Finding True Freedom

Finding

True

Freedom

The Power

Of Grace in a

Teen’s Life

Lorraine Peterson

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Finding True Freedom

About the Author

LORRAINE PETERSON was born in Red Wing, Minnesota, grew up on a

farm near Ellsworth, Wisconsin, and now resides in El Paso, Texas. She lived for

some years in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. She received her B.A. (in history) from

North Park College in Chicago, and has taken summer courses from the University

of Minnesota and the University of Mexico in Mexico City.

Lorraine has taught high school and junior high. She has been an advisor to

nondenominational Christian clubs in Minneapolis public schools, has taught

teenage Bible studies, and continues to work with young people. She has written

several bestselling devotional books for teens:

If God Loves Me, Why Can't I Get My Locker Open?

Falling Off Cloud Nine and Other High Places

Why Isn’t God Giving Cash Prizes?

Real Characters in the Making

Dying of Embarrassment & Living to Tell About It

Anybody Can Be Cool, But Awesome Takes Practice

If the Devil Made You Do It, You Blew It!

Radical Advice From the Ultimate Wise Guy

If You Really Trust Me, Why Can't I Stay Out Later?

How to Get a Life … No Strings Attached!

Please Give Me Another Chance, Lord

Trying to Get Toothpaste Back Into the Tube

Lord, I Haven’t Talked to You Since the Last Crisis, But …

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Finding True Freedom

Preface

Today, a lot of people say they believe there is a God. But there are many

who consider themselves His equal – they think they are “little gods” in the making.

Some feel they can boss Him around by using correct prayer formulas. Others think

of themselves as enlightened beings who have only to shed a few old-fashioned

ideas in order to exercise their powers more freely. Humanists proclaim that men

and women are the center of the universe – responsible for creating their own

happiness and reason for existing.

And so we live in a world where people demand rights and privileges. The

idea that we don’t deserve everything we can get – plus a lot more – is alien. The

concept of sin for many people today is out of the question. But that’s exactly what

the Bible teaches. Without an all-powerful and loving God dealing with people who

are sinful and needy, grace couldn’t exist.

Those who accept a biblical worldview and believe they are saved by grace

through faith are bombarded with self-help ideologies, climb-the-ladder

philosophies, and a there’s no place for misfits mentality. The produce-or-else mode

can easily infiltrate Christianity to the point that people who know they are saved

by grace feel that it’s totally up to them to make a success of their Christianity. The

fact that God has grace for overcoming temptation, facing everyday problems,

transforming our traumas, and changing our circumstances escapes them

completely. They pay a terrible price for their ignorance.

The having no hope and without God in the world younger generation

desperately needs to learn about God's grace, which offers them forgiveness, eternal

life, the sense of God's favor, total acceptance, and the Lord’s blessing and strength

for each situation. Teens who face chaos in their homes, meaninglessness in their

studies, and emptiness in their search for pleasure need to know that they are

objects of God's goodness and favor, that they have a heavenly Father who is

cheering for them and is always ready to help them.

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Finding True Freedom

Acknowledgments

This book would never have been written if my friend Dr. Nancy Larson

hadn’t graciously arranged interviews for me with two theology professors from the

Biblical Studies Department of Bethel College, Dr. Greg Boyd and Dr. Roger

Olson. I wanted to get their perspectives on the thinking and needs of teens who

have grown up in evangelical churches. For the most part they confirmed my

presuppositions. However, both of them made comments that shocked and

disturbed me. They told me that most young people from good Christian churches

don’t really understand the grace of God. As I did the research for this book, the

reasons became more apparent. We’re now living in a graceless society, and it’s

hard to keep the thinking of the world from infiltrating and contaminating biblical

doctrine.

I determined to try to do something to help our youth understand and

experience the most basic concept of the New Testament: the grace of God.

Looking up and studying every verse about grace was both exciting and

illuminating. I found I had a lot more to learn about the grace of God. I'm extremely

thankful for the privilege of reading three outstanding books: The Grace Awakening

by Charles Swindoll, Why Grace Changes Everything by Chuck Smith, and The

Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges. These authors heavily influenced the message

of this book.

I appreciate the prayers and encouragement of my sister, Lynn, and my

brother-in-law, Earl, along with my nieces and nephews Beth, Brett, Kaari and

Kirk, spouses Sterling and Michalle, and my roommate, Alma. I'm indebted to my

talented and understanding editor, David Hazard, who always does a fantastic job.

But most of all I'm thankful to God, who did more than I could have asked or

imagined to help me put this book together. I stand in awe of His amazing grace!

Lorraine Peterson

About the Author

Preface

Acknowledgments

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Finding True Freedom

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

NAME

PAGE

1

THE WORD FOR TODAY

7

2

TAKE A SECOND LOOK

18

3

SPRITUAL WONDER DRUG – YOU NEED A PRESCRIPTION!

29

4

PREVENTION BEATS CURE

39

5

LOVE AND OBEDIENCE DO MIX

54

6

A PUZZLE NEEDS EVERY PIECE

72

7

ATTEMPTING THE IMPOSSIBLE – RECIPE FOR FAILURE

84

8

GRACE: THE BEST WART REMOVER

95

9

GOD’S GRACE TURNS NOBODIES INTO SOMEBODIES

104

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Finding True Freedom

CHAPTER ONE

“THE WORD FOR TODAY”

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The man on the platform was so disfigured it was difficult to look at him.

And yet his words were riveting.

The victim of an exploding grenade in Vietnam, he had spoken to the

Armstrong High School student body about how to overcome obstacles. His story

was impressive. In the morning’s assembly he had convinced Scott that he had

some special “secret” to tell them about life – and so when the guy announced he

was speaking at the civic auditorium that evening, Scott and several friends went to

hear him.

After a few jokes and moving stories, the man paused. Then he announced,

“What I'm going to say in the next ten minutes is the most important message you'll

ever hear in your life.”

The audience fell silent; Scott squeezed the hand of his girlfriend, Emily, and

shifted uneasily in his seat.

Scanning the audience, the speaker continued. “Did you know that you get to

decide where you'll spend eternity – in heaven or in hell? I'm not going to tell you

to do a bunch of good deeds to earn a passport to heaven. That’s not the way it

works. All of us have selfish, rotten motives, and we do some pretty terrible things

to each other. If we got what we deserved, we’d all end up in hell. God wants to

give us life and happiness from the inside – just what we’re looking for in all the

weird things we do, in the stuff we buy to try to improve our lives, in every selfish,

hurtful thing we do to other people, and in our attempts to trash someone else in

order to feel better about ourselves.

“But we can only find what we’re looking for – life – if we stop doing things

our way and trust God to show us His way. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus

to die in our place in order to pay for our sin, something we could never do for

ourselves. First, we have to admit our guilt for the wrong we do – and not excuse it.

Then we need to accept this unearned kindness of God, called grace. The result is a

lifetime of true happiness – plus getting to spend eternity with Him!”

Scott, his girlfriend, Emily, and her friend Rochelle all heard the word

“grace” for the first time.

Scott was interested. His father was a college physics professor who believed

that matter is all there is. Scott had always assumed there was no life after death and

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Finding True Freedom

that people ceased to exist when they stopped breathing. His father said brave,

intellectually honest people accept this reality and create meaning for their own

lives.

But there was a big problem between Scott and his dad. His father was raised

in a strict religious home, and he demanded that Scott not use drugs, stay out after

midnight, or break any laws or school rules. He expected him to bring home good

grades and to “contribute to society.” But the rest of his philosophy had made an

impact on Scott. He reasoned that if there is no God, and matter is all there is, then

he was responsible to nobody – not even his dad – and there was no such thing as

right and wrong. His relationship with his dad was a war, marked by occasional

truces. Bottom line: Scott did whatever he pleased without his dad’s knowledge.

Now Scott found himself wishing there really was a heaven and a sure way to

get there. But the speaker’s words seemed like some fairy tale. He didn’t like being

called “guilty of sin” – after all, weren’t his drives and tendencies completely

genetically programmed?

Sure, he’d heard champion figure skaters referred to as graceful – but the

idea of God – whoever He was – showing him undeserved kindness? And sure, he

felt guilty sometimes, but wasn’t that because of his father’s unrealistic

expectations? Maybe “God's grace” was for murderers, but Scott squared his

shoulders and decided he wasn’t guilty enough to need it …

Beside him, Emily was lost in her own thoughts as the man on the platform

continued speaking. Emily was a straight a student, a champion tennis player, a lead

in the school play, and a homecoming queen candidate. Her parents had taught her

how to use the system to get to the top. For her everything was a challenge: Figure

out what each teacher, coach, or friend wanted, and then study harder than anyone

else, practice more hours, or find out how to use influence – anything to wind up on

top and in control.

Emily did go to church, but she’d always had the impression that you earned

your way to heaven by doing more good things than bad. She was a good person

and figured she’d have nothing to worry about. She excelled in everything she did.

The idea that God would allow people into heaven when they didn’t deserve it –

well, it made her feel irritated. It didn’t seem fair to her that some bum who was

strung out on drugs could get into heaven by the same grace as a good person like

herself ….

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Finding True Freedom

Next to Emily, her friend Rochelle was having a hard time. Rochelle was into

the New Age. She attended a meditation class and had done quite a bit of reading.

She was on her way to discovering the god within. What is he talking about? She

thought. Each person has their own truth, and there’s no reason for anyone to feel

guilty. She had been taught that the concept of sin was old-fashioned because there

are no absolute moral values. God's grace sounded like something from another

planet.

Now the speaker was concluding. “Before you dismiss the grace of God as

something you don’t need, consider this: Suppose all of you became infected with a

deadly virus, guaranteed to be fatal within twenty-one days. And suppose I was the

only doctor with access to a brand-new, rare, and expensive medication that would

cure you. Would you admit that you were dying and unable to cure yourselves?

Suppose I was offering it to you for free? Would you accept the shots from me –

even, say, if your country was at war with mine? Would you not humbly appreciate

the completely undeserved kindness I was showing you – even through your

country had declared itself my adversary? My giving all of you the lifesaving

injections is an example of grace.

“The Bible tells us this,” he went on, “that ‘at just the right time, when we

were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for an

unrighteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But

God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ

died for us.’ (Romans 5: 6-8) That’s God's grace.”

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******* UNDERSTANDING THE GRACE THING *********

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*** NO WONDER GRACE ISN’T IN MODERN VOCABULARY ***

“For it is by Grace you have been saved through faith”. Ephesians 2: 8)

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*GRACE DOESN’T FIT INTO MOST MODERN PHILOSOPHIES*

“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith”.

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*NO WONDER GRACE IS A WORD WE DON’T HEAR A LOT! *

“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith” Ephesians 2: 8.)

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***** GRACE ISN’T NATURAL – IT’S SUPERNATURAL *******

THE INGREDIENTS OF GRACE

A DESPERATE NEED

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REQUIRING A DIVINE SOLUTION

CAUSING SUPERNATURAL CHANGES

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MAKING AVAILABLE INCREDIBLE GIFTS

FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T EARN IT THAT’S GRACE!

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CHAPTER 2

“TAKE A SECOND LOOK”

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Ever since she was a little girl, Jena had heard that Jesus had died for her

sins. She’d prayed a Jesus come into my heart prayer in her Sunday school class

along with all the other kids at least a dozen times. Doing and saying all the right

things was a way of life for her. Her family didn’t miss a church service.

Sometimes Jena tried to read the Bible but never got much out of it. She

prayed for help when she needed it and before meals – if she was at home or with

other Christians.

But at school Jena mostly tried to fit in so no one would suspect that she was

different. While she managed to avoid the really bad stuff – drugs, alcohol, and sex

– she made a lot of compromises. She lied about late homework assignments, cut

other kids down, and occasionally cheated on quizzes. The only reason she never

dated the pagan she had a crush on was that he never asked her out. Jena just

assumed that all the other kids in her youth group lived double lives, too.

She figured it this way; She had to try to be good, show up at church, give

money in the offering, volunteer for youth group projects, smile at the pastor, and

keep her language clean. Otherwise she might miss heaven. But since she was

definitely better than most kids she knew, maybe God would overlook the times she

deliberately chose to give in to peer pressure instead of doing the right thing. If she

were to be completely honest, she’d have to admit that her lifestyle was confining,

confusing, and pretty boring.

When Derrick moved there from another state, Jena was attracted to his looks

and his personality. Very quickly she saw that his relationship with God was a lot

different from hers. Derrick was out to revolutionize the youth group. When he

started a prayer meeting on Sunday evenings, Jena went – only because it might be

a chance to land a date with a cute guy.

Derrick talked about the incredible answers to prayer they’d had in his

church’s youth group back in Ohio. He suggested that they pray conversationally

for forty-five minutes. Anyone could speak up to ask for prayer or to pray for

someone else. Jim, Brooke, and Kayla seemed to be with him – but then they were

the “spiritual giants” of the youth group.

Jena prayed a couple of times but didn’t feel she was really communicating

with God. She was relieved when the prayer time was over. Now she could be

herself again.

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Finding True Freedom

When Derrick found out he’d be going to Jena’s high school, he just assumed

that she and Kayla would help him start a Bible study. Jena panicked. She couldn’t

let all her friends at school think she was a religious fanatic. Derrick was planning

to witness to the kids at school and genuinely wanted to win them to Christ. A

couple of the pastor’s sermons almost made her feel guilty for not sharing her faith

– but she never seriously considered actually talking about God and Jesus with her

friends at school. No way. Besides, she couldn’t honestly say that Jesus had

changed her life. She dreaded starting school in September.

The day before school began, there was a rally for all the Christian kids in the

city. Jena boarded the church bus, along with everyone else – and to her dismay,

they arrived so early that they got front-row seats. Still, the singing was okay, and

she had to admit that the mini-concert was really good. But after that came the

speaker, and his penetrating blue eyes seemed to look right into hers.

He said some pretty shocking things.

“My guess is that the majority of you aren’t really Christians at all,” he

began, “because a Christian is someone who has Christ on the inside, living His life

through you. I've seen so many kids who grow up in the church without really

understanding or living by the grace of God. ‘Grace’ is an old word. It means

getting something you couldn’t have worked to earn. It’s the power of God in you –

giving you freedom, new life, happiness, guidance, and power to serve Him.

