Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / NewStats: 3,195,471 members, 7,958,434 topics. Date: Wednesday, 25 September 2024 at 02:15 PM |
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Religion / What Grace Is And What Grace Is Not (1079 Views)
Grace Is Free......pope Francis / God's Grace Is Unmerited - Joseph Prince / God's Grace Is Not For The Qualified (2) (3) (4)
(1) (Reply)
What Grace Is And What Grace Is Not by Nobody: 12:33pm On Sep 21, 2014 |
There has been so many misconception as to what Grace really is.By God's help, this piece will shed light on this subject. WHAT IS GRACE? 1.Grace is an expression of God's unmerited favour and goodwill towards mankind. " For by GRACE are ye saved through faith;and that not of yourselves. It is the GIFT OF GOD'[Eph2:8]. God's GRACE(favour & goodwill) is demonstrated towards mankind through a free gift-Jesus Christ, Therefore if we recieve Christ through FAITH[by admitting,repenting,confessing your sins and believing that Christ died and rose to remit our sins], it means we have accepted God's Grace(God's goodwill &favour). God's Grace is always available,but we make that grace ours by accepting Christ. 2. Grace is a free,extra-ordinary endowment, strength,skill or ability given to man by God. Galatians2:9 reads: 'An when James,Cephas and John,whom seemed to be pillars, percieved the grace[the skill,ability and endowment] that was given unto me,they gave to me and Barnabas,the right hand of fellowship,that we should go unto the heathen...". James and other pillars of the early church assigned Paul to go and preach to the gentiles, because they saw that God had given him the grace(ability and skill) to do so. At the beginning of most epistles in the bible[like ephesians and philippians],you see the salutation, "GRACE BE TO YOU",which means more of "GOD'S FREE EXTRA-ORDINARY STRENGHT,ABILITY AND ENDOWMENT" be unto you. Also when we ask for God's grace in prayer,we are asking for God's STRENGHT &ABILITY to overcome a particular sin,or to attain a great spiritual height. 3.Grace is an era,a period, a dispensation in which: <>blood of animals no longer remit sins, but the blood of Jesus(heb10:4&5,1Peter1:18-19). <>circumcision and keeping of mosaic laws, no longer brings justification,but faith in Christ's atoning work[Galatians5:6]. <>God is not willing that any should perish(by stoning to death or by ending in hell) but that all should come to repentance, by giving us a SECOND CHANCE to ask for forgiveness[2Peter3:9]. '...for ye are not under the law(the dispensation of the law) but under grace(the dispensation of grace)[Rom6:14] TRUTHS ABOUT GRACE The following are some truths about grace: 1. WE CAN GROW IN GRACE: "but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ"[2Peter3:18]. Immediately we accept Christ [SALVATION] we recieve a measure of God's grace(God's favour,and a measure of strength and ability to live a Christ-like life). We need not to stop at Salvation,we need to get SANCTIFIED, BAPTISED IN THE HOLYGHOST,HAVE VARIOUS SPIRITUAL GIFTS, in order to do exploits for the Lord. Therefore we need to pray and ask God for the above-mentioned free gifts after salvation. As these gifts starts to manifest in our lives, it means we are increasing in God's free favour,strength,and ability,i.e we are growing in grace. We are said to be growing in grace, each time God gives us fresh strength & ability to do what we previously thought impossible. 2.GRACE RECIEVED,CAN BE LOST: just like all other gifts, these free gifts (salvation,sanctification, HolyGhost baptism,gift of healing, prophecy,etc),we recieve after repentance can be lost,if we go back to our past sins. When someone lose them,we say they" HAVE FALLEN FROM GRACE" or they "HAVE BACKSLIDDEN ". Romans6:1-2 reads "...shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?God forbid...". When we go back to sin God's grace, cease to abide in our lives, we can only get it back by confessing those sins and asking for forgiveness. 3. GRACE IS RECIEVED BY FAITH IN THE ATONING WORK OF CHRIST DONE ON THE CROSS: "by whom[JESUS] also we have access by FAITH into this GRACE, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God"[Rom5:2]. WHAT GRACE IS NOT 1.GRACE IS NOT A LICENSE TO SIN: For the fact that we are under the dispensation of grace[under which,we won't be stoned to death,if we commit sin],does not mean we are permitted to commit sin. 'for,brethren,ye have been called unto liberty,only not use liberty(this priviliege) for an occassion to the flesh,.,'[galatians5:13]. 2.GRACE IS NOT A GIFT YOU GET BY GOOD DEEDS: God's grace comes into our lives,throug FAITH in Christ's atoning work done on the cross.Our good deeds BEFORE SALVATION is futile, since we are not yet in relationship with God. It is only AFTER SALVATION, that our good deeds are required. Repentance, confession of sins and faith in Christ is what is required BEFORE SALVATION. We don't get GRACE by good deeds but rather we maintain GRACE by good deeds and holy living. 3.THERE IS NO IMPUNITY UNDER GRACE: We don't reach a level of grace as Christians,where we become IMMUNE to God's punishment,whenever we commit sin. There is no measure of grace you recieve,even as a christian leader,that gives you the permission to sin. God does not treat anyone preferentially to another when it comes to obeying His commandments For more demystified undiluted word of God you can like: www.facebook.com/holinessfromall |
(1) (Reply)
Is Islam Kind To Females? / Music: Kabiosi {sax Version} ~ Seyi Alesh / He'd Not Take Alcohol - See Why!
(Go Up)
Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 30 |