And rend your heart and not your garments.”
            Now return to the LORD your God,
            For He is gracious and compassionate,
            Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness,
            And relenting of evil. -Joel 2:13 NASB77

In our hearts as children of the most high God, we know what is required! ❤

To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.-Psalm‬ ‭123:1-2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Throughout the Bible we are given examples of how remaining focused and persistent will always be rewarded. Whether it is our Lord telling the story of the woman pleading with the corrupt judge or Paul (in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) reminding us to “pray without ceasing,” examples are everywhere.

And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.
John 6:39 NLT

It is a wonderful blessing to know that we are secure in Christ. The Bible makes this abundantly clear and the presence of the Holy Spirit affirms this each and every day.

It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this. I want you to put your foot down. Take a firm stand on these matters so that those who have put their trust in God will concentrate on the essentials that are good for everyone. Stay away from mindless, pointless quarreling over genealogies and fine print in the law code. That gets you nowhere. Warn a quarrelsome person once or twice, but then be done with him. It’s obvious that such a person is out of line, rebellious against God. By persisting in divisiveness he cuts himself off. -Titus 3:3‭-‬8 MSG

A good reminder to live a life of people redeened and washed by the blood of Christ.