Weekly Grace

Change is a part of life. If we never change, we become stagnant and stop growing. Although there may be things about us we don’t like and want to disappear, we can’t change ourselves; only God can change us. True change comes from studying His Word and letting it gradually transform us.

Effective transformation begins on the inside of us and starts with our minds. What we think determines what we do; therefore, we must learn to think differently. We may have grown up with a particular mindset that blends in to worldly philosophy but no longer gives us the results we want. We mustn’t be conformed to this world, but instead should be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Paul was an example of how God’s mercy and grace changes people. Paul deserved death because of how he had persecuted the early church, but he instead received mercy and grace. When he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, the encounter changed Paul so radically that it took others some time to realize he wasn’t the man he was before.

Under the law, God dealt with the people according to their deeds; that ended when the covenant of grace was established. Because of what Jesus did on the cross, the requirements to be righteous and receive salvation changed. Before His death, Jesus told the rich young ruler to keep the Law of Moses to receive eternal life. Afterward, the requirement to be saved changed to simple belief in Jesus.

Mercy is when we don’t receive the bad that we do deserve; grace is when we receive the good that we don’t deserve. Just like Paul, when we encounter Jesus’ undeserved favor, something about it causes us to change our minds about submitting to God’s will. The richness of His goodness is bound to lead us to repentance.

Prayer:

Lord, grace and mercy are part of who You are; it’s Your nature to show us love and forgiveness when we turn to You. We’re thankful that encountering You changes us for the better. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

Romans 12:2

Acts 9:1-18

Matthew 19:16-19

Acts 16:30, 31

Romans 2:4

Most of us were taught as children that if we followed all the rules set before us and worked hard to fulfill the world’s requirements, we would be accepted. There’s nothing wrong with doing good things, but taking it to the extreme enslaves us to endless self-effort. Under the Law of Moses, perfect performance was required; thankfully, Jesus came and changed the requirements. Under grace, we’re no longer bound by the expectation that we must do everything right for God to accept us.

Our faith in the finished works of Jesus, not in our own works, makes us righteous. During His ministry, Jesus told the Jews who believed in Him that if they continued in His Word, they would know the truth, and the truth would make them free. Because of His death and resurrection, the liberating power now available to us isn’t found in the Bible in general, but specifically in the Gospel of Grace. Paul told the Galatians that the gospel he preached was not of man, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Under the law, the people had to do good to get good; the concept of receiving unearned, unmerited favor was unheard of. The law wasn’t given to make us righteous, but to condemn us, make us feel guilty, and point us to Jesus. It was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we’re no longer under a schoolmaster.

The Holy Spirit is available to administer the new covenant of grace and continually remind us of God’s love. Eye hasn’t seen, nor ear heard, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him, but God has revealed them to us by His Spirit. The freedom we enjoy while living under grace is something that people who choose to live under the law can never experience.

Prayer:

Lord, because of our inability to make ourselves righteous under the law, You replaced it with grace. We now no longer have to constantly struggle to be in right-standing with You; we simply believe in Jesus and in what He did. Thank you for sending us Your only Son. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

John 8:31, 32

Galatians 1:11, 12

Galatians 3:24, 25

1 Corinthians 2:9, 10

We’ve all experienced our own emotional highs and lows. Feelings of euphoria and joy can move us in one direction, while feelings of shame and anger move us in the opposite direction; these can powerfully affect our outlook on life. God gave us emotions as a blessing, but we must be careful because they have the potential to take control of our lives. Thankfully, if we’ve been born again, we’ve been given authority over our emotions.

What we expose ourselves to determines how we think. How we think determines how we feel; our feelings determine our decisions, which in turn control our actions. When we expose ourselves to the Word of Grace, we’re reminded that we’re in control, not our emotions. Without our God-given self-control, we’re like a city broken into and left without walls.   

We’ve been delivered from the curses of depression, rejection, shame, fear, inferiority, and every other negative emotion. As free moral agents, we can choose not to become trapped in them, but to choose joy instead. The joy of the Lord is our strength; therefore, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.

The sign of true strength is the ability to maintain emotional control when others lose their tempers. A wrathful man stirs up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeases strife. As believers, we’ve been made righteous, but the wrath of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.

We are spirits living in physical bodies and possessing souls, which is where our emotions reside. God’s will is for us to be healthy and prosperous in all things, just as our souls prosper. To prosper is to be whole; God wants wholeness for us on every level, including in our emotions. Understanding this and agreeing with it allows us to maintain emotional control.

