The Grace of God

s Christians, one of the most important things we need to fully understand is the grace of God. As you will see in the Scripture verses I will list below, there are two main definitions as to what the grace of God is.

The best way to look at this revelation is to look at it like you are looking at a two-sided coin. On the one side of the coin the grace of God is the "unmerited favor and mercy" of God. This is the grace that we are saved by with the Lord. As you will see in the first verse I will list below, we are saved by "grace" through our faith in Jesus Christ.

The second definition of the word grace, which will be the other side of this same coin, is that the grace of God is referring to the divine life, power and ability of God flowing and operating through us.

This second aspect of God's grace is the kind of grace we will need to properly function and operate in whatever He is going to call us to do for Him in this life. This same kind of divine power is also needed in our sanctification in the Lord and it is also needed to help us overcome different types of sins and temptations.

In order that you can have this revelation of grace as a two-sided coin, here are the two sides of grace and exactly what is in each of these two sides:

1. The unmerited favor, mercy, compassion, acceptance, kindness, graciousness, goodwill and divine assistance of God.
    
2. The divine life, power and ability of God flowing and operating through us in order to give us the supernatural power and ability for ministry and sanctification

Here is how grace is specifically defined by some of the different Bible Dictionaries:

• Unmerited favor, mercy, compassion
   
• Undeserved blessing, a free gift
   
• Gods loving mercy toward mankind
   
• Favor, graciousness, kindness, beauty, pleasantness
   
• God's disposition to exercise goodwill toward His creatures
   
• Synonymous with the gospel of God's gift of unmerited salvation in Jesus Christ
   
• Favor or kindness shown without regard to the worth or merit of the one who receives it and in spite of what that same person deserves
   
• Undeserved acceptance and love received from another, especially the characteristic attitude of God in providing salvation to sinners
   
• The gift of God as expressed in His actions of extending mercy, loving-kindness and salvation to people
   
• Unmerited divine assistance given man for his regeneration or sanctification
   
• The power and equipment for ministry

I will break these Scripture verses down under 11 different captions so that you can fully grasp and understand what God is trying to reveal to us in these incredibly profound verses.

These Scripture verses are giving you a major key in being able to understand the basics of your eternal salvation in the Lord, along with showing you how God can impart His divine power through you so as to enable you to live a victorious and overcoming life in Him.

This is basic 101 information and knowledge that all Christians should have a firm and solid grasp on so that you cannot only have it for your own personal storehouse of knowledge in the Lord, but so you can also have it to be able to teach and educate other Christians who do not have a full understanding of this revelation from the Lord.

Study these verses very carefully and meditate on the revelation that God is trying to reveal to us. If you can fully grasp what the Lord is trying to show us in these major power verses, you will then walk away with a full understanding of the basics of your own personal salvation in the Lord - along with having the knowledge on how to get God to release more of His grace into your life so that you can learn how to live this life as a good and mighty soldier of Jesus Christ.

1. We Are Saved by "Grace" Through Faith in Jesus Christ

These first 16 verses all have to do with our own personal salvation in the Lord. Each one of these are major power verses and they all have to do with the first definition of grace - which is that grace is the unmerited favor and mercy of God towards mankind.

In these verses are complete and full revelation on exactly what our eternal salvation in the Lord is really all about. If you can grasp what the Lord is trying to tell you in these specific verses, you will then be able to walk away with a much better and much clearer understanding as to who you really are in your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and exactly how you were saved in the first place.

I'll go ahead and run all of these verses together and then point out key words and key phrases in these verses so you can see exactly what God is trying to show you.

1. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone boast." (Ephesians 2:8)
    
2. "... who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." (2 Timothy 1:9)
    
3. "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work." (Romans 11:6)
    
4. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2)
    
5. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men ..." (Titus 2:11)
    
6. "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they." (Acts 15:11)
    
7. "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-7)
    
8. "... that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:7)
    
9. "... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ..." (Romans 3:23-24)
    
10. "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)
     
11. "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace ..." (2 Thessalonians 2:16)
     
12. "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence ..." (Ephesians 1:7-8)
     
13. "For if by the one man's offense, many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many." (Romans 5:15)
     
14. "... having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:6)
     
15. "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:20)
     
16. "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." (Galatians 2:21)

The first thing to pick up from these verses is that our personal salvation in the Lord is not earned by any type of good works that we can do in this life - no matter how many good works we may end up doing and no matter how good those works may end up being.  The quantity and quality in these works for the Lord do not matter to Him.

