Grace for righteous living

Rev. Selwyn Hughes says, that the grace of God is available to all God's children, to live a life pleasing God every moment of their lives. Whether we take that grace or ignore it, is our responsibility. For instance, when we are angry or upset, we can choose to handle the whole issue, by asking God of His grace to handle it in a Christ-like manner or we can handle it based on our emotions and thought process.

When we handle any problem or issue through the grace of God, the Lord will help us by bringing to our mind, the correct way of reasoning. Our emotions will be calmed and decisions made right with an appropriate attitude.

Let us always learn to depend on God for His grace, even for the tiniest matter or issue we may face in our day to day living...

Hebrews 12:15 (NIV)
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

Grace to stand & follow

If we try to live a righteous and holy by our strength, then we are sure to fail. This is because just having noble and righteous motives are not enough to live thus. We need to have the grace of God to live righteously with holiness. People who have tried to follow the Bible on their own strength, are the ones who have failed miserably. And have given up Christ-centered living believing it as hard. But people who have understood the full worth of God's grace, are the ones who have realized, that a righteous and holy life in the Lord can be lived only by receiving the sufficient grace from the Lord.

Rev. Selwyn Hughes says when God gives us a holy command He also provides us with the sufficient grace to follow it. It is up to us whether we depend on God to give us the grace to follow them or try to do with our own self-achieving attitude.

Apostle Peter testifies about this grace in 1 Pet 5:12 (NIV)
...I have written you briefly, encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it.

So let us depend on God's grace to be all that we have to be, to do all that is required of us and to live spotlessly and blamelessly for the One who called us by His grace.

Triumphing Grace

When we face trials of many kinds, we need to be very sure that the lovingkindness of our Lord has not departed from us though we may see dark clouds in the sky. The lovingkindness of our Lord shall surely be there for those who hold a reverential fear for Him.

Psalm 103:11 (New American Standard Bible)
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.

We are assured that the Lord will lead us in triumph. The Lord is on the throne and He is in complete control of our life and situations. He is silently working, though we cannot see it with our natural eyes. But we see it with our eyes of faith by believing in His Word that assures,

2 Corinthians 2:14 (New International Version)
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

All glory and thanks to Him for we always triumph through Christ.

Lovingkindness Guaranteed

When we live in a relationship with Christ, we need not doubt if the Lord will give us His grace, blessings and lovingkindness as He does to His other children. We see in the scriptures that there is no partiality with God. What He has done to others so He is able to do for us...

The Word of God says,
Psalm 32:10 (New American Standard Bible)
Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.

When the wicked suffers there is no one to help and comfort. But when the children of God goes through trials, the Lord's lovingkindness surround them. They are provided all grace and help. And when the lovingkindness of God surrounds the life of the child of God, breakthroughs take place which will enable us to see His intervention and His hand at work. And hence we will be able to say like the Psalmist,

Psalm 31:21 (Amplified Bible)
Blessed be the Lord! For He has shown me His marvelous loving favor when I was beset as in a besieged city.

The grace essential

Sometimes while seeking the grace, provisions and blessings upon our lives, we may unknowlingly get carried away with these things rather than growing in our intimacy with the Lord. We may leave the blesser and get hooked with the blessings...

Oh, for the grace to know Him more and love Him better. For the grace, for Him to become the centre of our life and being. For the grace to gaze on the giver than the blessings...

Psalm 27:4 (New International Version)
One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD,
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

Prayer
O Lord, I need you more than anything in my life and that is the essence of real grace. Amen.

Seeking His lovingkindness

The blessings and the well being of our life is because of the lovingkindness of our God towards us. But the question lies in the fact, how much do we believe that God is able to impart His lovingkindness towards us? How much of His tender mercies i.e grace do we seek everyday?

Psalm 42:8 (New American Standard Bible)
The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.

Faith is believing in the very loving nature of God. It comes from believing what He has done for us on the Cross and what He is willing to do in each one of our lives. If only we can go to the extent of knowing, that we can be nothing and do nothing apart from His grace, will we seek His grace and lovingkindness every day of our life...

Overflowing grace

When the Lord gives us the breakthough, it will be beyond our imaginations and expectations. For the Lord proves His love for us which surpasses our imaginations. We do not receive our blessings because of our goodness or righteousness. But purely because of His grace. As Rev. Selwyn Hughes says, "God's resources infinitely exceed our requirements".

It is true that our Lord is more than enough for us and that is why He is called the El Shaddai which translates, 'The Lord Almighty'. In other words the Lord who is 'The enough'.

2 Corinthians 9:8 (New International Version)
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need...

God will meet all our needs. He is able...only we need to trust and wait for His grace to work in our lives...

Approching with confidence

While waiting for answers, it is natural to go weary when nothing turns our way. But we should not fall into a gloom, for gloom can take us down the road to depression. So it is better that we hold on to God and His Word, for through that our faith is built. The way we handle our feelings, direct our attitudes and speech shows our faith.

