(I found this while riffling through a file this morning looking for something else. I think I wrote this in seminary while doing my counseling practicum. I was in my 20s and not married yet. It astounds me how much life has happened since then! It goes along with last week's post "The Gift." I hope this encourages you as much as it did me as I read it again this morning!)
Lately I've been bombarded by God's grace. He has shown me anew what it means to be given grace. I think we all take it for granted. We live every day knowing we are forgiven, but not thinking of the high cost of that grace. We have been give the greatest provision our needs. That need can be most anything - healing, deliverance, forgiveness, relief. God's grace can meet that need if we'll only receive it.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul says, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' 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." Paul had repeatedly asked God to remove whatever his "thorn in the flesh" was. Yet God said no. He wanted to teach Paul about His grace. Every single day, we are given enough grace and mercy for that day. If we have a need, our ratio of grace increases. Grace is always there - always! But we must be able to receive it. Jesus stands ready to give it. He paid a high price for it. And it is sufficient for any and every need. All you must do is ask for it.
I awoke on Super Bowl Sunday morning 1991 with enough grace to face another normal day. I ended that day needing more than I ever had. A tragic event happened in my family that changed my whole world. Grace was provided to me by my Loving Heavenly Father. Some time later, an adult friend commented to me that I handled myself with such grace. At the time, I took it as a compliment on my personal presence. Now, I look back and know it was the grace of God handling me. I can boast in my weakness because it is Christ's power resting on me.
Receive His grace. It is all-sufficient.
Lately I've been bombarded by God's grace. He has shown me anew what it means to be given grace. I think we all take it for granted. We live every day knowing we are forgiven, but not thinking of the high cost of that grace. We have been give the greatest provision our needs. That need can be most anything - healing, deliverance, forgiveness, relief. God's grace can meet that need if we'll only receive it.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul says, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' 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." Paul had repeatedly asked God to remove whatever his "thorn in the flesh" was. Yet God said no. He wanted to teach Paul about His grace. Every single day, we are given enough grace and mercy for that day. If we have a need, our ratio of grace increases. Grace is always there - always! But we must be able to receive it. Jesus stands ready to give it. He paid a high price for it. And it is sufficient for any and every need. All you must do is ask for it.
I awoke on Super Bowl Sunday morning 1991 with enough grace to face another normal day. I ended that day needing more than I ever had. A tragic event happened in my family that changed my whole world. Grace was provided to me by my Loving Heavenly Father. Some time later, an adult friend commented to me that I handled myself with such grace. At the time, I took it as a compliment on my personal presence. Now, I look back and know it was the grace of God handling me. I can boast in my weakness because it is Christ's power resting on me.
Receive His grace. It is all-sufficient.
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