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“People usually figure that if they go through certain processes in the

Christian-producing factory – which is their church – they’ll have a reservation in

heaven. They think that if they believe the right things, repeat the words ‘Jesus,

come into my heart,’ and if they talk and act like everybody else at church, and do

more good things than bad things, they're Christians. Not necessarily. You can do

all those things and just be conforming to your Christian culture. Are you with me?”

Other kids were nodding. Some were silent. Jena felt shaken and unhappy.

“A lot of you think you’ve never done anything bad enough to really need

God's grace. Frankly, you’ve been brainwashed. You’ve heard that sin doesn’t

exist. Or that we do bad things because of the way we’re brought up. Or that each

person has his or her own individual truth. Or that certain things aren’t wrong

anymore because society now accepts them. Some of you here tonight break God's

commandments regularly and don’t feel guilty anymore. There’s no sense of the

total holiness of God, no concept of His perfect nature and His aversion to all sin –

even socially acceptable things like pride, lying, jealousy, and rebellion against

authority.

“How many of you have ever realized that you're sinful and separated from

God? How many of you know that you can't possibly save yourself, no matter what

you do? – and that you desperately need God?”

Jena had gone from unhappy to puzzled. She’d always thought she was pretty

good – she’d never stolen anything or taken drugs. Sure, she talked back to her

mother, cheated on a few really hard tests, and sneaked off to view movies her

parents had forbidden her to see. But all kids did stuff like that. If God judged that

strictly, wouldn’t hell be overpopulated?

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The evangelist continued. “How would you like it if somebody made a movie

of all your thoughts? Would you proudly invite all your friends to come see it?

What we think shows us what we really are. All of us need a radical heart change.

Christianity is something we live from the inside out. It’s not just a bunch of words,

a set of beliefs, or certain so-called spiritual activities – like church or witnessing.”

Jena had become worried. She never realized that her thoughts counted.

There were times she really felt she wanted to kill her sister. She’d never do it, of

course, but her anger was that deep.

“God's forgiveness and help is for those who first admit they are helpless.

Dump all that garbage you’ve heard about each person deciding what’s right and

what’s wrong. If we break God's commandments, not only will we face some ugly

consequences here and now, but we’ve rebelled against Almighty God. People are

responsible for their moral decisions. We are not society’s victims, hurting

ourselves and each other because we have no choice. The truth is, we sin because

we refuse to accept God's truth, and we’re at fault. We’re guilty because we refuse

to receive outside help from God.

“If Jesus hasn’t changed your life, your first step is to admit that you're in a

trap and you can't get out of it without His help. You have to own up to the fact that

you're guilty of doing a whole bunch of things the Bible calls sin. Worst of all, your

self-centered thinking won't allow you to step down into your right place where you

let God call the shots. You want your own way. I'll bet you even know what’s right,

but you lack the power to do it. Maybe you're living in a mess that your sin got you

into and you can't get out.”

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By now Jena was really upset. She felt sorry for the way she treated her mom

and her younger sister. For the first time she saw that God really made no difference

in her life outside of church. And that her “god” was popularity.

“Jesus died for you,” the man insisted, “and you deny Him in front of your

friends. You ignore His work while you watch hours of TV. You make decisions

without even considering what He is wanting you to do. We’re all guilty of ignoring

Jesus and going our own way – of being our own judge of right and wrong. We’re

all incredibly selfish people. We need God's grace – the power of His love and

forgiveness to change us deep within.

“The first step is to admit that we’re wrong and that God is right. Next, we

must hate our sin and be willing to turn from it. Like little kids who've dumped

paint on our clothes, we can't eradicate sin by our own power. But we can cooperate

with God by being willing to permit Him to cleanse away bad habits and wrong

thinking. That’s called repentance. We don’t ask Jesus to come into our hearts as a

guest who sits quietly in the living room. He’s the owner of the house, and He has

the right to clean out the closets of our minds and change everything. He needs to

change us to be at home in us.”

At last Jena saw her problem – she’d been a pretend Christian. She’d been

going through the motions but without a changed heart. Now she could see that she

really was a sinner in need of God's grace…

If the idea of God's sending Jesus to suffer and die for your sins in order to

make it possible for you to have eternal life just leaves you cold, possibly …

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… you’ve bought into the world’s thinking so much that sin doesn’t seem so

bad and you have no sense of offending a holy God.

OR MAYBE…

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…you’ve heard it so often that you just take it for granted.

OR ELSE PERHAPS….

…..you’ve never taken it personally.

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APPRECIATE

Once, a good king sent his son, the prince, to visit an island in his realm

where a rebellion was in progress. The king’s appointed governor, who was in

charge of the island, had become corrupt, and now he hated having to answer to the

king. The moment the prince arrived on the island, the governor’s soldiers put the

young man in a terrible dungeon. The prince was beaten every day, fed stale bread

and water, and periodically brought before the island’s tribesmen, who shouted

insults and pelted him with rotten eggs and tomatoes.

An admiral of the royal navy was passing near the island with his fleet when

a violent storm forced him to sail all his ships into the small harbor. Coming ashore,

he learned of the rebellion and saw the tribesmen mocking the prince. His sailors

rescued the prince and arrested all the people involved in this unprecedented assault

against royalty.

Back in the king’s court, judges sentenced the governor and his follows to

death.

But to everyone’s astonishment, the prince took up their cause! He offered to

die so they could go free. The whole court went into an uproar. It made no sense.

The rebels did not deserve it. And – to everyone’s shock – the king nodded in

approval. His own son would be put to death for crimes he didn’t commit!

Now, it’s hard to imagine a human prince doing such a thing. But Jesus, the

Prince of Heaven, did even more for you. Knowing every hidden thought, each ugly

motive, and all our monstrous selfishness, He decided to take the punishment you

and I deserve. Instead of being excited about His love and generosity, we try to hide

our sins. We assume that our good works will get us into heaven. And we ignore

God, who sent His only Son to die for us!

We should pay for our wrongdoing – but that is not what God wants. He

wants to forgive and to love. And so He made a way for our sins to be cleansed

away – even though you and I don’t deserve it and can't work to earn it. That is

grace!

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the

Blessed One?”

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“I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the

right had of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

The high priest tore his clothes. “Why do we need any more

witnesses?” he asked. “You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?”

They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit

at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said,

“Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him …

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release

Barabbas instead.

“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?”

Pilate asked them.

“Crucify him!” they shouted.

“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had

Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

The soldiers led Jesus away … and called together the whole company

of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then wove a crown of thorns and

set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him.

Falling on their knees, they worshiped hm. And when they had mocked him,

they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led

him out to crucify him.

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “… My God, my

God, why have you forsaken me?” … With a loud cry Jesus breathed his last

…

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die

to sin and live for righteousness…

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now

crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace

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of God he might taste death for everyone. (Mark 14: 61 – 65; 15: 11- 20, 34,

37; 1 Peter 2: 24; Hebrews 2: 9.)

Yes! That’s the amazing grace of God!

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CHAPTER 3

“SPRITUAL WONDER DRUG – YOU

NEED A PRESCRIPTION!”

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It was 3 a.m. and Fabiola couldn’t even think of sleeping. Her eyes were red

and swollen from all the sobbing. She felt exhausted and numb. Today would have

been her first wedding anniversary. Could it really be that only a year ago she had

walked down the aisle with Bart, certain that a most beautiful dream had come true?

Theirs had been a Cinderella meets Prince Charming romance. Her father worked

as a janitor for the huge computer company owned by Bart’s father. They had met

at the company Christmas party.

When Bart first asked her out, Fabiola didn’t believe that he could be

interested in her. Besides coming from such a wealthy, respected family, he’d just

graduated with a master’s degree from a prestigious university, and he was such a

fantastic tennis player he had a chance of making the Olympic team. She was only

the daughter of immigrants, who had gone to work at the telephone company right

out of high school. But Bart fell in love with her. In a few months they pulled off

the perfect wedding and an idyllic honeymoon. But …

Only three weeks later, Bart went to see his doctor because of a pain in his

spine. Extensive tests showed that he had cancer, and it had already spread through

his body.

Suddenly their lives revolved around doctors and hospitals, chemotherapy

and blood tests, operating rooms and intensive care. But nothing helped.

And now, a widow at 22, Fabiola did not know what to do next.

As she lay on the bed, exhausted, Fabiola remembered something. About a

month before he died, Bart had told her, “Honey, when I'm not around anymore, I

want you to open the box I left for you in the bookcase in my office. It looks just

like a book, so you'll have to keep searching until you find it.”

The streets were empty as Fabiola drove to Bart’s office, where a night

watchman let her in. Systematically, she took each book from its place until she

lifted a large volume from the second shelf and realized it was too light to be a real

book. Eagerly she opened it.

There she found a beautiful heart-shaped locket with the inscription, “I love

you from heaven.” Inside were the words, “But Jesus loves you more.”

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A letter in Bart’s handwriting reminded her that they were parted only for a

short time – and that they’d spend eternity in heaven together. Really, forever and

ever!

As Fabiola pressed the locket to her heart, she felt her spirit lift. Back at

home, she fell into bed and slept soundly. Peacefully.

For some time, the locket gave her courage to go on. But after a while, the

loneliness, the painful awareness of all she'd lost engulfed her again.

One day she reopened the box where she’d found a little note for each day.

She quickly read those for the two weeks she’d missed and smiled at the last one:

Darling, don’t forget to pay the house insurance. The last letter in the series

directed her to a new hiding place. There she found an envelope with the money for

her and her younger sister to take a vacation! The messages from Bart each day,

with the Bible verse that was always included, gave her the strength to carry on.

Still, Fabiola felt panicky. The notes couldn’t go on forever. At the end, Bart

had been too weak even to write. What would she do without this special

encouragement?

But then she remembered a sermon her pastor had given. “God's grace,” he

had said, “starts off with the free gift of salvation – God's love and favor. But grace

doesn’t end there – it just begins. God had His special packages of power, wisdom,

joy, courage, peace, love, and the ability to overcome temptation, which we can

receive moment by moment in order to cope successfully with each situation. We

don’t deserve these things any more than we deserve our salvation – and we receive

them as free gifts the same way that we accept forgiveness of sins.

“The sad thing is,” he had said, “that many people know they can't earn their

salvation by being good, but they just assume that once they’ve received Jesus they

can become better by trying harder. So they end up attempting to impress God and

others. Because of the constant pressure they put on themselves, they burn out.

“But, there is a better way. God has provided His powerful grace for each

situation. Grace is that special spiritual medicine that gives us whatever we need,

whenever we need it – if only we’re willing to swallow our pride and tell God we

need grace. Grace – so that Tom’s insults won't get to us. Grace – to treat sarcastic

Sarah as a friend. And even more grace to listen to Mr. Thompson’s tirades without

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exploding. We need to ask God for His grace in each family crisis and more grace

to do the right thing, even if it’s unpopular.

In 2 Peter 3: 18, the apostle tells us, ‘But grow in the grace and knowledge of

our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’ So many people assume that it’s their

responsibility to attempt to grow as a Christian. That doesn’t make sense. Can you

imagine some mother telling her kid, ‘If you don’t grow, I'll punish you’? Now, it’s

entirely reasonable for that mother to make rules about things that will affect her

child’s growth, like ‘Eat your vegetables’ or ‘Go to bed so you'll get enough sleep.’

Peter is telling believers what kind of soil to grow in – the grace and knowledge of

Jesus Christ.

Ignorance of the truth, self-help programs centered around humanistic

solutions, and guided journeys into the realm of the imagination – these things can

stunt our spiritual growth.

“What provides the ‘soil’ for your spirit to grow? A constant dependence on

the grace of God – which means asking for it and receiving it for every situation.

Also adding to your knowledge of the Lord Jesus by studying the Bible daily.

Making friends with others who love and trust God. Every Christian needs to learn

more about the grace of God.”

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Well, thought Fabiola, I need that kind of help. So she started praying, Lord,

give me your grace. I need strength, Christlike thinking, peace of mind, wisdom to

make good decisions – and help to get through this day …

Personally, I can tell you this kind of prayer and trust works in real life. I had

just turned eighteen. A couple of ladies invited me to go with them to visit a woman

I’d never met. Her name was Helen. I had nothing better to do and tagged along.

Little did I realize that the two-hour visit would live in my memory forever!

We followed a gravel road and then turned into a driveway leading to a

weather-beaten old barn and a shabby farmhouse. A small, hunchbacked woman

with a radiant smile came to the door. All Helen talked about was Jesus – and her

face lit up whenever she mentioned His name!

After a while we were ushered into a bedroom to visit briefly with her dying

mother. The thin, pale face and the odor of the sickroom depressed me. But Helen

remained undaunted. Her faith seemed unshakable. This brave soul – whose dream

of attending a Bible institute seemed impossible – was about to be left handicapped

and alone. But she insisted that she had Jesus, and that was enough!

As we drove away, one of the ladies remarked, “When we come to cheer

Helen up, she always cheers us up instead – if anyone displays the grace of God in

this life, she does.”

I wasn't quite sure how to define grace back then, but I knew it was

wonderful.

Grace comes from a Greek word that means “the divine influence on the

heart and its reflection in life.” Once you accept God's gift of salvation – a gift

given to us as God influences us to trust Him – then the work of grace has just

begun. After that, God wants to continually pour out all that you need to live.

God's divine influence can work in our hearts to change negative attitudes, to

give us peace, to enable us to receive His instructions, to implant courage, to

provide confidence, and to make us easier to live with.

No, grace doesn’t change us automatically. Helen could have let bitterness,

loneliness, and fear block God's grace. She could have turned into a pity-party

hostess who nobody really wanted to be around. Deciding to tough it out on your

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own, swallowing the lie that your situation is so difficult there is no remedy, or

blaming God for your circumstances – these things hinder God's grace.

Instead, realize that for every problem God promises, “My grace is sufficient

for you. ” Ask Him to give you that grace. Open your heart to receive it. Your life

will go a lot more smoothly – and you'll even enjoy the trip!

The grace of God is really a “spiritual wonder drug” because it gives

whatever you need for each moment – if you take the prescription!

ACCEPTING CHRIST ISN'T THE END OF GRACE. IT’S THE

BEGINNING! LIVE IN GOD’S GRACE, AND YOU'LL GROW

AUTOMATICALLY!

GRACE IS …

The miraculous stuff and the influence only God

possesses that Christians receive to handle any situation,

to gain victory over temptation, to overcome obstacles,

and to receive forgiveness. It’s free and postage-paid,

but won't be sent to proud, self-sufficient, self-centered

people who think that they can go it alone and don’t

bother to ask for it.

