Peace with God Through Faith
5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord Messiah, help me to focus on your sacrifice on the cross, your promises to Abraham, and the resurrection from the dead as a solid foundation for feeling that I have been declared righteous due to the great exchange of YOU giving me YOUR righteousness and taking upon YOURSELF, the punishment for my sins, transgressions, and immoralities. Even when my heart most condemns me and the dark night surrounds me, let me have a peace that comes from YOU greater than all my understandings of my shortcomings and failures. Lord, help me feel the peace you have given.
2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Lord, help me see that I stand by YOUR undeserved favor, YOU choosing to be on my side, and by the strength of YOUR loving committed promises alone. To think that I will see YOU for who you are and reflect back into creation an accurate picture of YOUR greatness, goodness, and grace brings me great joy and anticipation of having my ultimate purpose fulfilled in YOU.
3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Help me now trust that YOU are revealing YOUR greatness, grace, and goodness through me right now in my hardships and YOUR ability to keep me believing despite the hardest of times. YOU are making my soul to be like YOUR soul, and this difficult process produces in me the joy of knowing the reality of YOUR work even how day by day in my life. This anticipation of seeing YOU working in the middle of my struggles is not in vain, for the HOLY SPIRIT keeps pouring the revelation of God's LOVE into my true self by preaching of the Messiah Jesus dying for me and being raised from the dead.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Lord, help me see that without the HOLY SPIRT I have no love for you or faith in YOUR revelation. I am not a pious or religious man. Without your grace I am ungodly. Yet, even knowing this about me, YOU chose to die for my great immoral transgressions.
7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Messiah died for us when we had fallen short of every common decency and measure of morality. We can imagine perhaps one suffering to save noble souls. But my salvation was greater than that because I was a traitor and rebel agains all that is good. Lord how could YOU love me when I was in such a dark state without light.
9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (ESV)
You have placed before us and given to us a forgiven past and a certain future in YOUR love and grace. YOU have fully accepted us just as we are by your death for our sins and now we enjoy being in fellowship with you through your being resurrected to be our mediator. Lord, let me come boldly before YOU in times of need with the assurance that I am fully loved and never condemned.
Lord, open my eyes the infinite power of your great LOVE.
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