Lifestyle of Grace

First15 Devotional

First15

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.9 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2023

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As we continue our week on becoming poor in spirit, today we’ll explore the concept of living a lifestyle of grace. Many of us struggle with pride and self-sufficiency. But those things are in stark opposition to what it means to live poor in spirit. When we choose the road of humility, we open ourselves up to a life dependent on God’s grace to sustain us, a life fueled by God’s power rather than our own. It is my hope today that we can learn to embrace our weakness, that God may be made strong in us.

Our Scripture for today comes from 2 Corinthians 12:9, and today's worship is Grace to Grace by Hillsong Worship.

Thanks for listening to today’s First15 Podcast. My name is Ryn, and I’m a part of the First15 Team. If you haven’t downloaded our brand new First15 app, make sure to click the link in today’s show notes to check it out! One of the new features that you can enjoy when you download the app is our Guided Prayers. We are adding new prayers to our library every month, so if you need a moment of peace with God, let these prayers be your guide!

Have you ever been in the midst of a challenging season that seems to taunt both your heart and mind as though it has more strength than the God who created you and promises to see you through everything? A world filled with distractions has a tendency to throw even our faith off center, making it difficult to believe that the God to whom nothing is impossible can and desires to give you strength to endure as He works in ways that only He can to work both for your good and His glory as He teaches you what it looks like to “sleep in the stern” as Jesus did in Mark 4:38, fully at peace in the midst of trial. We pray that this verse will serve to you as a reminder of what ensued in the following verses as the frightened (and somewhat perturbed) disciples called out to Jesus for help, and watched in amazement as the very storm that threatened their lives bowed to his command.

We are so excited to announce our very first First15 Kid’s Devotional book, My Time With God.

Get your copy of First15’s first ever devotional book for kids today!

My Time with God is a 20 day devotional written for young readers, ages 6-12, to help encourage and equip them to establish a lifetime of learning and walking with God through daily scripture reading and reflection. Each day of this 20 day devotional includes scriptures, activities, and prayers to help growing believers learn how to connect more deeply with God and about how spending time with God helps us live the life he’s called us to.

This resource is foundational, answering questions such as,

What is a devotional?
What is prayer?
Why spend time with God?
What does it mean to enjoy God’s presence?

“When we choose to love God and let ourselves experience his love, he also teaches us how to love others. Living for love means living like Jesus did. He was always thinking of others.”

Request your copy of First15’s new kids devotional, My Time With God, today by clicking here, and help your kids explore spending time with God each and every day!

Transcript

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0:00.0	As we continue our week on becoming poor in spirit, today we'll explore the concept of living a lifestyle of grace.
0:13.0	Many of us struggle with pride and self-sufficiency, but those things are in stark opposition to what it means to live poor and spirit.
0:21.4	When we choose the road of humility, we open ourselves up to a lifestyle dependent on God's
0:27.4	grace to sustain us, a life fueled by God's power rather than our own.
0:34.6	It's my hope today that we can learn to embrace our weaknesses that God may be made strong
0:40.3	in us. Welcome to the First 15 podcast. When we live poor and spirit, we position ourselves
0:51.7	to receive the limitless grace of our Heavenly Father. To
0:55.3	be poor in spirit is by definition to acknowledge our immense total need of God's help.
1:01.7	And throughout Scripture, God declares that His heart is for those who acknowledge their
1:06.9	need of Him. Isaiah 66 says, all these things my hand has made. And so all these things
1:14.9	came to be, declares the Lord, but this is the one to whom I will look. He who is humble and
1:21.6	contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. God's grace is for those poor in spirit. Paul demonstrated this truth in
1:30.4	2 Corinthians 12, 9, where God told him, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect
1:37.4	and weakness. And by exhibiting the proper response to God's truth, Paul says, therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my
1:46.4	weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I long for the power of Christ in my life.
1:53.7	I long to live entirely by his perfect grace. And Scripture declares to you and me today
1:59.6	that the way we access the fullness of God's
2:02.4	grace is by living, poor, and spirit.
2:05.4	We must open our eyes to see the true state of our spiritual health, not in comparison
2:11.1	to others, but in comparison to Jesus.
2:14.8	And we must allow a revelation of our spiritual depravity to lead us to a continual
2:19.8	acknowledgement of our need of God's grace. The truth is that to be anything but poor in spirit
	...

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