“For we are human, weak and prone to wrong,
And by Thy grace alone are we made strong.”
Henry Coyle, Thankful Heart
In the midst of our failed attempts at loving Jesus, His grace covers us. Francis Chan, Crazy Love
Grace needs nothing added to it. It’s either you believe it’s all God’s grace or you believe you have to help God do his work. God saved the believer by his grace, and the believer cannot take any credit for it – none whatsoever. It is totally a gift from God, and you have to understand that you don’t pay for a gift nor do you work for a gift. Thomas Young, The Truth About God’s Grace
“Grace is more than love; it is love set absolutely free and made to be a triumphant Victor over the righteous judgment of God over the sinner.” Chafer “Grace, the glorious theme.”
“God answers the mess of life with one word, Grace.” “God’s grace has a drenching about it, a wildness about it, a white water, riptide, turn-you-upside-downness about it.” “Grace comes after you, it rewires you, from insecure to God-secure. From afraid to die to ready to fly. When grace happens we receive not a nice compliment from God but a new heart.” Lucado, “Grace.”
“Grace is God acting freely, according to His own nature as love, with no promises or obligations to fulfil, and acting of course righteously, in view of the cross.” Newell, “Romans.” “Grace does not help, it is absolute, it does all.” “A man of God under grace: Is not on probation, as to his life past, it does not exist before God.” “Grace, once bestowed is not withdrawn.
“To believe, and to consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret.” Newell
“As men form a mindset under grace, they may find they are, ” …certain of God’s future favor, yet to be ever more tender in conscience toward Him. “
- but, “to hope to be better is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.”
- To be disappointed in yourself is to have believed in yourself.”
- To be discouraged is unbelief.
- To be proud is to be blind. We have no standing before God in ourselves.
- To preach devotion first, and blessing second, is to reverse God’s order and preach “law” and not grace.
Max Lucado writes, in his book “In the Grip of Grace,” the following conversation occurred between a canary in a cage, and a lark on a window sill. The lark looked in at the canary and asked, “What is your purpose?”
“My purpose is to eat seed.”
“What for?”
“so I can be strong.”
“What for?”
“So I can sing.” answered the canary.
What for? Continued the lark.
“because when I sing I get more seed.”
“so you eat in order to be strong, so you can sing, so you can get seed, so you can eat.”
“yes”
“There is more to you than that, the lark offered, if you follow me I will help you find it,
“but you must leave your cage.”
Cages can consist in a short sided “moral” outlook , maybe a cultural conformity, maybe we just follow the crowd, adopt a “herd” mentality. With the lark we say, “there is more to you than that.”
in closing, A Quote from Lewis B. Smedes. “Grace gives us courage to look at the messy mixture of shadow and light inside our lives, be ashamed of some of what we see, and then , accept the good news that God accepts us with our shadows and all the ogres that live inside of them.” From his book, “Shame and Grace.”
Friends, “
“Without even understanding it, using it, or revealing it, we have already received the fullness of grace. The problem is that we just don’t understand how to apply it for deliverance, salvation, or healing, whether
physical or emotional.
That is why we need messages like this, that we would know Him.” Carl H. Stevens
love ya
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