It would be difficult — after having submitted to the grace of God in Jesus Christ to think of myself being alienated from God at all.  Such is the power of the Prince of Darkness (Satan) that people live alienated from God without realizing it.  That is perhaps the most deceptive and powerful temptation — to continue living without Christ in your life without realizing the harm a person does to themselves or the dangers of eternal alienation living without realizing they are enemies of God.  Yet, until we came to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, we were all set on achieving our own agendas without realizing that our agenda was probably not God’s agenda.  And those sins we committed — whether sins of omission or commission — left us in a position to be judged guilty as enemies of God.

         And yet, how great is our God who looked beyond our faults and saw our needs and provided a way for us to be reconnected to God spiritually because of our faith in One who came physically.  Our label as “enemies of God” was destroyed allowing us to become “children of God” and we were reconciled and made to appear holy in God’s sight.  And with that reconciliation comes the verdict of “Not Guilty” by reason of faith by grace in Jesus Christ.  And it is that verdict which underscored and lifted up our hope of salvation, based upon our faith in the One who is faithful, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

• What comes to your mind when you realize that you were once an enemy of God?
• What freedom in your relationship with God do you now experience knowing you have been found “Not Guilty” by Your God and creator?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Gracious God, thank you for the gift of grace and reconciliation by faith in Your Son, Jesus, the Christ. Help me to remain faithful in Your verdict of “Not Guilty” for me and the hope presented in the Gospel of Christ.

         Our faith is filled with songs that proclaim the “rightness” of God’s timing.  We sing, “He’s an on‑time God, yes he is!”, or “He may not come when you want him, but he’ll be there right on time!”  But God’s timing has always been perfect and never been suspect.  And never was the timing more perfect than when salvation entered into human time and space.  Now, we don’t know why the time Jesus came was perfect, just that it was.  We don’t know what made it perfect, just that it was.  We don’t know any of the dynamics, whether historical, spiritual, cultural, or any other.  What we know is that it was the fullness of time — not our time, but God’s time.  But whatever motivated God to do it, it worked out well for those of us who are Gentile.  It worked out well for those who had died before his coming.  It worked out well for all who would appear after his coming.  And it works out well for those who await his coming again.

         God’s timing is difficult to assess because “a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day.” (2 Peter 3:8).  Another person has said that God’s clock only has one hand and it moves slow and deliberately.”  I imagine there are other sayings to describe the timing of God.  But whenever the time came, it came that we might be justified by God’s grace and reconciled by God’s great love for us and redeemed —set free and declared by God, “Not Guilty” by the favor of God’s grace.  God’s timing saved us, redeemed us, removed our enemy status from before us and allowed us to become children of God.  And to that end, for those who were enemies of God, the timing couldn’t have been better, and there’s still time to be found “Not Guilty” by our God.

• Can you imagine what your life would be like without a knowledge of God in Jesus Christ?
• Was God’s timing perfect in your personal relationship with Jesus Christ?
• Can you remember what you would have been found “Guilty” of but are now thankful for God’s grace?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Merciful God, I thank you for thinking of redeeming me and declaring me “Not Guilty” and justifying me to be able to be called a child of God when I wasn’t able to think of myself in need of salvation.

         Hope is a by-product of our justification (God’s grace freely offered and God gift of amnesty and reconciliation for the sins we commit).  It’s within that reality of justification that our hopes are born and renewed each day as we look forward to living eternally in the presence of our God.  That is what we live for and why we live today.  It’s not the challenges we face, nor the things of life we enjoy because of our material wealth.  It’s our spiritual wealth that opens up the door of hope as we look forward to a brighter tomorrow minus the challenges we face today.  We look forward in hope to the day when sickness and death will be no more.  We look forward in hope to getting rid of these earthly tents we live in to be clothed in the radiance of the glory of God.  We look forward in hope to the day when — as the song says — ‘’faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back like a scroll; the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, even so, It is well with my soul.”  That is the hope born of the character developed in our suffering.  That is the hope that is guaranteed by the presence of God’s Holy Spirit living with in us.  And that is the hope that springs forth from our justification by our faith in God’s grace and the peace that comes from reconciliation.  It is a hope that fulfills all of God’s promises to us — promises that cannot be denied or broken.  Therein is our hope — in the faithfulness of our God to declare us “Not Guilty” by reason of faith in Jesus Christ!

• When you think about what you hope for, what images come to mind most vividly?
• How does your hope work in you to keep you faithful enough to persevere?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Loving God, enable me by the power of Your grace to always remain hopeful, even in the midst of my sufferings, knowing that I’m justified and that my hope is not in vain.