Reverence and Awe

MORNING:

“The youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.”

I don't know about you guys but as I get older, though I be only 21, I've seen the truth in this more and more as years go by. Those who depend upon God seem to have an abnormal amount of resolve-- back up boosters if you will; we can only get so far on our own efforts. There's a time when we must come before the throne of grace and throw ourselves down into the mercy and grace of our God. I've gotten so tired before and it was because I thought it was all about me and my efforts instead of God's display of strength and love in me when I was weak. I pray that God would show me, and the entire church, that it's not about how strong we can be, but that God's strength is revealed in us when we admit we are week, and come humbly to His throne of grace--that's where true strength can be found.

EVENING:

“I am dead; the law has slain me, and I am therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the curse, and in the person of my Substitute the whole that the law could do, by way of condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am crucified with Christ.”

Free at last. It doesn't get much better than this. We have been crucified with Christ, and just as Christ died, so too we died. Just as Christ was raised, so too we were raised. Just as death can no longer have any power over Christ since he has been raised from the dead, so too the power of death through sin no longer has any power over us. We have died with Christ and we have been raised with Christ. Sin is done away with, and a new creation has been produced through the blood and payment of Jesus Christ: This is the power of the cross.

REJOICE!!