Encouragement

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ONE GIFT

Sometimes we need to be strengthened
Sometimes we need to be healed
Sometimes we need to be encouraged
Sometimes delivered
Sometimes we need to be empowered
Sometimes we need to be revived
Sometimes we need to be challenged
Sometimes we need to be filled
Sometimes re-filled
Sometimes we are on top
Sometimes we are on the bottom
Sometimes we are the head
At times we have been the tail
At times we have listened to God and followed the leading of the Holy Spirit
At other times we did not
Sometimes we have the answers
And other times we cannot get even the simplest answer
Sometimes we can lay hands on someone and they are healed
And other times we can't even break a cold
Sometimes we pray and God answers immediately
And other times we pray and we feel like God isnft even hearing us, and if He is, He sure isnft very concerned about the matter.
Sometimes life's problems seem to overwhelm us
And other times it seems like a breeze
Sometimes life's problems seem insurmountable
Sometimes it seems like we can do anything
Sometimes we loathe ourselves
Sometimes we love who we are
Sometimes we have no power
At other times we are full of power
There are times when we have been foolish
And times we have been wise
Times we have been faithful
And times we have been unfaithful

In all this, the mountain tops and the valleys, the best of times and the worst of times, from the lowest moments in our life, to the to the highest plateaus, there is one constant:
One, never changing, perpetual, unending, unceasing, ever-present, fully satisfying, substantial and completely all-sufficient constant in our life.

One gift from God that we can count on anywhere and at any time.

There is one gift that God gives that He gives most freely and without measure. There is one gift offered to all mankind - Despite their personality - despite their character - despite their job title - despite their wealth - despite their background - despite what they've done - despite where they've been - despite it all.

This gift is not just for the pious - The religious - the gifted - the talented - the skilled - the ambitious or the intelligent. This gift is not just for the studious - the brilliant - the well known or the well liked.

Unlike any other gift from God, this gift does not elevate us above others.

Unlike any other gift from God, this gift gives us nothing to brag about, nothing to toot our own horn.

This gift does not reveal to others how much more spiritual we are than they.

This gift needs no coaxing, no study, no striving for and no work on our part.

Even though it is the best gift of all, there is nothing you or I can do to earn it or achieve it.
Neither will we ever deserve it.

Of all the gifts of God this gift is the most received gift of all, and at the same time, the least appreciated.

When God imparts this gift, if we were never to receive another gift - if we were never even to hear of any other gift - we would have in our possession everything sufficient and everything expected from God so that we can be:
Accepted
Justified
Redeemed
Saved
Sanctified
Righteous

Everything demanded by God from you or me is provided within this gift from God.

When God gives this gift, it is given without regard to denomination - religious affiliation or generational heritage.
It is given without regard to Race - creed - nationality - gender or age.

When God gives this gift, it is given:
Without reservation
Without hesitation
Without review
Without strings attached

No gift can come close to and there is no equal to this gift from God.
Not wisdom
Not knowledge
Not faith
Not healing
Not miracles
Not prophesy
Not discerning of spirits
Not tongues
Not interpretation of tongues

There is one gift that joins us to God.
One gift that seals our fate.
One gift that transcends anything we could ever do or dream to do, to be right with God.

This gift of God transcends every religion - every belief - every faith - every plan - every doctrine.

This gift:
Cannot be found by accident
Cannot be achieved through excellence
Cannot be apprehended through seeking
Cannot be understood through education
Cannot be purchased

This gift is nonpareil, (unequalled) (matchless) (solitary) in that, it alone provides every component necessary to live a full and rewarding life.

This gift is so powerful that it contains within it all others.
Even eternal life is subject to the presence of this gift.
It is so precious, that God reserved the right to impart this gift, Himself.
It can only be given by God Himself.

Even if we were to never see our dreams fulfilled
Even if we were to never see an angel
Even if we were to never witness a miracle
Even if we were to never get that thing we really thought we needed
Even if we were to never receive any of the gifts of the Spirit
Even if we were to never find love
Even if we were to never be healed
This gift would still transcend all others.

God decided long before He ever made mankind that there would be a special word:
A word that would explain God to man.
A word that would unite God and man.
A word that would describe His love for us.
A word that would paint a word picture like nothing we have ever or could ever fully comprehend.
A word that cannot be confused with any other.
A word that cannot be mistranslated, but so powerful in itself, that there is no other word that would even try to compete.
A word that even satan couldnft mess up.
A word that reaches beyond our intellect and goes directly to the soul of man.
One word that would tell the world about the love of God, the whole story, from beginning to end and include every soul from Adam to you and I.

Grace

Once we understand the potency of grace and the all encompassing efficacy of this unmerited gift from God, we canft help but unravel at its implications.

God forgive us for attempting to be something apart from your grace.
Forgive us for trying to be religious apart from your grace.

Forgive us for donning ourselves with the ornaments of self-righteousness as if we were something apart from your grace.

Forgive us for not being satisfied with your grace.

Can you sense God pouring out His grace on us right now.
God spoke to me just a clear as I have ever heard the voice of God in my spirit, He said "My Grace is sufficient for thee." 2 Corinthians 12:9
Please accept God's infilling right now, of how much He loves you.
Hear the Word of the Lord:
Ephesians 2:5-9
"Even when we were dead in sins, (God) hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
V6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
V7 That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
V8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
V9 Not of works, lest any man should boast."

Can I say without reservation or hesitation, that "the gift of God" is grace and shouldn't be confused with any other gift.
The "gift of God" is grace.

