100 Days of Right Believing: Daily Readings from The Power of Right Believing (15 page)

BOOK: 100 Days of Right Believing: Daily Readings from The Power of Right Believing
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Today’s Thought

Sin has no dominion over my life when I am under grace.

Today’s Prayer

Father, thank You for unveiling to me the sweet, sweet grace of Jesus and the gift of righteousness that is mine through His finished work. I receive Your forgiveness into my heart today, and I thank You that as I live conscious of Your grace in my life, sin shall have no dominion over me. Amen.

The Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Today’s Scripture

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

M
ATTHEW
11:28–30 T
HE
M
ESSAGE

D
o you feel as though you are trapped on a never-ending treadmill based on your own efforts to try to earn God’s forgiveness, God’s approval, and God’s acceptance? That is Christian religion. If you are trying to earn your own forgiveness and thinking that God is constantly mad at you, I am here to tell you that is not the heart of God.

When Jesus spoke of “the unforced rhythms of grace,” He means that there is an ease and enjoyment when you walk in His grace. This is in contrast to the struggle and strain found in self-effort. There is such rest when you know there is nothing you can do to earn His forgiveness. Give up on your own self-righteousness, which the Bible describes as “filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6), and with open arms and an open heart, receive His forgiveness!

The key to getting out of a cycle of sin and defeat is to receive and to stop beating yourself up. Receive and stop punishing yourself because your sins have already been punished on the body of another—His name is Jesus, our beautiful Lord and Savior. No wonder the gospel is called the
good news
.

When you understand God’s grace and forgiveness, you will understand the difference between obligation and relationship. Under the old covenant of the law, right living is done out of religious obligation. Under the new covenant of grace, every thing we do today is birthed out of an inward motivation that flows directly from a love relationship with Jesus.

My friend, God is not a legalist. He doesn’t want you to read His Word just because He said so, as a religious obligation. He wants you to experience His love and spend time in His Word because you
want to
enjoy His sweet presence. You can read His Word out of legalism and to try to earn God’s forgiveness and acceptance, or you can do it out of relationship because you know you have been forgiven. The reality is, when you don’t read the Bible, you should not be feeling guilty; you should be feeling hungry.

Jesus invites you to experience “the unforced rhythms of grace.” Keep company with Him and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly!

Today’s Thought

Jesus invites me to step out of the struggle and strain of self-effort into the unforced rhythms of grace.

Today’s Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You for Your gracious invitation to learn the unforced rhythms of grace. Help me to see when I am slipping into religious obligation, because I want to respond to You out of love and relationship. I believe as I keep company with You and enjoy Your sweet presence that I will know Your heart and Your ways and live in victory. Amen.

Be Forgiveness-Conscious

Today’s Scripture

Bless the L
ORD
, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies.

P
SALM
103:2–4

N
ot too long ago, I was driving out for lunch with my wife, Wendy, and for some reason, every time she made a passing comment, I found myself snapping irritably at her or making an unnecessarily provocative remark. Have you had one of those days?

When I reflected on why I was so irritable, I realized it was because I was actually feeling guilty about a couple of matters from earlier in the day. I hadn’t necessarily done anything wrong, but I’d just allowed a little bit of guilt to creep into my heart and unconsciously allowed condemnation to come in.

My friend, when you are walking under a cloud of judgment, you can become a really unpleasant person to be around. Trust me, I know what I am talking about. Even if you are an author of books about God’s grace and forgiveness, there can be moments where condemnation creeps into your heart and you are completely oblivious to it.

I thank God that when Wendy asked me if there was a reason for my irritability, He gave me that moment of clarity where I could see the condition of my heart. And praise Jesus for a discerning and perceptive wife who didn’t take my remarks personally and knew something was not right with me. I remember telling her to let me know the next time she noticed such behavior from me, because it’s so easy to slip into condemnation and guilt.

When you’re under guilt and condemnation, all day long you can feel lousy, and all your answers have a sting in them. That’s not the abundant life, and you know what it all comes back to? It comes back to having a constant sense of God’s forgiveness over your life. Instead of taking in and harboring all the guilt, condemnation, and judgment, we need to stand secure in our perfect forgiveness in Jesus.

There is a redeeming quality to being forgiveness-conscious, as opposed to being conscious of your failings, sins, and mistakes. When you are forgiveness-conscious and see your failings on the cross of Jesus, you receive power to break out of your irritability, impatience, and short-temperedness with others. You receive power to break out of your eating disorders, addictions, and anxieties! When you realize that we don’t deserve God’s forgiveness and grace yet He gives it to us anyway, this revelation of His unmerited favor changes us from within. It dissolves the knots of anger and impatience in us that have built up over the years and frees us to enjoy God’s love and to show it to others!

Today’s Thought

When I realize that I don’t deserve God’s forgiveness and grace yet He gives it to me anyway, this revelation of God’s unmerited favor changes me from within.

Today’s Prayer

Father, thank You that You have secured my perfect forgiveness in Jesus. I believe Jesus bore every one of my failings at the cross, and I receive Your forgiveness afresh today. When I begin to take in and harbor guilt and condemnation, help me to have a constant sense of Your grace, Your unmerited favor. I believe in the redeeming power of Your forgiveness to break out of all that holds me back from experiencing the abundant life that is found in Jesus. Amen.

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