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GRACE IS …

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GRACE MEANS

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GRACE MEANS

GOD’S DISCIPLINE AND INSTRUCTION WILL KEEP US OUT

OF TROUBLE AND MAKE US MORE LIKE JESUS

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GRACE MEANS

God's grace is really all the good things – physical, spiritual, emotional, and

intellectual – that He has to give us to get through this life … and into heaven!

GRACE isn’t the longest word in the dictionary, but it’s the widest

because it includes everything God has and everything we need.

YOU NEED TO LEARN MORE

ABOUT GRACE

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CHAPTER 4

“PREVENTION BEATS CURE”

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Nathan waited impatiently in the principal's office. The assistant principal

was already on his case, and he doubted he’d fare any better here. Maybe he should

just go ahead and do something really bad so he’d get kicked out and could go to

public school with his junior high buddies and have a chance to become a football

hero. Actually, it was the head-banger friends he’d chosen that made his parents

decide to send him here to Faith Academy, a strict Christian school.

How could he adjust to a school where he was sent to the office for missing a

homework assignment? Or throwing a paper airplane? At his old junior high, you

only saw the principal if you started a fire, brought a gun to school, or harassed a

girl. He was getting pretty sick of the rules at Faith Academy. But what nauseated

him most were the assistant principal’s boring “sermons.”

Mr. Moore, a distinguished-looking man with gray hair, walked into the

office just then. Looking over Nathan’s file, he remarked, “I see you came from

Northeast Junior High, where the environment was totally different. What is it you

find so difficult about being here?”

Nathan was taken off guard. “I can't stand the strict rules,” he blurted out.

“Besides, the kids here are stuck up. I don’t have any friends.”

“Nathan,” the principal asked gently, “have you ever accepted Christ as your

Savior?”

“Yeah,” Nathan replied, “when I was eight years old. Believe it or not, I used

to be a goody-goody.”

“What made you change?” asked Mr. Moore patiently.

“I tried so hard to obey all the rules and do everything right that I just OD’d.

In junior high there weren’t any Christians I knew of, so I just started hanging

around with Ron. He was cool and introduced me to his friends. They liked me, so I

usually went along with them. But I never did drugs or stole things or got into

serious trouble. I guess I did get as close to the edge as I could without falling off.

But doesn’t the Bible say we’re living under grace and not law?”

“Yes,” said Mr. Moore, “but what do you think that means?”

Nathan paused a moment. He couldn't believe he’d just told the principal so

many confidential things. Now he scrambled to come up with an answer. “Well, I

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guess it means that God will always forgive us, so we don’t have to be so afraid of

sinning.”

“I suspect that a lot of people think that,” Mr. Moore mused. “Few people

really understand how awesome grace really is. Do you mind if I tell you a story?”

“No,” Nathan replied. He knew he was missing an English lesson on direct

objects.

Mr. Moore began to tell him about Sonja, the daughter of the mayor of a

foreign city. With the country locked in a civil war, sniper fire, bomb blasts, and

fighting between different guerilla groups were commonplace. Because of her

father’s wealth and position, Sonja had a cell phone from which she could order an

armored car with a military escort to take her safely wherever she wished to go. But

she preferred a little danger and excitement. She went downtown by herself, played

basketball in the park, and sneaked out at night to meet her boyfriend.

One day a bullet hit her in the leg. Her father ordered soldiers to guard the

hospital until she recovered. But once she could walk again she began to run around

unprotected – at times taking a lot of unnecessary chances.

Nathan smiled. “Okay – so what are you getting at?”

Mr. Moore smiled, too. “My point is that most Christians use grace about the

way Sonja used her available protection. They think of God's grace only in

connection to forgiveness – something they need when they blow it. They assume

that once they’ve been saved by grace, they need to set about trying to please God –

or to make themselves better by their own efforts. That’s stressful. And then there

are people who figure that if grace is available for forgiveness, then it’s a shame not

to use it. So they go on sinning and then asking to be forgiven – over and over.

“The truth is that grace includes all God's goodness. It is a never-ending

supply of the strength we need to think right, do right and be right. If you learned to

depend on God's grace – if you grasped the fact that He’s cheering for you, and if

you realized how willing He is to help you each minute – you wouldn’t need so

much grace in the form of forgiveness. Your whole life would change.

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“How about asking God for grace to obey rules you don’t like – grace to keep

from talking back, grace to study boring assignments, and grace to get along with

Mrs. Blackburn? Also decide to receive His grace to be a good friend and to make

solid Christian friendships. You need grace to honor, obey, and love your parents. If

you get hooked up to God's grace, it could make your whole experience at Faith

Academy different.”

The final bell rang. “You know,” smiled Mr. Moore, “that new place across

the street has really good sundaes. I need one right about now. Want to come along?

I'm buying.”

Nathan heard himself accepting the offer. Maybe grace was something like

being sent to the office to be disciplined – and instead being invited out for ice

cream. If so, Nathan wanted to learn everything he could about that five-letter word.

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THE SCOOP ON GRACE

1. The idea that you are completely free from all outside

influences in life is a myth. If you don’t choose to come to Jesus,

the devil has you on his leash.

2. You can make only one all-important choice in life. You can

keep on being the devil’s slave – or you can volunteer to serve

Jesus, who will always lead you to inner freedom!

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3. Being a “slave” of Jesus – a servant of what is right – is a

privilege because it makes you truly free on the inside. Living

by God's rules sets the kind of boundaries that allow you to live

free from the stuff in this world that would enslave you.

4. As human beings we can only really be free if we live under the

direction of Jesus, who made us and knows what’s best for us.

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Imagine you're lost in an immense jungle filled with ferocious animals and

inhabited by headhunters who will kill anyone who violates their space. Suddenly

you realize that your jungle guide works for the same natives he’s supposed to

protect you from! Unless you find the passage to safety, you're doomed. Then a new

guide shows up. His gentle strength, his wisdom and caring manner impress you.

So – are you going to insist on being “your own person”? The jungle will

beat you if you're on your own. Your only choice is to decide to obey every

command of one guide or the other.

That’s the way it is for Christians.

Yes, you choose Jesus as your Savior. But you soon discover that Satan, the

deceiver, dogs your every step. He keeps giving you evil commands, just like he did

before, and he tries to trap you or scare you into following them. And when the

orders of your Savior are difficult to understand, the deceiver tries to make you

confused and fearful. You sense the pull of his power – but you also feel afraid to

let go and just let the Savior guide you completely.

But one day the Savior draws you close to himself and explains, “Because

I'm a hundred times stronger than the deceiver, you're always free to follow me. The

only power the deceiver has is to try to make you believe something that isn’t true.

He’s all bluff and lies. You have to learn never to listen to his falsehoods, never to

fall for his pretense of having more power than your Savior, and never to believe

that the obstacles he places in front of you are insurmountable. Then you'll really be

free. But the deceiver is very tricky. If you do fall into his traps at times, just repent

and call to me. I'll get you out right away so you can keep on following me.

“The deceiver will also tell you that you don’t need instructions from me or

anyone else. That’s not true. I made you, and you're designed to need my help in

order to make it through life. Only by following me completely and obeying my

every command will you be protected and free.”

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God's grace not only provides forgiveness of sin so we can go to

heaven but freedom from the power of sin so we can enjoy our time

on earth.

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The devil never wants us to find out that God's grace includes victory over

temptation – because the truth is, Jesus broke the power of sin by dying on the

cross. It’s our ignorance, or failure to act on the truth of Scripture, that causes us to

only use grace to get forgiveness when we fail. As a result, our practical experience

goes something like this:

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Equip Yourself With the Facts You Need for Victory:

1. Memorize Colossians 2: 13 – 15, and 3: 1 – 3.

“He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its

regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away,

nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made

a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross…”

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on the things

above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things

above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with

Christ in God.”

2. Make These Facts a Part of Your Life and Live by Them:

Christ’s death and resurrection did everything necessary to free us from the

horrible syndrome of knowing what the rules are – trying in vain to obey

because there’s no power within to live up to them – and being constantly

accused by the devil and his demons for not reaching the standard in your own

power.

Jesus secured our Freedom:

 by providing forgiveness for all our sins – past, present, and future.

 by getting rid of a system in which written laws (which we can't obey in our

own power) are accompanied by the constant accusations by the forces of

darkness when we don’t live up to them, causing us to be miserable.

 by instead of giving you (because you accepted Jesus by faith) His

resurrection life by which the desire to do what pleases God is written in your

heart and the dynamic life of Jesus within you gives you the power to do

what is right and to enjoy it.

 by making available His grace, which allows us to set our minds on things

above.

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3. Remember That Grace Includes Power to Overcome Sin.

Before Jesus lived inside us, the devil had us on his leash, and we had no

power to avoid sin (unless what we really wanted to do anyway happened to be

right). Jesus’ death and resurrection gave us not only forgiveness but the

strength to say no to sin. Here’s how it works:

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4. Memorized Romans 6: 6-7:

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin

might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because

anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” You are in Christ, dead to sin’s

power.

5. Remember That Because of Our Death and Resurrection With

Christ We Are Free (But Not Forced) To Do Right.

The Bible says four times, “The just shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2: 4;

Romans 1: 17; Galatians 3: 11; and Hebrews 10: 38). Believe that Jesus won the

victory over sin on the cross. Believe that by grace He can transmit victory to you

whenever you're willing to receive it. Act on that belief. Then you can overcome

temptation because Christ is in you releasing God's new power.

The devil is an expert at making you believe the wrong thing – he’s had

thousands of years of practice! Every time you depend on God's grace to carry you

through, you'll be victorious. Whenever you believe what Satan says about the

situation and rely on your own strength, you'll sin.

6. Memorize Romans 6: 11 Until You Know it Backward and

Forward:

“Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

(DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT SINNING.)

God does provide grace for the forgiveness of our sins, but the main purpose

of grace is to keep us free and healthy in the first place.

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Count Yourselves Dead to Sin But Alive to God in

Christ Jesus.

7. Memorize James 4: 6-8:

“But he gives us more grace. That is why the Scripture says; ‘God opposes

the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves, then, to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come

near to you.”

The point at which you humbly ask for God's grace is the point at which God

will intervene and give you victory. The victory could have been won at any

point:

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8. Consciously and Constantly Dedicate the Parts of Your Body to

God and His Service.

“Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but

rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life;

and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin

shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (Romans

6: 13-14).

The fact that we have a physical body bogs us down sometimes. Your body

isn’t intrinsically bad, as Eastern religions teach. It only does whatever your brain

tells it to do. The big deal is – does your brain get its orders from your spirit (who

got them from the Holy Spirit) or are you letting your brain give in to every

physical desire for temporary highs, getting out of work, and expressing your anger

in harmful ways?

Jesus said, “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Matthew 26: 41). For

that reason some habits are tough to break. But if we ask and receive, God will give

us grace; to present our lips to Him instead of spreading malicious gossip; to give

your eyes to Him instead of watching garbage-quality TV shows; to give our ears to

Him instead of listening to song lyrics about sex and violence.

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Grace Stories Always Have Happy Endings

Chuck Swindoll sums it up like this; “By (considering) all of this

and by taking into account the truth we know to be fact, we dethrone sin

and refuse to obey our lusts any longer. The flip side of this truth is

equally liberating. Even when we do sin, when we occasionally fail,

God's interest is not in flailing us as slaves, screaming, ‘You ought to be

ashamed!’ but in forgiving us as His dear children.” (2)

Thank God that there are “emergency room rations” to forgive us

when we sin. But feed yourself on the grace that keeps you spiritually

alive and healthy in the first place!

(2) Chuck Swindoll, The Grace Awakening (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1990), pp. 118-119.

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CHAPTER 5

“LOVE AND OBEDIENCE

DO MIX”

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Jay was popular, fun-loving, and outgoing. His biggest fear was missing out

on a good time. In Sunday school class or Bible study he always had something to

say. He was also the first to take someone up on a dare or try something new or

dangerous. He always played to win, whether it was a tug-of-war at the youth

retreat, a game of checkers with his little brother, or pitching for his high school

baseball team.

When his buddies at school invited him to a drinking party, he never could

say no. He’d just fit in, feel guilty the next morning, and then ask God for

forgiveness. He dated for pleasure and found that a lot of hugging and kissing felt

good – and if he kept asking out different girls he might be able to avoid doing

something he’d regret. Even then, he could still repent later. He’d try anything once

– and that included drugs, a pornographic movie, and shoplifting. But he told God

he was sorry. Actually, dirt bike racing came to his rescue – it was a lot more

exciting.

Whenever Jay did settle down long enough to do a little thinking, he felt

miserable. He certainly wasn’t a happy Christian, and he knew his pagan friends

had more fun at parties than he did.

Late one Saturday night after sneaking in past his curfew, he just couldn't

sleep. He was ashamed of the way he’d acted at Buddy’s party. He’d done a little

drinking and flirting with the girls – but then something happened that showed him

how rotten he had become. On a bet, one of the guys invited “Wanda Weirdo,” and

she’d bought a new outfit, thinking it was a sincere invitation. Jay had joined all the

guys in making fun of her. And even when she started crying, he just couldn’t part

with popularity long enough to be kind.

Now every time he closed his eyes the scene passed before him. Even asking

God for forgiveness didn’t help.

As he dressed for church the next morning, he prayed that he didn’t look as

sad as he felt. The Sunday school discussion sure didn’t help. The teacher began by

saying, “I'm going to ask you guys a question that’s as old as the apostle Paul –

‘Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?’ In other words, just because

God offers His grace for forgiveness, should we sin to take advantage of it?”

Deena raised her hand. “After Jesus suffered and died for us,” she said softly,

“how can we treat Him like dirt? I know a lot of people who get as close to the fire

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as they can without getting burned – and when they do get too close they just

nonchalantly ask for forgiveness. God meant for us to use His grace to overcome

temptation, not to get forgiveness for sin all the time. What He did for us deserves

our best for Him.”

Her words really cut – Deena was a lot of fun and she was very attractive. Jay

had asked her out, though, she told him that she intended to honor Jesus in her

dating. That meant she didn’t date guys who planned to park on back roads. Jay

wondered how many of the girls at church had heard about his reputation.

