The Grace of God

Always now


 2 Corinthians 6:1-2   
1)  And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain—   
2)   for He says,
      “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU,
      AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.”
   Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”


The grace you had yesterday will not do for today. Grace is the overflowing favour of God; you can always reckon it is there to draw upon. “In much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses”; that is where the test for patience comes. Are you failing the grace of God there? Are you saying ‘Oh, well, I won’t count this time?’ It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you; it is taking the grace of God now. We make prayer the preparation for work, it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. Don’t say ‘I will endure this until I can get away and pray.’ Pray now; draw on the grace of God in the moment of need. Prayer is the most practical thing, it is not the reflex action of devotion. Prayer is the last thing in which we learn to draw on God’s grace.


"In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours,”in all these things manifest a drawing upon the grace of God that will make you a marvel to yourself and to others. Draw now, not presently: The one word in the spiritual vocabulary is Now. Let circumstances bring you where they will, keep drawing on the grace of God in every conceivable condition you may be in. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be humiliated without manifesting the slightest trace of anything but His grace.  “Having nothing …” Never reserve anything. Pour out the best you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful about the treasure God gives. This is poverty triumphant.

Chambers, O. (1993). My utmost for his highest 

Grace.  What a wonderful gift of God.  His grace is always there for us.  Sad as it is, we sinners are always in need of the grace of God.  All of us fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23) but forgiveness is just a prayer away as God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins (John 1:9).  Grace is there to cover our sins but we as true believers need to repent (change our direction) of our sins and through that grace become more Christlike in our actions, our thoughts, our words, and in our direction.  The new body that we received in our faith through the gift of God has forever changed us and our sinful ways.  (Romans 6)  

One of my favorite expressions in the NASB Bible translation is Paul's emphatic "May it never be!!"  In the ESV it is translated "By no means!" and in other Bibles it is translated as "Certainly not!"  In the Message, a paraphrase Bible, it is "I should hope not!"  What Paul is saying in Romans 6 is that as believers we are under grace but also as believers we have Christ living in us and changing us to be more like Him who was without sin.  There is no other way.

Prayer.  I have always been embarrassed to pray in public.  I am not able to pray these wonderful elaborate prayers that others seem to be able to do.  I am not ashamed to pray and when asked I will offer a prayer.  However, when I hear some of the wonderful prayers of others I feel so very inadequate in what I can offer.  My prayers always seem to be short, simple and direct to the point.  

Recently though I have come to realize, as I have been studying and blogging concerning prayer, that it is not my public prayers that are important; it is my private and sincere heart felt prayers that count.  I have come to understand that it is what comes out of the heart, not out of the mouth, that gets the attention of God.  (Matthew 6)   And when I am alone I can talk to God in any way that I desire knowing that He will not judge what I have to say, as I fear others might, but will look at the sincerity of what is in my heart.  I am comfortable with that.

There has been an interesting side note to all of my recent studying and thinking about prayer:  I  am finding myself praying more often.  It seems that these days prayer is always in my thoughts and I am finding that during the day, when my brain is not otherwise engaged in another activity, prayer comes to mind.  Not long ones and certainly not elaborate ones, but heartfelt ones.  Perhaps this is what Paul means when he tells us to pray incessantly.