Dependable Grace

Isaiah 46:⁴ “I will be your God throughout your lifetime— until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.”

God will carry you through the difficult seasons of your life in the Name of Jesus. God’s grace will sustain you. So, when you are explaining your own footprints in the sand moments to your children, you will say, “That was when God carried your father or mother.” No matter what you face, you can count on God’s sustaining grace. No matter what you face, God’s sustaining grace will keep you and carry you through it. And because of God’s sustaining grace, you can expect three things.

Firstly, you can expect that God’s sustaining grace will Keep You Standing When You Are TEMPTED. 1 Peter 5:^8-9 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him and be strong in your faith…” (emphasis added). When you resist the devil he flees from you, but God expects you to take a firm stand. And that firm stand is possible through the sustaining grace that is upon you. God’s sustaining grace will fill you and empower you to take a firm stand against the enemy.

The truth is that the moment you become a believer, a battle starts in your life. Whether you like it or not, the moment you became a believer a battle started in your life. Someone said, “Pastor, I don’t want to fight anymore. Why is this life a battle?” Listen, the battle only ends in the grave. However, one thing God is saying to you is, take your eyes off the battle. In the sense that don’t be preoccupied with the battle. Instead, be preoccupied with His sustaining grace. And because of God’s sustaining grace upon you, the battle is not yours but God’s, but you have to stand firm. And as you stand in God’s sustaining grace, He will dismantle the enemies of your destiny. You will be tempted but you will overcome. You will be attacked but you will have victory. That is the power of the sustaining grace of God.

When we talk about God keeping you standing when you are attempted, we often think it only applies to the “big things”. Like when we are tempted to steal money, commit sexual, kill someone and the like. God is saying, yes, the “big things” but even the little foxes like being nasty to your colleague or being disobedient to your parents. The Word of God says in James 4:¹⁷ “…him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (NKJV).

Prayer: Father, sustain me by Your grace when I am tempted, in the Name of Jesus. Amen!