Grace For The Journey

  As a pastor, one of the saddest things I hear is the words of those who believe they can “blow it” so badly that God will turn His back on them. Some have told me this with tears in their eyes and explained how they learned this growing up in church. And every time I tell them the same thing: Nothing could be further from the truth! Jesus said in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”

Did you get that last part? “Whoever comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” This phrase literally means “I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me.” Now if that is an amazing truth statement!  In an admittedly simplistic way of explaining biblical truth, the picture God is presenting is that there is NO BOOT FOR THE BELIEVER . . . EVER! Jesus meant what He said. And He had a great deal to say about this subject!

In John 10:28-30 Jesus says, “I give [My sheep] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Christian, do you see the power in that promise? Never has God made a promise and turned His back on it. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 15:29, “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.” Not one lost soul will ever charge Jesus with turning him or her away. They simply refused to respond to God’s gracious invitation to be saved by His grace, through faith alone.

The religious leaders of Christ’s day were furious with Him . . . but not for turning sinners away, but rather for receiving them! Jesus receives sinners – all types of sinners. Think of some of the scandalous sinners in the Bible that Jesus welcomed into His company: prostitutes . . . tax collectors (who were perhaps the most despised of all people in Jewish society) . . . He received liars . . . cheaters . . . murderers . . . deceivers . . . deniers . . . those who were weak in the faith . . . . He even received the religious leaders who came to Him, and they were sinning hypocrites of the highest order!

So have you messed things up a bit? Perhaps you’ve messed it up terribly? Jesus receives those who have messed it up, but He will never drive them away.  Jesus says in John 6:39, “’This is the will of [My Father] who sent Me,’ our Lord explained, ‘that I shall lose none of all that He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day.’”  He will lose none of those whom God the Father has appointed for eternal life. No one and nothing can snatch you out of His sovereign, nail-scarred hand!

Yes, friends and family may turn away from us. But Jesus simply cannot do such a thing. He paid too high a price for us to get in to ever drive us out. He has exalted His promise to us as highly as He exalts His own name (Psalm 138:2), and He will never abandon or revoke that promise. The Bible teaches that in Romans 11:29 “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

So come to Jesus today, and come with the confident assurance that He is waiting to receive you with open arms and out-stretched nail scarred hands.

• Come in your weakness and your worry.
• Come in your sin and your shame.
• Come in your fear and your faithlessness.
• Come just as you are—beaten, bloodied, and bruised.

But come, because all that the Father gives to His Son He will never drive away.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  Today’s blog highlights two gifts beyond measure . . . two gifts which are a source of unimaginable comfort to all those who belong to the King of ages.

The Bible says in Psalm 84:11, “The Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory.”

What an extraordinary promise!  As the sun gives light and a shield protects, the Lord will give grace and glory.  This truth is so significant that we need to take time to unwrap it.

Notice first, God gives His children grace.  This grace raises the dead sinner to life, pardons all his sins, brings him into the family of faith, and gives him abundant and forever life.  This is the grace of justification – In Jesus, God the Father regards you just as if you had never sinned and just as if you had always and only done what is right!

But there is more . . . so much more!

God not only gives grace, He also gives glory.  Do you see the incredible promise in this truth?  Glory can only be realized on the other side of the grave.  So when God gives us His grace, He continues giving grace until we are finally and fully received into our heavenly estate.

Charles Spurgeon wrote:

“The little conjunction ‘and’ in this verse is a diamond rivet binding the present with the future: grace and glory always go together.  God has married them, and none can divorce them.  The Lord will never deny a soul glory to whom He has freely given to live upon His grace; indeed, glory is nothing more than grace in its Sabbath dress, grace in full bloom, grace like autumn fruit, mellow and perfected.”

The promise inherent in God’s grace is the final state of glory.  God always finishes what He begins and what He began in you He will one day finish.  With Paul, we can be “confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it” (Philippians 1:6).  And that completed state is to be glorified.

