Pleasing Or Trusting God?

TODAY’S VERSE
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
I want to “please God” more than anything. I want to bring Him joy and thank Him for everything He does. Or at least that is where my mind starts. In truth, what is “pleasing God” really about? Is it about God, and how much I want to thank Him by pleasing Him? Or is it about me and how I want to ensure God is happy with my behavior? Is it about my own insecurity and inability to receive His unconditional love? Instead, I need to trust God. Why? Because with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I already please God. Paul reminds us that we are saved by God’s grace, not our own works. No behavior on my part could ever please God the way His own grace does. God loves us and we don’t need to earn it by “pleasing” Him. Instead, when we realize what grace is all about, we will trust Him fully. When that happens, our praise and adoration will be pleasing Him, not our vain efforts to gain His love.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, it is so hard for me to understand that I don’t have to earn Your love to please You. Instead, You already love me. You are already pleased with me. Thank You, Father, for all the grace You have given me. Help me trust Your love and grace.
AMEN

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Mercy

TODAY’S VERSE
He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Proverbs 28:13 (NIV)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Confession is good for the soul. If done right, it is a tremendous spiritual discipline. As a counselor and Pastor, I have heard many “confessions” in the form of remorse, sadness, guilt, and fear. As a person struggling with my own “sinful” nature, I have had the blessing of confessing my own “sins that so easily beset me.” There is something about cleansing our hearts that gives us life. The Apostle John shares, “If we confess our sins, he (Jesus) is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Jesus listens with never-ending love and forgives with His matchless grace. And yet, even with His forgiveness only seconds away, many of us end up with a false suspicion that we are unlovable, condemned, and damaged goods. So we work harder and put on our “Christian” mask to ensure we make the mark. Where does that come from? From God? No. This false condemnation and poor sense of God’s love comes from our own hearts. Today, let go of that nagging doubt and self-condemnation. God loves you. Period! He completely forgives you! It is finished. You have found mercy, don’t give it back. Keep it. Treasure it. Believe it. Hear Jesus say, “Go, your sins are forgiven, be whole!”

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, You know my sins. I confess them to You. You know my struggles, my fears, the masks that I have put on. Help me believe you so I can put down this heavy burden of shame and condemnation and live in the freedom of your mercy. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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A New Reality

TODAY’S VERSE
Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
I Corinthians 1:30 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
It is easy to miss the reality of what Christ has done for us. We get so caught up in our everyday lives. Our habits, thoughts, and emotions constantly remind us of our humanness. However, Paul shares that there is another reality. There is a new you! It was created in Christ when you were born again. Born again as in a “new” creature. So, what is this new creature? It is royalty, a new child of God. It is not made with flesh and blood like you were in your mother’s womb, but rather born again in the spiritual realm. God took you, with your self-will and sinfulness, and made you right with Him. He created you this time, pure and holy, and most of all, He freed you from sin’s power. It is hard to believe, but you don’t have to strive to be right with God. You don’t have to earn God’s love. When Christ died on the Cross, you received His free gift of salvation. He freed you from sin that very moment. He made you over again, pure and holy. He canceled all records of your wrongdoing and made you right with Him. Today, live in this freedom. Look into the mirror of God’s love and see what He sees.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, thank You for Your love and forgiveness. Thank You for freeing me from sin. Thank You for Your salvation and for making me pure and Holy in Your sight.
AMEN

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NOW YOU CAN HEAR A DIFFERENT MOMENT IN THE WORD ON YOUTUBE! Go to http://www.youtube.com/@ronovitt and You will find my channel. Click on playlists and go to Moment In The Word. Make sure to SUBSCRIBE so you will get them every day!

