06/26/2025
Are we reluctant to claim the grace of God in all aspects of our Christian life? Do we attempt to walk the Christian way while only calling on the grace of God when we stumble or face insurmountable hardship? If so, are we really trusting in Him, and are we praying without ceasing? Is He actually first and foremost in our lives when we allow our will and desire to supersede His in our everyday activities? Is this the relationship we are attempting to establish with Him?
“Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, "In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
2 Corinthians 6:1-2 ESV
The apostle Paul tells us that now is the time to claim the prize! He calls on us to work with Jesus and to receive the grace of God NOW! As we think back on our past, do we come to the realization that we have often attempted to sail through those days by handling things on our own? Have we made God and Jesus safe harbors in the storms but otherwise navigated life on our own?
I have a grandchild who loved to do things on his own when he was young. No matter what the occasion, whether it was feeding himself as a baby, not wanting to hold your hand as he learned to walk, working alone at putting together a puzzle as a youth, or doing any of a million other tasks, he always wanted to do it himself. In so doing he took a number of unnecessary falls and suffered through hardships unnecessarily. As parents and grandparents our first inclination is to be proud of a child who takes the initiative and faces life head-on, but as a grandfather I feel frustrated in not being able to help him do those things, and left out when I could have been working with him as he struggled to find the pieces of life’s puzzle. In truth, I feel closest to him in those rare times when he allows me to help him or play with him... these are the times when memories and relationships are built. I look back on my own childhood and lovingly recall the times I did things with my father... not the ones in which he was merely an observer, but when we did those things together… like when he taught me to trout fish, or to sail a boat.
God wants us to accept His assistance and grace, to take His help and instruction, and to do so in everything we do. In this way we are growing closer together in all things, and He has become a part of our every joy and sorrow. To do this requires us to pray without ceasing, and by doing so His love is not frustrated and our love for Him blossoms.
As I have grown in my faith over the years, I have found that I pray aloud more often. I hear myself talking with God like I once did with my earthly father or do now with my wife. In this way, I have come to the realization that God and I are closer than I ever dreamed possible and that despite the fact that sometimes people around me might think "that old man is a little off his rocker. Who is he talking to?" I am actually praying without ceasing. This is truly how we spend every moment of every day with Our Savior and the Father. This is the relationship God desires us to have with Him, and this is the process of accepting God's grace in everything we do. The Lord didn't defeat sin and death for us and then walk away saying "call me if you have a problem!" no, He doesn't want us to live out our lives alone and only reach out to Him when things get too rough for us to handle on our own... He loves us too much for that! He wants an every-minute of every-day relationship. Did you ever stop to think that God is expressing His love for you in the things you allow Him to do for you? He is no different than I was with my grandson… He wants to be ever present in our lives.
In Second Corinthians, Paul speaks about what it means to be a Christian and in each of these things we find the grace of God. Each of them can only be achieved by allowing our Heavenly Father, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit to work with us in them. This is more than a set of goals... it is a relationship in the making... a photo album being filled with the pictures of a life together with God... a million prayers spoken aloud by old men and women to the Lord our God who walks every step beside them. This is a lifetime of learning a single lesson... that God didn't give you His Grace; He is ALWAYS giving you His grace.
“But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”
2 Corinthians 6:4-10 KJV
Is this how we are living our lives with God, our Father, and does our relationship with him include all of these attributes of God? Are they echoed in our prayers all day long?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for being with me now in all I do, and in every breath I take. I thank you for everything in my life; the good, the bad, the happy, and sad... because each has brought us closer together. I thank you father for teaching me that life is not just a journey towards you, but with you, and that your Grace was not a onetime gift, but surrounds me always. As we talk throughout the day, Abba, I pray, and in those prayers, I am allowing your grace to fill me, and your Word to lead me onward in my faith. Holy Father, you are more than just the light that goes before me, you are far more than this… you are the glory which surrounds me, you are my constant companion, my champion, my counselor, my savior, and in every aspect of my life you are with me and never abandon me. For my part I love you with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and will never turn away from you. I will praise you always and pray as Jesus taught us to pray. I will make His life my guide and His sacrifice my redemption... in Him I have come to find the name above all others in which I pray, and in Him I find your peace, comfort, and rest. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who was, and is, and is to come. Holy are you who was with me from my conception at the foundation of the earth, is with me as I draw my every breath now and will be always… eternally. How great you are Father and how amazing your grace and love that fills me in all my life. Hear my prayers as they flow forth unceasingly from my lips, my thoughts, my spirit, and my heart. Feel the love I have for you and the unquenchable need I have to be near you… for you are my God, my Father, my Lord, my friend, my provider, protector, and the ever present I Am in all my life. Hear me as I call out to all who will hear… Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! And claim Amen to your Holy Word and in every moment which I spend with you.
Amen!
Rich Forbes