Do you know God’s grace? If you do, you can live boldly, live robustly; his safety net will break your fall. Nothing fosters courage like a clear grasp of grace. And nothing fosters fear like an ignorance of mercy.

May I speak candidly? If you haven’t accepted God’s forgiveness, you’re doomed to live in fear. No pill, pep talk, or possession can set the sinner’s heart at ease. You may deaden the fear, but you can’t remove it. Only God’s grace can. The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:8 NKJV).

Your prayer can be as simple as. . .”Dear Father, please forgive me. I place my soul in your hands and trust in your grace. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.”

Then having received God’s forgiveness, live forgiven!

From Max on Life

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When it comes to shame, we are our harshest judges! Marred by hurt and humiliation, we don’t see the situation clearly. We listen too much to the voices that got us into this mess. The abuser still abuses our self-esteem. Our judgments are limited.

At these times who makes a better judge? You or Jesus? Jesus knows the situation inside and out. He sees from every perspective and feels all the pain. He knows when lines were crossed and when motives were just. Jesus is the best judge. So when he says, “I don’t judge you guilty”(John 8:11 NCV), that verdict is based not on a whim, but on a careful examination of all the hearts; all the guilt; and all the genuine repentance. So if Jesus declares you not guilty, then who keeps whispering guilt in your ears?

From Max on Life

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Can we know we are truly saved? The Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Confess and believe…and you will have salvation.

Catch what the verse does not say: live perfectly, be nice to everyone, don’t mess up, always smile—and you will be saved. Can’t do it. Impossible. Just confess and believe. Salvation will follow. It’s so easy. . .yet so hard.

God wants us to know we are saved, for saved people are dangerous people, willing to face off with the world, unafraid of the consequences since we know that, whatever happens, we will have eternal life. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NIV).  Watch out, world!

From Max on Life

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I’ve heard people say, “Why talk to God about my problems? He can’t understand.” According to the Bible—he can! The writer of Hebrews says, “he himself has shared fully in all our experience of temptation, except that he never sinned” (Hebrews 4:15 Phillips).

He himself!  Jesus himself shared fully, not partially, but entirely!  In all our experience; every hurt; all the stresses and strains; with no exceptions! Why? So he could sympathize with our weaknesses.

Every page of the Gospels hammers home this crucial principle: your God gets you! God knows how you feel. When you tell God you’ve reached your limit, he knows what you mean. When your plans are interrupted by people who have other plans, he nods in empathy. He has been there. He gets you. He knows how you feel!

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Simply put—we’re not good enough to go to heaven! So what can we do? Perhaps if we do enough good deeds, they will offset our bad deeds. The question then surfaces: how many good deeds do we need to do? If I spend one year being greedy, how many years should I be generous? No one knows how many good deeds it takes to offset the bad. A rule sheet can’t be found—simply because it doesn’t exist.

God doesn’t operate this way. All we can do is ask for mercy. And God, because of his kindness, gives it. God turned over our sins to his Son. His Son, Jesus Christ, died for our sins. He did what we could not do so that we might become what we dare not dream: citizens of heaven!

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When I was seven, I ran away from home. I’d had enough of my father’s rules—I could make it on my own, thank you very much! I didn’t go far.  At the end of the alley I remembered I was hungry, so I went back home.

Did my dad know of my insurrection? Fathers usually do. Was I still his son? Apparently so. If you’d asked my father, “Mr. Lucado, your son says he has no need of a father. Do you still consider him your son?” What do you think my dad would have said? I don’t have to guess at his answer.  His commitment to me was greater than my commitment to him. So is God’s! I can count on him to be in my corner no matter how I perform. You can too!

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God is jealous for our trust. He doesn’t request it, suggest it, or recommend it. He demands it. We can see the consequences of not obeying in the lives of one New Testament couple. The book of Acts is all good fruit and fanfare, until chapter 5. A husband and wife pledged to sell some property and give the money to the church. When they changed their minds, they acted as if they hadn’t. They lied. They died. Their bodies were carried out, and “great fear gripped the entire church” (Acts 5:11 NLT).

