Romans 5:1-5 (NIV) - “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
2 Corinthians 5:14-17 (NIV) - “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
Look at what God’s love and power have accomplished and given us through Jesus Christ! We have been brought out of the state of being imprisoned to sin, standing condemned without hope, and have been brought into this grace in which we now stand. We have been brought in to the state of no longer being imprisoned to sin, now forgiven by God and completely freed from condemnation. This grace is the new realm of our existence - the realm where God’s grace reigns.
Our world-view, our perspective and awareness of God has also been redeemed, completely changed. In Christ, we now have what we can call a Christian consciousness because we have the Spirit of God, where we can live in the Spirit’s awareness and knowledge of God that enables us to understand in the Spirit who He is and what He does and what He desires. Day by day, our personal devotion and worship are to flow forth from our new life in Christ in this consciousness of who God is and who each of us are. In other words, our personal worship is simply the practice of our new life which happens only because we have God.
Let’s come to the Lord today and thank and praise Him for bringing us into His grace in which we now stand. Let’s praise God for bringing us into His life perspective and world-view, and let’s ask God to open the eyes of our hearts to His realm of grace and to help us live in the Spirit’s awareness and knowledge of God even more so that we may be immersed in true devotion and worship of Him. https://safeshare.tv/x/7sdax_ZCD5w
-CH
