Daily Morning Message 3/31/2021

Morning Message
March 31, 2021

by Gayle Gordon

"Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the Lord;
Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned. (Lamentations 3:40-42)

Broken trust is extremely hard to repair. It takes a healing from the Lord to restore that loss. In this verse, God lets us see that sin breaks trust between Him and us, and we are in need.

Sin is not "pardoned", it is paid for. Justice has been done; Jesus bore all sin and died on the cross. That paid for all 'transgression and rebellion'. He obliterated all our sin - it exists no more. It is not remembered by our Father.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)

Our Almighty God has destroyed our sin completely and made a way for us to abide in His love and mercy. He has repaired and restored our mutual trust through His Son.
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever." (Psalm 23:6)

Satan works constantly to grab back what he lost when we received Jesus. As we walk in the Spirit, he fails. Even when we slip and stumble in our walk, we are covered in grace, mercy and strengthening. I find that The Message translation puts it beautifully, from Romans:

"What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.
"But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help!
"I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up.
"I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope.
"Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?
"The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different." (Romans 7:7-25 MSG, selected)

It is still the work of Satan to turn every command (law, precept) of God's into a temptation to do the opposite. He's been at it since he tempted Eve.

"With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. ...A new power is in operation.
"...And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.
(Romans 8:1,3 - MSG)

We can find our thoughts totally focused on ourselves. Jesus asks us to pry our minds off of self and direct them to Him. That one habit brings indwelling peace and comfort. His Spirit lives in you!

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?" (Jeremiah 32:27).