Do I receive everything that comes (I mean everything – good – bad – indifferent) from His hand.
When we sing this line from a familiar hymn – “Grace that is greater than all my sin” – do we just think of past sins which God forgave at the time of salvation? Or of continual sin, repentance and forgiveness? If we do, we miss the unlimited, height, breadth, length, depth (EPHESIANS 3:17-19) of God’s incredible grace.
OSWALD CHAMBERS –
“It is not a question of praying and asking God to help us – it is TAKING the grace of God NOW”.
With God it is always NOW. NOW is all I have so give my all NOW. Not – Lord help me – BUT – thank You for grace always present (Hebrews 4:16) to help right in the time of need and at the time of trouble.
Because – and only because – of God’s unfailing grace – we can triumph in the grace of God which is greater than ALL my sin – temptations – afflictions – difficulties – necessities – distresses – griefs – conditions – circumstances. Let the circumstances be what they may, keep drawing on the grace of God with much patience. How? If you have money in the bank you can draw on it with confidence because you know it is there. We can draw on the grace of God in any and every moment of need because we have God’s guarantee that it is always available for us.
Whatever state we are in (Philippians 4:11) no matter the circumstances we can be content because by God’s grace we can – (2 Corinthians 10:5) Take every thought captive to obey the Lord Jesus. The flesh will always intrude with thoughts that definitely need to be taken captive. As we think (Poverbs 23:7) so we are. Think (Philippians 4:8) think on these things
(2 Corinthians 12:9) - At our times of greatest weakness we can have the power of Christ resting on us because of the sufficiency of God’s abundant grace all the time no matter what the situation or conditions.
(Ephesians 4:1) – We can live a worthy life (Colossians 1:10) conduct ourselves in a manner pleasing to the Lord by bearing fruit (1 Thessalonians 2:12) as we live lives worthy of God.
(Ephesians 4:29) – Our words can be always a blessing, encouragement, edifying. We can respond to rudeness or nastiness with gentleness and have no part in criticism, gossip or slander.
(Philippians 2:3) – We can enjoy considering others more important than ourselves.
(2 Corinthians 4:11) – We can live in the victory of the Life of the indwelling Lord Jesus outlived in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Resurrection Life of Jesus in me requires that I take up (Matthew 16:24) the cross of self-denial.
(1 Corinthians 15:10) – By God’s grace we can accomplish anything pleasing to Him. So walk humbly before the Lord (Micah 6:8) and let Him be ALL in all.
This is only a sampling of our riches in God’s grace lavished upon us by the Atonement of our Saviour.
But there is a warning we need to heed.
(2 Corinthians 6:1) Receive not the grace of God in vain. Would that be (Romans 2:4) despising the riches of His grace? How can we do that?
Picture this - - I am in a particular situation and the flesh is screaming at me to say something – do something and boy, could I ever! I can choose to despise the riches of God’s grace and not allow that grace to have any effect on my behaviour. Or – in that same situation when the flesh is fighting to stir me up to retaliation – I can pause a minute and listen. I hear a still small voice, the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit. He says – God’s grace that is greater than all this is abundantly sufficient. His words are like a cool refreshing breeze on a scorching hot day. I choose the highway of holiness, which is also known as Grace Avenue.
We still have our free will and we can choose, by God’s grace, to live in (Philippians 1:21) or we can choose, by human common sense to live in (Philippians 2:21).
I am going to share with you my personal prescription for peace of mind in all circumstances and conditions.
I put everything into the hand of God and -
I receive everything that comes (I mean everything – good – bad – indifferent) from His hand.
Then nothing can get out of hand.
If I truly believe that God engineers my circumstances then worry and stress are conspicuous by their absence - - - and all the superb grace of God is mine through Atonement of my glorious Saviour.