Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Experiencing Grace

(It might be helpful to start reading at God's Holiness, then Embracing Brokenness, and then this post :)

Grace- Unmerited favor. Receiving something that we do not deserve.

The last study that we did under “Set Free” was Experiencing Grace. After taking a look at God’s Holiness, and embracing our brokenness, we have nothing left to do except experience His immeasurable and undeniable Grace.

We looked at Ephesians 2: 1-10
 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions —it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 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. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Through this study, the Lord continued to reveal more and more of His character to me.  In verse 1 it tells us who we were, or who we are, without Christ in our life; we were dead in our transgressions. We are sinful by nature, and our sinful condition keeps us separated from God because He is so Holy and can have no part in sin. Also, because of this sin, we deserve death. We deserve all of God’s wrath poured out on us, but because of God’s character, because of His great love and mercy, He sent his only son Jesus Christ to die that death for us so that we can know God, and that by His grace we can live with Him forever in Heaven. We are seated with Him in heaven. Even though we still sin after we accept Christ, because of Christ, our sin is 100% FORGIVEN- past, present, and future. When we accept Christ we are IN Christ, so when God looks on us he doesn’t see us and our sin, He sees Christ and His holiness and righteousness. Rest in that, friends.
In Micah chapter 7, verse 19, it says that God will have compassion on us, he will tread our sins under his foot, he will hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea. He forgives our sin and then forgets it the moment we commit it and admit that we did something wrong. By denying that we are forgiven, we deny the power of the cross. If we don’t believe we are forgiven, then he died for nothing. Rest in the fact that if you are in Christ, then you are a new creation. Your sin is 100% FORGIVEN.  

These last three studies gave me such an incredible look into the character of God. I am so thankful that He revealed Himself to me in the ways that He did and when He did.
I hope you can find encouragement and truth in these studies as I have.

Seek after Him and He will never leave you. He longs to know you and to show Himself to you, all you need to do is seek after Him.

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