Whatever be our circumstances, God is in control and there is a wonderful exhortation in God's Word...

Hebrews 4:16 (New International Version)
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

We can approach God with confidence believing that grace will be given to meet our timely need. So God has promised to meet our need and He knows the time. We get worried because we don't know the time but His time will not be beyond...It will not surpass the crucial time for our need to be met. It will be just in time and we can applaud that it was in perfect timing...

As grace operates

When we expect God to give us a breakthrough, then we are to wait and not hurry up to work out things by our own strength and intelligence. It is not wrong to take efforts or try... but we at the same time need to wait and see to receive the best from the Lord. We should not take short cuts to reach our goals or compromise with small things. We are to do our part and leave God to do His part.

Deuteronomy 3:24 (New International Version)

"O Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand...

The grace of God will operate in our lives as we wait for Him and we will receive the best from His hand. We will be able to see the strong hand and the greatness of our Lord when we wait in faith.

I can through Him...

We take seamless efforts to do our best at work, home, in handling problems and dealing with issues or people. But fail many times because things do not turn as expected all the time. Either there are problems with people or the system or in the way things are handled by the people. For this we need the grace of God so that the efforts taken doesn't go the drain.

Apostle Paul said,
Philippians 4:13 (New International Version)
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

This strength which Paul claims to have is the power of Christ which is sufficient enough for him to carry on his work and face life's challenges. There is no insufficiency in him which Christ cannot meet.

Similarly we can do all things through Christ enabled power in us that comes by grace. Hence we can find our sufficiency in Him alone. Amen.

In Solitude

It is in the time of solitude with God where we find true comfort and strength. For God alone knows our hearts deep desires, pains and worries. He is well aware of the deepest longings or concerns of our heart. When we have that solitary time with the Lord, He addresses those things to us. It is then do we realize how concerned and deeply involved He is about every aspect of our life.

Jesus never missed His personal time with His Father. He often went to hills and mountain sides so that He can be replenished from His father's presence. He also received His power from the Holy Spirit to carry out His work. He was always in tune with God.

Matthew 14:23 (New International Version)
After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.

This was these solitary times which gave strength to Jesus. So it is for us...
Times of solitude will give us strength... We will be replenished and find renewed resources to carry our life with grace. To compromise on that can weaken our souls and energy.

2 Thessalonians 2:16 (New International Version)
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope.

Grace and prayer

We have come to see how God's children learn to live their lives by 'grace'. Every aspect in life moves by grace, every blessing received by grace, every good deed, every appreciable character or trait comes by grace. Every selflessness like Jesus comes through grace. Likewise the Spirit of grace and supplication. God promised that He will pour out the Spirit of grace and supplication on house of David.

Zechariah 12:10 (NIV)
"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication..."

Only through this Spirit will people be able to know the Lord more, and will be able to get into a deeper relationship with Him. Once they get into a deeper realtionship with the Lord, people pray not only for themselves but also for others. They become selfless in their prayer lives praying more for others...from self concept to others first concept. This is what grace can do in our lives and much more ...making us and remaking us more like our Savior.

Grace immeasurable

As children of God we know what it means to live by grace...But for people outside they may not realize grace to the fullest extent. Yet God who is full of grace grants His mercy and loving kindness to all. Many may be living by His grace without their knowledge. But someday they will come to know that it is from Christ that they had received grace... when they come to know Him personally.

As the word of God says,
John 1:17 (NIV)
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Even for people who do not come under the Mosaic law, there is a moral law that is written in a man's conscience by which a person lives. But by just following the law we cannot live a sinless life, it is only by grace which we receive through Christ. Only through Christ we can be washed off from our sins and have a new birth through which we will live a renewed life in Him. And by living so we will receive grace upon grace due to which there is blessing added to blessing. That is the secret of Christian life...

John 1:16 (NIV)
From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

But this is not available to people who are not in the Lord. That is why it is written
Jonah 2:8 (New International Version)
"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs."

People not in Christ do not avail themselves grace which could be theirs in immeasurable terms. Grace is available as much as we want and are willing to take...

Grace ...Amazing

Grace is more appreciated by those who live in a condition or circumstance where life moves only with the help of God or from a direct demonstration of His power. Apostle Paul lived that way when he suffered from a physical ailment. He saw the grace of God work in His life. When Apostle Paul physically suffered he pleaded with God to heal him. But instead the Lord promised him the grace to carry him through. For the Lord said,

2 Corinthians 12:9 (New International Version)
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Many children of God like Paul have witnessed or experienced that their life has moved with His grace, where they had seen that the power of God had been perfected in their weakness. The weakness could have been of any kind - physical ailment, unpleasant circumstance, emotional struggle, trauma etc. But our Lord in His kindness has carried them through.