Aaron broke the uncomfortable silence. “But I thought not being under the

law and living under grace meant we have unlimited forgiveness.”

Alan, their Sunday school teacher, replied, “When I was your age my dad

sold automobile insurance. He was able to get me a fantastic policy. Everything was

covered. I decided that I might as well take advantage of it. So I drove straight into

a tree. My car was in the garage for a couple weeks, but when it came out it looked

as good as new. And the insurance paid every cent. Next I attacked a bridge. This

time I landed in the hospital, but after a while both the car and I were totally fine –

well, except for this scar on my arm. But life got boring again, so –“.

“Wait a minute,” Jay interrupted. “You're making all this up.”

“What makes you think so?” Alan asked with a look of mock innocence.

“Nobody would want all the hassle of car accidents even if the expenses were

paid,” returned Jay.

“But,” countered Alan, “a lot of you guys constantly opt for the hassles of

sinning and repenting instead of using God's grace to live in victory. You have had

memories, spiritual scars. You’ve lost time that could have been spent serving

Jesus. You’ve missed out on a lot of happiness. You carry the weight of guilty

consciences.”

This really hit home. Jay knew it was exactly what he was doing. But he sure

didn’t want to fall into the “Grandma Smith syndrome.” His grandmother had been

a Christian for 55 years. As she explained it, “I want to go out of my way to obey

every command in the Bible.” The list of do’s and don'ts she followed (and tried to

impose on everyone else) was endless. She read three chapters of Scripture daily –

no more, no less. She had a prayer list she mechanically zipped through, no matter

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what. Jay knew exactly what she did because as a little kid he was sometimes

trapped into “having devotions with Grandma.” She was constantly criticizing his

mother for dressing improperly, and she had a fit when Jay went bike riding on a

Sunday. In her opinion, all modern Christian music had a satanic beat and TV was

sinful, period.

Jay’s father had rebelled big time as soon as he left home. He’d accepted

Christ when the military plane he’d been piloting crashed and he nearly lost his life.

Determined not to raise his kids in the Grandma Smith mold that he called legalism,

he basically let Jay do whatever he wanted. Secretly Jay wished he’d been a little

more strict.

The good news is that there’s a way out of Jay’s dilemma – and yours.

The choices aren’t between being:

1. a slipshod, super casual, soft-on-sin Christian who talks a lot about grace

and

2. a strict, straight-laced sober and sad, tied up in knots, living by a million

rules, always feeling guilty believer who is constantly speaking about a

holy life.

The true alternative is being set free by knowing and applying all of God's

truth – not just parts of it.

When we concentrate only on certain Bible verses and ignore all the others,

it’s like skipping ingredients in a recipe – which makes it turn out terrible. On the

other hand, adding the wrong thing – like chili powder instead of cinnamon, or salt

instead of sugar – spells disaster.

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THE INGREDIENTS OF FREEDOM

(Boiling Things Down to a

Relationship of Love)

Some people act like the only passage in the New Testament about grace is

Romans 6: 14; “You are not under law, but under grace.” In fact, there are over 120

verses that talk about grace. (Look them up in a Bible concordance and study

them!) These same people assume that the verse means they're free to do just about

anything – which definitely isn’t the context at all.

Let’s look at some basics.

God is a person. Our aim is to have a relationship with Him – but that’s

impossible unless we know something about Him. That includes knowing what He

likes and doesn’t like so we can please Him. The story of Clark and Damaris may

shed some light here.

Clark and Damaris met on a blind date. Because of an emergency, the

“matchmaker” couple was unable to accompany them to ease the awkwardness of

their first evening together. Clark thought that bringing Damaris roses would make

a big impression. Damaris mumbled, “Thank you” and began to cough and sneeze.

Finally she blurted out, “I'm sorry. I've got to get these flowers out of here – I'm

really allergic to them.”

With the flowers dumped, her condition improved somewhat, and they

headed toward the classy Chinese restaurant where Clark had made reservations –

not knowing that Damaris hated Chinese food.

As for Damaris, she figured that any guy likes to talk about work – so she

asked him all about his job. But how could she know that he had just gotten fired

that morning?

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To top it off, the girl who’d recently broken up with Clark walked in with her

date. That shook up Clark to the point that he slipped into a miserable mood.

Damaris just knew it was because he thought she was boring.

Clark finally decided they should leave. As they walked into the dark parking

lot, they encountered a gunman. When Damaris pulled her purse away from him,

the guy went nuts – and Clark jumped in front of Damaris just before the gun went

off. As the man fled, Clark fell to the pavement, bloody and unconscious.

Dazed but physically unharmed, Damaris just stood there unable to react.

Fortunately, a passing squad car drove up, and an ambulance came within minutes.

As Damaris rode to the hospital, it slowly sank in; Clark had saved her life – and as

a result he might lose his own! Warmth and gratitude flooded her heart.

Clark didn’t die, and Damaris faithfully visited him through his long

recovery. Because he was far from his old friends and relatives, she was almost his

only visitor. As they talked about more and more things, they discovered they had a

lot in common. Gradually, they fell in love and married.

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But Damaris had never seen a good marriage. Her idea of showing her love

was to make sure that she didn’t do anything that Clark didn’t like. She asked him

hundreds of questions as she complied her lists. She knew his menu preferences, his

tastes in music and art, his pet peeves, and what TV shows he liked, how he wanted

the house decorated and cleaned – everything. She spent hours in the kitchen

learning to make his favorite food from scratch. She fixed her hair just the way he

liked it and wore the clothes he chose. The house was always immaculate, and there

was never a dirty dish on the counter. Each day she judged herself on her

performance, felt she didn’t measure up, and vowed to do better tomorrow.

Sometimes she went to extremes. He didn’t like blue, so she made new

curtains and redecorated the whole house. If she didn’t have a fabulous dinner by

candlelight on the best china ready when Clark entered the door, she felt like a

failure.

To complicate things, she kept receiving phone calls from a guy she’d

dumped. He kept telling her that Clark was too demanding and was making her into

a slave. At times she almost believed him. She was always exhausted and stressed

out. She never had time to go to Clark’s baseball games, to play chess with him, or

even to be romantic.

One day Clark took Damaris in his arms and, with love and hurt in his eyes,

explained, “I'll adore you no matter what. But I want you to stop putting so much

emphasis on doing the things I like and just pay attention to me.”

Overnight Damaris changed. If he’d love her no matter what – well then

she’d just start doing her own thing and getting everything she could out of their

relationship! She started serving mainly hamburgers and hot dogs, left the house a

mess, and let the weeds grow in the flowers. She refused to shop for groceries and

even bought a cat, knowing Clark disliked them. Her ex-boyfriend kept calling and

encouraging her to do whatever she wanted. She’d never liked getting up early, so

she slept in instead of making breakfast for Clark. It got to be such a habit she

couldn’t even wake up early for a day at the beach. After months of a dirty and

disorganized house, she felt so overwhelmed she didn’t think it was physically

possible to clean it.

One night she dragged Clark to a quilting exhibit. He took her out to eat

afterward and tenderly told her that love was expressed in actions as well as words

and that when she had trouble doing the things he liked most, he’d help her. He

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showed her that commitment to a relationship is getting to know and love the other

person on a level deeper than the superficial. Once that unselfish love is in place, a

person automatically wants to please the other.

Finally it dawned on Damaris that she had to put things into perspective; She

had to begin concentrating on how much she loved the man who risked his life to

save her own, the man who kept loving her no matter what. She and Clark were

meant to have a healthy relationship in which she constantly depended on him for

the support and help that she needed. She could ask him how she should respond to

his love – even if that included some hard things like giving away the cat and taking

out the garbage. By simply communicating with Clark, she was freed from

constantly evaluating her performance and the guilt that came from doing her own

thing – which had made her think that Clark didn’t love her anymore. In short,

Clark should be the center of her attention.

IT’S TIME TO THINK

ABOUT BUILDING YOUR

RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

1. Get to Know Jesus and Learn How to Please Him.

Whenever anyone tells you that because you're “under grace” you don’t even

have to please God, remember Damaris and Clark. Doing what the other person

likes has everything to do with building a relationship. There are activities that

don’t help us build good relationships with others or with God.

It’s impossible to have a solid relationship with anyone – including God –

without getting to know them and their desires. It’s totally ridiculous for us to

decide on our own what God likes. Only by reading the Bible can we know what

would make the Lord happy.

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People usually go to one of two extremes on this; Either they add all kinds of

their own rules to those God has given for our good or they avoid and redefine

God's commandments and come up with rationalizations for breaking them.

Deciding that God expects us to go by a long list of do’s and don'ts is often

called legalism, which Chuck Swindoll describes as “an attitude, a mentality based

on pride. It is an obsessive conformity to an artificial standard for the purpose of

exalting oneself.” (1) People who fall into this trap either become proud of their

achievements or depressed because they just can't measure up.

(1) Chuck Swindoll, The Grace Awakening, p. 81.

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The other extreme is deciding that God will let you get by with murder and

completely forget that all His rules are made to assure that human beings, the crown

of His creation, get the most out of life and eternity. This preoccupation with

permissiveness (in the name of liberty) tries to justify almost any action. Jerry

Bridges explains; “It is easy to construe liberty as the right to do whatever one

wants to do. Knowing that our sinful human nature has this tendency, we ought to

be especially watchful against it.” (2)

But if we forget about all God has done for us and all that He continually

wants to give us, the excitement and fulfillment of living for Jesus will be lost. By

God's grace you have received complete forgiveness, pardon for all sin, the

assurance of heaven, and freedom to obey God's commandments. We can do God's

will, as expressed in Scripture, by depending on the power of Jesus that enables us

to obey. Following Jesus has nothing to do with gritting your teeth and trying

harder. It has everything to do with admitting weakness and relying on the Lord as

you take steps of obedience.

We are made to obey God the way railroad cars were made to run on tracks.

We can't jump out of God's will without hurting ourselves. But, thank God, He’ll

give us all the grace we need to obey Him with gladness if we just keep asking and

asking and asking.

2. Concentrate On Jesus – Not On Yourself.

The story of Clark and Damaris should remind you that endlessly evaluating

your performance takes the joy and spontaneity out of any relationship – even the

one between you and God. Frustration also occurs when you focus on – “Am I

getting what I want out of my relationship with God?” Believers who constantly

look at themselves instead of adoring Jesus can't freely enjoy their Christianity. And

of course the devil, like the jilted boyfriend, continually tries to make us shift our

focus to ourselves.

(2) Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1994), p. 211.

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Time Out

You can break a preoccupation with self by getting the facts straight – and by

appreciating Jesus and His grace and love every day.

IT’S A FACT:

 Sin is the most terrible stuff in existence. It will destroy your life on the

installment plan. And if not dealt with, sin will cause you to end up in hell.

Our most important need is to be rescued from sin. Jesus has already come to

save you and me, and our response should be constant gratitude.

 To eradicate your sins the Creator of the universe had to suffer and die.

Jesus took all the punishment you and I deserve. There is nothing we can add

to the great sacrifice He has already made. Our part is to believe and receive

His salvation and enjoy its blessings.

 God's love and grace are always there for us regardless of our

performance. God's grace (the fact that He’s cheering for us, that He cares

about us every minute no matter what we do) and love are just as instantly

available on good days as on bad days. God cares about us just as much when

we fail as when we succeed.

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A DAILY REMINDER – STRICTLY PERSONAL

(FOR BEST RESULTS READ ALOUD

25 TIMES OR MORE)

Because of the Cross!

 I can concentrate on Jesus, not on my sins. My sins are forgiven and I don’t

have to feel guilty anymore. (When you disobey God, don’t run from Him.

Come to Him. Admit your wrongdoing and get His grace to turn from this

sin, remembering that restoration of your fellowship with God is

instantaneous – that the ridiculous idea that you have to demonstrate how

sorry you are by getting down on yourself is not biblical! Own up to the fact

that you are guilty. Accept that God is freely offering both grace for

forgiveness and grace to obey in the future. This is your road to great

freedom!)

 I can concentrate on Jesus, not on my “Christian Performance.” The

power of sin in my life has been broken. The truth is “the one who is in me is

greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4: 4, personalized). Jesus

defeated the devil on the cross, and I can receive His grace to walk in victory.

I mess up when the devil deceives me into thinking I can't resist temptation,

so I fall. Like Peter while walking on the water, as long as I look at Jesus I

can enjoy my Christian life. But if I turn my attention to the waves, the

pressures, the world around me and myself, I become fearful and miserable.

 I can look expectantly to Jesus and receive grace for every moment. I can

ask God for grace to not talk back when my mother yells at me; for grace to

give the oral report for Him instead of losing my breakfast and becoming a

nervous wreck in my effort to make a good impression on my friends; and for

grace to say “no” to the kids who want to take me to the movie I know I

shouldn’t see.

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“BECAUSE OF THE CROSS”

“BECAUSE OF THE CROSS”

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An Everyday Prayer –

to Make Each Day Special

Jesus, Thank You for dying for me and for forgiving all my

sins. Thank You that I can't do anything to deserve Your

forgiveness or grace. Help me to receive everything You

have for me by faith and to concentrate on You and Your

ability instead of upon me and my weakness – to think about

You, not about me and my problems. Give me the grace to

say the appropriate thing, to make good decisions, and to

overcome temptation today. Help me to look to You,

concentrate on You – and to praise and thank You all day

long!*

3. Respond to the Love of Jesus.

Someone has said, “Love is the only motive that will last a lifetime.”

Damaris had to learn that. Rule-keeping or doing your own thing won't produce

a vine and branches type of relationship with Jesus, or a good marriage, or a

healthy friendship.

*It would be a good idea to write this prayer on a 4 x 6 card, tape it to your mirror,

and pray it every day.

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When obeying God is a result of our love for Him, the strain and the effort

disappear. As Jerry Bridges says, “Our love to God can only be a response to His

love for us. If I do not believe God loves me, I cannot love Him… We can't love

God if we think we’re under His judgment and condemnation… The extent to

which we realize total forgiveness and cleansing… will determine the measure of

our love to God” (italics mine). (3)

No wonder the devil has a big lie campaign going that says, “God is a big

meany. He just can't stand you. That terrible sin you committed is beyond

forgiveness.” When we feel guilt – for sneaking in past curfew, for cheating on the

test, or for “borrowing” something without permission – we avoid the person we’ve

offended and often imagine that he or she is angry with us – even when our crime

hasn’t been uncovered!