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Come Boldly To God

TODAY’S VERSE
This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Hebrews 4:15,16 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
The author of Hebrews uses the High Priest as a model of Christ. It was the High Priest who represented the Israelites to God, confessed their sins, and gave an offering for their offenses. To do this, he would first have to confess his sins. He would have to make a sacrifice for his own failings. Then, after his own cleansing, he could represent the people. You see, there was a limit to what the High Priest could do. He couldn’t help the people stop their sins. He could not meet the individual needs of the people. Today, God has created a better way. He has sent Himself to be our High Priest. God, in the person of Jesus Christ, came once for all time and sacrificed Himself so we could be forgiven. More than that, Christ is on the Father’s right hand, interceding for our every need. He knows your weaknesses, so He gives you complete access to His love, power, mercy, and grace. If you know Him, you can confidently say that He is “my” Savior. When Christ became your High Priest, He made it personal. Today, come to God’s very throne. Come to the one who loves you and has everything you need.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, I thank You for sacrificing Your Son, my Savior, Jesus Christ. I thank You for knowing who I am, You know my weaknesses, and You still love me. I especially thank You for promising to care for my every need with Your mercy and grace. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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NOW YOU CAN HEAR A DIFFERENT MOMENT IN THE WORD ON YOUTUBE! Go to http://www.youtube.com/@ronovitt and You will find my channel. Click on playlists and go to Moment In The Word. Make sure to SUBSCRIBE so you will get them every day!

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Get Right With God

TODAY’S VERSE
We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
Romans 3:22-23 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Are you right with God? This is a serious question, yet most of us don’t spend much time thinking about it. Somewhere along the line, we have developed our own theory of how to be right with God. It usually involves doing some good, at least more good than we think we have done wrong. But the Bible tells of a different plan. It talks of a God who loves us and has made a way that we can be forgiven. It shares how receiving Christ as our personal Savior will bring us into right standing with Him. By putting our faith in the sacrifice of His son, Jesus, on the cross, we become God’s child and are born again into His family. This brings us into a whole new relationship with God, and we are made right with Him. Today, you can have this relationship. Accept Christ as your personal Savior, ask Him to forgive your sins, and make you His child. Put your faith in Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross for you and you will have a right relationship with Him.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, I accept Christ’s death on the cross for me and ask You to forgive all my sins. I accept Christ as my Savior, and put my faith in Him. Take my life and help me live it for You.
AMEN

______________________________________________

NOW YOU CAN HEAR A DIFFERENT MOMENT IN THE WORD ON YOUTUBE! Go to http://www.youtube.com/@ronovitt and You will find my channel. Click on playlists and go to Moment In The Word. Make sure to SUBSCRIBE so you will get them every day!

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Your New Reality

TODAY’S VERSE
Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
I Corinthians 1:30 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
It is easy to miss the reality of what Christ has done for us. We get so caught up in our everyday lives. Our habits, thoughts, and emotions constantly remind us of our humanness. However, Paul shares that there is another reality. There is a new you! It was created in Christ when you were born again. Born again as in a “new” creature. So, what is this new creature? It is royalty, a new child of God. It is not made with flesh and blood like you were in your mother’s womb, but rather born again in the spiritual realm. God took you, with your self-will and sinfulness, and made you right with Him. He created you this time, pure and holy, and most of all, He freed you from sin’s power. It is hard to believe, but you don’t have to strive to be right with God. You don’t have to earn God’s love. When Christ died on the Cross, you received His free gift of salvation. He freed you from sin that very moment. He made you over again, pure and holy. He canceled all records of your wrongdoing and made you right with Him. Today, live in this freedom. Look into the mirror of God’s love and see what He sees.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, thank You for Your love and forgiveness. Thank You for freeing me from sin. Thank You for Your salvation and for making me pure and Holy in Your sight.
AMEN

______________________________________________

NOW YOU CAN HEAR A DIFFERENT MOMENT IN THE WORD ON YOUTUBE! Go to http://www.youtube.com/@ronovitt and You will find my channel. Click on playlists and go to Moment In The Word. Make sure to SUBSCRIBE so you will get them every day!

