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Truly Knowing God’s Grace (Pt.9)
12/04/12 22:45
Colossians 1:14 “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Redemption is such a great word. Redemption is the act of redeeming or the state of being redeemed. Redeem is a verb and action word meaning to buy back, to pay off, to recover or set free from captivity by paying a ransom. Redeem means to free from sin and its consequences!
Wow! How does God redeem us? By forgiving our sin. How do we get this forgiveness and redemption? We ask or confess our sin to the one that loves us. We cannot escape the consequences of our sin, which is death, without asking. The book of Romans states that the wages of sin is death. The only way to receive life is through the blood of Jesus Christ and we do that by asking.
According to Ephesians 1:17 this redemption is the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. This grace is unmerited favour. Something we do not deserve. We deserve the consequences of our actions…death! But God in His great love has poured out His mercy, His grace, and His love. It’s something that as a human with a carnal mind we cannot comprehend. In our humanness we see someone receiving a consequence for something they did and we think they deserve it. But God has a greater grace for us. He lavished His grace on us. That word lavish is like a downpour. It’s excessive, abundant and bountiful. Some may even say it’s wasteful. You cannot stand in a downpour and not get soaked.
I have been caught in a downpour without an umbrella or a raincoat. The rain has soaked me through. And so it is with God, He doesn’t just rescue us but He also soaks us with His bountiful grace.
Redemption is such a great word. Redemption is the act of redeeming or the state of being redeemed. Redeem is a verb and action word meaning to buy back, to pay off, to recover or set free from captivity by paying a ransom. Redeem means to free from sin and its consequences!
Wow! How does God redeem us? By forgiving our sin. How do we get this forgiveness and redemption? We ask or confess our sin to the one that loves us. We cannot escape the consequences of our sin, which is death, without asking. The book of Romans states that the wages of sin is death. The only way to receive life is through the blood of Jesus Christ and we do that by asking.
According to Ephesians 1:17 this redemption is the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. This grace is unmerited favour. Something we do not deserve. We deserve the consequences of our actions…death! But God in His great love has poured out His mercy, His grace, and His love. It’s something that as a human with a carnal mind we cannot comprehend. In our humanness we see someone receiving a consequence for something they did and we think they deserve it. But God has a greater grace for us. He lavished His grace on us. That word lavish is like a downpour. It’s excessive, abundant and bountiful. Some may even say it’s wasteful. You cannot stand in a downpour and not get soaked.
I have been caught in a downpour without an umbrella or a raincoat. The rain has soaked me through. And so it is with God, He doesn’t just rescue us but He also soaks us with His bountiful grace.
The Big E!
11/04/12 13:31
Luke 8:40 “Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.”
The word, expect, is an action word, a verb. When you expect, you are in anticipation that something is going to transpire. The dictionary defines it as to look for as likely to occur. When a woman is pregnant we say she is ‘expecting’. Another definition is to wait the birth of.
Expectation is synonymous with faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” When we walk in faith, we walking with an expectation that the very thing we are trusting God for will occur.
You see the crowds would not have gathered if they didn’t believe that Jesus was coming. But they did! They had an expectation, a belief or faith that He would soon be there. Because of that hope they gathered.
We need to have an expectation or faith that God is going to come when we ask. Hebrews 11:6 says, “that without faith its impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those that earnestly seek Him”. When we have faith, even though we don’t see what we are hoping for we can begin to move toward that very desire. Why? Because we are looking for something that is likely to occur just like these crowds described in the bible.
Just like a pregnant woman prepares for a baby and then is waiting, as we wait for God to come and move in our midst, lets be expecting him to do great and marvellous deeds in our midst.
The word, expect, is an action word, a verb. When you expect, you are in anticipation that something is going to transpire. The dictionary defines it as to look for as likely to occur. When a woman is pregnant we say she is ‘expecting’. Another definition is to wait the birth of.
Expectation is synonymous with faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” When we walk in faith, we walking with an expectation that the very thing we are trusting God for will occur.
