I have been reading 2 Corinthians 12 about the Apostle Paul and his pleading with God three times to handle “a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan” sent to stop him from preaching the gospel. The Lord’s response gives me goosebumps.
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
“Everything you need is found in my grace Paul,” the Lord says. “My strength is available to you through my grace. It’s all you need to change whatever needs to be changed in your life.”
If God’s grace is all Paul needed to deal with the devil Satan assigned to stop him, perhaps there’s more about grace that we need to know and understand.
In the New Testament, two words define and capture the essence of what it means to be a Christian – grace and faith. We generally refer to grace as the “precious, unmerited favor of God” and faith as “believing and trusting in God to take care of us.”
In scripture, grace and faith are inseparable and work together, for example, in Ephesians 2:8 to bring about God’s free gift. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Our faith accessing God’s grace is how we are born again.
Our faith gives us access to God’s grace and we need to understand more clearly what happens when our faith touches that grace.
For many years, I had a very narrow view of grace. Grace was simply “God’s unmerited favor.” God had given me something I didn’t deserve.
Grace was also the one thing that made me different from the Old Testament believers. I didn’t have to worry if I sinned – accidently or on purpose – because I wasn’t under the law. I now live under grace (Romans 6:14).
Like I said, my view of grace was narrow, and to be honest, really self-serving. I didn’t worry when I sinned because I was under my Heavenly Father’s unmerited favor. I knew He’d forgive me when I sin (not if I sinned). First John 1:9 told me what I needed to do if I sinned.
“If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful (even when I’m not) and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
I was behaving as though God applied a different standard under grace than He did under the law. Folks, the standard never changed. Under the law, God demanded holiness and obedience. Do you know what God demands of Christians today? Holiness. Obedience.
Could our view of grace be off – just a little?
When we talk about grace, we usually associate it with God’s “feelings” for sinners and for error-prone and/or needy Christians (“There but for the grace of God go I.”). We also associate grace with His willingness to forgive. But is that all there is to grace?
If God’s grace is only about His feelings, then certain verses in Scripture would be difficult to understand. Take Luke 2:40 for example: “And the child [Jesus] grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon Him.”
Did Jesus sin? No. Was Jesus error-prone? No. Did Jesus need God’s forgiveness? No. Now turn to Acts 10:38.
“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the devil: for God was with him.”
Do you see the similarities in these verses? Whatever this grace is, it’s more than just having God’s unmerited favor. Whatever this grace is, it will give us access to the same anointing and power that Jesus had when he was here on earth.
We need to see grace through new “glasses”.
In Acts 4, the religious leaders forbid Peter and John to preach about Jesus. They return to the believers and report what had happened. The believers “lifted up their voices in one accord” and praised God. You can read more about this in verses 24-30. Now look at verse 33.
“And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.”
Verse 33 connects “great power” with “great grace”. Could it be that grace is more than God’s unmerited favor? Is it possible that grace is a spiritual force – a power – released by God into our lives to help us accomplish His will?
I believe the answer to both questions is “yes”.
The 20th Century New Testament renders “great grace” as “divine help” and presents an image that gives more insight into the real nature of God’s grace.
Scripture’s portrait of grace is much broader than simply God’s “unmerited favor”. For example:
? In Acts 11:23, Barnabas saw the grace of God in the believers at Antioch.
? In Acts 13:43, Paul and Barnabas persuaded the Jews and religious proselytes to continue in the grace of God.
? Second Corinthians 9:8 says God is able to make all grace abound toward us.
? In Galatians 2:9 James, Cephas and John perceive the grace that was given to Paul.
? Ephesians 1:7 says we are redeemed through the blood of Jesus according to the riches of his grace.
? In 2 Timothy 2:1 Paul tells Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
? James 4:16 says it’s possible for God to give more grace.
I want to point out one verse before moving on. Hebrews 4:16 says “Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
God has given us His grace “to help in the time of need”. To limit its definition to “unmerited favor” is to limit God’s power in our lives.
Grace is power to us. If we are to truly walk in the same power, anointing and authority as Jesus, we must re-think and change our understanding of grace. Grace contains all our Heavenly Father has to offer us.
Grace is a spiritual force and functions like a conduit from God to us.
One of the first things I do each morning is make a pot of coffee. After putting in the right number of scoops of coffee and pouring in the right amount of water into the coffeemaker, I push a button, the power comes on and the coffee-making process begins.
How does this happen? Our home receives electricity from a conduit that connects it with the source of the power – the utility company. The utility company provides the power, but I determine how it’s used, how much is used and whether or not it’s used.
Not only that, I can use the power for other things, such as turning on the lights, running the vacuum cleaner (Yes, I do vacuum around the house!), washing and drying clothes (Yes, I do that too!) and operating my computer.
And the power from the utility company is flowing whether I use it or not.
God’s grace is like the conduit that connects our home with the utility company. Everything the Father has made available to us flows to us through His grace. Everything. And like using electricity, we are responsible for accessing God’s grace and activating it in our lives.
Earlier we looked at Ephesians 2:8 – “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” In verse 5, Paul says we have been made alive along with Christ. “By grace ye are saved” describes the power used to make us alive.
Because of grace – the power that raised Jesus from the dead – says we sit together with Christ in heavenly places (verse 6).
Because of grace, God will show us the exceeding riches of His grace in this life and in the ages to come (verse 7). Did you notice that grace has “exceeding riches” attached to it?
In verse 8, the word “saved” is sozo – “material, temporal, and spiritual deliverance from sin and its effects and power.” This is what God has done for us through the power of grace!
Remember we talked about God’s grace and our faith putting us in a position to receive God’s free gift? Sozo is that gift! God’s grace caused us to sozo” – made whole – in every area of our lives. Colossians 2:10 says that “we are complete in him [Christ].”
We must learn to tap into God’s grace so that we can live in the fullness of our salvation. We must continually “stretch our faith” to access more and more of God’s grace.
“Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1, 2).
The word “access” means “introduction”.
Our faith in the completed work of Jesus introduces us to grace.
I’m sure you have a best friend? After you were introduced, did you know enough about each other to immediately become best friends? Probably not. You had to spend time learning about what you had in common.
That’s what Jesus did for us; he introduced us to His Father’s grace. Now we have to spend time with our Father to learn more about His grace – His power.
So, how do we tap into God’s grace?
One way to access more of God’s grace is through spending time in His Word.
In Acts 20:32 Paul says “I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up...” The more scripture we absorb, the more of God’s grace we will access. I love Jeremiah 15:16: “Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart...”
Another way we can tap into more of God’s grace is through worship.
John 4:24 says “God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Worship is an invitation to God to fill wherever we are with His presence and power – His grace. When we worship, we draw closer to Him. And the closer we get to God the more of His grace we will access.
A third way we can tap into more of God’s grace is through increasing our faith.
Romans 5:2 says we have access to God’s grace through our faith. In 1 Timothy 1:14, Paul tells Timothy that the Lord’s grace was “exceeding abundant with faith.”
Let’s not forget Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace are ye saved through faith...” Romans 10:17 says “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” As we increase our faith, we are able to access more and more of God’s heart and His grace.
Why should we want more of God’s grace?
As our faith increases and accesses more of God’s grace, we increase His ability to work in our lives to bless not only His people but those who are lost. Acts 10:38 says “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth [put your name here] with the Holy Spirit and with power [grace]: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”
Shouldn’t this be the heartbeat of our hearts?
