4GIVEN

Sometimes it can be difficult to comprehend the beauty of His grace. Shane Carrington said, “God’s grace and His power are revealed in this text — power beyond human comprehension used to strengthen us into what God would have us be” Additionally, we are brought into God’s kingdom by grace; we are sanctified by grace; we are motivated by grace; we are called to serve by grace; we receive strength to endure trials by grace; and we are glorified by grace. The entire Christian life is lived under the reign of God’s grace. Being motivated by grace means that we realize that it isn’t our spiritual disciplines and works that earns us God’s favor and blessings in our lives. This all continues to flow from His riches in grace, whether we deserve it or not. 
  

Who enjoys standing in line at Walmart? You know the scenario: 20 available lines, only 2 cashiers and the self check registers are not working. Nobody likes ‘waiting’ because it takes away our ability to control a situation. However, for those who are in Christ know that God is in control. When God tell us to ‘wait’, He desires that we wait quietly, patiently and expectantly! Active obedience is key! King David says there are three things to do while we wait. #WaitQuietly — “I wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him.” (Psalm 62:5 NLT) #WaitPatiently — “Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.” (Psalm 37:7 NLT) #WaitExpectantly — “I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for he has promised.” (Psalm 105:5 LB). So today, if you are in the ‘waiting’ room go grab a cup of coffee, a blanket, and relax! The one thing God can’t do is fail!  

I can’t stop talking about Jesus because He don’t stop forgiving, blessing, healing, maturing, restoring, and providing for me. I am an unashamed servant of the Lord and I’m not afraid to live it out and to speak it out! In Matthew 10:32 Jesus said, ” Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”fact is, believing in Jesus is not enough! Our belief in Him must be accompanied with confession. This confession ministers in the public preaching of the Gospel; openly, and boldly, to acknowledge, and declare, that Christ is truly and properly God, the eternal Son of God, the only mediator between God and men.   

When my mom and dad would leave us boys at the house we would always ask, “What time y’all coming back?” My mom would reply, “When we get back!” Our motive for asking was to calculate the time we would have to play versus the time it would take us to complete our chores. You already know, they would always catch us slipping. I dubbed it time mismanagement but mom dubbed it being lazy and she was right! Jesus said in Matt 24:36, “No one knows the hour but only the Father.” It’s time to get our affairs in order. I don’t want to be caught slipping. I want to be caught delivered, serving, praising, and worshipping! Martin Luther said, “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”  

It’s the enemy that is saying that your faith, labor, sacrifice, obedience for the Lord is in vain. Don’t give up….continue fighting, serving, and your work for the Lord! We are His precious hands and glorious feet and it’s a privilege to be a servant of Christ. We are not only Christians…..we are servants. At the end of the day, when my life expires all I want to hear Him say is, “Come on in good and faithful servant!! 
#COMEONIN!!! 

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. (Romans 10:17) Is not God’s word living? Was not everything known and unknown to man created by His word? His word is active. Therefore, inactive faith is not faith, it’s actually an illusion of faith! Faith is very much alive and active. In the book of James we learn that faith without action is dead. So remember when God test our faith, He is dispelling the illusion of faith, He is testing us to determine whether or not our faith is active, and He uses test to increase our faith. “These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold.” (1 Peter 1:7a)  

Netflix wouldn’t connect last night and my wife was dying to watch her series, ‘Pretty Little Liars’. My son and I tried troubleshooting the connection issue online but no dice! I finally did something we as a technological generation loathe doing; I picked up the phone and called tech support (ouch)! Long story long, we restore the online connection in just under 8 minutes. I learned that when the system is constantly sending and receiving signal it sometimes creates a ‘pot hole’ in the connection. IOW, although there was a connection the signal connection wasn’t strong enough to access the site. The solution was quite simply; unplug the modem and TV for 30 seconds and reboot both system.( ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) “Image that!” We too experience spiritual ‘pot holes’ in our walk of faith. We feel and sense God presence but the connection signal is weak. When this happens it behooves us to call out to God. Psalm 18:6 says, “But in my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.” We should always look to God for divine refreshment, restoration, and replenishment!   

“For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” (Zephaniah 3:17 )The Hebrew phrase translated “he will rejoice over you with singing” can be translated literally as “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.” It’s amazing to know that He loves us with that much intentionality and intensity!! Picture this; the God of absolutely everything celebrating us with a shout of Joy despite our sin nature, rebellion, pride, and arrogance. We don’t deserve it but His love will never fail us. That’s why I will never ever be ashamed to give a shout of praise to the One who first rejoiced over me with singing !!! 

Pride is the real weapon of mass destruction. The bible says that pride undeniably comes before destruction. I have been warring this formidable vice for years and I’ve learned its attacks are covert, subtle, and often goes undetected. Clives Staples Lewis said, “There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians ever imagine that they are guilty themselves….The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil; Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind… As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you!” I am thankful for God’s mercy and for emptying me of this deadly vice! Humility is the only way to a fruit producing life!