Okay y’all Bible study girlfriends… I can’t tell you how excited I am that I get to do THIS lesson on grace from Kathy Howard‘s Bible study, Lavish Grace!
When I became a Christian, the Lord gave me an insatiable appetite for His Word. I LOVE studying various words from the Word in the original language and uncovering the precious and powerful nuggets tucked below the surface of our English translation.
Grace was one of those words which I studied not long after Jesus saved this wretched soul and made a saint out of this sinner.
I studied it because early in my Christian walk, I was taught the super-cool acronym for grace:
G – God’s
R – riches
A – at
C – Christ’s
E – expense
I was also taught that grace meant God’s unmerited favor toward mankind. Oh how rich and deep to experience the reality of His amazing grace that He as graciously extended to His enemies! (Yes. It’s true! Before He extended His grace to us, we were His enemies. 2 Cor 1:21, Romans 5:10, Ephesians 2:3)
God’s amazing grace (unmerited favor toward mankind) is not only is His favor to save us, but it is also His favor to sustain us.
But then I came across 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 and I had to dig deeper. There just seemed to be more there than unmerited favor and, like a hound dog hunting down a scent, I had to find out what it was.
So I kept sniffing around the original language until I found what I was looking for.
And there is was…right there in Spiros Zodhiates’ Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament by AMG Publishers, was the jewel I was hunting for:
“Grace remains constant in, and basic to, a believer’s fight without against the devil and his struggle within against sin. Renewal is stimulated and impelled by God’s illuminating and strengthening of the soul…” ~ Spiros Zodhiates (Emphasis mine)
Another theologian wrote:
“Exchange the word grace for Divine power and watch how it opens up your understanding.” (Emphasis mine)
As Spiros Zodhiates demonstrated the expansion of the word grace from our basic acronymic understanding, we find that, while DIVINE FAVOR is more powerful than we can comprehend, GRACE is SO MUCH MORE than DIVINE FAVOR… it is also DIVINE POWER!
Let’s look a bit closer at what Mr. Zodhiates shares from the original language:
Constant in and basic to a believer’s fight ~ It doesn’t take long for a new Christian to figure out that there is a war going on. A war without and a war within. And it is God’s grace which remains a constant conquering force in the war that is against us because by His grace, He is for us.
by God’s illuminating and strengthening of the soul ~ It is God who illuminates and strengthens us through the DIVINE POWER at work in us because of the Holy Spirit who abides in us.
In the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter IX, “Of Free Will” we find this connection between grace and power:
“When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, He frees him from his natural bondage under sin; and, by His grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good…”
Divine, unmerited, acceptance and favor convincingly inconceivable – that God would bend down, invite His rebellious creation to embrace His love and forgiveness, and choose to inhabit all who do!
Unbelievably believable!
The reason this understanding of grace is so important is because God’s favor and God’s power are so personally real that embracing His grace fully fills us with faith, peace, praise, courage, strength, and joy!
I’m one desperate girl for the grace of God in my current circumstances. Caring for my aging, dementia-ridden mother-in-law has proven to be harder and more confining than I ever imagined. Just this morning, as I had to dress her because she was going to walk outside in a camisole and when I had to sit and listen to the stories she repeated over and over again for 30 minutes, I silently asked God for His grace to walk through this season and love her well.
Grace… the power to live out a surrendered, holy, and Holy Spirit filled life in this season marked by seclusion that I’m living in.
I quietly called out for His grace and He lavishly poured it out, poured it through, and overflowed His grace all over this girl in need of the power of God.
Oh the joy that floods my soul! And how my voice echoes with Julie H. Johnston who wrote the old hymn long ago…Grace! Grace! God’s grace! Grace that is greater than all my sin!
And how incredibly WONDER-full to know the grace of God that not only bestows Divine favor but also gives us the Divine power to live victoriously in this life.
- We can conquer sin in our own hearts and lives because of the Divine grace of God.
- We can overcome fear, failure and insecurities in our lives because of the Divine grace of God.
- We can live free from bondage, bad behavior, and addictions because of the Divine grace of God.
- We can walk through the fire and weather the storms of life and honor God in them because of the Divine grace of God.
- We can experience the comfort, courage, and encouragement that embraces our lives like holy hugs from Heaven because of the Divine grace of God.
- We can respond to the Holy Spirit’s correction, direction, and prompting because of the Divine grace of God.
- We can walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh because of the Divine grace of God.
- We can embrace our Holy Spirit-given giftedness and fulfill our God-given destinies because of the Divine grace of God.
- We can navigate opposition and obstacles with the wisdom and joy of Jesus because of the Divine grace of God.
- We can act and react in a way that honors and points people to Jesus because of the Divine grace of God.
- We can be the women, the wives, the mothers, the friends, the workers, the neighbors, the sisters, the servants of the Lord that He calls and equips us to be because of the Divine grace of God.
God’s grace is certainly the Divine favor He endows to His unworthy creation when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but God’s grace is also the Divine power that He gives those who are His so that we can live out the impossible holy and victorious life He has called and equipped us to live.
GRACE
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all my sin.
Sin and despair like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.
Dark is the stain that we cannot hide,
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! there is flowing a crimson tide;
Whiter than snow you may be today.
And listen here to Matt Redmon‘s
You’re Grace Finds Me
What have you learned about grace that WOWs you anew?
Oh… and if you want to do a super cool Bible study on how grace shows up in Scripture, download this FREE PDF and start digging’! Do it on your own or make as many copies as you’d like and share with your friends in small group or Sunday School class. 🙂
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