Weekly Grace

Grace is more than divine favor we don’t deserve. It’s God’s powerful, loving way of drawing us toward Himself. Instead of condemning us for our sins, God reveals His mercy through Jesus Christ. When the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him the woman caught in adultery He refused to judger her; instead He didn’t condemn her, and told her to go and sin no more.

The radical love God shows us through Jesus changes hearts far more effectively than judgment ever could. He didn’t come to condemn the world, but to save it. In a world quick to criticize, His gentle forgiveness and compassion stand out. He meets us in our brokenness and lifts us up, not by force, but by the beauty of His character.

To help us let go of worldly attachments, God offers two powerful motivations: the glory of heaven and the temporary nature of earthly life. He urges us to think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. When our eyes are fixed on the eternal, the temporary loses its grip on our hearts.

Jesus endured the cross because of the joy awaiting Him. That same joy awaits us. Grace teaches us to live with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, as we look forward with hope to that wonderful day. By keeping our eyes on Jesus, this hope becomes our anchor.

The apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians that the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we can’t see will last forever. What’s visible is passing, but God’s promises remain. Those promises are many, and they’re all good.

Grace calls us higher—not through fear, but by showing us something better. Heaven is real, Jesus is alive, and the best is yet to come. Let your heart be drawn by the attractiveness of His grace.

Prayer:

Lord, grace is the way You express Yourself. It came to us in human form to show us how much You love us. Thank You for using it to draw us to You by showing us how attractive it is. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

John 8:3-11

John 3:17

Colossians 3:2, NLT

Hebrews 12:2, NLT

Titus 2:11-13, NLT

2 Corinthians 4:18

God wants to bless us in all areas of our lives. However, some things that we do, such as finding fault with others, block those blessings. His grace meets us where we are, but never leaves us there. He wants to give us His best—but we must cooperate for that to happen.

As free moral agents, we can quietly block God’s blessings with criticism and blame. Jesus faced this head-on in His ministry. He healed, taught, and loved with authority and compassion, but the religious leaders still nitpicked His every move. When He healed a man of palsy and forgave his sins, some of the scribes said to themselves that He was blasphemous for doing so.

Instead of celebrating healing, the scribes were determined not to cooperate. They criticized Jesus’ method, choosing to focus so much on His perceived faults that they missed His miracles. This is a dangerous way of thinking, and we must ask ourselves if we’re like them. Like Jesus, we must keep in mind that those who are sick, not those who are whole, are the ones needing a physician.

When Jesus encountered the naysayers and the doubters, He didn’t stop to argue with them, but kept His eyes on the harvest. He knew people needed to be saved, and time was too valuable to waste with cynics and critics. He told His disciples that the harvest was plenty, but the laborers were few.

Criticism still happens today. People bite and devour one another to the point of destruction. However, we don’t have to come down to the level of our critics when we’re working to spread the Gospel of Grace. Like Nehemiah, we must say, “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”

Dispensing with criticism and judgment allows us to receive from God. Walking in love enables us to see the big picture. Cooperating with God positions us for blessings. Top of Form

Prayer:Bottom of Form

Lord, when we do the right thing and avoid finding fault with others, we allow You to use us to fulfill Your plan of reaching lost souls. Thank you for entrusting us with this lifesaving task. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

Matthew 9:2, 3, 37

Mark 2:17

Luke 5:31

Galatians 5:15, NLT

Nehemiah 6:3, NLT

There’s a vast difference between how God operates and how we, as humans, often think He should. Unlike us, He thinks and works on a much higher level than we’re capable of. God tells us plainly that His thoughts and ways are far higher than ours. While our mindset leans toward earning, deserving, and repaying, God’s ways are rooted in grace, which is completely unearned, undeserved, and unconditional favor.

We often think that good happens when we’re good, and bad happens when we’ve failed. We assume that we must earn God’s blessing and prove our worth. However, although all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, we’ve been justified freely by His grace. His favor has nothing to do with our behavior.

The woman caught in adultery was one example of this. According to man’s law, she deserved condemnation and death. Jesus, operating in God’s higher way, extended mercy and declared, “Neither do I condemn you.” Grace came first, then the call to go and sin no more.

Religious tradition teaches us to “clean up our act” before coming to God. Thankfully, He knows this is impossible without His help.  He doesn’t use fear of punishment to get us to behave right, but love. Perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment, which just isn’t God’s way.

God doesn’t threaten us, but works much more effectively to gain our cooperation. The kind of harsh measures the world uses only causes resentment and resistance. By comparison, He wins us over and gets us to change our minds with His mercy and compassion. The goodness of God leads us to repentance.

Doubting that Jesus took all our punishment causes us to live anxiously, trying to earn back God’s love through perfect performance. This is no longer necessary; our strength comes from His grace, not from rules that don’t help anyone trying to follow them. Our peace comes from knowing that Jesus has already done everything needed to make us right with God.

