Give me grace to follow Thee, abundant grace to follow Thee, give me the grace to follow Thee, Your grace is a enough for me. Thanks, thanks Lord we give You thanks for all You have done, You are so good, our soul have found rest O Lord, we give You thanks.
Previous Father we Thank You for another day in Your presence. Precious Redeemer we blessed Your Holy Name, we honour You, we give You praise forever more. We are grateful to You alone for the strength given us, Your overshadowing mercies over us that does the impossible. Thank You merciful Father.
Beloveth, we said that grace and favour are used interchangeable in the English bible in our pervious writings. Today, we are going to elaborate more on it with some bible experiences. In Lk 1:30-31 “And the angel said to her, fear not, Mary for thou has found favour with God and behold, thou shalt conceive in the womb and bear a son, and thou shall call His Name Jesus.”
Beloveth, what do think that happened in the scene above? What qualifies a human to carry through a divinity in her womb and bring forth? What makes the lowly Mary to be picked among all virgin in the land as the time of the annunciation? Could anyone guess that she, a mere peasant girl from Nazareth will hold the Messiah in her arms? Meditate on these as we will continue with it later.
Before the account of Mary, there was another an encounter between the angel and a priest named Zacharias. I want you to note a difference here while the angel announced to Mary in verse 30 … fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God; and behold, thou shalt conceive…, in the case of Zacharias verse 13, the angel said to him, “fear not, Zacharias, because thy supplication has been heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear You a son,….”
In the first part, I see grace at work, Mary received favour as was acknowledge by the angel of God while Zacharias’s was an answer to his constant demand placed before the Throne.
Another act of favour I observed is that both asked question but different responses came from the angel. I have earlier last year in one of the series shared with us that Zachariah being a priest should have known better than ever doubt God whom he stood and make offerings and prayers on behalf of God’s people, he was better informed than Mary a young woman barely coming to the knowledge of God, that is one.
While Mary’s answer bought more confident in her, and her acceptance to be part of God’s plan (verse 38) while Zacharias doubted the act of God. (and I think to stop him from further questioning, the angel struck in with dumbness so that he will not weary God out with unbelief until the manifestation of the God’s plan). Because God’s plan must be fulfilled. Remember John the Baptist is a fore-runner for Christ.
For the grace or favour from God to be made manifest in our lives we must be ready to accept and believe what God is saying to us even when we don’t know how it will ever be. In Mary’s case, she said to the angel “how shall this be, since I know no man?”
Can you remember what the angel answered her? “…. for nothing is impossible with God?” I see a problem with us mortal, we always want to reason out God’s action or promises. We always want to solve mystery which we are not created to do accept where God want to do it through a chosen vessel.
Are choosing today to accept what God’s said concerning you even when you don’t know how it will ever be? Why not lean on God as Mary did and see God’s promises coming to past in those difficult areas of your live.
Leaving “the grace” for a moment, we see in today’s topic, that it’s also pay to serve the Lord. It is a commonest ground for obtaining favour from God. The Mary, we are discussing was the daughter of Joachim and Anna, both parent were highly devoted and pious towards God at their time. Like wonder their daughter found favour in the sight of the God.
Beloved, there is blessings in serving the Lord. It’s transcend from one to generation another as you can
see in Mary and Timothy (1 Tim 1:5).
Am not trying to contradict what I am writing on as the grace of God is not of works nor merit. But it is also to say that grace can also flow through generations as a result of reverence and fear of God among godly parents to their children, as in the case of Abraham, which we all claim or subscribe today.
The commonest of the things we have will be blessed by God, let read on:
“Ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water.” Exod. 23:25
What a promise is this! To serve God is in itself a high delight. But what an added privilege to have the blessing of the Lord resting upon us in all things! Our commonest things become blessed when we ourselves are consecrated to the Lord. Our Lord Jesus took bread and blessed it; behold, we also eat of blessed bread.
Jesus blessed water and made it wine: the water which we drink is far better to us than any of the wine with which men make merry; every drop has a benediction in it. The divine blessing is on the man of God in everything, and it shall abide with him at every time.
What if we have only bread and water! Yet it is blessed bread and water. Bread and water we shall have. That is implied, for it must be there for God to bless it. “Thy bread shall be given thee, and thy waters shall be sure.”
With God at our table, we not only ask a blessing, but we have one. It is not only at the altar but at the table that He blesses us. He serves those well who serve Him well.
This table-blessing is not of debt, but of grace. Indeed, there is a troubled grace; He grants us grace to serve Him, by His grace feeds us with bread, and then in His grace blesses it.
Grace qualifies the unqualified but faith in God help us in receiving and believing that we are made whole in Christ Jesus. Grace, we know flows from Christ to us through the shedding of His blood on the cross of Calvary. Who then shall condemn him that the blood qualified? Let get more below:
“All that believe are justified.” Acts 13:39
The believer in Christ receives a present justification. Faith does not produce this fruit by-and-by, but now. So far as justification is the result of faith, it is given to the soul in the moment when it closes with Christ, and accepts Him as its all in all.
Are they who stand before the throne of God justified now?—so are we, as truly and as clearly justified as they who walk in white and sing melodious praises to celestial harps. The thief upon the cross was justified the moment that he turned the eye of faith to Jesus; and Paul, the aged, after years of service, was not more justified than was the thief with no service at all.
We are today accepted in the Beloved, today absolved from sin, today acquitted at the bar of God. Oh! soul-transporting thought! There are some clusters of Eshcol’s vine which we shall not be able to gather till we enter heaven; but this is a bough which runneth over the wall. This is not as the corn of the land, which we can never eat till we cross the Jordan; but this is part of the manna in the wilderness, a portion of our daily nutriment with which God supplies us in our journeying to and fro.
We are now—even now pardoned; even now are our sins put away; even now we stand in the sight of God accepted, as though we had never been guilty. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” There is not a sin in the Book of God, even now, against one of His people. Who dareth to lay anything to their charge?
There is neither speck, nor spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing remaining upon any one believer in the matter of justification in the sight of the Judge of all the earth. Let present privilege awaken us to present duty, and now, while life lasts, let us spend and be spent for our sweet Lord Jesus.
Are you ready to be spend and spent for the Lord Jesus? You next action say more of your decision than your words will ever do. May we found favour in Your sight O Lord, we pray Thee. May our faith be rekindled in Your fire of love and purge us of every dross according to word to us in Jesus Name we pray.
Remain blessed in the Lord.
