Do you ever feel like you are in a vicious cycle of "good intentions - failure - guilt, good intentions - failure - guilt ..."? Sometimes we are "successful" for days or even weeks at a time before succumbing once again to whatever it is that Satan uses to trap us. And in the guilt phase, we tend to think that God is so disappointed in us, that we cannot go to Him, that we have failed Him once again. In his sermon yesterday our pastor likened this to plucking petals from a daisy, trying to determine how God feels about us: "He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not." The pastor also read a quote from some one (whose name escapes me) who said that we will never have a day so bad that we are beyond the reach of grace, nor a day so good that we are beyond the need for grace. Yes, we will still fail sometimes - for as Romans 3:23 reminds us - "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." But in 2 Corinthians 12:9 God tells us: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." I decided not so long ago to throw away the daisy and stick with the "He loves me" answer. My prayer is that you can too.
Father in heaven, thank you for your absolutely incredible gift of grace.
Your forgiveness for my rebelliousness is overwhelming.
I ask for your strength to stand up under temptation whenever I encounter it.
Help me to live in the security of that grace, knowing and accepting your everlasting love.
I ask this in your Son's holy name. Amen.
 | Bruce MacPherson macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821 You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material. If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address. Likewise, if you know of someone else who you believe would appreciate receiving these messages, please let me know. |
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