Good News

Scripture:

Romans 8:1-4
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus
from the power of sin that leads to death.
The Law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature.
But God put into effect a different plan to save us.
He sent His own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful.
God destroyed sin’s control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
He did this so that the requirement of the Law would be fully accomplished for us
who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. (NLT)

Observation:
The Lord Jesus singled out the apostle Paul, once an avid persecutor of the Christian faith, to teach the world the message of salvation through faith, for the Law that God had given to Moses was a law of obedience that had no saving power on its own.

Application:

There is no greater blessing in this life, than receiving and believing in the Good News of our Lord, Christ Jesus, for this is when true life begins—as it did for me six years ago today. It was not until the Lord came knocking at my door and offered me His free gift of salvation that I discovered the real meaning of living a life with joy and gratitude (Revelation 3:20). It was only after the Lord opened my eyes to His Truth and filled my heart with His Peace that I was finally able to live this life with thanksgiving in my heart and experience the joy of living by walking in the Spirit of the Lord our God, Christ Jesus. Like most people of this world, there have been many dark and difficult circumstances in my life that I was unable to look beyond, which, without God, held me in bondage to sin and depression—a depression that took away any joy I found in living, even though the Lord had given me plenty that I could rejoice in. And like many, I looked for the joy of living in all the wrong places and for all the wrong reasons, and then when discovered, I was unable to recognize it and where it came from. My, dearest friends, we deserve nothing but condemnation for our rebellion against God’s holiness. It is only because of God’s mercy and grace that any of us have been spared the full consequences of our sin (Ephesians 2:4-7). It is only by the love of the Father that we have any hope at all in a world that is infected with sin and death. Even the poor and suffering souls who have no reason to believe in hope, there is Hope in Jesus, especially when you have the Spirit of God living in your heart and directing your path. We know that life in this world is short, but what many do not know is that the eternal life we find in Christ Jesus is forever. And by the Word of His promise, it will be worth any suffering that we will endure in this hard and difficult life-journey (Romans 8:18). For those of us who are alive in Christ, we can set our eyes on what lies beyond our painful circumstances, and what we see brings us a joy that is far above and beyond any joy that the world is able to give.

Prayer:

Thank You, Lord, for setting me free from the power of sin over my life and the fear of death which rules this world. Thank you for covering me in righteousness so I can now come into the very presence of the Living God. I am so grateful that You have taken those heavy burdens that weighed me down into the depths of depression so I could come back into the Light which has given me a new and fresh breath of life.