After 28 years of marriage and full time ministry, my husband unexpectedly announced, “No more marriage and no more ministry.” The intertwining of like visions and dreams was shredded and irreversibly broken. Plans went out the window and dreams died. My future as well as the future of my three daughters was in question. I was told, “No more discussion, this is going to happen. Nothing you can do or say will change anything. The ministry will simply be recycled with a new name and a new face!” My world shattered.
There is no doubt Satan thought he had delivered a fatal blow. No Bible education, seminary training or Bible degree could prepare me for this. However, I would soon learn that the same grace I had learned about and experienced as a young girl, the grace that had followed me through every season of my life, was still present and able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us!(Ephesians 3:20)
Grace is God’s unmerited favor and our understanding of grace must begin with Ephesians 2:8 when it says that our salvation is a gift – completely free and without human merit. By its own definition if you add human effort or merit to the equation – it ceases to be grace.
Even in your darkest hour the door of blessing can be open to your life, your family and your ministry in an unbelievable way through the gospel of grace.
2 Corinthians 9:8 says that God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have abundance for every good work.
Does this mean that the grace of God is ever working, developing, anointing and abounding in and through me? Absolutely and unequivocally, YES! Through His grace we are promised abundance in every area of our lives. In Hebrews 4:16 we are given an invitation to walk boldly (without reservation) to the throne of God and make a withdrawal of mercy and grace. Grace is not passive but ACTIVE! It is divine ennoblement to bring us to a new level of the manifestation of the power of God.
Most of us, like the Apostle Paul, have diligently prayed but nothing seems to be happening or worse yet, we are denied our request. However, looking closely at 2 Corinthians 12:9, we see that God had something very significant to work in Paul’s life and a different way of meeting his need. “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
We all want a ‘quick work’ but God’s way is that His strength (grace) will have its complete manifestation even in OUR WEAKEST MOMENTS. The greater ‘way’ will be manifest and He will be glorified.
During the ‘waiting’ it is grace that sustains even in the worst of times. Throw away all those preconceived ideas and traditions of men and embrace the unlimited, unadulterated, heavenly, explainable, grace of God. Friends, if you feel inadequate, beat down, rejected, lonely or unqualified – remember: grace is more than enough. Paul left us a legacy of grace when he said, But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10
So, how do we access the grace we need? Romans 5:2 says, We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. It is faith that releases and grants access into all the grace we need! The more faith – the more grace! Grace says, There are no limits and no boundaries, there is increase all around me and it is only accessed BY FAITH.
Comments