Prayer:

Lord, You blessed us with feelings; You also gave us the ability to take charge of them. Understanding Your Word in this area allows us to rule over our emotions and not allow them to sweep us away and ruin our lives. Thank You for giving us authority in this realm. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

Proverbs 25:28

Nehemiah 8:10

Proverbs 16:32

Proverbs 15:18

James 1:20, NKJV 

3 John 1:2

Many of us have had times when we struggled with issue after issue and felt that there must be some kind of organized demonic activity behind it all. If you thought this, you were right—believers are in a spiritual battle against Satan, who constantly tries to assert his authority over us. The irony is that he has no authority because Jesus has stripped him of all his power and given it to us. We beat the enemy by actively resisting him while deliberately submitting to God.
Because of what Jesus did on the cross, the battle has already been won; all we need to do now is employ our faith to maintain our victory. By submitting ourselves to God and resisting the devil, the devil will flee from us. We do this with actions and words that contradict Satan and agree with God. Whereas faith without works is dead, we show our faith by our works.
Cooperating with the devil empowers him to work in our lives; we rebel by cooperating with God, instead. The enemy has been reduced to simply making suggestions and putting thoughts into our heads that contradict God’s Word. We fight negative thoughts not with more thoughts, but with our words: “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.”
Satan fell from heaven like lightning, and believers have power over serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing can hurt us. We must have faith in our God-given authority, and not be afraid to use it. Unbelief limits the power of His grace in our lives. During His ministry, not even Jesus could do any mighty works in His own country, because of unbelief.
When the enemy attacks, we mustn’t simply put up with it. Knowing who to resist and who to cooperate with gives us the upper hand. We have what we need to crush the enemy under our feet.
Prayer:
God, You’ve given us dominion over the enemy; therefore, there’s no reason to tolerate his attacks. He has been defeated, and we can maintain our victory by resisting him and submitting to You. Thank You for what You did. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Scriptures:
James 4:7
James 2:17, 18, 20
Psalm 107:2
Luke 10:18, 19
Mark 6:1, 5, 6
Romans 16:20, NKJV

If you’ve ever had a falling out with someone, you probably remember the disconnected, alienated feeling you were left with, and the joy you felt when reconciliation took place. It’s the same way with God. The sin that took place in the garden of Eden cut us off from God and made us strangers to Him. Getting born again changes all that.
To reconcile with someone is to reunite with them, to restore peace between the two parties, or to set aside a former disagreement. Accepting Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior makes us new creatures; old things have passed away, and all things become new. Through Christ, we’re reconciled to God and received back into His favor. This justification by faith gives us peace with God through Jesus Christ.
Being in God’s favor also brings the permanent blessing of righteousness without works. We become righteous when we’re born again, which means that the promise “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” now applies to us. Even when we do unrighteous things, God now imputes righteousness, not sin, to us. Curses have been replaced by blessings, and those blessings can’t be reversed.
This knowledge makes it very difficult for the enemy to trap us in guilt and sin-consciousness. The devil tells us that we are what we do, and that we should be ashamed of ourselves. The truth is that we are who God says we are—His beloved, righteous, forgiven children. God is merciful to our unrighteousness, and remembers our sins and iniquities no more.
Our faith in the grace God’s extends allows us to be the righteousness of God, even when we do unrighteous things. All is forgiven. Our heavenly Father is waiting for us with open arms.
Prayer:
Lord, You give everyone the opportunity to be reconciled to You by being born again. You love us enough to forgive us and forget the past, and You welcome us back into Your presence. We’re thankful for this. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Scriptures:
2 Corinthians 5:17
2 Corinthians 5:18, AMPC
Romans 5:1
Romans 4:8
Numbers 23:20
Hebrews 8:12

Most Christians are simply doing the best they can and operating with the purest of intentions. However, they have no understanding of God’s promises in these last days, and therefore struggle because wrong religious teaching causes them needless pain and heartache. God deals with us through covenants; the knowledge of which covenant is in force gives us a tremendous advantage. Being aware that we’ve moved from the old-covenant Law of Moses to the new-covenant law of grace arms us with the ability to win in life.
The law didn’t just include the Ten Commandments, but more than six hundred other requirements. Obedience to all of them resulted in blessings; otherwise, curses resulted. Whoever kept the whole law, yet offended even in one point, was guilty of all. The law entered that the offense might abound.
Thankfully, Jesus, the game-changer and embodiment of God’s grace, came and perfectly fulfilled all the requirements. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. Jesus was the fulfillment of all God’s promises to mankind; as many as are the promises of God, they all find their “yes” in Christ.
We’ve been given exceedingly great and precious promises that allow us to partake of His divine nature. God’s covenant with us is now filled with promises instead of threats. Unlike the law with all its conditions, this new covenant is unconditional, because it’s based on what Jesus did and our faith in Him, not on our own efforts.
Unlike before we got saved, we no longer have to fear the future. We can approach life through the lens of God’s love for us. No matter what happens, God promises that all things work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. This knowledge gives us victory.
Prayer:
God, You delivered us from the bondage of useless self-effort to the freedom in Your covenant of promise. We no longer need to struggle to perform; we can now simply believe in Your love. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Scriptures:
Deuteronomy 28:1-3, 15
James 2:10
Romans 5:20
John 1:17
2 Corinthians 1:20, AMPC
2 Peter 1:4
Romans 8:28