Because the need for grace is great, and the supply of grace is even greater, we who have experienced it ourselves should extend it.  We want others to come to trust and treasure God like we do, and there is no better way to accomplish this than by a “show and tell” demonstration of what God has done for us in Christ.  We show others the same kind of undeserved forgiveness and favor that God pours out on us though acts of kindness.  We tell others about the availability of the grace of God that has changed us and can change them as well.  Our everyday testimony for God’s grace is treating others like He treats us.

Contentment increases when your awareness of grace does.   The more you recognize what God has done, is doing and will do for you as a free and undeserved gift, the more you will be grateful for what you have and not grumble over what you do not have. Praising will replace pouting.  Worshipping will replace whining.  Celebrating will replace complaining.  So… To nurture this contentment, we should regularly look back at God’s faithfulness to us in Christ and look forward to God’s promises to us in Christ.  Praise God! We don’t have to look very hard to appreciate all that we are given; we just have to look.

God wants us to be happy.  When He tells us in the Bible to do, say, correct, believe, feel, think or share something, it is not to take away our happiness; it is to take away the things that are in the way of our full and lasting happiness in Him.  We must trust that God is after our happiness, that He knows best how to bring about our happiness, and that what He tells us in the Bible is designed to lead us into happiness.  It is His grace at work when He tells us what to do, gives us power to do it, and delights us in Himself as we do it.  God’s way is not always easy, popular or instantly gratifying, but it always leads to real joy.

There are certain rhythms of grace that will help us better experience the forgiveness, freedom and favor of God.  These habits, disciplines and practices help us remember and rely on God’s generosity toward us in Christ.  While there are many of them, there are four basic steps that give birth to the rest of them:  Pray. Read the Bible.  Respond to what God tells you.  Help others do the same. This is how we better experience all that God means for us to have in Christ:  we live in step with Him as we live out His plans for us. The best way to dive into the fountainhead of grace is to walk daily with the Giver of grace.

One of the evidences that you have received God’s pardon for your sin is that you are relying on God’s power to fight against your sin.  Forgiveness and freedom are two inseparable aspects of grace.  You don’t get one without the other.  Spiritual growth will vary by person and season, but one thing every genuine Christian has in common is this:  sin no longer holds the same appeal or power as it once did.  We go from loving sin to hating it and from choosing sin to fighting it.  Though we will not be sinless, we will sin less because of this… Our relationship with sin changes because of our relationship with Jesus.

There is a daily tug-of-war for control of your thoughts, feelings, motives, attitudes, words and actions, pulling you in the opposing directions of what sin entices you into and what God invites you into.   Look to Jesus for help and look for His help to arrive in your time of temptation as a way to leave it, the power to say “no” to it, a divine removal of it, the arrival of someone to help you through it, and / or a promise of something worth waiting for that is better than it.  He is bigger than your biggest need!  Take heart… You are never helpless against temptation as long as there is a throne of grace for you to run to for help.

Grace is not cruise control.  Ours is not a set it and forget it relationship in which God does all the work, and we do none of it.  He does all of the things that only He can do and enables us to do all of the things that He purposes for us to do.  How do we respond to grace?  We. Work. Hard.  We work hard to be who God called us to be and do what God has called us to do in Christ, relying on His power and provision every step of the way.  Grace isn’t opposed to effort; it’s opposed to trying to earn what we’ve been freely given.    We don’t work hard to receive God’s grace; we work hard because we have already received it.

When we receive God’s grace, every sin we have committed, are committing and will commit are all forgiven. Fully.  Freely.  Forever.  That doesn’t mean we can knowingly and willfully continue sinning with no remorse or repentance.  True grace is not “All is forgiven, now you can freely wallow in sin.”  True grace is, “All is forgiven, now you can firmly withstand sin.” Jesus did not pick us up just so we would run back to the same thing that knocked us down. He supplies both pardon for sin and power not to sin. So… We rely on His grace as we strive for holiness, and we rest in His grace when we need forgiveness.

God’s grace will call us to submit to God’s authority.  From the moment we put our faith in Jesus, we will begin a lifelong journey where we yield more and more control to Him as we trust Him more fully in more areas of our lives.  For genuine believers, there will be an immediate, increasing, imperfect reception of the new life of joyful obedience and rejection of the old life of sinful disobedience. We will stand by His grace when we get it right and fall into His grace when we get it wrong.  Whatever happens today, let us strive to gladly obey Jesus knowing this… He rules for our good as we submit to His rule over our lives.

God’s grace is always in harmony with God’s will.  That means although He will do for us what is good for us, it will often be in ways that are different than what we expected, desired or requested.  Grace always fits two things:  what we need and what God wants.  It will serve both our particulars and His purposes, ensuring that our needs are cared for and His plans are carried out.  God is wisely superintending the entire cosmos while intimately attending to you and me. Let us praise Him for Who He is and for what He does! We don’t have to understand how God is working it all out for good; we just need to trust that He is.

