Grace trumps Pride

When I first surrendered my will over to God the word GRACE kept coming into my mind and I sensed His Grace all throughout my body, mind and heart.

 * * *

I knew, in no uncertain terms, that I had received a gift that was freely given and a gift that I did not deserve. 

God placed me in the center of Grace by His hand and everyday I am full of gratitude that he LOVES me THAT much.

All it took on my part was a willingness to be wrong. A willingness to surrender my own thoughts and beliefs of how God "should be" and be willing to see who He truly is. The same, yesterday, today and forever.

I just had to be willing to give up a human attribute God hates; Pride.

Proverbs 4
¹³ To fear the LORD is to hate evil;
   I hate pride and arrogance,
   evil behavior and perverse speech.

He hates pride because it's the one iniquity that tells us we don't need God. We can do it ourselves and we know all we need to know for our own lives due to experience, common sense, etc.

We don't need Him.

It reminds me of when we love someone, maybe a child or friend, a spouse or sibling and that person doesn't need or want us anymore. In most cases this lack of need breaks our hearts and that's because most of us want to feel wanted. Being wanted and needed makes us feel loved.

AND WE ALL WANT TO BE LOVED.

Our pride keeps us from saying we want and need help, love and support from anyone, least of all God.

It seems to me God feels that way too, but in massive proportion. HE CREATED US, gave us air to breathe, food to eat, stars that shine and everything else under the sun. HE EVEN GAVE US HIS ONE AND ONLY SON AS ATONEMENT FOR EVERY SINGLE THING WE HAVE DONE AND WILL DO WRONG and we don't need him?! Talk about a broken heart.  

I finally realized with stark clarity that my heart was prideful, deceitful, selfish, impure, coveting, jealous and to put it bluntly; rotten.

It was a hard pill to swallow and I felt ashamed,  repentant, and completely unworthy. But as soon as I felt those horrible feelings and saw the separation I had from God, is when He wrapped me in His loving Grace and brought me back into communion with Him. Now I want nothing more than to be the woman God created me to be; A woman after God's own heart. 

John 1:16-17
¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ.

As my sweet mother always says, "We don't need to be perfect or do good deeds to be in Gods presence, all we have to do is come to the cross." We don't need to change to get to Him; We go to Him and...   
He changes us. 

Gracious and loving LORD.

My prayer tonight is that you touch the lives of all those who read this and accept your Word and your extraordinary Grace. May those that haven't yet but want to, put away pride, and Ask, seek and knock because you have faithfully promised "For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." I pray you surround them in the center of your most humbling and loving GRACE. In the name of the Most Holy Jesus, I pray. Amen.

SHINE YOUR LIGHT AND LET THE WHOLE WORLD SEE

Matthew 5:14-16

   ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

May Grace and Peace be with you all!



Romans 5:12-21 (CEB)

Grace now rules

 ¹² So, in the same way that sin entered the world through one person, and death came through sin, so death spread to all human beings with the result that all sinned. ¹³ Although sin was in the world, since there was no Law, it wasn’t taken into account until the Law came. ¹⁴ But death ruled from Adam until Moses, even over those who didn’t sin in the same way Adam did—Adam was a type of the one who was coming.  ¹⁵ But the free gift of Christ isn’t like Adam’s failure. If many people died through what one person did wrong, God’s grace is multiplied even more for many people with the gift—of the one person Jesus Christ—that comes through grace. ¹⁶ The gift isn’t like the consequences of one person’s sin. The judgment that came from one person’s sin led to punishment, but the free gift that came out of many failures led to the verdict of acquittal. ¹⁷ If death ruled because of one person’s failure, those who receive the multiplied grace and the gift of righteousness will even more certainly rule in life through the one person Jesus Christ.
 ¹⁸ So now the righteous requirements necessary for life are met for everyone through the righteous act of one person, just as judgment fell on everyone through the failure of one person. ¹⁹ Many people were made righteous through the obedience of one person, just as many people were made sinners through the disobedience of one person. ²⁰ The Law stepped in to amplify the failure, but where sin increased, grace multiplied even more. ²¹ The result is that grace will rule through God’s righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, just as sin ruled in death.

