Do Not Receive The Grace Of God In Vain
In addition to making sure that you do not let the spirit of pride get a foothold into your mind and in your thinking in reference to the grace that God can give you these next two verses will now give us another major revelation that we really have to watch out for. These next two verses are telling us that we should not receive the grace of God in vain.
According to some of the different Bible Dictionaries, the word vain is defined as:
Useless, conceited, empty, to-no-end, nothingness, unreliability, worthless, idle, hollow, fruitless, futile, unprofitable
Once you really start to enter into a full-surrendered, power walk with the Lord where His divine power and grace is flowing through you mightily to accomplish everything that He is wanting you to accomplish for Him in this life, one of the other traps that you really have to watch out for is to make sure that you do not ever start to take His grace for granted or end up letting it be received in vain.
Here are the two verses giving us this piece of revelation from the Lord:
We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 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.
Too many Christians are sitting in the dugout refusing to get into the real game of life with the Lord.
Without Gods Grace Salvation Is Impossible
As a New Covenant believer, this is a truth I hold close to my heart. I owe my life and all that I am to the grace of God, the sacrifice of Jesus, and the work of the Holy Spirit.
But we mustnt skim over the last four words of the passage abovebefore the beginning of time.
Before God created mankind, He knew of our need to be rescued from sin.
The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was not Gods back up plan. His last resort. His get out of jail free card.
Absolutely EVERYTHING that happened between Adams first breath and Jesus death was part of Gods gracious plan to redeem mankind.
Stay Humble With The Grace That God Will Give You
Once you enter into a full surrender with the Lord and are really walking with His divine grace and power operating in your life, one of the things that you will really have to watch out for is the temptation to fall into the pride trap. It will become very easy to have all of this kind of divine power start to go to your head and puff you up.
For those of you who are already walking with the anointing of God in your own personal lives, and for those of you who would really like to enter into this supernatural realm with the Lord I would highly recommend that you read our article Pride Will Come Before the Fall in the Sanctification Section of our site.
I simply cannot stress enough the importance that each and every Christian stay humble in their own personal walks with the Lord. Nothing will destroy your personal relationship with God, the anointing that God can flow through you, and the ministry that God wants to give you than letting all of this divine power go straight to your head.
The spirit of pride literally took out one-third of the entire angelic host from the heaven where God and Jesus dwell in and it can also personally destroy you and your entire walk with the Lord if you let it get worked too far up into your mind and heart. In the article we have on this deadly sin and enemy, we give you all of the main verses from Scripture that deal with this topic.
But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
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What Is Grace: Christian Quotes About Grace
Grace is free sovereign favor to the ill-deserving.
Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues.
is God reaching downward to people who are in rebellion against Him.
Grace is unconditional love toward a person who does not deserve it.
“Grace is God’s best idea. His decision to ravage a people by love, to rescue passionately, and to restore justly – what rivals it? Of all his wondrous works, grace, in my estimation, is the magnum opus.”
“The five means of grace are prayer, searching the Scriptures, the Lord’s Supper, fasting, and Christian .”
Grace is most needed and best understood in the midst of sin, suffering, and brokenness. We live in a world of earning, deserving, and merit, and these result in judgment. That is why everyone wants and needs grace. Judgment kills. Only grace makes us alive.
A shorthand for what grace is – mercy, not merit. Grace is the opposite of karma, which is all about getting what you deserve. Grace is getting what you dont deserve, and not getting what you do deserve. Christianity teaches that what we deserve is death with no hope of resurrection.
While everyone desperately needs it, grace is not about us. Grace is fundamentally a word about God: his un-coerced initiative and pervasive, extravagant demonstrations of care and favor. Michael Horton writes, In grace, God gives nothing less than Himself. Grace, then, is not a third thing or substance mediating between God and sinners, but is Jesus Christ in redeeming action.
The Goodness Of God And Common Grace
Definition
Common grace, as an expression of the goodness of God, is every favor, falling short of salvation, which this undeserving and sin-cursed world enjoys at the hand of God this includes the delay of wrath, the mitigation of our sin-natures, natural events that lead to prosperity, and all gifts that human use and enjoy naturally.
Summary
While humanity is totally depraved and deserving of Gods wrath, God mercifully postpones his destroying wrath and graciously blesses all men, even apart from salvation. This is called Gods common grace. Common grace includes all undeserved blessings that natural man receives from the hand of God: rain, sun, prosperity, health, happiness, natural capacities and gifts, sin being restrained from complete dominion, etc. The doctrine of common grace explains how a man can be totally depraved and yet still commit acts that are, in some sense, good. This common grace, however, falls short of salvific grace all humans still need the saving work of the Spirit to reconcile them to God.
There can be no escaping the fact that the biblical portrait of humanitys condition apart from Gods saving grace is beyond bleak it is hopeless. The apostle Paul draws upon several OT texts to describe the plight of the human race apart from Christ:
None is righteous, no, not one no one understands no one seeks for God. All have turned aside together they have become worthless no one does good, not even one .
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Benefits Of Gods Redemption For Humanity
As previously stated, God made a perfect covenant with us to redeem us from the slavery of sin, which was the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, where he gave his life and freed us from all guilt. Here the true plan of God for humanity was reflected and shaped and made known to us the character.
In this way, humanity would benefit from eternal life by accepting Jesus Christ as our only and true Savior.
But God also revealed to us the lie of Satan, who tries to deceive and persuade humanity to live free and far from Gods perfect laws.
It encourages us to act disobedient and not to believe in the Holy Scriptures.
