By God’s Grace

Have you ever been driving down the road behind a car that makes a sudden stop? You must throw on your brakes to keep from hitting them. And just for a second, you feel like you may not stop. But then your car stops. Do you know why you stopped? It was God’s grace. Have you ever been out somewhere, finished what you were doing, and when you got home, you found out something bad happened right after you left? If you were delayed a little while longer. It might have been you. It was God’s grace. What about a time when the rent was due and you were going to be put out of your home? And at the ninth hour, the money showed up right on time. It was God’s grace. What about when you were involved in a situation at work and could lose your job? God stepped in on your behalf, and it was turned around, and you did not lose your job. It was God’s grace. I could go on and on. Providing you with what-if scenarios, but I am getting to a point here. WE truly do not realize just how much our Heavenly Father covers us. We do not know how important it is to be covered by our Heavenly Father’s grace. Many of us truly think we are doing it all on our own. We believe we are making it happen. We are doing it without any help from our Daddy in Heaven. I am here to tell you that just is not so.

Those of us who have children will do anything to protect our kids. One of our responsibilities as parents is to protect our children. If one of our children is in need, we do all we can to help them. If our child is hurt, we make it better. Remember when you first had your child and they were an infant? As soon as they started to cry, you would run to the crib to see what was wrong. And even when nothing is wrong. You continued to watch out for them. Because it is your child. A parent is going to protect their child. God does the same for us. He protects His children. Are we not his children? Yes, we are. The grace of God is His favor on our lives.

I remember a time when I was involved with someone who was involved in some bad things. I did not know that at the time. You know, when you are young and naive. I was out with him so many times, and I could have been caught up in it, but God’s grace. Without even knowing it, God was protecting me. His grace was all over me. He kept me safe and out of danger. Even when he got into trouble, my Heavenly Father made sure I was nowhere around it when it happened. God protected me. I was hanging with the wrong crowd. God protected me. I think about that now, and I still cry because my life would be so different now if it were not for my Daddy’s grace on my life. The tears would stream down my face. I feel His love for me. He cares for me, and He cares for you too. I know some can relate. You look back on your life. Thinking of when you were in situations where you should not have been. Hanging out with people you should not be around. Doing things your parents warned you about. And all the while, God was giving you grace. He was watching out for you. He kept you safe from harm.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, so that no one should boast”. God has given us a gift. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is a gift from God. So many think they did it. They truly feel they did it. They feel they are the ones who got the promotion. They believe they are the ones who got them out of that situation. They think they have enlarged their bank account. They believe they have done it all by themselves. We love to take credit for things. We love to outshine others. We love to boast. But 1 Corinthians 15:10 says,¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am. And His grace toward me was not in vain. I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. It was not you; it was the grace of God that is in you.

We get so caught up in our worlds that we do not even take time to say thank you. We do not take the time to let God know that we acknowledge His role in our lives. Realizing that if it were not for Him, there would be no us in the small scheme of things. All He asks is for us to give Him praise and honor. To acknowledge that He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He wants us to study His Word. He wants us to build a relationship with Him. He wants us to acknowledge Him. Whenever you do something for someone, do you like to hear the words thank you?  I believe you do. God wants to know that we appreciate Him. He wants to see that He is number one in our lives. He wants to know that we will not take Him for granted. He wants to know that we appreciate the gift He has given us of grace.

All we need is God’s grace to see us through. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, ⁹ But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. God’s grace is sufficient. That is all that we need. We do not need anything else. I have one more testimony for you. My daughter misplaced her wallet recently and did not know where it was. She retraced her steps and still could not find it. It had everything in it, all her identifications, cards, everything. She kept calling me in distress. I went into mama bear mode, trying to help her, even though I was several states away from her. I was like “What is she going to do?”. But then I said, “What am I going to do”? I am going to call on my daddy. I began to pray to my Heavenly Father. I started by saying thank you for His grace and mercy towards me. I thanked Him for the grace and mercy in my daughter’s life. I acknowledged His grace and compassion from the very beginning. I know my Heavenly Father was watching over my daughter. I knew He had her in the palm of His hand. I began to speak the Word about the situation and call out who my child was. She was a child of the Most-High God. She was a King’s Kid. She was royalty, and the enemy had no power here. I continued praying until I felt the peace of God surrounding me. I continued what I was doing. About thirty minutes later, my daughter called me back in tears. She had found her wallet. Someone had turned it into the security office at the airport. Everything was in it. I began screaming and praising God. I spoke blessings over the person who found it. I also spoke peace, love, and kindness over them. I want you to think for a moment. We are talking about a busy airport. It was a huge airport hub. The chances of someone turning in a wallet are second to none. But God! If you know who I know, then you know. God can do anything but fail. God can make even the biggest thief go straight. I am talking about the grace of God here. Do you truly hear what I am saying? Having the grace of God is awesome! What is even more awesome? Realizing the grace of God over your life. Realizing the times He stepped in on your behalf. Realizing the times He stepped in and made a way out of no way. Realizing, He has had your back all alone. Realizing it was nobody but God. The next time you look back over your life, or you get out of some situation. Realize it was God making a way. Realize it worked out in your favor because of God. Realize, He had your back. Realize it was by the grace of God.