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Daily
Grace At
Jesus` Feet
February 4, 2010
Amazing Grace!
Adoring
Grace!
"My
grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness." – 2
Corinthians 12:9
Grace
in simple terms “a good will” shown to someone who do not deserve
usually from
the higher authority. Grace is God's unmerited favor to an undeserving
sinner.
Grace is God’s manifestation of favor without a price from the
recipient’s end.
In the Bible, grace and mercy are like two sides of the same coin.
Mercy is
“forgiving” a sinner what he deserves; but Grace is “giving” a sinner
what he does
not deserve. For example, if some one owes you $500 and holding this
debt for
quite sometime. Now you realize that this poor guy who recently lost
his job
also struggling to meet his needs. Now you call him and say, “You do
not
need to
repay my money; simply forget it.” That is the act of “mercy.” But if
you
continued and would have said, “I am posting you a free check for $500
to meet
your urgent demands of life,” That is the act of “grace.” God showered
His
grace on us. Mercy is God forgiveness and withholding of judgment or
punishment
that I deserve; but grace is God crediting me with His Son Jesus`
righteousness
and giving me blessings or goodness that I do not deserve. Because of
God's
mercy, I am forgiven and I do not receive the judgment of God against
my sins;
because of God's grace, I receive eternal life and a promise of heaven
though I
do not deserve them. Both mercy and grace are a free gift from God that
comes
to me through His Son Jesus Christ.
Grace can also be defined
as God's sufficiency or HIS fullness in the life of the believer. We
read in 2
Corinthians 12:9 where God told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for thee:
for
my
strength is made perfect in weakness.” That is, the grace of God in
Paul helped
him in hi hardships and enabled him to take the Gospel around the world
and be
a powerful instrument to spread the gospel. Paul writes briefly about
the
hardship (as he puts forth, “thorn in my flesh”) he endured through out
his
ministry. He says why this was given to his flesh, how God responded to
his
plea to remove the same, and the way he dealt with his thorn in his
flesh. He
writes in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, “even
though I have
received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from
becoming
proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to
torment me
and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the
Lord to
take it away. Each time he said, “My
grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast
about my
weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why
I take
pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions,
and
troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong
(NLT).”
The grace of God empowered
Paul in his weaknesses and hardships. In the ancient Greek translation,
the
word skolops (thorn) mean “something which frustrates and
causes
trouble in the lives of those afflicted”. Paul says he
asked God to remove the “thorn” three times.
Morgan, a Bible scholar quotes, “That
does not
mean three times. It is the Hebrew figure for ceaselessly,
continuously, over
and over again.” In another verse, Paul’s hope is
vividly seen, “And God will generously
provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and
plenty
left over to share with others (2 Corinthians 9:8).”
God's grace meets
all our needs and his working in our life supplies the sufficiency and
enable
and empower us to do His will.
Today, do you
identify
with Paul’s suffering, take heart, His grace is sufficient for you! His
grace
is enough! He will lead you. Sufferings should not surprise Christians.
The
savior’s grace will supply necessary strength to endure all hardships.
It is
the grace of God enables us to live a life with fullness and abundance.
The
word “grace” quotes 127 time in the Bible (according to NIV version).
It is
quoted, 11 times in OT; 116 times in NT; Paul quotes 81 times in his
letters in
NT (in Romans: 18; other letters: 63 times); Other NT authors quote: 35
times.
No wonder God’s grace was sufficient to Apostle Paul in his journey!
James Hudson Taylor (1832 –
1905) was a
British Christian missionary to China, and founder
of the
China Inland Mission, and he also spent 51 years in China.
He writes in his biography, “It
does not matter where He places me or how. That is rather for Him to
consider
than for me. For the easiest positions, He must give grace; and in the
most
difficult, His grace is sufficient. So, if God places me in great
perplexity,
must He not give me much guidance? In positions of great difficulty,
much
grace? In circumstances of great pressure and trial, much strength? As
to work,
mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the
weight
and strain are all gone. His resources are mine, for He is mine!”
As
Christians we are Saved
by grace(Ephesians 2:8-9),
Stand by grace(Romans 5:2), Serve through grace(1 Corinthians 15:10),
and
Sustained by grace (2 Corinthians
12:9). Be encouraged!
During
the late 1800s
English evangelist Henry Moorhouse made several trips to America
to
preach. On one of these occasions, he was taking a walk through a poor
section
of the city when he noticed a small boy coming out of a store with a
container
of milk. Just then, the boy slipped and fell, breaking the container
and
spilling the milk all over the sidewalk. Moorhouse rushed to the
youngster’s
side and found him unhurt but terrified. “My mamma’ll whip me!” he
cried. The
preacher suggested that they try to put the pitcher back together, but
the
pieces of glass would not stay together. The boy kept crying. Finally
Moorhouse
picked up the youngster and carried him to a nearby store where the
preacher
purchased a new container. Then he returned to the dairy store and had
the container
washed and filled with milk. With that done, he carried both the boy
and the container
home. Putting the youngster down on his front porch, Moorhouse handed
him the container
with mil and asked, “Now will your mama whip you?” A wide smile spread
upon his
tear-stained face, “Aw, no sir, ‘cause it’s lot better container than
we had
before.”
The free
grace God shown
you are an Amazing Grace and Adoring Grace!
Prayer:
Father, your
grace is enough and continue to pour your grace upon my life. Please
help me to show the same grace you gave me to other around me as well.
In Jesus
Name….Amen!
May you
have a
Grace-filled Day!
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