Daily Devotion

Romans 8:28

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

God fits everything in your life into His perfect plan, so long as you love Him and are available to His call on your life!

"All things"—the times when business is good and the times when business is slow, the times when your kids are all popular and the times when they feel like no one likes them, the times when you are fit and healthy and the times when you are sick, when your parents support what you are doing and when they criticize you, when people respect you for your faith and when they make fun of you—God causes all these things to "work together" for good in your life.

Only God could do that! And notice also all these things do not work for good in everybody's life. There are some people who become worldly when their business prospers and others who lose their faith when hard times come.

How can you know that the things in your life are being used by God for good? Meet the two requirements in the verse: Make God the first, most important, love of your life; and make a commitment to pursue His purposes for you. Then rest in the promise of this verse!

MOROCCO: CHRISTIANS ARRESTED

On Feb. 4, Moroccan military authorities raided a Christian meeting and arrested 18 people. The authorities also confiscated Bibles and personal belongings, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts.

“We were surprised by more than 60 Moroccan Gendarmes attacking the house [where we had just started our Bible study],” a VOM contact said. “Eleven believers (including an American), two non-believers and five children… were [held] by the Moroccan government for 14 hours.”

After 14 hours in detention, the American was deported and the others were released. Authorities kept the American’s laptop computer, along with Bibles, books, a laptop, a digital photo camera and a cell phone that belonged to the others arrested.

“It’s the first time in our current Moroccan church history that the Moroccan government used this size of a legion to attack a small Christian meeting,” VOM contacts added. “All the time they kept repeating that this was ordered personally by the new Moroccan Justice Minister [Mohamed Naciri] and by the highest level General of the Gendarmerie [Housni Benslimane].”

The Voice of the Martyrs encourages you to pray for believers in Morocco. Pray that God will protect these believers and grant them peace as they face these new challenges. Also pray that the authorities will return their confiscated belongings. Ask God to draw the persecutors into fellowship with him.

“Our Moroccan brothers and sisters have asked believers here in the US to speak out on their behalf,” said Todd Nettleton, VOM’s director of media development. “They believe international attention and pressure can make a difference in getting their possessions returned, and in protecting future Christian activities.”

Daily Devotion

Acts 9:15-16

But the Lord said to [Ananias], "Go, for he [Paul] is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake."

God's good plan for your life includes pain and difficult times!

David Wilkerson said, "Jesus didn't save you so you could cruise to heaven in a luxury liner. He wants you to be useful in His kingdom! The moment you got saved, He enrolled you in His school—the school of suffering and affliction."

That doesn't mean God is the source of all hardship in your life. You may experience attacks from the forces of evil in this world, or people may hurt you with evil motives. But God's supreme authority means that His good purpose overrules all of those evil motives. He'll even use those terrible things done to you out of evil motives to produce spiritual growth in your life.

Pain enables you to grow and mature spiritually in ways that nothing else can accomplish.

Years later, Paul wrote, "And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:3-5).

Daily Devotion

2 Corinthians 8:9

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

GRACE = God's Riches At Christ's Expense!

A gift is free, but only to the one who receives it. The one who gives the gift pays the cost of it. God's grace is a free gift to us. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

If eternal life is a gift from God to us, that means that we don't have to do all sorts of good works to earn it—it is free to the one who receives it. So who pays for this unbelievable gift? Read the verse at the top of the page again.

D. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, "The ultimate test of our spirituality is the measure of our amazement at the grace of God." Have you ever really come to grips in your heart with what it cost Jesus Christ to offer you forgiveness and new life?

Take a few minutes and jot down on this page the things Jesus experienced to offer you His wonderful gift. When you're finished, take a little more time and think some more and jot down some more things. Give your mind time to meditate on it.

Daily Devotion

James 4:6

God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Do you feel that you have your life together, that you don't really need God in your life, that you are the master of your own fate, that God is just like a little boost on your self-made journey through life—like the spare-tire in the boot of your car?

