Means Of Grace Series

What I’m trying to tell you is that growing in grace gives you power you would not otherwise have. We’re talking here about power. Watch this.

Projectionist: [Roll clip of Luke Skywalker trying to lift X-Wing Fighter from the bog. End it after Yoda says, “That is why you fail.”]

We must understand this spiritual thing is about power – developing powers you do not currently have. The means of grace are the specific ways you develop those powers. There’s nothing strange or mystical about this. When you were an infant you could not crawl or walk, therefore you were unable to really exercise power over the floor. As you learned to crawl and then walk, you were able to exercise power over the floor. You did this as your leg and back muscles developed. But you still could not feed yourself. Eventually you developed the power to do that, as your finger dexterity improved. Later on you developed power to communicate – to talk and express what was on your mind. Development in all of life is the story of acquiring powers.

But acquiring power always takes time and effort. Loving your enemies requires power many of us don’t have. If we are ever to love our enemies, we’ll have to acquire some new powers, and it will be amazing as we see ourselves growing into this new power. Forgiving requires power we often do not have and it will be amazing to us to see this power developing. Loving those who have hurt us requires a kind of power. No one was ever more powerful than Jesus as he prayed God’s mercy on those who were killing him. You and I simply would not have the power to do that. But as you practice the means of grace, God will transform you so that you are increasingly living in a power that is not your own – the power of God. And as you learn to live in God’s power, you will increasingly find yourself able to accomplish the kinds of things that only God’s power is able to accomplish.

Often we think of the word power and we think about the forces of nature, or genies, or wizards. Get that stuff out of your mind. As you learn and begin to practice spiritual disciplines (the “means of grace,”) God’s power will work right into your life, so much so that if you aren’t looking you might miss it. It would be really easy for me to take for granted that in the case I mentioned earlier I was able to continue to love people who had hurt me. But years ago I did not have that power – not even occasionally. Through application of the means of grace, through the practice of spiritual disciplines that increasingly help me to receive more and more of God’s grace, and thus more and more of his powerful activity in my life, I was able to do what I could not do before. I could tell you similar stories about forgiveness and other qualities that I am seeing spring to life in me that I know are not anything in me but simply the working of God’s power in my life. And you won’t understand sometimes that this is happening.

Philippians 4:6-7 (MSG)

6 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.