MERRY MONDAY- “NOT ASHAMED”
“I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for them that believe”. Romans !:16
A Christian at some point has to “take on” the Apostle Paul. Yes, we have to leave the reading of the Old Testament, the sweet Psalms and even the words of Jesus in the gospels. The Pauline Epistles open up the mystery of Christ in you the hope of glory among many other things. Learning to see God in everything and everything, “will turn our life into a south land, with upper and nether springs of blessing in ceaseless flow; for the life that lies full heavenward lies in perpetual summer, in the eternal noon.” Expositor’s Bible
Paul wrote these amazing words to the Romans. He was bound for Rome and knew he would meet persecution. At some point in all of lives, it has to come down to the power of God. Paul had seen enough and he was convinced. This wasn’t his ability, it was totally up to God.
Gill says, “It is the power of God organically or instrumentally; as it is a means made use of by God in quickening dead sinners, enlightening blind eyes, unstopping deaf ears, softening hard hearts, and making of enemies friends; to which add, the manner in which all this is done, suddenly, secretly, effectually, and by love, and not force.” There is nothing so beautiful as seeing God working in people’s lives. Paul had so firm a conviction of its value and its truth; he had experienced so much of its consolations, and had seen so much of its working, that he was so far from being ashamed of it that he gloried in it as the power of God unto salvation.
No matter what you may be facing, there is a complete and eternal recovery in God. For there is “power, power wonder working power, in the blood!” We know it is mighty to the pulling down of strong holds, 2Cor 10:4,5. There is no sin or wickedness that God’s power can’t fix. Jer 23:29, “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”
It is the simplicity of the Gospel that we can rest in. His power works for you everyday as you “give sway” to his word. We can join with Gideon and say, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon! Spurgeon says, “Let us but be bold for Jesus, and we shall see what his arm can do. The gospel is the voice of the eternal God, and has in it the same power as that which brought the world out of nothing, and which shall raise the dead from their graves at the coming of the Son of Man. The gospel, the word of God, can no more return to him void than can the snow go back to heaven, or the rain-drops climb again the path by which they descended from the clouds. Have faith in God’s word, faith in the presence of the Holy Ghost, faith in the reigning Savior, faith in the fulfillment of the everlasting purposes, and you will be full of confidence, and like an army with banners.