On the topic of faith God is serious…dead serious. Romans 6:23 declares that “the wages of sin is death,” but it also promises “eternal life” to those who choose obedience to Christ instead. It’s your choice. Which do you choose?

From God is With You Every Day

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Heeding God’s Word is more critical than fighting God’s war. Indeed, heeding God’s Word is fighting God’s war. Conquest happens as the covenant is honored. Do you want the abundant life that Jesus promised (John 10:10)? Obey God’s commands!

What’s that? You thought that the abundant life was birthed from ecstatic utterances, or midnight messages from heaven? Sorry to disappoint you. “Obedience,” wrote C.S. Lewis, “is the key to all doors.”

Don’t think for a second that you can heed the wrong voice, make the wrong choice, and escape the consequences. At the same time, obedience leads to a waterfall of goodness not just for you but for your children, your children’s children, and great-grand-children. God promises to show “love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:6 NIV).

From God is With You Every Day

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The prayer of Moses moved God to change his mind. Exodus 32:14 says, “So the Lord changed his mind and did not destroy the people as he said he might.”

This is the promise of prayer! We can change God’s mind! God’s ultimate will is inflexible. He does not change in his character and purpose, but he does alter his strategy because of the appeals of his children. After all, we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20)! Ambassadors represent the king. They carry with them the imprimatur of the one who sent them. If an ambassador sends a request to the king, will the king listen? If you, God’s ambassador in this world, come to your King with a request, will he listen? By all means.

So, be bold. Be audacious. Be confident. The Lord of all heaven promises that if you ask anything according to His will, He hears you (1 John 5:14).

From God is With You Every Day

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There are times when silence represents the highest respect. The word for such times is reverence. This was a lesson Job learned—the man in the Bible most touched by tragedy and despair. Calamity had pounced on the man like a lioness on a herd of gazelles, and by the time the rampage passed, there was hardly a wall standing or a loved one living.

His four friends came with the bedside manner of drill sergeants. Each had their own interpretation of why God had done what he had done. When his accusers paused, Job spent six chapters giving his opinions on God. Job Chapter 38 begins with these words, “Then the Lord answered Job.” When the Lord speaks, it’s time to stop talking and listen!

From God is With You Every Day

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God will help us stand against the Devil. He will disclose the craftiness of Satan. But we must regularly consult him in everything. The Scriptures say that God’s word is a lamp unto our feet (Psalm 119:105)…but it doesn’t say it is a spotlight into our future. Our best days come when we learn to hear God’s voice telling us to turn this way or that way. “Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go,’whether to the right or to the left’” (Isaiah 30:21 NLT).

Like David, we can ask God to “bend low and hear my whispered plea” (Psalm 31:2 TLB). Wait until God speaks before you act. The promise says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye” (Psalm 32:8). If you feel a check in your heart, heed it and ask God again. It’s the only way to outwit the Devil’s deceit!

From God is With You Every Day

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I once knew an extremely courageous lady. For one thing, she was waging an uphill battle against alcoholism. For another, she was doing all she could to restore her relationship with God. She chose a small church to attend, where she knew many members. One Sunday, as she walked toward the front door, she overheard two ladies talking. “How long is that alcoholic going to hang around here?” She turned and went back to the car. She never entered another church building until she died. Those ladies meant no harm, yet seemingly painless gossip did irreparable damage.

These ideas will help us control our tongue.

• Never say anything about someone that you wouldn’t say to their face.
• Refuse to listen to someone else’s gossip.
• Initiate positive statements about people whom you’re discussing.
• Remember, “the tongue. . .is a fire!” (James 3:6)

From God is With You Every Day

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The word inheritance is to Joshua’s book what delis are to Manhattan: everywhere! The word appears nearly sixty times. The command to possess the land is seen five times. The great accomplishment of the Hebrew people came down to this– “So Joshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance” (Joshua 24:28).

Is it time for you to receive yours? If you have given your heart to Christ, God has “blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). Note the tense– “he has blessed.” Not “he will bless, might bless, or someday could possibly bless.” You have access to every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. This may well be the best-kept secret in Christendom. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

From God is With You Every Day

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