Jesus Our Substitute

Thank You, Lord for giving your all.

God Bless.

Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

A wealthy twenty-year-old was drag-racing with his friends when he struck and killed a pedestrian. Although the young man received a three-year prison sentence, some believe that the man who appeared in court (and who subsequently served a prison sentence) was a hired surrogate for the driver who committed the crime. This type of thing has been known to occur in some countries where people hire body doubles to avoid paying for their crimes

This may sound scandalous and outrageous, but more than two thousand years ago, Jesus became our substitute and “suffered once for [our] sins, the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Peter 3:18). As God’s sinless sacrifice, Christ suffered and died once and for all (Hebrews 10:10), for all who believe in Him. He took the penalty for all our sins in His own body on the cross. Unlike a person today who chooses to be a substitute for a criminal to get some cash, Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross provided “hope” for us as He freely, willingly gave His life for us (1 Peter 3:15, 18; John 10:15). He did so to bridge the chasm between us and God.or their crimes.

May we rejoice and find comfort and confidence in this profound truth: Only by the substitutionary death of Jesus can we—sinners in need—have a relationship with and complete spiritual access to our loving God.

Reflect And Pray

How has Christ’s substitutionary death changed your life? What does it mean for you to have access to God and eternal life because of Jesus' death on the cross?

Dear Jesus, thank You for dying in my place so that I might have access to God.

Insight

In 1 Peter 3:13-14, the apostle encourages believers in Jesus to “do good,” even if they suffer for it. Believers in Christ aren’t to fear but are to trust in God and be prepared to witness for Him. Peter reminds us that Jesus suffered unjustly and died for our sins, “the righteous for the unrighteous” (v. 18). His was a once-for-all sacrifice. Whoever believes in Him as their Savior and repents of their sins receives His forgiveness. Our salvation doesn’t guarantee we won’t suffer; today’s passage and other Scripture passages tell us something quite different. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first” (John 15:18); also, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (v. 20). And Paul tells us, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

-Author Unknown 

Listening Ear

Some major food for thought. 

God Bless. 

Listening Ear

But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception. (NLT) -1 John 4:6

Loving others looks like us taking time to offer a listening ear to other Christians in our community. Those who are from God take time to listen to other believers. This feels so simple, so obvious, but it is so profound in our hurried culture! Pausing to hear the concerns of a fellow believer, even if you don’t see an issue eye-to-eye show them that they are loved, seen, heard, and a valuable part of God’s family! 

Download this app to get your daily devotions: http://www.jctrois.com/dailybibledevotion/

http://www.jctrois.com/dailybibledevotion/devotion.html?devo=op5AVem3cz

God Knows Everything About You

This...leaving it here.

God Bless.

God Knows Everything About You 

God knows everything about your life and that can either be very disturbing or very comforting. It depends on your relationship to Him, whether you're trying to fool Him or not. The fact that God knows everything about my life is a tremendous motivator for me to live a godly life. I realize that nothing in my life is in secret. Nothing I face will hinder God's ability to help me. Nothing that is to come will catch him by surprise. Nothing I fear will be too big for God's strength. And nothing I do in God's name is ever done in vain.

God says, "I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." (Jeremiah 29:11 MSG)

-Author Unknown 

Prayer Quote Of The Day - God Wants

This.

God Bless.

Prayer Quote of the day

God wants to see prayers that are filled with genuine praise and thanksgiving for what He has done in the past. He wants our hearts to be filled with awe and gratitude for His blessings. He wants us to set up memorials in our hearts testifying to the provisions He has given us.

Author: Michael Youssef

We Are Labourers

This for me was so encouraging. 

God Bless.

For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

Inspiration 

God has prepared work for all of us to do. But even as we do His work, He works alongside us and within us. For as we do His work, He brings forth a harvest as a field would produce. As we faithfully carry out our purposes, He builds us up into a structure that reveals His glory as it stands as a beacon of hope to others.

Prayer

Lord, thank You for calling me to do Your work. Equip me to do all that You have called me to do so that as You work through me, You may use me to produce fruit, to reach others, and to encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ. Please work all of these things in me and through me for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.

-Author Unknown 

Quote Of The Day - You Are Not Alone

Leaving it right here.

God Bless

Quote of the Day -Joyce Meyer

“You Are Not Alone Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he . . . [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him]. PSALM 91:14 

God wants you to know you are not alone. Satan wants you to believe you are all alone, but you are not. He wants you to believe no one understands how you feel, but that is not true. In addition to God being with you, many believers know how you feel and understand what you are experiencing mentally and emotionally. As God’s child, you can claim His wonderful promises. No matter what you are facing or how lonely you may feel, know that you are not alone. As you meditate on God tonight, draw strength and encouragement from knowing He is always faithful and He will never forsake you.” 

-Joyce Meyer, Ending Your Day Right: Devotions for Every Evening of the Year

When Obedience Feels Impossible

Leaving it right here.

God Bless.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. (Hebrews 11:17)

For many of you right now — and for others of you the time is coming — obedience feels like the end of a dream. You feel that if you do what the word of God or the Spirit of God is calling you to do, it will make you miserable and that there is no way that God could turn it all for good.

Perhaps the command or call of God you hear just now is to stay married or stay single, to stay in that job or leave that job, to get baptized, to speak up at work about Christ, to refuse to compromise your standards of honesty, to confront a person in sin, to venture a new vocation, to be a missionary. And as you see it in your limited mind, the prospect of doing this is terrible — it’s like the loss of Isaac, the only son who can be an heir. 

You have considered every human angle, and it is impossible that it could turn out well.

Now you know what it was like for Abraham. This story is in the Bible for you. 

Do you desire God and his way and his promises more than anything, and do you believe that he can and will honor your faith and obedience by being unashamed to call himself your God, and to use all his wisdom and power and love to turn the path of obedience into the path of life and joy?

That is the crisis you face now: Do you desire him? Will you trust him? The word of God to you is: God is worthy and God is able.

-Author Unknown