The power of God’s grace

We continue the subject we started few weeks ago and we ask the question, why Jesus came?

We answered with the following points: Jesus came to cancel Adam’s sin and cancel our sins if we repent of them. He also came to give us answer to our prayer if we prayed in His name and He also came to give us the Holy Spirit. We talked about this subject in some details last edition.

In this article we will talk about the benefit of the grace of God which is given by Jesus in His coming to earth and His crucifixion “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” {Joh 1:16,17}

In this article we will understand what is the meaning of grace

The word grace in Hebrew which the old testament was written means: joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech, good will, loving-kindness. But grace in the Greek language which new testament was written means( the following was taken from Strong concordance): the merciful kindness by which God,  exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.

Simply it is God’s influence upon our souls or heart to do what is right in sight of God to be able to overcome sin and live a godly life.

This is the propose of grace: to overcome the sin and have an assured victory over it.

That is why St. Paul summed up this very comforting fact and said “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” {Ro6:14} yes, when a sin torment you, seek God’s grace and it will give you God’s power to overcome sin. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” {Ro6:14} this is one of the most important truth every Christian should know, everyone who wants to live in a godly life. Everyone who wants to overcome the hurdles which Satan puts before God’s children.

You will not succeed in honoring the commandment without the grace of God 

“They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” {Ro3:12} this was the case of everyone who lived under the law of Moses. They were struggling to overcome sins but they failed. I will tell this story about my self : before I dedicated my life to Jesus I used to curse a lot and say bad words. I went to the priest and he told me to fast and he gave me some spiritual practices and all these did not work. After desperation I stood before the Lord and I prayed with all my heart and I asked God to help me to stop all the bad words that come out of my mouth. And I found my self do not curse any more.

What happen to me that I did not curse any more?

Remember that I said that grace means the following: it is God’s influence upon our souls to strengthen us to overcome sins. This is the work of grace to help us overcome the sin and have real victory over our disobedient to the word of God. What happened to me when I cried out to God, His grace came and helped me and mad me hate this sin and not do it again.

You may ask what is sin?

St. James said “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”{Jas4: 17} you may say who will not sin. I say to you that Jesus Christ is the one who help us not to sin. Does that means that we will not sin? Yes we will sin but we will not continue in sinning if we ask for the help of God’s grace for God’s grace will work on our souls with its divine influence to make us hate these sins.

An example to the power of grace in the life of a Christian

A young man came to me and shared with me that he has fallen in sexual sin, he said that he hates doing this sin. It was easy matter because he does not want to do it again. When a person hates the sin it is easy because the Lord will help him if he askes for God’s help. I prayed with him for the Lord to give him strength and I explained the work of the grace of God as I mentioned above. I said every time you have an impulse to practice this sin pray for God’s grace to help you remove this feeling. He listen to my advise and every time he had the urge to fall into this sin he asked for the help of God’s grace, which he received.

Jesus Christ did not only pay for our sins on the cross, but He gave us the means to enable us to live victorious in this life , we will overcome the power of sin through grace.

You will not be slave to sin any more. If you live under the law without grace you will always be slave to sin. In the old testament not one person could honor the law all the time. Moses gave the law, the law is the truth, God Himself is the author of the law, but Jesus Christ gave the truth and grace.  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Grace is one of the gifts of the cross that is why if we live under the grace, grace will give us the power to honor God’s commandment with ease and without failure.

Without exception if you honor God’s word God will honor you.

We do not resist sin in our own strength and our limited power only but we fight against sin with divine help, it is the grace of God.

Jesus said that flesh wars against the spirit and spirit wars against the flesh. It is hard for human being to obey the word of God without the work of grace, which is one of the gifts of the cross.

Since Adam fell and was put out of the garden, the fallen human nature became in struggle between his realization that he has to honor God and between his inability to obey God. Since the fall of Adam and the coming of Jesus, everyone including the great saints of the old testament, used to say “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” what a pity many recite this verse and stop short at these words. They should read the rest of the verses “I thank God––through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” {Ro 7: 25,8:1}

Your life will be full of the richness of grace  if you live in godliness and according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ has given us the fullness of His Grace “And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.”  {Joh 1:16). Beloved, this is a very important truth. The God of all richness will give us from His precious grace more than we ask for or think. You will receive from the unlimited fullness of our Lord Jesus. His grace will help and strengthen you as long as you ask for this grace. Ask in your prayer for the grace to strengthen you in every step of your life.

The grace works in the life of those who ask for it

Through my ministry I met many people, one of the most difficult problem believers face these days is the dominion of sin over their lives, at least in their opinions, as they think that the sin has a grip on them they can not break. These kind of problems are the easiest to deal with in my opinion as servant of Jesus, as we have victory over sin.

Another example

I met with a Christian lady, she was nice and kind. When we sat down for our counseling session, she was troubled and started to shake. I tried to calm her, but she said I am a very angry person to a point that makes me concerned about the people around me. She wept and said “I tried many times to get rid of this sin without success.”  I said to her the answer is so simple, come now and let us ask for the precious grace of God. Come let us ask for the help of the grace, for the Word of God is clear and explicit: For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Pray daily for the precious grace to help you.  Start your prayer by asking for the grace and you will find grace and power over this sin and any other sin. She began to pray for the grace, initially she found victory sometimes and another time she failed. When she failed the first time she was in despair. I said to her: do you think Satan is going to leave you alone? He will not. He will fight you so you give up. Come once more and ask for the grace. Every time she failed she used to call me and tell me about it, but my answer was unchanged:  so what if you failed, ask for the grace again. And so she asked for the grace many times, till she overcame the sin of anger by the help of the grace of God.

Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Grace is what saved us

“that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. {Eph 2:7-9}.  From the previous verses it is clear that we were saved by grace for it is the gift of God.

Next article will talk about the meaning of salvation in the bible and in the teaching of early fathers of the church. Do they agree or do they conflict? Does the teaching of the bible and the early fathers disagree with the current understanding…….. Please follow with us for the salvation of every soul.

Do you have a sin in your life that agonizes you? Come now to Him who shed his blood on the cross so you may have forgiveness and victory through His grace.

Saint Paul said in his epistle to Ephesians “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” {Eph 3:19-20}.

My beloved, I pray to our Lord that:

You believe that our Lord is faithful in everything written in the Holy Bible.

Yes there is power that works in us. Power to set you free, to renew, to give you victory over any weaknesses, that is the power of the precious grace.

I pray for you to receive from His fullness.

We shall meet again, God willing, to continue the subject “why Jesus came”