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Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
Imagine what it would be like if you were caught red-handed in a crime. You were arrested and brought to jail, and then before the judge. There was no way out. You were guilty. The judge knows it, everyone knows it. Your crime carries the punishment of life in prison with no hope of parole. In essence your life is over. All the freedom, all the dreams, all the hopes for your future have been dashed by this one desperate and stupid decision.
Now imagine that while you are standing before the judge he stands up, comes around the bench and stands beside you. He states to all in the court room that He, Himself, will take full responsibility for your actions. As a result, you are free to go. The judge not only removes the penalty for your sin, but, with the power vested in his position he removes your criminal record as well. You are free to go with no record of any wrong doing. Awesome!
You leave the court room that day and go directly to the local office supply store and by a lanyard to hang around your neck. You hang a sign from your neck that says, “Guilty. Sentenced to life in prison” in big bold letters. Everyone you come in contact with sees the sign and avoids you. If, by chance they don’t see it, you point it out to them, making sure they are aware of your despicable crime.
Everyday that lanyard reminds you of your failure. Some days the weight of it is almost more than you can bear. It keeps you from pursuing your dreams. It affects the relationships you have now, and keeps you from moving ahead to build new, vibrant relationships. Eventually, the weight of the lanyard is too much. You lose it all.
One day you are sitting on the curb and you hear a voice behind you. You turn to see the judge who pardoned you. He has a completely shocked look on his face and asks you what you are doing here. You show him the lanyard and explain how its weight has completely destroyed your life.
The judge sits down on the curb beside you. Gently he reaches around and takes the lanyard from your neck. The relief you feel when the weight of the lanyard is gone is unbelievable. “Thank you!” You say to the judge. He puts his arm around your shoulder and looks into your eyes. “You were never meant to bear this burden,” he says as he looks you straight in the eyes, “I took this from you once. Why take it back. You are free. Now, go! Go enjoy the freedom of life!” With that he takes the lanyard and destroys it before your very eyes and you feel freedom like you have never felt before.
That’s what it means to be free of condemnation. When the apostle Paul penned Romans 8:1 he wanted us to know that we are free. We don’t need to be tied to the sins of our past. They are done. They have been removed by the judge. You are free because of Jesus Christ to enjoy life, to pursue your dreams and to grow healthy strong relationships with those around you.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. Thank you for taking my sin on the cross. Thank you that I no longer have to be burdened by the mistakes of my past. You know I have made many mistakes, hurt people and destroyed the trust of many. Please forgive me for those sins. I praise you that I am no longer condemned. Empower me to live life free of the feelings of condemnation. I hereby give you my lanyard. Amen.
Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 17:8
“The apple of my eye” is a phrase that expresses the deepest of all affections. When someone is the ‘apple of our eye’ it means that they are the center of our existence and attention. All of our energies, all of our thoughts, all of our concern go towards the object of our love, the ‘apple of our eye’.
What a glorious picture David paints of our Heavenly Father’s view of us. We are the ‘apple of His eye!’ Imagine that! The Creator of the universe looks down from heaven and sees you. Not as a number in a crowd or as the person in the red shirt. He sees you. He sees your feelings, your fears, your struggles with failure and defeat. He sees how life is attacking you. His attention is focused directly on doing whatever He can to protect you, to provide for you and to help you through the darkest of times.
Sometimes it’s hard for us to feel the love that God has for us. Our view of Him and His loving concern is clouded by many things in our lives. It may be the personal attacks leveled by our enemies. It may be finances, ill health, the inability to build meaningful relationships or poor choices on our part. The Bible says that NOTHING will separate us from God’s love, yet we feel separated when the struggles of life get in the way.
David knew something that each of us need to learn and live. He knew that no matter what happens in life, he was the main focus of God’s love, affection and protection. Even during those times when David sinned he knew that God’s love for him wasn’t less. Sin doesn’t keep God from loving us. Sin keeps us from sensing God’s love.
The same is true for every other obstacle in our lives. The promise of Psalms 17:8 is always true. We are always the focus of God’s love and affection. We can always count on Him welcoming us to the protection found beneath His wings. We can never stray from the shadow of His watchful, loving, compassionate eyes. My failures do not diminish God’s love for me.
Your Heavenly Father earnestly desires to hold you in His arms of love. He wants to wrap His arms around you, hold you close and whisper words of comfort and love in your ears. Don’t let the obstacles of your life keep you from experiencing the love of Your Heavenly Father.
