Redefining Grace

Redefining Grace – Rob Coscia

If you’re one of those I keep seeing that focuses on the negativity of cities, states, and nations, pointing out all the wrongs that God must hate, I have a word for you. The dark cloud you keep pointing at isn’t a judgment from God. It isn’t even directly from the enemy. It’s from you. It’s the result of your retreat.

When you abandon your post of influencing the city in the fruit of the Spirit, you remove all the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, and hope that God has given to you, and you leave a gap. A gap you then judge as the sin of others, most of whom are living as best they can in the absence of a demonstration of something better.

Whether it came from an offense against you, or your own failure, somewhere along the way you listened to the enemy’s definition of grace, that it is conditional, limited, and must be earned. That kind of warped grace makes you insecure. So you protect your religious position by judging those who have experienced less of God’s presence than you, then punish them by removing all of yours.

I invite you to let God redefine grace for you. You are so completely, perfectly, unceasingly loved by your Father. You do not have to earn it. You don’t have to perform for it. You don’t have act perfectly, or stress yourself and everyone around you to the breaking point trying. As in Zechariah 4, cry out “Grace, grace!” over all that you are, including your past, and all that God wants to be for you.

When you know that Jesus’ love and grace toward you are unending, they will overflow to your family, your work, your city, your nation. You’ll remember that it’s not your job to curse the darkness. It’s your joy to transform it.

“Let your light so shine before others, that they may see the good things you do, and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5.16)

from: http://bit.ly/1NaqQzx

Declare.

One of the most helpful tools to build your faith and renew your mind is to declare out loud what the Scriptures say. Paul told us that, “faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). As you hear yourself speak God’s Word, the Holy Spirit will cause faith to come in the promises you are declaring.

Notice this gem from the book of Job (22:25-28) “Then the Almighty will be your gold and choice silver to you. For then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. You will pray to Him, and He will hear you . . . You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you; and light will shine on your ways.”

Notice that in the context of prayer and delighting in the Almighty, Father hears our prayer and then we decree a thing and it will be established for us. As beings created in the image of our God, we speak to our situation and say, “Let there be light!” We call for a revelation of the truths that Jesus purchased for us.

In the New Testament, Jesus put it this way: Mark 11:23 “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”

Take note that Jesus is talking about our declarations. Speak to the mountain. Believe in your heart that what you are saying is coming to pass and you will have whatever you are saying. Another translation puts it this way: “For most assuredly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and doesn't doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says” (WEB).

Observe that he believes that what he is saying is happening. It doesn’t say anything about what he feels or what he sees with his natural eye, but rather what he is believing in his heart and saying with his mouth - because it is based on what God has said - is happening.

Consider for a few minutes some other similar thoughts from Jesus. In Luke 17:6 Jesus says, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.” The Passion Translation puts this quite clearly: “If you have even the smallest measure of authentic faith, it would be powerful enough to say to this large tree – ‘my faith will pull you up by the roots and throw you into the sea’ – and it will respond to your faith and obey you.” Certainly you have “even the smallest measure of authentic faith!”

And at another time He commented, “For assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). Take note of the things Jesus said would be the result of faith-filled words: The mountains in our life would be removed. The problem we speak to would obey us. Nothing would be impossible for us.

So as you go through these promises and declare them, remember that God “watches over His Word to perform it.” And as the apostle Paul said, “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak” (2 Cor. 4:13)

This is from a devotional series Joe McIntyre is preparing: Declaring Your Faith