Then, brace yourself: God is opposed to you. God's biggest goal in your life is to destroy your pride. Sooner or later in your life, God will allow the things you're trusting in to come crashing down. Or He'll let you come to the place where you recognize that none of your accomplishments have done for you what you thought they would, in your inner life.

I hope when that day comes, you will humble yourself and recognize your deep inner need to make things right with God.

When God finds someone who acknowledges that they need His forgiveness, who recognizes that they need His help, who turns to Him in faith—then God pours out His grace on that person. He forgives them, helps them, and transforms their inner life.

Do you sense today that your pride has kept you from really turning to God in your life and putting your trust in Him? Use the "my response" section of this page to respond to what God is saying to you today.

Sincerely God...... Week 2

        In case you were out running around with you significant other last Sunday night on Valentines Day, here are the notes from the message. We had a great time, God is good

Dear loved one,

I’m writing you to let you know how much you mean to me, and I’m hoping you start to see yourself the way I see you.  There is a lie out there that says your self worth equals your performance plus others opinions. I want you to know thats a lie!  If your thinking that you need to be approved of by certain people in order to be valuable, then let me free you from that.  If you fear rejection, let me help you.  Your worth is not found in the approval of others, once you were alienated from me but now through my Son Jesus I have accepted you fully and desire a relationship with you.   I mean this.

Sincerely, God

                     Were taking the next few weeks here to look at how God sees us.

It is something I think we really just pass over, we know how we see ourself and I think we carry that view over and think the way we see ourself is the way God sees us.

we learned last week that it came down to two different things. Performance- The ability to meet certain standards, and Approval- other peoples opinion of you and being approved by certain people.

And this is all fine when you perform well and meet the approval of others. But as soon as we lack in any of these two areas then your whole self-esteem is in the tank.

We see that these two things really determine how you see yourself. Last week we looked at Performance 

We saw that the answer for the Lie was Justification. Where God takes the banner of sin and separation and gives you His attributes.

When you step into a relationship with Jesus we give Him our sin, and then he gives us His righteousness, and he sees you righteous. That is who you really are in Christ!

How God sees you is who you really are. Any standard that needs to be met has already been met by Jesus and you are fully pleasing to God in Christ!!

This week is like a prequel/sequel Approval. Approval addiction is so huge in our culture today. In some level so many people struggle with this.

I have struggled with this as well. When I first became a Christ Follower I had these certain views of myself based on what others have been telling me and the way they have viewed me.

I saw myself dirty, as someone always in trouble, etc..... And I went on this quest to try and be approved by others and I based my self worth off of others opinions of me.

This is how it is a prequel before we get caught in the performance trap it’s the fear of failure. Failure of not being able to measure up and that is the Approval trap.

The fear of rejection most times drives the Approval addiction. And this can send us into a life where we are all about trying to please people.

Paul was aware of this:

Galatians 1:10 

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

It’s a bold statement but he was aware that if in life you have a choice that you can try and please God or man. But you can not do both.

For some of us who have bought into the lie that we have to be approved of by certain people including God in order to be valuable, we need to learn to value the unconditional constant approval of God over the conditional approval of people.

I’m not sure where you are at with this but like last week I have a questionnaire for you to gauge where you are at and to see how far you bought into this lie. And if the fear of rejection has a handle on you

Rate these in your head on a scale of 1-10. 10 being that is me, 1 being that is not me

1. I often avoid certain people
2. When I sense that someone might reject me, I become nervous and anxious
3. I’m uncomfortable around those who are different then me
4. It bothers me when someone is unfriendly to me
5. I’m shy and unsocial 
6. I’m very critical of others
7. I find myself trying to impress others
8. I become down or hard on myself when someone criticizes me
9. I always try and determine how others think of me

If you would  answer 5 or higher on any one of those you have in some level bought into this lie that you need the approval of others to be worth something and to feel good about yourself

None of us like to be rejected and alone, loneliness is a big issue in our world today and it’s not only outside the church but it is a big factor in the church

A recent study at a Bible Conference was put together by a poll and 92% of the Christians at this conference said they were lonely and it was a major issue in there life!