It never arrives too early.  It never arrives too late.  Grace is always right on time.  God’s unmerited favor for undeserving people is both customized to fit what we need and calculated to arrive when we need it.  Neither the size of the trial nor the strength of the temptation will ever be a match for the well-timed help that God sends in the many moments that are too much for us to handle alone.  When you feel like giving in to temptation or giving up in a trial, that’s when you can know for certain that grace is there.  In your time of need, God will ensure that you have what you need. Our timing is rarely perfect; His always is.

While grace is available to us all the time, we do not experience its every benefit all the time. We often miss blessings that could be ours.  Why?  Because of sin-created barriers.  We don’t think we need God’s help, don’t remember to ask for God’s help, don’t believe God will send help, and/or refuse the help that He sends.  But here is good news: Jesus is our great Barrier-Remover!  Therefore, let us… Acknowledge our need for His help, ask for His help, anticipate His help, accept His help, act by His help, and adore Him for His help.  When we do, we can be sure of this:  Jesus, will not push us away; He will make us a way.

There are two errors we often make when we consider asking Jesus for help. We either feel confident that we can ask Him for help because we’ve been “good,” or we feel hesitant to ask Him for help because we’ve been “bad.”  Both of those ideas twist God’s kingdom into a meritocracy in which we submit our requests (or not) based on our deeds.  The truth is we don’t deserve God’s gracious help. But, because of Jesus, we can have it as a gift on the basis of His work, not ours.  You can confidently ask God for His help today because… It’s not what you do for Him that is worthy of His help; it’s what Jesus has done for you.

Sometimes God gives to us before we ask and sometimes because we ask.  While God does countless gracious things for us without us requesting them or even realizing them, there are some things He does only as a response to us humbly asking Him.  To be sure, we don’t pray to get what we want to build our own kingdoms; we pray to get what we need to live for His. Still, God loves to be seen as generous, loves for us to appeal to His generosity, and loves to give generously to us because He loves us.  So, ask Him. Pray often, celebrating the grace already given to you and requesting the grace that is yet to come.

You are not bothering God when you ask Him for more grace.  He isn’t too busy or too disinterested.  He doesn’t need to put something more important on hold to help you.  Listen… There is no sin so big that God won’t forgive it and no sin so small that God will ignore it.  There is no stronghold so powerful that God can’t break it and no stronghold so flimsy that God wants you to get free on your own.  There is no problem so significant that God won’t handle it and no problem so petty that God doesn’t care about it.  He does trillions of things in running the universe.  One of His favorites is hearing from and helping you.

Faith in God’s future grace destroys fear, frustration, anxiety, worry, jealousy, envy, vanity, idolatry, insecurity, doubt, selfishness and worldliness in the present.  When we trust in all that God has promised to do for us, give to us and be for us, it rids us of what is robbing us of real joy in Jesus.  Belief that God knows best, does what is best and will give us what is best every moment for the rest of our lives sustains us when we have to give up something we want or go through something we don’t want.  No matter what happens today, let us be sure to praise God and let us be sure of this:  His grace is always enough.

It’s not just about your past and your future.  It’s also about your present.  Our sinful separation from God is behind us, and our face-to-face fellowship with Him is ahead of us. In between the two is the nowness of everyday life. And grace is there. The way that God works in our lives is very practical for the right here, right now moments of our lives.  You will not face a single situation today, good or bad, self-induced or involuntary, hard or easy, quick or lasting, anticipated or unexpected, that God has not provided for.  No matter what is happening on the inside or the outside, grace will always come alongside to help.

Grace has two sides, a giving side and a receiving side.  God gives.  We receive.  How do we receive God’s grace?  By faith.  Faith is the only appropriate response to the grace of God for it is the only response that appropriates the grace of God.  We must believe in order to receive.  The gracious pardon, power and provision that God freely offers us must be received by faith in order for us to personally experience it.  It is only ours by trusting in Jesus. By grace, through faith, our sins are forgiven and our future is secured.  Day by day, we look to Jesus in faith for all that we need, confident that His grace will deliver it.

Salvation is received, not achieved.  We cannot do anything to deserve it or earn it, not even acts of obedience or righteousness.  God does it all… The Father wills it.  The Son secures it.  The Holy Spirit administers it.  What a gift!  What a God! He doesn’t help those who help themselves; He helps those who cannot help themselves.  From start to finish, it’s all by grace… Chosen.  Called.  Converted.  Completed.  Someday every genuine believer will be fully and forever delivered from the presence of sin into the presence of God.  Not because we are able to keep the law, but because Jesus is able to keep us.

What does it mean to be “saved” by grace? It means to be rescued from something for something.  From sin, for righteousness.  From Satan, for God.  From punishment, for reward.  From death, for life.  From hell, for heaven.  From wrath, for joy.  From brokenness, for glory.  We must be rescued because we are incapable of reversing the curse on mankind caused by our sin.  God is undoing all of the horrible things that sin has done and replacing them all with good things, beautiful things, joyful things, perfect things, eternal things. This is all by grace, which means…The only requirement for salvation is receiving it by faith.