Grace, Grief, Healing, Hope, The Gift of Grace, Trust, Words of Endurance
Discovering God’s Grace
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
2 CORINTHIANS 9:13
Thirty-one years ago I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and my world was rocked and changed forever. I received the gift of salvation with such joy and excitement – I wanted everyone to experience that same joy. So with great exuberance, I shared the Gospel with everyone that crossed my path!
One problem though was when I became a Christian I did not understand God’s Gift of Grace. While I was always able to extend Grace to others especially those who were suffering – I was not able to extend that same Grace to my family or receive His Grace myself. UNTIL …
Last year when I was looking for a Christian book to read while I was traveling, I asked God to lead me to something new and inspiring. As I scanned my bookshelves I noticed a book entitled TrueFaced. Now this book had been on my shelf for seven years and I had never read it. Why was I now drawn to it? I did not know at the time – but I took it off the shelf and put it in my brief case to read on my flight.
As I read the book I immediately knew why God led me to this book. The book presented two paths – “The Path of Pleasing God” and “The Path of Trusting God”. I was immediately drawn to “The Path of Pleasing God.” After all, I thought, wasn’t that the more admirable path?
My eyes were opened when “The Path of Pleasing God” led me to “The Room of Good Intentions” and the word over the doorknob was “Self Effort”.
I realized that …
I was humbled as I learned that …
Answer this question:
Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust him to do them in you?
The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right:
“The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that’s the real
life.” Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith,
but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping,
a fact observed in Scripture: “The one who does these things [rule-keeping] continues to live by them.”
GALATIANS 3:5-6,11-12 (THE MESSAGE)
Because of these revelations from God through this book, I have become a different man. God’s Grace has set me free from striving and it relieved my guilt and shame at my inability to live the perfect life. It allowed me to remove my masks so that I could trust God and others with who I truly am – warts and all. It caused me to throw myself at the feet of Jesus where I know Jesus will empathize with my weakness and I will receive His mercy and grace.
Once again my world has been rocked and changed forever – so with great joy, excitement and exuberance – I share God’s Grace with you!
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way,
just as we are—yet he did not sin.
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence,
so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
HEBREWS 4:15-16
On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky
(Quotations are excerpts taken from “The Cure” which is the recently updated version of “TrueFaced.”)