The Gift of Grace

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:8-10)

The Bernoulli’s principle says that as a fluid’s velocity increases its pressure decreases. As an example an airplane has an airfoil shape to each of the wings to produce lift.

• The airfoil shape produces unequal lengths across the top and bottom of the wing. Air splitting at the front of the wing must rejoin at the back of the wing so as not to create a vacuum.
• Since the top surface is curved upward and is longer it forces the air to move faster across the top than the bottom. Faster moving fluids create less pressure, so the bottom of the wing creates greater pressure producing lift.

Grace is like the Bernoulli’s principle, from a spiritual perspective; a form of power which comes to us directly from God’s Spirit and lifts us up. This is an example of how God’s grace works:

• It lifts us above the ways of the world into the realm of the spirit.
• It lifts us up from the lies of the enemy into the truth of God our Father.
• It lifts us above our past into the life God has planned for us.
• It lifts us above what we do into who we were created to be.
• It lifts us up from our human strength into His mighty power.

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. (Acts 6:8)

The Bernoulli principle does not defy the law of gravity, it supersedes it. And any time the force of the air is lost gravity takes over.  Our enemy will do all he can to pull us down from God’s gift of grace.

Saved by grace, but perfected through flesh has been the devil’s strategy from the beginning.

• If the devil can’t keep us from being saved, his fall-back strategy is to keep us in doubt that we are saved.
• If he failed to keep us from attempting to earn our salvation, he will try to deceive us into attempting to keep it through human effort.
• If he can no longer control our eternal destiny, he will try to render us ineffective in our ability to influence others towards the glorious reality of union with Christ

Instead of living in daily trust of God’s provision and guidance, we are constantly taking matter into our own hands. We need to see that our controlling behavior isn’t a response to something happening in the present. It is triggered by something from our past that never got resolved. People are not in bondage because of their past. They are in bondage to the lies they believed as a result of their past.

• The decision to hide or ignore our guilt and hurt leaves the act of sin unresolved.
• When an act of sin remains unresolved, it causes a nagging sense in the heart that doesn’t go away.

But the resolve is not seeking God’s forgiveness it is realizing we are already forgiven, realizing as day is from night we have been changed, accepting who God says we are. The resolve is accepting God’s grace.

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. Therefor there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 7:20 and 8:1-2)

We have been taught to be good givers, but few have been taught to be good receivers, so we try to earn it. Any attempt to add human performance to the new covenant must always be confronted aggressively and resisted with determination.

• We don’t reign in life through our performance. We reign through our position!
• Not through understanding what to do, but understanding who we are.
• We have a brand new core identity

For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. (John1:17)

God gives his grace to those who trust Him. He wants us to become more dependent upon Him.  Those who receive the abundance of grace are the ones who reign in life. When He graced our hearts, He gave us the power and the strength.

Have you ever noticed that everything we get from God must be received by faith?

• Faith is accepting the fact that there are no conditions, no bargains to be made, no back room deals; that grace is a gift with no strings attached. No strings before and no strings after!
• Faith is the realization that grace is utterly free.

The human mind wants a concrete assurance ahead of time that it will all pan out. But, to give such proof would undermine the very thing God is trying to do here: get us to put our full trust in the one who will be with us always.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. (Eph. 3:20)

What a tragedy it would be for us to be given freedom but not walk in it! For believers, the ability to walk in freedom becomes dependent on an individual’s daily decision to walk in the power received at salvation.