THE GRACE OF GOD

 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”  (2Cor. 12:9)

Why does God love me? Why would God love me, considering the things that I have done? Why should I believe that God hears and answers my prayers? Why would God want to bless me, as many times as I have failed Him? How could God ever use me?

The Bible tells us of the time when the children of Israel, after being under bondage for 400 years, were delivered out of Egypt by the mighty outstretched hand of God. He divided the Red Sea, the Israelites went through on dry ground, and then God caused the waters to return and drown the armies of Egypt.

When they hungered, God gave them manna from heaven to eat, and when they thirsted, He gave them water out of the rock to drink. He led them through the wilderness to a land flowing with milk and honey, but they would not go in and take it because of their unbelief.

Due to their sin and disobedience, God ordained that the nation of Israel would wander in the wilderness for forty years until those who had refused to go into the Promised Land had died. 

For forty years the people of Israel continued to sin and rebel against God in the wilderness to the point that God wanted to destroy them all, but Moses intervened.

Yet when the forty years had expired and the Lord was ready to let them enter the land of promise, Balaam prophesied of Israel and said, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.” (Num. 23:21)

How could God say this of Israel after all of their disobedience? The answer has everything to do with you, how God looks at you, and why God will bless you and use you in spite of your failings.

THE ANSWER IS GOD’S GRACE.

In the Old Testament Hebrew it means kindness, favor, or acceptance. In the New Testament Greek it means the divine influence upon the heart and it’s reflection in the life. Many have also translated it to mean unmerited favor.

The grace of God is what causes God to look upon us and not see our failures and shortcomings, but instead causes Him to smile and His “face to shine upon us.” It is what makes us “the apple of His eye.”

But it is more than just God’s attitude towards us, more than just unmerited or undeserved favor.

It is that divine flow from God that washes over our heart and changes our nature. The prophet Ezekiel prophesied:

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” (Eze. 36:26)

Grace is that divine unction which comes into our heart and mind, changes our will to conform to God’s will, and then empowers us to enact God’s will.

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Php. 2:13)

It causes our desires to change and become God’s desires, so that He can then enable us to perform His desire for our life.

“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

The degree of the provision and supply of our needs is in direct proportion to the degree of God’s grace.

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:” (2Cor. 9:8)

In writing to the church, the Apostle Paul says that “God is able”, making us to know that this particular degree of grace he is talking about is not already established.

Also, the Apostle Paul talks about “all grace”, whereby we see that we can have a portion of grace or we can have all grace.

Lastly, we see that “all sufficiency” and “abounding” is dependent upon our having “all grace”, not just a portion of grace.

“And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16)

We read here in John that “his fullness” of grace is related to us having “grace for grace”. What does the Bible mean by “grace for grace”?

We see then that there are actually two types of grace. God gives the grace of unmerited favor. This is His attitude towards us.

Unmerited, because we did not earn His favor, but we obtain it because someone else has earned it for us. This unmerited favor then puts us in a position of grace.

Because of this position of grace, God then empowers us with His divine influence upon our heart and its reflection in our life.

It is a divine power that transforms our will to become His will and then empowers us to perform that will.

This is “grace for grace”.

If the degree of our provision and ability is contingent upon the degree of grace, how can we cause this grace to grow to be that abundant grace, so that we can have “all sufficiency in all things” in order to “abound unto every good work”?

The answer is in understanding what God’s grace is, thereby believing in it and causing it to grow according to faith.

The faith to believe in God’s grace lies in understanding and believing in how God sees you.

At the beginning of this post, we mentioned the story of the Israelites’ forty year trek through the wilderness. The Bible says in First Corinthians that these things were examples to us:

“But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” (1Cor. 10:5-6)

The Bible teaches us that these things we read of in the Old Testament were not only examples for us to learn by, but they are also shadows of better things to come.

“Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” (Heb. 8:5)

The Bible tells us that as the Israelites travelled in the wilderness; they were led by a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud that covered them by day.

“And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:” (Exo. 13:21)

Often we read that when the Israelites would sin, God would see their transgressions and the punishment of the Lord would issue forth from the pillar of fire (Num 11:1).

And yet, when Balaam prophesied concerning Israel he stated:

“He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.” (Num. 23:21)

The pre-incarnate Christ was the “king” that was among them. He was in the cloud and in the fire, beholding the sin of Israel and dealing with it on the earth.

Yet God in heaven was looking down upon Israel, and looking through the cloud (through Christ), He beheld no iniquity.

This was the type and shadow of our relationship with God today. The Bible teaches us that in this world, there is a result of sin:

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Gal. 6:7-8)

If a Christian commits a crime, he could go to prison. If a Christian smokes, he might get cancer. If a Christian makes foolish financial judgments, he might go bankrupt.

In this life, there are results for the decisions we make, both good and bad. However, when we repent of our sins and are cleansed by the blood of Christ, God looking from heaven looks through the blood and:

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isa. 1:18)

I had often thought that if sin had a color, that it should be black. I could not understand why God referred to sin as red.

Then one day, as I was preparing to preach as a visiting evangelist, I had gone early into the Church Sanctuary to study before service. This particular Church had red stained glass windows.

As I sat next to the window and opened my Bible to the New Testament, I noticed that the words of Christ in red had disappeared and there was a white blank where they should be. The sunlight shining through the red glass had cancelled out the red words printed in my Bible. Red cancels out red.

In the Old Testament, God looking through the cloud beheld no iniquity in Israel. In the New Testament, God looking down through the red blood of Jesus that covers your red sin beholds no sin or iniquity in you.

This is the position of grace.

It is the unmerited favor of God, earned by Christ through the shedding of His blood. It has nothing to do with how many times you have succeeded or how many times you have failed.

This is the same grace for all who have accepted Christ and are walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1)

All twelve books in the “How to Walk Christian Series” by Raymond Candy are available now in one collection of two volumes for $6.99 each at bn.com for the NOOK, amazon.com for the KINDLE, on iTunes at the iBookstore for the iPad and iPhone, and at Lulu.com for the PC and all e-reading devices