PRAYER: Dear Father. I confess to you that I can’t fully comprehend that it means to be the ‘apple of Your eye.’ To realize that You, the God of the Universe, would love someone as weak and stubborn as I am is more than my mind can comprehend. Reveal to me the obstacles in my life that are keeping me from experiencing your love. Empower me, through Your Holy Spirit, to live in the shadow of your wings of protection. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10
Ten reasons it’s better to follow God’s way instead of man’s way:
- God has my interests as the number one priority in His life. Even though there are billions of people in the world, God is big enough and powerful enough to give me His undivided attention. He wants me to succeed above all else!
- God is the only one that knows my true potential. Others may see me as a failure or measure me by standards they have set for themselves. I may have bought into that mentality as well, thinking I can never be financially strong, build strong relationships, be a good parent, and be a good spouse. God knows better. He made me just as I am. He knows what I can do if I let Him have complete control of my life.
- God understands my fears. Fear of failure is the biggest thing that keeps us from moving out of our comfort zone. Even our closest friends may not be able to understand how strong that fear is. God knows. He looks on my heart. Some people may try to dismiss our fears as unwarranted and silly. Our fears aren’t unwarranted to God. He understands and wants to build His confidence in me.
- God doesn’t change His mind. Isn’t it frustrating when you ask advice from people and act on it only to have them say “You know, I think you should go this direction instead”? God won’t do that. He has your life already planned out. All of your tomorrows are in His hands. If He leads you in a direction He won’t second-guess Himself.
- God isn’t ever wrong. NEVER! Nothing more needs to be said. If we believe God to be who we think He is we have to accept the fact that He knows better and is never wrong.
- God knows what works. Thomas Edison once said “The only people who have never failed are those who have never tried anything new”. Who better to bounce ideas and dreams off of than the creator of the universe? Because we are His number one desire He will never lead us into failure. Many times, if we look back, we will see that the things we thought were failures were really stepping stones God used for later success. He can even use our poor choices for His good if we turn to Him.
- God gives me the resources for success. God loves me. He wants me to succeed. He will never lead me into a situation where I don’t have the gifts to accomplish what He wants in my life.
- God isn’t unrealistic in His expectations. Since He has given me gifts to accomplish what He wants for me and knows my potential then I can know that the things He wants me to do are totally within the realm of possibility.
- God’s rules protect me, not Him. Sometimes we may feel God’s rules are confining. Others may say that they won’t follow God because there are too many rules. Belief in God isn’t about rules, it’s about relationship. The things God asks of us are for our own protection and our own good. As a loving Father He only wants His best for us.
- Following God leads to fulfillment NOT frustration. Following people is frustrating. Everyone has their own ideas of what works, what is right, how others should act or react. Trying to follow all those ‘ideas’ can lead to frustration. Turning our lives completely over to God allows Him to bring us a peace that passes all understanding.
PRAYER: Father God, there are so many times when I’m swayed by the words of men and women. Sometimes, even though these people are well meaning they don’t understand me and how I work. I thank you that You understand me. You believe in me completely and want more than anything else to see me live a fulfilled life. Help me to grow in knowledge of you and to follow your ways. Amen.
Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. Psalm 55:22 (NLT)
There is nothing as painful as being betrayed by a close friend. When we were created in God’s image, one aspect of that was the need for intimacy and love. Jehovah God is love. That means that His very essence, His very make up is love and love means relationship. When relationship it broken it hurts us because it attacks our feelings about whom we really are. Broken relationships equal rejection and rejection cuts to the very soul.
King David knew about being rejected. In Psalm 55 he states that being rejected and attacked by an enemy hurts, but that is to be expected. Being attacked by a friend, especially a close intimate friend, hurts more than anything else because it destroys faith and trust. The burden he talks about in verse 22 is the burden of being rejected by a close, personal friend. When that happens, he says, he turns to the one friend that never lets him down.
Another person that knew what it was like to be rejected was Jesus. On the night before he was crucified one of his closest friend came to him and kissed him on the cheek. That was a very intimate act on the part of Judas. But it wasn’t real. It was self-serving and malicious. It eventually led to Jesus’ death and Judas felt so guilty and ashamed for what he’d done to his friend that he committed suicide the next day.
