““From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another” (John 1:16). “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:16-17).
By John David Hicks
“The unaware life is not worth living,” said Socrates.
It’s also true that the Christian who is unaware of the beauty of grace in his life has missed the entire point of living the Christian life. Out of the awareness of grace come freedom, authority, power, love, worship, and life in abundance (John 10:10)
Grace is more than second chances, surprises, and unmerited gifts. Grace comes in our inability and failure, and provides radical changes and a paradigm shift. Grace gives new opportunities and a fresh revelation of God and life. Grace will transform you.
God is love. He cares for you and is faithful to His covenant promises, and so He forgives you. God is holy and righteous, and paid the price that forgiveness requires in Jesus Christ. When love, faithfulness, and righteousness were united at the cross, grace and forgiveness was offered to you (2 John 3; John 1:12).
What is so amazing about grace? As the undeserved, unearned favor of God, grace can never be earned by your good deeds or received as a result of religious performance. Grace means God freely and openly receives sinners—even you with all your flaws and hang-ups. Grace is manifested in human failure, sin, weakness, loss, and heartbreak.
The wonder of God’s grace is that it does not give up. It takes you right where you are and transforms you into who you were meant to become when you were created. God’s grace transforms an ugly, awkward, incomplete caterpillar into a graceful butterfly that can soar into life abundant. That’s what God’s desire is for you, life to the full.
Grace is a gift that is received by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), totally undeserved by you. It is by grace through faith that God’s life, power, and righteousness are acknowledged. However, that grace must be received (John 1:12). Your faith is born and established in this loving relationship. Grace is about relationships (Revelation 3:20). Grace enlightens my communion with God, with others, and with myself.
The reason God loves you is to be found in God Himself alone. He acts in goodness, kindness, and mercy. You are loved. This love goes beyond your human feelings or failings or sin, because it is unconditional. You were created with a “soul hunger” for love that must have acceptance and forgiveness that is unconditional and everlasting. Grace is a means to the end—relationship.
The invitation is to “whosoever will may come” (Revelation 22:17). Grace or the love of God is given freely to all men. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
Paul warns us three times not to take God’s grace for granted: 1) Don’t “receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1). 2) Don’t “frustrate the grace of God” (Galatians 2:21). 3) Don’t “insult the Spirit of grace” (Hebrews 10:29).
The curse of not taking God’s grace, says David A. Seamands in Healing Grace, is the feelings of guilt, condemnation, and the judgment and disapproval of God and yourself. Guilt is a form of mental and emotional pain you experience when you do—or fail to do—something that violates your moral standard, which then leads to the performance trap of low self-esteem, phoniness, anger, difficulties with interpersonal relationships, and legalism.
WHAT OBSTRUCTS GOD’S GRACE? The Scripture warns that “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). The attempt to live the Christian life based on our good works and performance is really an attempt to earn your salvation, rather than accept it as a gift from God. It is a life based on pride. You think you will get acceptance and love only if you work for it and achieve. This pride in performance extends to every relationship, from how you feel about yourself, whether people will like you, whether you will be considered a success, to whether God loves you. This self-reliance is the opposite of grace, which is the unmerited favor of God, freely bestowed upon the undeserving.
Pride sees no need for help (2 Corinthians 4:4). Over the years I have seen men who were spiritually and morally destitute; sin had wrecked their lives and families. Their pride, however, would not let them humble themselves and admit their sin and failure to God so He could heal them. The last thing people surrender to God is the admission of their helplessness to save themselves.
Alcoholics Anonymous knows that until a man admits he is an alcoholic, he cannot receive help. It is also true that until a man admits his sin and guilt he cannot accept any forgiveness. Pride stops grace, but humility opens the door of grace.
A need to be in control also obstructs faith and, in turn, grace. Ever since the fall, man wants to be in control—to be like God. The heart of the sin nature and unbelief is control. The only answer to control is the lordship of Jesus Christ. Who has the final authority in your life? Some Christians want to be free from sin, but they also want to be in control.
Control will yield to God, but will not surrender. Your total surrender to Jesus will cause you to lose control. “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it” (Matthew 16:24-25 NLT).
As a young Christian, when I would sin, I would repent and ask God for forgiveness. Then I would make myself feel miserable for a day or so before I would accept God’s forgiveness. God forgave me right away, but I felt I did not deserve it. To say that God can forgive us but we can’t forgive ourselves is pride. We are requiring more than God and have made ourselves judges with a right to withhold forgiveness.
When grace starts to flow, you receive God’s love. When you know you are loved, you discover acceptance. Then you can receive His forgiveness, blessings, and gifts (1 John 4:19). Grace lets you stand in the presence of God as a child accepted by the Father.
