Words to Live by is a weekly devotional email of Scriptures and quotes that highlight and expound upon our Union with Christ. If you’d like to receive devotionals like the one below, please subscribe using this link.

Wednesday April 1, 2026

Boldness of faith

“…in union with Christ we recognize every good thing as solely He in us: ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…’; ‘Jesus Christ is made unto us Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification…’ Equally in the former union with the devil, every evil thing was the fruit of the evil spirit: ‘Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do’: ‘He that committeth sin is of the devil…for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.’

Redemption, therefore, has released us humans from our former task-master, and joined us to our new Lord. The old man has become the new man.  The same man (human) in both relationships, but the change of an old Lord for a new one. In the light of this, we can accept ourselves, with no single thing about our human nature which is not now for God-manifestation: and wherein we still have difficulty with aspects of our humanity, it is not for us to despise or smear ourselves, but to inquire how these same aspects can now be harnessed for new uses.

Let us also remember that that Accuser of the Brethren is a born, compulsive liar; therefore, one favorite weapon of his is to make us appear in our eyes a distorted, disgusting caricature of what we are in others’ eyes. Sufficient for us always to return to the fact that God has chosen us exactly as we are, and if He is satisfied to do that, we can be satisfied; and He has far more pleasure than sorrow over His children. Read Numbers 21:23. And when we hear that the judgment seat of Christ will be something to be feared with deprivations to be expected, I prefer to believe what Paul said in 1 Cor. 4:5–that every man shall then have, not rebuke and punishment, but ‘praise of God.’

So replace the waves of condemnation with boldness of faith. Long ago I learned that ‘the voice of the stranger’ depresses, downgrades, darkens; that ‘the voice of the Shepherd’ is always gentle, upbuilding, healing. Discern between soul and spirit where the soul, the seat of the emotions and reason is much lowering as elevating; but we live back beneath the outer covering of soul, where our spirit is joined to His Spirit, and there the relationship is invariable, and there He is in all His sufficiency, no matter how the outer storms may blow, or we may ‘feel’ a poor recommendation of Him.”

Taken from: The Spontaneous You

By Norman Grubb

Pages 72-73