Monday, January 14, 2008

Carriers of grace


Ephesians 2
:1-10 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. [1]

The gift of grace, my daughter is named Grace, I love that name because for me she is my daily reminder of Gods grace. She is the fruit of a marriage of grace along with my two other children. But that is just the beginning of understanding of Gods grace. The evidence of grace is easy to see for some, but for others it is almost impossible to see. Most of us can’t even begin to understand the part about how he loved us and forgave us while we were yet sinner. We still want to earn Gods grace, which is impossible and yet when we don’t live in a way that feels righteous enough for us to feel worthy of Gods grace we tend believe that we are outside of His grace, which is impossible.

As the betrothed of Christ, His friends, children, servants and warriors one of the greatest weapons we possess is the weapon of grace. God will be faithful in giving you ample opportunity to be like Him in a small way by giving the gift of grace to others. As leaders of spiritual influence, and extenders of Gods kingdom one of the greatest things we can do is give the gift of grace to those in our lives. One of the greatest ways to change a person is to help them see Gods grace for them. We violently extend the kingdom when we open the eyes of one who is cowering in guilt shame and self loathing and lift their eyes to the throne room which has been opened up to them by Christ who stands at that door longing for his little ones to come in. we are the greeters at the gates of heaven, grace is the smile and the handshake that ushers in His beloved.



[1] The New King James Version. 1996, c1982 (Eph 2:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.