Redeemed. Forgiven. Embraced with Grace.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace.

Ephesians 1:7 | VOTD

It’s funny that whenever I come to the Lord and ask for forgiveness or asking for His grace to accept me again, He gives me assurance that I am heard. I don’t think God is the God of coincidences, I think He knows us too well to communicate with us in a way we’ll understand.

Short background: I haven’t been in my best spiritual shape lately. This morning I came to the Lord to let Him know that I’m scared because I messed up and I don’t know what to do. All I know was that I don’t want my heart to be hardened and I want to come home. I pour to God what was going through my mind and my heart. Towards the end of my prayer, I told Him about His promise that whenever we decide to draw near to Him, He will draw closer. That we can come in full confidence because He will embrace us with all that we are – blemished, stained, guilty – because He is the God of grace and forgiveness. After I closed my prayer and read through the verse of the day for reflection, He gave me Ephesians 1:7.

This verse gives me hope. The hope that my God will accept me because He is gracious. The Lord will redeem me and forgive me. My Father will save me because I cannot save myself. I cannot do things on my own. No one else can save me from my sins other the Lord who can transform me inside out. I am redeemed by His blood. I am forgiven. Grace has been extended to me. I can come home. I can be free from fear of being rejected or shamed. In the presence of my God, I will be kept. I will be embraced with all of who I am.

Reflections on Hebrews 4:16

Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need. | Hebrews 4:16 NASB

Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help. | Hebrews 4:14-16 MSG

Our God is the God of love and forgiveness. We can believe that He will accept us when we come in and ask for His help and forgiveness. Our God is the God of transformation. We can have faith that He will not leave us the same as He has founded us, He will train us into the kind of person He wanted us to be. For us to receive forgiveness and training, we must approach the throne of grace with confidence. We must know that our God is the God of Mercy, He gives us a new day every day to get better from who we were the day before. It’s not an accident that a day ends in darkness and it begins again with a ray of light. But even in that darkness, the Lord has given us the moon and the stars so we can see the light when we look up. We can start again. We can start anew. Let’s hold on and choose to draw near to the giver of Hope. He will always accepts us when we come home. He is our Home.

#DailyDevo Galatians 1:11-17

For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. | Galatians 1:11

To remind the people in Galatia that the grace of God – not the Law – is the one that gave salvation to the Jews and Gentiles, Paul recounted his personal conversion experience back when he was still practicing Judaism.

Paul was once called the persecutor of Christians because practicing the traditions of his ancestors gave him an excuse to persecute the faith of the church. His prior commitment to the law magnifies the element of grace in the gospel. He was transformed when he finally understood who Christ is and what the gospel is for. He experienced everything first-hand because He encountered Jesus.

The message of the gospel that Paul is preaching was something that he witnessed from his personal life. The grace that he received that made him follow the Lord completely was too powerful. It is something that the Law cannot cut through — Grace that is the outpouring love of Christ. It’s beyond understanding.

It was important for the Galatians to understand that the gospel is rooted in grace. Not in accomplishment. Not in perfect obedience. Not in birthright or social standing. God’s grace doesn’t discriminate.

Kelley Brown, Called By Christ

The Lord is able to turn around our histories into His stories. If we will choose to follow Him and surrender everything to Him, no matter how we messed up in the past, He will make His message in us flourish.

REFLECTION: How has your understanding of God’s extravagant grace affected your faith journey?

I am forever unworthy of the kind of love and grace that the Lord had shown and given and continuously showering me. The reality of who I am and the reality of who He actually is — makes me humble. When the Lord says that there’s nothing that we can do for Him to stop loving us, it gives me the assurance that I am safe and accepted. He is the only one who can accept the whole me. All the ugly, angry, broken, and scarred me.

I don’t even understand how He could afford to give that kind of extravagant grace. Especially to someone whose faith could sometimes waver. Being a Christian as young as I can remember, I am still trying to grow my character until now. Having Him standing by all of those seasons of my life — I don’t know how He could watch it when I intentionally ignore Him and dishonor His name. And then, when I realized I had to come back because I cannot survive on my own and I need Him, He’s just there welcoming me once again. It always feels like coming home.

I don’t understand how He could love like that. I don’t understand the extent at which He is willing to stay, but He always made me feel that I have a Father. And my Father is my place of shelter. I don’t know what to do if I don’t have the Lord. I’d probably be so empty and shallow and always bringing dark clouds everywhere I go. Because that’s how I feel when I detach from Him. He’s my lifesaver. He’s my battery. He’s my source of strength and the reason why I’m living.

Devo Background via First5: Called By Christ