A Dog and Humiliation
A humorous story that reveals how not everyday turns out like we plan it too but that doesn’t define us.
Welcome to season eleven and a new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Monday! My goal is to put a smile on your face today! Pay close attention to the end of the podcast session for an exciting opportunity.
Ever so often my daughters, their husbands and kids join us for a grill out and fire pit time at our home. It’s easy for us to do often because we live on a Culdesac as neighbors. I know, I am richly blessed. During these fire pit times the grandkids will say Pop Pop tells us some stories. Stories are a powerful tool for passing on values and history. They can also be entertaining and funny depending on just how vulnerable a person is willing to be.
When I was a boy I had a paper route for a brief time. I wanted to make some money. I had a bike, lived in a small town with no hills at the time and could cover a lot of ground. On my route though there was an issue. One of my neighbors had a dog that would chase and bite at me as I rode by. I always hated that part of my route. Well, as fate would have it, one day I found my dads can of Mace. As a young boy a brilliant idea, came to me! I could use this to teach that dog a lesson and man was I was eager to get to that house. As I approached I had the can of mace in my hand ready to conquer this pesky dog. He was about to learn his lesson. As I drew closer he came full speed ready to bite my leg. When he got close I pointed the can of mace and sprayed! It was then that I discovered it was pointing the wrong direction. The stinging and temporary blindness clued me in. I wrecked my bike into the roadside ditch and the dog bit my leg and pulled at my britches briefly as I lied there. Can’t say for certain but I imagine that dog pranced away proudly having won the victory.
When I got home crying from pain and my humiliating defeat, my sin found me out. I didn’t have permission to take that can of mace. I had to face my dad and He was very angry with me. Talk about your double humiliation. I experienced double defeat on a day that began full of hope and excitement for an heroic victory.
Not everyday turns out like we plan it too. But if we think about it, it’s just one day and not all our days go wrong. I’ve learned that most of my bad days I crated on my own by not thinking clearly or doing something I should know better than to do. Thankfully, my Heavenly Father has promised to never be angry with me over it. He allows me to learn the lesson humiliation and consequence can teach me, but He is not angry with me. I know I am greatly loved and there is a tomorrow on the horizon. Perhaps being able to keep a right perspective at the end of a bad day is the greater victory! Getting back up and learning the lesson knowing that you are still loved can be powerful. Mistakes can’t stop a true child of God. So don’t lose hope or give up just because you had a bad day. Get back up, know that you’re loved and expect new mercies. They are yours for the taking each new day!
I would like to hear one of your stories in order to share it here. It needs to be vulnerable, humorous and definitely around 2 to 3 minutes tops. Email me at goodnewsthatactuallyis@gmail.com and we will set up how you can get it to me. If it is selected for sharing you will be notified as to when it will air. But for that to happen you will have to get it recorded and sent to me. Have a great day!
Friend Friday with Jorge Arango from Colombia
You’ll enjoy getting to know my friend Jorge Arango from Colombia. Jorge has an amazing testimony and is a faithful man. The grace of God is reflected in his journey.
Restful Living
Discover how to rest everyday and enjoy life. Join me in discovering the joy of resting.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Thursday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
Throughout the world there is a common occurrence that excites those who labor during the week. It is called the weekend off. It is a day or couple days off at the end of a workweek. That glorious opportunity to rest from the work week! Scripture speaks about this idea of rest in two very different ways in the context of two very different covenants.
Under the Old Covenant Israel looked forward to their day of rest. It was their way of acknowledging that God rested from His labor in creating things on the seventh day and therefore they too took a rest to honor God as creator of all things.
Under the New Covenant we read the following: Hebrews 3:10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
This is speaking of working to be made righteous or to maintain righteousness before God. This is speaking of a gift that is given to us through Jesus. We now can rest from laboring to be accepted, forgiven, righteous or loved. It is a free gift by grace through faith. It is not of works otherwise you would be able to boast of how you achieved it.
