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CULTIVATING A LIFESTYLE OF THANKSGIVING

Part Four - God Doesn't Owe Us Anything

Volume XIII Number 4                                                                                                                                         March 5, 2010
 

Thanks be to God who ALWAYS gives us the overwhelming victory - 2 Corinthians 2:14

                                                                                                                                             

Greetings in the name of Christ Jesus!

 

In previous issues of this series we've discussed the power that THANKSGIVING has to connect us to God's GRACE which is most often defined as His UNMERITED FAVOR. Why does Holy God make His FAVOR available to sinful people? Since it's UNMERITED it means that there's nothing we can do or say to deserve it; we can't perform any good works to attract it because then it would be deserved favor. No, the only reason that God makes His FAVOR available to sinful people is because He loves us anyway and because Jesus has already paid for all our sins. That's why the New Testament is often called the COVENANT OF GRACE. Not only that, as a result of what Jesus did at the Cross, God makes His GRACE available to EVERYONE. It's available to EVERYONE because the payment that Jesus made was for the sins of the whole, entire world (1 John 2:2).

 

Now we all need God's GRACE to get born again (Ephesians 2:5). Long before Jesus came physically to earth the spirit of man had been disconnected from the presence of God starting the moment that Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden. So to be "born again" means to be reconnected to His presence, it means that the spirit part of you has been regenerated to LIFE. It wasn't possible to be born again and reconnected to the Spirit of God until Jesus completed His work at the Cross; but once that happened, once the sins of all people had been paid for, God made His GRACE available which includes His total and complete forgiveness for ALL time. God's GRACE is now available to anyone who will RECEIVE it. How do we RECEIVE God's GRACE? There's only one way: we receive God's GRACE by FAITH (Ephesians 2:8). God loves people and makes His unmerited FAVOR available; people love God in return and receive that GRACE by FAITH. That's the system in the Kingdom: God makes GRACE available; people receive it by FAITH. Our job is the FAITH part and there's nothing, absolutely NO thing we can do to deserve any of it. If there were something, anything at all other than our FAITH, we wouldn't have needed Jesus.

 

After we're born again, GRACE continues to be available to help us deal with the ongoing circumstances in our lives. GRACE is not just about being born again; it's also about dealing with the issues of life. In a time of need we can always find what we need at the throne of GRACE (Hebrews 4:16). Most Christians think about GRACE only in terms of getting born again. But the Apostle Paul mentioned many times that it was by GRACE that he was able to accomplish all that he did for the early church. So GRACE is also God's unmerited/undeserved EMPOWERMENT to overcome the persecutions, temptations, trials and tribulations of life to accomplish God's plans and purposes for His Kingdom. In short, GRACE is God's EMPOWERMENT to achieve VICTORY in life. The challenge for Believers is to maintain the connection to God's empowerment so we can enjoy the blessings of God as an ongoing condition of Christian life.         

 

Staying Connected to Grace

 

Every Believer should deeply desire to stay connected to God's FAVOR and EMPOWERMENT. The GRACE of God is available to us sufficient to produce victory in every area of life: spirit, soul and body. But we can only receive that empowerment and use it according to the strength of our FAITH. How does our FAITH get strong enough to produce victory in every area of life? Strength of FAITH comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Knowledge of the Word then is what maintains and strengthens our connection to the empowerment we need to produce victory. Grace and peace are multiplied to us by the knowledge of His Word (2 Peter 1:2) and everything we need pertaining to life and godliness is available by the knowledge of His Word (2 Peter 1:3). In short, staying connected to God's empowerment REQUIRES study and meditation of the Word. Therefore, we can see that the availability of God's Word is an integral part of His GRACE; they go together. He has made His Word available in written form for our empowerment but we have to RECEIVE it in FAITH, just as we do His GRACE, and then apply it in our lives so that we can be BLESSED in everything we do (James 1:25).

 

Now we've also discussed in this series that GIVING THANKS is a also part of staying connected to God's GRACE. It's not a substitute for knowledge of the Word but they work together to keep us connected to God's EMPOWERMENT. So now we have working together God's GRACE, God's Word, our FAITH and our THANKSGIVING. When they all work together efficiently we will be wonderfully joined to His EMPOWERMENT.

 

But there's still one other aspect to deal with: we have an enemy who wants to separate us from God's empowerment. He tries to do this by sending persecution, trials and tribulations against us along with lies, deception and manipulation to try to move us to give up on God's GRACE. But through Christ we Believers have all the authority Satan used to have if we can just remember to use it and keep him under our feet. The Bible says we're supposed to RESIST the devil and he'll flee (James 4:7). How do we RESIST him? By speaking the Word of God to Him the same way Jesus did (Matthew 4:1-11), by commanding him out loud to flee and by GIVING THANKS to God. Even the strong Christians forget the last one sometimes but take a look at 1 Corinthians 10:10 which shows us that we can keep the door closed to the "destroyer" with our gratitude which is to say by GIVING THANKS. Therefore, THANKSGIVING is a weapon against the enemy, it shuts him out from our lives, it protects us and it connects us to His GRACE. When a few things aren't going right in your life, it's not God's fault; it's the enemy that comes to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). So instead of focusing on those few bad things start THANKING God for the many good things He's done and the enemy will soon depart. When the devil sees you're serious and that he can't prevail against you, he will flee.     

