Recently I shared a message on God’s grace and how it empowers believers to step into destiny and purpose. While this is not a new truth, I sense that the Lord is continuing to re-form His church by adding another layer of understanding about this divine gift of grace. In order to grow up in Christ and further step into our destiny, we must overcome the ideas that we have to work hard for belonging and that grace for salvation is God’s only goal. We must learn that by grace we are able to hear and see Our Father in Heaven- knowing what He says about our life, what He is doing in the world around us, and how He fully empowers us to walk free from sin and to bring Heaven to earth by following His leadership.
Evidences
♥There are many who are saved by grace but don’t know their grace purpose. They are meandering around and bored with their life and church.
♥There are many who are saved by grace but still struggling with sin and feel like they can’t win no matter how hard they try.
♥There are many who say they are saved by grace but use God’s grace as a license for sin or change the gospel to fit their flesh, their experiences, and their understanding.
♥There are many who are saved by grace but can’t seem to hear from God and wonder why.
♥There are many who understand all of this, but are tired of waiting for the promises of God or are burnt out trying to obtain them.
♥There are many who believe that this is heresy and that God doesn’t speak to His people at all.
History
In every generation God’s people have had a measure of the revelation of Christ that they were called to carry and establish to continue the central story of Jesus Christ and His ministry in the earth. Each generation’s experience should be passed down to be honored and built upon by the next, for the purpose of increasing our understanding of the mysteries of the Kingdom so that we can establish the Kingdom in greater measure and with greater success on the earth. You can see this with every major move of God where His Spirit has been focused on re-establishing certain Biblical truths in a certain time period. In the last decade, for example, “son-ship and the Father’s love” has been one of those focuses. That is not a new concept. But, God has breathed upon it again.
In former days of reformation, “saving grace” became one of the Protestant core values and changed the face of the church, setting many free from works and fear. We now understand that anyone who desires to come and surrender their hearts to Jesus may come and be saved. Yet, many “Christians” today who believe in the truth of saving grace are confused about sin, the centrality of the Gospel in modern culture, their purpose, the grace of Christ’s gifts, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit which EMPOWER believers as sons and daughters to hear God, see God, and to be launched into God assignments with faith and power.
So many are afraid of the idea of hearing and seeing and being empowered by God’s Spirit. Many just don’t know how to discern these things. Yet, so many people hear the enemy’s voice every single day and we understand that the demonic is influencing men and women for evil through imagination, the speed of thought, and the sound of internal and external voices. God wants to break these fears and awaken His people to understand that there is more to life and by grace we can see and hear His Spirit within Biblical parameters and be confident that it is not weird or wrong.
We should always come back to the foundation of His grace. It is by grace and through faith that we were saved and grace alone will keep the church and activate the church in the new era to see and hear the Father and do many great exploits. This is not limited to the ministry of the laying on of hands for healing and signs and wonders, but is for believers in every sphere of society where the Body of Christ is called to rise, be wise, create, answer enigmas, prosper, and demonstrate the Gospel of the Kingdom.
What would the church be like in the earth if we all understood that grace not only saves us from all of our efforts to be loved but it also empowers us to hear God clearly and relate to the Spirit of God for the purpose of breaking sin cycles, finding our purpose, and ministering like Jesus? I previously taught on God’s grace in the life of Nehemiah, but I want to focus here on the truths found in Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia. In his letter, we discover foundational truth about how grace works and how it empowered Paul to be set free and to function so powerfully in his assignment after a life spent at war with God. This is by no means exhaustive or the final word on this subject. Every book of the Bible contains evidences of God’s grace. Nonetheless, as we remain in the “age of grace”, I encourage you to read through Galatians for yourself to see what Paul says. I am summarizing Paul’s teaching principles into 12 points that I think are notable:
Paul’s Inferences of Grace in his Letter to the Galatians:
- The Gospel of Christ and the grace of Christ upon Paul’s life for purpose and calling was not according to men, received from men, or taught to him by men. It came through the REVELATION of Jesus Christ.
- God’s grace saved Paul, set him free, called him, and empowered him for ministry. These are inseparable in his story. The purpose of grace is first salvation, but that is not the fullness of the story. He was set free in order to step into divine purpose.
- Paul became a different man, completely. Grace made him more like Christ, in nature. Grace encounters that bring the revelation of Jesus Christ change men into a new creation who carry the divinity nature of God, through the new birth. Notice that Paul did not immediately ask those around him what they thought or go to many apostles about his experience. He went to converse with the Lord about it for three long years. I believe during this time He learned and solidified the Gospel in his heart, which would keep him from wavering in the difficult years to come.
- Paul’s purpose and assignment in grace started out small, but as he was faithful his boundaries increased.
- There was a process of time before he was making noticeable progress in the grace on his life. He learned to wait on the leading of the Lord.
- He went BY REVELATION to minister, in grace.
- Grace empowered him to confront those who worked against the revelation of Jesus Christ, even when it was one of his friends. There is in fact, another gospel and another Jesus that is not true.
- Paul taught that grace was connected to faith and God’s promises and not to works, the flesh, or the desires of it.
