"7" Minutes Alone with God

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ  (2 Peter 3:18) How graceful are you?  That question may make you smile if, like me, you consider yourself anything but graceful.  We generally think of gracefulness as being smoothly coordinated.  However, if we define the word graceful as being full of grace we may arrive at definitions such as: 1) the unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor of God; 2) something for nothing at God’s expense; 3) God’s riches at Christ’s expense. Jesus portrayed such evidence of God’s grace while He lived on Earth.  Throughout the 33 years of His earthly ministry, He dispensed unearned, undeserved favor as He fed multitudes of people and healed many who came to Him.  He said that as His disciples we are to do the same. Various passages give reference to different types of God’s grace to mankind: 1) Saving grace requires God’s willingness to forgive us even before we ask:  God demons...

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God,  to those who are called according to His purposes  (Romans 8:28) How vividly accurate this truth can be seen after a crisis has passed and, looking back we see how God indeed made something good of it.  But how often do we turn to these words for assurance while we are still in the middle of the situation? Nothing smooths the ragged edges of human morale like the assurance that no matter how negative the circumstances, something good will eventually come of it.  As God’s children we are told that our assurance should precede, not follow our troubles: Jesus said to Thomas, “because you have seen Me, you have believed.   Blessed (fortunate, happy) are those who have not seen and yet have believed  (John 20:29) How is it possible to see something before it happens? It is possible only by exercising faith in the provision and faithfulness of our Heavenly Father: ...