Therefore, today we can see the world wrapped in sin, pain, and rebellion, in which death wants to reign in the universe as a whole.
But for those of us who do believe in Gods purpose, redemption and his love have saved us from falling into the lies of the evil one, and we also recognize that Gods laws are eternal and immovable and eternal, for which what he has promised, he will fulfill it in time. As can be seen in the following quote:
But now, freed from sin, and made servants to God, you have as your fruit sanctification, and finally eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, while the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will cherish the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money
His Grace Is Sufficient For Every Need
God gives grace to those who are in need and who humbly come to him for help. His grace supplies us with the power to serve, preach the gospel, and endure suffering, persecution, and hardship.
2 Corinthians 12:9But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christs power may rest on me.
1 Corinthians 15:10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
Ephesians 3:78Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of Gods grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Hebrews 4:16Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
1 Peter 4:10Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of Gods grace in its various forms.
1 Peter 5:10And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
2 Timothy 2:1Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus.
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What Is Bible Grace
Man believes in God and then accepts the conditions of salvationwhich are set forth in the scriptures. Faith saves when faithobeys. In Hebrews, Chapter 11, verse 30, we read, “By faiththe walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed aboutseven days”. The walls of Jericho fell by faith because Joshuabelieved what God said and obeyed his command. In the same way,our faith must cause us to obey what God tells us to do.
Grace Is The Power And Ability Of God Operating Through Us
As you will see in these next set of Scripture verses, the grace of God is also the power and ability of God operating through us so that we can effectively work in whatever He will be calling us to do for Him in this life. This same divine power is also needed for us to be able to be properly sanctified in the Lord, along with helping us overcome different types of sins, addictions, and temptations.
In other words, we need the power of God flowing and operating through us if we are going to achieve any real success in the Lord with whatever He will be calling us to do for Him in this life.
Without Gods divine power and ability operating through us, we will never make it to the tops of mountains that He is calling us to climb for Him. We will never be able to reach the goals, the aspirations, and the finish lines that God has in store for us unless we have the power of His Holy Spirit working in us and through us.
Too many Christians are trying to reach all of their goals and aspirations operating out of their own strength.
Instead of relying on Gods power and leadings to get them to where they are supposed to be going with Him, they are relying on their own wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, and strength.
Not by our might, but only by the power of His Holy Spirit operating through us can we ever hope to fulfill the divine plan and call that God has on each one of our lives.
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Biblical Definition Of Grace
We all deserve death because we have all sinned. What we do not deserve is the salvation and blessings we have through Christ, but this is grace.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned
Romans 5:12
We need grace daily, but it is something we cannot earn. Looking in scripture we see again and again that man did not deserve to have the day-to-day satisfaction in life but we have favor undeserved from God. This favor undeserved is most prevalent in salvation.
Grace is as simple as God giving favor, which we do not deserve.
Our salvation through Jesus was through grace because God saved us when we could not save ourselves.
Grace shows up so much because it is such a big part of who we are as Christians. Not only the grace that was shown when we were saved but the grace we receive.
God shows us grace when he answers our prayers and works in our lives. It is only through grace that we can be saved, through Gods favor.
When we are saved we have victory over sin and death, but we still fight to resist sin and walk in a God-honoring way. Grace gives us the ability to fight against the desires of the flesh.
Grace does not have to do with anything we can or will do. We cannot pay it back in any way, there is so much in life that costs time, money, or effort, but grace is free. Grace is based on the goodness of the giver, not on the one receiving it.
What Is Grace In The Bible
The word we translate to grace in English versions of the Bible forms from two different words:
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Chesed This is the ancient Hebrew word used in the Old Testament. It means to speak of deliverance from enemies and affliction.
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Charis This is the word used in the New Testament. It refers to Gods salvation of humankind.
The word is used throughout the Scriptures, especially in the New Testament we frequently see it used in reference to how God loves His creation even when they dont deserve it. A great example of grace in application is in the letter to the Ephesians:
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. Its Gods gift from start to finish! We dont play the major role. If we did, wed probably go around bragging that wed done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
Ephesians 2:7-10
When thinking of what grace is in the Bible, it can be easiest to sum it up with the words of author Paul Zahl: Grace is unconditional love toward a person who does not deserve it.
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What Does It Mean To Redeem According To The Bible
What does it mean to redeem according to the Bible, to answer this question we must understand that we all need redemption, the forgiveness that we obtain by the grace of God through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. As the Holy Scriptures say: being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus .
Among the benefits of obtaining Gods redemption are justification , adoption into Gods family , eternal life , the permanent dwelling of the Holy Spirit , the forgiveness of sins , freedom from the curse of the law 1 Peter 1: 14-18) and peace with God .
Therefore when we are redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ we are blessed, justified, forgiven, sanctified, reconciled, adopted. As we can visualize it in the following biblical quote:
He made known his ways to Moses, And to the children of Israel his works. Merciful and gracious is the Lord Slow to anger and great in mercy
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God’s Grace And Mercy
In Christianity, God’s grace and God’s mercy are often confused. Although they are similar expressions of his favor and love, they possess a clear distinction. When we experience God’s grace, we receive favor that we do not deserve. When we experience God’s mercy, we are spared punishment that we do deserve.
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How Do You Know When God Is Blessing You
3 Signs That God is Ready to Bless You Beyond Your Expectations
- Nothing you do makes a difference. Have you ever set out on a goal but no matter what you do, it doesn’t seem to make a difference? Or maybe even seems to make matters worse?
- It keeps coming back to you. If God is not changing your situation, it’s because he needs to change you.
Jainaba Hernangomez