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| Grace will lead us home - John14:1-8 | Scripture
John 14:1-8
Devotional
The Bible says, “God has placed Eternity in our hearts.” Down deep in our hearts we know that we have significance that reaches beyond time and space. And we long for home. Where is that home? Jesus said,
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know." John 14:1-4 NKJV
Jesus is the way. Grace is the only ticket that grants entry into Heaven. Isaac Watts sings, “Through many dangers, toils and snares we have already come. Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.” Grace is extended to those who accept God’s gift.
Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. "A pardon is a slip of paper," wrote Marshall, "the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged." 2,000 years ago; God the Son, Jesus the Christ, issued a pardon. But, just like in the case of George Wilson, the value of the pardon is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon.
God has issued a pardon in the Name of His Son. We are under a sentence of death. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is Eternal life.” We are in need of grace.
It is human to believe that we must do something to merit salvation and qualify for entrance into Heaven. We may do good works, and indeed we ought to, but they do not qualify us for eternal life. You do not need to do what God has already done.
On the night of May 26, 1996, a great tragedy occurred in Houston, Texas. Cora Lee Taylor, her husband, and their two grandchildren were awakened by fire. In panic, they fled the burning house. All four of them escaped safely, but the fifty-eight-year-old grandmother didn’t see that her husband had rescued both grandchildren. Without thought or inquiry, Mrs. Taylor ran back into the flames to rescue the grandchild she believed was still in the house. Tragically, Cora Lee Taylor died searching for the child that had already been rescued.
Likewise, if we try to do what Jesus has already, done, we will lose our lives. By faith accept God’s forgiveness. His grace is your passport to Heaven.
Prayer
Father, I thank you for placing in my heart the desire to enter Heaven to spend eternity with you. Thank you for giving your son, Jesus, as my Saviour. Forgive me of all my sin and lead me by your Spirit until I enter the gates of Heaven to be in your presence
Meet the Author
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Pastors Gary and Eva Winsor are ministers with The Pentecostal Assemblies of Nfld. Gary and Eva have ministered as Youth Pastors, Missionaries in Taiwan, Pastoral Care Counselors and are currently pastoring Bethesda Penetecostal Church, St. John's, Nfld. They have four children: Christina, Robert, Lynette and Danielle. You may visit thier web site at: www.bethesda.nf.ca |
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Guilt
Psalms 31:22
For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.
Psalms 138:8
The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Isaiah 54:4-10
Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
Romans 7:18-25
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 8:1, 2
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 14:22
Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Philippians 3:13, 14
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 10:17
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Jude 1:24,25
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
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