If you are someone who deals with this fear of rejection you might play it out one of three different ways.

1. You put off this supper cool exterior but you don’t let people know who you really are because in your thinking if people really knew who you are then they would reject you, so you need to put a false front up
2. Some may totally withdraw from people, in fear of being rejected
3. Or you say yes to everything to try to please others

That was me, when I became a Christ follower I would do anything to try and be approved by others. If that meant over extending myself to where I was exhausted then I would in fear of being rejected by God and others.

Where are you?

The problem with approval addiction running our lives is that all of your attitudes and actions in life are dictated by other people and not by God

This is very exhausting!!!

So what is God’s answer to this? What is His remedy?

Here it is........ Reconciliation

Reconciliation- restoring a friendship or once you were my enemy but is through some form of reconciliation you are now my friend

Colosians 1:21-22

And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach--

When you step into a relationship with Jesus it not just that our banner of sin and separation got exchanged.

Justification explains the facts of our salvation, reconciliation describes the relational part of our salvation.

Yes we got to give our sin to Jesus and now through Him we are made righteous in Gods eyes, but reconciliation says it all in the context of this relationship, this eternal bond

Your salvation is not just your ticket to heaven, it is a relationship that the God of the universe says loudly “I except you, I approve of you, and I will never reject you!” 

Once I was an enemy of God but because of what Jesus did on the cross taking the punishment that I deserved and that righteousness being transfered to me, I am now made a friend of God!!

If you are a Christ Follower today you can sit here and say with total confidence that you are completely excepted by God

1 Peter 1: 3-5

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

This approval is something that will never ever fade

Romans 8: 38-39

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing in all of creation that can get God to a point to reject you or not approve of once you have this RELATIONSHIP with Jesus!

Ephesians 1:13-14

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Once we realize that we are in Christ and that is who we really are then we realize that, that is all we really need!

We are sealed into this relationship based on what Jesus did!!

Know this that we were able to give our sin to Jesus and through Justification Jesus gave us His righteousness and now we are reconciled through Christ and we no longer are enemies against God but are ushered into a lasting relationship through reconciliation!!!

Just like justification does not give you a free pass to sin and live how you want to live. The same goes for Reconciliation! A true understanding of Justification and Reconciliation will cause you to want to live for God’s kingdom and not your own.

Let me put it this way...... If I was to lie, cheat, or treat my wife Lily in a way that would hurt her and not say that I was sorry and change my ways, our relationship would crumble. But because I Love her and desire a lasting relationship with her when I do screw up I quickly apologize and try and change my ways in order to have a lasting relationship with her. It is the same with God.... When we have a clear understanding of what was accomplished on that cross, it will cause us to have that same reaction with God. We will want to have a lasting established relationship with Him!!

Stop seeking Approval from everyone..... understand that In Christ we are made friends of God 

learn to value the unconditional constant approval of God over the conditional approval of people!!!!

Daily Devotion

Hebrews 4:14-16

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

God's grace in our lives flows from a deep experiential understanding of the issues of our lives!

If God had not become a man and lived life on this earth with all the painful realities of growing up and experiencing pain and rejection and temptation and loss and grief and joy and accomplishment and energy and tiredness and discouragement—if God had avoided all of that, then we would have a hard time relating to Him on a personal level.

We would think of Him as too exalted and removed from the daily issues of life. But God is saying to you today in this passage that His grace reaches into these everyday issues of your life. Because God understands life in this world, you can be confident as you come to Him in prayer, that He is ready to get involved in your life at this level.

Daily Devotion

1 Timothy 1:13-15

…even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

God has enough grace for you!

Look what John 1:16-17 says: "For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ."Romans 5:20 tells us: "But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."

