Understanding True Grace 2
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8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Eph 2:8-10.
Grace got us into the Kingdom of God, its grace that keep us in the kingdom, and its grace that causes us to walk in the Spirit which is the kingdom here on earth.
We all go through a process of learning to live by Grace.
1)The Bible says we grow in God’s grace.
2 Peter 3:18.
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
When I first started living for God I was hearing the Word. This brought a gulf between where I was and were I should be. I would look into the mirror of the Word of God and see all that needed to change.
I began to notice all the things that needed to change that I hadn’t seen before. Notice in others peoples lives as well.
So I tried to change myself and didn’t realize I had a right motive but went about it in wrong way.
I began to try and change those around me.
I tried to change my circumstances.
The problem is that I was in control. I didn’t know how to allow the Holy Spirit to come into my life and cause the things to happen that needed to happen as I believed Him and exercised my faith. I thought I had to do it all.
I didn’t know how to submit myself to the Lord and wait on Him.
So I would live in frustration. Over myself, circumstances, and other people.
2)What I was doing was operating under law:
This is what happens when we walk under law instead of under grace:
10 And all who depend on the Law [who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals] are under a curse and doomed to disappointment and destruction, for it is written in the Scriptures, Cursed (accursed, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment) be everyone who does not continue to abide (live and remain) by all the precepts and commands written in the Book of the Law and to practice them.
Frustration = is to disappoint, to prevent from obtaining a goal or fulfilling a desire.
Anytime we put ourselves under the Law we are setting ourselves up for frustration , disappointment , and misery .
Why? Because the law has the ability to do one of two things:
a) If we follow it perfectly, it can make us holy. But since no human being can do that,
b)the second thing the Law can do is to actually increase sin, which leads to destruction.
Romans 2 and 3 teach us that God gave the old testament law so man would try to keep it, find out he could not, and realize his desperate need for a savior. In need of grace.
I was unconsciously putting myself under the curse of the Law. The result was frustration.
It was something I had to accomplish rather than promises God would fulfill in me as I trusted Him and waited for His victory.
3) We just need to spread our wings and let the wind of God’s grace take us and lift us out of self help.
Isaiah 40:31
Imagine a bird soaring high in the sky. It does not fly by its own strength alone but is lifted by the unseen power of the wind. The bird simply spreads its wings, and the wind carries it.
We are like the bird, often weary and weak.
God's strengthening grace is like the wind, empowering us to keep going.
When we trust in His grace, we can soar above our struggles, not in our strength, but in His.
31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
While eagles are often associated with soaring effortlessly on air currents, they do flap their wings, but not as frequently or in the same way as many other birds. Instead of constant flapping, eagles use a technique called soaring or gliding, which allows them to conserve energy.
Thermals and Updrafts: Eagles often ride on thermal currents, which are upward-moving columns of warm air. They spread their wings wide, catch these rising currents, and glide to greater heights with minimal effort. The wind under their wings gives them lift without needing to flap continuously.
Flapping for Lift: When an eagle needs to gain altitude more quickly or when the air currents are weak, it will flap its wings. This is generally more energy-intensive, so eagles typically flap their wings in shorter bursts when needed.
Efficient Flight: When they’re not flapping, eagles can glide for miles, using very little energy as they allow the wind to carry them. This combination of flapping and soaring enables eagles to conserve their strength while covering vast distances.
The eagle doesn't struggle to fly; it simply spreads its wings and lets the wind do the work.
4) Pride which is a grace killer.
Definition of pride =Undue confidence in and attention to one’s own skills, accomplishments, state, possessions, or position.
1 Peter 5:5.
Self reliance is the pinnacle of pride.
Myth of the self made man: .... Economics would tell you otherwise.
I had to relay on hundreds of thousands of people that I don’t even know to have my house and everything in it and pretty much everything I own. Most everything in my house was engineered, resourced,and manufactured by someone else.
5 Likewise, you who are younger and of lesser rank, be subject to the elders (the ministers and spiritual guides of the church)—[giving them due respect and yielding to their counsel]. Clothe (apron) yourselves, all of you, with humility [as the garb of a servant, so that its covering cannot possibly be stripped from you, with freedom from pride and arrogance] toward one another. For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)—[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.
Pride is the motivator when we try and figure out and handle our own situations instead of rather than humbling ourselves and asking God what we ought to do.
There is a difference between trying to use what we think is faith to make our plans work vs relying on grace to allow God to work out His plan in and through us.
Could be the between frustration and rest
I use to rebuke the devil every time I felt opposition. However the scripture says God does the opposing, frustrating, and defeats the proud.
Who are the proud?
• try to figure out everything on their own
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
Wise in our own eyes = means that we are not to think that we have the capacity to figure out everything that is going on in our life.
• do it their way instead of God’s way
Ellie thinks she knows how to do her homework better than parents
• try and change themselves into what they think they should be rather than asking God to bring about within them the changes that He desires to make.
• follow their own plan for their life instead of God’s plan.
Poem:
I want you to face the mountain, so that you can see,
When the mountain is out of the way all there is left is Me.
Only I can move the mountain, only I can push it away,
Only I can conquer the problems, that you face today.
Your only job is to believe, to listen to My voice,
and when you hear what I command, obedience is your choice.
But I will not make it to difficult, for the victory is already Mine,
and I will fill you with My Spirit and through you My Grace will shine.
Not when you are perfect, like you think you need to be,
But when your heart is willing, to become more and more like Me.
