The Next Step – Grace for All Occasions Pt. 2

Welcome back, my friends. Last month, in our study of Grace for All Occasions, we learned about the Saving Grace of God (the beginning of Grace). We learned that God’s Grace is achieved through faith, and there is nothing you can do to earn it. You can’t go to church enough, you can’t be kind to one another enough, or give to the poor enough to earn the Grace of God. It’s free if you accept it through faith alone in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. We learned that God’s Grace enables you to live a life free of the judgment and condemnation of others as well as yourself. Finally, we learned that with God’s Grace, we can take the very personal vertical relationship and unconditional love we have with our Heavenly Father and in turn share it horizontally with each other.

But, what do you do when life just plain overwhelms you? A tragedy of some kind enters into your life — poor health, the death of a loved one, financial disaster of some kind, or simply an unforeseen circumstance that is the result of this satanic world you live in. You become discouraged and brokenhearted. Life seems to have crushed your spirit to the point that you think you just can’t go on. Then Grace for all Occasions is intended just for you.

When life hits you hard, crushing your spirit and breaking your heart, there is only one place to go, and that’s to God’s Emergency Room. There you will receive the emergency care you need to heal your spirit and mend your broken heart.

Healing Grace

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”  Psalm 34:18 (NLT)

“He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.” Psalm 147:3 (NLT)

When life deals you a crushing blow, there are five assurances of God’s Grace that as child of God you can count on to find peace and comfort. No matter what happens, no matter how bad it gets, no matter how much your faith is tested, your Heavenly Father will never, never stop loving you.

Let’s look at the 5 Assurances of God’s Healing Grace.

1. Because of God’s Grace We Are Acceptable: 

How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every blessing in heaven because we belong to Christ.

Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to!

Now all praise to God for his wonderful kindness to us and his favor that he has poured out upon us because we belong to his dearly loved Son. So overflowing is his kindness toward us that he took away all our sins through the blood of his Son, by whom we are saved; and he has showered down upon us the richness of his grace—for how well he understands us and knows what is best for us at all times. Ephesians 1:3-10 (TLB)

God has accepted you and me just as we are, and He sees us now without a single fault, because we now stand before Him covered with His love. How amazing is the assurance that you are accepted by God?

2. Because of God’s Grace We Are Valuable

You have been bought and paid for by Christ, so you belong to him—be free now from all these earthly prides and fears. 1 Corinthians 7:23 (TLB)

Then turning to his disciple’s he said, “Don’t worry about whether you have enough food to eat or clothes to wear. For life consists of far more than food and clothes. Look at the ravens—they don’t plant or harvest or have barns to store away their food, and yet they get along all right—for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! Luke 12:22-24 (TLB)

You are more valuable to God than anything else He has created. You have been bought and paid for by His Son, Jesus Christ, so you now belong to Him. How wonderful is the assurance that you are extremely valuable to God?

3. Because of God’s Grace We Are Loveable

For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the LORD, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54:10 (NLT)

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. Romans 8:38 (NLT)

God loves you just as you are. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more than He already does. How mind-blowing is the assurance that you will always be loved by God?

4. Because of God’s Grace We Are Forgivable

I am the one who wipes away all your sins. I do this to please myself. I will not remember your sins. Isaiah 43:25 (ERV)

He has removed our sins as far away from us as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:12

No matter what you’ve done, regardless of how bad it was or how long you’ve done it, the slate has been whipped clean! How incredible is the assurance that your past has all been erased by God? You’re a new creation in His sight.

5. Because of God’s Grace We Are Capable

for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power. Philippians 4:13 (TLB)

We are His work. He has made us to belong to Christ Jesus so we can work for Him. He planned that we should do this. Ephesians 2:10 (NLV)

Through the Grace of God you now have the strength and ability to do all that God will ask you to do. How rewarding is the assurance that through the power of Jesus Christ you now have the ability to be God’s ambassador here on earth?

The Grace of Restoration

No one is beyond Restoration

Now, because of this, those who belong to Christ will not suffer the punishment of sin. 2 The power of the Holy Spirit has made me free from the power of sin and death. This power is mine because I belong to Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 (NLV)

No matter what you do or how many times you fail, God will love you and He will show you Grace because that is what He wants to do. You are precious and valuable to God.

It is because of the Lord’s loving-kindness that we are not destroyed for His loving-pity never ends. 23 It is new every morning. He is so very faithful. Lamentations 3:22-23 (NLV)

God is in the business of Restoration!

Restoration Begins with Recognition of Weakness

• We all have our own weaknesses in our spiritual life, and until we recognize them we can’t begin to overcome them.
• Satan has a personal temptation folder on each of us. There are some sins we would never commit, but there are others we will always fall prey to and Satan knows that.
• When you don’t think you have any weaknesses, God calls this arrogance.

I asked the Lord three times to take it away from me. 9 He answered me, “I am all you need. I give you My loving-favor. My power works best in weak people.” I am happy to be weak and have troubles so I can have Christ’s power in me. 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (NLV)

Don’t Allow God’s Restoration Project to be in Vain

• For all that God has done for you, sending His Son to die on the cross for your sins, providing the doorway to eternity through Him, don’t take advantage of that restorative Grace. Don’t turn your back on Him.
• Don’t accept God’s Grace of restoration and then turn around and move back into your old apartment where Satan is your landlord.

I am different now. It is all because of what God did for me by His loving-favor. His loving-favor was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other missionaries. But it was not I who worked. It was God’s loving-favor working through me. 1 Corinthians 15:10 (NLV)

God’s Sustaining Grace

• The power that God gives us to keep on going even when we feel like giving up.
• Life is full of stresses, but we have this promise:

I am sure that God Who began the good work in you will keep on working in you until the day Jesus Christ comes again. Philippians 1:6 (NLV)

Life is a race and how do we know if we’ll finish the race well?

