The word Grace is often misunderstood and greatly underestimated in the church today. In Old Testament times, it was used when favor or lovingkindness was given spontaneously and undeserved. But the basic meaning “unmerited favor” only grazes surface! Jesus came, exemplifying the ultimate expression of the extravagant lovingkindness and explosively giving nature of God to mankind. Jesus turned the world flip upside down and upon leaving gave us divine access to God, His power and ability. Jesus not only a completed the view of Grace but exemplified its application in the ability to walk in an endless supply of Grace. That’s why Strong’s Concordance defines the word “Grace,” coming from the Greek Word “Charis” as “the divine influence upon the heart, and it’s reflection in one’s life.” When we choose to walk with God and receive His Grace empowerment by Faith, we allow God’s “divine DNA,” His Character and nature to change us into His representative here on the earth. That’s why I John 4:17 declares that “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.” There’s an outward reflection of what is done in the heart, which emphasizes the power of God’s Grace to “be Jesus” here on this earth. By God’s amazing grace we can live abundant lives, free from the power of sin, to be the light of Jesus to the world!
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by Grace you have been saved through faith; and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
II Peter 1:2-4 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the full knowledge of God. 3 For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that are requisite and suited to life and godliness, through the full, personal knowledge of Him Who called us by & to His own glory and excellence (virtue). 4 By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape by flight from the moral decay, rottenness & corruption that is in the world because of covetousness, lust & greed, & become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.”
Titus 2:11-12 (AMP) “For the grace of God (His unmerited favor and blessing) has come forward for the deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation for all mankind. It has trained us to reject & renounce all ungodliness and worldly (passionate lusts) desires, to live self-controlled, upright (righteous), godly (spiritually whole) lives in this present world”
Ephesians 2:7 in AMP Jesus “did this that he might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace, his unmerited favor in his kindness and goodness of heart THROUGH US in Christ Jesus.”
Pastor Sheri