The word GRACE is mentioned in the Bible about 165 times. Most of those mentions appear in the New Testament Epistles and one of them in particular most Believers will recognize:

For by GRACE you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

So what we can know about GRACE from this scripture is that it's a GIFT from God and that we didn't receive it because of anything we did. In other words, there were no good works that qualified us to receive it so it was an undeserved or unmerited GIFT. And we can see that when that GRACE was mixed with FAITH, we were able to get SAVED.

So, the average Christian would say that the definition of GRACE is God's unmerited favor that leads to salvation. And while this is certainly true as far as it goes, it falls short of expressing the complete meaning of GRACE which is why the average Christian hasn't progressed very far since getting SAVED. The truth is MOST Christians only associate GRACE with salvation; but where did it come from and why and where can it take us? What's the rest of the story?

To start with, when Jesus was crucified on the Cross, He shed His blood to pay for the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2). They were paid for in full (actually the payment was double what it had to be just to be sure - Isaiah 40:2) and the work of Christ was complete in every way for all time and all people (Hebrews 9:12). From that time forward, God's wrath against our sin was satisfied and He supernaturally FORGOT about all those bad things we had done and continue to do (Hebrews 8:12). Once our sins had been paid for, God made available His GRACE, which is to say His FAVOR, to those who are willing to ACCEPT it through FAITH by believing on the name of Jesus. That GRACE has been available for more than two thousand years but we each have to receive it for ourselves; and we each have to receive it by FAITH. God makes it available but we have to take the action to receive it and by taking that action we first receive salvation.

But that's not the end of it. If it were, what would we do with the following scripture?

Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to HELP in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Friend, this verse is talking to people that were already saved. There's more GRACE to receive by faith AFTER salvation! The Apostle Paul mentioned many times that the victories and successes he experienced in his ministry and life were the result of the GRACE of God. He was already saved but he was repeatedly experiencing the GRACE of God over and over again. Therefore, GRACE more fully expressed is really the undeserved EMPOWERMENT to accomplish God's purposes NOW. It's the unmerited FAVOR of God acting to produce success in our lives when the situations and circumstances are against us. GRACE is not just about salvation; it's also about receiving HELP in a time of need. But in either instance, GRACE must always be combined with FAITH. God is offering us His empowerment to be victorious in life but we have to receive it by FAITH and then use it for its intended purposes.

In sum, there's GRACE for salvation and there's more GRACE for living a victorious life in Christ NOW. The remaining issue is: how do we access it? How do we attract and make use of the unmerited FAVOR of God to produce the success that Jesus died on the Cross for us to enjoy?

Now the focus of this article is THANKSGIVING and we'll see later on that it's certainly one of the ways we can access God's GRACE. But it wouldn't be accurate to suggest that the Believer call fully access all of God's GRACE just by being THANKFUL. Faith is also involved and so is study, mediation and knowledge of the Word, obedience, the words we speak (death and life are in the power of the tongue - Proverbs 18:21), how we think (as a man thinks within himself, so is he - Proverbs 23:7), etc. It's not just about being thankful. But THANKSGIVING is the one entranceway to God's favor that's probably the most overlooked. It's the one that Believers pay the least attention to. We're so focused on the things that are wrong in our lives that we usually fail to be thankful to God when good things happen even though according to the Bible, every good thing given is from God (James 1:17). The truth is when those good things happen, we tend to take credit for them ourselves instead of being thankful to God. But, we're a lot more faithful to blame Him for the bad things that show up even though they didn't come from Him.

By making a special effort, we can begin to CULTIVATE A LIFESTYLE OF THANKSGIVING and see God's GRACE begin to work more fully in our lives. In doing this it's quite revealing to observe the Israelites in the wilderness to understand how they acted and what the result was. To make a long story short, the Bible says that in a matter of days after God miraculously delivered them from Egyptian bondage, the Israelites began to complain about their circumstances. They had seen God perform miracle after miracle to get them out of Egypt but they had difficulty trusting Him for the next one. They grumbled and complained and grieved the Lord to the point of wrath. So He wound up waiting for the current generation to die off before releasing them to go into the Promised Land. Because of their grumbling, complaining, unbelief and lack of trusting Him to fulfill His promises, they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years and missed out on the good thing God had for them.

The Bible says that their complaining and ingratitude demonstrated hardness of heart which developed because of their sin and unbelief (Hebrews 3:13, 19). People with hardness of heart are unable to perceive spiritual things (Mark 8:17-18). GRACE is a spiritual thing; ergo, people who're ungrateful are unable to perceive God's GRACE and cut themselves off from it. It's not God who withholds His favor; no, the GRACE with all its empowerment to produce victory was released the moment Jesus finished paying for our sins. The GRACE is ready and available, ready to be received and used to provide HELP in a time of need (Hebrews 4:16). But it's we Believers by our ingratitude and our blame and our unbelief that cut OURSELVES off from the GRACE of God and from the victory that Jesus won for us at the Cross of Calvary. It's we who have ourselves opened the door to the destroyer/enemy/devil/Satan (1 Corinthians 10:10) and we should be blaming and taking authority over him instead of blaming God for our lack of victory.

Friend, we can begin to change our negative circumstances simply by focusing on being grateful. Instead of blaming the Lord for what the enemy does, we can start thanking God at every opportunity for all the good things He's already done and for what we believe by faith He WILL do. All of us have a lot of good things working in our lives that we should focus on instead of on all our problems. God knows what we have and what we need; our job is to TRUST Him by faith to carry out what He's promised. Besides, if we're focused on our problems, we won't notice all our miracles. Friend what have you been focusing on lately?

Being THANKFUL starts out as a sacrifice in the midst of the storm. But as you use it, momentum builds and grows and in due season you're guaranteed to develop a lifestyle of THANKSGIVING. And as that happens, you develop a softer heart to the things of God, His GRACE begins working stronger in your life, His miracles become more apparent and VICTORY appears. It's not the only thing but it's one of the main things that produces VICTORY in life and it's real easy to do. Just receive the Word today by faith and then make it a point to start thanking God each day for all the great things in your life.

Would you like to truly experience greater VICTORY in your life during 2010? Most people are searching high and low for greater VICYORY especially with the challenging environment of these last two years. But they're having trouble finding it because they haven't really looked hard enough in the right places. The principles we need can only be found in the Word of God and what seems clear is that expressing GRATITUDE TO GOD is one of those key principles of life people have been looking for. How about trying it out? Start looking for things to thank God for, things He's already done and things you believe by FAITH He'll soon do in the future. As you honor God with your sacrifice of THANKSGIVING, His mercy and favor and GRACE will come upon you and we know this because the Word of God shows it to be true.

Thanks for reading PLN today and we'll be looking for you again in three weeks on Friday, February 12. In the meantime, may God overwhelm you with the fullness of His love and spiritual blessing as you seek to cultivate a lifestyle of THANKSGIVING.

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you can do so today just by saying the following simple prayer:

Jesus I believe in you and I believe that God raised you from the dead. I receive forgiveness for my sins and I ask you to come into my life today. I receive you as my Lord and Savior. I receive eternal life..

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

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