Grace...Overcomes!

Grace...Overcomes!

Grace. I have discovered the beauty of this word and the power that it contains to change and transform me. The Word "grace" is one that I have heard many times in my life as a believer, however, until the last few years it has lacked the person of Jesus. Many, myself included, have often thought of grace as a type of "Tylenol." Ah, how wrong we are!

"Tylenol" covers up symptoms and "gets us through. Grace overcomes! I have discovered that grace is the power of The Gospel. Jesus gives us gifts when we say yes to Him in our lives. One of those gifts is righteousness (right standing with God), the other is grace.

"Those who receive [God's] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them in right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one man Jesus Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One).
Romans 5:17
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The Amplified Bible, in various place describes grace in three different ways. The first one is: God's undeserved, unmerited favor. The second is: The power of the Holy Spirit to overcome every and any evil tendencies. And last, but certainly not least is: The unmerited favor and merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, and keeps, strengthens, and increases them in Christian virtues. WOW! The word "I" is not contained in there anywhere! Amen!

I used to think I had to earn all that stuff! I thought I had to read my Bible the right amount of time. I thought I had to pray long enough, and hard enough. I thought I had to have good attendance at church. And, I thought I had to give enough to God that He would give back to me. Oh, I knew I was saved, I just didn't know I had all that righteousness and grace contains without self-effort!

Don't misunderstand, as I said in the last post, I am not implying that we do not need to do anything. But, what I am saying is that none of those things mentioned above score us points with God! All of our doing is not what we must do, what must be done was taken care of by Jesus! But, we get to participate, therefore, there are things we will do! Our doings are called fruits not efforts. The Fruits of Righteousness (Philippians 1:11)!

Lets reign as kings in life together and let go, and let God be God. All of our trying to be good enough will only leave us feeling frustrated and insufficient. Whenever you feel like you are lacking, turn to Jesus and thank Him for who you already are because of Him. May His GRACE flow freely in your life!

Lets talk Grace! What are your thoughts on Grace? Does this challenge you in anyway? Do you agree that Grace is person named Jesus? Let's talk Grace!