Do you see the incredible power in this promise?  The fact that God began His work in you is the guarantee that He will finish it.  Your glorified state is not in your hands and will not be achieved in your strength.  Glory is the gift you have been promised by God, and nothing will get in the way of Omnipotence completing what it started . . . and that includes you!

Regardless of what you are struggling with today, there is a day coming when all your struggles will end:

• Every foe vanquished.
• Every storm stilled.
• Every fire doused.
• Every obstacle overcome.
• Every sickness cured.
• Every problem solved.
• Every Jordan crossed.

God is not finished with you yet.  And if He chooses to bless you through sunshine or rain . . . clouds or clear skies . . . pain or pleasure, you are being perfected for that great day of perfection.

To know that God never gives grace without glory is to know that a day is coming when there will be no more tears, no more pain, no more sorrow, no more sin, and no more death.  What once was will no longer be, and the saints glorified by His grace will reign with Him forevermore!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  I drink a lot – now don’t misunderstand what I am saying … I am talking about drinking water, tea, or beverage.  When Kay and I, or our family, go out to eat, those who serve us discover that I drink (i.e. water, tea, or beverage) more than the average customer.  The issue is not only how much I drink but how fast I drink it.  I suggest from time to time that they bring a pitcher just for me because I know it saves them from having to run back and forth for refills.

God talks about a far more important thirst and the real Thirst Quencher.

The Bible says in Revelation 22:17, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”

Did you know this is the final command given in Scripture?  “Let the one who is thirsty come and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”  Wow!  God gives us a thirst for the soul-quenching, life-giving water of life and then bids us to come and drink.  How thankfully, gratefully, and expectantly we should come to the water of life when the Author of life invites us to come.  Yet how often we find ourselves drawn to the troughs of untruth, where we pay dearly to drink what leaves us still dying of thirst.

God tells us to bring our thirst to Jesus because He is the only One who can truly quench it.

• His water quenches our thirst for approval.
• His water quenches our thirst for acceptance.
• His water quenches our thirst for affection.

All too often I return to the bitter, dirty waters of my broken cisterns, thinking somehow that they will do for me what only God in Christ can do for me.  And yet Jesus never turns His back on me . . . even when I turn away from Him and drink from wells that were never meant to satisfy any of my thirsts.

The Real Thirst Quencher not only gives us the thirst we have, He quenches it by giving us the soul-satisfying waters of the Gospel.  Speaking to the Samaritan woman, Jesus pointed to a worldly well and said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

Everything we need we already have in Jesus, and the more we run to drink from His well the more we find our deepest thirst satisfied.

• Let us thirst to forgive more freely.
• Let us thirst to love unconditionally.
• Let us thirst to accept openly.

And the Real Thirst Quencher will satisfy our every thirst.

So today, regardless of where you have been seeking to quench your thirst, Jesus says to you, “Come!” Come and partake of the water of life; immerse yourself in the sweet, living water and you will thirst no more.   Let us drink early and often each day, so that we might experience a quenched thirst that will never leave us thirsty again.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  Sandwiched between ghosts in flight and Silent Night . . . a witch on a broom and an inn with no room . . . is Thanksgiving.  For many, it is a time of fellowship with family and friends, fabulous food, and a little football – OK, in some homes, maybe a lot of football!  The day is marked by hours of preparation, fifteen minutes of eating, and hours of clean-up.  It would be hard for a stranger to our culture to recognize the season of Thanksgiving, because as soon as the Halloween decorations come down, the Christmas decorations go up!  Only grocery stores get excited about Thanksgiving.

Because Thanksgiving is not a major money maker for the department stores, we may not give it the attention we should. If we are not careful, we can confine Thanksgiving to a mere day of feasting, rather than a way of faithful living.  Here are three practical steps to help us move from Thanksgiving to Thanks-living.