The very first verse listed above is the absolute number one power verse on exactly how we are to receive eternal salvation from the Lord. This verse specifically tells us, without any other possible spin or interpretation you can possibly put on it, that our individual personal salvation in the Lord can only be received by "grace" through our personal faith in Jesus Christ.

This first verse, and the two that follow right after it, specifically state that our eternal salvation is simply received by grace through faith - not by any type of works. The first verse tells us that our eternal salvation is a direct free gift from God and "not of works." The second verse once again says that God has saved us through His grace and not "according to our works."

The third verse then really hammers this point home when it literally shouts out that we cannot be saved by both grace and works. It says if we are saved by grace, then works has no part in our salvation whatsoever. You cannot have this revelation both ways. If we are saved by grace, which we are, then works has absolute no part in our personal salvation with the Lord. It's all Him and none of us. The first verse says that being saved by grace through our faith in Jesus all comes direct from God and that it is "not from ourselves."

As simple as this revelation is to fully grasp and understand, there are still some Christians who are walking around thinking that they still have to try and earn their way into heaven by doing as many good and holy works as they possibly can. As a result, they spend most of their life in misery and torment as they never know for sure if they will make it into heaven after they die and cross over.

These first set of verses are absolute top priority for any newborn who has just been saved or any unbeliever you may be witnessing to.

Bottom line - eternal salvation is received direct from the Lord as a free gift and it can only be received by grace through our personal faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on the cross. Salvation is simply just a matter of believing - and then accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior once you are ready to admit to yourself that you are truly a sinner in need of a personal Savior to save you from your sins.

I'm going to bullet point some of the key phrases in the above verses so you can see how the Lord is really trying to drive home the point that we can only be saved by and through His grace.

• For by grace you have been saved through faith
• Who has saved us ... according to His own purpose and grace
• We have access by faith into this grace
• For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men
• Through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved
• By grace you have been saved
• Having been justified by His grace
• Being justified freely by His grace
• Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ
• Given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace
• In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

Notice in every single one of these key phrases the word "grace" is specifically being used and it is being used in reference to our own personal salvation in the Lord.

With the basic definition of the word "grace" being "unmerited favor," there can be no question that our own personal salvation in the Lord can only be received by God's grace through our faith in His Son Jesus. No amount of works, no matter how good or how holy we think those works may be, will ever be good enough to get us back in the good graces of our Lord and Savior.

Ritualism, legalism and works are out the door! They have no place in our personal salvation with the Lord - and they have absolutely no place when working with an unsaved person in an effort to try and get them saved. God has made accepting His free gift of eternal salvation through His Son Jesus Christ as easy as He possibly could. These Scripture verses are as clear as they can possibly be on this issue.

2. Grace is the Power and Ability of God Operating Through Us For Ministry and Sanctification

As you will see in these next set of Scripture verses, the grace of God is also the power and ability of God operating through us so that we can effectively work in whatever He will be calling us to do for Him in this life. This same power is also needed for us to be able to be properly sanctified in the Lord - along with helping us overcome different types of sins, addictions and temptations.

In other words, we need the power of God flowing and operating through us if we are going to achieve any real success in the Lord with whatever He will be calling us to do for Him in this life. Without God's divine power and ability operating through us, we will never make it to the tops of mountains that He is calling us to climb for Him. We will never be able to reach the goals, the aspirations, and the finish lines that God has in store for us unless we have the power of His Holy Spirit working in us and through us.

Too many Christians are trying to reach all of their goals and aspirations operating out of their own strength. Instead of relying on God's power and God's leadings to get them to where they are supposed to be going with the Lord, they are relying on their own wisdom, their own knowledge, their own intelligence and their own strength.

The Bible has already told us that those who try and build the house of their lives through their own efforts will end up laboring in vain when it is all said and done. You can only reach your true divine destiny in the Lord only if the Lord is personally guiding your steps and empowering you along the way with His divine power and grace. There is no other way!

When Jesus Christ Himself relied on the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish everything that He accomplished in His 33 years down here on this earth - and the apostle Paul gives all of the credit for his success in the Lord to the grace and power of God operating through him - then you know we are dealing with a major profound divine truth from the Lord.

