Tag: #Romans3:25TPT

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Redeeming Your Time – Part 1

Recently, Holy Spirit brought to mind Paul Anka’s 1975 gold song titled, Times of Your Life. I hadn’t heard this song in a very long time. I remember it as one that was popular among young people to reminisce about mostly good times forty-plus years ago, especially at proms and weddings.

But, this song heralds yesterday as hard to find and suggests that we reach back anyway to gather moments and collect dreams to pack away in our minds. It goes on to talk about setting suns and passing seasons and tomorrows, where we wake up and find that time slipped away. 

But God has something else to say about moments and time in our lives. 

His way says it’s not over. In fact, God has some big, new beginnings for us.

He has better for us now and forward than we ever experienced back then. Our latter can be greater, as He redeems our time—past, present and future. 

He’s waiting. It’s our choice. 

As we look to God and seek Him, not our past, as we release all that’s former to Him, He will awaken us to more of His true life for us now and forward. He will enable us to see as He sees and embrace His best. He will work all things for our good and for His glory, recompensing what we missed out on earlier. He will make it better than it would have been. 

Daily, He will encourage us and reveal Himself to us as merciful and gracious as we prioritize Him as our first and center and follow Him forward.  (La 3:22-23). 

Do you believe Him?

Do you trust Him?

Do you know Him in this way?

It’s not too late. 

God desires to change the trajectory of our lives to go higher, farther and deeper in and with Him. 

He is not limited, except by our unwillingness.

He will give us better memories and make the dreams He put inside of us still come true.

As we commit to prioritize the Spirit of Grace above all else in our lives daily, He will refashion, reframe, refocus, refit and refresh us in ways that will bring Him (and us) greater honor. He will offer us better memories than we ever had and could have made on our own. 

He’s that good.

He’s that powerful.

He’s God.

He will take us from survival to feasting on His abundance, as we receive His grace of salvation to work on our behalf: His perfect life-blood will work righteousness and justice into our lives (Ro 3:25; 5:9, 18, 21 TPT). His great Name will open new doors for us. His Word will illuminate our hearts in truth that sets us free from a disappointing past. He can rework our today and our future and bring something good out of it. He is everlasting, and in Him, there is no end to His love, life and goodness (Ps 18:25). 

It begins with an attitude of humility, seeking Him and dependence upon Him, because we cannot do it ourselves (Ro 5:6).

And God exalts the humble (1 Pe 5:6, Lk 18:14).

If you feel like all hope is gone, and your heart aches for “Christ in you, the hope of glory” to show up on your behalf (Co 1:27), it’s time to be led “to the rock that is higher” (Ps 61:2). It’s time for hope to be restored. If you let Him shine His light in your heart, you can then put this fresh hope fully in Him. 

He never disappoints.

Isn’t it time to believe Him at His Word and let Him work on your behalf to do authentic life His way (Jn 6:63)?

Friends, God will restore His root of love in us—His greater glory, and make us into His brightest lampstands as we walk with Him along His narrow path and remain in Him.

God can and will bring opportunities around again for new life to prove better than it would have been if we had known better and done better earlier. Even if some of our previous moments got cut short, due to an illness or perhaps an untimely passing of a loved one, that time is still redeemable. The goodness of God continues onto the next generation to be appropriated (Ps 78:6). God’s will for us is to offer us recompense for whatever was lost or stolen when we forgive, repent for any wrongdoing and submit to Him. God will even reveal His recompense to us in advance, so we can set our expectation on Him to fulfill His promise.

How exciting are these mysteries of God revealed?! 

Pray with me if you will:

Dear Lord, 

Thank You for Your mercy for me. I “cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Ps 61:2 NKJV). I entrust my life to You to get me where You desire I be in my growth in You and in Your Kingdom for Your glory. Restore my hope. Redeem my time. Make something good out of every lost moment and disappointment. Do that which only You can do. And open my eyes to see it and receive it all Your way.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

Amen. 

This video-devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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Faithful Decisions – Part 1

To make faithful decisions is to make right decisions—decisions that are righteous in the eyes of God. 

“As for God, his way is perfect, says 2 Samuel 22:31 NIV, The Lord’s word is flawless…”

He sets the standard of righteousness, and He credits our active faith (obedience) as righteousness (Ge 15:6, Ro 4:9, De 6:25).

So, we are to “walk in the way of that faith,” dependent on God’s truth as we make right decisions (Ro 4:12 AMPC).

Why is this so important?

Because to bring honor to God and be victorious in the Promised Land, we must know His instructions and agree with them. We must sync with Him in life-union to sustain His flow of true life through us, as we progress and complete divine assignments with Him (2 Co 5:21).

2 Samuel 22:26 NIV tells us that “To the faithful,” God shows Himself “faithful.”

“If you choose to follow good counsel, divine design will watch over you and understanding will protect you from making poor choices” (Pr 2:11 TPT).

Keep in mind that, in the Promised Land, God gave Joshua a new strategy for each battle. Joshua and his army were protected as they overtook enemies to expand their territory only because they faithfully hearkened to God’s instructions.

Of course, Moses’ mentorship helped. 

Romans 10:8 TPT says, “But the faith-righteousness we receive speaks to us in these words of Moses: ‘God’s living message is very close to you, as close as your own heart beating in your chest and as near as the tongue in your mouth.’”

Sometimes, the most righteous and life-sustaining thing we can do is lay down our self-righteousness, including our self-justification of our ways, and trust God enough to pray according to His will, so He will hear our prayers (1 Jn 5:14).

We need His grace to work on our behalf. Therefore, we must come out of self-reliance and into God-dependence. We must also remember that God’s perfect justice constantly works on our behalf. 

This perfect justice is described in Romans 3:25 TPT, which says, “the perfect demonstration of God’s justice” is “faith in the sacred blood of Jesus.”

So, before we step onto the Promised Land battlefields, we may want to survey our hearts and ask whether our faith is in Him or in ourselves. We may even want to ask Him to search our hearts. 

Remember that Caleb, who fought alongside Joshua, was wholehearted.

As we continue to believe God’s truth and abide in Him, we will come to know our Lord as the God of the Mountaintop, victorious in new ways to us.

Psalm 31:19 NIV tells us that abiding with Him in our decisions is where we find God’s abundance of good things.

So, we can intentionally choose to receive the abundance of Christ by aligning with Him as Lord of our lives.

Psalm 72:7 TPT assures us that “In the days of his reign the righteous will spring forth with the abundance of peace and prosperity forevermore.”

God will even reward our faithfulness.

Psalm 37:6 NIV says, “He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”

His grace of salvation for us includes the righteousness of vindication and working out that salvation in us and through us to reflect His brightness (Is 62:1).

So, friends, we can be encouraged that, by His grace, all the restoration God did in us up until now will lead to outward manifestations of significant purpose. Therefore, let’s make decisions that are right in God’s eyes to see them produce good fruit. 

Others are depending on us. So, let’s not disappoint them—not the ones in the great cloud of witnesses, who have gone before us and are watching; not those who are still living on earth and waiting; and not the future generations to come. 

Ephesians 3:20 TPT reminds us to “Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.”

So, friends, from the Word of The Lord, I declare over you: 

“Open the gates and let a righteous, faith-filled people enter in” (Is 26:2 TPT).

“May the mountains bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness” (Psalms 72:3 NIV).

“Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name” (Ps 97:12 NKJV).

In Jesus’ Mighty Name. Amen. 

This video-devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.