Grace is so amazing! It completely boggles my mind! I don’t understand how the God of the universe could bestow grace upon us humans. To think, that because of His grace, I get to spend eternity with Him forever! If he would have given justice, hell would have been our destination after death. If it was mercy, God might have let us just live in an earth state for eternity. But no, He gave us…me grace! I can look forward to being in His presence till the end of time and beyond!
Looking forward to being with Him forever is staggering as it is, but I also have the chance to live in freedom until I wait for that day. His grace frees me to be no longer have to obey the enemy with his temptations, or my own fallen flesh. Through grace, I can live free from the bondage of these things, as well as my own pride and legalistic thinking.
Knowing all this, my mind (like I said before) is completely blown! I am reminded that the Lord loves me (I will never be able to understand how much He does) This makes me want to spend all my time with Him, alone. Just the two of us. To have no distractions keeping me away from knowing Him more.
This amazing grace is, well…amazing to know about, but it is so much better to live! Jesus has helped me to, more or less, chill out. I tend to be very legalistic, and when I make a mistake, I feel like a failure (which is not true). As I apply this grace, I am reminded that I will make mistakes, but God does not view me as a failure. He views me as what I will be when He is done perfecting me. I can’t tell you how encouraging and relieving that is!
When I am reminded of this grace that God has shown towards me, I find it easier to have grace for others as well. I need to continue to have grace for others, because the Lord is working in their lives as He is working in mine. He might be working on different characteristics or sins hidden deep down inside. I should let God be God and not judge my brother or sister because they might not have the same opinion on the issue being discussed. Grace gives me room to respect, and even more importantly, to accept their opinion. To have an open mind that is ready to hear different views on a topic. I know, and am reminded how much I didn’t deserve God’s grace, and this allows me to give grace to others.
I can’t say that I have attained the grace yet in all areas of my life, but I sincerely hope that one day, I will be able to say I am completely free. Free in Christ, free indeed. Free at last.
Does submitting make you weak or strong? Does it rob you of your freedom or give you freedom?
These are some of the points that K.P. Yohannan brings out in his book, “Touching Godliness”. We’ve been learning that when we submit to the authority God has placed over us, we will find freedom! It means giving up our will in order to do what is being asked of us. Submission is not the same thing as obedience though. Obedience is doing what we’re told, if we want to or not. In other words, our heart’s not in it. Submission, on the other hand, is willing obeying, not because we have to, but because we choose to surrender our will to that of our authority.
God has been showing me that in order to truly live for Him I must submit, first to God Himself and then to the delegated authorities that He has place over me. I have also learned that submission is not giving up my own “strength“, but instead it is bringing that “strength” under control. Submission not only gives me freedom, it brings me closer to Jesus Christ! What more do I want?!
There are many times in my life when I think I have learned as much as I can in a certain area, and since God has grown me and healed me, I don’t ever need to come back to that area. Yes, the Lord has healed me, and I’m not saying that His healing wasn’t perfect and what I needed at that time, but there is always room for growth and it’s my own pride to say I don’t need to grow anymore in that area.
Recently I have started a Bible Study. Before starting this I was a little weary because I know the Lord has healed me from my past and I’m moving forward in my relationship with Him because of it. I was under the impression that since I know the Lord has healed me, I’m invincible (in a sense) to what may come up regarding my past. But that was my pride speaking, and a lie from the enemy in his attempt to keep me from seeking the Lord continuously in that area of my life and continuously taking each thought captive that I may stay in the light and not stray from the Truth I believe.
So far in the study I have learned about the wrong and right guilt and shame, about righteous and unrighteous anger, and more about Jesus’ anguish on the cross as He willingly laid down His life for me.
I always find it interesting how the Lord speaks into my life. I’m not sure if it’s because I have a thick skull to get through, or if it’s just His way of solidifying a certain message, but He always relates everything in my life to what He is showing me. So, I am learning about all these things at the same time, going through trials that relate to the things I’m learning, and then reading about the life of Jesus and how much He loves me, all at the same time. I guess that learning things in threes to make it permanent really is valid! 🙂
Anyways, that is where I am right now and I’m sure the Lord has more for me to learn through these studies. Please pray for my heart to be open and soft to His molding and teaching. Also that I will have patience with myself as I am a slow learner sometimes.
In the Web department, I have been going through a study on 2 Corinthians that Bro KP did in the UK a few years ago so that I can edit them. I’m learning a lot while listening, and it’s rather interesting what they have to say. One of the topics was about money and financial investment in Heaven. And I had the thought:
Storing up our treasures in Heaven. I used to think of actual treasures… like gold, mansions and things that pirates would steal, but I think about it, the most rewarding treasure that I could receive when I get to Heaven is seeing all the lost souls that were impacted by my life in service to God. Worshiping God with them for eternity. That’s the kind of treasure I would like.
For graduation, our class was told to prepare something, whether it be a skit, a presentation, video, slide show, etc. Here is what my class and I put together. I hope you enjoy!
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