LIVE THANKFULLY 

The first key in moving from Thanksgiving to Thanks-living is to live thankfully.  This will only be done when we re-orient our focus from ourselves to our Savior.  With our focus firmly fixed on our Savior, our thoughts will ultimately rest on His cross.  When the crucified Christ is the center of our lives, we can live in no other way than thankfully.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

LIVE WORSHIPFULLY

The second key in moving from Thanksgiving to Thanks-living is to live worshipfully. Once the cross becomes central in our lives, worship becomes our way of living.  To use a theological term, it is living “doxologically” before the face of God.  We live grace-filled, Gospel-saturated, God-centered lives.  We worship Jesus – not only on Sunday, but every day, everywhere, and in every way.  We sing His praises in the boardroom, living room, family room, bedroom, schoolroom, lunchroom, and locker room.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:12-15, “For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, while through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

LIVE GENEROUSLY

The third key in moving from Thanksgiving to Thanks-living is to live generously.  What do you have that you have not been given?  The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “For who makes you differ from another?  And what do you have that you did not receive?  Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not receive it?”

If everything we have is a gift from the hand of God,

How can we live in any other way than generously?

The more we have, the more we are in debt to the One who has given it to us, and the more we should be driven to meet the physical needs of others.  It is a mistake to think the Gospel meets only the spiritual needs of the lost.  To be sure, it does that, but it also meets physical needs as well.  If it did not, how would we explain the two loaves and the five fish that fed thousands instead of Jesus sending them away hungry?  How would we explain the miracles of Jesus in making the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the sick well, and the dead alive?  When we get the Gospel deep down into the very center of our being, we live lives marked by generosity, remembering what God says in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “”So let each of you as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”

As you enjoy this Thanksgiving holiday in whatever way you choose to celebrate it, take a moment to reflect on these three keys that will take a day of Thanksgiving and turn it into a life of Thanks-living.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

   I want us to think about Thanksgiving over the next couple of days.  Think long and hard about what it means to live a life that truly offers thanksgiving to the One who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.

The Bible says in Colossians 2:6-7, “Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

The apostle Paul is telling us that an attitude of overflowing thankfulness is to distinguish Gospel-soaked saints, regardless of the cost or circumstance.  Please note that this exhortation came from a man who knew hardship and suffering for the sake of the Gospel.  Paul was no “ivory tower” teacher!  Paul wrote at least a third of the New Testament, and he wrote most of it from behind prison walls.

But regardless of the circumstances he faced,

He was marked by overflowing thankfulness because

He intimately knew the One to whom he was so thankful.

Paul’s encounter with Christ and his life-changing faith-conversion is recorded in Acts 9:1-6, “Saul was still breathing out threats and murder against the Lord’s disciples.  He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.  As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’  ‘Who are you, Lord?’  Saul asked.  ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.  ‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’”

Here is the man who went from being a persecutor of the Church (Saul) to a pastor in the Church (the apostle Paul).  He went from hating Christians to helping Christians.  He went from murder to ministry . . . and he kept on with that ministry until his very last breath.  And he did it against all odds with a heart that was overflowing with thankfulness.

One of the keys for Paul was found in the fact that he never lost sight of who he was before Jesus showed up.  He never forgot the black condition of his heart prior to his Damascus road experience and how Jesus breathed new life into him.  He knew the radical change that the Lord Jesus Christ made in his heart.

So, in this Thanksgiving Day, let us pause for a moment to count our many blessings. Don’t bother to try to name them “one-by-one,” as the Bible song says, because there are far too many to number.  Let’s do that, but let’s also simply live a life of overflowing thankfulness by sharing the love of Christ with everyone we encounter.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  Jesus said in Luke 12:32, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

What a comfort to hear the voice of our Great Shepherd saying, “Fear not, little flock” as we face the countless BIG challenges of the day . . .

• We face BIG challenges in our families.
• We face BIG challenges in our finances.
• We face BIG challenges in our future.
• We face BIG challenges in our fitness.
• We face BIG challenges in our faith.

