Unashamed Reading Plan – W4D3
Check out all the previous Unashamed readings here.
Unashamed Reading Plan | Week 4 | Day 3
Prayer
Take a moment to be silent and still. In order to be fully present in body and mind, take a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Do this three times. Pray that God would open your eyes to wonderful things from His word today.
Bible Reading: Romans 5:1-5
Read these verses three times slowly.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Reflection & Questions
The “therefore” in the first word of today’s verses signals to us that there’s a shift in what Paul’s going to talk about. He has made his case that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ and so he says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith….” In other words, “I’ve shown you that through faith in Jesus you are made right with God, now here’s what that means to our lives…” What does it mean? “Therefore… we have peace with God,” Paul says. How amazing is that?!
Peace with God. We don’t come before God as if he was an enemy to win over, or someone who is hard to please. We come before God as someone who we have peace with. Someone we can rest in the presence of. We don’t have to have our guard up with God or watch our back when we’re with Him. We can trust Him. It’s an amazing transformation of our relationship with Him. Where there once was wrath and enmity, there’s now peace. This peace is so good that Paul says even in our sufferings, we can have trust and give Him praise because we have this special relationship and that means there is purpose and hope.
And just to make sure that we remember how we gained this peace, Paul repeats himself and says “we have gained access by faith.” In other words, don’t ever move away from faith to works to try to earn this peace. This peaceful relationship is accessed through believing the good news.
- Do you sense that you have peace with God? Why or why not? If not, how do these verses help you?
- What difference does having peace with God make to the way we live our lives?
Prayer
Talk to God in response to today’s reading.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
Bible Reading: Romans 5:1-5
Read these verses three times slowly.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Reflection & Questions
The word, “therefore” is the first word of today’s scripture. This means that Paul is going to move on to the next part of talking about faith. He has already shown that salvation is only by faith in Jesus Christ and now he’s going to show us what it means in our lives. What does that mean for us? “Therefore…we have peace with God,” Paul says. And that’s an amazing thing!
We don’t have to come before God with all of our sin showing and worry about how we are going to please him. We get to come to God with peace in our hearts. We don’t have to stress about the wrath of God that we deserved before we had salvation. Once we accept this gift of salvation and have faith in Jesus Christ, our relationship with God transforms. Where there was once wrath and anger, there is now peace! And this peace is so good that Paul says even when we are going through the roughest days of our lives, we can have trust in God and praise Him because we have a special relationship with Him now and He will give us purpose and hope even on the tough days.
And just to make sure that we don’t forget how we got this peace, Paul repeats himself and says, “we have gained access by faith.” In other words, don’t go back to trying to earn this peace through your works, but remember that it is a gift from God that we receive simply by believing.
- What does it feel like to have peace with God in your life?
Pray
Thank God for salvation so that you can have a wonderful relationship of peace with Him!
Check out more Bible Reading Plans here.
Questions?
Ed Applegate