- Paul taught that grace has made us free IF we are LED by the Spirit of God.
- Paul infers that there is a difference in being spiritually alive in Christ while not bearing fruit and actually walking in the Spirit. The Galatians were saved, yet he was having to address them about these issues and sin.
- Paul teaches that there is NO LAW that can work against the fruit of the Holy Spirit, because grace is very powerful to form God’s character in you which will protect you from the accusations of the enemy.
- Paul warns that even when you are empowered by the fullness of grace you can still be tempted- so stay humble in correcting others.
My conclusions about what Grace isn’t:
There was a movie in the early 2000’s called How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days. While I would not watch it or recommend it, the concept behind the plot was for Andie Anderson, a magazine columnist, to gain experiential knowledge through relationship failure in order to write an article or a “How-To In Reverse” that would help women learn to avoid pushing their man away, by doing ridiculous things, whom they were actually trying to get closer to.
Can I just honestly state, that I have gained some experiential knowledge through relationship failure with the Holy Spirit on many occasions and I have learned so much about how to not push God’s Presence and voice away by doing ridiculous things? It’s so true. Some of the primary things I now understand about grace were gained because of the times that I have been outside of God’s grace while thinking our relationship was A-okay. Sometimes it is easier to see what something is, by looking at what it is not. The Lord only reveals these gaps in our understanding because He is kind and so that we can upgrade our relationship with Him and increase in our spiritual authority. Here are some signs we are missing it…
Signs we may be missing the fullness of God’s grace:
→We aren’t in the fullness of God’s grace only because we believe or receive Jesus. There is a relational responsibility attached to His grace. If we don’t consider ourselves close to God, while calling ourselves Christians, something is missing. How often do you relate to God through His word, worship, and solitude? God took on the job of saving us. Our job is to meditate on His word, learn His ways, maintain the love relationship, and obey His leading.
→We aren’t in the fullness of grace if we aren’t being transformed into the nature of Christ. For some this is instantaneous in many ways(this was my personal experience), though the mind must be renewed daily. For others, it is more of a process. For all believers it is a lifetime journey. Either way, grace is always connected to visible personal change. We cannot be in the fullness of grace and practice on a regular basis any behavior that the Word states is sin. New Testament believers should have a REVELATION EXPERIENCE OF JESUS CHRIST, which produces true transformation, and then continue to practice the lifestyle of receiving revelation from God. Merely saying we are Christians is not enough anymore. Grace elevates The Word and our encounters with Jesus over our history of natural experiences and what men might say, even if there is a large gap between the two.
→We aren’t in the fullness of grace if we aren’t practicing the lifestyle of Jesus on some level. Every call is unique but should mirror Christ’s ministry inside your sphere. This starts in small measures, so don’t beat yourself up. Who are you serving, giving to, discipling, and loving, on a daily basis according to the leading of the Spirit?
→We aren’t in the fullness of grace if we still aren’t sure how God relates and speaks to us individually and corporately. Revelation means “truth uncovered and demonstrated or made obviously clear”. Grace empowers you to have a talking, seeing, hearing, and intimating relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is a key part of the grace of God. How can we be led by a Shepherd that we can’t see or hear? Faith comes by hearing and Paul confirms this as he had experiential revelation of Jesus. He is an apostolic father of the first church age of the New Testament.
→We aren’t in the fullness of grace if we feel burnt out. Even when we face difficulty and opposition, of which we are guaranteed, grace always connects us to joy. We should accomplish more with less labor and creative ideas because we are empowered by the One whose thoughts and ways are higher than man’s. We should be having fun!! Even in all our good and faithful endeavors, we will experience lack and burnout if we aren’t walking in the rhythms of grace of the Holy Spirit. Find grace and even on your hardest days, you will thrive. Jesus endured the cross for “the joy set before Him”.
→We aren’t in the fullness of grace if we can’t strongly confront falsehood with confidence while remaining gentle and humble. Grace empowers you to ask the hard questions and overcome the desire to please men. Grace empowers you to do it without acting like a jerk.
→We aren’t in the fullness of grace if we don’t have a vision for life or we can’t wait for God’s promises to come before we try to fix it ourselves or we become frustrated with God’s timing. Paul’s development took years. Every promise and word of God requires growth, testing, and waiting. Grace always has timing attached to it. Jesus came not only in truth, but in the grace of God’s timing for Him to come. He could have come at any point, but the Word says He came at the “appointed time”.
→We aren’t in the fullness of grace if we aren’t working out of revelation or we are doing everything for everybody. We each have a specific sphere and people we are assigned to. Ministering or working at every open door or going beyond your sphere of influence may cause you to step out of God’s covering. Jesus did not minister to every person he encountered. He ministered by revelation to whom the Father sent Him and to whom He revealed that He was to minister to. He didn’t perform or have to prove anything to anyone.
♥I pray that you are encouraged by this short teaching and all that is available through the grace of God and that you will discover a greater level of freedom and intimacy in Christ than you have ever experienced before by seeking out the Scriptures for yourself and asking the Lord for His sweet grace in this season.
What has been your experience of God’s grace?
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit and mine!!
With love,
Jamie
JSMinistries 