God's Grace; The gift that keeps on giving
Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it.
-Frederick Buechner.
Don't we all just looove gifts?
Don't we all always look forward to the times in our lives when we know....'my birthday is coming so I'm expecting lots of gifts!' or 'We are gonna receive a lot of wedding gifts!
picture this...
Jesus comes to you gives you a gift and voila! you open it.
Once you open it, you discover so many things every time you keep looking inside. You discover joy, peace, love, forgiveness, strength deliverance, healing, assignment, prosperity, protection, eternal life, heavenly citizenship, freedom just to mention a few.
And the best part is there is no exhausting this gift until eternity.
This is exactly how we should be presenting the Grace of God,
the gift that keeps on giving!
the gift that saved you from yourself....
'Come now! receive this gift for your life, it is all good news in there about the Father who saved you from all the bad things of the world and given you all good things from his kingdom.'
If there is one thing that helped me to understand the essence of the gospel is understanding the grace of God.
Infact once you understand the grace of God you, you will never have to question your salvation or second guess your relationship with God because the more you look inside the more you receive!
Ready to unwrap this gift?
What is the grace of God?
'For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: '
Charis is the term used to describe grace in greek that means;
-good will, loving-kindness, favor of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.
-thanks-worthy, (for benefits, services, favors), recompense, reward
-especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life
I really love this definition it has nicely unpacked the term grace extensively.
If you're a believer or a teacher of the word you have probably come across the definition of grace as the unmerited favor of God to mankind. When I first received the revelation of this definition all I could see was the love of God and that touched my heart greatly. However, the more I study grace the more I realize there is so much more to it than that. Later on, the Holy spirit led me to study it more from old notes from my pastors, greek dictionary and Strong's concordance I discovered that I could not find this definition anywhere except for some english dictionaries.
I have nothing against this definition but perhaps could it be that it has limited how we understand the grace of God?
Could it be that there is more that is needed to be said about this unmerited favor than what there is?
Could it be that there is more to the revelation of this gift of God to us than that?
To sum it up, grace is the gift of God to mankind that brings them salvation in which is everything provided for them in their new life in Christ.
In order for us to understand this gift of God, it is important we look at the one in whom the gift came from because he is both the giver of the gift and the demonstration of the gift.
So, where did grace come from?
Understanding the gift of the grace of God is understanding the person of Jesus Christ, what He did and what He has given us. It is more than an object, a favor, a concept or feeling. The reason why I say this is because Grace was brought by Jesus to mankind.
'For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.'
The word *By* in the verse above in greek is dia meaning through, throughout, by the instrumentality of, (b) acc: through, ON ACCOUNT OF of, by reason of, for the sake of, BECAUSE OF.
In other words, grace came through Jesus Christ. Now, we know that Jesus Christ is the son of God who came to save the world from their sin. God provided His grace to all men to bring salvation through Jesus Christ, lets find out how?!
How was it given to you in the first place?
'whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
The phrase 'effectual working' in the verse above is energeia in greek meaning working or operation; in the new testament it was used to mean working only of superhuman power whether of God or the devil but in this case of God.
What this means is the grace of God was given unto me by the working superhuman power of God or simply put by the superhuman power operation of God. In other versions it is written as the effective working power of God.
We did nothing to deserve it, we did not use our own strength to receive it, it was God who freely gave it us by his own superhuman working power and might.
No man can claim to receive, understand and walk in the grace of God unless the Lord himself is supernaturally working it out in you. Wow!
Amen?
As a believer, have you ever done something like shared a sermon so well that you had not planned or...or done so much work even when you were tired
Or how you all over sudden got wisdom to solve an issue and wondered later on,
How in the world did I do that?
Yes my friends, that is the supernatural power of God working in and through you.
My friend, imagine this gift of grace is inside us in our spirits 24/7.
How effective do you think we can be once we allow ourselves to receive this gift?
