Walking Grace Filled

February Update

One of the things that is constantly revealed as you walk with other believers is there is deep suffering that people are walking through. It seems as if each week there is a new announcement about someone who is facing serious health concerns, tragic accidents and unexplainable and sudden heartbreak. As you minister to those around you, there are silent struggles and suffering that we may not even hear about, unfulfilled longings, silent sin struggles that have given way to suffering, family issues, stresses of life, etc. But one thing is for sure we are all walking through something. 

As we are walking with other we must remember a very important promise of God. His GRACE. God’s grace is something that most believers don’t reflect on often. We walk through our Christian walk, knowing that grace has had a astounding impact on who we are, but do we recognize what that means for us as believers daily. 

Grace changes us positionally. God loved us so much even in our rebellion against his holy nature and rejection of God as king of our lives. In our brokenness he still wanted to make a way. Why? Because of God’s grace. We must see our sin for what it is, to truly reflect on how awful our hearts are, to truly understand the impact of his abounding grace. Through his grace we find forgiveness, through his grace he sent his son, and through his grace he does not see our sin but only Christ righteousness, when we accept and believe Christ and his finished work. We were once dead in our trespasses and sin, and we are now made alive in Christ. Ephesians 2:4-5. 

“Lost in our sin through the provision of Grace, we gain righteousness. This provision of grace is the cross. Where salvation was purchased for all who would turn to the Lord in repentance and believe for the forgiveness of sins. “ – Anonymous

Grace also elevates our position. We who are nothing without the finished work of Christ have now by his grace been adopted into his family. We have been given a inheritance that will never spoil or run out. We have been chosen, are co-workers, labourers for the gospel. We are his beloved children. We are not worthy of any of these titles and yet through Christ we have been given all of these things.  

Acts 20:32 

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” 

This should give us incredible hope and joy. We have eternal security. Nothing in this world and no amount of suffering we face can ever take that away. But how do we live in a way that reflects this grace daily. 

1)     Choose to direct our thinking towards grace filled thoughts. 

1 Corinthians 10:5 “ we demolish every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” When we are going through hard things, sometimes it seems easier to let our thoughts and emotions be in control. But we need to be thinking about what we are thinking about. A good way to make sure our thoughts are grace filled is to filter our thoughts through 4:8. If our thoughts do not align with those criteria we need to change our thoughts. God enables us through his grace to be able to do this. 

1)     Live through the daily supplied Grace. In Exodus 16 the Israelites are walking through the wilderness and they are tired and are hungry. They are not believing that God will supply there need. But even through there unbelief , God in his grace gives them exactly what they need. God gives them Manna each day to fully satisfy and completely supply there need. He says not to collect more than is needed, but to trust. The next day God again supplies for what they need. This is the same in our lives. When we are facing hard things God supplies the grace we need to walk through exact what he is bringing us through. We do not need to worry about tomorrow, but we just trust that God has given us the grace for what we are facing today and will renew it each day. Lamentations 3:22-23 “It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”God has given us the grace we need, for the season he has placed us in. This is how we can walk through suffering, hard things and stresses of life in a broken world. Because of his great abounding grace. 

We are brought into God’s kingdom by grace; we are sanctified by grace; we receive both temporal and spiritual blessings by grace; we are motivated to obedience by grace; we are called to serve and enabled to serve by grace; we receive strength to endure trials by grace; and finally, we are glorified by grace. The entire Christian life is lived under the reign of God’s grace.” 

― Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love