Post by Zac Loh on Jan 5, 2006 9:21:02 GMT -5
We change our rituals from time to time. We have made resolutions that we have vowed to keep. But at the end of the week... at the end of the month... the bubble bursts... we explode!
And we continue on. We keep prodding-on. Yet again, we don’t realize that these personal laws were the very tools which caused the cravings to grow. Our curiosity just intensified until we could hold-on no longer!
But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. [Romans 7:8a]
We perform to be accepted. But grace is when we perform because we are accepted. A child, who has the assurance of the parents' love, will do things because he loves them, not to gain their love and acceptance. That's what grace is all about.
What do’s and don’ts have you imposed on yourself lately?
For you are not under law but under grace. [Romans 6:14]
I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. [Galatians 2:21]
Law can be more than just the Old Testament laws of the Bible. It covers all man-made religious rules and regulations... standards and practices... both traditional and modern. In fact, man is continually creating new religious laws for himself... and for others. It can be made out of anything at all. Let’s position our hearts, to stand together with Paul.
`be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.’ [Philippians 3:9]
Those who preach law will inadvertently put their listeners into bondage. It is a religious spirit having a foothold. Conversely, those who preach grace will set the people free!
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. [John 8:32]
THE UNMERITED FAVOR OF GOD
Grace is the unmerited, undeserved favor of God. It is given not because we can work for it, nor because we can be somebody to deserve it.
Grace was given upon Jesus. Grace will be given to us based upon what is rightfully ours in Christ. Grace will be given through Christ. This grace is given to us all because of what He had done for us. And we can have this grace through Him.
GRACE IS A RELATIONSHIP
The original Greek word for grace is `charis’. The root meaning of this word was derived from its usage as a greeting. Today, when we meet someone, we say `Hi!’ or `Hello!’ Those days, these people greeted `Grace!’.
The apostle Paul used it as his standard salutation. His standard `hello’ was `grace to you’. And His standard `bye’ was `the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you’.
This usage itself speaks of friendliness. It is not a situation when you meet someone you seriously want to avoid. It is warm and cordial. Grace is when God is happy with us. Grace is a relationship.
Therefore, we cannot take grace as separate element itself: it’s God’s grace.
For in Him we live and move and have our being. [Acts 17:28a]
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. [Romans 11:36]
Yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. [1 Corinthians 8:6]
At the end of all things, we are to be caught-up with God Himself. There is the time when we would even leave the subject of grace aside, so as to be caught-up with God and all that is about Him.
Since grace is the expression of the person of God, grace will ultimately lead us to an intimate relationship with Him. The highest grace is to love Him, because God is pleased the most when we love Him.
But the greatest of these is love [1 Corinthians 13:13].
And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [John 1:16-17]
Jesus represented grace whereas Moses represented law. A comparison was made. Law is connected to our doing or undoing. But grace is about relationship. It was no coincidence that the following verse is this:
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. [John 1:18]
Firstly, we must fully comprehend and believe, that God-and-us are related. The strength of knowing our relatedness is a great impetus to come to our Father Who sits on the throne, which is called the throne of grace [Hebrews 4:16]. It gives us confidence. It is the truth.
The devil fears and trembles knowing the power that you have in your relationship with God. A powerful breakthrough awaits the person who associates God with His grace. Let us not come to God based on our performance past, present or future. Let us come depending on His grace and loving kindness.
Secondly, as in any human relationship, we must learn how to relate. Grace comes from the very heart of God. Grace means God is willing. It is His favor. If God is for you, who can be against you?! [Romans 8:31]
Relationship is what matters most. There is truth to the common saying in the market place: “it’s not what you know, but who you know.” Everything goes back to a relationship. And, in the working environment, it’s not so much on how you function - as compared to your relationship with your superior or subordinate. Good working relationships make a team. When synergized, it increases productivity as a whole. Any set-up won’t work well without good relationships working, as well.
