THANKFUL

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Good morning, Jesus

Lord, he tried to bring it up again. The devil constantly brings up my past mistakes and attempts to force his way into my mind to speak lies about my relationship with you. But then he runs into a holy roadblock—your Holy Spirit. What great peace we obtained when we placed our trust in you, Jesus. Your Spirit living inside us guards our heart and our mind from the enemy’s attacks on our peace (Proverbs 4:23).

The devil just spreads “fake news” about our standing with you, saying how can we, in good conscience, call ourselves Christ-followers after all we have done, and continue to do. Once again, the Holy Spirit steps up to remind us your promise in Psalm 103:12 that “You have removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west.” Living in this fallen world, even after coming to you we mess up from time to time. We’ll get distracted and do something foolish that doesn’t honor you. Then there is our struggle with that nagging sin we have yet to conquer that weighs us down with guilt. But you, Lord Jesus, have paid the penalty for those sins on the cross—every sin I have committed, or will commit. The devil knows this as well and this eternal fact sends him into a tizzy. He only wants to create upheaval in our spirits and keep us down. Your grace to forgive is greater than any sin we may ever commit. You’re quick to forgive when we confess that we stumbled along the way. You always pick us up, dust us off, put our caps back on and say, “C’mon, my child. I’m still with you on this life’s journey. I will never change my mind about you.”

Bless our loved ones and friends who face medical, physical and emotional challenges that are more than they can handle. Your grace sustains them when the treatments are rough, the rehab painful and oh so slow, and peace is fleeting when the demons tormenting their minds come and go. Let their faith rise to new levels. May they see your goodness in their trials. May we never fail to uphold them in prayer daily and show your compassion unceasingly.

Thank you for never giving up on us, Jesus. Amen.