVER be put to shame or be disappointed.

God's love is the covering that we need to cover every area of inadequacy that we feel in our lives. May we be so overwhelmed with the love of God today, that we will not run and hide from God (like Adam and Eve did) but rather we will run into our Father's loving arms.

I am righteous in all My ways and kind in all that I do.

Psalm 145:17 New International Version (NIV)

17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and faithful in all he does.

I really like how the NIV Bible says this verse... The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.  The NLT says that God is 'filled with kindness'. Isn't it wonderful that the God that we are in relationship with is not only righteous and holy but He is also the kindest person in the universe?

When Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He actually planted a seed in them to question of the goodness of God. "Did God really say..." May we never fall for that trap! May we always keep in the forefront of our thoughts and prayers that our God and Father is good and His mercy endures forever.

...And may we continue to live a life of reverence and awe that our Heavenly Dad is righteous in all His ways and His heart is filled with love towards all that He has created.

I am the everlasting God.

Psalm 90:2 New International Version (NIV)

2 Before the mountains were born
    or you brought forth the whole world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God

As human beings, we are used to things having a beginning and an end. We are born, we grow up and then we die. While the human heart never really gets used to the idea of death (because we were created to live forever), we do know that there is a time to start things and a time to wrap them up. Our tiny minds are so finite that we cannot possibly comprehend things that are beyond our existing paradigms.

God on the other hand, has been around forever. There has never been a time where He didn't exist. Before the mountains were created, before the earth spun on its axis, God was. He was not born and He will not die. He is the everlasting God. He lives forever. While this thought might have a tendency to short circuit the wiring in our brain, may we ask God by the power of His Holy Spirit to help us comprehend His everlasting nature.

I believe that the more we can meditate on the amazing vastness of our God and Father, we will begin to realize that He created us to experience this eternal life with Him! And the eternal life that He wants us to live is really not a time continuum or a destination, but a relationship. In Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17:3, He describes eternal life like this...Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (NIV)

May each one of us take great comfort in knowing that our Father is the everlasting God and He has called us to live an everlasting life with Him!

I have the ability to do all that I have promised.

Romans 4:20-21 New International Version (NIV)

20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

This is an amazing picture of one man's simple faith in the faithfulness of his God. Just prior to these verses in Romans 4, Paul is talking about Abraham and how he hoped against hope in the face of impossible circumstances.

God had promised Abraham a son to be born by his 90 year old wife, Sarah. Though Abraham himself was nearing 100 years old, and his aged body was hardly in the right condition to have children, he believed what God had promised.

The NIV Bible says verses 20-21 this way... 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

Abraham didn't waver in his faith but was fully persuaded that God had the power to do all that He promised. Always remember that when God makes a promise to us, He has the power to perform what He has promised, no matter how impossible the circumstances!

Who would have thought that this simple act of faith by an old man and an old woman so many thousand of years ago would have such ripple effects throughout history! Because of Abraham's faith that God was who He said He was, we are reaping the benefits today.

What has God promised you? You never know what ripple effects there might be because of your simple obedience to believe that God has power to do all that He has promised! Don't waver through unbelief today, but believe with all your heart in the faithfulness and power of the One who made the promise.

You have an everlasting inheritance reserved in heaven for you.

1 Peter 1:3-4 New International Version (NIV)

Praise to God for a Living Hope

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,

There are many uncertain things in this world but our everlasting inheritance is NOT one of them. Our God and our Father has secured an inheritance for every one who has received the free of gift of His Son's life that is incorruptible, undefiled and will never fade away.

No matter how unstable things become around you, you can bank on this promise to be unshakeable! Because of the abundant mercy of the Triune God, we can hope in a special place in heaven that is reserved just for us! It is more certain than the ground that you are standing on right now.

Father, we thank you for your abundant mercy expressed through the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus! When times get tough and the near future looks bleak, may we lift up our eyes to see the amazing future that is in store for us and may we be filled with hope knowing that you really are a faithful Father.