Yet, as members of His little flock, we can face every challenge without fear.  Why? Because we never face our fears alone, that’s why Jesus says, “For it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

You see, we don’t have to look to anything smaller than God to face the waves of challenge that crash over us each day.  Why would we turn to the wisdom of the world when we have the Wisdom of eternity available to us – the Spirit of Jesus Christ?  How often we run to the wrong things, go to the wrong places, and turn to the wrong people when Jesus is standing at the ready to safely bring us through whatever challenges we are facing.

• We look for safety in things that are not safe.
• We look for security in places that are not secure.
• We look for stability in people that are not stable.

As members of His little flock, what we need to do in times of trouble is to remember.

We need to remember whose we are and what He has promised to do.

We need to remember the God who purchased us with His precious blood and the grace we have been given in Him.  And for those who might not realize it, this was the instruction to God’s little flock every bit as much in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament.

God instructed the children of Israel to remember.  He says in Exodus 13:14, “So it shall be, when your sons asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, ‘By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.’”:

This remembering should lead us to tell others about the wonderful things God has done.  David says in Psalm 78:4, “We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.”

Remembering what God has done and what He has promised to do is the key that unlocks the prison door of fear.  His Word is true, His kingdom everlasting, and His “little flock” untouchable!

There is no power in the universe

That can derail the plans

and the purposes of our King.

He won the final battle on Mount Calvary, putting our enemy, the devil, to complete defeat.  To be sure, we still battle along the way to our inheritance, but we battle against a defanged lion who cannot do one single thing to us that God does not allow him to do.  And all that Satan is allowed to do is done for one of two reasons: God’s glory and our good.

So today, as you venture into the life God has set before you, do not fear – regardless of the challenges that are set before you. Wherever you go, He has already gone before you . . . and He continues to go with you!  As members of His kingdom our focus should be on His kingdom and not our own.  When we do, we expand the reach of our cares and concerns beyond the borders of our own little kingdom to the outer edges of His.  We begin loving those He loves, serving those He served, and accepting those He accepted.

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Hallelujah, what a salvation!

Hallelujah, what a gift to be a member of His little flock in the Lords kingdom.  This should cause us to be overcome with fear but be overwhelmed with thanksgiving!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  As we approach Thanksgiving, I would like to share a word of encouragement for those times when we are feeling a little less than thankful.

At first glance, you might think, “What kind of a Christian could feel ‘less than thankful?” Are we not commanded to, “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4)? That’s true; we are even commanded to “Consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2). But please remember that a Christian is still a human being, and thus still a sinner. Even mature Christians may fall prey to feeling a little less than thankful during their struggles with ongoing sin and the various storms of life.

Here is what the Bible says about such times:

“He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me.” (Psalm 50:23)

If we are honest we all must admit that there are indeed times when we just don’t feel as thankful as we should. Sometimes the storm winds seem to be blowing so hard that the smallest bit of thanksgiving feels like a great sacrifice, especially when we are dealing with loss:

• loss of a job
• loss of money
• loss of a home or car
• loss of health or health insurance
• loss of a friendship or relationship
• loss of a loved one
• loss of hope

To be sure, loss can make even the tiniest bit of thanksgiving feel joyless and dutiful; only those who are deeply rooted in the truths of the Gospel can “offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving,” as Scripture commands.

To offer thanksgiving as a sacrifice is a demonstration of trusting God’s perfect plan even when we cannot trace His hand. Only the truths of the Gospel can lift us above the waves of challenge and discouragement that roll over us from time to time and empower us to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving that honors God.

We must always keep the promise of Romans 8:28-29 in view: that all things – and that includes the things we don’t like – are working together for our good and God’s glory. Everything in the universe is being directed toward God’s great purpose of conforming us into the image of His Beloved Son.