Nothing could be more unfair than accusing God of not loving us. After all,

He sent His only Son to die for us. But when we sin against Him and rationalize or

hide the evidence, our guilt makes us feel like He doesn’t love us. The cure is this;

Be quick to admit it when we sin, be ready to receive His forgiveness plus His grace

to turn away from our wrongdoing.

Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in

my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have

obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love” (John 15: 9-10).

The love of Jesus is constant, but we jump out of His arms when we disobey

Him. The defiant five-year-old who ate a piece of the decorated birthday cake

before his sister’s party doesn’t feel as though his mother loves him. But after he

admits what he did and receives his discipline, he’s ready again to climb up into his

mother's lap and accept her love. That love seems even sweeter than before. Real

repentance and receiving God's forgiveness and His grace to turn from sin is just

such a high point in the life of a Christian.

Jesus taught that the person who is forgiven of little will love little. That

doesn’t mean that only converted ex-cons will really love Jesus, but it does indicate

two things;

(3) Ibid., pp. 122-123.

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 Those who have sinned without restoring their fellowship with Christ will

feel too guilty to receive the love of Jesus or love Him back.

 Those who think their sins of pride, lying, and criticism aren’t so bad don’t

just realize how terrible all sin is. So they feel they haven’t caused God much

trouble and lack the depth of gratitude and love of those who realize the

miracle of their pardon and the cost of their forgiveness.

“Love is the Only Motive That Will Last a Lifetime!”

4. Realize That When You Use Your Freedom in Order to Sin, You're a

Big Loser.

Christians in different places at different times in history have put various

limits on themselves to keep from disobeying a biblical command. Others have

reinterpreted the words or rationalized so they can ignore the scriptural principle.

To illustrate, let’s take a rule from the Bible you may not even be familiar

with; “Turn away from godless chatter” (1 Timothy 6: 20). Some have taken vows

of silence, have decided that reading fiction is wrong, or have concluded that we

must always talk about Christian topics. Other people have given it the

interpretation that anything goes as long as it isn’t slander or lying. Loving Jesus so

much that you want to obey Him in everything means constantly asking Him to tell

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you what this rule means in each situation. The great thing about this approach is

that the Holy Spirit really does guide us in individual situations.

We are free from the artificial restrictions that others would put upon us – but

if we overdo our freedom we can become slaves to sin again.

“If I am to remain free,” comments Chuck Smith, “I must be careful not to

exercise my freedom in pursuing anything that could bring me under (sin’s) power

so I am no longer free.” (4) Charles Swindoll makes a similar observation; “If we

take our liberty to such extremes that we again serve sin, that isn’t liberty at all.” (5)

Yes, feeling free to sin makes us risk becoming bound to sin again. Closeness

to God is lost. Although it’s true that God will forgive you, sin leaves scars that can

never be erased – the memory of an abortion, words you wish you could take back,

the sleepless nights your rebellion caused your mother, the people who observed

your life and thought, “If that’s Christianity, I don’t want it.”

(4) Chuck Smith, Why Grace Changes Everything (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1994), p. 150.

(5) Chuck Swindoll, The Grace Awakening, p. 47.

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“Each moment of every day we choose whom we wish to follow. If it’s the

Savior, the benefits are many. If it is sin, the consequences are destructive and

miserable … Quite simply grace makes the choice possible.” (6) Avoiding sin is

always the smart thing to do. Jerry Bridges gives this advice; “In the area of

Christian liberty our goal should be ‘how safe can I be’ instead of ‘how daring can I

be.’” (7) And our motive should be the kind of love the soldier’s sweetheart has

when she’s been given the freedom to date others but doesn’t want to because of the

great love she has for her man.

These questions will be helpful to you as you make decisions;

1. Does this action really help me in my attempt to live for Jesus and express

my love to Him?

2. Is it a practice that over time can develop into a bad habit or even an

addiction?

3. Is it constructive? Will it promote Christian growth in myself and in

others?

Remember, “Sin has a tendency to exert an ever-increasing power if it is not

resisted on every occasion.” (8)

God's grace has liberated you from guilt, shame, and the power of sin so

you’ve been set free to act. Instead of using that freedom to sin, take advantage of it

to love, to serve, and to experience the joy of obeying God.

(6) Ibid., p. 136.

(7) The Discipline of Grace (Colorado Springs, NavPress, 1994), p. 210.

(8) Ibid., p. 151.

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CHAPTER 6

“A PUZZLE NEEDS EVERY PIECE”

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Amber was terribly sincere and always tried to “live for Jesus.” She’d

attended a Christian primary school, memorized a lot of Scripture, tried to “avoid

every kind of evil,” set aside a specific time for devotions almost every day, usually

went witnessing once a month with her church outreach team, and attempted to

excel in everything she did.

Returning to public high school as a senior, she immediately noticed “the new

kid from California.” But it wasn’t just his sun-bleached blond hair, deep tan, and

great smile that attracted her. He seemed different from the other guys. When Mr.

Carey put his social studies pupils in alphabetical order, she found herself sitting

next to “Laid-back Larry from L.A.” He’d earned that nickname in just one week.

His super-casual way of dressing and unassuming manner was out of step with the

run the rat race successfully mode of Amber’s Baltimore suburb. It was rumored

that he’d come to live with his grandmother.

One day Mr. Carey asked the students what they thought about legalizing

marijuana and other drugs. Most kids commented that people should have the right

to do what they wanted with their own lives.

Then Larry raised his hand. “I wish drugs had never been available to me,” he

said simply. “When I was thirteen, my mother married a drug dealer. She did

cocaine, and nobody minded if I experimented. Actually, I became very popular

because I could supply all my friends. Three years later my stepfather got arrested,

and he’s still in prison. Fortunately, I accepted Jesus as my Savior, and He set me

free from my habit. But my mom died of an overdose this August. I not only think

drugs should remain illegal, I support even stricter laws against them.”

Nobody, not even Mr. Carey, could think of anything to say. The awkward

silence was finally broken by the bell.

Amber turned to Larry. “I'm a Christian, too,” she smiled. “Your testimony is

really great.”

After that, they became friends and started to hang around together. Pretty

soon they began dating.

Larry had only been a Christian for a year and had a great love for Jesus. He

had received a lot of teaching on the grace of God. “Just think,” he’d say, “God sent

Jesus to take away all my sins. And I've done some pretty rotten things. I never

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need to feel guilty again. If I do wrong, He’ll always forgive me – and love me no

matter what. Pretty awesome, huh?”

“That’s true,” Amber responded, feeling a little nervous. “But self-discipline

and obeying Jesus are also part of the Christian life. You need to read your Bible

and pray every day, develop habits of responsibility, and obey God's commands.”

“But that’s legalism,” returned Larry. “I love God and do as I please.

Sometimes I read the Bible for an hour at a time and other days I don’t even open it.

I operate as the Spirit moves. You're too rigid and worried about your performance

– just loosen up, relax, and enjoy God's grace.”

Somehow the subject kept coming up. Larry lost his first job because he came

late to work, he wasn’t consistent about homework assignments, and he made

promises he didn’t keep. Amber kept quoting Bible verses at him like, “Whatever

your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” (Ecclesiastes 9: 10). And “Now it

is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1

Corinthians 4: 2).

Larry would counter with, “You're just trying to perform for God, and you

think you can earn your own righteousness. All my righteousness comes from

Jesus, so if I blow it, no big deal. I'm covered by Jesus’ blood.”

One day everything came to a head. Larry didn’t even hand in his semester

social studies project. Mr. Carey hit the ceiling. “A lot of good all that Jesus-freak

stuff does you,” he exploded. “If you don’t shape up, I'm going to flunk you.” Larry

remained cool. “I'll do it,” he promised. “Just give me a little time. Remember,” he

quipped, “God isn’t finished with me yet.” That infuriated Mr. Carey even more,

and Amber was too ashamed to raise her eyes.

After school she and Larry got into a heated argument. Always the

peacemaker, he stopped abruptly and declared, “Let’s not fight. Let’s go talk to a

wise, mature Christian about this. I'll let you choose the person.”

The one who immediately came to Amber’s mind was Pastor McKay, a

retired minister who was a friend of the family. She called, and he invited them to

come over after dinner. Amber’s mother was working late, so they raided the

refrigerator and then headed for Pastor McKay’s house.

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After some small talk, Pastor McKay asked Larry, and then Amber, to explain

their points of view. He asked each of them a few questions and finally said, “You

both have different pieces of the same truth. I hope I can help you see how they fit

together into a wonderful whole.

“First of all,” he continued, “both of you need to realize that God's grace

includes a lot more than you ever imagined. Grace isn’t just for forgiveness –

although that is terribly important – but it gives you power to overcome sin and

obey God as well. When people think grace is only forgiveness, either they become

Larrys, who are so thrilled with their forgiveness they don’t take the rest of the

Bible’s teaching seriously and sometimes get into big trouble. Or they turn into

Ambers, who receive God's grace to be saved, really believing they could never

save themselves, and then go on obeying God in their own strength, always

measuring their performance. That can become dry, discouraging, and stressful.

Someone has said, ‘Discipline without desire is drudgery.’”

“Larry, I see you as someone who deeply appreciates God's grace because it

delivered you from a life of addiction and misery. But now you make use of it only

when you get into a jam. It appears, Amber, that you know that only God's grace

could have made you fit for heaven but now feel that it’s your obligation to

discipline yourself and conjure up enough willpower to obey God on your own.

You rely on grace only when you slip up.”

Pastor McKay pressed his final point. “God wants both of you to be motivated

by love and plugged into His grace to receive from Him the power to obey each of

His commands. He wants this both for your own protection and for the good of His

kingdom. Grace is that wonderful and ever-present, limitless empowering to

overcome difficulties, conquer temptation, do God's will, and live victoriously in

tough situations. God means for you to continually ask Him for grace and to draw

on His resources. Grace changes everything!”

For the finale, Mrs. McKay brought in plates of homemade chocolate cake

and ice cream. As they continued talking, both Larry and Amber became excited

about learning to rely on the grace of God.

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1. God's Part; Our Part

God doesn’t save us by His grace and then take us straight to heaven. He

doesn’t forgive all our sins, and then program us for the rest of our lives so we can

just lie back and enjoy the ride without giving Him another thought or taking any

responsibility ourselves. Our Creator designed us to cooperate with Him, to depend

on Him, and to receive His grace to overcome the obstacles He has permitted to

develop our character.

Heaven isn’t for wimps – it’s for overcomers!

The only real victory comes when we depend on God's grace in every

situation. The “plane” of our Christian lives needs to be run by the engine of God's

grace with equal attention given to the right wing of dependence on God and the left

wing of diligence and discipline to obey God.

As I was growing up, the idea of witnessing for Christ terrified me, but I also

felt very guilty for not doing it. Giving a tract to the school bus driver was both

traumatic and terrible for me.

Then I learned something wonderful; If I took the first step in faith (even if I

was scared), God's grace would always come to my rescue. I remember the thrill of

my first witnessing experience when I depended on God. We went door-to-door.

My heart pounded as I knocked, and my voice faltered as I made introductions. But

after that the Holy Spirit took over, and the words flowed as we presented the

gospel. The person commented: “I sure can tell the difference between you guys

and those others who usually come around.”

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Actually, every obedience to God has two pieces:

1. Your specific effort to obey.

2. Your total dependence on God for strength, ability, and direction.

When you make the decision to follow God, the grace is always there. God

may ask you to give up something that’s really important to you. The initial

decision can involve pain, but then God's grace comes to your rescue with a peace

and deep-down joy that makes it completely worth it!

God could have made us robots, but He wants a relationship with us, so He

designed us to depend on Him.

2. Obedience – Bummer or Bonanza?

All of us know the struggle of do I have to? obedience. Motivated by duty or

fear of consequences, we reluctantly carry out an order or fulfill a responsibility.

But how different it is to carry out the request of a person we love so much that it’s

a joy to do everything we can to help! Or maybe you can relate to the frustration of

being assigned a job you don’t know how to do. And what a relief it is when the one

who gave the order says, “I'll train you for this project. And if you have any

questions, I'm always available to assist you.” Having support, affirmation, and

constant help changes everything!

Because the main objective of the devil is to put barriers between you and

God and to try to make you think the Lord’s unfair, it’s no wonder that his aim is to

keep you from discovering the grace of God. The unlimited power supply of God's

grace is where we will find everything we need to carry out His will and live a

happy life, too!

The truth is (and memorize it until you can say it in your sleep):

“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).

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THESE GUIDELINES WILL HELP YOU:

 God's commands are not too strict. It’s just that you must keep asking for

and receiving the grace you need to make you able to obey. God's standard is

presented to us in the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and

other Bible passages. These instructions are given to make us aware of the

fact that we are helpless in our own strength to live up to commands like,

“love your enemies.” God designed us to be dependent on Him in order to

have a relationship with us.

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 God offers free training courses. Second Timothy 3: 16 states; “All

Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and

training in righteousness” (italics mine). In the spiritual world, as in the

physical world, we can form useful or destructive habits. A person like Larry

needs to exert self-discipline in order to obey God's command; “And

whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord

Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3: 17).

If he cooperates with God, relying on His grace, he’ll bring honor to God in

every area of his life. If he grits his teeth and tries to do it in his own strength,

either he’ll get discouraged and quit or he’ll think he’s successful and become

proud of his achievement. If he doesn't depend on God, he will not have the

power to live a godly life.

The training course in godly living consists of reading, studying,

memorizing, and meditating on the Word of God – then asking the Holy Spirit to

apply it to your life as you rely on God for His grace and strength. This training

course lasts a lifetime. It is helpful to internalize the Scriptures on the topics that

affect weak areas in one’s life. But you'll never conquer these by sheer discipline

alone. From your heart, be willing to follow God in everything.

 Obedience to God's commands protects you. Whenever the devil can con

you into thinking God doesn’t love you, he’s got you. Then he can convince

you that God's rules are cruel. He can get you to jump the tracks God has

provided for you to get the most out of life. And he can destroy you little by

little.

When we see how dangerous sin is, we’ll want to depend constantly on God's

grace to overcome it.

These thoughts might help; “Don’t think of sin as something that destroys our

peace and makes us feel bad – but as rebellion against God … (The) sin we deal

with is a continual exalting (giving importance to) of our desires over God's

known will.” (1) “Sin has a tendency to exert an ever-increasing power on us if

it is not resisted on every occasion.” (2) “…our firm intention must be not to sin

willfully.” (3)

(1) Bridges, The Discipline of Grace, pp. 192-193.