We do not work to obtain or maintain fellowship with God, we simply put our trust in Jesus to enjoy the fruits of it. It is by means of believing that we receive the benefits afforded us through the obedience of Jesus at the cross. I know our faith will produce actions in life. But we should never forget that our actions are meant to springboard off of our faith, not the other way around.
To miss this amazing promise of rest is like being on a gerbil wheel always running but never really going anywhere. That my friend is not your inheritance in Christ. I encourage you today to ask the Holy Spirit to teach you what it means to rest in Christ and to once again enjoy belonging to Him. I promise it will not make you less productive or effective.
Slipstreaming
There’s a way to be carried along while at rest in this life. A seemingly effortless experience that produces fruit and fuels your joy. Listen and see for yourself!
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Wednesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
I remember as a boy riding in the car with my dad down the highway. He would get right up behind a large tractor trailer and ride real close to it. When asked what he was doing he would say I am drafting, another better word would be slipstreaming.
You see he understood that by getting into the right spot behind the truck he could save gas by being in the pocket and he explained that in that pocket the winds collapsing behind the car would push it forward and so there would be no resistance on the font of the car. But the other things taking place was a push from the draft on the back of car. Slipstreaming!
Slipstreaming pulls another object along with it in its wake. Thus it decreases the effort of whatever is being pulled behind it. I think it could be likened to rest. Like when riding a bike downhill as opposed to uphill.
This is a way of describing what has taken place in the New Covenant. Whereas fellowship with God was a very complex and difficult thing under the Old Covenant and labor intensive, under the New Covenant things have been greatly simplified. In Ephesians 4 it speaks of how when Jesus ascended He led captivity captive in His train. In other words He slipstreamed them into heaven with Himself.
We are to live in the slipstream of the Spirit of God. In the New Covenant this is most reasonable and possible. Since our confidence is based on the obedience of Christ and we trust we are hidden in God with Him we are enabled to live aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit at all times. We are not peddling uphill to keep up with Him, we are carried on the wind of His Spirit caught up in His slip stream as it were. We can rest if we will only believe. I encourage you today to enjoy the rest He offers and let yourself be carried along in His wake.
Avoiding Confusion
Confusion is always the fruit of an out of context solution being applied that cannot render a lasting result. Tune in to learn how to apply in context solutions that produce long lasting results.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Tuesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
Yesterday I mentioned my new old truck that I am very grateful to have and truly enjoy driving. I mentioned how I am still learning all the things it is capable of doing. Fortunately the truck was well kept and the owners manual and instructions were in the glove box. You see when I looked up the truck online for what it offers it listed a lot of things that sounded wonderful. It will do all that it says it will do.
For instance: It will connect with my iPhone by means of bluetooth. It is advertised as being bluetooth compatible for hands free driving. It does connect, but I had to go to the owners manual to find out how to connect my phone so that it will work whenever I get in the truck. I was not allowed to insist it do it my way and expect the truck to work. I had to do it the way Ford set it up.
Now here’s the thing I wish to point out today. If I had gone to the section regarding how to find and change a fuze that would not have helped me at all with how to connect my phone. It would be be good information to know, but out of context and therefore no help to me. To experience success I had to go to right place and get the right information and then follow what it said.
Likewise, we are now in a New Covenant and if we go to the Bible and research Old Covenant ways for handling things or staying connected with God, we will be out of context and becoming more and more confused due to trying to apply of out of context solutions.
It’s like reversing the wires on a speaker, it might still put out some sound but not as clear and not as powerful as getting it wired correctly. When we apply the solutions from an obsolete covenant to our New Covenant lives we put ourselves out of phase so to speak and though they may seem to work somewhat for a short amount of time we eventually become confused about what we think God to be like. I encourage you to immerse yourself in the good news of the New Covenant and experience the reliable result of fellowship with God it can produce in your life. Do it His way and joy will fill your heart and soul.