2 Corinthians 9:8
"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:"

If we were to fully apprehend what it means for God to "make all grace abound toward us"
If we could really see what it means to have God working on our behalf with every thing that is available to God, designed and given to us through and by His grace.
If we could grasp that when God makes this "grace abound toward us", He is motivated by His own good pleasure.
If we could even begin to understand the enthusiasm that God has on our behalf.....
If we could understand that God is performing His will in us and through us, by His grace, simply because He wants to.
No matter how hard I try, I cannot find the right words that disclose my heart on this matter of God's grace.

The grace of God is too big and too wonderful, to comprehend much less accurately describe.

The only people that can even begin to fathom the concept of God's grace are those who are living under the banner of Jesus Christ.

For it is through Christ (His life) and by His sacrifice (the shedding of His blood on the cross) that we are even able to receive the grace of God.
The whole world is seeking after what we already possess. Every soul seeks to know their creator, and you and I have already joined together with Him, by His grace.

Paul put it this way, "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." 2 Corinthians 9:15
The gift Paul was talking about was the gift of God, grace.

Paul, of all men, even after years of service to God, after years of intense devotion - An Apostle to the Gentiles - An Hebrew of Hebrews - A man acquainted with the supernatural - One who could speak life into a dead body - One who could take the deadly snake bite and just shake it off - One who could touch a handkerchief or an apron of someone and they would be healed and devils would run - This same Paul had a thorn in the flesh and needed to be reminded, "My grace is sufficient for thee:..." 2 Corinthians 12:9a

Sometimes we have a thorn in the flesh and we need to be reminded, "My grace is sufficient for thee:..."

I know now, why Paul starts out, not one of his epistles, but all of his epistles with this salutation:
"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, (or Thessalonica or Galatia or Collose) and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
V2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."Ephesians 1:1-2

Each epistle begins a little differently and addresses believers in different regions, but in every epistle, after addressing those in whom he was speaking to, there was one word that Paul used - the first blessing in a succession

of blessings that Paul spoke, without exception, was - "GRACE BE UNTO YOU".
There is no greater blessing to bestow on anyone than grace.

Peter ends his 2nd epistle with these words, "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen." 2 Peter 3:18

This sound like God thinking to me. Grow in grace?
Grow in the richest soil there is?
To grow in the gift of God?
To grow (you mean, you can have more of what already is given without measure)? Yes
To grow in the gift of gifts from God, the gift that is already beyond explanation?
The gift that already supplies all our needs?
The gift that already mends all our wounds?
The gift that already heals our diseases?
The gift that already goes before us and prepares a path?
Can you really grow in something that is already complete?

Do you sense with me the awesomeness and depth of what grace is?

Grace is the unmerited gift of God - the fullness of God's blessing - bestowed upon the recipient, (you and I) without measure.

We can thank God for our health
We can thank God for our healing
We can thank God for the gifts of the Spirit
We can thank God for our abilities
We can thank God for our heritage
We can thank God for our love
for friendships, for family, for our jobs, for our houses, for our income, for our church and for every blessing we have ever received and will ever receive:
But someday you and I are going to grow old and we are going to meet our Maker and when we stand before Almighty God, in His splendor and in His glory
It won't be what great things wefve done that move us
It won't be what denomination we belonged to that moves us
It won't be our ability to heal or prophesy or speak in tongues that makes us worthy to look into the eyes of God
It won't be anything, that we ever did, of our own accord, that allows us entrance behind the veil.

It will be God's grace and His grace alone, that we acknowledge as the only reason we can even come before God.

Knowing how wonderful God's grace is; does it make you thirst for some more of God's grace? Because if we can grow in grace, there's more.

Does it put a little light on your current problem to know that God has already poured Himself out on you and that is why you have breath and live?

Does it kindle the fire in you to continue on and finish what you started, knowing that you are saturated in God's grace?

Does it strip a bit of the worry from your situation, to know that God has already gone before you and breathed His grace into it?

Does it lighten the load a little to know that you might be carrying a heavy load, but God is carrying you?

Does it motivate you to sellout to God, simply because God has already given you His very best?

Does it give you confidence to know that "God's grace is sufficient?" He says it is and I believe Him.

Whatever is on the horizon for you and I, tomorrow and beyond, we need to learn to face it, in the light of God's grace.

Whatever befalls us, that stretches our faith, we need to hold tight, knowing that God's grace is sufficient for even the most difficult of times.

Whatever comes our way, we need to rest assured that God's grace already contains the solution.

When it looks real dark and there's just no hope, we need to bring to the very top of our mind, "God's grace is sufficient."

When it looks like you just can't overcome the desire for something, when your sure you just canft handle it, just call on the grace of God, reach out and let God pour out more grace to you, more than you deserve.

God's grace can overcome anything, any habit, any time, any place, anywhere.

Here's another poem that attempts to unveal just a little God's grace.

Even when I make mistakes and fail to do my best
I sense that God is urging me, to come to Him and rest
Even when I know that I lost the battle at hand
I sense that God has won the war and the battle was in His plan
Even when I cannot see the forest for the trees
I sense that God has gone before and Ifm right where I should be
Even when the times are hard and therefs no rest at all
I sense that God has gone before me, so that I won't fall
Even when I've let God down and knew what I had done
I sense that God looks right at me and sees His only Son
Even the fiercest enemy has no rightful place
Wherever there is present, just a little of God's grace.
God's grace has already done what I could never do
And that is give my only Son for the likes of me and you

Say this prayer with me if you agree:

Jesus, You have truly shown me what true spirituality is all about.

You have shed new light on my heart.

and given me something to ponder in my mind.

It is far above the thoughts of man.

But I accept, the mind of Christ, by Your grace.

May my adoration for Your ways increase day by day.

Thank you for Your grace.

Amen.

Grace be unto you my friends.

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