God's Grace is Sufficient

Day 283

Reading: 2 Corinthians 10:1 - 2 Corinthians 13:14

We all go through situations, circumstances, or challenges in life that can alter our lives drastically. I will be very personal in this blog not because I want to solicit empathy but to encourage someone.  Such moments end up being very disheartening to the soul but they can be very rewarding if pivoted in the right direction. For the last three days as I have read this letter to the Corinthians, my mind has kept thinking about the sufficiency of God's grace.

Paul declared that is was of the outworking of grace that we are saved. Salvation is not because of our works but because of God's unmerited favour that we have what we didn't deserve. Jesus took our punishment, stood in our place and received what we deserved as sinners and we, in turn, received the forgiveness that we didn't ask for. Paul in Romans declared that all this was done while we were still sinners. God sent His Son to die for you while you were mired in sin. That is GRACE. God saw our inability to save ourselves from the pit of hell and set about creating a solution and effecting it appropriately. God's grace is available for our salvation.

God's grace is also available to help us in our places of weakness. Paul declared that it is grace that makes us. To allow God to make you is to invite His grace to come and deal with the flesh. This involves a dying to self and becoming alive in God. Does God afflict us that we rely on grace? I wouldn't say God afflicts us but I would say He allows us to walk through tests that cause us to rely on His grace. Paul reveals to us how he cried to God about a situation he faced and the response was to rely on grace. God's grace is sufficient.

A few years ago I sat before a doctor and was told that I would have seizures all my life. I recall my dad and brother looking at the doctor and telling him that I would overcome. I was stunned. My life shattered like a broken glass before me. I was devastated, to say the least. I remember many times crying at night unwanted by some people because they feared that I would have a seizure before them. Some people didn't know if I was possessed by a devil or not. What I knew was that I was in the middle of a faith fight. My mind was in continual torment as I couldn't understand what was happening. Where was God? How could God allow this? My dreams were thrown out and I had to first deal with this. It affected my everything.

As days became weeks then months and years I knew that I had to steady the ship of my life. I went for every crusade I could go thinking that my miracle was there. In my frustration, I began to pray every prayer. In the midst of this, I began to realise that this was a fight that would define my walk with God. As I began to imbibe more of the Word of God I began to realise that challenges try to affect your identity. I began to realise that my identity in God was not defined by the medical condition but shaped through my meditation in the Word of God. I began to realise that God's grace was there to help me walk through the fire. How else do you think the three Hebrew boys entered the fire? They had grace accompanying them and it produced Christ. I learnt from the fire of the medical condition that God's desire was to mould me to be like Christ. I also learnt that grace is what keeps one alive whether you on the mountaintop or in the valley. 

God became closer to me than any human being. God sent men and women who believed in me and who encouraged me to strive to allow God's grace to work in me. One of them Dr T would read scriptures with me and pray for me. He also reminded me to remember that this was only a pothole on the road and I should not park my car in the pothole but that I would soon be over this section. As I meditated on the promises of healing I realised that God's grace had also provided my healing. One day it dawned on me that I wasn't born to live with this and that God had provided grace to save me to the uttermost. And just that the seizures were no more.

I have shared my story here to encourage someone who is dealing with a challenge and is wondering how or when it all will end. Hang in there. Maintain your faith in God. Worship Him even when it seems futile. God holds everything including your life. The devil isn't in charge God is. Speak words that align with the work of God's grace. I am not saying deny but don't cook for the devil by dining with him with your thoughts and words. God's grace is sufficient. God is more than able!

Memory Verse: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Decree:

2 Corinthians 13:14

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. (italics mine)