The apostle Peter instructs us on how to receive this grace. “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:2-4).
God has given us grace and power to live out the Christian life. Since God has given us all we need for life and godliness, you must appropriate God’s grace and power in your own life. His divine nature gives you the holiness that is manifested in your life, your faith and witness. But how do you receive this free grace and power that God is offering?
First, God must deal with the sin problem. You can’t receive grace without first the conviction of sin through the law. Paul says, “I would not have come to know sin except through the law” (Romans 7:7 NASB). The law helps you see you are a sinner; it shows that no one can keep the law. That is why you need grace and mercy. Jesus said that if you hate, you commit murder in your heart. If you lust, you commit adultery. God is holy and just, so the law condemns you. But by grace you are redeemed from the debt and curse of the law. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). If you are in Christ Jesus, the devil cannot condemn you for your sin and failure. If you accept Satan’s condemnation, you are doomed to repeat your sin.
Why? You believe your fellowship with God is broken. You feel unclean and unworthy. Your focus on your sin causes your thoughts and actions to follow. The power of sin comes from focusing on it, so you repeat the sin. But if you believe the blood of Jesus has made you righteous, your focus causes your thoughts and actions to follow into righteousness. What you believe will determine your behavior.
How do you overcome sin? “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus…. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God…as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (Romans 6:11-14).
Grace will not let you accept Satan’s condemnation. “Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:2-4).
The law’s purpose was to show you your sin and failure. When you die to the law, it has no power over you. No law, no sin. That is why you must die to it, to its demands and your performance. You are to “die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4 NASB).
The only way into the sanctified, Spirit-filled life is to die to self, your performance, the law (Galatians 2:19-20). So Paul warns us not to “set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21). You have given up your right to yourself. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there” (Galatians 5:24 TLT).
The abundant life that grace offers is apparent when the unseen, eternal realms are real in your everyday experience. The Christian life is a supernatural life. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Until then, you will live according to appearances, and appearances will never lead to God-likeness. Only grace through faith will. When you say to God, “Yes, Lord, I surrender all; I will to do your will, whatever it costs,” at that moment God will flood your life with His presence and power. “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another” (John 1:16). Surrender opens the floodgates of grace.
The Gospel is the Good News of grace. Suppose you are buying a house and I go to the bank and pay off the mortgage. The bank gives you the title deed and the house is now yours. The bank tells you the good news, but it’s up to you to believe it. If you continue to make monthly payments, something’s wrong. You don’t believe the message. You have not accepted the gift. The fact that it was a gift and that you are free of payments has not registered in you.
In the same way Jesus Christ has paid your debt of sin and death to the law. So, die to the law; let this truth dawn on you.
The truth of grace will set you free. God is gracious to you, not because you are good, but because He is good. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). “Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17 NASB). “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20 NASB).
GRACE WORKS TO MAKE YOUR SALVATION A REALITY. You “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). God does not categorize sin. All sin was judged and punished at the cross when Jesus laid down His life for you, as a sacrifice for your sin. He became your Savior and Redeemer for all past, present, and future sins.
“Having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, [Jesus Christ] sat down at the right hand of God…. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified…. I will put My laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them…and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10:12-17 NASB). Under the law God demanded righteousness from you. It all depended on your performance. But under grace God imparts righteousness to you. It all depends on God’s performance.
God has provided total salvation for you. He took your sin and punishment on Himself and He will remember your sin no more. You are already forgiven, but you must receive it. This grace is not dependent on your power or merit or good works or righteousness or good intentions. No law, creed, or doctrine God has given has the power to redeem you or to make you holy and acceptable before Him. You are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!” (Romans 6:1). Your freedom in Christ is not a license to sin. “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Martin Luther said, “You do not understand grace until you believe that when you sin you are still loved by God.”
Brennan Manning presents the balance of grace and works in this way: Jesus comes to us and says, “You don’t have to change so I’ll love you. I love you so you’ll change.” That’s grace.
The more grace you receive, the more power you have over sin. Grace gives you the desire and ability to do God’s will. Apart from God’s grace you don’t even desire to do His will (Philippians 2:13). With grace the higher law of love operates. “Love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15 NASB). “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). It is your loving relationship with God that keeps you.
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). As you walk in the light of Christ’s death and resurrection, the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse you. “Cleanse” in the Greek is continuous action. God keeps on cleansing you. Grace is the secret to godliness, character, and holiness.
It is by God’s grace you are forgiven, born again, redeemed, sanctified, and made holy. The Holy Spirit testifies that we are God’s children—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Now, won’t He graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:16-17; 31-32). The more you understand God’s finished work of grace, the more God can impart faith, even for the impossible (Philippians 4:13).