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Forgiveness

TODAY’S VERSE
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins.
Psalms 103:2-3 (NIV)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
What a beautiful plan. God creates us for fellowship with Him. Like Adam and Eve, God allows us free will to choose to love Him and follow His ways. All the while, God knows He has created us with a human condition that tempts us to stray from Him and His Holy standard. Yet because of His unconditional love for us, He can forgive every transgression through the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on the cross. John writes, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Today, confess anything that is between you and God. Get your conscience clear with Him. When you do, God promises to forgive.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, thank You for the Holy Spirit, who convicts me of sin. Thank You also for Jesus Christ, who took my place on the cross. Guide me today and help clear my conscience with You. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN

He Is God

TODAY’S VERSE
Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Matthew 16:15 (NLT)

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Who do you think Jesus is? Jesus asked this crucial question to His disciples. It is a question that we, too, must answer. The answer is life-changing. What we think about God helps define the relationship we have with Him. If we believe God is distant and aloof, we will find ourselves distant from Him. If God is harsh and unpredictable, then we will have a relationship based on fear and anxiety. But what if God is precisely the way Jesus exhibited Him? What if the Prodigal’s father was an accurate representative of the forgiveness and love of God? What if all that Paul writes about our God of faithfulness, mercy, and grace is true? Couldn’t that change our life if we believed it? Yes, it would. Jesus is indeed God in the flesh. His love, sacrifice, and tender mercy toward those in need are the exact images of His Father. Today, come to the God that Jesus revealed. Acknowledge that He is the loving, caring, holy, just, faithful, almighty, all-knowing, and all-powerful God and live for Him.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, help me to know You as You really are. Reveal Yourself to me so I can love, worship, and honor You with my life. Forgive me for all my misconceptions. Help me to know You in all Your beauty, love, and holiness.
AMEN

NOW YOU CAN HEAR A DIFFERENT MOMENT IN THE WORD ON YOUTUBE! Go to http://www.youtube.com/@ronovitt and You will find my channel. Click on playlists and go to Moment In The Word. Make sure to SUBSCRIBE so you will get them every day!

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A New Person

TODAY’S VERSE
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 2:9-10

TODAY’S THOUGHT
Motive is complex. So much of what we feel and do is because of what we believe. What we believe creates our motives. A negative self-image can create a motive that drives us to do what we think will make us acceptable in other people’s eyes. What about God’s eyes? If our eternal destiny is at risk, doesn’t it make sense that we do all we can to earn our way into God’s favor? Yet that is exactly what Paul was trying to argue against. Paul writes, “Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” If Holiness is the only thing that will satisfy a Holy God, then I can never earn my way to heaven. That is why Jesus had to be my substitute. His perfect life was traded for my jaded one. Now I am a child of God and Heaven because I took the citizenship He offered me. He made me a new person. Have you accepted His offer to become His child? You can today. Then you know what you will find out about doing good? It’s not to earn God’s love; it’s because you have it.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying on the cross for me. I know I need Your perfect life as a substitute for my own sinful one. I understand You died for me, and today I accept Your free gift of salvation. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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God Loves Me

TODAY’S VERSE
This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
I John 4:10

TODAY’S THOUGHT
It is one thing to “say” you love someone. It is another to really love them. The actual language of love is not found in some poetic phrase. The language of love is in our actions. Love needs to be a verb. So when I say, “God loves you!” I am referring to much more than some simple sentiment. I am referring to the fact that you are important to God. You are special to Him. Paul shares, “God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” When we are at our worst and farthest from Him, His love for us is still there. God sent Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sinfulness so that we could have a legitimate relationship with Him. So we could experience His love and begin to express our love back to Him. Have you received His love? Have you made it personal? If not, acknowledge the fact that He loves you today. Thank Him for providing a way for you to come before His Holiness, cleansed, forgiven, and as His child. Jesus said it best, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, God gave the right to become children of God.”

TODAY’S PRAYER
Father, I have heard the words “God loves me” before. Today I want to make it personal. I want You to know how thankful I am that You sent Jesus to be my substitute so I could come before You, holy and blameless. So that I could be “born again” as Your child. Today, I receive these words into my heart, “God loves me!” Please help me to understand it and all the joy that it brings. In Jesus’ name.
AMEN

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