(2) Ibid., p. 151.

(3) Ibid., p. 148.

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Both the Well, big deal I'm only human and I'll fail attitude and the I'm so

careful I won't ever fall pride spell trouble. Hating sin and realizing that only

constant reliance on an all-powerful God can protect you from it – that’s the way

to go. This includes cooperating with God to build healthy habits and desirable

thought patterns that defend us from the devil’s lies. To keep things in

perspective, I'll insert Chuck Smith’s reminder; “Our good works result from

God's acceptance and love; we don’t do good works to earn His love. Walking

according to Christ’s commands doesn’t make us more righteous – just happier

and more satisfied.” (4)

If you know the secret of trusting God for the power, obeying God is a blast –

a bonanza of blessing!

(4) Chuck Smith, Why Grace Changes Everything, pp. 189-190.

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 Your obedience to God's commands influences others for God. It’s an

overused cliché, but it’s true; “You are the only Bible some people will ever

read.” When a Christian sins, it’s amazing how many people find out about it

and how it causes them to justify their own rebellion against God. Usually

nothing is said when Christians “act like they're supposed to.” But the

influence of our behavior goes much farther than we can imagine! Believe

me, a teenager with a really strong Christian testimony amazes teachers,

impresses peers, is noticed by the boss, and stands out in the neighborhood.

Stop feeling like you have to measure up in strength that’s only your own.

Start to depend on God's grace. Then the adventure of changing your world for

Jesus begins. Because society usually expects nothing of young people (and

sometimes gets it) the teen who is sold out to Jesus can probably affect more people

than a top executive or a sports hero.

The fabulous thing about grace is that once you start using it, you keep

needing and getting more and more.

 The right kind of obedience cements an intimate relationship between you

and God. I couldn’t imagine writing a romance about two robots both

programmed to love each other. That would leave out all the good things like

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surprises, ecstasy, making up after a fight, learning to really know each other,

loving regardless of the sacrifice – the things that make life great! God gave

each of us a free will so our relationship with Him would be real. That

relationship is made to work in a way that’s different from human

friendships. We must first receive from God everything we are going to give

back to Him.

Chuck Swindoll explains how this works out in everyday life: “Becoming an

obedient, submissive disciple of Christ follows believing in Christ. Works follow

faith. Behavior follows belief. Fruit comes after the tree is well rooted.” (5) Putting

the cart before the horse never did work.

(5) Chuck Swindoll, The Grace Awakening, p. 44.

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Martin Luther said this; “No one can be good and do good unless God's grace

first makes him good; and no one becomes good by works, but good works are done

only by him who is good. Just so the fruits do not make the tree but the tree bears

the fruit.” (6)

God's will is always initiated by God – it’s never a human brainstorm on how

to make God happy. We find out what He wants of us by reading the Bible and

spending time with Him in prayer. We receive from Him by faith the grace we need

to obey Him – and then we offer our obedience back to Him. If we decide to give

God what we think He would like, the spiritual power-train will be broken. If we

use our own resources to try to obey His will, things get messed up. If we obey God

to show off to other Christians, it’s a disaster. If we follow God's rules to try to

impress Him with our goodness, it gets worse.

Only by constantly receiving God's grace to do His will, for His glory, can

you and I function with contentment. And that constant contact with God will create

a marvelous friendship.

A puzzle needs every piece. And you need to know everything you can learn

about God's grace.

(6) Ibid.,

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CHAPTER 7

“ATTEMPTING THE IMPOSSIBLE –

RECIPE FOR FAILURE”

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Absentmindedly, Crystal opened the refrigerator to try to find an after-school

snack. She could microwave a piece of pepperoni pizza or grab a slice of sandwich

meat or an apple. The freezer offered a couple scoops of chocolate chip ice cream, a

Pop Tart, or halibut in cheese sauce. None of the menu possibilities excited her.

Checking the mailbox, the only thing addressed to her was a card announcing a

Smart Phone sale at the Christian bookstore.

She sat down on the couch and stared out the window. The leaves were

turning on the birch tree in the front yard. Across the street, little boys were trying

to imitate the football game they’d seen on TV. With all the cars parked in the cul-

de-sac, it was fortunate that nobody new how to punt. The balloons they used as

shoulder pads popped every time someone was tackled. Normally, she would have

laughed, but today Crystal felt listless and depressed.

If someone had asked her what was wrong, she wouldn’t have been able to

give a simple answer. She’d had an average Monday at school. She’d received A’s

on both the tests she got back, chemistry was as boring as usual, and the lasagna

lunch had been better than most.

The weird mood had begun, though, when Char sat down at Crystal’s table

and confided that she was afraid to graduate and face the future. It would have been

a perfect time to witness, but as usual Crystal had chickened out. She had already

confessed her failure to God but still felt condemned. She was sure that God was

disappeared with her.

Now she wanted to ask God's help in studying for the English test and

healing for her grandmother – but she wondered if He’d want to listen after she’d

let Him down so badly.

Eventually her thoughts turned to the radio sermon she’d heard on Bible

study and prayer. John Wesley got up at 5:00 a.m. to pray – and she couldn’t even

crawl out of bed five minutes earlier to spend time with God each morning. Instead

she spent a half hour on her hair. George Muller read the Bible through over a

hundred times – and she hadn’t even covered the whole New Testament once.

Instead of inspiring her, that preacher had made her feel more hopeless than ever.

True, Crystal was better than most of the kids at her church. She at least tried

to read the Bible a little every day. She avoided all the vices. Ginger had had an

abortion, while Crystal hadn’t even really kissed a guy – not that she’d had many

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dates. She was a real by the book kind of girl. She showed up at every church

service, served on lots of committees, sang in the choir, filled out her Sunday school

lessons faithfully, and gave more than a tenth of her money to the church.

Not long before, the youth pastor told those who didn’t have the bucks to go

on the youth retreat to pray for a miracle. Kathie, who was a new Christian and still

swore, reported that someone she didn’t even know had paid her way. Even though

Crystal was sure she prayed lots more than Kathie, she stayed home.

And Joe – who never did his Sunday school lesson – brought three people to

hear the youth evangelist. All of them got saved. Crystal had given out several

invitations, but nobody came. Somehow it just didn’t seem fair.

Last Sunday, her pastor told of leading a guy with AIDS to Christ. His life

had been one of total rebellion and lawlessness. Yet he’d go to the same heaven

she’d enter if she spent the next sixty years trying to be good…

The shattering of glass startled her. A broken porch window sent the football

players running for cover.

What Crystal doesn’t know is hurting her a lot. Really understanding the

grace of God can spare you a lot of grief. Here are some things you need to

consider:

1. Realize How Holy God Really Is.

The absolute perfection and total purity of God is beyond human

comprehension. For example, Job was a very good and righteous (right-living) man

according to measurement on the human scale. God even said of him, “There is no

one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns

evil” (Job 1: 8, italics mine). But when he got a glimpse of the awesomeness and

holiness of God, he exclaimed, “But now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I

despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42: 5b – 6). And God didn’t

reply, “Job, you're too hard on yourself. You're good enough for Me.”

Isaiah was a fairly decent guy – after all, he was a prophet of God! But one

day he had a vision of the holiness of God. He cried out, “Woe to me! … I am

ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips,

and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah 6: 5).

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Saul – who later became Paul – was self-confident, proud of his law-keeping,

and very efficient in hunting down Christians when he thought they were destroying

his Jewish religion. But after he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he considered

himself the chief of sinners, unworthy of God's great mercy and grace.

Our problem is that we usually fail to realize that trying to be righteous – or

good enough to meet the standard of heaven – is similar to a dog trying to pass the

entrance exam for Harvard.

Fido might be much more intelligent than all the dogs around him – but he’ll

never be able to read Shakespeare or use a computer. We make the mistake of

thinking that human goodness is on a par with the goodness of God. It isn’t. Fido

and the dumbest mongrel are on the same level. Neither will ever get into Harvard

unless someone takes the test for them and then imputes, assigns, or gives to them

that score. Human holiness or goodness just isn’t in the same league with God's.

2. Don’t Look for God-Pleasing Holiness or Real Goodness in

Yourself. It’s Not There.

True honesty about our motives is scary. We secretly want to be recognized

for everything we do, we prefer the “good works” we naturally like doing, and we

can be incredibly selfish about such little things like demanding the biggest piece of

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cake, the most desirable seat, or the chance to skip responsibility to join the fun.

Jeremiah 17: 9 sums us up: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?”

We can totally accept that assessment of ourselves without despair for two

reasons:

 God knows our makeup and doesn’t expect the impossible.

Although God can't change His standard and we can't live up to that standard,

He does expect us to take advantage of the way out of this dilemma that He has

provided. He does not expect us to perform beyond our ability. Only Jesus ever

lived up to God's standard of holiness. God lends the righteousness of Jesus

constantly to those who ask and receive it by faith. But He’ll never accept

counterfeit goodness that humans produce on their own. In fact, our offering our

own righteousness is about as insulting to God as Fido trying to bribe his way into

Harvard using his favorite dog toy. Assuming that our human goodness is valuable

to God is like thinking a bag of garbage is an appropriate gift for the Queen of

England. But God's grace freely offers us an unending supply of the righteousness

of Jesus, so we can stand before God guiltless.

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 Because you're incapable of God-pleasing righteousness doesn’t mean

you're worthless.

The person who gets depressed because none of his or her “good works” can

measure up to God's standard is out of touch with reality. The Bible plainly states:

“All our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64: 6). We are to accept that as

fact and receive our righteousness from Jesus. God created us to depend on Him for

our righteousness and planned that Jesus would provide us with the righteousness

we can't produce on our own. Any time we try to replace His righteousness with our

own “good works,” things go badly.

But God also made us to be unique, creative, and talented people who can do

a great variety of things. We’re so valuable that Jesus gave His life for us. God gave

us a free will that even He won't violate! If we, like Job, rate high on the human

scale of goodness, that’s great – as long as we don’t try to present it to God instead

of the divine righteousness of Jesus.

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3. Remember That Any Righteousness That Counts With God Must Be

Borrowed From Jesus.

You not only get saved by trusting in the righteousness of Jesus, you live the

Christian life by putting your confidence in the righteousness of Jesus.

Some people asked Jesus himself what kind of works God wants from us.

Most people throughout history have ignored His answer: “The work of God is this;

to believe in the one he has sent” (John 6: 29).

What we are to believe is this; “God made him who had no sin to be sin for

us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5: 21,

italics mine). It’s the most uneven exchange in the world – Jesus takes our sin and

gives us His righteousness!

“We find it very difficult to get away from the concept that our righteousness

is somehow related to the works we do for God.” But the fact is “the righteousness

of Jesus is complete and nothing can be added to it.” (1) “We cannot improve the

righteousness given us by God.” (2) “We are no more righteous now than the day

we believed.” (3)

(1) Chuck Smith, Why Grace Changes Everything, p. 41.

(2) Ibid., p. 105.

(3) Ibid., p. 117.

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Acts 13: 43 urges us to “continue in the grace of God.” We find it very easy

to slip back into doing things in our own effort, forgetting that whatever we do in

our strength and our wisdom won't count for God. How to “continue in the grace of

God” in everyday life will be the subject of the next chapter – but now I want to

point out three things you can be free from if you really understand the grace of

God.

 When you think God is unfair, you don’t understand the grace of God.

Although disobeying God's rules results in negative consequences – you lie

and lose the confidence of the person you deceived, you disregard counsel of

mature Christians and you get in trouble, you make money your god and you

become miserable, etc. – God doesn’t give us what we want based on the brownie

points we’ve earned.

First of all, everything we have – salvation from sin, air to breathe, divine

guidelines to keep us from making a mess of our lives, athletic ability, God's

discipline to teach us important lessons, and the chance to go camping in the

mountains – all are undeserved gifts of God's grace!

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In order to claim God's promises, we must understand them. “No good thing

does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless” (Psalm 84: 11) is a great

promise to claim. Probably the root of every sin is a spirit of independence from

God. Being “blameless” by God's definition involves trusting God and being

confident that His grace will be there no matter what. It’s not in performing a list of

dos and don'ts in order to demonstrate how much willpower you have. Romans 14:

23 is helpful here; “Everything that does not come from faith is sin.” When you

really trust God, you don’t need to lie to cover your embarrassment, cheat to appear

more intelligent than you are, or lower your moral standards in search of

acceptance.

God's definition of a “good thing” is different from yours. It’s so easy for us

to assume that everything we want will benefit us. Yet how many divorced people

married their dream, how many reached their goal only to find it hollow, and how

many have a once-prized possession that no longer interests them? If you really get

to know God and understand His grace, you'll be confident that He’ll give you His

best – whether it’s difficult circumstances designed to make you grow, a time of

waiting to increase your patience, or – yes – even a miraculous answer to prayer

that solves your present problem.

An eye-opening encounter with the awesome God who is cheering for you

and has unlimited grace to cover every situation will make judging God and finding

Him unfair seem totally ridiculous.

 When you compare yourself with others, you don’t understand the grace of

God.

One of the most destructive habits you can fall into is constantly comparing

yourself with others. Sadly, everyone teaches you to do it. Your dad may ask you

why you can't be like your brother. Kindergarteners are told they should “be good

like Susie.” The boss rated your efficiency against that of other employees. Many of

us unconsciously enter “Christian conduct competitions” that get our minds off

receiving God's grace and focus on our own performance.

It’s easy to think that the guy who memorized the most verses is the most

spiritual. Or that the girl who never brings anyone to the evangelistic outreach

events isn’t a very good Christian. If you compare yourself with others instead of

concentrating only on what God has called you to do – realizing it may be a lot

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different from His will for others – you either become proud or depressed. Neither

is a good way to live!

“Righteousness by faith removes all the distinctions between those who

belong to Christ. I am no better than you, and you are no better than me. We are all

sinners, saved only by God's glorious grace … There is only one kind of

righteousness that God will accept and that is the imputed (given, assigned)

righteousness of Jesus Christ.” (4)

(4) Ibid., p. 36.

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 When you try to relate to God on the basis of your performance, you don’t

understand the grace of God.

