Weekly Grace

We all want to experience good things, but few of us know how to get them to show up in our lives. The world teaches its own way of getting what we want, which includes various strategies while leaving God’s grace out of the equation. Everything we need in life—such as peace, joy, healing, deliverance, and prosperity—was made available to us thousands of years ago when Jesus went to the cross. These are manifested when we have faith in what He did to allow us to receive them.

Seeing the physical results of what God promised us requires a proper balance of both grace, which is God’s part, and faith, which is our part. Grace isn’t just a concept or an idea; grace is a person, and His name is Jesus. God did His part when He sent us His Son, who is full of grace and truth. We do our part when we believe in Him.

There’s one extreme that thinks that grace has predestined every detail in life and everything that happens, good or bad, is therefore God’s will. The other extreme is thinking that our faith will get God to move on our behalf. The truth is that our faith won’t get God to move; He has already moved. He has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness and blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places; it’s significant that this is in the past tense.

Religion tells us we must do something before we can get blessed, but skips over the finished works of Jesus Christ. The three words He said just before His death on the cross, “It is finished,” impact us tremendously. Whatever it is we’re praying for has already been done.

Receiving from God starts with our trust in Him. There’s no need to beg Him to do what He already did. We can experience His best for us right now.

Prayer:

Lord, Your Son died to give us access to all the good things in life that You want us to have. We don’t have to beg You for them, because they’re already available to us to receive by faith. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

John 1:14

2 Peter 1:3

Ephesians 1:3

John 19:30

We all have emotions, but few people understand their true potential. Feelings can either make life enjoyable and exciting, or miserable and painful. However, we don’t have to let them pull and yank us around like puppets on a string. Understanding what God says in this area allows us to consciously choose the emotions that will take us where we want to go.

We master our emotions with joy and peace; we find these godly emotions when we study God’s Word long enough for it to have an effect on us. None of our lives are completely trouble-free; when trouble does surface, holding on to the joy we get only from God enables us to move through the hard times. We mustn’t let grief or sorrows weaken us; the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Our joy increases when we remember all the times God rescued and delivered us from trouble. We can use this emotion as a weapon to strengthen our faith. Being full of the kind of joy that only comes from Jesus keeps our emotions from spiraling out of control when the world hits us in the face. Jesus gave us His Word so that His joy might remain in us, and that our joy may be made full.

Peace is another spiritual weapon we have at our disposal. Peace is defined as security in the midst of turmoil; like joy, we get our peace from the Word. A relationship with Jesus, the Lord of peace, gives us peace always.

Being in God’s presence brings us the peace we need to live in turbulent times. Letting the peace of God rule in our hearts gives us joy that won’t quit, no matter what happens in our lives. When we feel negative emotions trying to assert themselves, aligning our feelings with God’s Word gives us the upper hand.

Prayer:

Lord, the world is full of negative emotions, but we don’t have to be affected by them. Your Word gives us the peace and joy we need to make life beautiful. We’re thankful for this. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

Nehemiah 8:10

John 15:11

2 Thessalonians 3:16

Colossians 3:15

Life can be beautiful and exciting, but can also have an ugly side as well. Whether we master it or let it master us depends on our mindset. Some people think they’re helpless victims of circumstances, and therefore put up with bad situations. By comparison, born-again believers have received the authority to rule over things that defeat everyone else.

There’s always a reason behind everything that goes on in the world; nothing just happens. Satan has already been beaten; however, he remains hard at work behind the scenes to bring trouble and adversity into our lives. As Christians, we have the right to put our foot down, stand firm, and boldly declare our authority. We’re the redeemed of the Lord, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

We have the same power as Jesus. He walked in victory; we can too. He spoke His Word to us so that, in Him, we might have peace. In the world we’ll have tribulation, but we can rejoice because He has overcome the world.

By grace, we win in life. Jesus took everything the enemy uses against us and nailed it to the cross. By doing this, Christ spoiled principalities and powers, made a show of them openly, and triumphed over them. We can give thanks to God, who always gives us victory through Jesus.

Grace also makes us God’s children. We’ve been given the Holy Spirit, who constantly reminds us of the authority we’ve inherited as His sons and daughters. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we’re the children of God.

Circumstances don’t have to define the quality of our lives. We face a defeated foe, and we don’t have to let him psych us out. We’re operating from a place of victory; embracing this mindset keeps us in the winner’s circle.

Prayer:

God, You didn’t put us on this earth for us to be victims; You gave us the same power and authority over the enemy as You have. Applying Your Word to our lives always gives us the victory. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

Psalm 107:2

John 16:33

Colossians 2:15

1 Corinthians 15:57

2 Corinthians 2:14

Romans 8:14, 16

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