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By His Divine Power
TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:
" By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence"
(2 Peter 1:3 NLT).
TODAY'S WORD:
Whether you realize it or not, God has already given you everything you need to live the life He’s called you to. You don’t need to feel stressed out, worried or afraid. You don’t have to wonder if you’re “good enough” to receive from God because God’s blessing has nothing to do with your performance. He has already blessed you and given you everything you need by His divine power!
The world’s system tells us to strive, toil and scrape to get what we want. Our culture puts limits on people because of their natural abilities, resources, background or circumstances. But with God, there are no limits! By His divine power, you are equipped, well able and strong. You are covered by His grace and mercy, and you are empowered to do all He has called you to do!
The next time you start thinking “I can’t…” or “I don’t have what it takes…,” attack those negative thoughts with the truth by declaring, “I have what it takes; I am well able; and I am equipped by His divine power at work in me!”
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Father God, thank You for Your power which is at work in me. Thank You for equipping me and calling me according to Your good purpose. Give me Your strength and peace today. I keep my mind stayed on You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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“God says he will accept and acquit us — declare us ‘not guilty’ — if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like.”(Romans 3:22b LB)
Jesus’ death and Resurrection make us acceptable to God.
Would you be surprised to know that most people do not accept themselves? I’ve been a pastor now for more than 30 years. I’ve talked to tens of thousands of people, and I’ve found that most people really don’t like themselves. They wish they were different. They wish they looked different. They wish they acted differently.
We don’t accept ourselves, so we spend our lives trying to find acceptance among other people. And, even more important than being accepted by other people is being accepted by God. That’s a problem. Why? Because God is perfect, and you’re not. Neither am I!
God lives in a perfect place called Heaven, so he had a predicament. How does he get imperfect people into a perfect place (because, obviously, if he allowed imperfect people in a perfect place, it wouldn’t be perfect anymore)? God had to come up with a plan for imperfect people to be able to live in a perfect place.
God’s plan is what I call “The Great Exchange.”
The Bible says, “God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God's goodness into us!” (2 Corinthians 5:21 LB)
I don’t know how to make it any clearer than to say it like this: You’re never going to be good enough to get into Heaven, because it’s perfect, and you stopped being perfect a long time ago. It is Christ’s goodness in you that makes you acceptable. You’re not perfect, but he is. So God says, “We’ll do an exchange here. Jesus will take your sins, and you get my goodness in your life.” That’s quite a deal!
A lot of people feel trapped by their past. They say, “If you knew what I’ve done, you’d know I’ll never be acceptable to God.” I don’t know what you’ve done, but God does, and he still accepts you: “God says he will accept and acquit us — declare us ‘not guilty’ — if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like” (Romans 3:22b LB).
Talk It Over
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