RUSSELL SANDERS

2-6-2024

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH

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Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Justified! Declared “not guilty” just as if our sinful life had never existed. By faith upon Jesus, we have made peace with God. As unregenerate sinners, we had previously been at enmity with God, but not any longer. We now have the Prince of Peace living within us.

Sadly, not all believers choose to live in His peace. They dwell on the bad things of the past. They describe to others how deep in sin they were, just as if it were still a present-day issue. They have bought Satan’s lie (deceived) that their past is what defines them and who they still are.

Romans 5:2 says, “By whom (Jesus) also we have access by faith into this grace (of God) wherein we stand, and (we) rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

It is by faith that we have received God’s grace (favor for salvation and blessings). It is a reason for us to rejoice and be glad.

Satan will tempt you by bringing up your past. Do not fall for it. If you have repented of your sin, then in our Father’s eyes those sins and bad stuff no longer exist. He cast them all into the sea of forgetfulness.

Do not live in or dwell upon the past. Live in your present life in Christ. Live victoriously. Do not let Satan or the appearance of circumstances get you down. They open a chink in your armor (Ephesians 6) allowing an opening for Satan to come in. 

We have the victory now through Christ.

Can you find the nine hidden faces?

HELEN SANDERS

2-6-2024

TRANSFORMED

I was watching a large butterfly in our yard. It was almost as big as my hand. The color was beautiful as it flew freely from one plant to another. Yet, it did not start out as a butterfly. It was a worm or a caterpillar. I do not find caterpillars as beautiful as butterflies, in fact they do not look anything like butterflies. Who but God would have been so creative?

Yet, to become a butterfly, the caterpillar must go through drastic change. First, it finds a leaf that is safe to start the process. It starts to spin a cocoon around itself. It instinctively does this. It is part of its life cycle. It can stay in the cocoon from 5-21 days where it goes through metamorphosis, which brings it into something that it wasn’t before. It must go through the entire stage to emerge whole and be ready to fly.

In a sense God does this with us. In Psalm 22:6 there is a prophetic word about Messiah, Jesus Christ. It says, “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” Sin is looked upon as being a worm. Jesus took the sin of mankind into his body, and then died on the cross. He was buried, which was like the worm being in a cocoon, and then He rose again and came forth from the grave in newness of life.   His resurrection brought forth the hope of eternal life that each of us needs. In our sinful states we are just mere worms, but when we receive forgiveness of sin through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we are transformed from something ugly into something beautiful. God works on us continuously to transform us from the inside out. 

Even though we carry the body that we started with on the outside, we are new on the inside and one day we will shed it for a glorified body.  We will be like that butterfly – free from the body of sin and death. What a glorious day that will be. In the meantime, we should never despise what God is doing in our lives. We are all in the transformation stage! 

The next time you see a butterfly, let it remind you that you are being worked on by Almighty God. He has a plan for you, and it is good! 

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