“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭11‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I don’t pretend to understand everything God does. I don’t even think I understand much at all about what God does or has done. This verse reminds me of that. What I do know is that when Jesus died, He was dying in my place. But He did what I could never do – He left all my sin behind in death and then returned to His previous life. And somehow, if I accept this gift of His sacrifice, I can live without the burden of my sin. So mysterious. Simple, but hard to understand. Things like this just don’t happen in my day-to-day life. People don’t die and resurrect themselves regularly. And it’s pretty rare that people do huge favors for strangers let alone die in their place. And yet Jesus did these things. And when He did, His Spirit came to live in His followers. That same Spirit came to live in me when I accepted Jesus’s gift of love. Again, so mind-boggling, mysterious, and bizarre. But the Bible says this is what happened. To believe it, I have to have faith.

Dear God,

Thank you for the miraculous and mysterious gift of salvation you offered me through Jesus. I gratefully accept! Teach me how to live with, to listen to, and be guided by your Spirit. What amazing power and freedom is available to me through your Spirit! Show me how to make use of this power and freedom to love people and please you today.