I have often mentioned my beloved friend Rick who was so instrumental in getting me back home to my Jesus - through his amazing patience and waiting on the Lord for Divine Timing to then firehouse me with the Word!

So today was one of those blessed days when we got to spend two hours together talking Jesus. We were chatting about my friend Bev, Walking with Her Bev. How best to help. How best to show up. How best to hear and discern the Holy Spirit and His comforting guidance.

Rick reminded me that when Bev gave her life to Jesus, when she spoke the words - if she meant them - her salvation is guaranteed, and there is nothing she can do to change that, to lose that. Oh this lifted me so much - and again I am stunned at what I miss!

Alive with Christ

…8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.…

So what did I miss about Bev and my desire to Walk with Her, to help her find Christ? Because after she gave her life to Jesus that Saturday night before Easter 2022 - it seemed like nothing else happened. It seemed like her relationship with Christ was still rocky at best and empty at the worst. And me, in my ego and hubris - and also my young growing mind in the Word - I thought she was "losing ground" with God. Rick reminded me that one sin is all sin: and that we can never lose our salvation once spoken and gained.

So, my sin of.... storytelling with loose accounts of details (also known as lying) is NO DIFFERERENT than Bev's fighting and still-arguing with God about gay and saying "YOU made me this way".

This blew my mind today. I will see Bev in Heaven. Because No Works grant us salvation - only the Grace of God. And we received the grace by giving our life to Christ. Oh I think I can find lots of new ways to support Bev now. And it is a gift for her because it is a hard day for her. And it is a gift for me because I love her and am to Walk with Her.

Not By Works

Acts 13:39
Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.

Romans 3:20
Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

Romans 3:22
And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction,

Romans 9:30
What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;

Galatians 3:11
Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."

Galatians 3:24
So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.