Now, keep in mind that the Bible does not say “All things are good.” There is a lot of bad in this world; Scripture warns us that “The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). But the Bible also promises that even those things that appear to have been delivered for our own destruction will prove to be for our benefit in the end.

Regardless of where this finds you as we approach Thanksgiving, remember that God is worthy of our praise and thanksgiving even when we don’t feel thankful! Our loving, heavenly Father delights in a heart that beats for the praise and the glory of His name . . . even during those times that praise is offered sacrificially through the storms of life.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

  I doubt there’s an American over the age of 5 who isn’t familiar with the marketing slogan about the Energizer Bunny who keeps on going . . . and going . . . and going!  Well today I want to talk about the goodness of God that keeps on going … and going … and going!  Did you know that God is so good that His promised good to His people keeps on going forever?

The Bible says in Psalm 23:6, “Surely (Your) goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

When was the last time you thought about the goodness of God following you around day in and day out?  If your honest answer sounds like mine (“Uh, I’m not sure”), this truth exposes the narrow-sighted view we have of the glorious Gospel and the unlimited bounty of God’s goodness toward broken sinners like you and me.  This incredible truth about goodness following me all of my days seems to suggest that God’s amazing grace has nothing to do with me and everything to do with God.  And I thank God for that!

Imagine for a moment the psalmist saying, “Surely God’s goodness will follow me all the days of my life . . . as long as I continue following my good God.”  Changes everything doesn’t it?  If my experience of God’s goodness is based on my “goodness,” then my experience of God’s goodness would be only as good as I am – and at times that is not all that good!

But the Gospel-saturated promise we receive from God is a guarantee of goodness apart from anything we think, do, or say.  You might think it was too good to be true – if it wasn’t written down.  You can be absolutely certain in your belief that God is good to us even when we are not good to Him.  Think about that for a moment:

• When we have divided affections . . . God is good to us
• When we are consumed with selfish ambition . . . God is good to us
• When we are serving anything other than God . . . God is good to us
• When we are running in the opposite direction from God . . . God is good to us
• When we forget God in the details of life . . . God is good to us

By nature we find it easy to think about a God who would reward us with His goodness when we are good.  But to think about a God who is still good to us when we are bad and are deserving only of His anger and displeasure is – well, in a word – unbelievable!

Yet this is exactly what the Gospel does for everyone who believes it.

The good news is so breathtakingly good!  God’s goodness flows to those who have not earned it and do not deserve it in any way.  How freeing to know that our relationship with God is based on His faithfulness toward us and not our faithfulness toward Him.

The prophet Jeremiah echoed the psalmist when he gave us these words from God: “And I [the Lord] will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will turn away from doing them good …” (Jeremiah 32:40).  To know that God’s goodness is always in hot pursuit of rebels on the run like you and me is as encouraging as it is empowering.  It is the Gospel-fuel that lights the fire of our faith.  If you have placed your trust in Christ for your eternal salvation, you can be utterly confident that God’s goodness and love will follow you all of your days . . . regardless of the circumstances we are currently facing – whether we face them with big faith, little faith, or even no faith at all!  We can stand on what the Bible says, “If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).

May God give us the grace to embrace the truth that His goodness keeps on going . . . and going . . . and going!

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Grace For The Journey

  Robert Murray McCheyne, a 19^th Century minister in the Church of Scotland, once said, “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.” Did you know that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for you right now?

The Bible says in Romans 8:34, “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

And in Hebrews 7:15 the Bible declares, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

McCheyne provided great insight into tremendous power in the life of the believer. Even though he could not hear the Lord praying in the room next to him, he knew that Jesus was indeed praying from His throne room in heaven. Regardless of what you might be facing today, you can face it in the power of His prayer. Jesus is praying for you continually.

The Bible reminds us in John 17:20-21, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in Me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent Me.”

