You Bring Joy to God
“His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.” (Ephesians 1:5 NLT)
Say the following as a prayer.
In faith, I know this to be true:
God is in love with me, and when he thinks of me, it brings him joy.
It was his good pleasure to create me, and he created me so he could love me and his glory could shine through me. He chose me “in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Ephesians 1:4 NIV).
In his love, he determined to adopt me into his family, and, even then, he planned for my redemption through Jesus’ blood, bringing “the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on [me] with all wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians 1:7–8).
His love for me is continuous, so that I can say with confidence and joy, “When I awake, I am still with you” (Psalm 139:18b).
By his Spirit, I can live a life worthy of the Lord, and I am able to “please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10).
Jesus teaches me this confidence in God’s love, so that the same joy that is in him will be in me and so my joy will be complete, centered wholly in God (John 15:11).
- What would it feel like to be “lavished” with God’s grace?
- How does it feel to know God is pleased to have you in his family?
Jon Walker’s new book, “Breakfast with Bonhoeffer,” is a message of hope for anyone longing for another chance at life as God created it to be. It is a story of God’s faithfulness, even through job loss, home loss, economic uncertainty, divorce and an incurable disease. Structured like a novel, it reveals how God works through our often messy and inconsistent faith.
This devotional © Copyright 2012 Jon Walker. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
