What is it about our flesh that wants to earn our way to heaven? Why do we sometimes believe the notion that our favor with God can be increased or diminished by good works? What a snare it is when we get our eyes off of Jesus, and on to anything else. If our enemy can get us distracted from our source of hope, faith, comfort, love, and strength; then we become easy targets for his attacks. The Bible says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together,...
How many times do you feel distant from God? Maybe you have been obstinate, or even rebellious. Or perhaps you just haven’t felt as connected to your Heavenly Father as times past – not over as a particular sin as much as life and circumstance just getting in the way. There can be a tendency to think we need to “make things right” with the Lord before we can worship Him. This is a subtle lie of our enemy to keep us from devotion. In Psalm 68:18, David writes, “you led a crowd of captives. You received gifts from the people, even from those who rebelled against you.” This is an encouraging thought: the Lord led a crowd of captives, the Israelites,...