Perpetual Revival
It is as it sounds, you can enjoy unbroken fellowship with God if you go about the way He has prescribed.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Monday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
I recently got a newer truck for my birthday. When I say newer I mean 13 years newer than the one I had yet it is 10 years old already. Nevertheless it is a great truck with many options on it. It has taken me some time to discover all it is capable of doing. I have had to learn a good deal to tap into the many benefits it has to give.
Such is the New Covenant that Jesus established by shedding His own blood.
The good news of the New Covenant offers anyone who will truly believe it and walk in the truth of it a perpetual revival of sorts. You are privileged to walk in close fellowship with God by grace through faith in the finished work of His Son Jesus Christ. You never need to feel like you are far from Him.
You are daily invited to come boldly to the throne of grace to find His mercy to help in time of need. You are never forsaken, nor are you ever abandoned which means His presence is always present with you, you need only realize the truth of His promise concerning it.
This is a perpetual revival as is promised. It occurs as your inner man is renewed day by day.
2Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
I encourage you today to preach the good news of the New Covenant to your soul regularly and allow it to energize and empower your walk with Jesus. I promise it will make a difference in your fellowship with God.
Friend Friday with Javier Espinosa
Meet Javier Espinosa a man known around the world. His ability to bring key laborers for the kingdom together to have an impact on a city or nation is amazing. He is also a great encourager. I think you'll be glad you took time to watch and listen.
Website: https://www.misionesinternacionales.org
Facebook: @misionesinternacionalesorg
Meet Javier Espinosa a man known around the world. His ability to bring key laborers for the kingdom together to have an impact on a city or nation is amazing. He is also a great encourager. I think you'll be glad you took time to watch and listen.
Website: https://www.misionesinternacionales.org
Facebook: htttps://facebook.com/misionesinternacionalesorg
Changed By An Encounter
Something happens when there is a genuine encounter with someone who is known to be great and speaks promising things to you. Take a moment to consider the possibilities it can bring in life.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Thursday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
Have you ever considered what happened to Isaiah the prophet when he genuinely had a heavenly encounter with God?
When we are introduced to Isaiah we are shown a prophet who is very adept at shaming those who are in rebellion and not living right with God. It is not like Isaiah isn’t speaking the truth because he is. His words are accurate but something happens when Isaiah sees the Lord high and lifted up.
Isaiah for the first time in his writing says, “Woe is me” All of a sudden Isaiah sees himself in a new light. A light that seemed to be easy for him to shine on others but was unaware of as it pertained to himself for a time. I have discovered that true encounters with Jesus does not produce in me a woe is you mentality so much as it produces a if someone like me can be loved by Him I know you can be.
God encounters make us keenly aware of God to such a depth that it exposes our own great need for Jesus and it strips away any sense of spiritual superiority we thought we might have possessed before. It equals the playing field so to speak. It has the power to lovingly set us straight to such a degree we identify with others as opposed to judging them.
Believe it or not a God encounter is what activates the love of Christ for others in us. So I encourage you to have as many God encounters you can but be discerning and know that authentic encounters do not produce spiritual critics, they produce Christ like disciples of Jesus who know they are sons of God and can share His love with others freely. So I encourage you to go and show His love to someone today!
What if I Succeed
There is power in being able to think differently when something feels risky and challenging. Differently that what if I fail. Thinking in a way that would empower the ability to grab hold of the opportunity instead of avoiding it.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Wednesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
When I was a boy, despite having many abilities there were many things I never even tried due to the risk of failure. I would quietly in my mind have a conversation about how others may view me if I were to try and fail. I missed out on some great opportunities as a result of that way of thinking.
What I wish I had been able to ask myself was, “what if I succeed?” Asking myself, “what if I fail” is a set up that is nothing short of a stealth soul robber of potential wonderful experiences.