When you get it through your head that God doesn’t relate to you on the basis

of your performance, the idea of somehow having to do something to get on God's

good side after you’ve sinned, or of avoiding Him and being “out of fellowship” for

weeks or even months, will disappear. You can get right with God in seconds after

you sin and receive a full tank of grace for the next thing He leads you to do!

Just remember:

1. All of your righteousness always comes from Jesus and no human additions

will be accepted.

2. When you destroy the wonderful feeling of closeness you have with God by

your disobedience, God is ready to forgive you instantly and give you all the

grace you need to go on your way rejoicing.

These two facts can change your life.

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CHAPTER 8

“GRACE: THE BEST

WART REMOVER”

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Tara couldn’t believe it. This just couldn’t be happening! Sure, she talked too

much – but didn’t all outgoing people? And sure, her mouth often got her into

trouble. But she had always managed to put her personality-plus forward and patch

up the damage. But now …

It had all started innocently enough. Tara had gone to the airport on Saturday

to pick up her aunt, who was coming to spend Christmas with them. As she was

making her way through the crowds to Gate 14, a frantically barking dog in his pet

carrier caught her attention. Automatically she walked over and stooped down to try

to calm the puppy. As she lifted her eyes, she was shocked to see Pastor Clark

embracing a very attractive blond woman. He seemed flushed – maybe a little

nervous.

That afternoon she told Vicky, who passed it on to her mother. Vicki’s mom

had mastered the art of information dissemination. By the next morning, when

Pastor Clark introduced that striking blond has his sister from California, it was

already too late. Now the gossip mill was spreading the story that he had been seen

with another woman for weeks!

Five days later, rumors were everywhere. Tara didn’t know what to do. Her

father was a very wise man, so she decided to talk it over with him.

Tara’s dad thanked her for her honesty in admitting what had happened. Then

he said, “Tara, I have to be a little tough on you. Your words could split our church

– if some really believe that the pastor is having an affair and others do not. They

could cause our dedicated pastor and his wife anxious and sleepless nights. They

could make unbelievers decide that the pastor is living in sin, so all Christians are

hypocrites and fakes. You have to do everything you can to put out the fire you

started.”

He insisted that she go with him to tell Pastor Clark what had happened. Her

father also felt that Tara should tell the congregation the story while pastor’s sister

was still there so they could stop the rumors. Although it was hard, Tara agreed.

On Sunday morning, through tears, she gulped out her confession to the

church.

Afterward, her father invited her out to eat. “Tara,” he began

compassionately, “your tongue has already gotten you into a ton of trouble, and

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there will be a lot more unless you allow God to change you by His grace. Learning

to talk less won't be easy. But it starts by admitting you have a problem, confessing

gossip as sin and asking God every day to guard your tongue. It won't work very

well if you merely attempt it with your own willpower. But if you receive God's

supernatural grace to change you, the results will be different.”

Tara finished the last bite of cherry pie and made a very important decision;

She was going to learn to receive God's grace in order to be a lot more careful about

the things she said.

Jesus was “full of grace and truth.” We – like – Tara – have a terribly long

way to go. The good news is that grace is not only goodness, favor, love and

strength – it’s a most effective “wart remover” to slowly but surely dissolve our

character flaws so that we can “become conformed to the image” of Jesus. Chuck

Swindoll affirms that this process takes time, requires pain, and means change. (1)

The box of medicated discs I bought for my wart required repeated

applications over a period of time – but they got rid of that unwanted growth on my

thumb. It hurt a little but produced a positive change. The process of using grace to

change character warts is more complicated but follows a similar pattern. Let’s take

a look at the case of taming Tara’s terrible tongue:

 Tara will daily have to ask God for grace to keep her mouth shut – grace to

forego the extra attention she’ll get by sharing a bombshell or some tidbit of

tantalizing information. Restraining her tongue will take time.

 Tara will need God's grace to go through the painful process of recognizing

and confessing each time she gossips or says something that would have been

better left unsaid. She’ll have to face the humiliation of tying to remedy the

damage and admitting it was her fault. But God gives grace to the humble.

Once she makes up her mind to do it, she’ll find there is grace for saying,

“I'm sorry. It was my fault.” Along with God's wonderful grace of

forgiveness.

 The change from being the center of attention to stepping into the

background won't be easy for a person like Tara. But it’s the price she must

pay. And God's grace can come to her rescue. God's favor is better than the

approval of her peers.

(1) Chuck Swindoll, The Grace Awakening, p. 199.

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God's grace is a reservoir of divine resources that can meet our needs, fill our

emptiness, strengthen our weaknesses, soften our hardness, and heal our hurts. We

need to keep asking for more – never doubting that there will be enough – and

continue to receive it moment by moment. Let’s focus on using God's grace to

change our lives in practical ways. (2)

1. Grace can conquer inferiority complexes.

If the secondhand historical information we have is correct, the apostle Paul

was short and ugly. By his own admission, he was not an impressive public speaker.

Before he met Jesus, his goal was to destroy Christians and their teaching. After his

conversion, believers first feared him and later questioned his methods for

evangelizing Gentiles. He was never part of the “in crowd.” But he lived and

breathed the grace of God – and that transformed him into a more than conqueror

model. His testimony was simple: “For I am the least of the apostles and do not

even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But

by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No,

I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me”

(1 Corinthians 15: 9-10). His life demonstrated the cure for an inferiority complex.

(2) Author’s note; My main outline and many examples are borrowed from chapter 10, “Grace: Up Close

and Personal,” of Charles Swindoll’s book. The Grace Awakening.

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You can overcome your shyness, your fear of failure, or your tendency to

show off by the yet not I but the grace of God that is with me recipe. Being willing

to do God's will, with motives under His control, is the prerequisite for receiving

God's grace. God won't waste His grace on making you so popular you turn your

back on Him. Don’t bother to ask for God's grace if you don’t intend to share your

financial prosperity, or you want to hoard all the blessings for yourself, or if you

desire to take the credit. But if in your heart you really want to follow Jesus, just

keep asking for and receiving more grace. Don’t make the mistake of only

requesting emergency grace rations. You need grace every moment of every day to

conquer your complexes.

2 . Grace allows you to take off your masks.

It’s terribly tempting to appear to be something we are not – to exaggerate

our successes, to make sure others don’t find out certain things about us, to dress

nicer than we can afford in order to make an impression, to work harder if certain

people are noticing, to be a different person in public than we are at home, and to

act like a super-Christian who has it all together when we’re really struggling. It’s

also very stressful. How refreshing to meet a person who is genuine and transparent.

Only the assurance of a never-ending supply of God's grace, and knowing how to

make it yours each day, can give you the freedom to take off all your masks. Only

having the Lord say to you the words He gave Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you,

for my power is made perfect in weakness” can cause you to admit and accept your

deficiencies.

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Chuck Swindoll says it this way: “We suffer. We hurt. We fail. We blow it.

We feel bad. Medication won't relieve it. Prayer doesn’t remove it. Complaining

doesn't help it. Our problem? We are just human.” (3) But God gives us more grace

– grace to free us from the strain of pretending, denying, not facing ourselves

honestly, and not letting others know what we really are. God's grace can help you

throw out all your masks.

3. Grace can remove the grenades from your speech.

The quick putdown, the sarcastic remark, the defense lawyer excuse, the

manipulative use of the guilt trip, the dirty joke, the constant complaining, and the

spreading of rumors represent just a few ways you can sin with your tongue.

Colossians 4: 6 tells us; “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned

with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

(3) Chuck Swindoll, The Grace Awakening, p. 202.

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We need more grace for talking than for anything else – because we do so

much of it. James 3: 8 tells us, “No man can tame the tongue” – that takes the grace

of God every minute!

4. Grace can give you the courage to live your convictions.

It’s happened to many of us. You come home from Bible camp, hear a

rousing sermon, or read the Exodus account of the opening of the Red Sea so the

Israelites can cross on dry land, and you're ready to win the world to Jesus! But

when the biology teacher asks who believes in creation, a guy at the lunch table

announces he’s just met his spirit guide, or somebody wants to know if you're one

of those weird radical-righters who believes the Bible, your courage evaporates

quickly.

Unless you learn how to totally rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and the

grace of God – fully expecting Him to come through – you'll remain a scaredy-cat

Christian. Hebrews 13: 9 tells us, “It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by

grace.” Tell God you can't do it on your own and receive His grace.

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Raw power and bold words that aren’t full of grace are too hard for others to

receive. This is illustrated by an experience I'll never forget.

The room I’d acquired from the Park Management for our evangelistic social

was full of high school students. A lot of them were new, and everything was going

well. Suddenly a short kid who was standing on top of the garbage can started

screaming, “You're all going to hell! You're all going to hell!” You couldn’t accuse

him of being a coward, but his graceless words sure didn’t help us evangelize the

group!

Not only do we need to stand up for what we believe, but we must do it in a

way that really shows people the heart of Jesus. For that we need God's grace.

5. Pride will kill grace.

The biggest reason we all lack grace in our lives is because of our pride.

Grace won't even appear on the scene until our pride is eradicated. First Peter 5: 5

says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (italics mine).

Proverbs 3: 34 expresses the same idea; “He mocks proud mockers but gives grace

to the humble.”

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The person who boasts, “I've conquered my pride” is a liar. When people

criticize or point out faults or prove us wrong, they don’t usually get a humble and

loving response. We’re not good at being overlooked, doing the work that another

receives the credit for, or being cut from the program. Not returning insults,

forgetting about being unfairly treated, and giving the person the benefit of the

doubt when our name was the only one left off the honor roll published in the paper

– well, grace is not a natural human strength. We desperately need God's grace.

God's grace is available to start the slow and painful process of removing the

warts from our personalities. No, change isn’t always comfortable, but it is worth it!

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CHAPTER 9

“GOD’S GRACE TURNS NOBODIES

INTO SOMEBODIES”

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Brock snatched his geometry test from his teacher’s hand, hoping that

nobody would notice the big red D-. Although he tried to do the homework, went

for special help after school, and studied the best he could, he just couldn't

understand math. His older sister had gotten really good grades, and his mother

expected the same from him. He dreaded gym class –especially in baseball season.

He always led the team in consecutive number of strikeouts.

Nervous and insecure, Brock admired guys with self-confidence who knew

how to talk to girls and win the respect of the other guys. He always felt self-

conscious and like he didn’t fit in anywhere. His father had left when he was six

years old and was now so involved in his new family that he never contacted Brock

or his sister. Brock envied the guys at church who had strong, caring fathers. His

mother held down a job with a lot of responsibility, which usually left her too tired

to devote much time to home and family. His sister had a boyfriend, and now she

didn’t talk with him as much as she used to.

Brock had accepted Christ as his Savior, but his life was a constant struggle.

His faith made him an object of ridicule at school. The guys at church were too

“cool” to let him into their clique. He took refuge in his guitar. His mother paid for

music lessons, and his teacher said he had a lot of talent. He even composed a few

original songs. But he couldn’t play or sing in front of anyone because he’d

completely lose his composure and basically fall apart.

Brock worried about the future. He felt he wasn’t smart enough to make it

through college. He wondered if he could ever pull off a job interview and manage

to get hired. And really, he thought, who’d ever marry a loser like me?

He must have looked as depressed as he felt, because one day Pastor Doug,

the new youth minister, asked him out for pizza. He really took an interest in

Brock’s life. After talking about a lot of things, Pastor Doug said, “I understand you

play guitar. I want to start a worship team for the youth meetings, and I wonder if

you’d be part of it.”

Brock didn’t know what to say. After a long, embarrassing silence, he

stammered, “I … I can't. I can't play in front of anybody. I get so nervous I don’t

even play the right chords.”

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“But if you could overcome your fear,” Pastor Doug persisted, “is it

something you feel you’d really like to do?”

“It’s my dream to use my musical ability for Jesus,” Brock admitted.

Pastor Doug put an arm on Brock’s shoulder. “Then this is a perfect

opportunity for you to learn more about the grace of God. Do you remember the

story of Moses?”

“Sure,” Brock replied. “He didn’t want to lead the Israelites out of Egypt

because he stuttered.”

“Right,” said Pastor Doug. “But the Lord was willing to help Moses

overcome his hang-ups. Gradually Moses learned to receive His grace. God gave

Moses all the strength, wisdom, and boldness he needed. It’s a spiritual principle

that God will help us use the talents we have, and He’ll give us the spiritual gifts we

need to accomplish what He called us to do. You can trust God to conquer your fear

and to give you gifts you don’t presently possess in order to fulfill the plan He has

for your life. The only thing He needs from you is a willingness to accept His

supernatural grace step by step.

“Brock,” he finished, “I can't guarantee that it’ll be a painless process, or that

it will happen overnight. But as you obey God, receiving His grace for every step,

wonderful things will happen.”

Can you identify with Brock? Have you ever thought, Some people get all the

breaks. Or, Life just isn’t fair. Or, She’s so talented she makes me sick. Or, If only I

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had his looks and personality. If you’ve ever thought even one of those things, keep

reading.

1. Real-life Stories of God's Grace Encourage Us.

Jamie* (*not her real name) was a spastic who couldn’t pronounce words

clearly and was in the high school class for very slow learners. She was a foster

child who lived with an older woman. She had the world’s sweetest smile and

attended our Bible club meetings faithfully. When we held a seminar to teach

students how to share their faith, I didn’t invite Jamie because I thought it would be

cruel to expect her to engage a stranger in conversation. I wasn’t even sure she had

the mental capacity to really understand the gospel herself, much less explain it to

someone else. But not long afterward, Jamie informed me that she’d been using

gospel tracts to witness to others – and she hadn’t even been trained! I marveled at

the wonderful grace of God that equips people to do the humanly impossible.

On another occasion, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. A beautiful and

poised high school girl was giving her testimony at a city-wide event organized by

the Bible club leaders I worked with. She told of having been raped, of the

supernatural ability God gave her to forgive her attacker, and of the joy and peace

she had found in Jesus despite her difficult experience. Again I thanked God that

His grace works miracles everyday.

And here is a third “grace-filled” person. In my opinion he was the most

dynamic speaker at the huge youth conference. Obviously he walked with God, and

it showed in his life. I was shocked to find out that he grew up in the worst section

of a large city. Immorality, violence, and rebellion against authority were the values

of his peers – and the adults in his life. When he accepted Christ in junior high, his

stepfather kicked him out of the house, and he had to live in his mother’s bar. But

God's grace enabled him to overcome even this harsh background.

