Understanding God's Grace

Grace is not earned. Grace is not base on "merit". Grace is used when submitting to God in humility by putting my Faith in God's will. "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (Jas 4:6, quoting Pr 3:34). God's grace is amply sufficient to enable us to live a godly life that God gives his grace only to the humble, who admit their dependence on it. If, therefore, we hope for his grace to lift us up to holiness, we must "humble before the Lord" in faith.

Grace is NOT by measure of faith by some is defined how one determined (measure) faith based on works. The Greek word alazoneia refers to being proud when you really have nothing to be proud about. I am to boast in God's grace rather than in my measure of faith.

God has given us the grace to sanctify us. The sources of "thorns" can be weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions and difficulties (which also includes sickness). Paul just needed to focus on God rather than the problem. God uses thorns (sufferings) to perfect His "power is perfected in weakness". God is saying "You should not have self-confidence and trust in yourself in the sense you believe you're capable of anything eternal that only I can provide grace and power." Only God can overcome situation as long as you trust in His GRACE. The question here is, when God given you the grace to handle the sufferings of life, did you allowed Him? That's the issue. In Philippians 2:12-13 "......continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." Thorns are not necessarily evil, but rather sanctification in which God answers our prayers according to His will. With that in mind, I am reminded that "God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8). When serving (working) in faith, as "a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power." (Ephesians 3:7). Since faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit by the conviction to submit into action, we are focus on our faith based on obedience to holiness, adding to our faith and fruit of the spirit through grace. Working on of faith means nothing if you don't act on your faith. If you don't act, then you don't have faith. Through GRACE, "Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:4). Grace of heart is a gift from God and this has nothing to do with the thorns because God change our circumstances by changing us internally, by allowing Him to lift us above our present thorn and He will lead us into His will. James says count it all joy when you fall into various trials cause trials have a perfecting work. Peter says after you've suffered a while the Lord will make you perfect. God uses suffering to reveal our spiritual condition. In the midst of the sufferings, what kind of Christian do you see yourself? God answers not by removing the pain, because the pain was productive, rather God gave Grace to endure. In this life it is inevitable and it is useful because it produces the evidence of your true spiritual condition, humility and intimacy with God and allows God to put Himself on display in His grace.

Or could be "lack of knowledge" of God's Grace to understand in God's perspective of "sufficiency" as Colossians 1:5-6 says "the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth." 1 Timothy 1:14 "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

2 Corinthians 9:8 "And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work."

2 Corinthians 12:9
God said: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Therefore I (Paul) will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Romans 5:15 "......how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!"

Romans 5:17 ".......how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ."

The attitude I am frustrated with is this: When I was younger "spiritually" as a babe, I was focusing on temporal happiness. I often ran ahead of God because to me, He didn't seem to be working fast enough for me. As a Christian, am I supposed to keep my eyes on my temporal situations in order to be happy?

We can focus on WHY but often God will not give us the answers of why until He directs us according to His will. When we learn "why", we can learn from it, however, if we do NOT know why, we are to trust God. Trials simply give us the capacity to cooperate with the process (Jam. 1:4). They allow the process to work and allow us to experience inner peace and joy in the midst of the trials. In order to handle suffering with inner joy and tranquillity, we must be able to look ahead to God’s purposes and reasons for suffering.We must understand God’s chief purpose for our lives is to be conformed to the image of Christ and He has determined in His plan to use suffering for our spiritual development. If we are going to endure suffering and the trials of life, however, we must also understand and believe in the other purposes and reasons for suffering as they are related to the chief purpose.

I have learned that FAITH means to keep myr eyes on Jesus Christ that I should not worry about my problems. Because, if I look at my problems, I will end up looking for the immediate solutions to my problems in "my own efforts" rather than God's GRACe.

Proverbs 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

James 4:14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

I have learned that my "Faith in God" have grown and I have learned that I should have faith in God in all of situations is VERY important to God.

Christ's definition of Beatitudes (Matthew 5) contradicts temporal happiness. Only God can provide happiness when I have Jesus Christ in my heart and only Jesus Christ can give me true happiness from "within". Jesus is saying to me: "Happy are those who joyfully endure problems and trials because knowing God is teaching and leading me to where He want me to go." "Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Corinthians 4:11,17).

In my OWN life, I have learned TRUE happiness with the help from the Holy Spirit. To forget my own will because God's will is BETTER. I realized that when I allow Him, my life is more peaceful and more enjoyable. I noticed that. Even though God will not take away my problems but He always been there for me when I am facing problems. I am still having problems but very very peaceful because of God's GRACE. When we most aware of our problems, we are more inclined to collapse into God's strength and experience His amazing grace. "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9).