Grace, Grace and More Grace

I believe grace is a very wide termed word with a lot of different meanings to all of us.  Whether you sit down for dinner and before you eat, you say grace.  An allowance of time after a debt or bill has become due, known as a grace period.  Or, if a prisoner has been given pardon or clemency from prison, that's an act of grace.  We hear and see grace used in a lot of ways.  But what does God say about grace.  The definitions of grace in the Strongs Complete Greek Dictionary of the Bible is: The spiritual divine influence upon the heart, and it's reflection in the life, a free gift of endowment, acceptable, benefit, favor, indue with special honor, make accepted.  I'll say it like this, grace is God's unmerited favor.  Shown to man for assistance and divine help in every day life.  2 Corinthians 9:8, Amp, "And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]."  Now this may put grace in a different light, now that we see what it is.  But what is grace for?  Lets take a closer look at this scripture:

A. 'Every favor and earthly blessing'...We don't have to wait until Jesus returns to get our blessing.  But God said our blessings are available to us now on earth.
Psalm 84:11, Amp, "For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly."  So grace and favor are available to us now and in the future.

B. 'come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient'...The grace of God allows us to be abundantly equipped in Him to do all things.  Philippians 4:13, Amp, "I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency]." God infuses us with His strength and Christs sufficiency, so we can do everything that we are called to do, in Him.  Grace is His ability in our inability.

C. 'Possessing enough to require no aide or support.  And furnished, in abundance, for every good work and charitable donation.'  The grace of God, or God's grace, is enough to do the work in peoples lives that brings glory to Him, and benefits to them.  Ephesians 3:2, Amp, "Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace (His unmerited favor) that was entrusted to me [to dispense to you] for your benefit."  Ephesians 4:29, KJV, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."  Remember grace is a gift that is freely given.  So grace, grace and more grace to you. 

Read, meditate and pray this weeks scriptures:
Exodus 33:1-17
Psalm 84:11
Zechariah 4:7
Romans 6:1-14
Ephesians 3:2
Ephesians 4:29

God loves you and so do I!

What in your Heart?

I know christians that have been walking with the Lord and trying to live their life in Christ. But for some reason have strayed away, backslidden, or God is just not a priority anymore. They say this life as a christian is hard and there are too many rules, or they're too ashamed. They keep making the same mistakes over and over again, or they say, "I don't have the time for God." Now there may have been times that we have found ourselves in this condition and not know why. In 1998 I went thought a divorce that caused me to be so ashamed of myself that i separated myself from God, my son who needed me, my family who didn't know where I was, and friends that thought I was someone dead. Now I take full responsibility for my mistakes and action. That's  when I discovered that the problem wasn't the other people, the devil or unforeseen circumstances. The problem was my heart. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it (perceive, understand, be acquainted with his own heart and mind)?" Jeremiah 17:9 Amplified. I said I love God, but my actions said differently. I said I'd do good, but focused my attention on doing wrong. I said I'd help other, but put more attention on myself and my needs. I went to church on Sundays, but the church wasn't in me daily.    Open Heart Surgery
I began to ask God to help me.  To show me how to get out of feeling and doing what I was doing.  Then God showed me this scripture in Colossians 3:5, in the Amplified Bible, "So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members [those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin]: sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, for that is idolatry (the deifying of self and other created things instead of God)."  God revealed to me, in the broken state I was in, that I had so many things taking up space in my heart that I allowed no room for God.  I needed to get the junk out.  I needed to evict the enemy in me.  "Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion;" Ephesians 4:22 Amplified.
Giving Jesus The Keys To My Heart
Jesus said in Luke 6:45 KJV, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good;"  I began to spend time with God, reading His Word, asking Him for understanding of what I read.  Asking for revelation in me, that it would change me.  Praying to the Father in Jesus' name.  I meditated on the Word day and night, like Psalm chapter 1 says.  I listened to good praise and worship music that confirmed the love of God in me.  I started developing a passion for God that I never had before.  I developed a loving relationship with my heavenly Father, Hallelujah!
Setting My Mind On Things Above
I set a course every morning, before I did anything else, to spend time with God.  I set my mind on Him.  Committed my time to Him.  Gave my finances to Him.  I placed more value on the internal than the external.  I started praising about Him, speaking out about Him and who He is.  The Lord of my life!
So remember, if things in your life continue to weigh you down.  Or if what you're doing is more about you than others, check your heart.  For out of the abundance of the heart, you heart, your life will speak.
Read, meditate and pray this weeks scripture:
Colossians 3:1-5
Colossians 3:10-17
Ephesians 4:20-25
Psalm 119:11
Proverbs 23:7
Matthew 5:45