Fear the Most Holy

All my life I didn’t understand “The Fear of God” the term actually rubbed me the wrong way. Why should I fear God, when I can love Him? Is not loving our Creator better than being afraid of Him?

I didn’t understand fear until I experienced it.

I decided to do some research and I found these definitions:

Fear - To be afraid or frightened of.

This definition made me confused and didn't feel quite right. Although, I understood how some would fear Him as at times, He is known for His wrath and jealousy. There are definitely times when one could imagine fearing God’s wrath, being afraid of His anger that is spoken of in the bible. He’s taken whole cities out like Sodom and Gomorrah and hardened hearts on purpose like Exodus. He even took out all of mankind at one point in the beginning, except for Noah and his Ark so to be afraid of Him wasn’t all that much of a stretch. But still, it didn't seem fully right...

That's when I decided to look into it further, I found this definition:

Fear - Extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power.

Now this definition made more sense but it still wasn’t entirely accurate to my experience so I looked up Awe.

Awe - A mixed emotion of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder inspired by authority, genius, great beauty, sublimity, or might.

Awe was something I could most definitely relate to so I kept going.

I looked up Reverence.

Reverence - A feeling of profound awe and respect and often love.

And to top it off I looked up Respect.

Respect - Willingness to show consideration or appreciation.

These words had encompassed the experience I’ve felt on a regular basis for The Lord. Fearing Him wasn’t to be afraid, Fearing Him was to be in complete and total awe of Him and His creation of this world. Fearing God meant to fall completely and madly in LOVE with Him and all He does for me and us every day.

Fearing God means to notice that when I fall asleep at night He’s got me and because of Him I wake up every morning. Fearing God shows me that His hand is in EVERYTHING. Without Him Life wouldn’t be. He spoke everything into motion.

Genesis 1:1-3 ¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  ³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Not only that, he took the time to create our bodies and this universe completely perfect and in order. Life on this planet would not exist if it was any closer or further away to the Sun. To know God one must only look at and ponder the universe. It's precision speaks multitudes even down to a cell.

Realizing all of this makes me see how careful, understanding and creative He is and how much He truly loves us.  

Psalm 139: ¹³ For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I’ve also come to understand Holiness in a way I never did before.Fearing God and worshiping His Holiness is something I look forward to throughout the day. I can't imagine life without Him now.

Holy - Belonging to, derived from, or associated with a divine power; sacred. Endowed or invested with extreme purity or sublimity.

His holiness transcends more into me each and everyday, every time I let Him control how things will go. Every time he humbles me and shows me something else about Himself. He made this world and gave me breath of His breath. Genesis 2:7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

1 Peter 1:15-16 But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy."

This Sunday I am singing a song called "What do I know of Holy" by Addison Road at church, because the more I get to know my Creator, The one who the Angels Praise, The more I strive for Holiness, purity and light. I also see where in the past; I just didn’t get it.

What do I know of Holy

Addison Road

I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all, No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?

What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?

What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life its name?

What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?

All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?

What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I am honored to sing praises to the Lord our God, who spoke us into motion and Who sent His Son so that we may be in communion with Him.

This song has struck such a chord in my heart because that was me. Now, I am learning, Holy.

Revelation 4:8 

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

 I challenge any one that hasn’t, to read the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament so as to understand John 3:16. If you read and still don’t believe, then at least you know that for yourself. It may seem like a waste of time to you to read about Jesus and His life and what He stands for, but how can you truly know unless you allow for Gods word to prove that wrong?
  

I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, 

so that all who put their trust in me 

will no longer remain in the dark. 

 John 12:46 (NLT)

Adonai,

I come before you with these words, words that are so powerful, so that you might be praised and glorified and your truth may be shown. I thank you for opening the hearts of all who read this to your love.

In the most Holy name of Jesus I pray, Amen.