The New and Living Way

(Read this devotion from Joyce Meyer and wanted to share.)

Therefore, brethren…we have full freedom and confidence to enter into the (Holy of) Holies (by the power and virtue) in the blood of Jesus, by this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us. –Hebrews 10:19-20

Believing we are made right with God through our faith in Jesus Christ is a new and living way, one that gives us freedom, boldness and confidence. Trying to follow the law (trying to do everything right) in order to earn acceptance ministers death (every kind of misery) to us. Grace is God’s power coming to us free of charge to help us do with ease what we could never accomplish on our own. Grace is freeing! It puts the burden to perform on God, rather than on us. As believers in Jesus Christ, our work is to believe while God works on our behalf.

I cannot make myself acceptable to all people, and neither can you, but we can believe God will give us favor with the people He wants us involved with. Sometimes we try to have relationships with people God does not even want us to be associated with. Knowing who we are in Christ sets us free from the need to impress others. Once we know who we are and accept ourselves, we no longer have anything to prove.

If God is for you, who can be against you?

PJ

We Are In This Together

Acts 4:32 All the believers were of one heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their own; they shared everything they had.

This is a desire of my heart; that we believers are of one heart and one mind. Psalm 37:4 says “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires”. I don’t believe this was an original idea of mine. I believe this is the Father’s heart for us, to be one heart, one mind. The mind of Christ.

I know there are a lot of different things that go into enabling us to walk this out but I believe one way, which I thought I’d share today, is trust.

I believe it starts with each of us doing our part. One of our parts, which ultimately benefits the body as a whole and results in getting us all closer to this goal, is to develop our “personal trust” walk.

God is a gentleman and He will not force His bride to trust Him. Trusting Him is an act of humility; it’s a choice. Duet 30:19 says “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live!” Even when we don’t know in the exact moment which particular thought or action to choose, we can always choose trust. It’s there to choose, a free gift to us, bought at an extremely high price. We are never left alone, no matter what our situation in life and no matter what the circumstances, we have the precious gift of trust.

Romans 12:1 says “Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is”. This is trust, changing the way we think when we don’t understand and when the answer seems unclear. Choose to offer up the concern, the worry, the trying to figure it all out, the works of it, to the one we can trust, who knows exactly what we need to know. James 1:4 says “But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Allow this verse to work for you, trust.

His Word is full of answers and will answer all of our questions. Trusting Him is a choice; it’s a humbling decision to “know” Him. Worry is not trust, peace is. He is trustworthy and we can rely on Him to show us the way. Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path”.

I believe that as each of us, who are called believers, develop the personal trust in our personal Saviour, we will more and more be of one heart and one mind.

PJ