Even though grace is free, it still involves a choice. An old preacher was asked to give a Bible definition of election. “God voted for me and the devil voted for me,” he said. “And I voted with God and we won the election.”
The “Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses” in His mercy and grace “all who call on him” (Romans 10:12). “Tell all the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Take your choice of life or death!’” (Jeremiah 21:8 NLT). God’s destiny for your life cannot be fulfilled without your cooperation. God doesn’t send anyone to hell. God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV). Man sends himself by not accessing the grace provision made available through His Son.
God’s Grace will instruct you in godliness. Look what grace will teach you: “For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God” (Titus 2:11-12 NLT). “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26).
The Holy Spirit is with you in a loving relationship and guides you in righteousness. So, “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience” (Hebrews 10:22). As a Christian, “if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2 NASB). In grace you have God’s favor and can live in His presence.
The offense of grace. Grace asserts our complete inability to behave our way into God’s favor. I have seen churches resist the visitation of God’s grace. Pastors want to be in control. Although God is a God of order, not disorder, His order is not always our order. When God takes control, He may violate your traditions and clash with your most cherished values and widely held beliefs. When grace flows, people who don’t deserve healing may be made whole, while those we think most deserving are untouched. Pastorally, there often are fewer problems if God heals no one. God may give a word through brothers or sisters we don’t highly esteem or raise up those in other churches and use them mightily.
Every genuine move of God brings the offenses of grace. But if we allow God’s Word and His Spirit to teach us the ways of grace, joy rather than offense will be our response to His moving. We must learn that God uses the weak things and weak people to confound the wise. We must learn to accept God’s sovereignty over the time and avenue of God’s grace. We must learn to rejoice, not complain, about His ways.
It is through grace that God’s gifts are given and you minister. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul’s word for grace, charis, is the root word for the gifts of the Spirit. “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them” (Romans 12:6 NKJV). God has gifted and blessed you to bless others. It is “by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
Grace is the means to power and authority in ministry. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Luke 10:19). “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). “I ask you again,” Paul said to the Galatians, “does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ” (Galatians 3:5 NLT).
Grace leads to action. Jesus replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice” (Luke 8:21). Scripture uses Abraham as our example of faith. “You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did…. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:22, 26).
It is God’s grace that speaks into your life and accomplishes its purpose (Isaiah 55:11). Remember that God has good plans for your life. God declares in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Grace will form your character, transforming you into the person you were meant to be (Colossians 1:27). As you respond to God’s grace, your life will be changed.
Grace and power flow out of weakness. Each of us wants to be strong so that we can do something for God. The world looks down on weakness and believes that this is where the process of change must begin. But “God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27) so that His strength can flow into what you are not.
When God gives you power in your weakness, you cannot boast. Jesus said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Paul responded, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
You must change your way of thinking. Your weakness is where God’s grace and power flow to meet your need. When you are weak, you know you need God. God always comes to you at your point of need. Don’t let your weakness and failure get you down, because that is where God’s grace is released. Thus, Paul could boast in his weakness because that is where God will be glorified.
When God inhabits your weaknesses, you learn the “pleasure of His presence” (Psalm 16:11). The Lord is turning your inadequacy into carefree vulnerability. Your helplessness is what God uses to strengthen you, to build your character and fulfill your destiny.
I was born with dyslexia. Because of this disability, I have had to depend on the Lord to give me strength and wisdom to write and to preach. This life of dependency is what empowers each of us to be extraordinary in all our shortcomings, inadequacy, and weakness. God’s presence is your sufficiency. “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). If you ever get your act together and think you have a grip on life, you are not a person of God. The great apostle Paul said he would never have his act together; he would constantly be dependent on God.
In the kingdom of God the focal point is “Christ in you” (Ephesians 3:20-21). God’s power is transforming you from the inside out. For “God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory…. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Colossians 1:27, 29).
Everything that attempts to deprive you of what you were meant to be becomes a place of grace. Paul said it was the insults, hardships, difficulties, and persecutions that released the grace that gave him thanksgiving, praise, peace, joy, and victory.
Paul describes the transforming power of this paradox in 1 Corinthians 2:3-4: “I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling…but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.”
To the Philippians: “We brag about what Christ Jesus has done. We don’t put our trust in our weak human nature” (Philippians 3:3 NIRV). “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me…. And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:13, 19 NASB).
To the Ephesians: “Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery…. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 3:8-10). Paul says, “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given” (v.8 NASB). Yet to the Corinthians, “For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles” (2 Corinthians 11:5 NASB).
Paul understood grace and weakness. He prays that you too “may be able to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19 NASB).
When you comprehend this, Paul goes on in verses 20 and 21: “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” You are “in Christ,” so the power is there, but it is released by faith. God puts your weakness with His strength. In fact, your weakness is an asset, not a hindrance.
