Accessing Grace

CALL TO PRAYER

Title: Accessing Grace

By:  Daniel Peter

Date: 02.09.2024

But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.  (1 Co 15:10 KJV)

Grace is an aspect of God we need to know how to access because it sums up the entirety of what Christ did at the cross of Calvary and God’s continued interest in mankind. Accessing grace will help us to function in the best that God has for us per time.

The first revelation of man’s insufficiency came not long after his creation; of many trees in the Garden of Eden He could eat from, he ate from the one tree God asked him not to eat from (Gen. 3:6). It’s easy for us to condemn his actions and blame him for the state of the world today, but consider this, are you sure you would have acted differently? More surprising about Adam’s fall was that the person God made to help him became the reason for His fall (Gen. 2:18, 3:6-7). Knowing the provision of grace (the death and resurrection of Jesus) was ordained before the foundations of the world (Rev. 13:8), it safe to say the reason God allowed the situation that led to Adam’s fall was to show to all men coming afterwards that they were not created with the ability to obey God ( to do His will) without His help.

With the above said, let’s consider Noah. He was a man God called perfect (in character) in His generation (Gen. 6:9). More interesting about Noah was that in his generation, Men’s heart was described by God to be continually evil (Gen. 6:5). How was Noah able to attain this when Adam, who was created innocent, wasn’t able to? The answer to this question is in Genesis 6:8, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”. The grace (the help, the favour) of God was responsible for Noah’s excellence in character. Therefore, the enablement to do the will of God comes by the grace of God.

Like I indicated earlier, the cross is a means by which grace came to mankind, even for those saints who accessed it in the Old Testament. A holy exchange happened there, our sins for His righteousness, our sickness for His health, and our shame for His glory etc. How do we access this grace that we have in Christ? The first key is faith. Grace is accessed through faith in what Christ has done (Eph. 2:8). Once we believed in the reality of what God has done for us in Christ, and we confess it despite what we are experiencing, God will give us the grace to manifest that which we have believed. This goes beyond Character/righteousness, but everything we have in Christ. 

A short story to prove the above point, there were some people who just came to Christ, but had developed a habit of smoking before their salvation. Knowing that such a habit is not the best representation of Christ they now believe in, they asked their Pastor for help on stopping the habit of smoking. The Pastor responded by telling them that they should stop trying to quit smoking, that each time they smoke again, they should just confess that they are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Cor.5:21). They obeyed their Pastor, and soon after they lost the desire for smoking. The Grace of God is the Power of God to live above sin and bad habits.

Another key on how to access grace in Christ is an offspring of the first key, the consciousness of God’s presence (Gen. 17:1, Heb. 4:16). The more we practice the consciousness of God’s presence by meditating on Him and communicating with Him, grace will be attracted to us, and we will receive empowerment to live out the life of Christ that God wants for us. (this was how the old testament saints were able to access grace. 

Lastly, grace is given only to the humble (James 4:6). Be humble, then you will be graced for exploits in the kingdom by God.

Prayer Point:

Let’s thank God for His word today. Let’s ask Him to help every Christian to do those things that will attract His grace to us.

Reposted from:  23.06.2021