Channels of Grace

Scripture:  “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  John 6:37-38

For a moment I want you to picture God’s Holy Spirit being like electricity and you are a house.  God’s Spirit is connected to your fuse box when you accept Christ as your Savior.  Resurrection power is made available to you when you are saved by grace. 

There are all these wires that run throughout your life.  Circuits if you will of ways that God’s grace flows through you and reaches out to other people.  Unfortunately our sin creates roadblocks or switches in the circuit system.  When we sin against God, we turn off a switch that limits God’s power made available to us.

I could make a long list of ways that we are running on limited power, but we can look at the church and see that we clearly aren’t raising people from the dead and walking on water.  It is obvious we are limiting God’s grace at work in our lives.  Jesus himself said that we would do greater things than he did in His name (John 14:12).  Why is this not happening?

I want to suggest one area of sin that we are dabbling in that is hindering God’s power in our lives.  That area is unforgiveness.   If we seek forgiveness from God for a sin but do not distribute that same forgiving grace to others, we have just flipped a major breaker in the power of God in our lives.  The grace God issues us must be issued through us toward others in order for that grace to empower us as Christians and free us for joyful obedience.

Picture this:  You are feeling a darkness in your spirit.  You are experiencing anxiety, fear and doubt.  You are wrestling with hopelessness and anger.  You are resentful and cynical.  I would suggest that you check your forgiveness breaker.  Are you withholding grace from someone?  Who is it?  Why?  Only you know and God will show you what it is that is stealing the fruit of His Spirit from you: peace, joy, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, self-control, ect (Galatians 5:22).  Taking a spiritual inventory will tell you pretty quickly if your forgiveness breaker is flipped.

I know that Christ meant for us to walk in these gifts.  He said that He was leaving us His peace.  Why are we lacking?  Do not decide that you are destined to live in darkness.  That you can’t overcome the sorrow you feel.  Start trying to really get to the bottom of it.  Your sorrow is not dependent on someone else.  It is dependent on you forgiving that person, the exact way that Christ forgives you, with love, mercy and grace (unmerited favor).  Stop withholding grace!

Leslie Stephens

McMinnville, TN

Prayer:  O merciful Savior, thank you for loving me while I was still a sinner.  Help me to extend that same mercy and grace to others, so that your light may shine through me and so that I may find Your peace.  Amen

Prayer Tip:  Every prayer should contain confession.  We are sinful people.  Seek out your sin, don’t assume you are covered.

Come on Grace!

Scripture:  The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners —of whom I am the worst.  1 Timothy 1:14-15

I am always inspired by sporting events.  I think it is no mistake that Paul used that reference on more than one occasion when referring to life and the race toward the prize of winning Christ.  This week my oldest son competed in his first swim meet in two years.  I had missed it.  The thrill of seeing children of all ages racing is fun to watch.  Many of them jump out of the water and look at the heat sheet in search of their last swim time to see if they beat themselves.  Others of course want to simply see if they finished first in their race.

In swimming more than anything you are racing yourself.  The race itself means very little in the big picture because your personal best is what you want to beat and you really can’t know until you see the clock and look at your record times.  Although if you have never been around that venue, then you might think that one race will make you a winner or not.  Many times there will be two or three heats in each race which means just because you win your heat does not mean you are the winner of that race.  There could be another swimmer in a different heat beat your time and you would move down the leader board even if you finished first in your race.

At last night’s meet there was young girl named Grace racing.  Her friends and family stood next to the pool cheering for her as she swam, “Come on Grace!”  I had a God moment where it struck me profound.  That is exactly what we need to be cheering in this life, “Come on grace!”  We need to be certain that it is God’s grace that sustains us and gives us the victory.

I am not sure what you are going through, but you most definitely need God’s grace to make it.  Stop what you are doing and say that prayer, “Come on grace.”  God is faithful to fulfill that prayer right now and always.

Cheering for you,

Leslie Stephens

McMinnville, TN

Prayer:  Come on grace!  That my life might better reflect that same grace to those around me and draw them to a deeper relationship with you, the Living God!  Amen.

Prayer Tip:  Always seek a fresh filling of God’s Spirit each day.  It is ahtt grace that you need to walk in His ways.

Sitting the Bench

Scripture: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25 (NKJV)



As a parent there is nothing more miserable than seeing your children hurt, upset or discouraged. My son loves basketball. From the time the boy could walk, literally, he has had a basketball in his hand and a smile on his face. He has participated in other sports, but nothing tickles his fancy like a ball and a hoop. As a 3-year-old he was a gifted basketball player, but as he grew the phenomenon kind of subsided and he really just developed a love for the game.


Now at age 14 he plays for the freshman team, but has realized that he is not a naturally gifted athlete. He has to work really hard to gain favor with the coach and all those neat little nuances of the game that he loves do not come as natural to him as some of the other players. The poetry some athletes make with ease, he has to really study to write. Fortunately for him he likes his teammates and the coach and has had a good time playing freshman ball this year.


Tonight however was the last home game of the season and with friends and relatives watching the game he sat the bench. And sat the bench. And sat the bench. He did not get to play even one minute. I knew he would be disappointed and so was I, but he came straight in and went to bed without one word except good night. I was so sorrowful as I know it made him angry and frustrated. I talked to God about it and asked Him to teach Wyatt something important as I have said many times there are important things you can learn on the bench that you can't
learn in the game.

Then all of a sudden it clicked for me. You can't acquire the fruit of God's spirit playing basketball. You can only get it sitting on the bench!

• Love: Learning to love people (the coach) when you are not treated fairly.
• Joy: Learning to experience joy when you have a sad or angry emotion over your circumstances.
• Peace: Learning to find peace within when you have inner turmoil.
• Longsuffering (patience): Learning to wait on the things you really want and persevering until you see those things happen or even if you do not see those things happen.
• Kindness: Learning to show encouragement and support even when you are discouraged
  and disappointed.
• Goodness: Learning to be respectful to people even when they do not deserve it.
• Faithfulness: Learning to be dependable and supportive even if people are not faithful and trustworthy.
• Gentleness: Learning to not let your anger change the way you treat people.
• Self-control: Learning how to be a good sport even when you are angry, upset, and disappointed and really want to hit, scream, stomp, cry, and act like a spoiled little brat. (no matter how entitled you think you might be)
  

We live in a world that is not fair. This world is full of people who are not faithful and do not treat people nicely. We can't always have our way. People will always disappoint us. Winning and things going perfectly is not always going to happen. In fact more often than not our plans are spoiled by circumstances beyond our control. Somehow in the midst of that we have to display the character of Christ! God help us!

I can clearly see now that as much as I love my children and want to see them happy and successful, God knows better than me what they need. I want to see Wyatt rewarded for
working hard and get to play basketball and win and love it all at the same time, but more than that (much more than that) I want to see him develop the character of Christ. So really he needs
to learn how to sit the bench. It is on the bench where the fruit of God's spirit grows in us. What bench are you sitting on right now? Thank God that He has put you there!

Leslie Stephens
McMinnville, TN

Prayer: Almighty God, you always have our best interest in mind. Teach us how to sit on the bench of difficulty and adversity bearing all things with the fruit of your Spirit. We want to be more like Jesus, Coach us! Amen.

Prayer Tip: If you have not thanked God for whatever you are going through, do that right now. We need to be content and trust that God is at work in all things to bring about our faith and his glory. Praise him when you feel like fussing and crying!