Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Lesson 77 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share, and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
     When we don't fully understand what Grace is all about, we miss out in so much of what Jesus came to deliver to us, in His death.  Our idea of Grace has been more of a "consoling kind of thing" and more pity than power.  Grace is one of the most powerful things we have in our inheritance and we haven't understood it's meaning.
     Every Promise, Gift and portion of our inheritance is based on Grace.  The above scripture tells us that, "We were all supplied with one Grace after another" and that "We were all supplied with all the Grace we would ever need, at any time."  I don't know about you, but I need Grace all the time.  Hebrews 4:16 (Amplified) tells us, "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the Throne of Grace (the Throne of God's unmerited favor to us that we may receive mercy and find Grace to help)."
     The door to God's Throne of Grace is always open and God is always available to us.  When Jesus gave us Grace instead of Law, it meant that everything we would ever need was now available to us by our faith, instead of by our works.  When those under Law didn't strictly adhere to the Law, then the fullness of the Blessing couldn't be given, like God would like to do.  God is bound by His Word and couldn't violate Himself.
     James 2:10 (Amplified) says, "For whoever keeps the Law as a whole but stumbles and offends in one single instance has become guilty of breaking all of it."  In Matthew 5:17 (Amplified) Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the prophets; I have not come to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them."
     By God's Grace in Jesus, we have perfectly fulfilled the Law and are guiltless of any violations of the Law because of Jesus.  This isn't a license to do anything we want and sin, but as we walk with the Father, Grace holds the Curse of the Law away from those of us who are the new creation children of God.  Jesus quoted Isaiah 41 in Luke 4:18-19, so we can know that everything He preached was a Gift offered by Grace.  This is what we read in John 1:16-17.  The fulfilling of the Gospel is based on God's Grace.
      Everything that Grace has made available to us, is based on our faith in His Promises to receive.  Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "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."  Salvation has been made available to all men by Grace, but unless we receive it by faith, we are still dead in trespass and sin.  Everything Grace has Promised us must be received by faith, just like our forgiveness is based on faith in God's Grace.  It is truly unearned and undeserved favor, with no strings attached.  We must only believe in God's Grace to deliver what He has Promised; this is faith's job.  When we were born-again, we didn't understand that salvation didn't just include forgiveness of sin, but also healing, deliverance, peace, joy, prosperity, and the Blessing of Abraham.  All these things are included in our salvation.  We weren't taught to set our faith in and believe for all these things when we received Jesus as our Lord, so we never extended faith to receive these Spiritual Blessings and Gift that God's Grace offered us.
     The Father once told me that, "My Grace has provided much more than My children's faith has ever received."  He said that, "His children have never accepted most of what His Grace has made available to them."  I know that only satan could blind the minds and hearts of God's children to this Glorious and Great Truth.  We've been taught about Heave, but acted like the rest of His Promises by Grace have no effect on our earthly lives.
     Healing and deliverance were all a part of receiving Jesus as our Lord.  The world reduced salvation to mean that we "go to Heaven when we die" and Grace could go no further than we were willing to believe.  Grace has never failed in its Promise, but our faith has failed to believe His Grace.  Ever our righteousness is a free Gift by Grace, that must be accepted by faith.  Many of God's children have left the Gift of righteousness dormant in their walk with the Father, for lack of faith in His Gift of Grace. 
     Righteousness is a free Gift that was bought by the Precious Blood of Jesus and offered by His Grace, but it must be received by faith.  There's no other way to be righteous in God's Own Presence, than by faith in the Grace that called you "righteous."  Your whole acceptance into the Throne Room of Grace, must be in boldness by faith, knowing that His Love and mercy have been granted unto us through His Grace.
     We've allowed the Gospel to be disrespected into many of the world's ideas about it.  In the first century of the Church, the Gospel included healing and deliverance, with the forgiveness of sin.  As a matter of fact and Truth, once the Price for sin was paid, sickness and disease had no right to remain in our bodies.  Once the Price was paid and faith received the Offer made by His Grace, every hold satan had on our lives, was to be remitted and removed through this Salvation Gift of Grace.
     Those in the early Church knew this, so miracles and healings accompanied the Truth of the Gospel.  Throughout the years, the Truth about Grace became limited by man's ideas of the Gospel.  When we allowed Grace to be limited to include only forgiveness of sin, our faith stopped at that level.  the Super-natural display of the new birth became only what we could hear.  Even though Grace had made it all available, faith never rose up to accept this Truth.
     Many in today's Church believe that, "I'm not a good Christian if I want to be healed" or they believe that "sickness is God's will for their lives and His Grace is to comfort them in their sickness."  They haven't understood that His Grace has provided healing for them, by faith in the Gospel of Christ.
     It's nearly impossible to have God's people rise to another level of faith, when we've clouded His will for His family for so long.  If you say that you know God's will, then many believers will reject it as foolishness.  Grace has provided entry into God's Presence, His will and His Spirit.  God wants us to know His will and Truth.  If we don't have faith in His Grace to enter in, then we remain only religious and not reality, in this world.

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