Tag: grace

Daughters of Grace | Her Excellence Within

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As a woman of God, a daughter of grace, are we any more beautiful than when we are reflecting the character of our Father?

Graciousness, for women, often applies to her poise, her friendly and welcoming demeanor, manners, status, and more. But, oh, my friends, she is so much more. Those things may describe what people see, but her true excellence comes from within.

Inwardly, she is known and loved by God. Inwardly, His salve of grace has covered her wrongs, hurts, and scars. Inwardly, she has received a holy covering, and she cannot help but cover those she meets in the same manner. Inwardly, she has been touched and transformed by the Father, and in turn, she wants to touch those around her in an authentic and meaningful way.

She is true for people and not a woman of pretense. Sincerity is the rule of her heart. The changed heart inside of her won’t let her be anything but. She sees the personal beyond the people. She is solicitous in her concern for others. She pays attention to them. People and their circumstances matter to her.

She loves the way her Father taught her to love, thinking of others before herself. She seeks to put their needs ahead of her own, selflessly moving through this generation with compassion as her guide, being a vessel fit for the Master’s use (2 Timothy 2:21).

So, she shares her heart through her words, ready to bless, encourage, and lift others with the power of her tongue. She shares her heart through service, loving people through acts of selflessness. This gracious woman adorns herself not with merely external adornments of this world but with “bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (Colossians 3:12).

She is her Father’s daughter, ready to pour grace into the heart that needs it. As He loves, so she seeks to love. As He operates, she wants her life to echo the image of what He desires from one’s heart, will, and mind. She wants her footsteps to mimic His as she walks through this life distributing kindness, gentleness, and compassion; cultivating love, and expressing to those she meets the true beauty of what it means to be a child of God, a daughter of grace.

“A gracious woman retaineth honour…” Proverbs 11:16

Where can you pour extra grace into a life today? Your actions, no matter how small, may be the largest act of kindness another receives today. I encourage you, don’t hold back. Pour, dear daughter of God, pour out His love, and let it overflow into the lives of others. You may never know the impact it makes, but no small deed done for the Lord will ever be insignificant.

For more encouragement, check out this poem I previously wrote titled Within.

Photo by Marina Abrosimova on Pexels.com

Exchange

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Friend, isn’t it encouraging to know that no dismal state, regardless of how low the clouds may hang or how much shade is cast over one, who we are or were, through Christ, is made totally new. The grace of His love and sacrifice given to us is a picture so wonderful, who would not want to turn to Him and receive this great exchange? For He will “Give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified” (Isaiah 61:3).

~Word for Life Says

Welcomed

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You have welcomed us
into Your throne room.
You have welcomed us
into Your grace.
You have welcomed us
into Your pleasure.
You have welcomed us
before Your face.

No scepter for Esther
needs to extend.
For the cross has bought
the passage within.

In the courts of the King,
we are invited to come.
Favor has blessed us
through His dear Son.

To approach and pray
without fear or doubt.
Worries, burdens, and troubles
are there, cast out.

Queen Esther, taking her life in her hands, went before the king not knowing if she would find favor to enter the courts for him to hear her petition (Esther 4:16; 5:2).

Not so with our Heavenly Father. Through Jesus Christ, we have obtained a welcome invitation to come: “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,” Hebrews 4:16.

With no fear in your heart, come, for you are welcomed before the King of all Kings.

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

Top Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

 

The History of Mercy

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Have you ever participated in one of those throwback posts? You know the ones. This was me or us, five, ten, or even fifteen years ago.

These “blasts from the past” moments can bring smiles to our faces. Some for the fondness of the memory presented. Some, let’s be real, because we can’t believe we wore our hair that way or dressed like that, and so on.

These moments can be fun but viewing bygone days can also be a time of sobering contemplation. It was something the Israelites became acutely aware of years after returning home from their captivity.

Reading in Nehemiah 9, the priests and the Levites recorded Israel’s history. In telling their story, they showed the ups and downs of what their nation experienced.

Starting with Abram and how he became the one through whom God would establish His covenant, through their time of Egyptian slavery, wilderness wanderings, and beyond, the testimony of their story was written.

Noted in the recitation of their history was the many times Israel chose disobedience rather than God’s Law, their way opposed to His, and because of that, many times it is recorded they faced enemies and had to deal with life in the less-than-ideal way God intended.

But, in contrast to their faithlessness, God continued to show Himself faithful. While they strayed and suffered the consequences due to it, God turned to them, kept His covenant, and showed them mercy time and again (Vv. 17, 19, 27-28, 31-32 – verses can be found below). God stepped in the middle of their mess and restored them.

His history of mercy is mind-boggling, not only for Israel but for us as well.

Anyone in a true relationship with Christ will readily admit that we had much litter trashing the roads of our past. The history of the streets we have walked has not always been the cleanest they could be.

Our personal testimonies tell the story of what once was, the choices we made, and the grace and mercy God performed in our lives.

While our history may not be the best to look at, God’s mercy is.

