Saturday 27 June 2009

Grace Walk

I had seen the book 'Grace Walk' mentioned on some grace and glory blogs and realised that a number of folks were all saying what an impact this book had on their journey into grace. I couldn't help myself I HAD to read this book! So I brought a new and used copy from Amazon and was delighted when it arrived. I am not a particularly fast reader and sometimes feel like I am wading through a field of thick mud wondering if I will ever finish a book! Not with this one though - I just could not get enough of it! I am going to have to re-read this now with my husband he has to hear some of the stuff that McVey says!

So here are some snippits that have blessed me so very very much:-

'God never intended for our focus to be on performing and producing. He desires that our focus be on the person of Jesus Christ.'

'When you pray for God to help with your situation and things don't get any better, remember that He knows what He is doing! Just because you can't see His hand doesn't mean He isn't working. He may be using the situation to break that outer shell of self-reliance that keeps the life of Christ from being expressed through your lifestyle.'

'Adverse circumstances may be the hand of God working to bring us to the end of self-sufficiency.'

'God's purpose is not that we should rededicate our self with all it abilities, but that we should give up all help in self. We sometimes try to live for Him when He wants to live His life through us.'

'Law will cause a person to say,"Lord, help me to do the things You want me to do." Grace will cause a person to say, "Lord Jesus, I am abiding in You and You in me. Express You life through me in any way that you desire." '

'Understanding our identity is absolutely essential to our success in living the Christian life.'

'Our identity in Christ is one of the most liberating truths we will ever understand.'

'You are fully accepted by God. You are accepted because you are in Christ (Ephesians 1:6). Because Christ has received you and He is fully accepted by the Father, you are fully accepted as well! You don't need to change a thing about yourself for God to accept you. You acceptance isn't based on what you do, but on who you are.'

It is important to see yourself as God sees you. You know how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly through the process of metamorphosis. The caterpillar weaves a cocoon around itself and a short time later emerges as a butterfly.

If you were to see a butterfly, it would never occur to you to say,
"Hey everybody! Come and look at this good-looking converted worm!"
Why not? After all, it was a worm. And it was "converted." No, now it is a new
creature, and you don't think of it in terms of what it was.
You see it as it is now - a butterfly.
In exactly the same way, God see you as His new creature in Christ.
Although you might not always act like a good butterfly - you might land
on things you shouldn't, or forget you are a butterfly and crawl around
with your old worm buddies - the truth of the matter is,
you are never going to be a worm again!
It was liberating to understand just how God had made me into a butterfly. I was no longer a worm! In no way do I intend to convey the idea that understanding my identity caused me to live sinlessly. However, I have found that when I do sing now, I soon see it as foolish because I know that a sinful attitude or action contradicts my new nature.'

'Grace can never be repaid. It has no price, no because it is worthless, but because it is priceless.'

'God's love and acceptance are totally unconditional.'

'A person's behaviour has absolutely no influence on God's love. He loves you because, in His grace, He has chosen to do so. You can't do anything to gain God's acceptance, because Jesus has already done everything to cause the Father to accept you. You are fully accepted by God because you are in Christ. You can't improve on total acceptance, and God already accepts you totally.'

'The law says, "You must, you ought," while grace causes a person to say, "I want to!"'

'God is not interested in what we can do for Him. He can do anything that He needs done! He doesn't want what we can do - He just wants us!'

'The core of the Christian life doesn't revolve around doing, but it is grounded in being.'

'We are Christ's bride, not His hostage.'

'Legalism turns prayer into a boring monologue, while grace turns it into a delightful conversation.'

'Someone said that they don't bother talking to God about the small things because He's so busy. Remember this - it's all small to God! He doesn't need to conserve His energy for the big stuff. He is omnipotent! You won't drain Him of His power. If He knows how many hairs are on your head, He must care about every single details of your life, regardless of how small it may seem to you.'

'Christians need to give as much credit to God's ability to lead as they give to the ability of Satan to mislead!'

'Grace makes evangelism a real joy instead of a religious job.'

'When people are consumed with desire, they can't be stopped! Grace inflames the desire to witness. It ignites compassion toward the lost and motivates Christians to naturally witness with supernatural power. Grace-based evangelism is nothing less than an excitement about Jesus that is contagious to others. Grace motivates one to share a Person, not a plan.'

'The goal of evangelism is not to obtain decisions for Christ, but to introduce people to Christ.'

Gosh - I could go on and on and on - there are some awesome things in this book to encourage, inspire and help in the journey of grace - I make my decision today to live under grace, to be free to enjoy God, to live free from condemnation, to see myself as accepted, loved, clothed int he very righteousness of Jesus. Today I chose to give up trying and trying and trying and to rest in what Christ has won for me, I may have to make this choice tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day until grace is routed through me as a name through stick of rock.............

Thursday 4 June 2009

Oversized, superabounding grace.

Here's a great quote on how big grace is:-

"There is enough grace in God's heart of love to save and keep saved for time and eternity, every sinner that ever has or ever will live, and then enough left over to save a million more universes full of sinners, were there such, and then some more. There is enough grace available to give every saint constant victory over sin, and then some more. There is enough grace to meet and cope with all the sorrows, heartaches, difficulties, temptations, testings, and trials of human existence, and more added to that. God's salvation is an oversize salvation. It is shock-proof, stain proof, unbreakable, all-sufficient. It is equal to every emergency, for it flows from the heart of an infinite God freely bestowed and righteously given through the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord on the Cross. Salvation is all of grace. Trust God's grace. It is a superabounding grace." Quote Kenneth Wuest.