Bottom line - we need God's divine grace and power flowing and operating through us if we are going to become everything that He is calling us to become in Him in this life. Not by our might, but only by the power of His Holy Spirit operating through us can we ever hope to fulfill the divine plan and the divine call that God has on each one of our lives.

Burn these next set of verses into your memory banks if you really want to step from the dugout out onto the real playing field where God has a great adventure and great story for your life if you are willing to yield to it. Be willing to be led by the Holy Spirit - and be willing to work with the divine power that God can transmit through you.

As you will see in these next set of Scripture verses, if God the Father can give "great grace" and "great power" to the first set of apostles, then He can do the exact same thing for you since He is no respecter of persons!

1. "And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all." (Acts 4:33)
    
2. "... but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)
    
3. "You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 2:1)
    
4. "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8)
    
5. "I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 1:4-8)
    
6. "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift." (Ephesians 4:7)
    
7. "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith ..." (Romans 12:6)
    
8. "As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." (1 Peter 4:10)

The first verse really sets the stage for us as it shows us that in God's divine grace is also His divine power. Notice that "great power" and "great grace" was on the early apostles. I believe that God is giving us a major clue in this verse is that in His divine grace is also His divine power. Great power is thus a part of God's divine grace.

Notice in the second verse that we are to "grow in the grace" of God for our lives. In other words, you can grow mightier and stronger in God's grace if you will allow Him to train and bring you up in it. The third verse then adds more meat to this revelation when it tells us to learn how to "be strong in the grace" that is in Jesus Christ. Put it all together and God not only wants us to grow in His grace - but He wants all of us to become mightier and stronger in His grace.

The last two verses are tying in God's grace with specific gifts that He can give to you. In other words, whatever gifts God will be giving you in order to work for Him in this life will all be included in His grace for your life.

The fourth verse tells us that we can have an "abundance" for every good work that we do for God and a "sufficiency" in all things as a result of God being able to make His grace "abound" toward us. The word "abound" means "to increase greatly."

As you can see from the way these verses are all worded, not only does God have His grace to give to us, but He wants to give it to us in great abundance!

3. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Grace

If the second definition of grace is that it is referring to the power and ability of God flowing and operating through us, these next two verses are going to add something very interesting to all of this.

The power of God flowing through you is really the "anointing" of God. The anointing of God is the presence and power of God flowing and operating through you to accomplish whatever the Lord wants you to accomplish for Him. However, when you cut a little further into the anointing, what it really is - is the power of the Holy Spirit Himself operating through you.

The Bible tells us that Jesus was operating under the anointing of God when He embarked on His three and a half year miracle ministry before He went to the cross to die for all of our sins. But then a little further on in the Bible it tells us that Jesus was performing all of his miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit Himself. The anointing of God is really the presence and power of the Holy Spirit Himself flowing and operating through you.

Now here is what these next two verses are going to give us. If the second definition of the word grace is referring to the power of God operating through us - and the power of God is really the power of the Holy Spirit Himself operating through us - is it possible that the Holy Spirit Himself may then be the Spirit of God's grace? I believe the answer is yes and these next two verses will prove that point to you.

Both of these verses specifically state the Holy Spirit Himself is the "Spirit of grace." In other words, the Holy Spirit may just literally be the grace of God Himself. If God's grace is God's power flowing and operating through us - and the power of God is really the power of the Holy Spirit Himself flowing through us - then it makes perfect logical sense that the Holy Spirit Himself would then be considered to be the Spirit of the grace of God.

Here are the two verses giving us this specific piece of revelation:

1. "Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:29)
    
2. "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn." (Zechariah 12:10)

When the Bible says that the Holy Spirit is the "Spirit of Grace" in these two verses, the "S" in the word "Spirit" is with a capital "S," not with a small "s" - which means it is referring direct to the Holy Spirit Himself.

Put all of this together like pieces to a jigsaw puzzle, and I believe that the Bible may be giving us an incredible revelation in that the Holy Spirit Himself may be the actual grace of God. As such, all Christians actually have the grace of God already residing on the inside of them since we all have the Holy Spirit literally living and dwelling on the inside of us.

4. The Grace of God Was Upon Jesus Christ

If you want two great perfect role models on who has properly walked with the grace of God upon their lives and who had successfully accomplished all of their earthly missions that God wanted them to accomplish as a result of that divine grace, look no further than the apostle Paul and Jesus Christ Himself.