Remember next time when you face a struggle where you find yourself in a weak condition or situation, the time of deliverance is for sure...But His grace is there for us to carry on and at the end we will be able to see the true meaning of 'Grace'.

Prayer
Lord, let me not fetter when I don't see immediate results for my problems. I know that you have a breakthrough in my life which is definite. But till then your grace will carry me through. Thank you for your grace, without which I wouldn't be sustained. Amen.

Where grace abounds...

We saw that grace is an undeserved favor that we have received from the Father God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We as God's children live with a deep understanding that we have fallen in the sight of God... and God who is rich in mercy had come down to us and has lifted us up through Christ's work on the Cross. When we live with this realization we can never exalt ourselves before God or others. Though God has promised that He has forgotten our sins (Isa 43:25), in the sense He doesn't count them against us...We should never forget from what or where we have come. This is not in the sense that we live in our past but that to remember them with greatfulness towards God that He has lifted us from a miry pit. This is how true humility comes. With humility comes more grace...

James 4:6 (NIV)
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

We cannot expect grace of God when we live with self-righteous or haughty attitude. Only when we humble ourselves truly before God will grace abound more in our lives.

Right perception of grace

We will be able appreciate grace fully in our lives only when we comprehend our smallness and His greatness. Understanding this will help us to know who we are, our abilities, shortcomings, weaknesses, sins and self worth. This in turn will make us depend on the grace of our Lord for every detail of our life...

Apostle Paul understood grace more than anybody else of his time. He realized what he was, before he met the Lord and how the grace of God changed him into a new person. And at the same time how the Lord bestowed grace upon him to do His work as an apostle.

1 Corinthians 15:10 (New International Version)
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

In the same way, even we will be able undertsand the grace of God in our lives when we see our true inner self in the light of His greatness.

All by grace

As children of God when things go well in our lives we presume that it is because of our goodness or righteousness that our Lord is blessing us. We see it as a result of our good deeds. Once we fall into this attitude we may be building a unconscious self-righteous wall within us. And when this wall grows it may diminish humility in us and rule out God's greatness towards us.

We always need to remember that it His by grace that we are blessed and not because of our goodness or righteousness.

John 1:16 (New International Version)
From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

If we are doing well in our life and living right with God, it is by His very grace and His Spirit's enabling not because of anything in ourselves. Let us cling to the Lord knowing who He is and what we have come to be, by His grace...

Grace Sufficient

Grace is such an invaluable thing in a believer's life. Without grace it is impossible to move on...It is by grace that we are able to stand strong in Faith, grow in Him and yield fruit in God's Kingdom and to handle struggles in life.

Then we wonder why some of them backslide, why some give up in tribulations or why some even compromise living in Christ and live fake Christian life? Don't they have the grace to carry them through? It is not that they don't have grace, but they make a choice not to take that grace or wait on the Lord to receive His strength or guidance. They ignore grace...

That is why the Word of the Lord exhorts us to be strong in the grace that is available to us ...

2 Timothy 2:1 (NIV)
You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

As long as we are receiving grace there is enough to sustain us, strengthen us, enrich us and make us everything that God wants us to be. Amen.

Living in Grace

Grace is given to us freely, but it is not to be taken for granted. God who is rich in mercy is slow to anger but rich in compassion. That is the reason why He is patient when He deals with us, though we have many shortcomings. It is by His grace that we are not consumed. For we know that our Lord is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29)

Once a writer wrote about the way He understood grace... Every morning the writer travels to his place of work in his car where he has to cross a terrain that winds near a mountain. One morning he did not turn to work . The next day he read from the paper that there was a serious landslide that fell on the road which he usually traveled and killed several people on that road. Reading the news the writer was stunned for a moment and understood the grace by which he was saved.

It is the same grace because of which the Lord has kept us and not because we are very good or righteous.

Titus 3:4-6 (New International Version)
4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.

So let us not take His grace for granted, but remain in Him knowing that our days are numbered. Let us make every effort to live right with Him.

Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Psalm 90:12 (New American Standard Bible)
So teach us to number our days,That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
Amen.

Understanding Grace...

Most of the people use the word 'grace' very commonly. Whether they say really knowing the meaning of grace or not, using the word 'God's grace' has become a common practice. People irrespective of different belief systems have come to make use of that word. But as children of God we really know what it means when we say..."Grace"

For by grace we have been saved and not by ourselves...
Ephesians 2:8 (NIV)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

It is the grace of God by which we were made to realize that Jesus is God. It is by grace we came to see the truth. It is by grace that we realized our sins and shortcomings due to which we repented and turned to God. It is by grace we were chosen by God and not because we were good or somebody important in His eyes...It is by grace that the Spirit of God came down in search of us and catered to our need.

Grace is the love of God extending to the undeserved and this grace we received through our Lord Jesus who died for sinners like us.

John 1:14 (NIV)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

All glory and thanks to Him.