Source: Don Bayley / Getty
Can you ever recall a time where you received something from someone that you neither deserved nor earned? Have you ever been in a position where you looked back and marveled at how you made it through a major obstacle you faced? Maybe you’ve achieved or accomplished something that was bigger than you?
Like me, I’m sure you have a number of things that come to mind when you think about these questions. For this reason, I want to highlight the topic of GRACE. Not just the word itself, but also focusing in on the “gift” of God’s grace.
Sadly, the word grace has become somewhat of a cliché in most Christian circles. Synonymous to the usage of the word “blessed,” grace has become a term we casually use, which in essence diminishes its power. For a moment allow me to unpack one of the most powerful words ever.
Ephesians 2:5 reads, “By Grace you have been saved.” It is by grace that God exercises His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, and increases them in Christian faith, knowledge and awakens them to the practice of Godly values. Grace is the good will, favor, loving and merciful kindness of God that literally saves us from the pit of hell and the snare of the devil. So let’s not make light of this incredible gift. Grace is also like a two-sided coin, because just as much as it saves us from… it empowers us too!
So what exactly does grace empower us to do? Prosper. Yep, you got it. God’s grace enables us to prosper, win and succeed! Paul knew it firsthand and said it this way: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me (1Cor 15:10).” Although Paul got a late start and didn’t have the same discipleship training as did the other Apostles, he traveled further and wrote more scripture than all of them. Yet Paul attributed all of his success to the grace of God.
read full story
article courtesy of TheStreamingFaith.com
