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Day 3 Romans 4:13-22 Devotional

By April 12, 2017Daily Devotional

Pray:

Ask God to orient or reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.

Read:

Romans 4:16,

“16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.”

Understand:

In these verses, Paul summarized what he already said earlier in verses 11-12: that what God did in providing His free gift of grace could only be appropriated through faith. In other words, God’s promise was guaranteed to anyone who believed. Remember that Abraham pleased God through faith alone before he had heard about the rituals that would become so important to the Jewish people.

We, too, are saved by faith plus nothing. It is not by loving God plus doing good that we are saved; neither is it by faith plus love or by faith plus good deeds. We are saved only through faith in Christ, trusting Hm to forgive all our sins.

Apply:

Ephesians 2:8-9 comes to mind, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Think about life before and then after Christ. Before, we were dead in our transgressions and sins. We were deserving of wrath because we followed the ways of the world. In fact, before Christ we were the enemies of God; we were enslaved to the evil one. We did nothing but follow our own evil thoughts and desires.

But now, after Christ, we’ve been made alive with Christ! We’ve been shown God’s mercy and been given salvation. We now stand for Christ and truth. We’re God’s own children. We’ve been made free in Christ to love, serve, and sit with Him, knowing full well we will be raised up with Christ to glory!

This isn’t something we can achieve through keeping the works of the law; it is the free gift of God’s grace, His unmerited favor, through faith in Christ. Grace alone, through Faith alone, by Christ alone.

This is the good news—the gospel—God redeeming His people.

*From what you have just read and considered: What is a personal implication/application for your life today?

Live:

(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY.

 

Inspiration and insight for the devotionals came from the following books: Reading Romans with John Stott; The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World (The Bible Speaks Today Series), Stott, John; Romans (The NIV Application Commentary Book 6) Moo, Douglas J.; Encountering the Book of Romans: A Theological Survey (Encountering Biblical Studies) Moo, Douglas J.; Believers Bible Commentary; The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, with the New International Version, Romans through Galatians; NIV Application Study Bible.

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