Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

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The Work is Finished {No Matter What Monday}

July 31, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

Christ's work for your salvation is finished. Biblical encouragement, Scripture, and devotionals for women.

I’m a list-maker. Are you? If not, I’d love to hear how you function – I’d never survive without my lists! I’ve got my daily list, my weekly list, my monthly list, and my “someday” list. (It’s a rare, exciting day when I cross something off the someday list!) Making sharp little checkmarks next to completed tasks makes me smile.

If you find me curled up in bed with a book or plopped down in a recliner in front of the tv around 9pm, it means my list for that day boasts a lot of checkmarks. I don’t sit still unless the day’s essentials have been completed and the non-essentials bumped to the next day’s list.

So I find it fascinating that nine times in the New Testament, we read that Jesus Christ is seated at the Father’s right hand. Jesus lived and died for us. He rose again. Then He ascended to heaven, and when He got there, He sat.

“But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” (Hebrews 10:12)

Christ’s sacrifice of Himself on the cross completed the work required by God for our salvation. He fully paid the debt we owed because of sin. Yes, there is work that God asks us to do as His redeemed people. But the work of salvation is finished. The sacrifice offered by the prefect Lamb of God was complete and sufficient.

Jesus Christ completed His mission, returned home to the Father’s side, and sat down. As we go about our tasks this week, whether we’re checking off a list or just doing the next thing, let’s joyfully remember that our Savior completed the most important work for us.

No matter what you face this week, remember that Christ’s work for your salvation is finished.

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God Will Never Leave You {No Matter What Monday}

October 3, 2016 by Marissa Leave a Comment

hebrews-13-5

I was halfway down the mountain and didn’t know what to do next. I was cold, tired and scared. And I was alone.

It was my first-ever ski trip, a church youth group trip during my sophomore year of high school. After a few runs down the bunny slopes, our college-aged chaperone took us up to the top of the mountain for our first real run. She paired up the new skiers with those who had experience, and she assigned me to the guy who had dumped me just weeks before. Perfect.

As you can imagine, he wasn’t too interested in offering words of encouragement as he skied slowly down the mountain beside me. It took him about five minutes to decide he was out of there, and off he went. I was on my own, forced to figure out how to get down all by myself.

We’re often tempted to view our grown-up trials in the same way. We want to believe God is with us. But sometimes it feels like we’re taking so long to work through our issues that we wonder if God will get bored and move on. Or we’re in the throes of suffering and can’t imagine why God hasn’t rescued us from our circumstances. We feel abandoned and alone.

But God isn’t like the 16-year-old boy who left me on the ski run.

Hebrews 13:5: {God} will never leave you nor forsake you.

Whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, the Lord is by your side. In Him, you have everything you need to face your struggles. His love for you will never waver, and His faithfulness will never come to an end. He will finish the good work He began in you.

No matter what you face this week, God will never leave you.

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Our Hope Enters Behind the Curtain {No Matter What Monday}

April 18, 2016 by Marissa Leave a Comment

behind the curtain (2)

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. 

Hebrews 6:19-20 (ESV)

 

Last week we talked about the anchor of our hope being in God’s sure and steadfast promises. But what about the rest of the verse?

 

Our hope is described as entering the inner place behind the curtain. Now, I know that can sound like a bunch of theological gobbledygook. The inner place refers to the Holy of Holies, the place where God dwelled in the temple. Once a year, the high priest would take a blood sacrifice and enter into the inner place to atone for the sin of the people and remove their guilt.

 

When the author of Hebrews says that Jesus has gone on our behalf into the inner place, he’s saying that Jesus’ sacrifice has taken away the guilt of our sin. Jesus’ blood qualifies him to enter into the place where God dwells. And when it says that Jesus is a forerunner, it means that we will follow him there.

 

When we cast the anchor of our hope, it lands in the place where God dwells. And our hope-anchor is there because Christ died once for all as a sacrifice to remove our guilt, rip the curtain that separated us from God, and secure our access to the inner place with God.

 

This is our sure and steadfast hope. Not hope in our own abilities or good works or trying to do a little better than yesterday. Not hope in promises that may or may not be true when we need them most. Our hope for salvation, for daily life, and for peace in the midst of a storm comes from one sure and steadfast anchor: the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for us.

 

So no matter what we face this week, our hope is in Christ, who entered the inner place behind the curtain as a forerunner on our behalf. 

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The Steadfast Anchor for our Soul {No Matter What Monday}

April 11, 2016 by Marissa Leave a Comment

heb 6.19

What is your anchor? When the storms come and the wind throws your small boat up into the air, what keeps it from being tossed so far that it’s destroyed by the waves?

 

When the waves threaten, we need an anchor. Anchors are strong. Anchors are immovable. Anchors provide stability when life around us is turbulent.

 

In Hebrews 6:19, we are given a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor . . . ”

 

What is this anchor? If we at the context of the chapter, we see this anchor is the unchanging character of God’s promises. Theses promises are sure and steadfast because of the character of the One who makes them: His unwavering faithfulness.

 

What else in your life is unchanging? What else can you cling to that will never fail or waver? I haven’t found anything in my life that is more steadfast than the promises of my Heavenly Father.

 

Our Creator, Redeemer and Lord beckons us to find refuge in Him. He makes these promises and guarantees them with an oath to show us the “unchangeable character of his purpose,” so that “we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us” (verses 17-18).

 

Are your circumstances tossing you haphazardly? Does life feel chaotic or out of control? Find refuge in the Lord. Let his arms wrap around your rocking boat as he lowers the anchor of his steadfast promises.

 

Because the Lord is holding fast to you, you can hold fast to the hope set before you and face the storm ahead.

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marissahenley.com

I write to remind myself of the truth of God's promises. I share my writing here in case you need to be reminded sometimes, too.

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Click the image above to learn more about Marissa's books: After Cancer and Loving Your Friend through Cancer

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  • Finding Hope Amid Severe Illness {Guest Post for Ligonier Ministries}
  • God’s Faithfulness in a Winter Season – Part 3 {Guest post for enCourage}
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