Tag: Reconciled

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Daily Devotion June 20th

SATURDAY 20th

Romans 5:1-11

Today we will look at the word Reconciled.

Reconciliation is an important aspect of salvation, for on the cross Jesus was not only taking our place, taking our sin and the punishment for the sin, he also as we learned yesterday bore on himself the wrath of God toward that sin on our behalf bringing us forgiveness, appeasement and the hope of eternal life. At the same time, he was at work to bring about reconciliation, the act of reconciling us back to God.

You will have to forgive me if I am repeating anything that I have shared in previous devotions, but at the end of the day the whole wonder of our salvation is worth repeating time and time again. Sometimes we need to get back to the basics of grasping again a fuller and hopefully richer understanding of all that God has done for us in Christ Jesus.

Back in the garden of Eden, man was banished from the presence of God because of a tree (Genesis 3:8, 22-24) the banishment meant becoming alienated from God, remember that Scripture says that before the fall, God would come down in the cool of the evening (Genesis 3:8) and spend time in fellowship with Adam and Eve, but after the fall they became lost in the big wide open world.

But there was another tree, at a place called Calvary, a tree which welcomes us back into the presence of God, no longer banished or alienated but reconciled.

Aside from the cross, the story of the prodigal or lost son in Luke 15 portrays a picture of reconciliation. We know it well the son was estranged from the family because of his own selfish ambition and desire. He looked out and thought the grass was greener. He left the safety of the homestead and the loving atmosphere of the home to do his own thing. He squandered not just his possessions but his very life until he came to his senses and was wanting to return as a slave, but the father welcomed him as a son again. He expected to be in the servant’s quarters but was reconciled back into sonship and into the homestead. Reconciliation led to restoration in position and relationship.

Although Ephesians chapter 2 does not use the words reconciled, reconciliation or reconcile it covers the theme. Ephesians 2:12-13 ‘. . . remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility . . .’

We also have 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 ‘From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’

We who were exiled, alienated from God, cut off because of our sin and iniquity, in Christ have been reconciled and welcomed into the family of God and we can call him our Father. We are no longer slaves to sin, but we have become sons and daughters of the living God. This takes us to our third and fourth words which are accepted and included which we will look at tomorrow.

Reconciled, I’m reconciled

I’m reconciled to God for ever

Know he took away my sin

I know his love will leave me never

Reconciled, I am his child

I know it was on me he smiled

I’m reconciled, I’m reconciled to God

Justified, I’m justified

It’s just as if I’d never sinned

And once I knew such guilty fear

But now I know his peace within me

Justified, I’m justified

It’s all because my Jesus died

I’m justified, I’m justified by God

Magnify, I’ll magnify

I’ll magnify his name for ever

Wear the robe of righteousness

And bless the name of Jesus, Saviour

Magnify the one who died

The one who reigns for me on high

I’ll magnify, I’ll magnify my God

CCLI788682

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Daily Devotion June 16th

TUESDAY 16th

In the few months before we left North Wales, I had taken the Church in Rhyl through some studies using a white board and illustrations by taking the letters that make up the word SAVIOUR to discover truth about our wonderful redemption. I am going to adapt these into the devotions for the next few days. The words are listed below and in brackets the order we will look at them

Saved  (1)

Accepted  (3)

Victorious  (7)

Included  (4)

Ordered  (6)

Unique  (5)

Reconciled  (2)

I wonder how many of us remember this song ‘I have such a wonderful Saviour . . . everybody should know, everybody should know, I have such a wonderful Saviour that everybody should know.’

Pause again for a moment . . . those of us who know him, this wonderful Saviour, give thanks with a grateful heart that you are receiving the many blessings and benefits of salvation. At the same time there may be someone reading this devotion on-line or in some other way and at this moment in time you cannot specifically say that you know Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour, you cannot look back to a moment in time when you realised you were a sinner who needed saving and that Jesus was the one who came to be the Saviour that you needed. Today, come before him in repentance, acknowledge your sin, confess it before him and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your life, to save you, forgive you and to transform you into a new person, born again and washed clean through his precious blood. The Scripture says that we need to accept Jesus and to confess Jesus with our mouths,* if you have come to the place of salvation today, tell someone about it, let them know that you have put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

* Romans 10:9-13 ‘Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  For the Scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.  For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

This is a short devotion, but I want to leave it here, for those of us who already have chosen to accept Jesus, maybe today can be a day for a re-commitment, not because we have backslidden, but a day in which we will draw closer to God, with a greater appreciation of what he has done for us in Christ Jesus.

We end with the words of the song already mentioned.

I have such a wonderful Saviour,

Who helps me wherever I go,

That I must be telling His goodness

That everybody should know.

Everybody should know,

Everybody should know;

I have such a wonderful Saviour,

That everybody should know.

His mercy and love is unbounded,

His rivers of grace overflow;

Yes, He is ‘the Chief of ten-thousand’

That everybody should know.

He helps me when trials surround me,

His love and His goodness to show;

How can I but love and adore Him

That everybody should know.

My life and my love I will give Him,

And faithfully serve Him below,

Who brought me His wondrous salvation,

That everybody should know.