Thank you for our incorruptible inheritance that will never fade away!

I will soon crush the evil one under your feet.

Romans 16:20 New International Version (NIV)

20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus taught us to ask our Father to ‘deliver us from evil’. Jesus wouldn’t have told us to pray this way unless He was certain that His Father would answer this prayer.

We know that in this world, we will have trouble in life because we live in a fallen world. Hurting people hurt other people and the cause and effect of a fallen humanity causes many evil things to happen. However, that does not mean that we are in subjection to the prince of the power of air. In James 4:7, the Bible says, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

In Romans 8:37, Paul says that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. As Paul continues to write the book of Romans, he goes on to say in today’s promise found in Romans 16:20, that the God of peace will soon crush the evil one beneath our feet.

No matter what circumstances you are facing today, be encouraged that our God and Father will soon give us an eternal victory and crush the evil one beneath our feet! ...So rest in this amazing promise and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

I will keep you from falling until you joyfully stand blameless in My presence.

Jude 24 New International Version (NIV)

Doxology

24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—

One day, each one of us who has called on the name of the Lord will stand before His presence. Today's promise encourages us that we have nothing to fear on that glorious day. Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord, and our Elder Brother, will present us before His Father completely faultless (blameless) on that holy day. The NLT Bible says that Jesus 'will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.'

I love the thought that when Jesus presents us to God, He will do so with exceeding joy! The Amplified Bible describes it as... triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable, ecstatic delight]. It will absolutely thrill the heart of Jesus to present us blameless before His Father on the day that we will see Him face to face!

We have nothing to fear about our future. Jesus has promised to be faithful to keep us from falling and will one day present us completely blameless before His Father (and our Father) in triumphant joy with unspeakable, ecstatic delight! Hallelujah!!!!!!

When you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will be with you.

Psalm 23:4 New International Version (NIV)

4 Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

Today's promise is a much loved verse from the often quoted Psalm 23. Most times, we might quote this verse at a funeral service or at another time of extreme loss and of course this verse is fitting for those occasions. At the end of our lives, it is comforting to know that God will never ever leave us.

However, I do want to ask you to think of another application of this promise... Jesus told us that except a seed falls in the ground and dies, it abides alone (John 12:24). The principle of the Christian life is a continual letting go of things, allowing them to 'die', only to see them resurrected again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Whether those things are dreams or desires, the principle of the cross (death, burial, resurrection) is a resounding theme in the daily Christian life.

In that context, when you are feeling like God is asking you to surrender something dear to you, when you are in a sense walking through the shadow of death for something that you have hoped for, be comforted in knowing that God is very close to you in those times of surrender and His staff and rod will bring comfort to you. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy is coming in the morning! (Psalm 30:5)

I will always be close when you need My comfort.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 New International Version (NIV)

Praise to the God of All Comfort

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

We all need comfort. As children, when we scraped our knee playing in the backyard, we needed the comfort of a mother or a father to simply hold us and reassure us that everything was going to be okay. When we experience extreme disappointment or the loss of a loved one, words fail... What we need is comfort.

In today's Bible passage from 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul tells us that God is the Father of mercies (compassion) and the God of ALL comfort. Our God and Father is the source of ALL comfort and He wants us to be comfortable coming to Him to receive comfort whenever we need it.

Since we were created to receive comfort, we will seek it out somewhere. If we don't receive it from God, we will receive it from other things... Food, material things, false comforts, etc. God wants each and every one of us to run into His arms every time we need to be comforted!

As we receive the comfort from His loving arms, we will then be able to be an expression of that same comfort to other people when they need a comforting shoulder to cry on.

I will not reject the sacrifice of a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

Psalm 51:17 New International Version (NIV)

17 My sacrifice, O God, is[a] a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart
    you, God, will not despise.

I am so thankful that the sacrifices that God accepts are those of a broken and a contrite heart. Psalm 34:18 says... The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (NIV) When we are feeling the farthest away from God, He is actually the closest to us. He does not abandon us in our times of crisis for He has promised to save us even in our darkest time.

