Comments
Leonard
on 12/04/2022 at 12:25 PM
Well said Old Dude! To God be the glory for the wisdom he allows you to share with the men on this app.
Old Dude
on 12/04/2022 at 03:27 AM
We will never be perfect this side of heaven, which is why we need a Savior. However, we should not treat repentance so lightly. Unrepentant sin will separate us from God for eternity (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). I struggled with an addiction to pornography for over 30 years as a professing Christian. Every time I gave into my flesh, I would feel convicted and ashamed, and I would pray a prayer of "repentance," promising God I would never, ever do it again. And yet I continued to repeat the same sin over and over, as days turned to months, months turned to years, and years turned to three decades. I came to realize I had not actually repented, but rather I would abstain for a time, knowing deep down inside I would repeat the same sin over and over. In January 2014, I prayed that whatever God had to do, I wanted that chain of destructive behavior broken. Be careful what you pray for. God exposed my sin to my wife, which nearly ended our marriage; however, it also put on the road to recovery and true repentance. I have to be honest, I have slipped up three times in the past eight years, but I no longer persistently repeat the same sin over and over, while convincing myself I have repented. God's grace is sufficient for all of our slip ups, but if we persistently repeat the same sin time and again, we should seriously consider whether or not we have actually repented. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. 1 John 1:9.
David Evans
on 12/03/2022 at 07:16 PM
Thank you for the wonderful message.
Chris C
on 12/03/2022 at 06:45 PM
Thank you Ashley for those powerful words. All praise to our heavenly Father!
Ashley Jarvis
on 12/03/2022 at 05:20 PM
If we do our best, God will do the rest. I believe this. And I believe we know when and where we are not “doing our best”. We cannot rest on our laurels, or we’ll begin heading the wrong direction again. Constant work towards spiritual progress is key, and knowing I have not “arrived” at my destination until I’ve been welcomed into the kingdom of Heaven will keep me focused on that progress. On another note that I believe is critical for us to grasp, God has little use for a perfect man. I could not grasp the true concept of “Grace”, until I became willing to use my past mistakes as witness to a fellow man in helping him find God. It was then, I saw value in my past failures and mistakes. It was in that way, I saw how God could use my MESS and turn it into a powerful MESSage. And it was in that moment, I saw that without my mess, God wouldn’t have nearly as much use for me in growing His kingdom. Gentlemen, it is in how we openly share our shortcomings, that others can relate to us, and open up to us, so that the seed may be planted. We must stop beating ourselves up, and start getting to work, Amen 🙏🏻
Nicholas A.
on 12/03/2022 at 05:13 PM
What spoke to me today is the first 10 words. How often do we receive gifts that break, fail, not what we expected, etc. But with God, we have waiting, “a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.” It cannot be ruined, destroyed, or diminished. It will not fail, because God does not fail. 1 Pe 1:4 -and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you.
Kevin Miller
on 12/03/2022 at 05:09 PM
I do believe God loves us beyond what we could ever imagine. He knew we would sin and at least for us now covered the cost of those sins with Christ on the cross before we were even born. No one is perfect in this life but we should be seeking to be more and more like our savior in a daily basis. That’s sanctification. As long as we’re trying to be more like Him. Many claim to be Christian in name only but when their lives are examined they have no fruit. No sanctification is happening. These people were never truly saved and are only labeling themselves Christian.