You see the crowds would not have gathered if they didn’t believe that Jesus was coming. But they did! They had an expectation, a belief or faith that He would soon be there. Because of that hope they gathered.
We need to have an expectation or faith that God is going to come when we ask. Hebrews 11:6 says, “that without faith its impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those that earnestly seek Him”. When we have faith, even though we don’t see what we are hoping for we can begin to move toward that very desire. Why? Because we are looking for something that is likely to occur just like these crowds described in the bible.
Just like a pregnant woman prepares for a baby and then is waiting, as we wait for God to come and move in our midst, lets be expecting him to do great and marvellous deeds in our midst.
Truly Knowing God’s Grace (Pt.6)
21/02/12 16:57
Colossians 1:10 - 12 “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”
When you lead a life that is pleasing and worthy of the Lord there are four outcomes that Colossians 1:10-12 states will be displayed in your life.
Being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience is the third effect of asking God for spiritual wisdom and understanding.
We need to be strengthened by the Spirit of God on a regular basis. Ephesians 5 says, ‘Be filled with the Spirit’. What the verb tense is really saying is, ‘keep being filled with the Spirit’. Jesus told the disciples to wait for the gift the Father would send and that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. How encouraging! Who doesn’t need the power of God being activated in our lives?
But there is also a purpose in receiving strength. Through it we will be able to endure and be patient. I personally do not enjoy either of these words, patience and endurance. We live in an instant society where patience is not seen as a virtue. We do not like waiting for anything. However, this is not the way of the Spirit.
James 1 says that we will have trials of many kinds and that they will test our faith. This testing develops patience or perseverance. It goes on to say that this patience is working in us to make us mature and complete, lacking nothing.
The picture that I see in this process is one of making bread. The yeast causes the bread to rise but it needs to be kneaded down. As it rises it is punched down so that the bread can have the right texture and taste. In the same way patience is worked into us through believing God in the midst of life’s trials. Yeast silently goes about the business of producing dough. You can’t hurry the process you just have to let it do its thing.
Patience is the quality of suffering without complaint. It bears the troubles of life without complaint in looks, manner or speech. I don’t know about you but there is one thing I don’t tolerate very well and that is whining. Who likes to be around people that are always complaining? But patience is the result of what the Spirit is doing in your mind and soul.
Endurance on the other hand not only bears suffering and hardship with determination and firmness but requires physical stamina as well. Now wonder we require strengthening with His Mighty Power!
When you lead a life that is pleasing and worthy of the Lord there are four outcomes that Colossians 1:10-12 states will be displayed in your life.
Being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience is the third effect of asking God for spiritual wisdom and understanding.
We need to be strengthened by the Spirit of God on a regular basis. Ephesians 5 says, ‘Be filled with the Spirit’. What the verb tense is really saying is, ‘keep being filled with the Spirit’. Jesus told the disciples to wait for the gift the Father would send and that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. How encouraging! Who doesn’t need the power of God being activated in our lives?
But there is also a purpose in receiving strength. Through it we will be able to endure and be patient. I personally do not enjoy either of these words, patience and endurance. We live in an instant society where patience is not seen as a virtue. We do not like waiting for anything. However, this is not the way of the Spirit.
James 1 says that we will have trials of many kinds and that they will test our faith. This testing develops patience or perseverance. It goes on to say that this patience is working in us to make us mature and complete, lacking nothing.
The picture that I see in this process is one of making bread. The yeast causes the bread to rise but it needs to be kneaded down. As it rises it is punched down so that the bread can have the right texture and taste. In the same way patience is worked into us through believing God in the midst of life’s trials. Yeast silently goes about the business of producing dough. You can’t hurry the process you just have to let it do its thing.
Patience is the quality of suffering without complaint. It bears the troubles of life without complaint in looks, manner or speech. I don’t know about you but there is one thing I don’t tolerate very well and that is whining. Who likes to be around people that are always complaining? But patience is the result of what the Spirit is doing in your mind and soul.
Endurance on the other hand not only bears suffering and hardship with determination and firmness but requires physical stamina as well. Now wonder we require strengthening with His Mighty Power!
