This Week With Jesus

Who has not heard of the grace of God? A lot many are in the habit of saying "By the grace of God I am fine, or this happened" etc. But do we know Grace is so important that the Bible ends with "Grace" . The last verse of the last book of the Bible, Revelations says - " The Grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen." The Bible ends with that blessing, the blessing of Grace for all.  But What is grace? Grace needs to be known and understood, so we give it true value .  Grace is simply the supernatural enablement and unmerited favor of the Lord. And we have this "supernatural", God given, power we call grace though we do not merit it nor deserve it. We must therefore value it and practice it.  Understand and realize that God stoops down to make us great. That is God's grace, and it really is sufficient. By His grace we have been saved many times from any mess up we could possibly imagine, known or unknown. If Grace is at work in our life, no on

1 Peter 1:7, NIV: These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. — 1 Peter 1:7 Faith trials are a part of life. Faith untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators. and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity.  Tried faith brings experience. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too. However, while faith will try you, don't try faith, especially the young in faith, lest it discourage. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will be measured out to you in due se

 

"Thy will be done". Saying this is easy but doing it is as hard as climbing Mt. Everest.  A sixteenth-century doctor, Thomas Fuller, once said, "Beware of no man more than thyself." So true. Yesterday we talked about how we try and force our will on God and our inherent rebellion. Isaiah 48:4 says -  “Because I know that you are obstinate, And your neck is an iron sinew, And your forehead bronze..." Our rebellious self-will is well known  to God as well and there are numerous warnings in the Bible. Overcoming self-will, to be able to do Gods will takes tremendous courage and strength. Where do we get this courage? Simple: ASK God. He has already given all we need to know and remember in His word. Dwell in it. Ask, Seek, Knock and keep knocking till you find the answer. But where is the door? It's the Bible and your prayer is your knock. Keep reading, keep praying.

By nature, men and human have an undeniable religious impulse, but they also have an undeniable rebellion against God. What men want most is not the elimination of religion but want their own version of "religion". They say they want the kingdom, but they don’t want God in it. If God wants to enter our kingdom, He better show some proof, and this is frightening, especially the emphasis on signs and wonders among some Christians is frightening. Yet we look for signs, not remembering that when Moses and Aaron showed miraculous signs, so did the Egyptian magicians as did the cohort of Anti-Christ. Why then do we rebel and ask for proof when our very lives are proof? God created us and invited us into His Heavenly Kingdom, yet we want to have our own kingdom, where we are the kings and queens and our wishes and desires reign paramount. My way or the Highway Lord! And, if God wants to live in our kingdom, He better show some signs and miracles! Give me what I want.  This rebellion

Which is the bigger wonder? Gods' faithfulness or our unbelief?  He keeps his promise a thousand times, and yet the next trial makes us doubt him. We are as continually vexed with anxieties, molested with suspicions, and disturbed with fears, as if our God were the mirage of the desert. Yet as we read Isiaah we see He says - Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. — Isaiah 49:16 . “I have graven thee.” It does not say, “your name.” The name is there, but that is not all: our person, our image, our case, our circumstances, our sins, our temptations, our weaknesses, our wants, our works; He has graven us, everything about us, all that concerns us. With this understanding will we ever say again that our God has forsaken us or forgotten us, when he has "graven" us upon his own palms?

Isiaah 58:6-11 says -  6“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. 10 If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your need