The Christian life from start to finish is all of grace. God saves us by His grace. He grows us by His grace. He makes us like His Son by grace. He will bring us to heaven by grace. Yes, everything we have and are is all of God’s amazing grace. Every day we should be a people humming along the grand hymn of the faith written by John Newton – “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” There is another aspect of grace we may not think of much; “The Preventing Grace of God.”
Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ
Pleasing God, Making Disciples of Jesus Christ
Today’s scripture was my portion of reading in my yearly Bible reading plan. It is familiar to all of us, but today, it jumped off the page with newness and clarity in its application. And the lessons are many and apply to all of us who are seeking to live for Christ. All of these lessons are in the context of “storms”, not a literal one as the disciples were encountering, but in the ones we face every day of life – emotional storms, spiritual storms, situational storms, relational storms . . . you may add a “personal storm” to the list. So, since these are realities in all our lives, let’s consider some valuable truths behind all our storms.
In today’s scripture, we see the deity of Jesus doing a miraculous work of feeding thousands of people with about enough for maybe a family of four, if they are not starving. But don’t allow the miraculous physically cause us to miss an important lesson spiritually. Jesus displays His power and the people displayed action to His power; they ate. The food would have meant nothing if they didn’t do their part in the miracle.
Today’s nugget isn’t for everyone. If you are a person who has it all together, experience no spiritual struggles, are quite content on where you are spiritually, are oblivious to spiritual warfare, go through your life relatively problem-free and don’t have any concerns over sin, don’t grieve over spiritual inconsistencies in your life and are satisfied with your time in the Word, prayer, and the other things of God, then this nugget isn’t for you.
Christianity differs from other religions in the world in many ways. Two predominant differences are the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promises of God. Take away the resurrection of Jesus and we have nothing. Yes, our faith rises and falls on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The second distinction making Christians different from those who follow other religions is that we are people who exist, live, and hope in a God who has given us promises as the means to exist, live, and hope.
Malachi 3:16 – Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. THEME OF THE DAY: GOD-GIVEN DESIRES. Let’s face it. All believers experience the pain of doubt. We do have those times we struggle…