The reason why God gives us His grace is so that He will receive the praise. We benefit from His grace, and the praise goes to Him. This is a very good exchange. God is not insecure; neither is He an ego-mania. It’s just that it’s only right that he receive the praise. He is worthy. He deserves it. You can do something without His grace and receive praise for it. It will still be fine with Him!
HINDRANCES TO GRACE
Why is God’s grace hindered from working in our lives?
1. A lack of understanding about the grace of God: we pay a price for our ignorance.
2. A misunderstood, wrong thinking about the grace of God. As such, we must be willing to humble ourselves… to re-learn, change, correct and improve our knowledge of the grace of God. We must be humble to continuously learn.
3. An unreal, presumptuous supposition about the grace of God. We may have assumed it’s there for us, when it’s really not. We need to know when we’re having the real thing.
UNDERSTANDING GRACE
How do you have God’s grace? Understanding God’s grace really help!
Here are the three fundamental points:
1. We need God’s grace to understand about His grace.
2. How we respond to His grace already present, will affect His grace that’s going to come to us.
3. It is grace all the way. We are not supposed to have any intermittent. This is how we grow in grace. [2 Peter 3:18]
AS WE EMBRACE GRACE
There are dangers lurking behind. We are not to be scared, but to be prepared.
Even as we embrace grace, and lean forward: we must not throw caution to the wind. These are a few things we need to look-out for, as we check ourselves.
1. Being ungrateful toward God: an unappreciative, unthankful heart (ask ourselves: does God owe us anything, anyway, in the first place?)
2. Having a careless and loose living: we are not respecting God’s grace,
which is holy and precious [Hebrews 10:26-29].
3. Adopting a mode of not needing to ask for God’s grace: thinking that God’s grace will be there for us automatically – no matter what, no matter when, and no matter how. We take God’s grace for granted blatantly.
There is a call for us to be dependent on God’s grace in our everyday lives. As we become dependent on God’s grace, we will eventually become dependent on God Himself.
There is a place of unbroken fellowship, and the favor of God. It is a spiritual place where you can know in your heart that God's face is turned towards you. And His eyes are upon you. It is the place of grace.
And we continue on. We keep prodding-on. Yet again, we don’t realize that these personal laws were the very tools which caused the cravings to grow. Our curiosity just intensified until we could hold-on no longer!
But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. [Romans 7:8a]
We perform to be accepted. But grace is when we perform because we are accepted. A child, who has the assurance of the parents' love, will do things because he loves them, not to gain their love and acceptance. That's what grace is all about.
What do’s and don’ts have you imposed on yourself lately?
For you are not under law but under grace. [Romans 6:14]
I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. [Galatians 2:21]
Law can be more than just the Old Testament laws of the Bible. It covers all man-made religious rules and regulations... standards and practices... both traditional and modern. In fact, man is continually creating new religious laws for himself... and for others. It can be made out of anything at all. Let’s position our hearts, to stand together with Paul.
`be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.’ [Philippians 3:9]
Those who preach law will inadvertently put their listeners into bondage. It is a religious spirit having a foothold. Conversely, those who preach grace will set the people free!
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. [John 8:32]
THE UNMERITED FAVOR OF GOD
Grace is the unmerited, undeserved favor of God. It is given not because we can work for it, nor because we can be somebody to deserve it.
Grace was given upon Jesus. Grace will be given to us based upon what is rightfully ours in Christ. Grace will be given through Christ. This grace is given to us all because of what He had done for us. And we can have this grace through Him.
GRACE IS A RELATIONSHIP
The original Greek word for grace is `charis’. The root meaning of this word was derived from its usage as a greeting. Today, when we meet someone, we say `Hi!’ or `Hello!’ Those days, these people greeted `Grace!’.
The apostle Paul used it as his standard salutation. His standard `hello’ was `grace to you’. And His standard `bye’ was `the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you’.
This usage itself speaks of friendliness. It is not a situation when you meet someone you seriously want to avoid. It is warm and cordial. Grace is when God is happy with us. Grace is a relationship.