Terry Bell
on 12/03/2022 at 04:05 PM
This is spot on! Amen
Matthew Brown
on 12/03/2022 at 03:05 PM
I believe salvation is eternal and unconditional. If we could lose our salvation we would. That doesn’t give us a license to sin and there definitely are consequences to sin and a hinderance to our fellowship with God but to have to keep the commands to be saved puts us in the same position as the Pharisees and the religious people of Jesus time and negates the need for Jesus to come and die for us. Salvation is the first step to a lifetime of following Jesus and learning what it means to be a Christian with failures and falls along the way. Similar to our children growing from infancy to adulthood. If they mess up along the way we don’t throw them out, we encourage them and teach them and love them through it all
Jeffrey Pfliegier
on 12/03/2022 at 02:58 PM
I believe it is true that he will always love us no matter what and I will always love him no matter what even when I get off track. that fundamental idea of God is always there it does get obscured at times but he always draws me back to him for this I am grateful. thank you all for your inspiration this app is helping me a great deal
Nonny Moss
on 12/03/2022 at 02:24 PM
"Once saved always saved" is a false teaching that is leading many to false assurance and ultimate condemnation. Look throughout the Bible for verses that plainly state that keeping God's commandments is required for acceptance. Many many. This is faith. Faith starts in the the fearful mind and moves out to the behavior and actions of the believer. Faith in Jesus saves us yes! So how do we justify claiming that and taking a casual view of repeating our sin? Continuing our sin chronically is flat out rejection of Jesus. And God does not tolerate that. Cmon guys, this is the day to take God at his word and REPENT, know Him and be free.
Boyce Moses
on 12/03/2022 at 02:21 PM
Gif is going to accept us, with all our warts, right there in the gutter, and tell us “Come to me child”. Nothing we can do is separate us from Gods
JB
on 12/03/2022 at 02:03 PM
When I was young, Satan convinced me that Christians were hypocrites because they sinned. And so I turned away from the Church. Thank You God for loving me and bringing me back despite my sin. Thank You for Your forgiveness and Your grace. And thank You for allowing our imperfections to become a vessel for showing others Your salvation.
James Peckham
on 12/03/2022 at 01:54 PM
Grace is the only reason I’m not in a ditch doing my best to continuously dig myself out. I will always give Him thanks for providing a path of blessings.
michael f vinning
on 12/03/2022 at 01:44 PM
I agree that it is amazing to think that God loves us just how we are, imperfect and prone to mistakes-but what I find even more hopeful is that God uses us to do his will, even in our imperfect, knucklehead state!! For so long I believed I would get around to blessing and receiving blessings after I straightened up, but fact is I’ll probably never get there, so what a huge relief to know that Jesus doesn’t need me to
Marv Eastlund
on 12/03/2022 at 01:11 PM
Romans 8:38 (NLT) “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 fro today nor our worries about tomorrow — not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.” That’s the God we serve, my brothers. And to think, He longs to have a thriving relationship with each of us. That longing drove Jesus to the cross so that we can be in union with Him forever. Nothing can separate us from His love!
Robert McFaddin
on 12/03/2022 at 12:34 PM
So grateful He loves and accepts me just the way I am and He loves me too much to leave me this way.
randy swopes
on 12/03/2022 at 11:33 AM
Amen Tommy,you’ve said it perfectly.
Tommy Williamson
on 12/03/2022 at 11:03 AM
Todays devotion shows us one thing if nothing else, it shows us that we don’t have to be perfect for God our Father to love us. He accepts us with a great full heart as long as we accept His Salvation offered through His Son Jesus Christ and with a greatful heart offer him praise and glory. God accepts us as we are and where we are if we believe and offer our praise and worship with a thankful heart. He realizes that we are imperfect and even so through His unshakable grace He says come child let’s dust you off, all is forgiven so now go and do your best. LET US REALIZE THAT GOD’S LOVE IS JUST AS UNSHAKABLE AS HIS KINGDOM. We may not always do everything perfectly but He loves just the same and let us be thankful for His love, kindness and patience with a great full full of our love to Him; repentant of our mistakes but full of thanks for His Grace and Mercy towards us.
337/365: Grateful for God's Grace
Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” ~ Hebrews 12: 28-29
It's important to know that we don't have to be perfect or spotless to worship God. Our mistakes should never stand in the way of honoring God with our heart and life.
Worship is an act of gratitude for God's free gift of grace. It's a thankful heart for God's forgiveness when we repent from our unholy life choices.
The heart of true worship is a grateful heart which overflows into thanksgiving to God with our thoughts, our prayers, our words, and our choices. Worship is daily, hourly, and minute by minute.
GO DEEPER: 1 Chronicles 16:23-31