UNDERSTANDING THE GRACE OF GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY JANUARY 23, 2021.

SUBJECT : UNDERSTANDING THE GRACE OF GOD!

Memory verse: "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (First Corinthians 15 vs 57.)

READ: Romans 7 vs 15 - 25:

15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

INTIMATION:

Revelation and understanding of the grace of God starts with the understanding of the Word of God—the Law of God (For better understanding always replace the “Word of . God” with the “Law of God”. The Word of God could be frustrating when we try to work the Word rather than the Word work in us. The most frustrating aspect of the Word of God is that it keeps convicting most believers. Incidentally this is what the Word should do to us. But how do we take and handle the conviction?

As the “Word” would convict us of our wrong doings, we turn completely to our Lord for the grace to change. The devil would take that thing (conviction) that was intended for our good and would begin to beat us over the head with it as condemnation. We would look in the Word and see our need to change, but we didn't know anything about the grace of God to bring about that change in us. We don't know how to allow the Spirit of the Lord come into our lives and cause the things to happen that needed to happen as we believed Him and exercised our faith. We thought we have to do it all by our own power.

The problem here is that most believers don't understand the difference between conviction and condemnation. When the “Word” convicts you in one thing or the other (which it ought to do), turn to God completely to accomplish the change you desire through His grace. Do not get frustrated when the devil will come to minister condemnation (which it ought to) because the devil's mission is "to steal, and to kill, and to destroy" (John 10 vs 10). We cannot suffer condemnation because Jesus Christ has already justified us as believers;  "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit" (Romans 8 vs 1).

When you try to change yourself, trying to make yourself be everything the “Word” (The Law) said you are supposed to be, you get frustrated because you cannot do it by your will power, but only by the grace of God. You have to submit yourself to the Lord and wait patiently on Him to accomplish all He planned for you. Trying to do something about something you can't do anything about is frustrating. It takes the grace of God to change to what the “Word” wants you to be. It is not automatic but gradual, being changed from glory to glory (Second Corinthians 3 vs 18). You conquer your enemies little by little (Deuteronomy 7 vs 22). When convicted by the Word, allow God (trust and surrender yourself to Him) to walk His perfect Will in your life.

In the passage we read today, the apostle Paul says that though we seek to do that which is good, the nature of our being as free-moral individuals in a world of choice does not have the ability to live flawlessly. Though the conscience of the Christian is made sensitive by the “law of God” as revealed through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit does not directly control the behavior of the Christian in reference to the law in order to guard him or her from sin. Therefore, because we know we sin, we are driven to the grace of God. Our arrogance is crushed by realizing that without God’s grace we have no hope of deliverance from the life of sin. In of our inabilities to perform behaviorally in order to stand just before God, we are driven to thank God for the revelation of His grace through Jesus Christ (Titus 2 vs 11).  

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for Your grace made available to us through Jesus Christ. May the availability of Your grace be alive in my thoughts, that I surrender myself entirely to You and the leading of the Holy Spirit in all things, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!