My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Time with God moves our experience as believers out of the realm of religion and into the realm of relationship (1).
Relationship is a word that is packed with a lot of depth because it means different things to each individual asked to describe what it is:
“It’s when two people ask for advice or help from each other.” “It’s a feeling shared from one person to another.” “It’s how you agree with someone and want to spend time with that person.” “There are different kinds of relationships, but basically, it’s how people connect with other people as friends, family members, anyone you find a connection with.”
Dictionaries, too, give differences in interpretation of relationship. We shall share that a relationship is the way in which we are connected and how we regard and behave towards each other. The connection or behavior is an energy, or influence, given out by each party (or persons) involved that transforms into an interaction—a reciprocal exchange of giving and receiving. Connections can also be varied: close (or tight), distant (or far off), and intermittent (not too close, but not too far off).
In our last conversation, we shared that every day you wake up is another chance to draw closer to your Creator, our Father who is in heaven, to receive His favor, His grace. Grace is the acceptance and welcome into the arms of God. Grace is also the spontaneous, unmerited gift of the divine favor in the salvation of sinners, and the divine influence operating in individuals for their regeneration and sanctification.
Grace is spontaneous meaning that, to each human soul on earth, God’s gift of grace is always available to be given out and can be received from our Lord at any moment a soul cries out for connection in union with Christ Jesus. Grace is God’s gift offered and given to you when you believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. When you receive Jesus, the grace becomes yours; and as you grow more maturely in your relationship with the Lord, the grace also grows. Grace is abundant; there is no end to the amount available. The grace regenerates, or removes the stains and strains of sin and gives newness to your soul, allowing you a fresh, clean outlook on how to walk in God’s perfect will. The grace gives the soul a desire for sanctification, a steady and consistent lifestyle of newness by washing your soul daily in the Word of God and by practicing holy living.
Spending quiet time with God builds your relationship with Him: You receive all His promises and, most especially, grow into the image (likeness or character) of Jesus Christ. This is called maturing, from “baby Christian” to “all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19; 4:13). As God’s children, we inherit His qualities the closer we are to Him. He gives us life and sustains it in His word. We give our devotion, our worship, our praise in adoration for His goodness, mercy, faithfulness, and His love. This reciprocal give and receive bond, or connection, is eternal, supernatural, and a “heaven-on-earth” experience that bears the Fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). When you become one with Christ, your spirit-soul-body experiences wholeness (or completeness). This wholeness is expressed by the evidence called peace. Peace is the influence or energy that comes from the Grace of God.
As you spend more time in His presence, delving into the Word of God, listening to His voice for living in His perfect will, the outcome of your divine relationship is peace. That peace, found in the grace of God, gives us the strength we need to bear through and overcome the struggles we face on earth. Without a close relationship with God, we suffer in our own weaknesses; and in the process of working through our tribulations, our relationships with other people can be damaged.
Hurting people hurt people.
How you relate to God, your source of life, has a direct bearing on how you relate to yourself and others around you. Do you fully love who you are, who God made you to be? Do you even like yourself a little bit? Check how you interact with every person in your life right now. How do you treat (or mistreat) each person? Grace gives you the strength to love and to express the product of that love: being at peace with all men (Romans 12:18).
There is so much pain in the hearts of men today. That pain is a result of our weaknesses and trying to force solutions to our problems outside the perfect will of God. We must turn to God for His saving grace, His healing grace, His protective grace, His sufficient grace. Sufficient means enough for the situation you are facing right now. His grace will bear you up, carry you through the storm, and place you high upon a rock when the storm is over (Psalm 27:5). This bearing, carrying, and placing require the strength of God which is made perfect when we feel weakest.
In moments of sorrow, when the lives of our loved ones end on earth, and we experience the pangs of death; or in moments of rage, when we feel offended, and experience surges of low self-esteem; or in times of uncertainty, when we can’t see any solution to our problems, and experience anxiety, nervousness, or stress, we must look up and take in more of God’s grace: His favor and His strength until we feel His peace. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).
Hear the voice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ speaking into our souls:
Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
We stand at the threshold of the end-time, when the Son of God, Jesus Christ, shall return again. He will judge us by of our inner-man, our character, by our relationships to Him and to others, and by the work we did to build His Kingdom: saving lost souls and supporting the work of God with your substance. He shall be particularly ardent in rendering His verdict on how we have treated each and every person we’ve encountered on our life-journey. As the days grow shorter and shorter, Grow in the Grace of God. He is coming soon.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. (2 Corinthians 13:14).
© 2023 by Patience Osei-Anyamesem. All rights reserved. Published by The Light In Me Enterprise. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews or other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are from The New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
1. Stanley, Charles. The Glorious Journey. (1996). USA: Thomas Nelson Pub., 501.
The artwork depicted in the blog article is carefully selected to draw out the points made for healing of the soul, and by no means promote any ideologies from the various artists unless they are found in the center of God's perfect will.
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