March 18, 2019
Romans 4:1-5 The Message (MSG)
Today is the eleventh day of our 40-Day Lenten Series, “Praying for a Kingdom Heart.” Lent should be a time of prayerful reflection, repentance, and restoration as we draw closer to the heart of God. Faith is essential in order to please God. He is the Creator of Life and he has decided his children must demonstrate faith in his love and care. If we are going to walk by faith and not by sight, it means we must adjust how we perceive God in our lives. He does not love us and call us to faith, because we are worthy and deserve good things. We are sinful creatures loved by a holy God. He calls us to faith, because he chooses to spill his love over us and faith is the vehicle to get righteous provision to us. Do you realize God invites you to connect to Christ in faith in order to bless you with a meaningful and abundant life he has chosen for you as your Righteous Creator?
The way we enter into God’s plan is to place our lives before him, graciously receive his righteous salvation, choose obedience to the Word, and fearlessly live in the power of the Spirit who promises to direct our paths. Therefore, we must push past every fear the enemy sends our way. God has not given us a spirit of fear but of love, power, and a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7). Quite frankly, the enemy puts up a spiritual fight when we are determined to obediently walk by faith in the love and ways of God. Satan knows we are very near the Father’s heart.
When it comes to real spiritual life, the turning point for each child of God is to learn how to use his or her faith to manifest God’s righteous provision. Believers all have a measure a faith; we must protect our faith and invite God to increase it. We need to start speaking faith-filled words over every aspect of our lives. Faith must be practiced in the natural to manifest the provision of God. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Have you ever thought about how God may use different struggles or conflicts found in your life to grow your faith and trust in him, because he is seeking to get Kingdom supply to you?
During Lent, we will be using the acronym P.R.A.Y. as we pray for a Kingdom Heart. P=praise, R=repent, A=ask, and Y=yield. May God bless you as you spend time in God’s Word and in prayer today.
Romans 4:1-5 Trusting God
4 1-3 So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.”
4-5 If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.
Prayer: Lord, I praise you as my Creator in whom I can fully trust. You alone make me righteous in your sight. I am blessed by your love. I repent of the times I have tried to do things myself instead of resting in your care and using my faith. I ask you to increase my faith and reveal more of your future plans for my life. You are my Righteous Creator and you know me better than I know myself. So, I yield to you, Lord. I trust you to accomplish your will as I follow you by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.