Saved by Grace

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV

We were all lost and separated from God. We deserved the punishment of death, because we disobeyed God’s laws and lived in sin. But God so loved us, He sent His only Son to die and save us.

God extended grace to us and saved us from death. Grace is God’s good-will, God’s loving kindness, His favor to us. God said, I will not punish you with death, I will show loving kindness to you. This was done through the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus never sinned. We did. We should have been the ones on the cross because of our sins. 

There is nothing, no amount of works that we could do for us to earn God’s grace. All God requires from us is that we believe in Jesus Christ. When we chose to believe in Jesus Christ, we are no longer condemned to die. We no longer have to face death. God had extended mercy to us and gave us a gift; a gift we did not deserve. That gift is grace.

God gave us the gift of grace and therefore we cannot boast and say, we worked hard to earn it. When someone work they receive payment. We do not consider payment as a gift, because we did something to earn it.

When you receive a gift, what do you do with it? Do you just through it aside? Do you trample it and treat it like trash? No, when we receive a gift, we should treasure it. I don’t know about you, but when I receive a gift, no matter how big or small, I treasure it, especially if I received it from someone I love dearly. I am very ‘touchy’ with my gifts and don’t want them to be mishandled. It is no different with the grace of God, the gift we received from God. We should not take God’s grace for granted. A heavy price was paid to save us, Christ death on the cross.

Let’s stop a moment today and reflect on the gift of grace that we have received. Lord, we are thankful for the gift of your grace that has saved us from the punishment of death. May we never take your gift for granted but treasure it and hold it dear to our hearts, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Are You Driven by Resentment?

“Surely, resentment kills a fool and jealousy the simple”. – Job 5:2

Resentment actually means a sense of indignation or ill-will felt as a result of a real or imagined offence. Have you ever been offended and hurt? I’m sure you have. When you look deep-down in yourself, do you see the fact that you resent people?

It happens a lot, and it’s a fact in life that you are going to be hurt from time to time by people who hurt you intentionally, or by people who hurt you unintentionally, but you are going to be hurt. Sometimes those closest to us hurt us the most, even when they don’t mean to. How we handle the hurt that comes to us in life will determine our happiness to a great degree.

If you hold on to a hurt, it becomes hate, it becomes resentment. And resentment is the great destroyer of relationships. Many times, people say, I have no feelings for my husband or my wife. I am just dead on the inside as far as my feelings are concerned. I don’t hate them; I just don’t feel anything. Well, that is exactly what resentment will do. If it is not dealt with, if it is not countered, if it is not treated with love, resentment will build until it kills the love that existed in a relationship between a man and a wife. It will eat up the energy that you have for living life and for being up to the challenge of life. And you become emotionally empty and you have nothing to give because of the power of resentment in your life.

I had a favorite phrase that I loved to use all the time. All of a sudden, a friend of mine adapted it as her own and started using it. I didn’t like it…I resented it. Every time she used it, this annoying feeling would rise up inside of me. On top of that, others were asking me if I realized she took my phrase. I prayed about it, spoke to her concerning what she did and how I felt. Yet, all she said was, “Oh, I liked it, so I decided to use it too.” I said not another word. For her, it was no big deal. I kept praying about it each time I saw her use it, until God removed the feeling. She never knew how much it still bothered me, because I “chose” the Jesus to Judas rule…love over resentment. He never exposed Judas or treated him any differently but loved him the same as the other disciples. This is what the Lord requires of us (Romans 12:17-19).

Proverbs 10:12 says, “Hatred stirs up trouble; love overlooks the wrongs that others do”. The only way to let go of resentment is to replace it with love. And God can help you do that…not in your own strength, but in the divine grace He gives you if you ask.

You may be driven by resentment. Resentment always hurts you more than the one resented. Those who hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you unless you hold onto the pain through resentment. You are only hurting yourself with your bitterness. Doctors say a lot of people could leave their hospital bed today if they knew how to get rid of resentment over things they have done to others, and things others have done to them.

If we don’t forgive and forget, we will remember and resent.

Connecting From The Heart

“Call to me and I will answer you and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” - Jeremiah 33:3

Jesus wants us to come to Him with expectancy that He wants to guide us into deeper communion with Him.

Not all developments of the spiritual life are easy to attain…there is an upper realm of communication that goes beyond where most Believers are.

Intellect cannot take us to a deeper level of communion with God. Human knowledge cannot take us to the deeper things of God. If we go to God to “check off” prayer and we simply approach Bible reading to get information but do not seek His face and we don’t approach Him from the heart, we will not experience intimacy with Him. We will not reach the “upper level” of communication that Spurgeon talks about. We must be honest about what is going on in the depth of our hearts.

Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all of your heart.” This scripture doesn’t say, “You will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all of your mind.”

We need to spend time with Christ, not just to get information or head knowledge, not just to check off our quiet time, but to seek His face and to experience authentic communion with Him.

For me, this begins with Bible reading and journaling. I read. I journal. I journal. I read. Perhaps something jumps off the page of Scripture for me. Or perhaps I journal and pray about some movement that is going on in my heart: a burden, a hurt, a joy, a gratitude…and then I listen. He is always ready to speak and He cares about what concerns us. I write down what I hear through an impression, a still small voice, a picture or some other way that God speaks. Even if I am not sure if it’s the Lord, I write it down. If it does not disagree with Scripture, and it sounds like Him, I embrace it.

John 10:27 says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

This expresses personal intimacy between the shepherd and His sheep. In the first era, a single sheep pen held multiple flocks, so it was essential for the sheep to know and recognize their own shepherd’s voice. There had to be an unmistakable familiarity between sheep and shepherd for the sheep to feel safe and know which voice to follow. Jesus said, “I am the good Shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me” (John 10:14). Knowing the Lord’s voice indicates experiential knowledge through a relationship with Him.”

Jesus wants us to come to Him with expectancy that He wants to guide us into deeper communion with Him. He wants us to experientially know that there is not one word we utter, one thought we think that He does not hear. He wants us to know we will seek Him and find Him when we seek Him with all our hearts.

“Before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).

Listen for the Lord’s voice during your time with Him today. Let's Pray...

Lord Jesus, I want to know you, not just about you. Help me to wait in expectancy. Help me to believe that you are listening to every word that I speak and that you care about the movements of my heart. Lead me into full healing and full intimacy with you. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.