Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Psalms 122-124
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 10:18-20
Jesus: I know. I saw Satan falling from above like a lightning bolt. I’ve given you true authority. You can smash vipers and scorpions under your feet. You can walk all over the power of the enemy. You can’t be harmed. But listen—that’s not the point. Don’t be elated that evil spirits leave when you say to leave. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
We often talk a lot about the things we can do if we have God’s spirit living in us. He gives us His resurrection power to carry out the tasks He gives us. We can face incredible obstacles in accomplishing His will and they just seem to melt away because He is in the plan. We see the evidence of God at work when we carry out His will. It seems nothing can stop His work from going on to completion. The best Satan puts up in defense crumbles when God comes on the scene.
I’ve had the privilege of watching God at work on many occasions. I’ve watched Him melt hearts with sermons I thought were not so good, but He propelled them to someone’s heart to help them see His truth. I’ve watched Him heal in what could only be called miracles. I’ve watched Him change the financial situation of individuals and churches and organizations in ways that baffled financial wizards who said the financial resolution of that particular problem was impossible.
God can and does do the impossible sometimes and we can relish those times. We can point to those events and remember them as the stories in our own lives that point to God’s intervention and His power over this world and Satan’s attempts to frustrate us and keep us from Him. We use those times to remind us of His power and we can rejoice over the fact that He does give us the power to stay victorious as we journey on the path He lays out before us in this life.
But how often do you just stop and remember the good news that your sins have been forgiven? When is the last time that you just stopped and thanked God for His mercy and grace in placing your name in His book of life? Do you look for the miraculous and wonder where God is when you don’t see miracles happening around you? Can you just bask in the wonder of forgiveness?
We forget that the real miracle comes in God’s willingness to take us back despite our disobedience. We forget that God performed a huge miracle in wrapping Himself in human flesh and living among us for over 30 years. Can you imagine what it must have been like to give up heaven to live like us? But He did that so that we could be forgiven. Sometimes I think we take that so lightly. We look for the miraculous when it stares us in the face.
Because He came and lived with us, died for us, and rose from the dead, we can be forgiven. We can be assured He has power over sin and death and the grave. We can know that when He forgives our sins and casts them as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered against us again, our sins really are forgiven. He really does bring us into His kingdom as His children. He adopts us into His family and gives us so much more than we deserve.
We deserve death as the penalty for our disobedience. We deserve eternal separation from God since we acted as His enemies. But instead He gives us opportunities to find repentance and forgiveness. He gives us the opportunity to find acceptance in His love and grace. He lets us make the choice to worship Him and make Him our God and Lord of life. He give us the opportunity to right the wrongs we have committed against Him and He makes us new. He transforms us into the person He created us to be in the first place.
We can still marvel at the miracles He performs for us and around us. We can still be awed by the wonder we see in this world as we see His handiwork in creation and in His answers to prayer on our behalf. But spend some time thinking about the real miracle that takes place when His Spirit comes to us and convicts us of our sin and draws us to Him. Then the miracle that continues when we seek Him with a repentant heart and ask for His forgiveness. And the even greater miracle that comes when in His mercy He forgives us and wipes away our sins. And the incredible miracle that occurs when He writes our name in His book of life that allows us to know we will join Him in heaven through all eternity when this present age comes to a close.
What a God we serve, that He would allow us to join Him for eternity just for the asking. Now that is a miracle to behold.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.