I have fought a good fight. I have finished the work I was to do. I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7 (NLV)

Three areas that prevent us from finishing the race well:

1. God’s sustaining Grace can help us when we’re tempted.

Temptation is the first stress test of life. There is a battle going on inside of us daily — our Old Nature vs. New Nature.

Be careful—watch out for attacks from Satan, your great enemy. He prowls around like a hungry, roaring lion, looking for some victim to tear apart. Stand firm when he attacks. Trust the Lord; and remember that other Christians all around the world are going through these sufferings too. 1 Peter 5:8-9 (TLB)

2. God’s sustaining Grace can help us when we’re tired.

• There are times when we get tired of doing what is right. It’s hard to go against the flow; it’s hard to swim upstream.
• It’s easier to stay at home and hide from the world. This is exactly what Satan wants you to do.

And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up. Galatians 6:9 (TLB)

So where do we go to get the strength even when we don’t feel like doing right.

It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. 2 Corinthians 1:21 (NLT)

The more you try to be a good Christian in your own strength, the more tired you become.

Let Jesus be Jesus through us. Stop trying and start trusting.

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. 14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, Philippians 2:13-14 (NLT)

3. God’s sustaining Grace can help us when we’re troubled.

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NLT)

Don’t worry—I am with you. Don’t be afraid—I am your God. I will make you strong and help you. I will support you with my right hand that brings victory. Isaiah 41:10 (ERV)

God is our protection and source of strength. He is always ready to help us in times of trouble. Psalm 46:1 (ERV)

Four steps to the successful stress test of life:

1. Cry out to God.
2. Fill your mind with the word of God.
3. Rely on the support system of other people.
4. Trust God’s promises. There are over 7,000 promises in the Word of God and all we have to do is claim them.

God doesn’t call us to have all the answers. He calls us to run to Him, trust Him and rely on Him. God’s sustaining Grace is with us no matter what happens.

Growing in Grace

It is not a matter of quantity; it is a matter of quality!

Grow in the loving-favor that Christ gives you. Learn to know our Lord Jesus Christ better. He is the One Who saves. May He have all the shining-greatness now and forever. Let it be so. 2 Peter 3:18 (NLV)

We often measure our spiritual growth by how many good things we do for God.

• How many times did I go to church, how many times did I read my bible, how many times have I prayed or how many bible studies have I completed? Spiritual growth isn’t a matter of how many.

God always measures our spiritual growth by how much closer we are to him.

• How much closer to God am I today than I was yesterday? How much more does my life reflect Jesus Christ in the way I think or the way I talk? How much more do I love my wife and my kids because of God’s grace?

What does it mean to grow in Grace?

Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you. Ephesians 4:22-24 (MSG)

1. Put off the old self

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)

You don’t grow spiritually by keeping the rules. Rules don’t produce growth.

Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, which have never benefited those who participated in them. Hebrews 13:9 (NET Bible)

2. Put on the new self

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17(NLT)

Your new life is not a new set of rules or activities or ritual or a new religion. It is a new life completely based on God’s Grace.

a. We don’t have to achieve this new life. You don’t have to make it work on your own. In fact it is impossible.

b. We don’t have to secure this new life. You are not holding on to God — God is holding on to you. If you can’t do anything to gain God’s Grace, you can’t do anything to lose God’s Grace.

You have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on his throne at the right side of God. Keep your minds fixed on things there, not on things here on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-3 (GNT)

c. We do have to put on this new life. Every morning when you wake up, you have to make a conscious decision to put on your new life. To allow God to be seen in the way you think, in the way you talk and act.

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” James 1:5-8 (NLT)

Made new in the attitudes of our mind.

As we allow God to change the way we think it gives us the strength to say no to the old and yes to the new.

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 (NET Bible)

When it comes to a Christian life, the activities may remain the same, it’s your motives that change.

As I said in Part 1 of Grace for all Occasions, you will find that the very understanding of Grace will go against everything you’ve been taught and what often drives you inside (our sinful Old Nature).

Believing in your heart and mind then the true Grace of God will:

• Save you and free you from the guilt and shame of you past, and it will bring you peace.
• Enable you to stop trying to impress God with your holiness by working at it. Just remember that everything now comes from God and nothing comes from you.
• Remove the legalists in your life who try to tell you how you should live the proper Christian life by doing this or that. They only cause you grief because they are wrong. Love God with all your heart and then do whatever you want.
• Share the love God has for you with your family, friends and neighbors. His love was meant to be spread around for all the world to see.
• When life steps on you with both feet, remember the five assurances of God’s Healing Grace. They will never change or go away.
• When you fail and fall back into sin as we all do, remember God is in the business of restoring us, that is what 1 John 1:9 assures us.

But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins. 1 John 1:9 (TLB)

God’s Grace will sustain you when you’re tempted, tired of doing good, troubled, worried or afraid. Just run to Him and He will protect you.

Finally, my friend, you need to grow in God’s Grace. You must desire with all your heart, soul, mind and spirit to seek Him and all His wisdom for every part of your life. This can only be accomplished by reading His Holy Word, the Bible, and praying for the Holy Spirit to unlock your understanding of scriptures to what is truly pleasing to your Heavenly Father.

Join me next month as I continue the discussion on foundational Christian truths in God’s Word. We’ll look at Truth and Righteousness as it relates to living the Christian life through Jesus Christ.

Until next month, my friend, may His mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you.