Therefore, we cannot take grace as separate element itself: it’s God’s grace.
For in Him we live and move and have our being. [Acts 17:28a]
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. [Romans 11:36]
Yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live. [1 Corinthians 8:6]
At the end of all things, we are to be caught-up with God Himself. There is the time when we would even leave the subject of grace aside, so as to be caught-up with God and all that is about Him.
Since grace is the expression of the person of God, grace will ultimately lead us to an intimate relationship with Him. The highest grace is to love Him, because God is pleased the most when we love Him.
But the greatest of these is love [1 Corinthians 13:13].
And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [John 1:16-17]
Jesus represented grace whereas Moses represented law. A comparison was made. Law is connected to our doing or undoing. But grace is about relationship. It was no coincidence that the following verse is this:
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. [John 1:18]
Firstly, we must fully comprehend and believe, that God-and-us are related. The strength of knowing our relatedness is a great impetus to come to our Father Who sits on the throne, which is called the throne of grace [Hebrews 4:16]. It gives us confidence. It is the truth.
The devil fears and trembles knowing the power that you have in your relationship with God. A powerful breakthrough awaits the person who associates God with His grace. Let us not come to God based on our performance past, present or future. Let us come depending on His grace and loving kindness.
Secondly, as in any human relationship, we must learn how to relate. Grace comes from the very heart of God. Grace means God is willing. It is His favor. If God is for you, who can be against you?! [Romans 8:31]
Relationship is what matters most. There is truth to the common saying in the market place: “it’s not what you know, but who you know.” Everything goes back to a relationship. And, in the working environment, it’s not so much on how you function - as compared to your relationship with your superior or subordinate. Good working relationships make a team. When synergized, it increases productivity as a whole. Any set-up won’t work well without good relationships working, as well.
The reason why God gives us His grace is so that He will receive the praise. We benefit from His grace, and the praise goes to Him. This is a very good exchange. God is not insecure; neither is He an ego-mania. It’s just that it’s only right that he receive the praise. He is worthy. He deserves it. You can do something without His grace and receive praise for it. It will still be fine with Him!
HINDRANCES TO GRACE
Why is God’s grace hindered from working in our lives?
1. A lack of understanding about the grace of God: we pay a price for our ignorance.
2. A misunderstood, wrong thinking about the grace of God. As such, we must be willing to humble ourselves… to re-learn, change, correct and improve our knowledge of the grace of God. We must be humble to continuously learn.
3. An unreal, presumptuous supposition about the grace of God. We may have assumed it’s there for us, when it’s really not. We need to know when we’re having the real thing.
UNDERSTANDING GRACE
How do you have God’s grace? Understanding God’s grace really help!
Here are the three fundamental points:
1. We need God’s grace to understand about His grace.
2. How we respond to His grace already present, will affect His grace that’s going to come to us.
3. It is grace all the way. We are not supposed to have any intermittent. This is how we grow in grace. [2 Peter 3:18]
AS WE EMBRACE GRACE
There are dangers lurking behind. We are not to be scared, but to be prepared.
Even as we embrace grace, and lean forward: we must not throw caution to the wind. These are a few things we need to look-out for, as we check ourselves.
1. Being ungrateful toward God: an unappreciative, unthankful heart (ask ourselves: does God owe us anything, anyway, in the first place?)
2. Having a careless and loose living: we are not respecting God’s grace,
which is holy and precious [Hebrews 10:26-29].
3. Adopting a mode of not needing to ask for God’s grace: thinking that God’s grace will be there for us automatically – no matter what, no matter when, and no matter how. We take God’s grace for granted blatantly.
There is a call for us to be dependent on God’s grace in our everyday lives. As we become dependent on God’s grace, we will eventually become dependent on God Himself.
There is a place of unbroken fellowship, and the favor of God. It is a spiritual place where you can know in your heart that God's face is turned towards you. And His eyes are upon you. It is the place of grace.