Jul 28 2024

Today's Bible Verse

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

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In this verse from Ephesians, the apostle Paul writes about the hope of our calling in Jesus. What are some great things that we have to look forward to as Christians? I can think of many—Heaven, eternal fellowship with the Lord, intimacy with Him in difficult times, and the opportunity to serve Him on a day-to-day basis.

Have you ever struggled to know what your calling is? Some people, including myself, have struggled to know what their vocation should be: a teacher? an artist? a doctor? something else? In other instances, we struggle to know what the Lord wants us to do in a particular circumstance. Regardless of questions like these, we can have a firm grip on the most important calling on our lives—our high calling in Jesus.

Our high calling starts with our decision to give our lives to Jesus, but that is only the beginning. After we have begun our relationship with the Lord, we are called to get to know Him more for the rest of our lives and all eternity. This begins with things like reading the Bible, worshipping, and praying. In prayer, we can experience intimacy with the Lord by talking to Him and responding to what He reveals to us about ourselves and our next steps.

Part of our high calling is having confidence in what will happen after we die. We are called to be with the Lord forever: We will be surrounded by His goodness, love, and grace all the days of our lives. We will be able to worship Him forever in a way that pleases Him perfectly… and there is no higher calling than this.

Even more exciting, this high calling does not begin in the near future, but right now. We can step into God's calling in our lives today. This means we can transform our view of our lives into one of excitement and pleasure. Each day of our lives is holy because the Lord is active in the world today and through us. We can begin to walk in our high calling—to share His love with those who need Him most—even now.

Today's Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for the hope that we have in you. You are so good to us, Lord, and we look forward to experiencing eternity with you. Thank you for the sweet, eternal promise of heaven. Help me to never forget the hope in my calling. In Jesus' name, amen.

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Jul 27 2024

Yesterday's Bible Verse

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. :

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Yesterday's Bible study

In this verse from John's first letter, we learn about the relationship between love and fear. This verse can help us understand our relationship with the Lord. Throughout Scripture, we are often told to fear the Lord, such as in Proverbs 9:10, which says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. However, in this verse, we are told that there is no fear in love. How can these seemingly contradictory ideas be reconciled?

The answer begins with understanding fear. Fear is described as 'torment' in 1 John. It is something that bothers us and doesn't seem to ever go away. Moreover, in Proverbs 9, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Does the Lord somehow bring torment, and does that somehow lead to wisdom? In short… kind of.

Before any of us knew the Lord, we were not able to approach Him. We were His sworn enemies, acting directly against Him. The Lord promised judgment against us; we would pay for our actions. He knew everything we had ever done and the extent of our own inner wickedness. The price for our sins was death and eternal separation from the Lord. This is a very serious and real reason to be afraid. When we acknowledge that we have sinned against a holy God, this fear is the beginning of wisdom, because it changes the way that we think about ourselves and the Lord. Instead of wanting to continue in our sin, we want to please Him.

The Lord does not want us to live in fear. He does not want us to be uncertain about where we stand with Him, and He's not interested in having a bunch of people follow Him simply because they're scared. The Lord is not a ruler operating by command of fear, but instead merciful, gracious love.

We see this through the life and death of Jesus. Jesus did not turn away sinners who deserved judgment; He welcomed them. He reached out to them and touched their hearts. Most importantly, Jesus died so that we could be justified once and for all through Him. In His great love, He died for us. His perfect love has cast out our reason to fear the Lord's judgment against us. We have been set free from fear through His love.

Yesterday's Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for casting out all fear through your love. Thank you for being mightier than any negative emotion I could ever feel. You are so good, Lord, and I am so grateful that you love me more than I could ever understand. I love you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.
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