It’s been a long time since I’ve entered anything into this blog! God has done so much for our family, despite ourselves, and I feel that it wouldn’t be right to just hush about His goodness. After all, I finally had the chance to log back into Pinterest after yearssss, and I was pleasantly surprised and blessed to see many of you pinning the Bible verses and devotions which God had allowed me to write in years past. Then, I re-installed Google Analytics and found that people continue to visit our devotional pages. I believe it’s time to start adding more of God’s goodness into this blog! I’m just so thankful that God has allowed me to maintain this blog for so long and I apologize for failing to keep up with it. Before I write my next series of devotions, let’s start with the basics — that is, being saved by grace!
I am just a sinner, saved by grace! Perhaps you know the rest of the lyrics to this old-fashioned hymn. I don’t know it by heart, by I know the most important part: “saved by grace”.
Saved from what?
The easiest answer would likely be, “Hell.”
Yes, I believe in life after death, and that there are only two destinations: Heaven or Hell. When I accepted Christ as my LORD and Savior when I was 6 years old, I chose Heaven. Yes, the choice is up to us, inspite of us, if we choose to accept God’s gift of salvation — that is, eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD.
But, there seems to be something else that we’re missing when we say, “saved by grace”.
So, saved from what else??
From the bondage of sin.
Sin blocks our relationship with Christ. We are still sinners, even after we have accepted Christ into our hearts as our personal Savior.
So, what’s the point of “being saved” when we’re still sinners after the fact?
First, it’s to secure our eternal destiny (choosing Heaven vs. Hell).
Second, it’s to help us along our journey until God calls us home. Oh, the journey is long and hard! It doesn’t take much to see that life hands us lots of curve balls. We have lived in a fallen world for as long as sin had entered into this world.
Being saved by grace means we get to be a part of God’s family! It’s a relationship. The more we seek Him, the more we get to know Him; and the more He reveals Himself to us. The more we learn about Him, the more we love Him, and the more we learn how sin displeases Him.
When we love someone, we don’t want to displease them. The more we love God, the more we hate sin. When we fall into the evil one’s snares and we find ourselves in sin, all hope isn’t lost, for our Hope is in Christ! If we confess our sin, He will pick us back up and free us from that bondage. We are free, indeed!
Oh, how I fail Him daily, when I find myself in sin. It’s so easy to fall, but it’s also very simple to return to Christ with our humble and broken hearts. The enemy uses pride and everything else he can muster up, to keep us from returning to our Heavenly Father. The enemy will make sin seem pleasant for a season but as they say, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, pay more than you are willing to pay, and stay longer than you are willing to stay”. I may have messed the quote up, but I hope you get the point.
If you’re struggling with something in your life and you can’t seem to ever break free, know that you still have Hope! Life will have its ups and downs and oh what joy it is to have Jesus by our side in all our highs and lows. He takes away the burden and He multiplies the joy! He answers our prayers in the most amazing way, in His own time. But… He won’t hear our prayer if we don’t have a personal relationship with Him. That’s the sad part… too often, we are told to pray and we do it willingly… but we end up frustrated. Prayer is futile unless we have the right relationship with the One Whom we are praying to! If there’s sin in your life that you haven’t confessed, He won’t hear your prayer.
If you haven’t settled your “relationship status” with God by asking Him to be your Heavenly Father, you can do that right now! He has made it easy for us. Believe that He did so, by paying the ultimate price, by sending His One and only begotten Son, Jesus, to come to earth as a baby and many years later die on the Cross to pay for our sin! Jesus rose again on the third day, and He lives!!! Our Savior isn’t dead, but He lives!
If you would confess your sin today, and accept Jesus as your personal LORD and Savior by believing that He alone can take you to Heaven one day, that He has redeemed us from our sin by paying our “sin debt” on the Cross, and that He has conquered death and is alive today, you will be saved by grace!
You see, we should have been the ones nailed on that Cross, the cruel tree! But even if all of us died on the Cross, we wouldn’t be able to save ourselves. We have all sinned, which renders our own sacrifice useless. Only Jesus, Who is sinless, can pay for our sin debt on the Cross of Calvary. He took care of His part, will you take care of your part today? He longs to save you from eternity in Hell, and He longs to free you from the bondage, the choke hold, the deception of sin.
I pray that you ask Him to come into your heart today and to break the stronghold of sin in your life. May you find Jesus today.
Here are some Bible verses to help you in your journey of seeking Him and being a part of God’s family:
John 3:16 KJV: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Romans 3:23 KJV: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 6:23 KJV: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 10:9-10 KJV: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Acts 16:31 KJV: And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
When you find yourself in sin even after you’ve accepted Jesus into your heart, remember how God made it very simple to return to Him:
1 John 1:9 KJV: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I lift up every precious soul that reads this post today. Thank you for drawing their hearts a step closer to you today. May they find the peace that they’re searching for in You, and may You touch their heart and hold their hand as they come and join Your family. May You shower them with Your love and may they feel Your warmth as they confess their sins to You and receive You into their heart. May You bless their faith in believing what they cannot see, by letting them see after they believe. May they see great and mighty things beyond their comprehension. May You bless and guide them along their journey as You break the shackles of sin and shame in their life.
In Jesus’ Mighty Name,
Amen
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