Prayer:

Lord, You’ve freed us from the pressure to perform. We’re already loved and accepted, and we can rest in that. Thank You for sending Your Son to model how You think and operate. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

Isaiah 55:8, 9

Romans 3:23, 24

John 8:10–11

1 John 4:18

Romans 2:4

Hebrews 13:9, NLT

God didn’t just give us grace to rescue us from our sins, but also to empower us to live successfully. His favor is all-inclusive, and operates on more than one level. It’s not just to enable us to go to heaven when our earthly lives are finished, but also to empower us to live successfully in this life. An awareness of how grace translates into our everyday routines helps us tap into it to discover God’s will for us on a daily basis.

God is more than enough, and He blesses us abundantly from His overflow. From His abundance we’ve received one gracious blessing after another. His grace carries real power. It’s all we need during the lowest points in our lives when we’re at our weakest; His power works best in weakness.

Most people live only to please themselves. This is self-centered; Paul advised the Corinthians that living a life pleasing to God should be our goal. Specifically, trusting in Him is what pleases Him. This requires refusing to be people-pleasers, but instead speaking not as pleasing to men, but pleasing to God, who tries our hearts.

The Holy Spirit lives in us to guide us through life and help us make the right choices. By His divine power, He gave us everything we need for living godly lives. It’s the Spirit who makes us want to live a lifestyle pleasing to the Father. God is working in us, giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.

The best part about grace is that we don’t have to work for it. God extends this gift to us in the full knowledge that we’ll continue to sin and fall short of our goals while still on earth. Under the law we would have died for our mistakes; the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace much more abounded. Thankfully, we’re no longer under the law, but under grace—this is great news for us.

Prayer:

God, You gave us grace for everyday living. This is something that enhances our lives right now, without us having to wait until we get to heaven. We’re thankful for this. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

John 1:16, NLT

2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT

2 Corinthians 5:9, NKJV

1 Thessalonians 2:4

2 Peter 1:3, NLT

Philippians 2:13, NLT

Ephesians 2:8

Romans 5:20

Romans 6:14

We live in an environment surrounded by people more concerned with their own agendas and activities than seeing God and acknowledging His presence. This is a sign of being spiritually blind. Most people have learned to be self-reliant and self-sufficient, and asking for God’s help never occurs to them. This kind of mindset stems from the now-expired Law of Moses, which holds us back from receiving God’s best.

Hearing the Word of grace preached offends spiritually-blind people. This was what happened when the Pharisees were highly offended by what Jesus taught. Rather than get caught up in trying to convince people who simply didn’t believe, Jesus told His disciples to leave them alone. They were blind leaders of the blind; listening to today’s religious doctrines only further intensifies spiritual blindness.

Under the law, the requirement to follow hundreds of rules and work hard to obey all the commandments put people in bondage to self-effort. However, what was true under the law may not be true under grace; we’ve now been freed from all those rules. When Jesus was preaching to the people, He told the Jews who believed Him that if they continued in His Word, they would know the truth, and the truth would make them free. Faith in grace gives us rest from our labors.

Trusting in Christ lets Him open blind eyes. He brings out prisoners and those who sit in spiritual darkness. With help from the Holy Spirit, we can do the same things Jesus did; preach deliverance to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and set at liberty those who are bruised in spirit. The empowerment He gives us is something we can help others find.

The law, which requires self-effort, focuses on sin. Thankfully, sin doesn’t have dominion over us anymore because we’re no longer under the law, but under grace. Receiving this gift for ourselves opens our spiritual eyes and lets us see life from God’s perspective.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, Your Son opens our eyes to Your goodness, mercy, and grace. We don’t need perfect performance, just a willingness to believe. We’re grateful for the freedoms You brought us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

Matthew 15:12-14

John 8:31, 32

Matthew 11:28-30

Isaiah 42:7

Luke 4:18

Romans 6:14

Have you ever wrestled with a problem that seemed so enormous you felt it would overwhelm you? At one time or another, we all have. We can feel as if we’re about to go under; at times like these, talking to God about it in prayer gives us amazing breakthroughs. We can come boldly to His throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

Trusting in and relying on Jesus makes us righteous in God’s eyes. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. We can be thankful that the requirements for prayer have changed from the covenant of the law to the covenant of grace. We no longer have to beg and plead with God to help us; because of the finished works of Jesus, everything we need to master situations in life has already been finished.

Before the cross, David prayed that God would create a clean heart in him; he asked God not to banish him from His presence or take His Holy Spirit from him. After the cross, God promises us that He will never give us up or leave us without support. He’ll be with us always, even to the end of the world.

Christ made this possible by being the propitiation for our sins; he was the peace offering to God and the ransom paid to put us back in right-standing with the Father. What makes us righteous now isn’t what we do, but the state of our hearts. Therefore, when we pray, we can do so with gratitude. We’re told to devote ourselves to prayer with alert minds and thankful hearts.

Life will always have problems, but they no longer have to dominate us. God has made us the head and not the tail. Because of Christ, we can now win in life.

Prayer:

God, Your Son shed His blood so that we could be righteous and experience victory over the issues in life that defeat others. This transforms everything, including our prayer lives. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

Hebrews 4:16

James 5:16, NLT

John 19:30

Psalm 51:10, 11, NLT

Hebrews 13:5, AMPC

Matthew 28:20

1 John 2:2

Colossians 4:2, NLT

Deuteronomy 28:13