Devotion
You are not an exception to God’s love
David Jacobs
It's often a challenge to imagine that God forgives us, especially when we can't seem to truly forgive ourselves. Any time you hear it being preached that God loves all His children and has a purpose for their lives, you can be sure that someone hearing it is having trouble believing it.
The truth is that none of us deserve care and protection from the Father, but thankfully, deserving is not the basis for God's love. In fact, God's very nature is love, which He demonstrated through the death of Christ. He cares so much for us that He gave each of us a place in His plan for the world.
What is happening when Christians can't see this? When they consider themselves exempt from God's love? This happens when we simply aren't looking for the opportunities He sends, and become distracted by the lying voice of Satan.
Satan might actually use our knowledge of God against us! Having come to know the will of God as Christians and how important it is, and then realizing that we have broken it, we become convinced that God could not forgive us. Satan has tried to blind us from God's love! When we study the scriptures to understand not only God's will, but also God's love, then we can come to understand the forgiving nature of the Lord.
Prayer
Lord, I have come to know your will. I acknowledge that I have wavered in my faith and strayed from your will. I have sinned. In the name of your son, I pray for your forgiveness, as I forgive those who hurt me. I pray that you would show me your love and your mercy so that I cannot deny how great your love is, and may love in turn pour from me to my brothers and sisters. Amen.
Night Prayer
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Inspiration
Christ died for our sins when we were weak and feeble. We did not deserve to be saved and never realized we needed His merciful salvation. This act says something special about God. He knows what we need before we do, and He loves us enough to complete such a selfless act without expecting anything in return. He did not wait around for us to become wiser or more worthy of His grace because His unconditional love is precious, selfless, and pure.
Prayer
Dear God, we are thankful for Your grace and mercy. You saved us before we knew we needed saving, and You love us beyond our understanding. We happily surrender our sinful nature to serve You. We love You because You first loved us. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Devotion
Rejoice in Your Youth
Frances Taylor
Ecclesiastes is an interesting book to read. The theme seems to be that all is vanity. In this passage the young are advised to remember that God watches over us all and all our actions are subject to his judgment. If you continue reading in chapter 12, you will find that the youth is being warned that he will someday be old with all the infirmities that this will bring. We need to rejoice in every day we are given and not waste them. Don't take your youth for granted and spend them doing evil. How often have you heard someone excuse the young by saying that he is just sowing his wild oats. There really is no such thing. There is no excusing bad behavior because someone is young.
Our moral compass has become skewed in recent years and it seems that there are no moral boundaries. Adultery, hooking-up, pornography, sexual harassment and abuse are normal and even celebrated! Both men and women are looked at as sexual objects to be used instead of ...
