The Experiential Key

 God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

We know that faith in God’s future grace is the experiential key to generosity, because in 2 Corinthians, Paul holds out this wonderful promise: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

In other words, if you want to be free from the need to stash away your money, if you want to overflow with an abundance (of grace!) for every good work, then put your faith in future grace. Trust the promise that “God is able to make all grace abound to you” in every future moment for this very purpose.

I just called faith in future grace the “experiential key” to generosity, so as not to deny that there is a historical key as well. There is a key of experience, and a key of history. When talking about the grace they received, Paul reminds the Corinthians of the historical key of grace, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Without this historical work of grace, the door of Christ-exalting generosity would remain closed. That past grace is an indispensable key to love.

But notice how the past grace in this verse functions. It is made the foundation (Christ became poor) of future grace (that we might become rich). Thus, the historical key to our generosity operates by putting a foundation under the experiential key of faith in future grace.

Thus, the experiential key to love and generosity is this: Put your faith firmly in future grace — namely, that “God is able (in the future) to make all (future) grace abound to you” — so that your needs are met, and so that you will be able to overflow with the love of generosity.

Freedom from greed comes from the deeply satisfying faith in God’s future grace.

THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AS OUR HELPER!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

FRIDAY JANUARY 12, 2024.

SUBJECT : THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AS OUR HELPER! 

Memory verse: "This is word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 4 vs 6.)

READ: Ezra 4 vs 1 - 5: 

4:1: Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the LORD God of Israel,

4:2: they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers' houses, and said to them, "Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon King of Assyria, who brought us here."

4:3: But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel said to them, "You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God; but we alone will build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us."

4:4: Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, 

4:5: and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius King of Persia. 

INTIMATION:

The Spirit of grace—the Holy Spirit—is our enabler for extraordinary tasks. It usually causes a temporary and spontaneous increase of physical, spiritual, or mental strength. The empowering of the Spirit can be an extraordinary and supernatural occurrence to prepare a person for a special task. This power of God available to us to accomplish our tasks. We should ask the Holy Spirit’s help as we face our daily problems as well as life’s major challenges. The Holy Spirit is a personality promised and made available to all believers in Christ, as our Helper in our new life as Christians. He enables us to accomplish those tasks we ordinarily will not be able to handle.

To understand His helping power, we will look at the passage we read today from the Book of Ezra. The adversaries of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin were people who had been relocated in the northern kingdom when Assyria conquered Israel. In an attempt to infiltrate and disrupt the project these people offered to help in the rebuilding project. Their real motive was to disrupt the temple project because they don't want Jerusalem to be strong again on their return from exile. 

Although it is true they were worshipping the God of Israel, but they also worshipped many other gods. To these foreigners God was just another 'idol' to be added to their collection. In God's eyes, this was not worship—it was sin and rebellion. True worship involves devotion to God alone. The Jews however, knew this—they saw through their ploy and refused their assistance. Since the Israelites (Jews) were well aware of that fact, they told the Samaritans, their long-time enemies, that they had no part in building a temple to the Lord. And this angered the Samaritans that they began to do everything in their power to harass and cause trouble for the Israelites, to frustrate their purpose and plans. 

Now, in Zechariah 4 vs 1 - 3, the Bible says, "And the angel who talked with me came again and awakened me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. And said to me, What do you see? So I said, "I am looking, and there is a lampstand all of solid gold with its bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Two olive trees by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other upon the left." 

In Zechariah’s vision the lampstand, the seven lamps upon it, the seven pipes to the lamps, are connected to the two olive trees that fed the lamps continuously with oil. Students of the Word of God know that oil represents the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the power of Almighty God. And the grace of God is the power of the Holy Spirit available to us to meet our needs and solve our problems. Now, the seven lamps on the lampstand can only give light and glow if they have oil supplied to it, and they had constant supply of oil from the olive trees. 

The angel explained the vision to Zerubbabel in Zechariah 4 vs 4 - 6 thus; "So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, "What are these, my lord? Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord. So he answered and said to me; This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts." Here the Lord is speaking to the same people who were trying to build the temple with Zerubbabel. He showed them how they should react to their frustrating situation, that their response to troubles should be to depend not upon their own abilities or efforts, but upon the limitless power of the Holy Spirit to meet the issues and resolve the crises they face. 

The vision given to Zechariah, shows the limitless power of God's grace in meeting our needs being made manifest. Remember, it is not by your power or might but by the Spirit (the grace) of God that we overcome all our lives' challenges. Many people believe that to survive in this world a person must be tough, strong, unbending and harsh. But God says, "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit." It is only through God's Spirit (God's grace) that anything of lasting value is accomplished.

Prayer: Abba Father, thank You most precious God for the gift of the Holy Spirit. By my strength I cannot do much to prevail, but by Your strength available to me through the Spirit of grace, I can do all things, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen. 