King David wrote this Psalm after it became public knowledge that he had sinned with Bathsheba. His illegitimate affair caused a world of hurt and pain for many people. It was at David's lowest point, that he had a revelation of God's love and mercy. Perhaps David expected God to reject him for his sin? Perhaps he was surprised to feel God's nearness in the midst of his darkness?

Whatever he felt, he knew that the Lord saw his broken heart, and God knew that David was truly sorry for his sin. For many of us, when we sin against God, we run in the opposite direction of Him assuming that He will turn away from us. The opposite is true! When we are at our lowest point, He is very close to us and He promises to save those who are crushed in spirit.

I will enrich your life and renew your youth like the eagle's.

Psalm 103:5 New International Version (NIV)

5 who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Eagles go through a molting process where they shed their old feathers and grow new ones. This process is necessary in the rejuvenation of the eagle so it can continue to remain strong. In Psalm 103:5, King David tells us that the Lord will satisfy us with good things and will renew our youth in the same way that the eagle renews its feathers.

No matter how old we get, our God and Father promises to continue to renew our inner being so that we will have a spring in our step, a sparkle in our eye, and a sense of awe and wonder about life.

May each one of us hold fast to this promise and not dread our future, but look forward to the renewing process where our youth will be renewed just like the eagle's!

I will give you a peaceful sleep surrounded by safety.

Psalm 4:8 New International Version (NIV)

8 In peace I will lie down and sleep,
    for you alone, Lord,
    make me dwell in safety.

There are many things in this world that cause us to be afraid and to not feel at peace. As a result,  many people struggle with sleep at night because of the numerous anxious thoughts that they have circulating in their minds.

Jesus was able to sleep on boats in the midst of storms. He is the Prince of Peace and has promised to give His peace to us. In John 14:27 Jesus says... Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (NIV)

His encouragement to us today is to not be afraid. He will make us to lie down in peace and have a restful sleep surrounded by His abiding sense of safety. For all those who struggle with getting a good night's sleep, I pray that this promise would become a tangible reality for you today.

May you go to sleep tonight not dreading a night of tossing and turning. May the tangible presence of the Prince of Peace surround you and envelope you with His love so that you can feel truly safe so that you can have the best sleep of your life!

If you wait for Me, I will renew your strength.

Isaiah 40:31 New International Version (NIV)

31 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

When we think of waiting, whether it is waiting in a car for a friend, waiting in a doctor's office for an appointment, or waiting in a check out line, we might tend to think of waiting as being a time of inactivity or passivity. After all, while we are waiting, we aren't actually doing anything... or are we?

When we wait for somebody or something, we are actually in a posture of submission to somebody or something. For example, if you are waiting in a car for a friend, you have positioned yourself to be vulnerable to however long your friend takes to come into the car. When you are waiting in a doctor's office, you have given the doctor and his/her staff the power to choose who is next in line for their appointment.

While we may see waiting as inactive, it is actually the opposite in many cases. For me, a self-described 'type A personalty', waiting can be very difficult at times. The longer I wait, the more I begin to scream on the inside for something to happen! For me, waiting isn't passive or inactive, waiting is one of the most active things I can do.

In today's promise, we read that if we wait on the Lord, He will renew our strength. When we choose to humble ourselves before Almighty God and acknowledge that it is His will and direction that we are looking for, we are positioning ourselves to wait for Him to give us the guidance we are looking for. When we wait on Him, we are honoring Him and choosing not to 'lean to our own understanding' as mentioned in Proverbs 3:5-6.

Waiting on the Lord is one of the most active things we can do. It can be difficult at times because we are not in control of when and where God will move. We simply wait for Him to do what He wants to do, but the promise that we have today is that when we wait for Him, He will be faithful to renew our strength!