Day 4: Eliminating Fear
 
 

Galatians 3:26-29 (NIV)

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
 
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Thought: Am I really good with God? When I am having a good day, I don’t ask that question. There are days you feel like that, like a spiritual rock star – God is lucky to have you on his team.    But what about the other days?    The days where you realize you are still wrestling with sin in your life… Days you just don’t understand why you keep messing up in the same area of your life? Those are the moments you ask the question, “Am I still good with God?” The apostle Paul confessed that he wrestled with sin. In a letter he wrote to the church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 12:1-10) he confessed he felt like there was a thorn in his flesh, a messenger from Satan to harass him. This powerful language describes how we feel sometimes.    Why do I keep messing up?! God’s words to Paul are even more powerful, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”    God’s grace is bigger than our shortcomings.   God’s grace is not dependent on our perfection. To give us assurance of His grace in our life he gave us the gift of baptism. Baptism is another promise God makes to us.  Through ordinary water and God’s word, God promises that he will be our God and we will be his people.    We are completely his.   Peter says it like this in 1 Peter 3:21, “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”   Baptism is God’s assurance that you are good with him.   If you were baptized as a baby and later walked away from faith, you can have confidence that you’re still good. How? Because even when you were unfaithful, God was faithful in pursuing you.  If you have never been baptized, talk to a pastor at your church and they will be able to get you baptized, so you too can experience that assurance that only God can give. Read this story, Acts 16:25-34. What must I do to be saved?  What is that assurance that God will connect me to himself? Paul’s answer is simple – believe. To give the jailer that assurance of God’s promise, Paul baptized him and his entire family.
 
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