Grace: May 18, 2010

Today's Word for Tuesday May 18, 2010

GRACE

DEFINITION

Mercy, clemency, pardon, the influence or spirit of God operating in humans; the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God.

SCRIPTURE

"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." II Peter 3:18

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Grace is the freely given unmerited favor and love of God. It is solely by God's grace that we are saved. Grace is part of God's divine nature along with love, patience, kindness, righteousness and justice that caused God to give His only Son to die for us and save us from our sins. If our faith is real we cannot remain complacent. We will want a closer relationship with our Lord, and this is also what God wants from us.

God wants us as individuals and as families to grow daily in grace. There are many graces that God wants us to grow in. There is the grace of faith, of love and of humility to name a few. He wants us not only to grow in one grace but in all grace.

We need to grow in what we call faith. We need to believe the promises of God that He gives us with more diligence and apply them to our life. Our faith must increase daily with consistency and with simplicity. Frankly we limit God by our lack of faith. All He wants from us is to step out in great faith and then let Him do His thing.

Then we must grow in the grace of love. Our love needs to be extended beyond what and who we love today. Our grace of love needs to be more Christ-like, forgiving, more purposeful and should be reflected through every thought, word and deed that comes from us. We are to love the lovely and the unlovely. We are to love the believer and the unbeliever. At times this is very hard to do, but this is what God wants us to do as we grow in the grace of love.

We need to grow in the grace of humility. We need to live lowly and realize more of our nothingness in God's sight. As we grow downward, increase our humility, we will grow upward in our approach to God. This will happen in our prayer life and as we read the Bible. Our fellowship with Jesus will then become more intimate.

In Genesis 6:8 we read that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This happened because Noah trusted God and responded to His call. In Psalms 84:11 the psalmist tells us that, "The Lord will give us grace and glory, no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly."

The more we grow in grace, the more God can work in our lives. Not only will we walk more uprightly but we will be blessed by God. Then we will have a spiritual influence on our family.

Do you long to know more about Jesus? Do you have a desire to grow in the graces that God can give you? If not, why not? If so, this is the way you can. The key is wanting to love and to know God and walk with Him daily.

LEARNING

Our memory verse for this week is found in Proverbs 16:3.

"Commit your work to the Lord and your thoughts will be established."

PRAYER

My prayer for today is that my family, with my leadership, might find grace in Your sight just as Noah did so many years ago. Help me to listen to what You say and then give me the conviction and courage to walk with You in the direction You lead me.