It's good to recognize that you've offended God in two ways: you've offended Him personally, and you've offended His justice. Your words offended Him when you've told lies, taken His name in vain or spoken harshly to someone. Your attitude offended Him when you harboured anger, bitterness or hatred. Your thoughts offended Him when you pursued sensuality or evil.

It's good and healthy to realize the weight of guilt that stands between me and God. But no matter how big the debt of sin in my life is, the bank of God's grace is bigger!

His grace is "more than abundant" for you. Turn to Him now and you'll find, not condemnation, but grace!

Daily Devotion

Matthew 28:1-8

Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.

Tell people what you've personally witnessed about the living Lord Jesus!

"Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead," the angel said. Your personal relationship with the living Christ is the best thing you could ever talk about with the people you know. Don't just share the truth about Him with them, share about your experience of Him!

Daily Devotion

1 Corinthians 1:18, 21-25

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

What Jesus did for us at the cross is simple, but powerful!

People thought that spiritual truth had to be complex and spectacular, but the message of what Jesus has done for us made Him seem weak (He was killed by sinful men) and foolish (it seemed too simple).

But we who've turned to Christ know that this simple message of Jesus taking our place before God's judgment and dying to bear the penalty for our sins opens a whole new life for us. Now that God's justice is satisfied we can have a wonderful relationship with Him and He can work through us to fill our lives with meaning and purpose!

Daily Devotion

Mark 15:39

When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"

God was glorified in Jesus' death!

That centurion had never experienced a crucifixion like this one. Jesus did not cry for mercy or try to escape; rather, He prayed for the people who put Him on the cross, "Father, forgive them." He spoke to the other victims of crucifixion about life with God after death. As He was dying, for three hours in the middle of the day, the sky went dark. When Jesus died, there was a massive earthquake and the rocks were splitting. It was a terrifying experience.

As the centurion took in all that he had heard and seen from Jesus, he could come to only one conclusion: "Truly this man was the Son of God!"

God was not only glorified in Jesus' miracles and in His words that so amazed His listeners. The glory of Jesus' life went way beyond His training of the disciples. God was also glorified in Jesus' suffering and death.

God is challenging you today not to think of the hard times you face as opponents of God's work in your life. God is as much glorified by your spiritual response to those times as He is by your times of great victory and blessing.

Daily Devotion

1 Corinthians 2:1-5

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

At the heart of Christianity is the cross of Jesus!

When Paul thought of the one thing he would communicate in his preaching to the Corinthians—the one thing that mattered more than anything else he could say—he spoke to them about "Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."

That's the one thing God wants you to grasp in your life most clearly, because the message of the cross sums up everything you must understand about God, man and life. The cross shows you the holiness of God the Father that could not maintain a relationship with His Son, when Jesus took the sin of the world on Himself. It also magnifies the justice of God that couldn't be satisfied any other way. And it reveals the immense grace of God that overcame all barriers to give you a way to be redeemed. 

Navel Gazing

I just realized I have a new spiritual problem.

Truth be told, I have had it for a while, but the light bulb just finally came on in my soul that illuminated what has been going on. I can get so caught up in trying to figure out why I sinned that I forget to repent of my sin.

Getting to the Root

As a “gospel-centrality” guy who believes that all true change begins at the heart level, I consider it a goal not just to stop doing something evil, but to try to figure out why I was doing that evil in the first place. My hope in doing so is to be led to as specific of an application of the gospel as possible, and to cut off the snake’s head and not just shorten his tail.

Theologically speaking, I believe this effort to deal with the root causes of our sin (Matthew 5:29) is a good practice modeled by Jesus. However, practically speaking, even a good tool in the hands of sinners like us can do significant damage.

Gazing at Your Navel Instead of Jesus

I have found that in an effort to get to the root of my sin, I can become so navel-gazing that I cease to be cross-focused. I have found that I can get so wrapped up in the complexities and nuances of my sin and ‘how deep the rabbit-hole goes’ that I forget to repent of the fact that it was my fault that I climbed into the rabbit-hole in the first place.
I have also found, perhaps worst of all, that I can become so despairing or despondent because of my sin that I cease to be dependent upon the only One who can save me from that sin—Jesus.

