Did you do a double
take at the title?
Certainly, The
Bible clearly reiterates (4 times!), “The just shall live by faith”, referring
to faith in all that God is, as represented by His Word and His Savior, Jesus.
Like me, have you heard the expression, “Prayer
is the key, and faith unlocks the door”?
This is quite true, as prayer and faith are crucial spiritual
tools/weapons for any serious Christian. However, rather than prayer or faith,
it is God’s GRACE that actually empowers
us to live the life that corresponds to our calling. Only by His Grace, accessed
through faith, will we will live, die, resurrect and reign with
Christ. Our faith in God’s Word activates, appropriates and endlessly sustains
His Grace to us. So, in a real sense:
Faith is the Avenue to God’s
GRACE~
GRACE is God’s Response to
Faith in Jesus, His Word~
When you’re in a
pinch to have needs met, what mental pictures do you persistently see? At every
turn, do you see various angles of the need, perhaps growing bigger than it
really is; or perhaps the varied consequences of the needs not being met
in time? Two things in life are
inescapably certain (apart from death): Needs and Desires. All of life seems to
boil down to an incredible, concentrated focus on meeting needs and desires. God’s
Word, The Bible, has many great promises that cover them both, as He earnestly
desires us to embrace Him, through Christ, as the source of meeting our needs and
desires.
Since so many of
our needs and desires are seemingly inextricably tied to the world’s money
systems, it is easy for us to focus more on getting
money to meet those needs, than on God, the source of all our supply.
Rather than being tricked into becoming so ‘money-centric’, let’s develop ways and
means to become GRACE-centric. This
could be easily achieved if we mentally and spiritually embraced every need and
desire as an opportunity to experience God’s Grace, whether as a recipient or
giver. Here are two hopefully useful tips to achieve this objective.
Become ‘others focused’. As
noted in a much earlier post, I am regularly reminded that every need and
desire I experience may well be a faint
mirror-like reflection of a similar, but more intense need or
desire another person may be experiencing; hence I should be moved to
intercede.* This helps to place my needs/desires
in a different (higher) perspective. It also reminds me God desires to meet the
needs of others as well, and He does so via us who are available to LOVE by
praying, believing, sharing, giving, etc.
Got a need?
First look for an opportunity to intercede.
Develop your own Grace symbol. For
example, in lieu of the natural tendency to focus on money, symbolized by
$,
€, £, ¥, P, W, N,
etc., consider the power of this illustrative symbol:
| G |
This simple symbol gives me a handy tool to shift and maintain my focus
on God’s Grace as His
power working in and through me to meet needs and to give the desires of our
hearts as we delight ourselves in Him. (Psalm 37:4)
Since God
originally intended to meet mankind’s needs/desires directly (before sin
corrupted our world), and He intends on eternally meeting the needs/desires of
anyone who accepts His Grace for salvation through Jesus, it make sense to get a running start now in learning to live by Grace, through faith. While faith is
relevant to life in our fallen world, it may not be required after joining
God in perfect union. Grace, however, may well be the only constant that
transfers from this life to the next -- eternal life. (Sound-off if you disagree.)
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* (See: http://jwootenjr.blogspot.com/2011/09/putting-face-on-faith-trust-actualized.html)
