God's Grace and Power

The symbol of a dove can represent so many good things, such as peace, gentleness, and grace. I have learned that we all have a story of grace. Sometimes, we just don't know that we have it. Yet we all have received many gifts and favors in our lifetime. That is grace. Yet are we active in telling these remarkable stories? This lesson is to remind us about the vast importance of grace. By the end, my hope is that we are motivated to tell more people about the warming grace in our lives.

When we are in trouble, we need a savior. And when we are not in trouble, we still need grace... to stay safe. Therefore we need the God of all grace, the author of life, the author and perfecter of our faith, the Lion of Judah, the Wonderful Counselor, the King of Kings. We need Jesus Christ.

Honor the Throne: Don't Sit On It

Let's look at some unforgettable examples of grace in the Bible. In the case Stephen, he was certainly a man who honored the throne of God. Stephen is known to be "full of God's grace and power" in Acts 6:8. It's not about his official title, it is about who he is before God. That is the same for us. Do we get more security from our career, from our job title, from our home, from our money, than we do from God? That is a problem. We need to ask ourselves what is filling us up. If it is not God's grace and power, then we are in desperate need of the savior.

We need to see our need for grace every moment. Otherwise, we will not appreciate it when it comes. Grace is often simply attributed to meaning a favor and/or a gift. That is true, but it is much more than that. From Thayer's Greek Lexicon, "grace" means joy, pleasure delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, goodwill, lovingkindness, favor, and benefit. Isn't it these very things that we long for? We need such grace every day.

Yet how often do we see our need for God's grace? Realize that if we are going to grow from God's grace, we need to get off of our own thrones. This means we need to be humble. We need to move our feet and lose our seat... to God! He deserves the throne, not us.

Reading the whole account of Stephen (and others) in Acts chapter 6, the people chosen to meet needs in the early church were full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Such faith can help us understand things on a spiritual level. We will become more in tune to meet the pressing needs of others. Combined with experience, these things lead to wisdom.

I am sure we all want to be wise, but too often, we don't want to get off of our throne and serve others. That is due to our own pride, laziness, lack of faith, and indifference to the grace of God. Consequently, a lack of humility can cause us to miss out on opportunities to grow in wisdom. That's one more reason to connect to the grace of God, who is full of favors... full of grace.

If we want grace to have a greater impact in our lives, it starts with believing in the power of God's beneficial treatment toward us all. It is a belief issue... an issue of faith. In fact, it has been said in our modern era, that faith is somewhat like a WiFi signal; we cannot see WiFi, but we know it exists, and we all need it to connect to where we want to go. That is the same with faith. We need it to get to God. With faith to be a good servant of others, we can get off our own thrones. Let's respect God on his throne.