Tag Archives: grace

The Grace and Gift of Sanctification

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Andrea Graham| 2 Comments

“who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,” (2 Timothy 1:9)

Previously, we discussed this verse in light of verse eight. In the larger context of chapter one, Paul is encouraging Timothy, reminding him of the gifts God has given Timothy, including faith, and encouraging him to keep those holy fires burning his heart at a time when Timothy appears to be struggling with fear, likely related to the persecution of the saints that has Paul writing from prison.

In verse nine, Paul continues to encourage Timothy, reminding him that God’s gift of salvation and his call on Timothy’s life didn’t come because Timothy measured up according to the reasoning of men, not because of any worthy accomplishment or good deed on Timothy’s part, but because God had a purpose for Timothy, a plan for his life God had worked out before the beginning of time through the gift of grace Christ gave us in time.

In fact, in verses ten through twelve Paul goes on to remind Timothy that Christ has abolished death, that is, ended the effect of death and that Paul is suffering for teaching about the Lord who is higher than Caesar and has brought to us a light, life, and immortality that Caesar cannot overcome. Paul assures Timothy there is no shame in suffering for that because he knows the Lord is able to guard either what Paul has entrusted to God or what God has entrusted to Paul, which comes back to our fates in eternity from one angle or another.

Lord, thank you for saving us for good works, not by good works. Thank you for your gift of grace and your work in us of perfecting us to be fit for your kingdom. We lift up our hearts and souls and minds and bodies to you today, Lord, and we ask you to lead us and mold us according to the  purpose that you had for us, for you called us, designed us, for holiness and only you can make us what we were always meant to be. Change us, God, wash us clean from the inside out.

Posted in Bible and Theology, Gospel, Grace, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

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Slipping in the mud? God has his hand out. Grab it.

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“When I thought, “My foot slips,” your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” (Psalm 94:18-19)

Is your foot slipping, stumbling and falling flat into sin’s mud? Trust in the steadfast love of the Lord–not to make the mud less muddy and falling acceptable–but to catch you by the hand and hold you up from doing a face dive into the mud.  His blood washes us clean, and his love can keep us clean. In the hour of temptation, take your eyes off the mud of this earth and look up to Heaven’s righteous king. He will give you the strength to safely walk around it and keep going on, hand in hand with him.

Burdened with a huge pile of debt? Medical problems? Marriage difficulties? Work politics ? Family drama? Afraid of natural disasters? What the government might do? What  your neighbor might think? If you’re drowning in a sea of fears and worries today, again cry out to Jesus. Let him take your hand and lift you up. It may not happen right away.  We often have to confess it all to the Lord, name what we’re afraid of (gasp!) and then loose it from our hearts, releasing that concern to him. Only when we’ve gotten it out of us do we often have room to listen to his voice in our hearts, receive his words of comfort and peace, to alleviate our grief, to soothe our distress, lift the heavy burden from our hearts, and give us joy and satisfy our need. Gratitude is our best response in that hour.

Lord, thank you for hearing our prayers. Thank you for consoling us and giving us peace and joy. Thank you for holding our hands. We pray in the hour of temptation, we would be reminded in our hearts to look up to you, and we ask you to strengthen us in our hearts to have the spiritual discipline to obey and meditate on your love, to hide in it from sin, rather than using your steadfast love as an excuse to roll in the mud like pigs. Forgive us for the times we’ve done that, wash us clean, and polish us until you see your son’s face reflected in us. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Posted in Bible and Theology, Fear and Anxiety, God's love, Lament, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

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Claiming the Victor’s Crown? First, Get in the Game!

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.” (Psalm 119:130)

Some view the bible as a random list of dos and don’ts we’re expected to obey for no other reason than, “God says so.” Others agree, but feel the blood washes the dos and the don’s away rather than our guilt for breaking them, and view the bible today as being a warm fuzzy book full of hope and promises of salvation, healing, protection from harm and our enemies, and promises if we have enough faith, we’ll be given every desire of our heart.

Eventually, these latter “Arm Chair Christians” encounter the harsh reality of trials and the pain of reaping the fruits of sowing to the flesh. So they declare the promise in faith. To their shock, it’s not there to claim. At that point, these simple folk sometimes wisely re-read their bibles seeking where they went wrong, and God sheds light on the fact the promise hinged on their obedience. The danger they face at that moment is the temptation to go overboard and become legalists, obeying from fear rather than from trust and love. It can be addicting when living by God’s principles changed their lives for the better, maybe even saved it in the earthly. Runners face the hazard of losing sight of the grace that enables us to run. We must guard against this, or we’ll be disqualified.

Other Arm Chair Christians keep ignoring the bible’s wisdom on how to live, faithfully claiming the victory, and wondering why they don’t have it. Christians in the race try to gently point out to these folk that their sin is causing their woes and they need to repent of it to get the victory. The unwise ones accuse the runner of judging and may arrogantly compare themselves to saints who waited for decades or until eternity to receive.

