God Won't Let Go of Your Hand - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - January 29, 2023

God Won't Let Go of Your Hand 
By Rick Warren

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never die, and no one can steal them out of my hand.” John 10:27-28 (NCV)

You can’t save yourself—but you don’t have to! All you need to do is put your hand in God’s hand and say, “God, I surrender it all to you—all the good and bad parts of my life. I’m not perfect, but you are, and so I’m accepting your gift of salvation.”

When you do that, you can relax in your salvation.

But some days, you’ll want to let go of God’s hand. You’ll want to pull back and say, “I don't even know what I believe.” But God is never going to let go of your hand, because he loves you too much.  

Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never die, and no one can steal them out of my hand. My Father gave my sheep to me. He is greater than all, and no person can steal my sheep out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29 NCV).

The “eternal life” God gives you begins the moment you put your hand in his, and you can’t lose it once you've got it. Why? Because your salvation is not based on having more good works to outweigh your bad works. It’s based on the merits of Jesus Christ.

If you could get to heaven simply by being a nice person, then Jesus dying on the cross was a total waste of suffering, sorrow, sadness, and pain. If there was any other way for you to get into heaven except by Jesus Christ, God would have chosen it. But there was no other way. 

Jesus “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10 NIV), which means the world is lost. Everyone is not going to heaven. If everyone was automatically going to heaven, Jesus did not need to come to Earth, live a perfect life, and then carry “our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24 GNT). 

When you put your life in God’s hand, he promises he will hold on to you forever. This is why you can relax in your salvation. If you truly trust in Christ and know that you're not getting to heaven on your own efforts, then nothing can steal your salvation from you—not Satan, sorrow, sickness, or society. You're in the hand of the Good Shepherd.

PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick

For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!

Inspire a Graduate to Seek God’s Unique Plan and Purpose for Their Life

Graduation is a time of honoring the hard work of the past—and celebrating the potential of the future. It’s the perfect time to remind a graduate that God created them, loves them, and has a plan for their life.

That’s why Pastor Rick created a special resource just for graduates called, The Purpose Driven Life: Selected Thoughts and Scriptures for the Graduate.

This beautiful gift book encourages graduates with these key biblical truths:

• You were planned for God's pleasure
• You were formed for a family and community
• You were created to become like Christ
• You were shaped for serving God
• You were made for a mission

The Purpose Driven Life: Selected Thoughts and Scriptures for the Graduate is our thanks for your gift to help more people around the world understand that God loves them and has a plan for them. So ask for your copy when you give below today. Thanks for your partnership!

*The USA IRS code permits you to deduct the amount of your financial gift to Daily Hope that exceeds the fair market value of materials you received from Daily Hope.

This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

You can listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.