I think one of the more beautiful aspects of the work of grace in the New Covenant is the idea of now getting to boast in weakness instead of being made powerless by it.
The great apostle Paul once said, I would rather boast in my weaknesses for in them Christ is made strong. It becomes most clear that Jesus is working on your behalf when you own your inability to perform at the highest level according to the flesh.
God has set things up in a such a way that only Jesus can truly take the credit. Ironically though Jesus is happy to share His credit with us! We are now joint heirs with Him in righteousness and relationship with the Father. I find it amazing that this glorious privilege of relationship was not because of anything we did to deserve or to even keep it, it is all based on what Jesus did and how through faith it is accredited to us even though we are weak.
So today I hope you will find it possible to rejoice and to boast in your weaknesses so that Jesus may be clearly seen at work in you. My friend you cannot fail when you put your trust in Jesus! Have a blessed day!
The Benefit of Distraction
Today we will examine the help being distracted in the right way can be. Curious? Join me for the next several minutes and discover a powerful weapon in your arsenal.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Tuesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
Have you ever noticed that the more you dwell on a particular thing the more intense your awareness of it becomes?
I remember as a kid that if I hurt myself and I was bleeding that the more I focused on the bleeding and played the incident back through my mind the worse the situation became. My shock and initial yelp would evolve into a torrent of tears, sobbing and moans as though I might be dying.
Naturally I was in no danger of losing my life, just a thimble of blood and some play time were all that were at stake. But my dwelling on it often resulted in a loss of much more time than it should have. Amazingly, we can choose how we will frame any particular incident in life. The more dramatic we make it, the more time and energy it will claim by making it more difficult to overcome.
I had a coach who greatly helped me with accidents and pain. He taught me how to focus on something else so I could take my mind off what was happening and get through it much quicker. I am forever grateful to that man. He didn’t ask me to pretend it never happened, he just wanted me to not allow it to become more than it really was.
Now this correlates to our spiritual well being and progress. You see when we experience set backs, problems, or painful disappointments we can choose to play it back over and over again allowing it to grow larger, or we can focus our attention on the One who can help us. Looking unto Jesus! I love that phrase in the letter to the Hebrews in the Bible. A group of people were experiencing strong temptations, persecutions and threats of setbacks. But they were encouraged to let themselves get distracted by looking at Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of their faith. There is something powerful about setting our gaze and thoughts on Jesus. It makes everything happening seem small by comparison.
Isn’t that what we all need in chaotic, painful and confusing times? I encourage you today to take a good long look at Jesus and see if it doesn’t have the power to ease the pain clear the confusion and release some joy in your soul. Such is the Benefit of Distraction when you are distracted by Him.
He is Willing
In this episode we look into just how willing Jesus is to meet you at your point of need.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Monday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
I love the way Luke captures a moment in time in the life and ministry of Jesus in chapter 5 of his gospel writing. A leprous man falls at the feet of Jesus and says to Him, “Lord if You are willing I know you can cleanse me.” Jesus responds with, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
Everything we can read regarding Jesus in the Bible demonstrates an ever ready willingness to show compassion and heal people who were hurting or in need. Jesus showed Himself willing every time He was approached with needs whether it was one person or many. In fact, Scripture records for us the phrase, “He healed them all.”
What I find amazing in each testimony found in Scripture regarding the willingness of Jesus to heal or do a miracle, there is no instance of Him putting the person through a litmus test to determine if they deserved the healing or miracle. Jesus does not set any performance or moral conditions on the person for receiving from Him the power to heal or to be given a miracle in their situation. He does often tell them to have faith, or to fear not, or that it will be unto to them according to their faith.
By coming to Him in the first place they were already exhibiting an act of faith on some level and Jesus was exhibiting His willingness to meet them at the point of their need. What a loving, compassionate and generous Lord and Savior Jesus is.
