Word in Five

Let's have the right view of our suffering. It is never hopeless and in it we can be sure that it will one day be far outweighed by the good life to come of God's glory. We join with creation in groaning as we await Jesus' return and as we do, God's Spirit turns our groans into prayers that God hears!

What a privilege to be adopted into the family of God and be his children! What rights we have and what responsibilities. And he wants us to know we are his children.

We do not face any condemnation if we are in Christ Jesus. We have been set free to do good works for God and one day our bodies and souls will be completely delivered from all the effects of sin!

The Christian life is an ongoing battle with sin. We love Jesus and want to do what is right, yet so often find ourselves doing wrong things. How we need to ask him for help to do the right thing, remembering that we have his Spirit and can say "no" to sin. And one day we will be fully delivered from every sinning again when Jesus returns!

God's commandments (and any law) can make us think about doing the wrong thing. The problem isn't with the commandments - it's exposing our hearts - and that's actually a good thing because it should drive us to Jesus!

In Jesus we have been released from being married to our old way of life that leads to death - we have died to that marriage. We are now married to Jesus so our desires totally change and we can love God and love our neighbour! May it be so in our lives.

We are under new management in Christ. Set free from a cruel commanding officer who promises a lot but only pays us death to belong to a new master who gives us the gift of everlasting life.

We need to know who we are in Jesus and then be who we are in the strength he gives us!

We are queued up in one of two lines - either Adam's line or Jesus' line. The lines couldn't be more different. One is a 'dead' line. One is full of abundant life. Praise God that he sent a second and last Adam, Jesus Christ!

We have peace with God. We have a hope that will never disappoint. God has poured his love into our hearts - and what a love it is!

Unity is so important as God's people - we have one faith - the faith of Abraham. His faith wasn't a blind leap in the dark and neither is ours. It is based upon who we know God to be - his track record and most of all, what he has done in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

God loves to give good gifts to his children. He has given us the greatest gift of all - being with right with him through Jesus. It's always been a gift, even for people like Abraham and David. They had faith in Jesus too because Jesus is the only Rescuer.

How can good things happen to bad people? How can I a sinner have peace with God and be called good by him? Because of Jesus, our sacrifice and goodness. God is totally fair and just. In fact, because we are in Jesus, it would be unjust for him to condemn us! Glory!

Wow! These verses are so convicting. None of us are good in and of ourselves. We need one who is good to rescue us! Thank the Lord that the next verse (v21) begins, 'but now'.

The whole Bible is 'the very words of God'. What a privilege it is to have the Bible and hear it read and explained. What a responsibility to have ears to hear! God is just in punishing sin. We are responsible for our sin and need the rescuer, Jesus Christ.

Why can we pray? How can we know God? How can we stand before him in judgment? Only because he has given us new life in Jesus. It's not knowing stuff or doing stuff - but trusting in Jesus! Knowledge and good works are important in the Christian life, but they flow from being connected to Jesus.

God is passionate about justice. There is a great day of judgment to come where there will be a great righting of everything. We can rest in knowing he will do all things well and know that on that day, we can stand because of the great day of judgment upon the cross when Jesus died in our place!

Wow! Paul could be describing Wales and the rest of the UK. Our experiment of making our own truth based upon what we feel has been a disaster. Paul reminds us of the truth that we see in God's creation and points us to a God who is kind and willing to forgive through his Son Jesus.

Paul is not ashamed of the good news - he is so excited about the church in Rome as he hears about what God is doing in saving people. May we have the same eagerness to tell people about the Saviour, Jesus Christ and the same interest in praying for churches, even those we have never met.

Jesus is at the centre of the good news. His resurrection is like a megaphone from heaven telling us who Jesus is. He is the king of Psalm 2; the Son of David who has been installed on God's holy hill. This good news transforms us as his holy people who are loved by God.

Let's learn to pray like Jesus - praying for trust, saying sorry for our sin and turning from it, asking God to teach us his ways and giving thanks for the hope we have in Jesus.

Jesus endured the shame of the cross and bore our sin as if it was his own. Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

There is a Man in heaven - Jesus - he will make reunite heaven and earth and make everything new. And we are 'in Christ' - think of him there and how pleased the Father is with him - we are in Christ!

Jesus tested the truth of this psalm to the absolute extreme so as we walk in Jesus, we can be confident of every word of it!

Jesus has done it! We can trust him even in the darkest places and follow his example of prayerful faith.