Time for Grace-July 23, 2024

Time for Grace-July 23, 2024

Romans 1:16-17 

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes—to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed by faith, for faith, just as it is written, “The righteous will live by faith.”

Dear Heavenly Father,

It is hard to understand why anyone would be ashamed of the gospel—the good news of your love for us through Jesus, your Son. However, we confuse your goodness with our sins, like Adam did when he first fell into sin, blaming you for giving him Eve. We do, say, or think things that are loveless towards others or you, and the guilt and shame we face weigh us down; we want to run and hide as Adam did, and we blame you for the shame we feel. We confuse our shame for what we have done with your grace and mercy. Please help us to recognize our sins and bring them before you so that we receive complete forgiveness for them all.

In your goodness, you created us to be with you, and after our fall into sin, you established your plan of salvation to restore us to you. How do you get sinful people into your perfect heaven? You had your sinless Son live a perfect life and credit us with his perfection. Then he willingly suffered the pains of the cross and died in our place, so our sins are forgiven, and we are given the gift of life, and you give it to us through faith alone in Jesus, a gift without any works or actions on our part.

Your gospel is not in what we do but what Jesus has done for us. The way he has come to us to atone for all our sins. It is in that forgiveness he has won, which has the tremendous power to undo all our sins; nothing else in all the world can do it. Thank you for revealing this to us by faith alone, so we ask that you send your Holy Spirit to begin or strengthen our faith so that we have this power of salvation Jesus won for us on the cross.

Give us the courage to share your gospel message with others; we pray they will believe and receive your gifts of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. Amen.

Written through Pastor Roger Emmons

The most extraordinary power is love. It contains the power of forgiveness, grace, and mercy. God’s love is given freely and received by faith alone in Christ Jesus.