PRAISE THE LORD!

Passionate for God and Truth

 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” (Romans 3:3–4)

Our concern with truth is an inevitable expression of our concern with God. If God exists, then he is the measure of all things, and what he thinks about all things is the measure of what we should think.

Not to care about truth is not to care about God. To love God passionately is to love truth passionately. Being God-centered in life means being truth-driven in ministry. What is not true is not of God.

Ponder these four sets of texts on God and truth:

1) God Is the Truth

Romans 3:3–4 (God the Father): “What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar.”

John 14:6 (God the Son): Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 15:26 (God the Spirit): “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”

2) Not Loving the Truth Is Eternally Ruinous

Second Thessalonians 2:10: The wicked will perish “because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.”

3) Christian Living Is Based on Knowledge of the Truth

First Corinthians 6:15–16: “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?”

4) The Body of Christ Is Built with Truth in Love

Colossians 1:28: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”

May God make us passionate for him and for truth.

FAITH ATTRACTS GRACE!

 

EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY JANUARY 11, 2024.

SUBJECT : FAITH ATTRACTS GRACE! 

Memory verse: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself; it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2 vs 8.) 

READ: Ephesians 2 vs 4 - 10:

2:4: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

2:5: even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have saved),

2:6: and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

2:7: that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

2:8: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself; it is the gift of God,

2:9: not of works, lest anyone should boast.

2:10: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

INTIMATION:

Faith attracts the grace of God. Where there is faith in God His grace abounds. It’s for this reason we are saved. We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Him. Please note these two words 'by' and 'through' because the vital difference between these two words will help keep in proper perspective the different roles and functions of grace and faith.

Grace is the unmerited favor and benevolence of God. It enables us to draw from God’s power through the Holy Spirit to meet our needs. While faith is the substance; the confidence, conviction, confirmation of things we have hope for, and the evidence or proof of things we have not yet seen but convinced of their reality. Faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.

The key words that describe faith are confidence, conviction, confirmation and certainty. These qualities need a secure beginning and ending point. The beginning point of faith is believing in God's character—He is who He says He is. The end point is believing in God's promises—He will do what He says He will do. Therefore, when we believe that God will fulfill His promises even though we don't see those promises materializing yet, we demonstrate true faith. It is the 'believe'—the confidence and conviction—in God, and assurance—confirmation and certainty—of His promises, that is faith. And it is through faith in Him that His grace (the power of the Holy Spirit) we receive God's blessings.

The major problem believers have is that once we are saved by ‘grace through faith,’ we immediately make the mistake of turning from living by grace to living by works. We begin to match God's blessings by our works. Or put in another form, we want to buy God's blessings by our works. What do I mean by this? We begin to think we have prayed enough or not enough to get God's blessings—answer to our prayers, or we have been operating enough or not enough in the fruit of the Spirit to get or not to get His blessings, or that we weren't nice when we got caught in some situations, consequently, we cannot be blessed by Him. 

We think of everything we did right or wrong and figure that it automatically qualify or disqualify us, as it were, for any of God's blessings. All these are works, though in themselves are good and should be done, but are not the channel or reason for receiving from God. Remember what the Scripture says in Romans 5 vs 8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This is amazing! God sent Jesus Christ to die for us, not because we were good enough, but just because He loved us. It is not by works of ours. 

God didn’t stop at that. He comes alongside us and be within us to help us do the right things expected of us. He gives us the desire and the power to do what pleases Him. But we have to do our own part; submit to God’s control and let Him work. It is even "God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure"  

(Philippians 2 vs 13), and He does this by His grace (the power of the Holy Spirit) in you. Disconnect from Him, and you can do nothing. (John 15 vs 5).

For those who have faith in God, that is, those who have believed—adhered to, trusted in, and relied on God—do enter His rest because His grace is sufficient (the power of the Holy Spirit) to meet their needs (see Hebrews 4 vs 3). You will enter His rest when you receive His grace and you will lead your life as the apostle Paul advised Philippians 4 vs 4 - 6; "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men....Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." That is life of who has entered His rest.

Prayer: Abba Father, my trust and complete confidence is in You. I am saved by Your grace through my faith in You; in what Christ wrought for me at the cross. Give me the grace to lead a life pleasing to You, in full realization of Your power available to me through the Holy Spirit indwelling me, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

How Believers Will Be Judged

 I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. (Revelation 20:12)

What about the last judgment? Will our sins be remembered? Will they be revealed? Anthony Hoekema puts it wisely like this: “The failures and shortcomings of . . . believers . . . will enter into the picture on the Day of Judgment. But — and this is the important point — the sins and shortcomings of believers will be revealed in the judgment as forgiven sins, whose guilt has been totally covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.”

