“And God is able to make all grace to abound toward you, that in everything, always having all self sufficiency, you may abound to every good work.”
2 Corinthians 9:8 (LITV)
Grace is evidenced by the “good works” it inspires. Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, employs multiple Greek superlatives in this one scripture to describe the unction and the power that grace imparts to those who receive its wonder. In the KJV, translators used the word “all” three times to attempt to capture the immensity presented in the Greek.
“And God is able to make ALL grace ABOUND toward you; that ye, ALWAYS having ALL sufficiency in ALL things, may ABOUND to every good work,”
2 Corinthians 9:8 KJV (2 Corinthians 9:8 AMP)
May we lay hold of this grace that God would have “ABOUNDING” towards us! That we would “ALWAYS” have “ALL” sufficiency in “ALL” things that we may “ABOUND” in “EVERY” good work!
“God is able to make ALL grace ABOUND* toward you…”
May we read and re-read this verse, may it become the breath of our every waking moment, may it lift us out of the poverty of self, the low thoughts we carry within our earthbound pedantic concepts. May it inspire new steps of faith, filled with the power of His Might! May the sails of our fragile and storm-tossed ships be filled with winds of His GRACE!
The limitations of self, the futility of human wisdom, and the emptiness of tepid sermons have resulted in a religious despondency within the church in our land. It is time for His people to step into the rising waters of a Grace that can ABOUND toward us! A Grace that will inspire and enflame our hearts to see new vistas of His purposes that we may walk “in newness of life!”
“GOD IS ABLE”
May we dust off the pages of the sacred book and read afresh the stories and the heritage we have concerning those who “found grace” in the sight of the Lord.
“But Noah found GRACE in the eyes of the Lord.”
Genesis 6:8
Too many today deny the power of His grace that is available and close at hand; a grace that is given to inspire and press us “to every good work”. The breath of the Almighty is ever seeking to “abound toward us” that we may step out of the barrenness of self into the life of Him.
“Working together with Him, then,
we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain*.”
2 Corinthians 6:1
Paul, ministering under the constraints of the Holy Spirit, is appealing to us to “work together” with HIM in the work of the Gospel because of the grace received.
The Greek word translated as *“vain” in the above verse is defined:
Metaphorically, meaning empty, vain.
(A) Fruitless, without usefulness or success (Act 4:25; 1Co 15:10, 1Co 15:14, 1Co 15:58; 2Co 6:1; Gal 2:2; Php 2:16; 1Th 2:1; 1Th 3:5) . Read these scriptures as God’s word and Charles Spurgeon beseech us to weigh ourselves in the light of God’s Word, The Balances of God.
May God move upon us afresh. May we feel His Call to abundant living, abundant doing and the life HE has purposed for us in Christ Jesus. Lives lived without purpose, bereft of His inspiration, empty of knowing God’s calling for them individually, are too often the testimony of the average Christian life.
Paul prayed for the young believers in Thessalonica:
“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ…”
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
The Gospel of God presented to the believers in Thessalonica was a Gospel of power impregnated with the Holy Spirit!
“For our gospel came not unto you in word only,
but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost…”
1 Thessalonians 1:5
A powerless gospel results from powerless ministers producing powerless and aimless people; unmoved, uninspired and lethargic. Let us remove the blinders as we read His Word and allow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to pierce through the slumber and unbelief to reconsider the potency of HIS GRACE.
“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain*; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”
1 Corinthians 15:10
Grace is the inspiration of His Works. Grace is the power of God within those who have not received its wonder in vain.
“Yet not I”
Such glorious words! Not I but His Grace, moving, pressing and causing us to be “workers together” by the unifying and unrelenting inspiration of His Holy Spirit.
Let God Arise!
“There is one thing that makes life mighty in its veriest trifles, worthy in its smallest deeds, that delivers it from monotony, that delivers it from insignificance. All will be great, nothing will be overpowering, when, living in communion with Jesus Christ, we say as He says, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me.”
— Alexander Maclaren
Grace to Abound
Related Post: Grace: The Power of God
(image from New York Public Library via unsplash)
Brian Troxel
To Boldly Come…..
Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV Strong’s,)
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
I quote the above verse from Hebrews because of a dream I had last night. In the dream I saw Jesus carrying His cross only it wasn’t on earth but instead it was in heaven. Here it was represented as a finished work and Jesus was not suffering as He did on earth for the sins of mankind.
Then i saw many people gathered behind Him and they were in fear. Jesus was a distance from them and was approaching the throne of His Father but the people, I have to assume they were believers, were in fear of following. I saw Jesus motioning with His hand for them to follow Him to the throne.
The cross is significant in this dream because it is by the cross Jesus was crucified, died, buried and rose again on the 3rd day providing believers with the privilege of boldly coming before the Throne of Grace. Yet, as in my dream, many do not avail themselves of this right purchased by the shed blood of Jesus. In the second stanza of Amazing Grace it says, ” through many dangers toils and snares i have already come. Twas grace that lead me sage thus far and grace will lead me home”. As the days grow darker we must lean on God’s grace to walk in holiness and righteousness or we won’t make it. The Lord told Paul that His grace was sufficient for him and that His power was perfected in weakness.
With that said…..
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need
“As the days grow darker we must lean on God’s grace to walk in holiness and righteousness or we won’t make it. The Lord told Paul that His grace was sufficient for him and that His power was perfected in weakness.”
Yes! UNLESS CHRIST saves/rescues us from that triumvirate of evil, the world, the flesh (including ourselves as individuals!), and the devil (the demonic), we would NEVER walk in His righteousness imputed to us nor in experiential holiness of Whom He is the sole Source. I do not see any actual allowance or affordability for any enlightened, honest self-congratulation in the relationship. We get the grace for which He infinitely deserves the glory!
What do we most need from the Three Personed God, if not mercy, grace (divine enablement/holy empowerment), and compassion?
2 Corinthians 12:9
“I am very happy to make my weakness my special boast, that the power of Christ may stay over me.”
“All” of the ways that grace affects and effects us are without limit. I’ve had an experience in pentecostal life which limited grace, sad to say, since the pentecostal is the one who is probably more unlimited in the spiritual things of the believer’s life.
“Grace” is the perfect solution to life.
“…Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also…”
2 Corinthians 8:7
Faith, utterance, knowledge and love can be multiplied by grace.
Blessings brother
So true, Brian. Grace is a free gift which gives us eternal life. Nothing better than that. With such a blessing bestowed upon us, our gratitude should be manifested to others as it has been to us. He gave His life once for all mankind. We are obligated to pass it on.
Amen.
Like the person named Christian, in the book The Pilgrim’s Progress, by the sheer undeserved grace of God, we progress not by always rightly deciding but by rightly responding to wrong decisions. John Bunyan titled his personal biography Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.
Every detail, including the bad and the ugly, in our lives of (perhaps sometimes limping) love for God, He is working that which is ultimately, everlastingly good, chiefly of which is our eternally enlarging love for Himself, to the super-abounding praise of His unfailing grace and ineffably wondrous glory.
The victor’s crown of ardent affirmation from our Advocate before the Father goes to those who, by the merciful and compassionate grace of Christ, stand to their feet again after every time they fall and regain their walk in the ever-interceding Spirit of holiness.
To God be the glory! 🙏
Amen!