God loves you, and so do I!

What did you say ?

Christianity is called The Great Confession. But most Christians who are defeated because they believe and confess the wrong things. The have spoken the words of the enemy. And those words hold them in bondage. Proverbs 6:2 says, "Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the word of thy mouth. Charles Capps said: "Faith filled words will put you over, Fear filled words will defeat you, Word are the most powerful thing in the universe.   We need to act like our Heavenly Father. Ephesians 5:1 in the amplified bible says "Therefore be imitators of God (copy him and follow his examples), as well-beloved children (imitate their father)." Jesus is our example. Nobody showed a better way of acting like the father than Jesus. Jesus even went as far as to tell Phillip in John 14:9-10 Amp "Have I been with all of you for so long a time, and do you not recognize and know me yet, Phillip? Anyone who has seen me has seen the father. How can you say then, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that i am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? What I telling You I do not say on My own authority and of my own accord; but the Father who lives continually in me does the ([a]His) works (His own miracles, deeds of power)." Jesus walk in faith and Jesus spoke in faith, speaking like God spoke in Genesis 1:3, "And God said , Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good." Jesus spoke like this in Matthew 17:20, "And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed  , ye shall say unto this mountain,Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall be removed; and nothing shall be impossible unto you." Jesus spoke to demons. He spoke to the fig tree. He spoke to the wind and the sea and they all were obedient to what he said. He operated in the God kind of faith. God is a faith. God released his faith in words. Jesus was acting like his father and getting the same results as the father. We are to speak the word of God to get God results. This is not about name it and claim it, or blab it and grab it. NO, this is saying what the Word says about the situation. Most people have used the words of their mouth to hold them in bondage. But when we speak the word of God, the heart will produce liberty it will produce the health and healing the Word said it would.  Train yourself to speak Gods Word. If you wanted to be a doctor or lawyer you couldn't just start operating like one. You must get the proper training. When you study the life of Jesus you will see that defeated the enemy because he trained himself. Here are a few way that he did that:1) He spent much time in prayer. But he never prayed the problem, he prayed the answer, what God said is the answer. 2) He spoke accurately, never with crooked speech. His conversation always consisted of what God said. 3) He always spoke the end results, not the problem. Never did he confess the present circumstances. He spoke the desired results. He used the written Word to defeat Satan in Matthew 4:1-11, Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2.And when he ha d fasted for forty days and forty night, he was afterward an hungered. 3) And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but very word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5.Then the devil taken him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6) And saith unto him , if thou be the son of God, cast thyself down: For it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up less at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone. 7) Jesus said unto him, It is written: Thou shalt not tempted the Lord thy God. 8) Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9) And saith unto him, All these thing will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10) Then then Jesus said unto him, Get thee hence Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11) Then the devil leaveth him, and ,behold, angels came and ministered unto him.      The Word of God conceived in the heart, formed by the tongue and spoken out of the mouth is creative power.       Read, Meditate and pray this weeks scripture: Proverbs 4:20-22, Psalm 91:10-11, 1Cornthians 12:27, 2 Corinthians 2:14, Mark 11:23-24, Psalm 119:89 and Revelation 12:11      God Loves You and so do I.