These first two verses will be on Jesus. These two verses specifically tell us that the grace of God was "upon" Jesus and that He was "full" of this grace. In other words, the power and favor of God was upon Jesus while He was walking down here on our earth in the flesh. Jesus performed all of His supernatural miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit operating through Him. He did not perform these miracles by His own divine power.

Just as Jesus had His Father's divine grace upon Him to help Him carry out His earthly ministry, so too can we have the same divine grace of God upon us and our lives in order to help us carry out and complete all of our divine assignments for Him.

1. "And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." (Luke 2:40)
    
2. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

Now if God the Father was willing to have His grace rest upon His Son Jesus so that He could successfully carry out all of His earthly mission and ministry, will God the Father do the same thing for each born-again believer?

I believe He will, and the next caption will prove that to you - as it will show you that the apostle Paul ended up becoming one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all the New Testament apostles as a direct result of the divine grace that was given to him by God the Father.

5. The Grace of God Was Upon the Apostle Paul

If God is no respecter of persons and He was willing to release and impart His divine grace upon the apostle Paul so that Paul could successfully carry out all of his divine assignments for Him - then I believe that God will do the exact same thing for each born-again believer who will fully surrender their lives over to Him.

If you really want to see how far God can actually take you in this life to become everything that He is calling you to become in Him - study these next 5 verses very, very carefully, as they are giving you a major spiritual secret. If the apostle Paul can have the grace and power of God flowing and operating through him, then so can you if you are willing to work in cooperation and in union with the Lord.

Here are 6 major power verses showing you what God can do through an anointed believer and how far He can really take you in this supernatural realm if you are willing to yield to it and work with Him on it.

1. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (1 Corinthians 15:10)
    
2. "... of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ ..." (Ephesians 3:7-8)
    
3. "Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly to you on some points, as reminding you, because of the grace given to me by God, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God ..." (Romans 15:15-16)
    
4. "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles ..." (Galatians 1:15)
    
5. "For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you." (2 Corinthians 1:12)
    
6. "And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

The first verse perfectly sets the stage as to what had happened between God and Paul. Paul makes one of the most classic statements ever made on the power of God's grace operating through a believer when he says that it is "by the grace of God I am what I am."

Paul grasped a powerful spiritual secret and truth when he came to the full realization and the full conclusion that all of the successes in his life were as a direct result of the grace of God that was upon him and his life. It was by the divine power of God flowing and operating through him that caused him to probably become the greatest of all of the New Testament apostles.

Paul continues to hammer home this point in the additional verses listed above. Notice in the second verse he says that he first became a minister of the gospel as a result of the "gift of the grace of God" that was given to him. In the third verse he once more makes the direct statement that he became a minister of Jesus Christ "because of the grace" that was given to him.

In the second last verse he sums it all up very nicely when he says that it was not with "fleshly wisdom" that he was able to walk and work with the Lord so successfully - it was "by the grace of God" that was upon him that he was able to walk and work so successfully for the Lord.

Paul knew that he did not have the natural abilities within his own mental and emotional makeup to be taking on these kinds of extraordinarily heavy divine assignments from the Lord. As I pointed out in my article titled "Trials and Tribulations - The Testing of Your Faith," this man literally had to go through hell and high water to accomplish everything that the Lord wanted him to accomplish in this life. In that article I gave you a list of all of the troubles and hardships that he had to personally face and endure as God launched him off to preach the gospel and write the epistles he ended up writing.

This man knew, and grasped very early on, that the only way he was going to make it through all of these trying ordeals was to completely rely on God and His supernatural power to see him through all of it. And just as Paul needed to completely rely on God and His divine power and grace to fully accomplish all of his divine assignments for the Lord, so too must we learn to do the exact same thing.

Paul is without question, one of the greatest role-models and heroes of the faith from our Bible. The reason he was able to become so successful in his own personal walk with the Lord is that he found out very early on the spiritual secrets that he was going to need with the Lord - and the first and most powerful secret and truth was learning how to walk in the grace and power of God for his life.

As a result of all of the trials and tribulations he had to personally go through to make it to his own finish line in the Lord - he once again makes a very intense and powerful statement. The last verse above has to do with the thorn in his flesh that the Lord would not take away from him.

