awesome!

the weekend at PTBC was awesome. many reminders abt our salvation & assurance in Christ - renewed convictions abt my identity in Him, the certainty of my inheritance & the host of spiritual blessings i have as His child :) most of all, God reminded me how very very much He loves me & there's little i shd fear, fret about. He is just too good for words.

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."

Romans 4:1-9

the great & amazing truth -

one is counted righteous simply by believing in God's promises

not by going to church, not by attending bible study, not by serving, not by saying the "right" things, doing the "right" things. my salvation is wholly, completely, utterly reliant on His work on the Cross alone. how cool is that?! not new stuff but realising afresh is a liberation all over. lalalalala!