God’s priority is our salvation. This daily devotional looks at how we are to join His work by praying for others’ salvation.
Nuggets
- Our prayers for others should focus on their spiritual condition.
- God, as designer of the Plan of Salvation, is our ultimate Savior.
- God prefers all to be saved.
- We know that God’s Word is true because He cannot lie.
Devotions in How to Love Our Neighbors series
God calls us to come alongside Him and join Him in His work. His work is to save the world. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 NIV).
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
It Is Good
“This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2: 3-4 ESV)
Our prayers for others should focus on their spiritual condition.
Well, Proctor’s sermon started off this section with a curveball. He wrote, “Prayer is not everything, but it is ‘good.’”
Resource
Wait! What?
If prayer isn’t everything, why is there so much emphasis on it?
Look at it this way. We pray to ask Jesus to be our Savior and Redeemer. But if we don’t submit, repent, and change our ways from sinful to godly, the prayers are just words we’ve spoken.
God doesn’t want us to say empty words. He wants our prayers to change our hearts and character.
There is no love behind our words if we don’t follow through on our prayers and imitate Him.
The Ultimate Savior
“… God our Savior” (I Tim. 2: 3 ESV)
God, as designer of the Plan of Salvation, is our ultimate Savior.
Hmmm. God our Savior? I thought Jesus was our Savior.
Well, Jesus is. But the Plan of Salvation originated with God.
Proctor explained it this way in tying it to prayer. He wrote, “The intercessions of the Church as well as the intercessions of the Christ, are but the outgrowth of a Divine purpose, a saving purpose.”
Resource
God wants us to pray for everyone. We need to be sincere in our prayers for their salvation. He wants to be their Savior.
Saving the World
“who desires all people to be saved …” (I Tim. 2: 4 ESV)
God prefers all to be saved.
There are no qualifiers here. All means everyone.
The gospel is all about love. In fact, God’s love is shown by how He designed the Plan of Salvation. “But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5: 8 CSB).
Salvation isn’t a license that we can go on sinning. Instead, salvation is where we “… come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2: 4 ESV).
Salvation is the gift of life through the deliverance from condemnation and sin to acceptance and holiness and changes us from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive.
- Sin is not believing that Jesus is our Savior to save us from our actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Holiness is the transcendent excellence of His nature that includes elements of purity, dedication, and commitment that lead to being set apart.
- Purity means possessing God’s moral character, having eliminated the stain of sin.
- Spiritual death is the spiritual separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
Glossary
We are to figure out that mankind has a sinful nature. We are separated from God because of our sins.
Jesus came to rectify that. He gave His life so His blood could be used as payment for the penalty of our sins.
All we have to do is confess that God is Sovereign Lord. We need to submit to His Will.
Clarke reminded us that everything God does is motivated by His Will. His priority is to have our relationships with Him restored by our acceptance of His gift of salvation.
God wants us to have knowledge of the truth. That is why He gives every disciple the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. He is our Teacher and our Guide.
Resource
Glossary
Knowing the Truth
“… and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2: 4 ESV)
We know that God’s Word is true because He cannot lie.
- “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Num. 23: 19 KJV)
- “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Ti. 1: 2 KJV).
When we know this truth and accept it, that is when we gain salvation. That is the process.
Knowledge + acceptance = salvation.
Ooo. Watson brought up a good point. How much knowledge of the truth do we have to have in order to receive salvation and how is it known?
God doesn’t expect us to have a complete and accurate knowledge of all truth. He doesn’t flip a switch and download it into us.
So, full knowledge isn’t a prerequisite to salvation. But that also means we will always have more to learn.
Oh, some things are essential to gaining salvation. We’ve talked about them several times. Watson wrote, “The best way of determining what is essential for us to know, is to consider what is essential to faith.”
Resource
Glossary
We need to know enough to believe. God reveals more and more truth to us through sanctification.
Sanctification is the transformation of mind, body, and soul, which begins with regeneration; gradually changes our nature and morals through the promptings of the Holy Spirit; and ends with perfected state of spiritual wholeness or completeness.
- Regeneration is being changed from spiritually dead to spiritually alive and the internal new birth and requickening that God brings about through the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new character.
Glossary
What we have to be careful of is that this isn’t saying that we can have knowledge of any old truth and be saved. We have to have knowledge of God’s truth – and that truth alone.
God’s truth is much different than the worldview truth. God will not save us if we follow the worldview truth. God will not save us if we follow a combination of His truth and the worldview truth.
As we grow in knowledge of God’s truth, we confirm our faith and grow it. That way when Satan starts throwing things at us – and he will – we will be able to hold firm and remind him what Scriptures say.
Making the Connections
Yes, God wants all to be saved. He doesn’t force us to be saved. He isn’t a dictator telling us what to think and do.
We have free will. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
When we accept salvation, God doesn’t change our personalities. We still are who we are.
We have to choose God in order to be saved. We have to relinquish our will to His.
How Do We Apply This?
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
- Pray for the salvation of others
Father God. We thank You that You have called us to join You in Your work. That work is to proclaim Your Word to all creation. Give us Your heart to love everyone and boldness witness to them. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.