Lord Jesus, our Savior, keep us in faith and sustain us through all the difficult terrain through which we must navigate. Grant us Your grace to always look up to You. Amen.

"God Can Cover Up Your Mistakes" April 13, 2012 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. ..." Acts 2:38a Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: The salvation story of Jesus Christ reaches around the world. So that the readers of our Daily Devotion may see the power of the Savior on a global scale, we have asked the volunteers of our International Ministry Centers to write our Friday devotions. We pray that the Spirit may touch your day through their words. In Christ, I remain, His servant and yours, Kenneth R. Klaus Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour The words of hope from this passage are for you, my friend. They are for you because no matter what your family, your neighbors, or your friends might be saying about your past mistakes, God is different. Instead of rubbing your nose in the dirt of your failures, God is willing to forgive you and take you back. The blood of God's Son, Jesus Christ, shed on Calvary's cross has already paid the complete price for all your sins. Unbelievable to human mind, heart and thinking, God has already prepared a gift of forgiveness for you. This gift comes at a great cost, but its price has been paid for and wrapped up when the Father's only Son, our Savior, cried out from the cross: "It is finished" (see John 19:30). Jesus' resurrection on the third day tells us the Lord's great Gift of grace will always be there, always be alive. We can be sure that God is inviting you to receive this gift of perfect and total forgiveness. With this gracious gift from God -- now, every day, every moment -- you are blessed with the ability to start over with an entirely new and clean slate. These words of the Gospel regarding the saving work of Christ were penned nearly 2,000 years ago. Still, the passing of years has not changed their impact. These same words remain powerful for the believing father now living in Nsawam since 1995, for the heartbroken mother in Takoradi, for the disillusioned teenager in Yendi, for the depressed grandmother in Oseikrom, and for the many discouraged pastors and teachers who, all too often, incorrectly feel there is so little they can do and that their work frequently seems so useless. Oh, unto all of you, to whom God has entrusted the proclamation of His Gospel, never forget, never forget, that the Gospel "is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (see Romans 1:16).