Day 4; You are righteous

Scriptural texts:

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ)".Romans 5:17 KJV

"And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God". James 2:23 KJV

Considerations for today: 

Righteousness is the ability to stand before God without any feeling of guilt or inferiority complex. It was sin that separated man from God; and the earliest effect of sin was shame (i.e. feeling of guilt and inferiority). Notice that man could fellowship with God before that time: God would come in the cool of the evening and would talk with man face to face as a friend would talk to another. Shame came about by sin for they had always been naked but were not aware of it. Sin brings guilt and condemnation. It brings despair, sorrow and depression.

 

In Christ Jesus we are restored and made right by God, before God and before everything and everybody else. We are restored to that original state/relationship that Adam had with God. This sate of rightness with God is called righteousness. This righteousness has become our nature. Righteous is who we have become and not just what we do. It was said about Abraham that he believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness (Jam 2:23). He became righteous by believing.

 

Righteousness is a person. Jesus Christ has become our righteousness before God (1 Co 1:30) and we have also become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Co 5:21). In other words we have become the evidence of God’s righteousness. This is a tall order and a high call. Only such as the blood of the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world could guarantee this. By the new and the living way we enter into the holy place. We have direct access to the father because Jesus has made a way for us

 

We will see clearly from the foregone that we cannot make ourselves righteous. Righteousness is a gift from our Father. He saw that the only way we could share fellowship with him again was to share in His nature of righteousness. So just like he did for Abraham, he also does for us when we come in to Christ: He inputs his righteousness on us. Hallelujah!

Meditation Scriptures: Romans 4

Prayer: My Father I thank you that I now share the same nature with you since I came into Christ. I do not suffer from any fear or inferiority because I am in your good books. There is no charge against and no accusation leveled against me can stand anymore.
 

Bible in 1 year:  Matthew 13 - 16

 

Day 3; We are the Righteousness of God

Texts	2Co 5:21 KJV For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Considerations for today	It sounds amazing to say we are God’s standard of righteousness but this indeed is a true saying and is worthy of all acceptance. Consider a certain father with his children. This man always ensures they are well fed and clothed. The children go to the best schools and have the best toys. Somebody observing can say this man’s children are the evidence that this man is a good man. So also, in God loving us and giving us his very nature by putting his Spirit on our inside (Eph 1:3), we are the evidence that God is righteous. In short we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus Understand this that righteousness is not a series of activities. It is a nature. To be righteous goes far beyond doing right things. It is to be made right by God. We are made right by God when we believe in the Lord Jesus. There is nothing a man can do of himself that can make him pleasing before the Father. For this reason he warned us that our own righteousness is like a filthy rag. The filthy rag here can be likened to clothe material which a woman has used to clean herself during her monthly period (in the days before sanitary pad). Our new status of righteousness is not based on rules and regulation which are after the ordinances and rudiments of this world or the commandments and doctrine of men. It is based on faith in the resurrection our Lord Jesus (Rom 10:9) When man sinned, nothing of man could satisfy God. God desiring a relationship with man decided he needed to rectify the situation. He called man and gave man His own righteousness so that anytime man came to Him bearing that righteousness, He would not see the man but the righteousness He has given the man. This has permanently solved the problem, brought man back into relationship with him and made the believing man the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Any person seeing the man bearing the righteousness of God in this way will say, indeed this man has become the righteousness of God.
Meditation scripture	Rom 5:17-21
Prayer	Father I thank you because I have become your display of righteousness to the world, I have been justified by you because I believe in Christ Jesus. Now I walk daily in the abundance of this grace and the gift of righteousness by which I reign in life. Amen
Bible in 1 year	Matt 9 – 12

Day 2; Jesus is our Righteousness

Texts	1Co 1:30 KJV  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Considerations for today	In the Garden of Eden when man sinned, he became separated from God. Though God still ruled in the affairs of men, man was without a relationship with him. According to Apostle Paul: we were dead in trespasses and sins even as we walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others (Eph 2:1-3). However God has now made a way of being right with him which is apart from the fulfilment of laws and regulation. That way of being right with him is in the person of Jesus. No wonder Jesus said of himself: “I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father except by me” (Jn 14:6). When a sacrifice is to be done, it is not the person bringing the animal that is scrutinized but the animal for the sacrifice. The Lamb has been scrutinized and offered as the sacrifice for the sin of the world and the sacrifice has been accepted. Now when we come before the Father he doesn’t see us. He sees Jesus. Jesus is our rightness before the Father. Jesus is our righteousness. This way of being right with the Father is not a function of what we have done right or wrong. It is a function of the sacrifice that has been offered. And now, God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (Eph 2:4).  No wonder he said that we are saved by grace through faith and this is on the bill of the finished work of Christ. The grace of our Lord Jesus is that mere men can now claim the everlasting God as their father by reconciliation and redemption through the shed blood. No wonder the Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are sons of God. No wonder the Spirit of Adoption causes us to cry Abba, Father. He is indeed our Father, Hallelujah! All we need is to confess the Lordship of Jesus and believe he rose from the dead, and, we will have an entry with the Father.
Meditation scriptures	Rom 3:21&22 (NLT), Php 3:9
Prayer	Father I thank you because Jesus has become my righteousness. I can come boldly before your throne of grace and obtain mercy because Jesus has gone ahead of my there. I bask the fatherhood that I have in you because of the finished works of Christ Jesus. Amen
Bible in 1 year	Matthew 5 – 8

Day 1: Accepted in the Beloved

Texts:	Eph 1:6 KJV To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 1Jn 3:1 KJV Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Considerations for today	One characteristic of man is that he is a social being and is always looking for acceptance with people in his circle of interactions. A wife seeks acceptance from her husband and likewise the husband from his wife. Children seek acceptance from their parents and likewise parents from their children. Friends seek acceptance from one another, product and service providers from customers and the list goes on and on. The great desire for acceptance has led people to do desperate things. Some have gone to the extent of harming themselves because they could not find acceptance with certain people. Other manifestations include feelings of inferiority, depression and, at extreme, suicide.  The highest form of acceptance any person could find is to be accepted by the most important person in his sphere of influence. Imagine you receive a call from the president of your nation that you will be having dinner with him tonight because he has heard about you and he likes you. You didn’t believe at the instance but then he sends his ADC to tell you. You still didn’t believe and so the president came himself. All doubts would melt and your celebration would begin. You would wonder to yourself: “what about me has made the president so favourably disposed towards me?” I bet you would want to tell everyone you could that president of the country visited you and you will be having dinner with him tonight. In like manner, the Lord of the entire universe has accepted us without any condition other than believing in the Lord Jesus. As a matter of truth He has accepted us as Jesus the Beloved is accepted. If you can take this: he loves us with the same love with which he loves Jesus. He said this about Jesus: …This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Mat 3:17). It is the same report he has about us because as Jesus is so are we in this world (1Jn 4:17). Now, it doesn’t matter who doesn’t accept us, we are accepted where it really matters, Hallelujah!
Meditation Scriptures	1Jn 3:1-2, 1Jn 4:17, Rom 5:5
Prayer	I thank you Father because I have found acceptance with you. I believe in your love for me and I’m secure in it.
Bible in 1 year	Matt 1 - 4

Image from: https://bobonlife.files.wordpress.com