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"Grace is the key for us all. Victors realize that even on their best day they deserved hell. The fact that they have been saved is so amazing that they want to give. Generosity pours out of them in God empowered ways that I believe has the potential to change the world."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 132.
Want to change the world? Get in touch with what grace really means in your life. I believe that the kind of generosity that has the potential to change the world springs out of the realization that we are nothing without God's grace in control of our lives. It is when we think that grace is something that it isn't that generosity becomes a failed strategy in the lives of victim thinkers.
Today, I'd like to do something a little bit different. So much has been written on the subject of grace, I'd like to draw from some of the wisdom out there to help us see our need for grace. I think that most of us want to be part of making a difference in this world. I have come to believe that, left to my own efforts, I won't even be able to come close to making that happen. I need something more. I believe that more is God's Grace. Let's see what others think of this amazing quality victors have driving them in all they do.
C. JoyBell says; "It's not the law of religion nor the principles of morality that define our highways and pathways to God; only by the Grace of God are we led and drawn, to God. It is His grace that conquers a multitude of flaws and in that grace, there is only favor. Favor is not achieved; favor is received." It is not what we do, either religious or secular, that makes us who we are. God's grace makes up for all our shortfalls. Victors realize how far short they fall. Grace takes that shortfall and makes it a battering ram in a world filled with victim making principals.
Matt Chandler, in his book The Explicit Gospel, says; "Without a heart transformed by the grace of Christ, we just continue to manage external and internal darkness." It is when we think we can do all we need to make the demons that haunt us both within and without that victim thinking really happens. We just aren't able to make the kinds of transformation needed in our lives to be who God sees us to be. It is when we let His grace change us from the inside out that real impact can be seen.
R. Alan Woods, from his work called Apologia: A Collection of Christian Essays, says; "God has certainly not called us to throw our brains out the window as an appropriate response to His Grace". Surrender doesn't mean that we are to become robots. God needs us to use our brains to let the transforming power of grace to flow into a hurting world. It is when we team up with God's purpose that grace can turn our generosity into a tool that will change the world.
Paul David Tripp, wrote a book called New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional. He says some things about grace that need no commentary. Listen to his thoughts on the subject. "This is what grace does. It rescues us from our spiritual blindness. It releases us from our bondage to our rationalism and materialism. Grace gives us the faith to be utterly assured of what we cannot see. It frees us from refusing to believe in anything we cannot experience with our physical senses. But grace does more. It connects us to the invisible One in an eternal love relationship that fills us with joy we have never known before and gives us rest of heart that we would have though impossible. And that grace is still rescuing us, because we still tend to forget what is important, real, and true. We still tend to look to the physical world for our comfort. We still fail to remember in given moments that we really do have a heavenly Father. Grace has done a wonderful thing for us and continues to do more and more."
In his book called, All In: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life, Mark Batterson says this about grace. "Why do we act as though our sin disqualifies us from the grace of God? That is the only thing that qualifies us! Anything else is a self-righteous attempt to earn God's grace. You cannot trust God's grace 99 percent. It's all or nothing. The problem, as I pointed out earlier, is that we want partial credit for our salvation. We want to be 1 percent of the equation. But if we try to save ourselves, we forfeit the salvation that comes from Jesus Christ alone, by grace through faith." It is when we are stuck in the never ending process of trying to be the one percent of the equation that generosity falls short of what God intends it to be in the life of a victor.
Then there is this quote on grace. "To find grace, we need not look so very far ahead. We need only look at the present moment. God gives us grace right now, in the very moment we need it most." Jocelyn Soriano, from her book, 366 Days of Compassion: One Year Devotional. It is in the moment that grace is realized. It is in the moment that the power of grace is what it needs to be to make this moment be what changes your world.
Stop trying to make this moment be all you want it to be. Let this moment be filled with all the grace from God needed to make your identity as His Child rock your world. God's grace is what makes you the victor you long to be. Give into that grace and live in the victory God has for this moment in your life today.
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