Journal - No Longer Separated - wk07

Hi everybody, it’s Pastor Dave, and I am here with another devotion for your Alone With God daily journal. So, grab your Bible and grab a journal. And if you don’t have our Alone With God journal, then go to wordbymail.com and order one.

Alright, so let’s open our Bibles today to Romans 5, verses 1-5. I am going to talk through Romans 5:1-5. But before I do, I would like you to read through these verses two or three times in your own Bible. Just read through them slowly, and get these five verses in your mind.

Romans 5:1-5 (NLT)
1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.
4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Alright. Now I’m going to talk through these verses looking at the New Living Translation (NLT).

Romans 5:1 says that since we have been made right in God’s by our faith because of that we have peace with God. Meaning we are no longer separated from God by our sin. We have peace with God through our faith alone in what Jesus Christ has done for us.

And verse 2 says that Because of our faith, Jesus has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege, this place of grace, and that’s where we now stand… We stand before God in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which he freely offered to us by his grace alone and which we received through our faith alone. And so now we can confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

And then verse 3 says not only can we rejoice in looking forward to sharing God’s glory, but we can also rejoice even when we run into problems, and trials, and difficulties in this life because we know that those problems and those trials help us develop endurance.

And verse 4 says that our endurance develops strength of character, and our character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this entire process strengthens the confident and the sure expectation we have of receiving our salvation in Jesus.

And then verse 5 says this confident hope will not disappoint us. Because we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Guys, the Holy Spirit filling our hearts with God’s love is God’s guarantee of how deeply and dearly he loves us.

Alright, now maybe read over these five verses one more time, and then in the Meditate section of your journal, simply write what is God saying in these verses. Just write out what God is saying so you can meditate on it as you write. Go ahead and do that.

Alright. Now, in the Apply section, the question is How do these truths apply to my life personally and specifically today? So, let me just review. Through our faith alone in Jesus, we have been made right in God’s sight. And we have peace with God. Meaning that we are no longer separated from God. And through our faith in Jesus, we are brought into this place of grace where we now stand before God. And we can now (because of our salvation in Christ) we can confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. And not only that, but at a deeper level, we can also rejoice even in the midst of our problems and trials today because we know that God is at work in them to develop our endurance and our character, and our guaranteed hope of salvation. And we know how deeply, and dearly God loves us because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Alright, go ahead and write how these incredible truths apply to your life personally and specifically today.

And now, it’s time to respond. How will you respond to these truths today? Is there peace for your troubled heart that you can receive from these truths today, from these verses? Is there encouragement? Is there confidence? Is there rejoicing that you can embrace from these verses today? So again, pause the recording, and write in the Respond section how will you respond to these incredible truths in these verses. Go ahead and do that.

And finally, we pray. We pray to align our heart with these truths from God’s Word. And so, if you can look at these verses in your Bible, and make them a personal prayer, then do that. Or you can pray to just receive the truth of these verses. Or you can pray to thank God and rejoice in the truth of these verses. But let’s just pray together, and then after we’re done, you can write out your prayer to finish.

Alright, let’s pray together.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you so much for what you have done for me. Thank you, Lord, for cleansing me of sin. And thank you for giving me right standing before God. Heavenly Father, thank you for your incredible grace. Thank you for your incredible love, and thank you for filling my heart with your Holy Spirit. Lord, by your Spirit, may I rejoice in whatever my circumstances are today as I confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing your glory. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray, amen.

Alright, guys. Be sure to write out your own prayer in the Pray section before leaving today. Thanks for joining us. See you again soon. Bye-bye.