Once he realized that God was not going to take this thorn out of him in order to keep him humble with what had been given to him - he ends this incredible verse by stating that he would rather boast all day long in all of his infirmities, persecutions and distresses - because he came to the revelation that when he would become weak by going through all of these adversities, then he would actually become stronger as a result of relying on God's power and grace to actually see him through all of it.

God Himself tells Paul right at the beginning of this verse that His grace is going to be more than sufficient for him to weather this particular adversity. And if God's grace was going to be more than sufficient for him to weather this particular adversity, then that same grace would be more than enough to get him through the rest of the storm clouds that he would have to eventually face later on.

The lesson to be learned from all of this is that no matter how rough and how hard your life may get from time to time - realize that God's grace and power resting upon you and flowing through you will be more than enough for you to be able to take on the storm clouds of your life and eventually make it through these storm clouds in one piece and gain eventual victory - just like He did with the apostle Paul.

If God is no respecter of persons - then what He did for Paul He will do for you if you will fully trust Him to do it for you!

6. Let Your Speech Always Be With Grace

In this next caption I am going to give you three very interesting verses all having the word "grace" in them. The first two verses have to do with how you speak and verbally express yourselves to others. The last verse has to do with both your words and your actions in dealing with other people - especially to other people who are not yet saved.

1. "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." (Colossians 4:6)
    
2. "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." (Ephesians 4:29)
    
3. "Pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled ..." (Hebrews 12:14-15)

The first verse is telling us that our speech to others has to be "with grace." If you look at the basic definitions of grace at the top of this article again, one of the definitions that it is referring to is "favor, graciousness, kindness, beauty and pleasantness."

In the Sanctification Section of our site, we have an article titled "Death and Life Are in the Power of the Tongue." In this article I give you some of the better verses from the Bible that show us that we all carry the power of death and life in our tongues. We can either choose to release good, positive and edifying types of words to people to help build them up as to who they really are in Christ or we can choose to release negative words of coldness, harshness, condemnation, and pessimism.

When the Lord is telling us that He wants our speech to others to be done with grace, I believe He wants us to speak to others in a loving, kind, gracious, uplifting and edifying manner - not in a condescending, critical and judgmental manner.

If we do, then the next verse tells us what will happen next. It tells us that we will then be able to impart "grace" to the hearer of our words. The word "grace" in this verse is referring to what I believe is "power." In other words, if you can learn how to speak out words of encouragement and edification to other people, you will help to impart a certain amount of power into them and their lives.

Once you speak out godly and positive words of encouragement and edification to another person, you will then help increase their levels of confidence and self-esteem. And once you increase their levels of self-esteem and self-confidence in the Lord, then you will be imparting a certain amount of power and grace into their lives as a result of that increased confidence in themselves and in the Lord.

People need to be built up as to who they really are in their Lord and Savior - not tore down and totally demolished and broken like what you see in so many dysfunctional marriages and families throughout the world with some of the verbal and physical abuse that keeps going on behind closed doors.

The last verse then tells us that we have to pursue peace and holiness with all men - and if we don't, then a certain amount of unsaved sinners may end up falling short of the grace of God because we were not making the best witness and representative to them for our Lord.

What draws many unsaved people to the Lord are the godly and saintly attributes operating through our personalities. If we are not making the best witness to these people either by our actions or by our words, then many of them may never come to the Lord because of our hypocritical behavior - and as a result, some of them may end up falling short of the grace of God just like this verse is telling us. In other words, they will never get saved in this life - all possibly because we were not making the best witness to them.

This is why it is so vital that we learn to how to be actual "doers" of the Word of God and learn how to speak and express ourselves to other people in a godly, civil, loving, caring, kind, peaceful and uplifting manner. Lives are hanging in the balance - and how we act and behave towards others in this life may make the difference as to whether or not a certain number of them will ever accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

7. Do Not Abuse the Grace of God

With the first definition of grace having to do with the unmerited favor and mercy of God toward us and that this is the grace that we are actually saved by with our Lord - what will happen next with some Christians is that they will then try to start to take advantage of this grace. In other words, they will start to try and abuse it.

Once you realize that all of your past, present and future sins will be forgiven under the blood that Jesus has already shed for you, it becomes very easy to want to get lazy and then be tempted to want to push the envelope with God the Father to see exactly what you can get away with and how far you can push certain things with Him.

The apostle Paul was way ahead of this possibility with the statement that he makes in these next two verses. Here is the very solemn warning that Paul is giving us if we think we can go back to our sinning ways again after we have been saved.

1. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" (Romans 6:1-2)
    
2. "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!" (Romans 6:14-15)

Notice in the first verse Paul is telling us that though we have been saved by God's grace - this does not mean we can go back to our sinning ways again. Paul is flat out telling us that we cannot use the grace of God that we have just been saved by as an excuse and a license to keep on sinning. He tells us that we have now "died to sin" and thus should no longer live and wallow in it. God's grace is not an open invitation to keep on sinning.

This second verse then tells us that God's grace has now set us free from sin and the power it use to have over us. This verse is specifically telling us that "sin shall not have dominion over you" and that we cannot go back to sinning again just because we have now been saved by God's grace.

When Paul tells us that sin shall no longer have "dominion" over us, what he is trying to tell us is that God's grace and power can now help us overcome the desire to want to sin and if by chance we do fall into a heavier sin area, then God's grace and power can help pull us out of it and help set us free from its death grip.

No matter what kind of heavy sin area you may have fallen into - whether it be to a highly addictive drug, alcohol, or some type of criminal or aberrant behavior - God's supernatural power can deliver you and set you completely free from the sin if you are willing to take God's hand and work with Him during the deliverance process. There is absolutely nothing that the power and grace of God cannot set you completely free from if you are willing to work with Him on it.

The laws of God give us the knowledge of what is sinful and what is not. However, the laws and commandments of God do not have the ability to save us from our sins nor do the laws of God give us the power and ability to actually overcome any of our sins.

It is only the grace of God that will save us and set us free from our sins - and it is only the grace of God that will give us the power and the ability to be able to stay out of sin after we have been saved since we now have the Holy Spirit and His power living and operating on the inside of us.

As a result, no Christian will have an excuse on their day of judgment with the Lord if they have refused to pull out of some of these heavier sin areas before they die and cross over. God's grace is available to every single believer. Jesus has broken off the power that sin has over our lives at the cross. We all now have the power of the Holy Spirit Himself to take on any heavy sin area that we may have fallen into.

8. Stay Humble With the Grace That God Will Give You

Once you enter into a full surrender with the Lord and are really walking with His divine grace and power operating in your life, one of the things that you will really have to watch out for is the temptation to fall into the pride trap. It will become very easy to have all of this kind of divine power start to go to your head and puff you up.

For those of you who are already walking with the anointing of God in your own personal lives, and for those of you who would really like to enter into this supernatural realm with the Lord - I would highly recommend that you read our article "Pride Will Come Before the Fall" in the Sanctification Section of our site.

I simply can't stress enough the importance that each and every Christian stay humble in their own personal walks with the Lord. Nothing will destroy your personal relationship with God, the anointing that God can flow through you, and the ministry that God wants to give you than letting all of this divine power go straight to your head.

The spirit of pride literally took out one-third of the entire angelic host from the heaven where God and Jesus dwell in - and it can also personally destroy you and your entire walk with the Lord if you let it get worked to far up into your mind and heart. In the article we have on this deadly sin and enemy, we give you all of the main verses from Scripture that deal with this topic.

As you will see in this next verse I will now give you, God says that He will give grace to the "humble," but that He will "resist" those who are "proud."

"But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)

I believe this verse is telling us that God will withhold His grace from anyone who has become too proud in his mind and in his heart. God will not allow His power and grace to be abused, to be tampered with, or to be used for one's own glory or one's own selfish purposes.

Stay humble and accountable in your personal walk with the Lord - and He will then continue to give you His grace and power so that you can then reach the finish line that He has set up for you to reach and accomplish everything that He wants you to accomplish for Him in this life.

9. Do Not Receive the Grace of God in Vain

In addition to making sure that you do not let the spirit of pride get a foothold into your mind and in your thinking in reference to the grace that God can give you - these next two verses will now give us another major revelation that we really have to watch out for. These next two verses are telling us that we should not "receive the grace of God in vain."

According to some of the different Bible Dictionaries, the word "vain" is defined as:

Useless, conceited, empty, to-no-end, nothingness, unreliability, worthless, idle, hollow, fruitless, futile, unprofitable

Once you really start to enter into a full-surrendered power walk with the Lord where His divine power and grace is flowing through you mightily to accomplish everything that He is wanting you to accomplish for Him in this life, one of the other traps that you really have to watch out for is to make sure that you do not ever start to take His grace for granted or end up letting it be received in vain.