Scripture tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He does not change, His heart and attitude have not taken a turn for the worse. He is not now in a mood to reject as opposed to showing compassion and mercy. In fact, as believers we are encouraged to come boldly before the throne of grace to find mercy to help us in our time of need. Oh how I love my Jesus!
I want to encourage you today that whatever you may be going through Jesus loves you and His is willing to help you. I believe His words still ring true today, “I am willing.” Just turn to Him in faith at any level and ask Him for mercy to help and I am certain you will receive it. Be encouraged in Him today! Go to Him for His help and guidance. I can say with assurance that you will not be disappointed.
Friend Friday With Special Guest Pastor Das from India
In this episode I am interviewing Pastor Das who has raised up a trining school in India that sends out church planters into unreached areas of India. Just this year they will graduate and send 73 workers to accomplish the vision. Their motto is "Do, or die" They have committed themselves to making Jesus known even if it might cost them their lives to do so. You will not want to miss this very encouraging interview!
You may find out more about the work being done by visiting:
Pastor Das has a training school for raising of disciples of Jesus who will be sent out to preach the good news and plant churches in unreached areas throughout India.
This year they will graduate 73 such disciples who are being sent out!
They are really doing a great work in a very needy area of the world.
Set Free To Believe The Promises
Somethings seem too good to be true. Discover how you have been set free to able to believe and receive the things that seem too good to believe.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Thursday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
We are free to believe in Jesus and that all the promises of God are yes and amen in Him and by that experience daily revival, or we can choose to put all our eggs of faith in the basket of the idea of revival as a moment in time that comes surprisingly like winning the lottery.
Jesus is an ongoing eternal source of life and hope that equips me to have an abundance of life to share with others and be instant in season and out of season.
The idea of revival on the part of some is a periodic occurrence that appears for a short while and then it is gone. Those who sought it are found longing all over again for it and talking about the good ol' days like God has left the scene.
I'm not saying that there aren't times when God has done amazing things that stood out in history and even changed whole nations as a result. History would prove that wrong very quickly.
My aim is to simply put the emphasis where it should really belong. The truth of the gospel concerning Jesus and the completed work He performed. A work that made us possessors of God's very own righteousness and brings us close in fellowship with Him.
There is a continual feast to be enjoyed and we are made divine partakers of His divine nature through faith in Jesus. We are also make partakers of His glory by a revelation of His love as Paul revealed to us in Ephesians. You will know more of His glory as you grow and increase in your knowledge of His great love revealed in Christ Jesus!
Go in that great love today and let others see Him living in and through you!
Grace and Peace in Excess
You have an abundance of a resource most people wish they could just have a little of. Discover how richly blessed with it you truly are.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Wednesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
2Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
He gave us something according to His divine power.
He gave us all things that pertain to life and godliness.
We possess it through the knowledge of Him.
By His glory and virtue with which He called us He also gave us exceedingly great and precious promises. By receiving such promises and walking in faith according to them we are made partakers of His divine nature.
This is how we escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
This is describing for us the new life we have in Jesus and the wonderful way in which it works in us.
Who would want to live like a beggar when Scripture clearly reveals we already have what we need with excess? I encourage you today to go live in the excess you have been given in Christ Jesus.
Getting Tuned In
Sometimes when things are unclear it can be hard to know just what to do. But if you can get tuned in to what is really clear you’ll know exactly what you ought to do. Discover how to get that clarity.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Tuesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
Encouraged By His Presence
There is a way to be encouraged regardless of what may be taking place in your life at this moment. We’ll discover what the secret is.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Monday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
Friend Friday with Mark Machen
In this episode I interview my good friend Mark Machen who is the Pastor of Life of Faith Church in Irondale Alabama. Mark has something rich to share from the counsel of the Apostle Peter that I think will greatly encourage you today!
In this episode I interview my good friend Mark Machen who is the Pastor of Life of Faith Church in Irondale Alabama. Mark has something rich to share from the counsel of the Apostle Peter that I think will greatly encourage you today!
