Tuesday, February 23, 2016

God is Watching Us ... to “Grace” Us

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.  Psalms 84:11

"The Lord continually watches our lives.  From the moment of our conception to the hour
of our death, the Lord guards and guides our earthly journey
." - Francis Frangipane
God is our Creator but He is also our Father.  It is God who graces our lives with His watch care over us as a Father does his children. As an earthly parent, we watch over our children for it is our duty and the natural response of our love.  At times we watch them struggle with the things they are called upon to do.  In those times we might wait until they call out "Mom? Dad? Can you help me?" before offering our help.  At other times we intervene to help them out of struggles we know are more than they can deal with before they even ask.
Consider a mother whose thoughts each moment revolve around so much more than her own needs and desires.  Her children and her spouse are all in her mind at all times.  Three, four, five or more people live in her thoughts and plans as she cares for them. 
Is it not so with our Heavenly Father?  Jesus reminds us that our watching Father knows our needs before we ask Him. "So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” Matthew 6:8  How is that?  Because His eyes are open to see our needs and His ears are open to hear our cries.  He is our Father and He wants to grace us with His presence and provision.
God watches us at all times ... both in the good and the bad times of our lives.  The thought of God watching us only to catch us when we are bad may strike fear into our hearts, but it should not.  God has not placed a spirit of fear in us but the spirit of adoption that reminds us we are His children.
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we ape children of God, and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Romans 8:15-17
Simply put, Grace can be defined as God's unmerited favor.  It is God's free action for the benefit of His people.  He does not have to give us this gift.  He created us and He could have said that’s the extent of my business here.  You are on your own.  But He loves us and wants the best for us. 
Just as we operate in faith, we need to operate in His grace.  How can we activate the grace of God in our lives? 
(1) Simply ask for it. 
(2) Be humble.  Pride will always get in the way of God’s grace. 
(3) Know the Word.  When you know the Word, you’ll be fully persuaded of God’s ability.
God is watching to grace us with His Fatherly presence and provision.  In the most intimate of relationships we are brought into a father and child union with our God through adoption to which we can cry out "Abba!" “Daddy!”  We have a Father who loves us and watches over us to guide and guard our lives.
Scripture to Claim:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed…  2 Corinthians 9:8 

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