You can live above circumstances, problems, trouble, and weakness when you understand grace. From God’s viewpoint your hang-ups, insecurity, failures, and inadequacy are no problem. God exalts your weakness and humility above your enemy (2 Samuel 22:49). For “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
The ultimate purpose of grace is to prepare you for fellowship with God. Not only in this life will you worship, praise, and “enjoy Him,” but also throughout eternity. God’s plan is to turn everything that has ever happened to you to purposes for good (Romans 8:28-29). He will have the first and last word (Revelation 1:8; Romans 11:36). Grace has saved you from sin’s penalty and gives you an inheritance that will not fade away.
Growth in grace comes by discipline (2 Peter 3:18). Salvation is a process as well as a state. Paul tells us to “discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7 NASB). Throughout history, the saints have practiced the habits of devotion known as spiritual disciplines as a God-given means of growth in grace and to become more like Jesus (Romans 8:29). Yet, discipline is a word we struggle with today.
Your character is strengthened by discipline. For me discipline starts in my will. I had to choose to do what I did not feel like doing. Your flesh wants ease and pleasure. So you must choose to discipline yourself, to participate in God’s Word, prayer, worship, stewardship, witnessing, fasting, silence, solitude, etc. Jesus said, “Spiritual disciplines were made for man, not man for spiritual disciplines” (see Mark 2:27). Grace sees these disciplines as privileges to be used, not a duty to be performed. There is no other way to grow in grace, love, and godliness apart from some effort on your part. You will not drift toward holiness and obedience without discipline.
If we will not take up discipline, D.A. Carson says in Christianity Today, we will “drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”
Someone once said, “The undisciplined is a headache to himself and a heartache to others, and is unprepared to face the stern realities of life.”
We are saved by grace through faith. But “faith without works is dead.” Your faith needs to manifest itself in personal resolve, self-discipline, and effort. In Scripture the Christian life is portrayed as: “run the race,” “work out,” “warfare,” “fight,” “yield not,” “press on,” and “take up your cross daily.” Grace is freely given, but must not be neglected. True gifting in any area of life is the result of regular discipline. The disciplined life grows in grace by cooperating with the Holy Spirit.
See yourself the way God sees you. “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Accept that God believes in you and is working out your destiny (Ephesians 2:10). You are in partnership with God (1 Corinthians 3:9).
When God had called Moses to deliver Israel, he argued with God about his weakness. He gave every excuse he could think of. God ended the argument: “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh” (Exodus 7:1). God was faithful to His word. Pharaoh was overwhelmed by the power Moses exercised, and Moses led God’s people out of Egypt.
Gideon also gave excuses: “How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” The Lord answered, “I will be with you” (Judges 6:15-16). Note what God calls this weak man: “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (v.12 NKJV). God saw Gideon differently than Gideon saw himself. “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” (v.14 NKJV). Gideon did save Israel.
God is not interested in what you cannot do but in your willingness to do what you cannot in His strength. No apparent weakness of yours can stop you. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). The old saying is right, “God and you can do anything!” Your weakness is God’s opportunity for grace.
God believes in you even if you don’t believe in yourself. He believes the best about you, even though you are continually changing. He loves you with an everlasting love, therefore He will be faithful to you (Jeremiah 31:3). Throughout your life God is reaching out to you in love. You “are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18 AB). As God’s child, you live intimately and call God “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15).
In Abba’s Child, Brennan Manning gives a wonderful picture of God’s love and grace. He tells the story of a priest who went to Ireland on vacation to celebrate his uncle’s 80th birthday. On the great day, he and the uncle got up early, dressed, and walked by a lake, stopping to watch the sunrise. Standing side by side, not a word was said as they watched the rising sun. Suddenly his uncle turned and skipped down the road. He was radiant, beaming, smiling from ear to ear.
His nephew said, “Uncle Seamus, you really look happy.”
“I am, lad.”
“Want to tell me why?”
His uncle replied, “Yes, you see, my Abba is very fond of me.”
Then Brennan Manning asks, “Do you honestly believe God likes you, not just loves you because theologically God has to love you?”
If you can say, “Oh, yes, my Abba is very fond of me,” I believe grace has given you love, acceptance, and forgiveness. And I believe God can restore what the enemy has taken and give you a breakthrough in your relationships.
May Paul’s testimony be yours: “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:14). “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for what Jesus did for me on the cross. Because He died for me, I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins—past, present, and future. You have given me Your righteousness and remember my sins no more. I am completely forgiven and greatly blessed and loved by You. I am confident of this, that the good work You began in me You will carry out to completion (Philippians 1:6). Thank You for grace. Amen.
“Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” See and hear this on YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyFxArMeRDI&NR=1