Daily Bible Verses for 2/6/2017
Daily Verse(s)
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Reading Notes
As Paul makes it very clear in these passages, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, or to put it another way nothing can separate us from the love Jesus has for us, nor from the salvation He alone has provided for us. A salvation which God by His grace has so freely given to us by faith alone, in Jesus alone. Paul covers every possible realm of trials for the believer. From the trials of everyday life to disease and death. From poverty and starvation, to persecution from spiritual warfare, and even death because of our faith. No matter what we experience, we cannot be separated from Christ! Trials only bring us closer to Jesus and make us more dependent on God’s presence and faithful help. The Apostle Paul in these passages, quotes the psalms to remind all followers of Jesus that we will face trials and tribulation in this world, why? Because we live in a fallen world at enmity against God. The fall of humanity ushered in sin, disease, chaos, decay and death. It also ushered in disharmony, it created disharmony between us and God, as well as disharmony within ourselves. In addition, the fall created disharmony between us and others, as well as disharmony with nature.
A disharmony that not only brings about the misuse of nature, but also the worship of creation, rather than the Creator. And because of the fall, this world experiences great spiritual warfare because it’s influenced by the one the Apostle Paul calls the, “prince of the power of the air,” who is Satan. Therefore, we endure spiritual warfare which is waged around us, along with the consequences of the fallen world we live in, through the power of the Holy Spirit, who is our Helper. And because of these things we know we will face trials and loss as followers of Christ. However, we do so knowing God is always with us and that our salvation is secure in the love of Christ. Moreover, when death does come upon us and we are at home with Jesus, we will know more, feel more and possess more joy than we can imagine here in this dark fallen world. And how can we be so sure? Because it depends not on us, but on Jesus! He has promised us that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. He has promised us that He will not lose any the Father has placed in His hands. And to secure that promise, God has sent us His Holy Spirit who indwells and keeps all followers of Jesus until we go home to be with the Lord. Therefore, we can rest in the security of our election, and in the faithfulness of God to carry us through all trials we will face in this fallen world, until we go home to be with Jesus.