Still others may well be in the race as a mere recreation, but when the race inevitably becomes difficult, they can become so disheartened, they give up altogether and become atheists or agnostics.

God’s word isn’t an authoritarian list of random do’s and don’ts that have no rhyme or reason besides “I said so.” Nor is it a list of warm fuzzy promises from a cosmic Santa Claus who doesn’t even keep a list of who’s been naughty anymore.

The bible makes promises, good promises, it is full of hope. But following Jesus is not without life’s struggles and hardships. Battling the flesh and the enemy’s attempts to derail us can make life even more difficult for Christians. If we don’t seek understanding in the bible’s pages for how God designed us to function and seek to grow in grace and wisdom, if we remain foolish and sow to the sinful flesh, we’ll reap pain, death, sorrow, broken relationships, and fractured lives.

God does all the work in us–at least that lasts. He saves us by grace, through faith, not by works. None of us can boast. We’ve all sinned and fallen short and anyone who claims otherwise is either a liar or naive.

But if we want the victory, and the victor’s crown, we need to be willing to actually allow God’s grace to transform us from sinners into saints. His promises were made to his saints, those who love and trust him and are spiritually descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If you want the promise you’re claiming, stop sitting on the sidelines, waving, “Go saints!” in one hand and “Sinner saved by grace!” in the other and get in the game and run the race.

Posted in God's promises, Grace, Legalism, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

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Wonder-Working Grace Empowers Us to Obey

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.” (Psalm 119:30)

Out of context, this can sound like one of those “old covenant legalistic verses.” However, it is apart of an eight verse set and must be read in context. Verses 25-32 speak of our earthly nature as dust our souls cling to and the author longs for life, confesses his ways, and asks god to teach him god’s way, not merely as a list of dos and don’ts to be followed just because god said so, but to teach him god’s ways as principles that have been explained to him so he understands them.

The author reveals he is in such deep sorrow as he writes this, it feels like his heart is melting away, but asks god to give him strength as “according to your word’ in other words, he is looking through the scriptures available to him at the time and seeing where God promised to give life and strength and asking God to reconcile his experience to what is written in the scripture and give him what it promises.

In verse 29, he asks for false ways to be put far from him. No one asks to have removed things they don’t have. Thus the person choosing the way of faithfulness has not been faithful in all things. Rather they are picking themselves up and making a U-turn, determined to stand in God’s grace as God teaches him how to walk rightly before him.

Through all of this, he focuses his thoughts upon the great wonders and miracles the bible testifies of God doing,  and “clings to” God’s “Testimonies,” which, according to m-w.com, refers to the five books of Moses and any divine decree recorded in the scriptures primarily, which is again standing firm upon what God has said about him rather than what his eyes see around him, to ask God that he would not be put to shame. The set ends with the author declaring by faith that he will “run” (not merely walk) as God commanded–because God will “enlarge my heart” or as the footnote suggests, “For you set my heart free.”

Thus it is grace and God’s power at work in us that enable us to declare in faith the same.

Lord, we ask you as the psalmist did, strengthen us to will and to obey. Open our eyes and our hearts to understand your ways. Set us free from anything that holds our hearts captive and holds us back from being all you made us to be. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Posted in Bible and Theology, Faith, God's promises, Legalism, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

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Are you Cold and Bubbly or Hot and Steamy?

Posted on May 11, 2011 by Andrea Graham| Comments Off

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

Christianity is more than a mere list of dos and don’ts. God does have boundaries, and we do reap the consequences of our actions here on earth. But when we become wrathful, angry, bitter, and slanderous in how we respond to the mote in our brother’s eye, we need to get the beam out of our own, because those are the works of the flesh and as poisonous to us as what we are attempting to correct in others–in some cases, more so even.

Let our kindness and tenderness be truthful, directed towards encouraging one another to godliness but, kind and tender we must be if we want to be like Jesus–and it goes without saying we have to forgive. God forgives when we repent and turn from our sorrow, so we must not hold past sins God has forgiven against our brothers and sisters, either–and bitterness and anger must against all offenses must be put off (into Christ’s hands in prayer) hence what others mean when they say you can forgive but still protect yourself and not reconcile with someone who is still a threat to you. Because that “forgiveness” is only letting go of the anger and bitterness.

Being on fire for God gets a lot of mileage, but we should seek to have more in common with a bubbly cold spring that consistently gushes forth sweet and refreshing than a hot, steamy geyser that scalds anyone who happens to be standing too close when it erupts.

Lord, search our hearts. If there be any hidden anger, bitterness, or an unforgiving attitude in our way today, reveal it to us, and strengthen us and grant us the will to share that pain honestly with you and release the offense into your just hands. Show us the path in which you would have us walk and grant us the courage to take those steps with you. Pour into our hearts today grace, love, and kindness that overflows and gushes onto others so we might build up one another and not tear down your work. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Posted in Bible and Theology, Forgiveness, Grace, Prayer and Devotions

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