In His earthly ministry, our Lord prayed fervently and specifically for His disciples who would be left behind to continue the ministry of the Gospel Jesus had initiated. But notice that His prayer is not only for them. It is for you and me and all those who would believe in the truths of the Gospel. Knowing that Jesus prayed for us then and is praying for us now is a source of great power for every believer.

What is there to fear with Jesus on the throne? As McCheyne said, distance makes no difference when it comes to the power of prayer from the throne room of grace.

Jesus is able … because He lives.

Jesus is praying for you in the middle of your trials, tests, and temptations. Jesus is praying for you in the middle of your storms, sufferings, and sorrows. His prayer is your power, regardless of what you are currently dealing with in this life. Jesus has already conquered every foe we will ever face. Even the last and most fearful enemy was defeated when Jesus became the death of death (2 Timothy 1:10).

So, let us advance confidently in the direction our Lord is calling us to go. Our praying Prince has paved the way for us to walk by faith and not by sight, because we know He has walked the path before us and is walking it with us today. His prayer is our power, and that power is greater than any power we will ever encounter in both life and death.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Satan was defeated by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but he is still busily engaged in a relentless battle against the saints of God.

He no longer reigns

in the lives of God’s people,

but he certainly remains,

and he is bitterly determined to inflict as much damage on us as he can before we ascend to heaven. To be sure, Satan cannot take us out of the hand of our Lord, but he can harass us along the way to our eternal rest.

The Bible teaches about this struggle in 2 Corinthians 2:11, after Paul teaches the importance of forgiving others … “Lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.”  If we don’t forgive, it gives an opening to Satan in his attempt to defeat us.  God teaches us further about this in Hebrews 12:15, “Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.”

Satan has many destructive schemes.  I will talk about two of them that, from my experience as a pastor, seem to be at the top of his list.

1. Shifting our focus away from Christ and toward our circumstances.

Satan will do everything he can to cause us to take our eyes off of Jesus and put them on our surrounding circumstances . . . often leading to serious consequences.

The Bible gives us an illustration of this in Matthew 14:29-30, “’Come,’ [Jesus] said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’”

Everything was going just great for Peter. He had the faith to get out of the boat and actually walk on the top of the water! I don’t read anywhere about any other disciples joining him in doing the seemingly impossible. Peter was right in the middle of victory . . . until Satan got him to shift his focus away from his Savior and onto the storm-tossed waves. Once Peter shifted his focus away from Jesus, his courageous faith turned into cowardly fear.

Can you think of a time something like this happened to you –

When you became a victim of circumstance

Rather than a victor in Christ?

I can assure you that it was simply a matter of focus.

2. Causing us to question the goodness of our God.

Satan will do everything he can to cause us to question the God’s goodness. This strategy goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Satan attacked Eve by getting her to question God’s goodness. He got her to think about the possibility that God was withholding some good from her that would make her life better.

“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5)

In the perfect paradise God created for Adam and Eve, Satan convinced Eve to question God’s goodness by getting her to focus on the one prohibition God had given rather than His abundant provision. And Satan is still doing that to us today. He loves to get us to question the goodness of our God, and he will throw every lie he can think of at us until he gets something to stick.

It is only by being aware of the attack strategies of Satan that we can “armor up” against them. The more we prepare ourselves for his attacks by constantly walking and warring in the armor of God, the better prepared we are to live in a state of readiness to repel every attack that he sends our way.

And when we fail – when we take our eyes off Jesus and focus on our circumstances – we can expect Satan to launch his “God-is-angry-with-you” fiery dart at us. At these times, you can repel that attack by simply remembering that God poured out all His anger on His beloved Son as He hung on cross paying the penalty for our sins . . . all our sins! That is why “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Far from being angry with us when we mess up, God loves us and offers forgiveness to us.

This is God’s Word For Today … This Is Grace For The Journey

Rest and Rejoice in this eternal truth!

Pastor Terry

Ephesians 4:7 – “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”

Hebrews 4:16 – “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”