Engaging the grace of God

Messages for May 2018: Our Month of Great Grace

Message for Sunday 20^th May, 2018

Theme: Understanding the heart of man in relation to the grace of God

Topic: Engaging the grace of God

Introduction: So far we have seen what great grace is and what the right heart is. Last week we saw some benefits of the grace of God and the right heart to enjoy them. Today we shall continue our series by looking at engaging the grace of God. Here you will quickly find out again that doing this is impossible without His grace. This is because engaging the grace of God is not just a mechanical thing that you do not need God to deliver. Remember, any good we do without involving God will be condemned under the work of the flesh; the best of which are not acceptable to God. [Isa.64:6].

What does it mean to engage the grace of God? To engage the grace of God is to take advantage of the grace of God to the point it becomes obvious to us and others around us that the grace of God is at work in our lives. When God gives us grace, He does so in seed form. We are expected to cultivate the grace of God so as to be able to manifest it in our lives. We cultivate the grace of God the same way we cultivate our spirits to grow up enough to be able to take on the responsibility of spiritual adulthood. We desire the milk of the word, feed on it and grow there by until we begin to take on the meat and the strong meat of the word for our spiritual exercises. At this point, it would be obvious to all around us that the grace of God is working in our lives. When we give first place to the word of God in our lives, it enables us to live the grace life otherwise we would be experiencing the constant struggle of the flesh against the spirit and vice versa.

Some steps to take to engage the grace of God for our lives: The following are some steps we can take to engage the grace of God in our lives:

1.     Get saved: The first function of the grace of God is to save every sinner who repents. After the sin of man in Eden, he lost access to God; to bridge this gap, the Lord Jesus Christ came and gave His life as a ransom for our redemption. However, for us to be able to take advantage of his work, repentance is the demand. Sadly, many people are not repenting and are becoming lost as a result. When we are able to repent, we must be thankful to God for the grace because it was His grace that made it happen. The first manifestation of the grace of God in our lives is seen in our ability to repent of sin and turn to the saving knowledge of the Lord. This is the foundation on which our faith is built. Without salvation, there can be no manifestation of the grace of God in the life of anyone. See Eph.2:8-10.

2.     Put God’s word first place in your life: This means to prioritize the activities of your life putting God’s word first. If you do this, you will read it first thing in the day before reading any other literature. The result would be mindboggling especially for someone who has stopped reading the word of sometime due to distractions. Then you will let it govern the decisions you make; you will only make decisions that have divine approval on it. As a result, you will always grow in grace and enjoying the grace of God would be your life experience. See 1Tim.4:13-15 and Ps.1:1-3.

3.     Meditate on the word of God day and night: To meditate is to concentrate your thought in a certain direction. In this case, God wants us to concentrate our thoughts in His word because the more we meditate on his word, the more we conform to it which means the more we are prone to do it. This is because meditation helps to renew your mindset to the one God wants you to have. For you to get the things of God, you have to think like Him. When you think like Him, you will be meek like the Lord and God gives you more grace then. See Rm.12:1-2; Jos.1:8; Pr.4:20-22.

4.     Do the word no matter how uncomfortable it may seem: After all said and done about the word, only the doer of it get to enjoy any benefit from it. Because the word of God tells us that it is not the hearer but the doer of the word that is blessed by it. One cannot become meek just by hearing the word, they must do the word and it is only to the meek or humble that the Lord gives more grace. Jas.1:21-25; 4:5-6 and 1Pet.5:5-6

5.     Cultivate the virtue of humility and eschew pride at all cost: If you want to receive and maintain the grace of God in your life, you need this grace called meekness that enables you to be docile to God. You cannot be proud and receive the grace of God. If you already have the grace of God and become proud, it would strip you of the grace because God would personally resist you while giving more grace to the humble. See Jas.4:6; 1Pet.5:5-6 and Prov.3:34.

6.     Embrace and live the mind of Christ: Apostle Paul enjoins us to let the mind which was in Christ be in us. He said even with all His rights as the only begotten of God, he stripped himself of every reputation to obey the father even to the point of having to die the most painful kind of death so that the will of the father would be done. The result was extreme grace that is responsible for His great name in time and throughout all eternity. See Phil.2:5-11; 1Cor.2:16. Let us look at some qualities the bible mentions that we find in the mind of Christ here:

§  The mind of Christ shuns ungodliness: We learn from the letter of Apostle Paul to Titus that the grace of God has appeared to all men teaching us to shun ungodliness among other things. Now the grace of God being referred to here is referring to a person which is the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the grace of God manifested in the flesh and the bible calls Him the wisdom and the power of God as well. In Mt.11:28-29, he enjoins all those laboring and are heavy laden to come to him and find rest for their souls thereby demonstrating the grace of God that has appeared to us. See also, 1Cor.1:24 and Titus 2:11-13.

§  The mind of Christ shuns worldliness: We learn from the letter of Apostle John a very close disciple to the Lord to the Church that anyone with the Love of the father cannot love the world at the same time. I believe this is the mind of Christ we can glean from the relationship this precious saint had with the Messiah. A look at the Lord’s lifestyle will tell us that this was so because his daily schedule discloses to us that the first few hours of His day is spent with the father and when he gets down from the mountain, he knows exactly where to go and minister. This was how He lived for the father day by day until He was done and gone. See Mk.1:35; Mt.24:35 and 1Jn.2:15-17

§  The mind of Christ lives Holy and soberly: This was the lifestyle of Christ so much so that the bible tells us that He knew no sin in 2Cor.5:21 which is why He qualified to become sin for us. See also Heb.12:14.

§  The mind of Christ is meek towards God: Meekness is such a priceless virtue before God that it has the ability of taking someone from wherever they may be to where they ought to be. God recognized the meekness of Moses and up till today, refers to him as the meekest man on the earth in his generation. Meekness makes us pliable in God’s hands. The Lord said of Himself that He only does what He saw the father do and that it was the father who told him what to do and how to do it. See Num.12:3; Mt.11:29; Jn.5:19 and 30

§  The mind of Christ is Humble and restful in God: Here is what the Lord had to say about Himself in relation to being humble before God which gives us an idea of another part of his personality which is His aura of restfulness. He said if we come to him, He will teach us meekness and humility which has the capacity to take us into the rest of God. See Mt.11:28-29.

We shall draw the curtain on this series here this week thanking God for what light we have been able to glean from God’s word so far in relation to the grace of God and the heart of man.  If you are reading this blog and are yet to be born again, I have good news for you; you can be born again right away by saying the prayer below in faith and out loud and you will be saved:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.