By Faith

Hebrews 8:10-12, "I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know Me already. And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” Do we realize that we all have God's law written on our hearts. Through the death and resurrection of Christ the new covenant has been placed within all of us. This new covenant has taken away the works of the flesh and the sacrifices that the people were required to make. (9:9), "This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established."

(10:22), "For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water." I am free! There is no bondage in my living any longer. I used to to be a slave of sin. Everything about the way that I lived my life was horrible. I had no freedom to life. From my daily living, to the fact that I thought I would have to get my life in order, before I could be saved, all of it was living in bondage. I had no freedom in my thoughts. I had no freedom in life. I was a slave, bound by the desires of others, all because my faith was weak. But then something amazing happened, I was set free!

(11), "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation." Through faith I was saved. It was by faith that I was finally able to let go and allow God to rescue me. It was by faith that I was brought to a new way of living. It was by faith that I allowed God to change my friends. It was by faith that I was given a husband who could show me who I was in Christ. It was by faith that my addictions were conquered. It was by faith that all of my world is different. It is by faith that I now live.

Oh, how I love my redeemer. How grateful I am that I can finally breath. How thankful I am that I did not have to work my way into His loving forgiveness. Thank You for turning my weakness into strength. (13:5-8), "'I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.' So we can say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?'... Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." If He can love me, and rescue me from the prison that I was in; If He could come in and save me, when I was unsaveable, then He can save anyone. He can reach into your very world and give you new life. He can change your very existence and give you a new reputation. It is not by works, but by faith. It is in the acknowledgement of His very being. It is in Him that we are brought to salvation. All that He asks of us is for us to trust in Him enough so that we can take that shaky next step in faith. We do not have to have all of our actions correct. We just have to believe enough in order to let go, just enough, so that He can change our lives.

Oswald Chambers, "The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so...Forgiveness doesn’t merely mean that I am saved from hell and have been made ready for heaven (no one would accept forgiveness on that level). Forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ. The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One. He does this by putting into me a new nature, the nature of Jesus Christ."

Thank You, for new life. Thank You, for saving me, before I was ready to change. Thank You, for your patient ways. Thank You, for surrounding me with the right people so that I could finally feel your love through them. Thank You....

http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/11/19/devotion.aspx?year=2009