Grace In Time Of Need
Writer Author Sylvia Huffnagle
Christian Article
:
Bible Teaching
- Fiction No
This grace message is not about how God’s grace (unmerited love and favor) is bestowed upon all those who call upon the Lord, sincerely wanting to be saved from sin and death.
I want to talk about the tangible gift of grace that God has instilled in each believer. It works in us so that we can do the works of God.
And then I want to talk about the gift of grace and how it assist the believer in their own salvation and ministry.
Part 1
Yes, the unmerited love and favor of God lives in the believer’s heart to be used as a tool that the believer can access. It is empowerment.
When a person repents and asks for forgiveness and ask Jesus to come into their heart, He moves in. The believer receives Him by faith and lives his/her life from that day forth, knowing that their Lord abides in their heart to enable them to love their neighbor as they love their self. This Jesus love is called grace--unmerited love and favor and the believer can call upon this gift and actually feel and show unmerited love and favor toward others.
Acts:4:33: And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
1Cor:15:10: But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
2Cor:1:12: For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
2Cor:9:8: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
2Cor:12:9: And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Heb:12:28: Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
Part 2
The gift of grace--how it assist the believer in their own salvation and ministry.
The believer can not only call upon the gift of grace in order to love and minister to other, but he/she can call upon God’s grace to minister the their self.
This grace comes to the humble. One must realize their weakness in any area where they need strength and then they must back off looking to themselves for the recourses needed, ask God to provide and then step out in faith that God heard and will supply. Then the grace needed for the job will be there.
But it does not come to those who think they have to do things in their own strength or by their own wit or by their own talents or skills. A person who relies on their own resources will have to make do with them alone for this grace comes to the humble. That is those who know they are not their resource, God is.
This grace can manifest as a buffer to protect the child of God from blows be they physical, mental, spiritual, or financial.
This grace can manifest as a cushion that cushions the blows of life or of a persecutor so that the child of God has only a minimum of suffering instead of a traumatic experience.
When the child of God leans on this grace in a hard place, it can change the apparent inevitable outcome of the situation.
Some examples:
Have you ever heard a story of a believer imprisoned who endured terrible mistreatment, abuse, and neglect and when he/she was finally delivered from the situation and was able to share the details, you wondered how they could’ve stood it? It was God’s grace that cushioned and buffered and caused what would have been totally traumatic and devastating to be merely a very bad situation.
More than once I have put myself in a situation where I thought for sure I had blown it to the point of no return. I would pray for God to undertake, but if not, then I and anyone else the situation affected would just have to suffer the consequences and I would rest in Him--that is I knew that I could not fix it--that if it got fixed it would be God’s intervention. Something surprising would happen and change the outcome from very bad to very good.
I’ve been in situations where I was in way over my head, but I was there because I was put there and I trusted in the Lord for the recourses and the outcome and He came through. One such for instance: I am not a singer and have never been told that I can sing, but I found myself in position where I had to lead the singing. I just did it, depending upon the Lord and as long as I do it without thinking that it is my talent or my acceptable voice, it works out well, but if I get to thinking I can sing, I soon find out that I can’t. Grace works in us.
Gal:2:9: And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
Heb:4:16: Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Heb:13:9: Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Jms:4:6: But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
1Pt:5:5: Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
2Pt:3:18: But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Sylvia Huffnagle
Editor's Comment:
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