GRACE - a really powerful read!

I am not perfect, and I hope that others don't see me that way. At times, I've felt like others truly perceived me as a goody-goody or holier-than-thou person, someone totally unrelatable and/or unapproachable. I won't get into those details; I'll just say that's those perceptions of me are false. I am human and have my daily battles against sin just like every other mortal.

So, this weekend while enjoying Panama City Beach, I continued to read Joyce Meyer's Battlefield of the Mind. Really, it was a continued attempt to put down lust in my heart, mind, and actions. What I ran across in my reading was surprisingly perhaps the most powerful, straighforward description of grace I've ever read. May it touch you as it did me ...

We have said that grace is the power of God coming to us, as a free gift from Him, to help us do with ease what we cannot do ourselves. God wants to give us grace, and Satan wants to give us disgrace, which is another word for reproach.

And the Lord said to Joshua, "This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." So the name of the place is called Gilgal [rolling] to this day. - Joshua 5:9

The word reproach means "blame ... disgrace: shame." When God said that He would "roll away" the reproach of Egypt from the Israelites, He was making a point. Egypt represents the world. After a few years of being in the world and becoming worldly, we ALL need the reproach of it rolled away.

God's rolling away the reproach from us means that each of us must receive for ourselves the forgiveness He is offering for all our past sins. You must realize that you can never deserve God's blessings --- you can never be worthy of them. You can only humbly accept and appreciate them, and be in awe of how good He is and how much He loves you. Your mind must be renewed concerning right standing with God through Jesus --- and not through your own works. I know I don't deserve God's blessings, but I receive them anyway because I am a joint-heir with Chrit. (Romans 8:17) He earned them, and I get them by placing my faith in Him.

God is willing to give you mercy for your failures if you are willing to receive it. He does not reward the perfect who have no flaws and never make mistakes, but those who put their faith and trust in Him. (Hebrews 11:6) Whatever we do for God should be because we love Him, not because we are trying to get something from Him. Naturally, we should do what we can to live holy lives. But thank God, when we do make mistakes, we can be forgiven and restored to holiness, made once again blameless and above reproach --- all "in Him."

If you desire to have a victorious, powerful, positive life, you cannot be negative about yourself. Don't look only at how far you have to go, but at how far you have come. Consider your progress and remember Philippians 1:6, ... I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.