We sing Amazing Grace, but I don't think we realise how amazing grace
actually is. Grace is God's power, motivated by His mercy, working to fulfil
His compassion.
We are saved by grace, but what culminates in a "day of salvation"
experience is actually months and even years of God quietly, yet powerfully,
working in our hearts. Recall: Jesus said, "No one can come to Me, unless
the Father who sent Me draws him" (John 6:44a). Do you remember that drawing
power? Before we knew God, divine power was working invisibly within our
hearts, drawing and wooing us to Christ.
Yet let me take this miracle of grace further, for after Jesus spoke of the
Father's drawing power, He then said, "and I will raise him up on the last
day" (John 6:44b). This is the power and commitment of our Father's love:
from the days of our sin and rebellion even to the days long after we die,
grace continues working to unite our hearts with God's. From our utterly
helpless beginnings to our utterly helpless end, from being dead in sin to
being dead in the grave, grace carries us to the arms of God.
Unlocking the Power of Grace
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved
us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together
with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and
seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that,
in the ages to come, He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:4-8).
Paul says that grace saved us "through faith." Faith unlocks the power of
grace and releases it to function in our world-and faith itself is another
gift of God. The difference between both gifts is, the grace-gift must be
activated by the faith-gift. We must believe that God is "rich in mercy." We
must accept as true that God loves us with "great love." We must not doubt
He atoned for "our transgressions." We must be confident we are "alive
together with Christ."
Grace works through faith. Believing the words of grace unlocks the power of
grace; the power of grace to fully transform us comes through faith. As it
is written, "For of His fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace"
(John 1:16). The true stride of a Christian's walk is "grace upon grace."
The same grace that turned our hearts toward Christ continues to work in us,
transforming even our sufferings and trials into virtue and power. Are you
in a battle? Are you struggling with finances, health, righteousness or
relationships? Your grace-miracle has already been created. But you must
believe that not only has God created a grace-provision for you, but Christ
is motivated by love and actually desires to show you favour.
You may feel like a loser, a sinner, a person others routinely reject---and
perhaps you are! The purpose of redemption was so that, in the ages to come,
God might display through us "the surpassing riches of His grace." You may
be poor in this world, but you can become rich in the transforming grace of
God. Believe Him. A day will come in the future world of God when He will
point to you and I, once fallen and depraved, filthy and isolated creatures,
and display us before heaven and earth as radiant, transformed beings---a
glory to His workmanship and love. And it will come to pass because we
believed in the grace of God to change us.
Who cares what other people think of you? God says He loves you! Indeed, His
grace is working to set you free. God knows you have been struggling with
desperate issues; that's one reason why He has inspired this message. His
grace is reaching to you to deliver you. The means to your victory is not
more prayer or more Bible study, but faith-activated grace. Of course, I
strongly believe in both prayer and study, but the power to release each of
us is a free gift of grace. Don't postpone your breakthrough. Believe that
God's grace is here to release you!
What We Cannot Do On Our Own
We've been taught that grace is God's unmerited favour, which of course, it
is. Yet unmerited favour is only one aspect of grace. In reality, grace is
God's promise to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
The Bible says that "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as
righteousness" (Rom. 4:3). It doesn't mean that Abraham believe there was a
God. No. Demons believe in one God and tremble! When Abraham "believed God"
it meant that he believed what God had promised would come to pass. God
promised to do for Abraham what Abraham and Sarah could not fulfil on their
own. The Lord had promised Abraham he'd be a father of many nations. This is
the glory of God's grace: it accomplishes what is otherwise impossible for
us. You see, grace not only chooses me, saves me eternally and blankets my
life with mercy, but grace also works in me realities unattainable without
divine help.
Consider Zechariah and the story about Zerubbabel, who was governor of
Israel. The Jews had been held in Babylonian captivity for seventy years.
Now, they were being restored to Jerusalem. It was Zerubbabel's task to
oversee the restoration of the city. In the struggle of the battle,
weariness settled on the governor. So, the Lord gave Zechariah a promise for
Zerubbabel. He said,
"'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts"
(Zech. 4:6).
God was saying, in effect, "You have laboured, your enemies are many and
they are strong, but this work I've set before you isn't about your
abilities; it's about what I can do working through you." Likewise, our
salvation isn't about our works or power. It's about believing in the Holy
Spirit's power and the grace of God.
Then the Lord gave Zerubbabel an important word. He said,
"What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain;
and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!"
(Zech. 4:7).
Zerubbabel had mountains in his life that were too much for him. He had a
task that was beyond his abilities. Yet God promised His Spirit would help,
and when it was done, multitudes would be shouting "Grace, grace" at the
finished work.
Listen, my friends, don't run from the mountains in your life; face them
with faith---and then shout "Grace, grace" to them. Let God make your
mountains into "a plain."
Let's not mutter an unbelieving whisper about grace, but shout it out loud.
It doesn't say, think about grace, but release your faith and shout "Grace,
grace!" God's unmerited favour has been poured out upon you; now speak to
that mountain of discouragement, sickness or financial need - GRACE, GRACE!
Blessed God, You have drawn me to Yourself and have sheltered my life in the
impenetrable stronghold of Your grace. Forgive me for drifting back into
trusting in my works or abilities. Lord, I believe in Your grace! I shout
"Grace, grace!" to the mountains that stand before me! In Jesus' name!
Useful link: www.frangipane.org
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