Connection Complete
If an electrical connection cannot be broken then there's no way power flow can be stopped when supplied. You have an unbreakable connection to a reliable power source.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Thursday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
I was reminded recently of how a vehicle can sometimes act erratic and it seems like a dire situation when in fact it is something simple.
I had a car that whenever the battery terminals got a little corroded it would run like it needed a major repair. The engine ran rough, lacked power, and the power windows would often act up as well.
But the cause was the connection to the battery wasn’t working like it should! A good connection would always fix the problem.
You know, Jesus came to fix our connection with God the Father. That is what being saved really is about. Jesus came to reconnect us because when Adam sinned mankind’s connection to God was broken.
My car couldn’t fix itself. The car needs a good powerful battery but even if it has one it needs to be connected to that battery to function. My car needed me to make a good connection to the source of power for it. The same is true of us. We were disconnected and couldn’t fix ourselves we needed Jesus to do it.
Jesus didn’t come to make us able to keep the law so we could be good enough to get God to like us. Jesus came to reconnect us to God in real relationship. Jesus came to reconcile man to God. He did not come to connect us more deeply to the law, the law doesn’t care about us, it only cares about right and wrong behavior and justice being applied to it.
Jesus came to give us life with God by making us right with God by grace through faith! The just shall live by faith! You are right with God not because of anything you have done but only because you put your faith in what Jesus did. Now your relationship with the Father is connected at all times not based on your behavior but based on Jesus’ obedience. This is where our power to live comes from! God loves you and has made a way for you to belong to Him and have fellowship with Him! I encourage you to live your life connected today knowing that Jesus did everything needed for you to experience it.
Kept Safe With Hope
There is a security so profound that you can live confident you are taken care of in any situation. Knowing you're safe can bring comfort and fuel your peace. Take a moment to discover just how possible that can be.
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Wednesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
When I was a small boy, like most boys, I had a vivid imagination. I would watch monster movies with my older brothers and then go to bed and get scared in the dark. I imagined that if I covered myself with my blanket pulled over my head that whatever was in my room couldn’t see me. Being hidden beneath my trusty blanket gave me the peace I needed to go to sleep. I would almost bet you’d be able to relate to that experience in your own childhood story.
Believe it or not in the Bible there is call for us as God’s children to use our faith and imagination to realize we have been safely covered and hidden. If we get hold of this revelation is can really help us in our times of anxiousness and fear. It can also help us in our times of temptation.
Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
The reality of being hidden with Christ in God is everything! What can see us in that place and what could possibly get past God to get to us?
Even better is the idea of what we can discover about our God as our Father from being hidden with Christ in Him. There’s a lot of love to discover in that place.
It is from our position of being hidden with Christ in God that we discover who He is, what He has done and who we truly are and what we are to be.
You know, without the security of my trusty blanket as a kid I would have had many a restless nights and it would have taken a toll on me physically and mentally.
When it comes to spirit and soul true rest belongs to those who have the revelation of what it means to be in Christ. Our heavenly identity is inalterably tied to your position in Christ.
Our security is in Jesus and we are citizens of His kingdom which is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. Having a tough time? Remember, you are under a powerful covering today. Christ is in you the hope of glory!
No Way To Lose
How bold in taking a risk would you be if you knew there was no way you could lose?
Welcome to this new day that brings with it new opportunities! It’s Tuesday and I am so glad to have this time with you to encourage your joy!
There’s something powerful in knowing there’s just no possible way you can lose or ever be completely defeated. I want to just read something to you real quick that is an undeniable truth full of promise and hope.
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, He called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You and I are loved by God no matter what might be happening right now in the world around us or in our own personal lives! We are loved with an everlasting love because Christ is in us and we are in Christ by grace through faith!
I believe and because I believe I speak this good confession of faith. Why not hear yourself saying out loud what God says about you? I encourage you today to make a similar confession.