Picture it like this. God has a file on every person (the “books” of Revelation 20:12). All you’ve ever done or said (Matthew 12:36) is recorded there with a grade (from “A” to “F”). When you stand before “the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10) to be judged “for what [you have] done in the body, whether good or evil,” God will open the file and lay out the tests with their grades. He will pull out all the “F’s” and put them in a pile. Then he will take all the “D’s” and “C’s” and pull the good parts of the test out and place them with the “A’s”, then put the bad with the “F’s.” Then he will take all the “B’s” and “A’s” and pull the bad parts out of them and put them in the “F” pile, and put all the good parts in the “A” pile.

Then he will open another file (“the book of life”) and find your name, because you are in Christ through faith. Behind your name will be a wood-stick match made from the cross of Jesus. He will take the match, light it, and set the “F” pile, with all your failures and deficiencies, on fire and burn them up. They will not condemn you, and they will not reward you.

Then he will take from your “book of life” file a sealed envelope marked “free and gracious bonus: life!” and put it on the “A” pile (see Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38). Then he will hold up the entire pile and declare, “By this your life bears witness to the grace of my Father, the worth of my blood, and the fruit of my Spirit. These bear witness that your life is eternal. And according to these you will have your rewards. Enter into the everlasting joy of your Master.”

THE WORD, OUR WORK, AND THE GRACE OF GOD!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 10, 2024.

SUBJECT : THE WORD, OUR WORK, AND THE GRACE OF GOD!

Memory verse: "And if by grace, then no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work."(Romans 11 vs 6.)

READ: Romans 7 vs 15 - 25:

7:15: For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that ain't do.

7:16: If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

7:17: But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

7:18: For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

7:19: For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.

7:20: Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

7:21: I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

7:22: For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.

7:23: 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.

7:24: O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 

7:25: 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 into, and the understanding of the grace of God starts with the understanding of the dynamics of the Word of God, and limitations of our work. The grace of God enables the working of the Word of God in our lives. Without the grace of God the Word of God would not profit us anything. 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 react to, 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, instead of relying on our self will or efforts to change. 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 (unmerited favor). 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). Remind the devil of what Christ had already wrought for us in redemption; "There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus..." (Romans 8 vs 1.) 

When we look into the Word and see our need to change from our sinful ways, let us then turn to Christ for the grace to bring about that change in us. We will pray earnestly, and seek the grace of God 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 cannot do it all by our own power.

We are not alone in this predicament. In the passage we read today the apostle Paul states his struggle with sin. He understood that self-determination, that is, struggling in one's own strength, doesn't succeed. He found himself sinning in ways that weren't even attractive to him. He knew it requires more than his strength to get rid of the sin.

When you try to change yourself, trying to make yourself be everything the Word said you ought 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.

Becoming a Christian doesn't stamp out all sin and temptation from a person's life. Being 'born again' takes a moment of faith, but becoming like Christ is a lifelong process. No one in the world is innocent; no one deserves to be saved. All of us must depend totally on the work of Christ, that is, the grace of God, for our salvation. We cannot earn it by our behavior.

We must never underestimate the power of sin and attempt to fight it in our own strength. Instead of trying to overcome sin with our own human willpower, we must take hold of God's provision for victory over sin; the Holy Spirit, who, by the grace of God, lives within us and gives us the power to overcome sin. And even when we fall, He lovingly reaches out to help us up.

There is great tension in daily Christian experience. The conflict is that we agree with God's commands but cannot do them. As a result, we are painfully aware of our sin. The inward struggle with sin was as real to the apostle Paul as it is for us. From the apostle Paul, we learn what to do about it. Whenever we are overwhelmed by the spiritual battle, we should return to the beginnings of our spiritual lives, remembering how we have been freed from sin by Jesus Christ. When we feel confused and overwhelmed by sin's appeal, let us claim the freedom Christ gave us. It is only His power and grace that can lift us to victory.

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to live above sin. Keep me back from those presumptuous sins that easily ensnare me and let them not have dominion over me, in Jesus' Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Only a Little While

 After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 Peter 5:10)

Sometimes in the midst of the afflictions and ordinary stresses of daily life, we may cry out, “How long, O Lord? I can’t see beyond today’s pain. What will tomorrow bring? Will you be there for that affliction too?”

This question is utterly urgent, because Jesus said, “The one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13). We tremble at the thought of being among “those who shrink back and are destroyed” (Hebrews 10:39). We are not playing games. Suffering is a horrible threat to faith in God’s future grace.

Therefore, it is a wonderful thing to hear Peter promise the afflicted and weary Christians, “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10).

The assurance that he will not delay beyond what we can endure, and that he will abolish the flaws we bemoan, and that he will establish forever what has tottered so long — that assurance comes from the God of “all grace.” 

God is not the God of some grace — like bygone grace. He is “the God of all grace” — including the infinite, inexhaustible stores of future grace that we need to endure to the end.

Faith in that future grace, strengthened by the memory of past grace, is the key to enduring on the narrow and hard road that leads to life.