The theme this year has been Grace, and when I say theme I don't mean in any way to minimize what a powerful thing Grace is. Our church has been studying Galatians this year and I have a new deep understanding of Grace that I am only now starting to grasp. Many of my devotionals seem to be focused on Grace and even friends who attend other churches seem to be talking about Grace.
What I find most interesting is that I have been going to church my whole life and never has the subject of Grace sunk in like it is now. I love that when we are seeking God and searching the scriptures that reading a passage that might have meant very little the last time you read it comes to life this time around. At the beginning of this year I prayed and fasted that God would give me a deeper desire for the word and has he ever!
I honestly feel like I am a brand new creation, a baby Christian if you will. Although the first time I asked the Lord into my heart was at a young age, my 20's proved that I hadn't let much of what I had heard sink deep into my heart. No reason to go back down that old road again but honestly I believe that my new life with God, my marriage, and my journey as a parent all began that moment in February of 2009 when I walked away from my old life and moved to India and let God make the changes in me that so desperately needed to be changed. I have spent too many years looking back at my past and not at all focused on what is ahead and now that is over. My past is gone, my slate wiped clean, I am a new creation through the shed blood of Jesus. No longer do the sins of my past have a hold on me, no longer will I dwell in things that I cannot change, no longer will I let them keep me from Gods purpose in my life. Forward, that is the only direction I will look until God tells me otherwise.
So this is why Grace has been so profound this year for me. Part of letting your past go and accepting that God has forgiven you is accepting Grace, and sometimes that is so much easier said than done. I found myself in this flesh struggle where I accepted that God had forgiven me, but would then go on beating myself up that I needed to do more to make it right. The fact of the matter is that Gods forgiveness is undeserved and yet given to us freely. That is because there is nothing we could ever do to erase the sins of our past on our own, but Jesus took them to the cross for us and defeated them. So when I try to add to His grace by saying I need to do more I am not accepting His Grace in Faith that it is all I need to do.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.
Jesus is the only way, he is our Salvation if we will just give our hearts to Him. Bring it all to Him, confess to Him your sins, ask Him to forgive you, let Him change you. Accept His Grace!
There is something amazingly powerful that happens when you finally accept Grace, your heart changes. You aren't trying to do things to makeup for anything, you are doing things because you want to honor God for what He has done for you and you want everyone to know that this Grace is out there waiting for them. I don't want one more person to believe they are too far gone for Grace, or that they can't have it because they have to much baggage. It is a free gift from God to us all and all you have to do is take it, accept it, and let it change you.
This world can be so very hard, it can be dark and scary at times, but that is only because there is nothing here for us. God wants us reconciled to Him, for us to desire Him the way most people desire things of the world. If you can make Him the center of your desires it is amazing how fast the flesh falls away. That new shiny car isn't so pretty, that dream house you honestly can't afford is not desirable, all the money in the world cannot compare to what He has in store for your life. I know, I've been there, I've been sucked in by my flesh, deceived by worldly desires and those things ate me alive, they left me empty and broken. God however filled me so full that when I feel like I just can't go on I turn to Him and he gives me more than I ask for. He gives me purpose and desire to serve an honor him. He gives me hope and a future worth living. Nothing of this world can outshine Him.
John 1:4-5
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
What I find most interesting is that I have been going to church my whole life and never has the subject of Grace sunk in like it is now. I love that when we are seeking God and searching the scriptures that reading a passage that might have meant very little the last time you read it comes to life this time around. At the beginning of this year I prayed and fasted that God would give me a deeper desire for the word and has he ever!
I honestly feel like I am a brand new creation, a baby Christian if you will. Although the first time I asked the Lord into my heart was at a young age, my 20's proved that I hadn't let much of what I had heard sink deep into my heart. No reason to go back down that old road again but honestly I believe that my new life with God, my marriage, and my journey as a parent all began that moment in February of 2009 when I walked away from my old life and moved to India and let God make the changes in me that so desperately needed to be changed. I have spent too many years looking back at my past and not at all focused on what is ahead and now that is over. My past is gone, my slate wiped clean, I am a new creation through the shed blood of Jesus. No longer do the sins of my past have a hold on me, no longer will I dwell in things that I cannot change, no longer will I let them keep me from Gods purpose in my life. Forward, that is the only direction I will look until God tells me otherwise.
So this is why Grace has been so profound this year for me. Part of letting your past go and accepting that God has forgiven you is accepting Grace, and sometimes that is so much easier said than done. I found myself in this flesh struggle where I accepted that God had forgiven me, but would then go on beating myself up that I needed to do more to make it right. The fact of the matter is that Gods forgiveness is undeserved and yet given to us freely. That is because there is nothing we could ever do to erase the sins of our past on our own, but Jesus took them to the cross for us and defeated them. So when I try to add to His grace by saying I need to do more I am not accepting His Grace in Faith that it is all I need to do.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.
Jesus is the only way, he is our Salvation if we will just give our hearts to Him. Bring it all to Him, confess to Him your sins, ask Him to forgive you, let Him change you. Accept His Grace!
There is something amazingly powerful that happens when you finally accept Grace, your heart changes. You aren't trying to do things to makeup for anything, you are doing things because you want to honor God for what He has done for you and you want everyone to know that this Grace is out there waiting for them. I don't want one more person to believe they are too far gone for Grace, or that they can't have it because they have to much baggage. It is a free gift from God to us all and all you have to do is take it, accept it, and let it change you.
This world can be so very hard, it can be dark and scary at times, but that is only because there is nothing here for us. God wants us reconciled to Him, for us to desire Him the way most people desire things of the world. If you can make Him the center of your desires it is amazing how fast the flesh falls away. That new shiny car isn't so pretty, that dream house you honestly can't afford is not desirable, all the money in the world cannot compare to what He has in store for your life. I know, I've been there, I've been sucked in by my flesh, deceived by worldly desires and those things ate me alive, they left me empty and broken. God however filled me so full that when I feel like I just can't go on I turn to Him and he gives me more than I ask for. He gives me purpose and desire to serve an honor him. He gives me hope and a future worth living. Nothing of this world can outshine Him.
John 1:4-5
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
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