For in it, we find God’s love working in ways human love cannot fathom.  We see Him giving us blessings and care we didn’t deserve (grace) and withholding things we do deserve (mercy).

If we took the time as the priests and Levites did, and recited our personal histories, how often do we see the hand of God show up with mercy in tow?

The longer I live, the more chances I have to reflect. In that reflection, I see new, and even more ways God has shown up when I did not deserve it.

Today, I truly thank God for His mercy shown.

When you look back on your history, can you see those mercy moments you’ve experienced? Thank God for each and every one for they are a sobering reminder of His unfailing love.

“For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” Psalm 86:5

Nehemiah 9 verses from above:

“And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.” (Nehemiah 9:17)

“Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.” (Nehemiah 9:19)

“Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the land of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies.” (Nehemiah 9:27-28)

“Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.” (Nehemiah 9:31-32)

Thank You, God, for all the mercies shown in our bygone days, for the mercy of salvation, and for the mercy of today:

“(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.” Deuteronomy 4:31

“Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.” Psalm 116:5

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13

“To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;” Daniel 9:9

“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.” Micah 7:18

“And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.” Luke 1:50

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;” 2 Corinthians 1:3

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,” Ephesians 2:4

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” Titus 3:5

Inwardly Renewed! | Words to Live By

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“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, NIV

Text Free Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay

Every Morning | Pursuing God Daily

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Mornings capture us with a sense of new.  The freshness for what’s before us opens like a glorious flower that raises her petals to meet the sun’s rays.  Whether the pace of the new days starts out fast or slow, there is a certain level of invigoration that permeates the atmosphere.  It says life is here, meeting us again as we open our eyes and arise.  What we see before us we have not encountered before.  This moment in time, with the grace and mercy that comes with it, is unused. 

I grew up during a time of hand-me-downs and leftovers.  It was not an unheard-of concept to rely on things that were previously used by another or putting aside portions of a meal that remained for later use.  “Waste not, want not,” is often what people would say.  It was frugal living before frugal living became popular.  We are seeing a resurgence of its popularity due to the current economy that is calling people’s attention to rethink how they approach money, life, and their stuff.

But for the children of Israel, there was one thing that God didn’t want them to rethink, and that was their faith and trust in Him.  Even though they were relatively new on their exodus journey from Egypt, God taught them a lesson He hopes will last a lifetime – they can put their confidence in His commands, in His promises.  They had no reason to doubt God’s goodness.

So, when the need for food arose, He instructed Moses on what the people should do: “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no,” (Exodus 16:4). 

Further reading gives us a bit more details:

  • Vv. 11, 12 says, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God” (emphasis added).
  • V. 15 explains, “And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.”
  • And in v. 19, Moses instructed them to “Let no man leave of it till the morning.”

Every morning, when they opened their eyes, they were expected to walk by faith, depending on their daily provisions from God’s holy hand.

When they chose not to rely on God and to take matters into their own hands, and to keep some behind so that they wouldn’t have to worry about the next day, “it bred worms, and stank” (v. 20).  When they decided they couldn’t trust God and believe that He would provide for their tomorrows, their personal, human efforts deteriorated right before their eyes.  Instead of being beautiful and nourishing, it became something that was disgusting and unpleasant.

There are a lot of things we can be frugal with, but faith isn’t one of them.  Jesus, in the Lord’s Prayer, called us to pray for “daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).  Every morning we are reminded of our need for God, to pursue Him more, and again.  As a tummy rumbling for morning nourishment, we are drawn to come to Him and be spiritually satisfied.  We are leaning on the Father every single day for His holy provision: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.  The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him,” (Lamentations 3:22-24). 

Every morning we get to reestablish our love for Him, reestablish our commitment to Him, and walk in His faithfulness another day.  We get to come to Him, seeking our “manna” for the day, reaffirming He is our source.  He is our God!  He is our Portion (compare Jeremiah 51:19; Psalm 16:5; 73:26).  He is the place where we not only find our holy sustenance, but it is where we trade the wrongs for what is right.  It’s where we exchange the ashes of this life for the beauty of who He is.

“Every day” the children of Israel were commanded to go look for what God had for them.  Every morning, their expectation and hope were to be on God alone.  He, then, supplied their needs (Philippians 4:19) and sustained them for the day’s journey.

If your days seem limp and powerless, lacking the inspiration and sustenance for this time we live in, draw nearer to your daily Portion.  Every morning partake of the Bread of Heaven so that your life may be properly fed.

In your pursuit to be properly fed, do as the children of Israel were instructed:

  1. Come daily.  Every morning the promise of bread awaited them, but they were the ones who had to put in diligent effort to rise and go get it.
  2. Gather what was needed.  Every family was allotted a certain amount so they lacked nothing of all God’s provisions.  Don’t cut your time and opportunity short when you come to the Father.  The Bible says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart,” Jeremiah 29:13.  Wholly, go after your portion so that you lack nothing of all God has for you.  Stay before Him and gather what is necessary for the day’s journey.
  3. Come back tomorrow and do it again.  And the next day, and the next day, and so on.  This is a life of longing – a life that refuses to go unsatiated.  “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God,” (Psalm 42:1).  Drawing nearer to God is to be our daily desire. He is our holy pursuit. Daily I am unsatisfied in my soul if I don’t come to Him and fill my appetite upon Him who is “I AM THAT I AM,” (Exodus 3:13). 

