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Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. — Romans 13:1 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Yes, many of us don't like things about our governments, no matter where we may live. However, God has truly blessed many of us so that we can enjoy the protection of the authorities where we live. Paul is reminding believers to honor our governments and the laws under which we live. That said, like the first disciples, we also live in the time of some of the worst persecution ever known in the Christian era. Brothers and sisters in many parts of the world face opposition, persecution, and prejudice. In those cases, believers must honor God before their national and local laws. So, as we pray for our leaders and thank God for our freedoms, let's not forget the persecuted church all over the world. Let's pray for their deliverance, protection, and per...

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. — 1 Peter 2:10 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Excluded. Rejected. Discarded. Abandoned. Forgotten. Pushed aside. Never picked. Each of these describes what it feels like to be a nobody. The evil one gives our sinful flesh the tools and the opportunities to speak these words of self-condemnation to ourselves. God, however, has extended his mercy and grace to us. "But now…" - two of the greatest words of hope when God is attached. "But now" we can trust that God has loved us in Christ, brought us into his family, and given us a purpose. We are now part of the people of God! We have been chosen to be part of the victorious team of teams. We have received mercy! Grace has washed over us, and God's love has adopted us into his family. Peter is reminding maligned and persecuted believers that they can choose to see themselves as "no...

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. — Ephesians 1:18 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Heaven is something we see now with our hearts through our faith. When we are discouraged, doubtful, and depressed, we need to have the eyes of our hearts "enlightened" so we can live our lives with that hope. The dawn needs to rise in our darkness; as we see the dawn of hope and the riches of our inheritance on the horizon, we can be strong, have faith, endure, persevere, and even thrive in our faith. When things look bad, however, sometimes the only way to remember "the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints" is to sing them, pray them, and read God's promises of them in Scripture. These three spiritual practices awaken our faith to see beyond our circumstances! Paul reminds us that, as bro...

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. — 1 Peter 5:8-9 Thoughts on Today's Verse... The evil one, the devil, is not an imaginary being or a pretend force we dismiss as a childish fear. He and his power are real, and he intends to do us eternal harm! (Look at the poor man inhabited by a legion of demons in Mark 5:1-20 and see what the evil one would like to do with all of us.) Instead of spending our time worrying about him, however, let's resist him when we are tempted and focus on Jesus. Jesus defeated the evil one and his horde of demonic spirits on the cross ( Colossians 2:15 ). Jesus won the big showdown at Calvary, triumphing over Satan. He took the evil one's greatest tool, death, and our fear of death, and disarmed it ( Hebrews 2:14-15 ). Now we can re...

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 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Don't you love receiving gifts! Especially when they're truly given with no strings attached; we just have to receive them. The greatest gift we've ever received has nothing to do with our efforts. It is a gift from God. We didn't earn it, deserve it, or purchase it. God gave it through his sacrifice so our salvation would not be our boasting, but his loving kindness offered to us in Jesus. This simple, clear, and saving gospel, which finds its origin in God alone, is so important that the apostle Paul warned that no one should change it, or they would face the curse of God ( Galatians 1:8-9 ). Our appropriate response is to receive this gospel with joy by placing our faith in Jesus, then go live for him, doing good things to bless others ( Ephesians 2:10 ). Video Commentary.....

I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. — Romans 12:1 Thoughts on Today's Verse... Because God went first and sacrificed his most precious gift, Jesus, to save us, he can ask us to surrender ourselves to him. Only one problem: The sorry ol' sacrifice wants to keep crawling off the altar. Let's admit it; talk of sacrifice and being a living sacrifice doesn't sound all that enticing. Except offering ourselves to God is where we find life and find what is most enduring about ourselves. As the famous missionary Jim Elliot profoundly put it: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." We offer ourselves, our will, our time, our heart, our commitment, to God each day because of what he has already done for us, and the greater things he has promised us in the future! My Prayer... Holy and Righteous Savior, I want to sur...