Here are the two verses giving us this piece of revelation from the Lord:

1. "We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain." (2 Corinthians 6:1)
    
2. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (1 Corinthians 15:10)

Notice Paul says in this second verse that the grace that God gave him ended up not being in vain. In other words, Paul used and worked with the grace that God was giving him, and as a result, he accomplished all of his divine assignments for the Lord and became one of the greatest apostles in all of the New Testament!

Notice Paul says that he "labored more abundantly than they all." This key phrase is telling us that Paul was using and working with the grace that God was giving him as compared to some of the other Christians who were probably doing nothing or very little with the grace that God was wanting to give to them.

If God is going to give you His grace and power, then He is going to want you to do something with it. Too many Christians are sitting in the dugout refusing to get into the real game of life with the Lord.

God can give you the baseball bat - which represents His gifts, grace and power - but you have to be willing to step out of the dugout and get up to the plate and use the power of that bat to hit the ball.

If you do not, then all of God's gifts, grace and power that He was wanting to give to you in the first place will all end up being wasted and you will end up receiving His grace in vain since you did absolutely nothing with the grace that God had initially given to you - just like Paul is perfectly describing in these two Scripture verses.

Paul was very quick to see that some of God's people were receiving the grace of God in vain because they were not fully utilizing it like what he was doing. 

How much of God's grace is being wasted and ends up being received in vain because so many Christians are not willing to enter into God's perfect will and plan for their lives? How many gifted, born-again vessels are just sitting in the dugouts and doing absolutely nothing with the grace and power that God already has residing in them through the Holy Spirit?

As Christians, we have to realize that God has a perfect plan, a perfect call, a perfect destiny for each person that will fully surrender to it. And in that perfect plan and perfect call is all of God's grace and power that you will ever need to fully accomplish all of your divine assignments for Him. God's grace is all there for the taking for those who are smart enough to grab a hold of it and are willing to work with Him on it.

As a Christian, if you do not find out what your divine purpose and destiny is going to be with the Lord - then all the grace, power and gifting that God already has set up for you to operate in will have all been received in vain.

As the above definitions are telling you - you will end up becoming fruitless, empty, unprofitable, and hollow in the eyes of the Lord if you fail to fulfill the divine destiny and divine purpose that He already had set up for you to enter into before you were even born into your mother's womb.

10. Continue in the Grace of God

As I have stated in my article on "The Full Surrender" in the Bible Basics Section of our site, once you enter into a real full surrender with the Lord where He is now the One who will be guiding and directing your life in the specific directions that He will want it to go in - one of the things that you will have to get settled in your mind is that this will be a full surrender to the death. There is absolutely no turning back once you enter into God's perfect plan and destiny for your life.

As you will see in this next Scripture verse, the Bible is telling us that we have to "continue in the grace of God" - no matter how bad or how rough things may get from time to time. God has a personal finish line that each person has to reach before they will be called home to be with Him for all of eternity.

As a result, God will always continue to give you His grace and power as you continue on in your walk with Him as long as you are staying in this full surrender with Him. His grace will not only give you the power to accomplish all of your divine missions for Him, but that same grace will also keep you properly preserved and in one piece until you reach your personal finish line in Him.

Here is the verse where Paul is telling his followers to always continue in the grace of God for their lives.

• "Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God." (Acts 13:43)

The Bible tells us that Jesus Himself is the author and finisher of our faith. What this means is that not only will God start the story of your life in Him, but He will also make sure to properly finish it for you before you depart from this life to be with Him for all of eternity. God's grace will take you all the way to the end of your life as long as you are willing to stay in the game with Him.

11. How to Receive the Grace of God

For those of you who were not aware of this second definition on the grace of God in that it is referring to the power of God operating through you - there is a way that you can get God's grace to start coming into your life in order to help you live a more victorious and overcoming life in Him.

The first step is to enter in a full surrender with the Lord. This is all explained to you in our article titled "The Full Surrender." If you want God's best to start flowing into your life, which will include receiving His divine grace and power, then you will have to give Him your best - and your best will be to make a full and complete surrender of your body, your soul, your spirit and your entire life into His hands.

Once you enter into this full surrender with the Lord, then He will start to take immediate control of your life and He will then start to perfectly lead you every step of the way into your divine destiny. And not only will God perfectly guide your steps in this life through the Holy Spirit, but He will also be giving you His power and His grace so that you can be very good at whatever He will be calling you to do for Him.