Who Will Deliver Us?

And in those dark moments, thankfully, I am confronted afresh with the good news of the gospel: Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24-25) Most of us reading this can agree that we are wretched. But who or what is to save us from this wretchedness? Our self? Our repentance?

No. Neither is strong enough.

In Christ Alone

But Jesus is strong enough. And worthy enough. And holy enough. Only Jesus can save us from our sins and ourselves! In the midst of Paul’s own spiritual angst, this is the good news of the gospel that Paul himself is retelling and praising God for. In the midst of our own angst, we would be wise to follow suit.

So when you sin, repent—first! Then evaluate and seek to get to the root of what is going on. And when you find yourself confronted with yourlatest spiritual problem, whether it is like mine or not, ask yourself, “What good news am I retelling? Mine or Jesus’?”

Daily Devotion

Genesis 3:1-5

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'" The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

The devil's major weapon against you is deception!

Jesus prayed to the Father for us, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth" (John 17:17). The truth will always point you towards God. But Jesus said about Satan, "He is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).

Satan's strategy is to distort the truth, just like he did with Eve in the Garden of Eden, even with Jesus in the desert. He wants to make you question God. He attacks you through your reason. God's reminding you today: fill your mind with the truth of His word if you want to be able to combat the lies of the Devil. 

Daily Devotion

1 Samuel 17:24, 26, 31, 37

When all the men of Israel saw the man [the giant Goliath], they fled from him and were greatly afraid.… Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?"… When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to [King] Saul, and he sent for him.… And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and may the LORD be with you."

Look at your present `Goliath' through eyes that remember God helping you in the past!

Goliath was huge. David was little. Goliath was strong. David was weak. Goliath was experienced in battle. David was inexperienced. If David's reason only weighed the current circumstances, he'd have run in fear, just like the rest of the Israelite army. But David's perspective was shaped by his experience of God's involvement in past crises.

Today God's calling you: Remember how I've helped you in the past, and how faithful I've been in caring for you. Let that give you confidence beyond what your reason says as you face today.

Sincerely God......

This last week at Youth Group we had an great time. Here is the sermon notes from what we talked about if you couldn't make it.

Sincerely God. Week 1

Performance

Dear loved one,

I’m writing you to let you know how much you mean to me, and I’m hoping you start to see yourself the way I see you.  There is a lie out there that says your self worth equals your performance plus others opinions. I want you to know thats a lie!  If your thinking that you need to meet certain standards in your life in order for you to be valuable, then let me free you from that.  If you fear failure, let me help you.  Your worth is not found in your ability to meet standards well.  I have given you peace in this area by justifying you based on what my son Jesus was like.  You are fully pleasing to me just as you are. I mean this.

Sincerely, God

What if you were able to receive in the clearest form possible a letter from God expressing His deepest most truthful thoughts about you.

What if you could really know how God saw you.

So he asked me how does God see me?

We know how we see ourself,  we know how we see other people. But is that the same way that God sees you?

Colossians 1:21-22 

And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and free from accusation

If you are a Christ follower God sees you Holy, Blameless, and free from all accusations from  the enemy!

Colossians 3:12

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

Add that to the list..... Your Holy and free from all accusation, without blemish, dearly loved, chosen by God

Hebrews 10:14

For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

So you can add perfect to the list

So if God was making a list of how He saw you this would be the list.  Holy and free from all accusation, without blemish, dearly loved, chosen, righteous, and perfect.

That should blow you away that this is how God sees you.

You might say well Derek this is not how I see myself or others.

Today most of us see ourself in two different realms.

1. Performance- Your ability to do things well
2. Approval- approval you get from other people

These come together to form you... me..... My self worth, who you are cane become wrapped up in these two categories

There is such a huge lie out there right now a lie from the pit of hell. It’s that your self worth is defined by your performance + others people opinion of you.... And it is a LIE!!!!!

