Hi there, again, my friend. Today's blog will probably be a short one because I am in the middle of transitioning from this house to Maria's house. Everything is boxed up with the exception of last minute things and today is the day to wrap up last minute things. Keevin and I will be moving to Boone, NC the last of August to start a new church plant. Keep us in your prayers. We intend to start a cleaning business that will hopefully flourish and give us finances. We are going on faith because God is sending us to that area and He will take care of things.
I have been reading the first 5 chapters of Romans for this month's reading. I read a small (or parts of) book of the Bible each morning for 30 days. I came across Romans 5: 1-5 that speaks about faith, peace, joy, confidence, hope and other wonderful things that God does for us. You will see later why I titled today's blog with BRAG.
Let's look at the NLT version of todays scripture: "Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Chrsit our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privelege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love." God created us. We sinned. Jesus was sent to us by God to take the punishment for our sins. Jesus died and suffered for us. Jesus experienced everything we experience. He knows what we know. Believeing that Jesus is who He says He is and trusting that He did what He said He did--is called faith. Our faith also carries us forward knowing that God has more to show us and more for us to do for Him. With all of that said--this brings us to a privileged state. That means we are standing up straight and tall and confidently. Not because of anything we have done but because Jesus Christ made it possible! Our attitude becomes Joyful! Not sad. Not depressed. Not sulking and bitter. But JOYFUL!! Now come the problems and hardships. What to do? We deal with them. Dealing, first of all, takes the fear out of the situation. Dealing creates a stick-with-it attitude. That attitude brings out your individual features. He makes the real you shine. Do you know the real you? All of that brings us back full circle to Christ and our salvation because of Him. We are safe in His care!! We are loved!! He will not dissappoint us.
Now let's look at God's Word Translation of the same scripture as above: "Now that we have God's approval by faith, we have peace with God, because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. Through Christ we can approach God and stand in His favor. So we brag because of our confidence that we will recieve glory form God. But that's not all. We also brag when we are suffering. We know that suffering creates endurance, endurance creates character, and character creates confidence. We're not ashamed to have this confidence, because God's love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." Ordinarily, we Christians are turned off by the word brag because it seems a bit self-centered. God does not want us to be self-centered. Far from it--this scripture talks about God and His love and gifts, Jesus and His life, death, sacrifice and gift of salvation, and the Holy Spirit who is a gift to us and resides in our hearts. The Holy Spirit is a gift that keeps giving--look Him up for yourself and see what He does for you. Now, getting back to BRAG, this word intends for us to brag about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Brag means to engage in self-glorification but in this word the glorification goes to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I want your attention to be drawn to the word engage. It means to attract and hold by influence or power, to interlock with. Do you see why bragging applies here? God is attractive. Jesus is the best influence for us. The Holy Spirit interlocks us all together in a unified spirit of bonding. I also like to think that the notion we have about bragging on ourselves is one of motivation. We are motivated to do more of the same when we are glorified because of an act of ours. Let our acts be for God's use and be so motivated and active toward Him. My friend, this kind of life is a confident one and enjoyable one and full of peace and satisfation. If you currently find yourself in the opposite frame of mind then I suggest that you pray Romans 5:1-5 to Holy Dad and ask for His help in this area. Memorize it. Make it personal and insert me and my for we and our. Holy Dad and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all excited about life with you. Come and live a confident life with Him!!
Sisterly love to all, Wynndy
