Greg Laurie Daily Devotion - Apr. 19, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Open Access
Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
Within the first few verses of Jude 1, he uses an important word twice: “beloved.” In verse 1, he writes, “To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ. . . . ” The word “sanctified” could better be translated “beloved.” Jude begins verse 3 with the same word. Here we have a foundational truth, which Jude brings front and center: We are the beloved of God.
How often we hear about what we are supposed to do for God. Yet the emphasis of the Bible is not on what we are supposed to do for God. Rather, it is on what God has done for us. If we can get hold of that in our minds and hearts, it will change our outlook and actions. The more we understand of what God has done for us, the more we will want to do for Him.
This is important, because the devil loves to keep us from praying by telling us that we are not worthy to approach God: Do you think that God would hear your prayers after what you have done? But the real question to ask is this: “Is Jesus Christ worthy to come into the presence of the Father whenever He wants?” Of course He is.
The fact is that we are made “accepted in the Beloved.” Because Christ has open access to the presence of the Father at any time, we have the same access as we come to God the Father through our relationship with Jesus. It is not on the basis of what we have done for God. It is solely on the basis of what Christ has done for us.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org.
Copyright © 2007 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions,