The performance part is what I bought into when I became a Christ Follower. That I had to meet certain standards in my life in order to be valuable to God. I had to measure up in order for me to feel good about myself.

If I didn’t measure up and if I fell short somehow then my whole self worth was in the tank.

I don’t know where your at in this but the fear of failure for me got pretty out of control. I couldn’t stand failing to measure up because that meant I wasn’t performing well and if I wasn’t performing well then God was not happy with me. 

And it was this downward spiral that leads you to view yourself and others in a way that does not line up to God’s word.

This tends to be exhausting.

I’m not sure where you are at in this area..... But here are some some statements and you read I want you to rate on a scale of 1-10 rate if you struggle with it all.

This will indicate wether you have bought into this lie...

1) Because of fear I often avoid participating in certain activities

1. When I scenes that I may fail I become nervous and anxious 
2. I worry
3. I unexplained anxiety 
4. I’m a perfectionist
5. I’m compelled to justify my mistakes
6. there are certain areas I feel that I must succeed 
7. I become depressed when I fail
8. I’m self critical

if you scored higher then a 5 honestly... then the performance trap has sunk it’s teeth into you!

I struggled with this for a while, do you?.... I think I struggled with it I think from the begining. Being the Black sheep of the family

I thought that if I always measured up to God then I would never feel out of place or rejected by Him.

Eventually when you live life that way you become exhausted and you find yourself questioning your faith, not reading your bible, not attending youth group, hanging out with a different crowd. etc..

So in reading the scriptures we see a entirely different truth and realize that it’s completely different from what the world demands from us. Our whole culture and world revolves around the performance factor....

If you......

Look a certain way, talk a certain way, dress a certain way, if you achieve some high status in life then you are considered valuable and important in others eyes!!!!!

How liberating is it to come to the realization that God is on a whole other level, he has the remedy to crack this awful deceiving formula called performance.!!!

Let’s look at a very important word in this remedy. 

Justification

Justification is this..... You being justified before God. 

Colossians 1:21-22 

And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and free from accusation

Once you were separated or a enemy of God but now through the work of Christ your relationship is now ok and intact

Before being Justified through Christ the banner on our life was sin/separated. 

Now this banner defined you.... this is who you are..... you are a sinner separated from God!

Now through what Christ did on the cross and resurrected from the dead. He kicked sin out and when you become a Christ follower Jesus come inn and wrecks your life in a good way!!1

He takes this banner of sin and separation and places a new reality... a new banner onto us Forgiven, Holy, Righteous, Chosen, Loved, and Blameless!!!

Jesus died to justify us before God and taking away our sin..

Justification doesn’t stop there. 

Jesus had a banner of His own. Ours said sinner, His said Righteousness.

This is who He was. This was His identity

So justification is about trading banners. Jesus giving us His righteousness, it’s transfered to you.

2 Corinthians 5: 21

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

God made Jesus our sin as we transfered our banner to Jesus and He died with that sin. And after His resurrection His righteousness came back with Him and now we get to wear that and it’s declared over us!!

The moment you step into a relationship with God you exchange banners!!!! And from that moment on you are declared free and righteous!!!! God declare you righteous, that is how we can pray to him, and that is how we can live for him. God has been doing this from day one. He spoke in the begining and formed the world out of nothing. He spoke and it happened.

The same goes today, we serve the same God, he declares you righteous and it is so. He took nothing and made it into something.

This is our God, none of us deserve this but tonight if you are a Christ follower this is spoken over you and it’s not because of your performance.

Justification does not give you the excuse to live how you want to with no respect for consequence, a true understanding of what Justification is will cause you to live for His Kingdom and not YOURS!!!!

Where Are You? 

Are You Separated From God?

Are you caught up in the Performance Trap?

Right Now God is Calling us to Clothe ourselves in His Righteousness through Justification!!!