Growing in God’s Abundant Grace

January 4, 2019

And God is able to make all grace [every favor and earthly blessing] come in abundance to you, so that you may always [under all circumstances, regardless of the need] have complete sufficiency in everything [being completely self-sufficient in Him], and have an abundance for every good work and act of charity. 2 Corinthians 9:8 AMP

1. SOW TO THE SPIRIT. Grace is God’s willingness to work on our behalf even though we don’t deserve it. The Bible says: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans 5:20b). But that’s not an excuse to sin. Instead we can fight the devil, crucify our flesh, and not conform to the world. How? By meditating on and investing in the things of God (Galatians 6:8).

2. COMMIT TO CONTENTMENT. Contentment is an attitude of faith. The hour hand on a clock is like much of our Christian walk with God – we can’t always see it, but it is moving forward! I’m not a sentimentalist looking back to the good old days. And I’m not anxiously waiting for the future. I’m committed to consistent growth over the course of my entire life. Let your past be fuel for the current moment, to press on into all God has for you. And lay your future before God, humbling yourself so He is the one to exalt you at the right time.

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. Colossians 3:16a

3. WALK IN THE WORD. We get the Word of God in us so that it can flow out of us in our daily lives. Take time to read the Bible, to listen to it, to meditate on a specific scripture. Read a chapter of Proverbs or a whole book like Ephesians – get the Bible in you by any means you can. As Christians, we can’t be inactive or neutralized by worry. Instead, we must let God’s Word equip us to fight and win in life. Because of Jesus, we can overcome!

Press on!
Pastor Jeff

DAILY CONFESSION:
One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. In all these things I overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved me because greater is Jesus, who is in me, than he who is in the world (Philippians 3:13b-14, 1 John 4:4, Romans 8:37).

grow, verb
To spring up and develop to maturity. To be able to grow in some place or situation. To have an increasing influence. Increase, expand.

Copyright © 2019 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. “grow.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. 02 January 2019.