Ephesians 2:4-10 ERV; “But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much.  We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places.  God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace. 

“I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.  You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about.  God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.”

Did you know that the word grace in this context is the unmerited or undeserved favor of God? That means that though none of us deserved it or did anything to earn it, God gave us new life in Christ. It says that He raised us from death and seated us together with him in heavenly places. Wait a minute. I don’t remember dying and being raised from death, do you? When we decided to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and trusted in the one time sacrifice for our sins, the old man or woman we were died and we became new in Christ. It was as if we never sinned. Old things are gone, all things are made new. (II Corinthians 5:17)

No wonder the devil constantly tries to convince us that we are sinners, that we can never be guilt free. He tries to tell us that we’ll never be good enough because of what we did or said. He hates it that we are forgiven, blood washed, purchased, seated with Christ in a place of authority. That really bakes his cookies! Burns his bacon! He thought he messed up Gods plan when he had Jesus crucified but low and behold, Christ is risen and because of that, I have victory too over death, hell and the grave. Woot! Woot! No longer am I condemned to live a lowly life of defeat, I’m victorious! I share in this beautiful gift from God.

Father, I turn a deaf ear to the accusations and lies of the enemy and I chose to only hear your voice. The voice of victory. The voice of Love and Grace. Thank you for the free gift of salvation. I didn’t have to do a thing for it, you simply gave it to me. All this time I’ve been trying to earn the right to come before you, to do good so I could get good things from you. Such a waste of time. I will never do anything to earn your grace-it is totally a gift with no strings attached. Thank you for that. Let me walk in that knowledge everyday, in every way, so that others may find the path to you through Christ in me. I love you Lord. It’s in Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen