His Grace

Psalm 124:^1-2 “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say; If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us” (KJV).

How to build and sustain a stronghold of gratitude. The first thing that fuels and strengthens the stronghold is The Grace He Has Shown You. You need to understand and remember the grace God has shown you. When the grace God has shown you is real to you, gratitude becomes effortless. Ephesians 2:⁸ “…you have been saved by grace through believing. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.” (NCV). You cannot earn your way to heaven. You cannot work your way to heaven. You cannot buy your way to heaven. You cannot negotiate your way to heaven. You can’t! There is no amount of sacrifice that you can bring that will buy your ticket to heaven.

Someone shared some time ago, about how he met a man who had been fasting for twenty-one days and was almost dying. He said when he asked why the man was fasting like that. The man said he was told that his sins were too many. And he needed to fast so that his sins could be atoned for. He told the man the truth that fasting does not atone for sins. There is only one thing that atones for sins and that is the precious and eternal Blood of Jesus. The question is not have you been able to fast for twenty-one days or forty days so that your sins can be wiped away? The question is, have you been washed in the Blood of the Lamb? And so, he led the man to Christ. Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? That is the question. I cannot earn it. You cannot earn it. We cannot work our way to heaven.

God’s grace is when God gives you something you do not deserve. And in addition to a home in heaven, God has given you and me a whole lot of things that we do not deserve. Think about it. There are things that you have in your life that you know that there are better candidates for those things. There are jobs you have gotten that there are better candidates than yourself. But God gave it to you. Some of you are married to a spouse that you know that God gave you. Some have children that are better than them. It is as if they do not have your genes. You know yourself. It is as if God edited your negative genes out of your children.

God gives us beyond what we deserve. We ought to daily remember the grace that God has shown us and be grateful. Why? Because it is not everybody that receives grace. People have argued it to the left and to the right. Yes, there is the “general grace” of the sun shining on everybody and the rain falling on the good and the bad. But the is a “special grace” that is not “general”. If you know, you know. I am grateful that God has specially graced you and me.

Prayer: Father, I thank You for Your abundant grace in my life, in Jesus Name. Amen!