Day Twenty-Nine (of 31 Daily Reminders)

Who God Is…

God is Gracious!  (He gives us what we don’t deserve)

[God showed His mercy and grace by loving the unlovable and by forgiving the unforgivable! He doesn’t give us what we deserve, rather He gives us life.]

 

Who I am/we are in Christ…

I am empowered in Christ!   

“I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength!”
Php 4:13

I can do anything God asks me to do – there is nothing I cannot master – through the strength of Christ who lives in me and gives me the strength I need.

[Our strength comes from the Lord; He graciously gives us all that we need to face every situation. On our own, we are weak; but in Christ we are strong. Christ gives us His Word and fills us with His Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith and help us grow strong…  I, {state your name}, can do all things through Christ; apart from Him I, {state your name}, can do nothing.]

“Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is who bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Jn 15:5

The person who abides, lives, shares life in Me and I in Him, will produce much fruit for the Kingdom. But you can’t produce anything at all without Me.

[Christ is our Source of life… As long as I, {state your name}, remain connected to Him, I have all that I need. As I abide in Him and in His Word, I am strengthened to bear much fruit. Apart from Him all my efforts are worthless and will come to nothing. The purpose of the branches is to bear fruit.]

 

His promises for me/us today…

“If God is for us, who can be against us? He who was willing to give up his own Son, how will he not also along with him give us all things?”
Rom 8:31

If God is on our side, who can stand against us? He was willing to offer His own Son for us (to pay for our sins) – can we not count on Him to give us with Him everything else that we need?

[Most certainly! God has demonstrated both His love and His faithfulness again and again. This is a rhetorical question! The real question is related to our response to Him for what He has already done for us in Christ… I, {state your name}, can go through life – even on the most difficult of days – confident of His love.]

“I write these things to you who believe in the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”
1 Jn 5:13

God has gone on record that He gives us life in Jesus. He has written this so that we can be certain that eternal life is ours!

[We can know for sure that we have eternal life – because it doesn’t depend on us, rather it depends on Him and on His promise! …“For God so loved {state your name}, …”]

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
1 Jn 4:4

Dear children, you belong to God. So you have won the victory over your enemies, because greater is the One who lives inside of you than those who live in the world.

[We receive this by faith. Christ’s victory of sin, death and the devil is complete and is ours through faith – even when outwardly it appears that the power of evil is winning! … The Resurrection is my guarantee. 

 

His callings/my vocations…

As you reflect on these words from the Lord, what do you sense God calling you to be or to do? How do these words and promises from the Lord speak to you today with the particular joys and struggles that are part of your life and life of faith?

Think of the people who are closest to you in the vocations He has given you?  [husband/wife; family; friends; neighbors; others]. What are some of the “take aways” from these verses that you could share with them to encourage or support them in the challenges they face as they live in this broken world?

Now take a moment to pray, using the words of some of these Scriptures to shape your prayer, as you pray them back to Him. Pray them specifically for those things that you or those you love are dealing with today!

 

This is from the devotional tool, “31 Daily Reminders”, that I have designed to help you begin each day aware of Who God Is, of Who We Are In Christ, of His Promises That Sustain and Empower Us, and of the Various Callings/ Vocations He Has Given Us.  If you would like a hard copy of these devotions, just let me know!