If God calls you to be a doctor, an evangelist, a pastor, an attorney, a soldier in our armed forces, a professional athlete, a stay-at-home mom or a policeman - then God will give you His grace and power to be very good at any of those specific jobs and callings.

Remember - if God anointed Paul with His grace and power to become one of the greatest apostles of all time - then God can anoint you with that very same power to become all that He is calling you to become in Him in this life.

In addition to having God's grace flow through you so you can successfully operate in whatever He is calling you to do for Him in this life, you can also ask for God's grace and power to handle any type of emergency situation you may find yourself having to face. Here is one whopper power verse showing us that God and His grace is available for all who will properly approach His "throne of grace."

• "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

First notice that God calls His throne the "throne of grace." This means that our God is a God full of mercy, help, compassion and divine favor - and that He can release His divine power and grace into any situation that we will need His help on.

Then notice how this verse ends - "that we may obtain mercy and FIND GRACE in time of need." In other words, if you properly approach the Lord with your petitions and requests, then He can give give you His grace and power to help you handle any type of problem - no matter how extreme or how severe the problem may appear to you in the natural.

Conclusion

As I said at the top of this article, I believe the grace of God is like looking at a two-sided coin. On the one side of the coin the grace of God is God's "unmerited favor and mercy." This is the grace that we are saved by through the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The flip side to this same coin is that the grace of God is the power and ability of God flowing and operating through us so that we can accomplish everything that the Lord would like for us to accomplish in this life - and also to become the true saints that He is calling us to become in Him through the sanctification process that He wants to start with each and everyone of us. The grace of God can thus empower us, embolden us and sanctify us.

When you really stop and meditate on what the grace of God is really all about - we are dealing with one of the most powerful spiritual truths known to mankind.

Bottom line:

• Without the grace of God - we would all die in our sins and never have any chance to enter into heaven after we die
   
• Without the grace of God - we will not have the power to overcome sin and the temptation to keep on sinning
   
• Without the grace of God - we will not have the supernatural power to enter into a true sanctification process with the Lord where He can begin to mold, shape and transform us into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ and make us into a better and more holy people
   
• Without the grace of God - we will never find what our true divine destinies are going to be in the Lord and what we were really created to be in this life
   
• Without the grace of God - we will not have the supernatural power and ability to become successful in the calls that He is calling us to walk in
   
• Without the grace of God - we will never be able to live in harmony and in unity with ourselves, with our families, with our friends and with our neighbors

In other words, without the grace of God working in our lives, we will amount to nothing and accomplish nothing of any real worth as far as the Lord is concerned. That is why Jesus has already told us that without Him we can do absolutely nothing of any consequence or of any worth.

The branches on a tree will die if they do not draw all of their life from the trunk of the tree. Cut a branch off from a tree and it will immediately wither and die. In the same way, we as the branches connected to Jesus, have to draw His life and His grace into our beings and into our lives if we are going to have and experience any type of true life on this earth.

When you put all of the Scripture verses together on this topic, God is giving all of us a very profound and powerful revelation. Not only can the grace of God save us from the fires of everlasting pain, punishment and torment - but the grace of God can also give us the power and ability to become everything that He is calling us to become in Him in this life.

No amount of money, wealth, power and fame can give you what the grace of God can give you. Money, power and fame cannot buy you true happiness and fulfillment in this life. Only God can give you true happiness and true fulfillment in this life and He has made it as easy as He possibly can to be able to receive all of this from Him.

All you have to do is:

• Be willing to admit that you are a wretched sinner in need of a personal Savior to save you from your sins and your sinful state in which you were born into this world with
   
• Be willing to then accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior so that all of your past, present and future sins will be fully forgiven through the blood that He has personally shed for you on the cross
   
• And then be willing to enter into a full and complete surrender of your entire life with the Lord so that He is fully free to guide you into His perfect plan and destiny for your life

Do all of this and you will then find the grace and power of God coming into your life with a fire, with a passion and with an intensity that you will never have known before. God and His grace can enter into your life and change it for the better if you are willing to accept it, work with it, and then continue in it to the day you die and depart from this life.

The revelation that is contained in these Scripture verses are major life-changing revelations if you are willing to believe and work with these powerful spiritual truths.

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Scripture taken from New King James Version.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005-2008 by Michael Bradley.


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