 

Grace is Never Connected to Works

 

Now the main point of today's article is that God doesn't owe us anything; there's nothing we can do to deserve anything. Sometimes Believers lose sight of this and it starts to interfere with their lifestyle of GIVING THANKS. If you're committed to GIVING THANKS, it's not that God is responding to you with more empowerment because of something you've done. Rather, it's about the change that occurs in you, YOU are the one that changes as your FAITH becomes increasingly able to RECEIVE greater empowerment. God does NOT owe us anything whatsoever in return for anything including our THANKSGIVING. This is a real important point because if we start GIVING THANKS and we don't see our circumstances improving like we think they should, then many of us have a tendency to become resentful and get angry with God for not responding to our good works. There are NO good works that can impress God, THANKSGIVING included. Jesus already did the work and He was the only one that could've ever done it for ALL time.

 

Some Believers think that just because they're children of God, He ought to do something to bring them out of their particular circumstances. They too get angry and resentful with Him when they have to stay there a while. But God has already done everything He's going to do about those circumstances. He sent Jesus to the Cross who truly did NOT deserve to go there and now it's up to Believers to resist the enemy (James 4:7) and grow their FAITH so they'll be able to RECEIVE the victory He's already provided through Christ. When we start sensing the emergence of any anger or resentment against the Lord, it's time to intensify our THANKSGIVING. It's impossible to be angry and resentful at the same time we're pouring out our sincere THANKS for all the great things He's done.

 

Other Christians are mixed up about the New Testament and believe that God Himself sent their trials and tribulations to teach them something. And some of them believe that at the least He ALLOWED those things to happen. If any of that thinking was scriptural, why would we get mad about being in His WILL? But fortunately all that stuff isn't scriptural; God's wrath and judgment under the Old Testament were taken care of by Jesus at the Cross and we have an entirely different situation under the New Testament. It would have been double minded of God to send Jesus to the Cross to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) and then use that same devil to bring destruction and defeat back into the lives of Believers. No, God allows us to make our own choices and decisions. It's our responsibility to be Spirit-led (Romans 8:14), to cast our cares on Him and resist the enemy ourselves (1 Peter 5:6-10).       

 

Another place we can get off in the wrong direction is to start thinking that other people owe us something because we have so many problems or we're in such an exalted position or for whatever reason. Friend, we don't deserve anything from people either and as soon as we start getting resentful at other people because we feel we're owed something the more likely we are to get ourselves in trouble with unforgiveness and hardness of heart. And then that leads to the thinking that God owes us something too and we develop resentment against Him. People will always disappoint us because they think we ought to owe them something and it usually doesn't even occur to them that they might owe us something. The only thing we OWE other people or they should rightfully OWE us is LOVE (Romans 13:8). Keep away from an attitude of somebody owing you something so you don't dilute your lifestyle of GIVING THANKS. God's GRACE is more than sufficient for you to deal with your abuse at the hands of other people.

 

And still another area people can get separated from their GRACE is by feeling sorry for themselves because of their circumstances. Sometimes people get so wrapped in their trials and tribulations they try to get others to pity them so they can attract attention. Sometimes they want you to believe that their suffering has elevated them up to just below Jesus and that you owe them something because of their plight. Many, many people think they are owed something from other people and from God because of the suffering and inconvenience they have to carry. They're carrying the whole load instead of giving it to God so they can make us feel sorry for them and set up some sort of guilt trip that they will benefit from. But friend, GRACE is undeserved, remember? If we start thinking we deserve something then what we do RECEIVE won't be GRACE. Actually we have to pursue and protect a mentality of being content with who we really are: just people who don't deserve any of the great things God has made available. We have to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and replace that with GIVING THANKS.

 

In sum, no body owes anybody anything except LOVE. God loved us first and He asks that we love and trust Him in return. Beyond that He doesn't owe us anything either and there's nothing we can do to change that. If we could do something then Jesus died for nothing and God WOULD owe Jesus a life. The Truth is we're the ones who owe something. We won't have to pay what we owe, but we owe Jesus for our lives. Fortunately the debt's been cancelled. Let's just keep things like they are, agreed?      

 

Some Final Thoughts

 

God's GRACE is sufficient for everybody. All we have to do is study His book, give Him THANKS and RESIST a defeated enemy. The rest of it is FAITH. Do we really believe what the book says or do we substitute doctrines and traditions of men that serve to cancel out the power of His GRACE (Mark 7:13)? God doesn't owe us anything but our lives will be blessed if we pursue life in agreement with His Word, if we're careful to protect His GRACE and use it to accomplish His plans and purposes. God has nothing but overcoming victory in sight for every single Believer. Now RECEIVE that in FAITH!

 

Thanks for reading PLN today and we'll be looking for you again in three weeks on Friday, March 26. 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!

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

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 declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I receive forgiveness for my sins and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and 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.

 

Donations

 

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If you have a Prayer Request, please click on the following Link which will take you to the input page on the CFC web site. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning promptly at 10:00 AM eastern time. We agree for your victory (Matthew 18:19).

 

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