RECEIVING THE GRACE OF GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY MARCH 10, 2021.

SUBJECT:  RECEIVING THE GRACE OF GOD!

Memory verse:  "For the Lord God is a sun and shield: The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly..” (Psalm 84 vs 11.) 

READ:  Acts 4 vs 33; Ephesians 6 vs 24:

Acts 4:33: And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.

Ephesians 6:24: Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. 

INTIMATION:

God's grace is a gift, and is receivable as a gift of God. It cannot be received on account of works. If you engage in spiritual exercises, that is, you spend time reading the Bible, praying, meditating, making positive confession etc, in an effort to get something from the Lord, it is works. Your fellowship with Him becomes work if your motive is to be considered worthy of receiving anything from Him by those acts which are your works, rather than by the grace of God. It cannot be received by reading and memorizing or confessing Scriptures. It cannot even be received by faith, but rather through faith in Christ Jesus. 

The grace of God is only received in our fellowship with the Lord, and our motive in fellowship with the Lord must be right to enable us receive His grace. You are to worship Him for who He is, and what He does, and can do, love Him, and witness for Him effectively, and desire to be in his presence as an upright believer. Anytime we get to thinking, by our evaluation, that we deserve something because we are doing something for God (whatever it may be, even spending time with Him) we are following a method rather than the Spirit. Though we might receive our petition, it is all by His grace. 

Wrong motives in fellowship is the major reason for many unanswered prayers amongst Christians. We must be careful about our motives. And even when we operate by all right methods, and our motives are pure, let us not fall into the trap of thinking that we deserve anything good from the Lord by our works. It is all by His grace. 

According to the Bible, we don't deserve anything except to die and spend eternity in everlasting punishment. Why? Because in the Lord's eyes, all of our righteousness, every good thing that we could ever do, is like filthy rags. (Isaiah 64 vs 6.) To fully understand and appreciate this fact, we need to look upon our righteousness as compared with the righteousness of Almighty God. If we will do that, instead of comparing our righteousness with the unrighteousness of others, then we will see ourselves as we really are. However, instead of feeling bad about ourselves, and looking at our own works or efforts, we should rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel for what He wrought for us in Christ Jesus, and His finished work for us on the Cross. 

In the parable of the sower in Mark's Gospel, Jesus likens the Kingdom of God to a farmer who sows his seed in his field and then goes to sleep, and rises night and day and the seed springs forth and grows up, ....he knows not how (Mark 4 vs 26 - 29). You see, we don't understand what happens once the seed is placed in the ground. Yes we are to plant our seed; prayer is a seed, Bible study is a seed, preparation for spiritual exercise is a seed, meditation is a seed, a good confession is a seed, an offering is a seed, Church attendance is a seed, witnessing for Christ is a seed, good work is a seed, time spent with Lord is a seed. Sow the seed, and allow God to do the work. He does the work not us, therefore, we can only receive God's favor by His works—His grace (power of the Holy Spirit) through faith in Him.

We must get beyond ourselves and our works and efforts and keep our eyes focused on God and His grace toward us. All these spiritual exercises enumerated above, and even the ones not mentioned are all channels through which we can receive the grace, when our motives of fellowship is right, and gets us plugged into the power source—receiving the grace of God (the unmerited favor—the power of the Holy Spirit) that enables us meet our needs. The most important of all is renewing our minds with God's Word and spending time with the Holy Spirit.

Prayer: Abba Father, all things are Yours, and Your mercy and compassion are at Your pleasure. May I ever find favor before You, to receive Your grace in all things in my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!