The promise still remains: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled,” (Matthew 5:6). 

Every morning, come and be filled.    

Heal

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Scabs were a fascination for me in my youth. I had a bad habit where right when the healing would be almost complete, I would pick at the scab and pick at it again until it reopened, prohibiting it from properly healing in a timely fashion.

In life, we can find ourselves doing the same thing with the hurts of all nature. And as easy as it is to pick, we can choose to leave it alone and let God do what He does best.

Allow for healing. What bitterness is so precious that we fight to hold on to it? What hurt must we keep rehearsing in our mind that we won’t let go of it? Allowing these to take up precious space in our hearts will not make room for His healing to take place when we can let it go and trust God with the outcome. Continually nursing all the wrongs prohibits the growth of all that is good.

We choose what we strengthen: bitterness and hurt or good and healing. We have the choice to bring into greater focus the things that will help us overcome those tumultuous thoughts or keep us bound in them. “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

Where your mind and your thinking lead, the heart will follow. Follow those beautiful things that lead to healing. Why let that which is corrupt ruin your day, your week, your life?

No one can understand like you what your heart is feeling (Proverbs 14:10). No one can discredit the hurt one has experienced. At the same time, no one but you can refuse to sit in the pity party, celebrating the misery.

Allow for healing. Bring all the heaviness of heart, all those things that speak against wholeness and recovery, all the hurt to Jesus, who promises that in Him, we will find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:29; read Matthew 11:28-30).

Why suffer as one who has no help? Jesus is your help for healing, and He is waiting to lead you into complete restoration. He is the cure for whatever you are holding onto, and He is the cure for whatever you are going through.

Focus your heart on what is good, and don’t leave Jesus out of the healing process. There is not an infirmity He hasn’t faced and experienced (Hebrews 4:15).

He knows how much it hurts, but He also knows how to bring about wholeness. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Come, that you may be healed.

Letting go of bitterness and hurt – sometimes it is easier said than done. But when we do, we allow for God’s healing to come and saturate our souls.

A Fruitful Prayer

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“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22, 23

Dear Lord, help me to produce this fruit in my life today.  There is a harvest of goodness and love, joy and gentleness, peace and longsuffering, faith, meekness, and temperance I desire my life to bring forth in abundance.  I want my life to touch people beautifully with Your beautiful Spirit within me.  In my shortness and frustrations, help me to remember the fruit that grows on Your tree.  When I don’t understand everything, help me to remember to use the same grace and mercy You have shown me.  Let my heart and my actions speak louder than my words today.  I desire to live like You want me to live and produce in my life those things that put a smile on Your face.  In Jesus’ name, I pray, AMEN!

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A Light from Heaven

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Lord, I thank You for the day You shined Your light into my life. Perfection is far from where I was. I, too, was in a fit of rebellion, intent on getting to my Damascus to do what I was pleased to do.  But one day, You interrupted all of that in a good way. You introduced me to Your Son, Jesus. Humbly, I had no choice but to hear that voice that called out to me and fall to the earth in worship and gratefulness that You took the time to step in the pathway progressing to more sin and spoke in me a life brand new.  

Friends, if you are a Christian, then you have been in Saul’s position. While we may not stand guilty of persecuting the Church, we all once stood guilty before grace.  We were all miscreants without the benefit of mercy. Transgressors while ignoring the truth. On our way to being up to no good, we were hell-bound until Jesus stepped in and saved us. 

Romans 5:8 reminds us, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Who we were, does not compare with what He did for us.  But isn’t that the point? Never would we have been able to pay the debt we owed.  Never could we earn our way to heaven.  Only by “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24) are we able to say today that we are saved, born-again believers, washed in the blood of the Lamb, welcomed as a member of His holy family, and given a new life with a new purpose.  

Sometimes, we absolutely need to remember where we came from and how we got here. It is nothing we can take credit for. But thank God for the day a light from heaven shone in my heart, and He saved me. 

“And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Acts 9:3,4

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com articles/lessons/worksheets may not be copied or redistributed without the express written permission of WordforLifeSays.com.  Please see the COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.  Blessings to you.

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God knows the beginning and endings of your days ~

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God knows the beginning and endings of your days and your life. When it feels out of control, remember God is always in control. 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑮𝒐𝒅, 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒀𝒐𝒖, 𝒊𝒏 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆, 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔. 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔. 𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆. 𝑰𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕, 𝒘𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒚, 𝑨𝑴𝑬𝑵!

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com articles/lessons/worksheets may not be copied or redistributed without the express written permission of WordforLifeSays.com.  Please see the COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.  Blessings to you.

Please Note: Ads below or referenced on this site are prefabricated and mass-produced (of which I currently have no control over) and DO NOT necessarily represent the views and/or beliefs of this site and its admin.