Grace What Have You Done?

Oh Grace, what have you done?!

As I have mentioned previously,

Grace is not a verb-unmerited favor.

Instead it is a noun-a person,

and that person is Jesus.

I know that this year has been a year of revelation for me.

A year of enlightenment.

A year of unveiling.

A year of freedom.

A year of becoming fearless.

A year of the revelation of Grace...

of Jesus,

and what He truly accomplished when He died on the cross.

In the Old Testament,

God took his finger and carved on stone the 10 commandments,

the law.

Galatians says the law was given,

"alongside the promise to show people their sins.  

But the law was designed to last only until the 

coming of a child who was promised...."

5:19

So until this point in time in the Old Testament,

man was not fully aware of their sins.

The law came to show them how to live sinless.

Between this time and the time Jesus was born,

there were over 600 laws in place.

Could you imagine having to live under that?!

Do you try to abide by these commandments and laws now?

It is simply impossible.

It is impossible to live by the 10 commandments alone,

much less adding 600 more to it!

If you think you keep the law,

let's do a self check....

Do you keep the Sabbath?

Do you stay home from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday

and do no work? No mowing your yard.  No going out to eat.

No cleaning or laundry.

Probably not!

Have you ever taken anything from work?

A pen, a pack of post its, made copies on the company's dime?

Well there goes thou shall not steal.

Have you ever really not liked someone?

Like hated them?!

And now you have thrown murder out the window.

I could keep on going but let's take a moment to talk about 

the Good News!

When Jesus was born,

He was born into law.

And He preached law,

but in preaching law He also pointed out

how we cannot keep it.

2 Corinthians 3:7 calls the law the ministry of death and condemnation.

"But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones,

was so glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the 

face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was 

passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

For is the ministry of condemnation had glory,

the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory."

So Jesus took that which was impossible for us upon Himself

and with His body He crucified it on the cross so we could be free from it!

We are no longer bound by the law or commandments.

We are free!

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone 

who believes."

Romans 10:4

Jesus was that promised child that was mentioned in Galatians.

With Him and his death, burial and resurrection came Grace.

Jesus is Grace.

He brought a New Covenant for us when He poured out

His life on that tree.

"I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless.

For if keeping the law could make us right with God,

then there was no need for Christ to die."

Galatians 2:21

He died for this,

to reconcile us to our Father,

for us to be healthy, free and prosperous.

To live fully in His Grace.

Isn't it just beautiful?!!!

There is so much revelation in this message of Grace and I pray 

I can share it with all of you eloquently and with the honor and beauty 

it deserves.

This has completely transformed my life and my relationship with the Lord.

I am not the same person I was when I first started blogging again 

8 months ago.

Once you have tasted of the freedom that is in this message,

there is no way you can go back to law or what most churches are now-

a mix of law and grace.

I am so full of Him and of joy, hope and expectancy.

I feel like I have been completely reborn,

I've been given a new life.

A life of Grace!!!

A Reformation of Grace

For the past few weeks there has been one word that has

been in my spirit so loudly.

Reformation.

Reformation is from the Latin word reformato,
which means restoration, renewal.

We are in such a pivotal, amazing time in history.

We are at the beginning of a reformation.
A reformation in our homes.
A reformation in our churches.
A reformation in our country.
A reformation in our world.
A reformation of Grace.

I dare to say this is the third reformation of the church.
The first was in Acts.
The second in 1517 when Martin Luther hung his thesis on the doors.
And the third is now.

With the reformation of the church in 1517 these things happened,
-it triggered wars.
-there were persecutions.
-and the Catholic Church of Counter Reformation was birthed;
which grew more spiritual,
more literate,
and more educated.
(Kinda sounds like the present condition of believers.)

On October 31, 2017 it will be the 500th anniversary
of the reformation of the church.
What I thought was interesting is the meaning of 500.
-Anointed One.
-Superb Jubilee
-The 500th book in the Bible is Psalms 22 which is the
foreshadowing of Christ's crucifixion.
-and it also means Grace.

There are so many signs and prophetic words that point to what we are
entering into now both as believers and as a country....
and time after time I see the word reformation or restoration.

2,000 years ago, Jesus took the law-death upon Himself
and with His body he nailed the law to a tree...
the cross.

1,500 years later, God poured out the revelation of Grace into a man,
Martin Luther, and then Grace was nailed to a tree....
a door.

And so began the reformation of the church.

Martin Luther said, "...salvation and subsequently, eternal life are not earned
by good deeds but are received ONLY as the FREE gift of
God's GRACE....."

Every since then we have tried to keep the law and do good works
thinking it is what keeps us in right relationship with our Father.
And we have completely taken back on the whole reason Christ died.

This Grace brings freedom, fullness, and new life.
This Grace rids you from striving, from performance,
from guilt and shame.

This Grace abolishes fear!!!
There is no room for fear in Grace!!!

This Grace crucified the law!!
That which was meant to kill us by trying to put us into bondage
by keeping it, was taken care of once and for all on the cross!

This Grace cannot be contained or measured!

This Grace is Jesus!!

This Grace is at the helm of this reformation that we are entering!!
Like I said above,
We are in such a pivotal, amazing time in history.
Lift your eyes,
Be encouraged.
Oh, Grace.