Now, we have seen how we got grace by the superhuman working power of God in our lives. So since this gift is intangible, how do we receive it?
So how do we receive this gift?
By one word,
FAITH.
'through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. '
Do you remember a time when you had to join a new school and you needed to have an admission letter saying you have been approved to join in?
Its the same way with faith. The word 'access' there is prosagōgē in greek meaning admission. Faith is your admission to the grace of God as an admission letter is to a new student joining a new school.
The admission letter shows that the student has earned acceptance to come to the school, it also shows may more details you need to know and do as a student. In the same way, faith is our acceptance letter, to what the grace of God has provided for us in Christ in us. That is simply the truth. It is already provided for you just have faith it is yours!
Now we have seen that grace is a gift from God through Jesus. You need to completely believe in your heart without shadow of doubt that God has provided it for you in Jesus Christ. So for you to receive this gift that keeps on giving you need to use your faith.
So what does this gift of grace keep on giving?
The gift that keeps on giving is a phrase that came from an advertisement in the U.S. of the successful inventions of the phonograph record player in the early 1920's. The idea was that once you have one, you can keep listening to your music records over and over again. Today the idiom is simply used to mean;
According to Your Dictionary,
"It implies that any present that gives enjoyment over and over, such as a radio, camera, or a magazine subscription, would be better than a gift that only provides that feeling once, like a bouquet of flowers. The phrase was especially popular with electronics companies."
According to an episode in The English we speak by BBC,
"We use the expression ‘the gift that keeps on giving’ to talk about a thing or situation which has benefits that are repeated over a long period of time. So, in the case of the teapot, it’s something really useful that I can keep on using!"
I think we get the picture now. Simply put, it is a gift you receive that benefits you or you can keep using it over and over for a long time.
The gift that brings salvation to everyone
'For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; '
Titus 2:11-13 KJV
Augustine once said, "The grace of God does not find men fit for salvation, but makes them so." The grace of God brings salvation to everyone and those who hear it receive it by faith.
The word bringeth salvation there means bringing salvation, which is a present continuous tense meaning it is showing something that is happening now and will keep happening in the future.
So from the time Jesus brought salvation to men after his death till now, so many people have been and still keep receiving the gift of salvation by grace through faith.
Salvation is an all inclusive package, that contains everything inside Christ. Christ saved us from so much that we should be grateful for everyday. He did it once for everyone in the world. We don't get saved every time we sin but we were saved once for all our sins all we just need to do believe it and trust the Holy spirit in walking in the fullness of our salvation.
Everyone of us who receive it enjoy the eternal benefits. Be it eternal life, healing, strength, assignment, deliverance from the kingdom of darkness, heavenly citizenship, the freedom from the power of the sin nature and the obligation of keeping the laws of the old covenant religiously and divine empowerment to live holy and right in Christ.
The gift that never runs out!
If there is something that we should be grateful to God for is that the gift of grace is sufficient for each and everyone, individually and holistically. This gift will not stop giving all the benefits we have in Christ as well as empowering us as we live in Christ just because we did something wrong. It is not like a credit card that has a limit when you use it. It is not like the law that requires punishment for failure. It never runs dry! This gift will help you in your weakest times in your toughest times and even in your good times. It is not measured by how good you have been it is all because of what and who Christ is to us and all what he has done and provided for us.
Only have faith in Him!
in the words of the great Apostle Paul,
'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. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. '
Wrapping it up!
This is just the beginning of unpacking the grace of God. It is not the end. This gift has and is and will always be giving by revealing everything we have in Christ until the end of time. Grace has brought salvation into the world that many people who believe may receive it daily and divine empowerment to all those who need it in their walk in Christ.
Thank God for his refreshing gift of grace in Jesus Christ!
I don't know a person who has exhausted the revelation of everything we have in Christ. My desire is that you understand the grace of God such that people see it through you in Jesus name.
REFERENCE
https://www.bible.com YOU VERSION BIBLE
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