Making sense out of "GRACE"…

“GRACE” - unmerited favor. G.R.A.C.E. is “Gods riches at Christ’s expense. “Getting what you need instead of what you deserve. Grace - we all need it; and we usually want it (at least for ourselves). Sometimes it is harder to accept grace. At other times it harder to give grace to others (even to let them have it from God).

When it comes to appreciating the Grace of God, you cannot fully get there by “studying it out” (even the Bereans in Acts 17). Try making reasonable sense out of John 1:16: "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” Or this: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor 5:21

Paul wrote in 2 Cor 1:12-14: “Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace.”

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

F.O.G. - Focus on God (the Holy Spirit?)

I’m reading a book on the Holy Spirit with one of our Shepherds! (How cool is that?) We meet once a week and share our thoughts from one chapter of Francis Chan’s book: Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. (Now on Ch 3). Many Christians I’ve known give little or no thought to what Jesus said would be better than having Him around all the time – having God’s Spirit with us and IN us!

The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son as God. He inspired the writers of scripture to accurately record God’s Word and He is present in the world today - revealing our need for God. He lives in Christians to provide the power for living, serving God, and doing what honors God. God expects His children to live distinctively different lives from those in the world. He gives them His Spirit to help bring about this change in character. When we surrender ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to reign in our lives we honor God.

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”