Jesus knows rejection. That’s why he’s such a good friend to have. True friends stand with us during the hard times, are patient with us when we fail, uplift us when we are discouraged, love us enough to tell us the truth and never keep us from being who we want to be. They give us room to grow and a shield from danger or discouragement.
Even the best of friends will fail us at some time simply because they can’t fully understand how we feel because they can’t look inside us and see our heart or read our minds. Jesus is the perfect best friend because He’s also God. Jesus knows exactly how you feel on the inside. As our Best Friend Forever (B. F. F.) Jesus will stand by you in during the times when no one else knows how you feel.
John W. Peterson wrote a song shortly after he experienced a huge let down from a friend. It goes like this:
No One Understands Like Jesus by John W. Peterson
No one understands like Jesus. He’s a friend beyond compare;
Meet Him at the throne of mercy; He is waiting for you there.
No one understands like Jesus; Ev’ry woe He sees and feels;
Tenderly He whispers comfort, And the broken heart He heals.
No one understands like Jesus When the foes of life assail;
You should never be discouraged; Jesus cares and will not fail!
No one understands like Jesus When you falter on the way;
Tho’ you fail Him, sadly fail Him, He will pardon you today.
CHORUS:
No one understands like Jesus When the days are dark and grim;
No one is so near, so dear as Jesus–Cast your ev’ry care on Him!
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I thank you today that you fully and completely understand my every thought, my every feeling and my every fear. I confess to you that sometimes I’ve not been a good friend to others and let them down miserably. I have also felt the pain of being rejected and abandoned by people I thought loved me but really only wanted to use me. There have been times I even have felt like You abandoned me. Help me to feel your presence and love today; to learn to walk with you and lay every care, concern, fear and hurt at Your feet. Wrap your arms of love around me. Amen
Then Jehoahaz prayed for the Lord’s help, and the Lord heard his prayer, for he could see how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel. 2 Kings 13:4 (NLT)
Someone once said, “When a plane is crashing, everyone believes in God!” There is some truth to that, even among those of us that are followers of Jesus Christ. We may let our prayer life slide and let the dust gather on our Bibles while we skip church for a few extra minutes of sleep. Then, when illness attacks, a job is lost, a relationship goes south, or any other crisis happens we begin to think about God.
That attitude isn’t a new. Jehoahaz was a King of Israel during Old Testament times. Israel had many kings. Some were righteous leader’s intent on following the laws of Jehovah God. Others led the nation down the path of idolatry and rebellion. They were more interested in personal gain and power than they were following God. Time and time again God would have to send enemy kings to discipline His people though exile, or captivity.
Jehoahaz did evil in the eyes of the Lord by leading the people in the worship of calves and idols rather than worshiping the true God. As a result of his evil ways God allowed an enemy king to harass and control the people of Israel.
In the midst of this Jehoahaz finally turned his eyes to heaven and prayed for deliverance. God heard his prayer and delivered his people because Jehoahaz prayed to him. The prayers of Jehoahaz were not heard because he repented of his sin or because he was righteous. He finally turned to God because the calves that he worshipped weren’t working. He turned to the one source of power he knew he could count on, Jehovah God! God delivered his people because of who God was and His promises to Abraham and David.
The same is true today. We are not forgiven because we’ve cleaned up our lives, or because we’ve made a bunch of good things happen around us. We are forgiven purely because of Jesus. You don’t have to do a bunch of ‘things’ to gain God’s favor. You have to ask and believe!
Even though God delivered His people from the enemy they refused to give up the worship of their idols. They still offered sacrifice to the calves in the backyard. As a result, Jehoahaz and his kingdom never enjoyed the full blessings of what God had in store for them.
The God of heaven is ready and willing to extend His grace and forgiveness to us time after time. His grace is free and unlimited for all who believe. But God also desires to shower us with His blessings. God’s blessings come to us as we grow in relationship to Him and learn to follow His ways. If we are like Jehoahaz and keep our calves hidden in the backyard we will never fully experience the blessings He has in store for us.
PRAYER: Holy God, I thank you today for the grace and forgiveness I have received through Jesus Christ. I acknowledge that you are the creator, sustainer of the universe. I confess that there are still some idols hidden in my backyard. I ask that through the power of your Holy Spirit those idols would be revealed to me. Empower me to remove them once and for all from my life so I can experience all the blessings you have for me. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 