The Lord said to me several years ago, that "Grace has provided much more than faith has revealed." I wondered at that for awhile as I sought the Lord on it. He began to show me through His Word, all that's available to His family by faith in His grace. It was much, much more than we had entered into.
Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says that, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through (your) faith. And this (salvation) is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving) but it is the gift of God."
As I read the Word through the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit, I began realizing how the preceding scriptures were also what had been done for me by grace. The Holy Spirit spoke about this grace in Ephesians 2:6-7 (Amplified) saying, "And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together (giving us joint seating with Him) in the heavenly sphere (by virtue of our being) in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)." Verse 7 goes on, "He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favor) in (His) kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus."
I realized that this "free grace" has already raised us up in the Holy Spirit and gave us "joint seating" with our Lord Jesus at the right hand of God. As you look at this in the light of God's Grace, it staggers the carnal mind and must be accepted by faith.
Men consider this to be "too far out" and have decided it was for when we leave this earth. Our pride got in the way and prevented our accepting the power of God's grace. And, because of our pride, we rejected anyone who even suggested such a thing. Some people acted like we weren't really "Good Christians" and were angry. Others rejected this outright and believed it was for us in heaven only. Our faith was so immature that we couldn't receive what God actually did through Jesus.
We would argue that the scripture was speaking figuratively or legally. Then, we'd add that was wasn't literally for today. We'd become so afraid of being outside the mainstream Christianity, that we never dared to seek God on our own. We accepted what everyone else said about grace as truth and left it there. This faith we have is also the gift of God and is actually the faith of God.
One of my favorite scriptures, Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says that, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God scribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith); As it is written, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
Notice how this faith doesn't end with receiving forgiveness, but now we've been forgiven through faith, we must begin pressing in by faith into what grace has provided by Jesus for us now. Too often, we believed that God would upset or displeased with us if we even dared proclaiming we are now righteous. In reality, God has been waiting for us to receive, by faith, the righteousness His grace has made ours through Jesus. What good is right standing or the right to stand in God's presence through Jesus if it upset God for us to believe in what He did? Why give us the right to come to Him as family and then be offended by our presence?
We can only see the depth of God's grace towards us, by faith. We're to grow in our faith in God through His Word. This faith isn't something that makes us either better or worse a Christian as any other Christian, but is a growing thing in our lives. We constantly struggle in our faith, cognizant of being misled. But, when we don't allow our faith to seek the fullness of God's grace, we have already been misled. Romans 3:3 (Amplified) tells us, "What is some did not believe and were without faith? Does their lack of faith and their faithlessness nullify and make ineffective and void of the faithfulness of God and His fidelity (to His Word)?"
Because some don't believe the things grace has provided, doesn't mean that it isn't true. Or, does it mean God no longer honors His Word? Of course not. It simply means that we reigned in our faith instead of allowing it to reveal all things through the Holy Spirit. Romans 3:25 (Amplified) says that, "(All) are justified and made in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus." Romans 5:1 (Amplified) says, "Therefore since we are justified (Acquitted, declared righteous and given a right standing with God through faith, let us (grasp the fact that we) the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy) peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
What if our faith is weak in this part of grace? Does this mean that we are not justified or made righteous in Jesus? No! It simply means that our faith is immature and we've allowed ourselves to be talked out of or have cheated ourselves out of the precious place of intimacy with God on a personal basis. Grace has provided what faith still struggles with now.
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