Mrs Frank A Beck CCLI788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotions June 15th

MONDAY 15th

Ephesians Chapter 1

Ephesians 1:3 ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’

Over the weeks that I have been preparing the devotions, I have touched on this verse as it is a reminder to us as the children of God that we are a blessed people. God has blessed us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole realm of redemption is God at work through Christ to redeem and to reconcile mankind back to himself. Christ’s coming into the world and dying on the cross and rising again was God’s way of undoing or reversing the fall that happened way back in the Garden of Eden. Back then in that garden our fore-parents Adam and Eve, disobeyed Gods commandment, but Christ came and he in his garden experience chose to say ‘Not my will, but your will be done’ and he went in obedience the way of the cross to redeem all who would come to believe in him. I have also touched on a few occasions on the second chapter of Ephesians which show to us the then and now, what we were and what we have become as a result of believing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are all different as individuals, my story will be different to your story, what you were like before you were saved will be different to what I was like before I was saved except that we were all sinners, lost and hopeless, as the Scripture says, born in sin and our own righteousness was like filthy rags. But as the one song writer puts it, Jesus came along and he touched me, I have never been the same, touched me by his mighty power, glory to his matchless name, my life was filled with so much confusion, my life was filled with sin and shame, but Jesus came along and he touched me,  I have never been the same. In the words of another song that I have previously mentioned, ‘He touched me, he touched me and oh the joy that filled my soul, something happened, and now I know, he touched me, and made me whole.’

We who have been born again have been changed, transformed because we have been touched by the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. For me, the moment I was born again took place 51 years ago, what about you, regardless of how long ago the moment may have been I trust we are still rejoicing and excited about the fact that we are saved, that we have become the redeemed of the Lord, members of the family of God. Has the joy that filled your soul on that momentous day remained?

In Ephesians chapter one, Paul lists many of the blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus, it is a good exercise to go through the chapter verse by verse, maybe spend some time during this week doing this and as you go through it be reminded of the blessings and the privilege position we are in as believers, allow the excitement and joy that redemption should bring to you fill your heart and soul again. Let us get excited again about who and what we are in Christ Jesus.

I cannot count Your blessings Lord they’re wonderful

I can’t begin to measure Your great love

I cannot count the times You have forgiven me

And changed me by Your Spirit from above

How I worship You my Father

You are wonderful how I glorify You

Jesus You’re my Lord

How I praise You Holy Spirit

You have changed my life

And You’re now at work in me

To change the world

When I was blind You opened up my eyes to see

When I was dead You gave me life anew

When I was lost You found me and You rescued me

And carried me rejoicing home with You

I cannot count Your mercies Lord they’re marvellous

I can’t begin to measure Your great grace

I cannot count the times that You have answered me

Whenever I have prayed and sought Your face

Whenever I consider what I am to You

My heart is filled with wonder love and awe

I want to share with others that You love them too

And tell the world of Jesus more and more

© 1988 Thankyou Music CCLI788682

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Daily Devotion May 18th

MONDAY 18th – Ephesians 2:11-22

We continue from yesterday and will go to the second ‘but’ in this chapter, in verse 13 ‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.’ A similar portion of Scripture is found in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, ‘For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him’

In Ephesians 2 Paul makes a statement about the Gentile, that is the non–Jewish people, that they (which also includes us) were separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth (or family) of Israel, not included in the covenants of God and we were without hope and without God in the world. It is a sweeping statement that sums up that until that time, everything that God seemed to do and be doing was for and involving Israel. They were his special people, they had been given the law, they had been given the covenants or promises. It was an ‘us and ‘you’ kind of programme of events, but thank God again for the ‘but’ found here in verse 13, it all changed at Calvary, for Paul says ‘BUT NOW in Christ you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.’ The cross now meant that God was working not just with the Jew in mind, but also for the Gentile. When Christ died on the cross he was dying for the whosoever, when he became a substitute, dying as the Passover Lamb, he was atoning for the sins of the world and as a result we all, that is Jew and Gentile as we come to believe have access in one Spirit to the Father.

The but in verse 13 leads to a complete change in the situation. There is reconciliation in two ways, first between the Jew and Gentile, the division between both is taken away, so there is no longer an ‘us’ and ‘them’ but through the cross we enjoy the same benefits, the same means of salvation, the same results of salvation and the same blessings that spring from salvation. Instead of the Jew and the Gentile, the cross led to the creation of one new man, that is one new united group or body which is the Church. The second reconciliation is found in verse 16, ‘reconciled us both (Jew and Gentile) to God’. This is good news for in contrast to verses 11-12, verse 19 says that we (the Gentiles) are no longer strangers and aliens but are fellow citizens with or as the saints and members of the household of God.

Yesterday we looked at Gods abundant mercy, great love, and amazing grace. The whole of Ephesians chapter 2 also reminds us of Gods incredible plan. Yes, as Paul puts it in the chapter, it seemed as if everything God was doing up until that point was all toward and for Israel the Jew, but in reality, he had a plan that was purposed even before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:9 says ‘making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ’ This purpose he put into effect immediately after the fall when he pronounced to the serpent, ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.’ (Genesis 3:15) And time rolled on, various events and characters in the Old Testament pointed toward a coming Saviour, who finally arrived at the God appointed moment (Galatians 4:4 ) and that which had been foreordained happened as he, the one born to be the Saviour, surrendered his life as a substitute at Calvary so that we who were dead in our trespasses and sins might be made alive. Ephesians 1:4 says ‘even as he (God) chose us in him (Jesus) before the foundation of the world,’ our inclusion into the family of God, our becoming members of the family of God, our being fellow citizens in the household of God, our being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit wasn’t an after-thought God had thousands of years after he had been dealing with the Jew, it was decided, purposed and planned even before the foundation of the world.

We will let the apostle Peter have the final word today: 1 Peter 2:9-10 ‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.’

Wonderful grace

That gives what I don’t deserve

Pays me what Christ has earned

And lets me go free

Wonderful grace

That gives me the time to change

Washes away the stain

That once covered me

And all that I have

I lay at the feet

Of the Wonderful Saviour who loves me

Wonderful love

That held in the face of death

Breathed, in it’s final breath

Forgiveness for me

Wonderful love

Who’s power can break every chain

Giving us life again

Setting us free

John Pantry ©Harper Collins CCLI788682