You see, God's grace makes nobodies into somebodies. A shoe salesman

from a poverty-stricken family, with terrible English grammar, became the world-

known evangelist D. L. Moody. An impetuous fisherman named Peter, who didn’t

always think before he spoke, gave a sermon on the Day of Pentecost that resulted

in 3,000 conversions. A fearful and overly conscientious young man from Germany

– who seemed condemned to a life of misery and obscurity only because of a vow

he made when he was afraid of a thunderstorm – became courageous in the face of

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almost certain death. He was unwilling to back down on the truth contained in

God's Word, even though the whole world seemed to be against him. Martin Luther

was a living demonstration of his motto: “By grace alone, through faith alone.” And

nothing else could explain the marvelous change in his life.

A single woman who repaired watches in her father’s shop and taught a

Sunday school class for mentally handicapped children risked her own life to save

Jewish people from Hitler. Corrie ten Boom emerged from a Nazi concentration

camp as an overcomer and went on to impart a message of commitment, faith, and

courage to the entire Christian world.

The truth is that God's grace comes to us in many forms. It can be

forgiveness, strength, and hope for a specific trial, self-control in tempting

circumstances, and a whole lot more. But in this chapter let’s concentrate on the

grace by which God gives us the ability to do what He wants us to do.

2. God's grace makes up for unfair circumstances.

The origin of a pearl is a grain of sand, or another irritation, that causes the

oyster to secrete a beautiful substance to cover the source of the pain, making it

smooth and beautiful. God's grace is like that. It transforms the ugly, the

heartbreaking, and the annoying into advertisements for His goodness and mercy.

If it weren’t for the grace of God, the injustices of life could only be met with

protest, aggression, and bitterness. Since most people don’t know that God is

cheering for us and ready to give us whatever we need at the moment, our culture is

permeated with a nothing makes sense, I'm completely on my own so I'll do

whatever is necessary for me to cope mentality. It’s pretty easy for a Christian to

pick up this mindset. But exactly the opposite is true.

In the light of God's eternal plan, everything has a purpose. Tragedies,

difficult families, physical handicaps, tough circumstances, your lack of ability in

whatever area of your life – everything! God has planned to give you His grace to

make that difficulty into a pearl in which others see the greatness of God and are

attracted to Him. It was the apostle Paul who said, “Three times I pleaded with the

Lord to take (my affliction) away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is

sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will

boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest

upon me” (2 Corinthians 12: 8-9).

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 God's grace also operates in the area of mixed-up emotions, which we

ourselves can't understand.

In the loneliness, the rejection, the confusion, the misunderstanding, and the

unfairness of life, God has plenty of grace to produce more pearls – if only you will

receive it. First Peter 5: 10 gives us a key to unlock the storehouse of God's grace.

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you

have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and

steadfast.”

So many people take it upon themselves to tell God what to do and declare

that He is to allow absolutely no suffering. Pain upsets some Christians to the point

that they lose hope and don’t even bother to pray for, wait for, and expect to receive

God's grace. God can heal hurts and bring about changes in the depths of our

personalities. Never underestimate God's grace!

 Relying on God's grace makes more sense than coping in your own

strength.

That doesn’t mean that cooperating with God won't require action on your

part. You don’t need to take drugs, gobble chocolate, buy yourself luxuries you

can't afford, or quickly find someone to blame – or love. You can ask God for more

and more of His grace. First Peter 1: 13-14 are wonderful verses. “Therefore,

prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to

be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to

the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.” Learn to wait before the

Lord until you receive insight about what He wants you to do about the “Goliath” of

a problem you're facing. Then expect God to give you all the grace you need.

Because God's grace will always be available, we don’t have to jump at the first

solution that happens to cross our minds – we can wait for what God will reveal to

us and have peace because there will always be enough of His grace to give us what

we must have.

 Refusing God's grace is very dangerous.

God's grace is available for every situation – and the supply never runs out.

But there are many ways of refusing to accept what God longs to give us.

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3 . God's grace comes to those who admit their need and surrender to

God.

If you’ve accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit lives in you

and His grace is always available – if you accept it. For each situation, there’s an

opportunity to receive the grace of God, which will enable you to have godly

motives and to act as Jesus would in the situation. Or you can say the angry words,

let the resentment smolder, plunge into depression, or take revenge. One of the

devil’s most effective lies is, “You can't stand it anymore!” But you can, because

there’s always more grace if you will keep on receiving it.

There’s a verse in Jonah that we’d all do well to memorize; “Those who cling

to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs” (Jonah 2: 8). Our idols are

things like personal preference, emotional wounds, which we use as excuses for

self-pity, pride, our determination that people should act the way we want them to,

independence, and refusal to submit to the discipline required to form new habits.

These are some of the treasured idols that keep us from asking for and receiving

God's grace.

Like Jonah, we don’t want to go to Ninevah – or clean the house on

Saturdays, or study hard, or go to a prayer meeting. Like Moses, we prefer to hide

behind our stuttering, or our shyness, or the fact that we have been unfairly treated,

or our lack of talent. Sometimes we’ll do anything but go out on a limb with God

and permit Him to supply us with all the grace we need for each moment. We’re too

arrogant to admit we’re wrong to go the extra mile or do the right thing when it will

cost us our popularity. We can get so upset because we’re doing more work than

Mary, because Steve didn’t keep his promise, or because a friend betrayed us – that

we don’t even bother to ask God for His grace. If we permitted Him to heal the hurt

or be to us what that other person should have been, we’d be okay. But we won't.

We can be so confident in our ability to get through the school day, manage our

finances, or choose our friends, that we’re reluctant to follow the instructions of

Jesus. We can despise the hard work, discipline, and self-control, needed to make us

effective channels of the grace of God.

God's grace is supernatural. You can't grit your teeth and say, “I'm going to

love my enemy if it kills me,” Because in your heart you still resent him. You're

unable to turn on happiness. Just try switching irritation into instant patience, and

you'll get my point. When you honestly admit to God that you can't cope – when

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you sincerely accept His plans and His way of doing things – then His grace will fill

the “molds” of humility you’ve provided. But any pride or decision to exercise your

“rights” will cut off the flow of that grace.

4. As you receive God's grace, God gives you more and more.

“But he gives us more grace … God opposes the proud but gives grace to the

humble” (James 4: 6). Claim this wonderful promise as your own!

 It will save you from “I can't take any more of this” tantrums.

If there is more pressure, more work, more suffering, more rejection, more

ridicule, or more misunderstanding, there is always more grace! The secret is to

keep on expecting more of God's grace instead of swallowing the devil’s “you can't

stand any more” lie. Being plugged in to God's grace assures you that you'll be able

to take the next step, help the next person, or make the next decision.

 It will enable you to face the future.

Because you can depend on God's grace, you can stop worrying about things

like: What if my parents die? What would I do in case of nuclear warfare? How

could I ever face an incurable disease? How many times can I keep on forgiving

Marc? God's grace will cover the future. The grace you need will be there when

you need it. What a wonderful hope!

 It will rescue you from the rat race.

The most fabulous thing about God gives us more grace living is that it

includes grace for traffic jams, grace for waiting in lines, grace for taking tests,

grace for striking out, grace for being kind to obnoxious Jennifer, grace for morning

devotions, and grace for listening to Grandma’s advice. The supply never runs out

even if the line is a mile long, the test is unfair, and the umpire is blind. The

difference that constantly receiving God's grace makes in daily life is amazing –

amazing grace!

5. God's grace gives us what we need to do His will.

God's grace will especially equip you for any work He has called you to do.

If you decide what you're going to do for God in order to make a name for yourself,

you can't count on God's grace. If you disobey God or refuse to follow His call, the

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river of grace runs dry. God's purpose is to bless you so that you will bless others.

Selfishness and grace don’t get along very well.

But if you really want to do the Lord’s will, God promises to supply you with

the grace to accomplish it. “The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it” (1

Thessalonians 5: 24). God's grace makes it possible to serve Him.

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 Natural talents are a result of God's grace and can only bring glory to God

if we allow His grace to operate in our lives.

When we try to do God's work in our own strength and wisdom, it can be

disastrous.

We should humbly thank God for the brains, looks, good health, musical

ability, leadership qualities, or capacity for compassion that He has given us. Then

we need His motives, His instructions, and His grace flowing through us to use

these strengths to further His kingdom.

The smart Alec, know it all Bible teacher can't really transmit God's truth to

others. The hard worker who constantly accuses the others of being lazy doesn’t

really contribute to the project. The fantastic guitarist who tries to star in his own

show instead of leading people in worshiping God isn’t an asset to the Lord’s work.

All of us need to let God show us how to use what He has given us in a way that

will honor Him.

 Spiritual gifts are God-given specialties, making it possible for us to do a

specific work for God.

They are the result of God's grace, and we need to constantly be dependent

on God's grace and guidance to use them correctly. All of us can say with the

apostle Paul, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15: 10). We

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should never be guilty of using spiritual gifts to show off. We must always

remember, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the

common good” (1 Corinthians 12: 7). Nothing is quite so ugly as the misuse of

spiritual gifts.

God's grace in the form of spiritual gifts is something very special – a gift

you must return to Him by using it to faithfully serve the Lord. As you use your

spiritual gifts for Him, God strengthens the gifts we have and gives us others.

 By His grace, God guides us into the place where we should serve Him.

It’s terribly important that you let God, not other people, show you the things

you should be doing to serve God. Be willing to obey Him even if you feel

completely inadequate. If God has really called you, He will give you all the

spiritual gifts you need for the position – if you keep trusting Him.

But nothing is quite so terrible as deciding what God needs you to do. If

you're depending on enthusiasm instead of God's grace, you'll burn out. Relying on

persistence alone will make you into the crabby why does everybody leave all the

work to me Christian. You need constant refills of God's grace to do God's work in

God's way.

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 Grace shows us how to benefit from all the opportunities God sends our

way.

I'm privileged to know personally some men and women who God is using in

spectacular ways. At first I was surprised to see how very ordinary they all are –

people with fears and problems and weaknesses to overcome. Finally, I discovered

their secret; Each of them knows how to keep on receiving God's grace. They're not

afraid to answer God's call to undertake a big and difficult task because they know

God will give them more grace. And when they see these God-given opportunities,

they go all-out for God because they know that He will give them more grace.

They're not afraid of sacrificing their comforts, giving themselves to others, or

working in disagreeable circumstances because they're confident that God will

never run out of grace. They gladly surrender their “rights” to God because they

know that with each opportunity God gives them to serve Him, they can count on

his strength to get the job done.

Your future will be determined not by what you are now but by learning to

receive more and more of the grace of God. Even if you feel you have too many

problems to serve God or that you don’t have enough talent or personality or

leadership to count in God's kingdom, you can learn the secret of the grace of God.

As you make yourself available to Him to do the littlest thing depending on His

grace, the Lord will increase your talents, abilities, and spiritual gifts.

6. Realizing how God's grace works keeps us from comparisons,

competition, pride, and jealousy.

“Jim can get up in front of any group and speak. I wish I could be like him.”

“Cindy is always in the spotlight, but no one notices me.” “When God passed out

talents, I got cheated.” If you’ve ever thought things like this, you need to learn a

thing or two about the grace of God.

 God gave Christians a variety of abilities so that we’d learn to work

together and give Him the glory.

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given us” (Romans 12: 6).

Christians are like one great symphony – some may play the solos, but without

every background instrument, they won't sound very good. The love of Jesus is seen

when:

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 You put an arm around a depressed friend.

 You take time to listen to a child.



Your well-done work is presented as a gift to God.

 You offer a prayer by a hospital bedside.

 You buy flowers for an elderly lady.

 You give a clear explanation of a scriptural principal.

 You make a sacrificial missionary offering.

Whatever gifts you have, they are terribly important to the body of Christ and

to the building of the kingdom of God. Never try to be who you aren’t, but get

ahold of God's grace to be the best you can be!

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 You're only responsible to use the gifts you have been given and to do what

God has called you to do.

It’s a wonderful relief to find out that God doesn’t expect you to do

everything. Just obey Him using the gifts you have to do the things you know He’s

called you to do. If serving God is slugging it out day by day – then either you're

doing your own thing or you're not receiving the grace God wants to give you. Be

sure you don’t compare yourself with other people. Let God judge His servants –

including you! If others don’t do their part, it’s not your concern. There’s joy in

serving the One you love and constantly receiving His grace.

 No person has so many gifts he or she doesn’t desperately need other

Christians. And none can do God's work without the help of brothers and

sisters in Christ.

Christians who understand how God's grace works and keep on receiving it

compliment one another and compensate for each other’s weaknesses. Knowing

that all our gifts come from God cuts out jealousy and competition. This sets us free

to help one another out and begin working together to win the world for Jesus. Each

person has a gift that is a part of God's strategy. It usually takes several contacts

with Christians before an unbeliever surrenders his life to God. It often takes

someone to pray faithfully, another to show a special kindness, one to share the

gospel, a fourth to send a good book, a fellow worker to show great integrity on the

job, and maybe a pastor to preach a sermon that opens that heart to God. All are part

of the chain that leads a person to Jesus.

You and the gifts God has given you are important – there aren’t any

nobodies in the kingdom of God. Daily receive God's grace and “whatever you do,

whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to

God the Father through him” (Colossians 3: 17).

When you begin to act on God's grace, you help change the world!

As we close, I want to assure you; If you live in God's grace, life will never

become boring, desperate, or hopeless!

“And God is able to make all grace abound to you” – that includes

forgiveness, new life in Christ, and the assurance of spending eternity with Him….

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“…so that in all things” – success, failure, rejection, trying to reach others for

Jesus, tough circumstances, falling in love, facing danger, and cleaning up someone

else’s mess….

“…at all times” – final exam week, spring vacation, during a family crisis,

when you're sick, and at the championship football game….

“…having all you need” – patience, love, joy, peace, freedom from fear, the

spiritual gifts to accomplish God's will, friendship, encouragement, and

persistence…

“…you will abound in every good work” – being a blessing to your family,

witnessing, living like a Christian in school, contributing positively to your church,

touching the heartbroken neighbor kid, explaining God's Word to a friend, helping

support a missionary in Ecuador, and standing up for Jesus while the rest of the

world is sitting down.

AND HE GIVES US MORE GRACE.

This never-ending supply of God's strength, power, and love is for you …

because He wants to give you a life – with no strings attached.

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