grace to accept

Tuesday, May 7, 2019 (7:12 a.m.)

(7:42 a.m.)

Blessed God,

How I thank You! Yes. Thank You.

I have been experiencing Your “grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed”. Yes. I sit. Consider. Wonder. Hope. Breathe. Rest. And am awed.

Yes Father. I am truly awed by You and the ways You work in our lives.

“Awe; a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear [read here as: full esteem and reverence] or wonder.”

I confess to You Father, I enjoy and appreciate this opportunity of trusting and believing Your Word. Your promises. Your Truth. There is such a gentle sense of calm. Untroubled peacefulness. Thank You God.

Oh Most Dear and Blessed God, how I truly rejoice as I sit here reading in and of the apostle Paul’s confrontation of Peter (Galatians 2:11-21; The Message). Learning again what it is to be justified by faith in Jesus Christ and declared righteous by God (Illustrated Bible Handbook).

Thank You Father that we do not have to work our heads off to please You (v. 19; The Message). Thank You that Paul taught that this approach did not work. It was ‘Christ’s life that showed him how and enabled him to quit being a “law man” so that he could be Your man.’

It’s the conclusion of this section that truly inspires me. “Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate [disown] God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily” (v. 21).

And here, The Life Recovery Bible comment for 2:20-21 ends with, “Paul wanted to show the Jewish believers that they could gain nothing by trying harder. They had to give up control and allow God to heal them and empower them in battling sin. We must give up our old ways of looking for deliverance and accept God’s grace - the free gift of forgiveness and healing offered by Jesus Christ.”

Yes. Yes. Oh yes!

Father, I am asking You to use Your grace in me this day. There is much to attend to. Let me accomplish that which You know is best. Most worthwhile.

I love You Father. I thank You.

I need You. I want You. I choose You. I believe and trust and depend on You and Your grace.

Quoting the last line of Reinhold Niebuhr’s Original Serenity Prayer, “You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.”

Yes, Father. Amen!

(394 words ~ 9:23 a.m.)