OPEN HEAVENS Devotional – Wednesday
August 3rd 2016
TOPIC: ARE YOU GROWING IN
GRACE?
Memorize: But grow in grace,
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both
now and for ever. Amen. 2nd Peter 3:18
Read: Luke 2:39-40,
39 And when
they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned
into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.
40 And the
child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of
God was upon him.
Bible in one year: Hebrews 11:13, Psalm
26
MESSAGE
Show me a man that is doing
great exploits in life and in ministry and I will show you a man that is
growing in the grace and knowledge of the Almighty God. It is the grace of the
Almighty God that makes us vessels of honour and beneficiaries of this grace;
we need to continue to grow in it so that we will not run out of it. By virtue
of our past, none of us will be qualified to be amongst the chosen of God, but
the grace and mercy of God qualifies us. It was His grace that brought us
salvation and not our works. It was the grace of God that blotted out the
handwriting of the devil against all the sins we had committed. The devil stood
to accuse us before the Almighty God, but His mercy stood in for us. Long ago
when I was a lecturer in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria, a woman brought her sick
child to me for prayers as she had been told to come see me; a man of God. When
she arrived and discovered that I was the man of God she was asked to see, she
couldn’t hide her shock because she knew how bad I was in the past. Only the
grace of God could have taken me from being a ‘great sinner’ to being a ‘man of
God’.
The moment we come to the truth of the gospel, there is an expectation
from us. There is an expectation to live a life of holiness. A personal
knowledge of God is necessary to enable us obtain His best for our lives. As
God reveals Himself to us daily, we in turn, must reveal Him to others.
“For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8
The grace of God is available
in abundance, but must not be taken for granted. We must use the grace that we
have received to be a blessing to others. The grace of God makes the
forgiveness of sin possible. This is why every child of God must have a big heart
to ‘let go’. You must not hold anything against anyone. Others may, but you
cannot; because you are expected to be growing in grace and in the knowledge of
Christ. The grace of God helps us to stand in the gap in the place of prayer.
This makes it necessary for us to seek the face of God on behalf of those that
God has committed to our trust. We must always remember that it is Jesus that
has chosen us out of His own divine grace (John 15:16).
Despite the antecedents of Saul, God chose Him. Jeremiah was chosen and ordained even before his birth. With all these examples and stories of our time, it is wisdom to make the best choice of allowing God to have His way in our lives. We must glorify God in all we do. We must continue to grow in Him and never allow His investment to go to waste. We must justify His being interested in us by living holy and being a blessing to the Body of Christ with all the talents, abilities, endowments and gifts He has given us. Don’t allow yourself to be led astray by the immoral conduct of those who have given themselves to the lust of the flesh. It is the responsibility of every one to grow in the things of the Spirit and the motivation required for this has been given through the revelation of His grace through the cross.
Prayer Point
Father, cause me to grow daily
in your grace and knowledge in Jesus’ name.
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