Daily Bible Prayer

Verse

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  --Romans 8: 1 – 2

Reflection

Because of what Christ did, we can confidently stand and say that we are in Him and He is in us.  Though we live in our earthly bodies, our spirit has been regenerated.  We have been redeemed.  We have a glorious future ahead of us, and it is by faith we believe this and continue to live out the will of God for our lives.  We live a life of faith now, of total trust in our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Almighty God, our Father, who never stopped loving us and never will.

Prayer

Dear God, our Heavenly Father, I just want to thank you for your endless love for me.  I can confidently say that you live in me.  I will continue to confess this until m time to return home, to you, finally comes.  Thank you for this beautiful life I now have in you, O Lord.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.  Amen.

No Exclusions

This parable is representative of what God tried to do with the children of Israel to the Promised Land where they would rest.  He had made them the chosen nation.  God intended for the Israelites to receive Christ and then He would use them to spread the gospel to other nations.  But time after time, the Israelites rejected God’s plans.  When Jesus, the ultimate plan of God, came to earth, many of the Jews rejected him ans saw him as the carpenter’s son or a madman – nothing else.  After Jesus ascended to the heavens and the apostles became filled with the Holy Spirit, there were still many Jews who opposed the gospel.  They rejected the gift that God had given to them freely.

God used Paul to spread the gospel for the Gentile nations, thus exposing them to the free gift of salvation.  It was always part of God’s plan, for everyone to receive salvation.  There was just a particular way in how it would be done.  The Gentiles were far more receptive to the gospel than the Jews were, who were still fixated on fulfilling the Law.

God is not a respecter of persons.  This means that He loves everyone equally – no race more than the other, no gender more than the other, no person over the others.  The love is shed abroad equally and the gift was for everyone.  When the Gentiles started receiving the Holy Spirit, the Jews were shocked.  Some of them were resentful and tried to impose the Law on the Gentiles but their actions were refuted.

We must never think that we deserve salvation more than anyone else – no matter who they are or what they have done.  Salvation is for everyone in the world.  God’s greatest desire is for as manypeople to receive salvation as possible.  He sees everyone as His children.

We, as the children of God, should adopt this mindset and focus on reaching out to everyone.  We should celebrate every instance when a person gives their life to Christ.  We should see them as family.