1Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what
I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I
laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which
was with me.
Eph 3:7-9 Whereof I was made a minister, according to
the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his
power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And
to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which
from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by
Jesus Christ:
Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great high
priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast
our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we
are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
For the life of me I don’t know why it took me so long to
understand a little bit better this matter concerning God’s grace. Maybe you
are like me and have totally gotten the concept of saving grace, but for years
you have seen yourself not capable of doing much for the Lord Jesus Christ
whether in the ministry of the local church or just sharing the Gospel. Have
you felt inadequate, not worthy, or just plain scared….or all of these! You are
not alone. In order to know God better, and this is what we are trying to do on
this journey, we have to look at this matter of His grace as we serve God. We
can’t do it by ourselves or it becomes about us and not about Him. So, how are
you doing? Feeling weaker…..Jesus can empathize with our weaknesses because in
His humanity, He was faced with those weaknesses. He
faced what we face head on. That really makes me feel better and it should you
too, dear friend. He is our strength. The grace that He offers to us in our
weakest moment makes us strong enough to overcome any obstacle. Usually, WE are the obstacle. As we exercise that truth or
put it to action, we can do ALL things because it goes and comes through Jesus
Christ. Again, remember, Jesus never succumbed to temptation! In my human
flesh, I cannot comprehend that, but if we are to ever cross Jordan, so to
speak, we have to grab that truth and pack it our purses!
So, what is holding you back from ministry? Admit it, say it
out loud to God, and go back to the turn of the road to God’s dwelling place.
Psalm 90 and 91 will be a nice refresher to remember that....this is where it must
begin.
The first time I heard John R. Rice I thought to myself, “This
poor ole’ man’s eyes are going to slide right off his face, today, while we are
sitting here looking at him!” Little did I know about this great man of God
with droopy eyes and his lovely wife. I can still hear his weeping voice
pleading to all of us to come boldly to God’s throne of grace for mercy in our
time of need. I am blessed of God to have been a friend to John R. Rice. BUT….did you know that Brother Rice never
really felt the call to preach? He just started serving God and by God’s grace,
He used him in mighty ways. May I encourage you to read the life of John R.
Rice and if you have read about him, share it with someone else. Sheri had the privilege of visiting in his home and shared with her Dad and me that he and his wife lived very frugally. He was so gifted in writing, singing, and of course, preaching.
Brother Rice’s mom died when he was 9 years old and years
later he found out while reading a letter she had written to another relative of
theirs that his mom called him “her preacher boy.” When he read that, it did
something to him and a seed was planted in his mind to completely sell out to
God. May I say, “Don’t be fearful of encouraging your children to serve God in
ministry and when they ask you, tell them!” I am so thankful for the many young
people who have come through our Christian school and gone on to serve God as
missionaries, preachers, evangelist and other ministries. Every young person
who has come to me questioning the ministry, I have gladly said, “Just make
that first step and God will do the rest.”
It is called, “Serving Grace” folks and all of us can receive it as
freely as we did His Saving Grace.
Saul of Tarsus is such a good example of what God can do
with a Christian killing maniac! Read the account in Acts 9 of Saul who became converted
to do the impossible only because of God’s Amazing Saving, Serving Grace! Paul
and Brother Rice lived this “Serving Grace” and left us a legacy of truth
regarding grace. Everyone hated Paul and
couldn’t believe he was actually a born-again believer after the news of his
consenting to the deaths of many Christians. I would feel the same, wouldn’t
you? God granted him the grace to not be bitter as he traveled to face the
disbelieving Christians. They feared for their life when Paul was around.
Eventually, Paul’s reputation was better and by God’s grace, hundreds were saved through the ministry of Paul. My soul,
just think how much you and I have grown while reading the Epistles of Paul! So, maybe you are struggling with the thoughts
that you could never sing in the choir, or teach Sunday School like so and so,
or drive a bus or go soul winning. Yep, so did Paul with his thorn in the
flesh, but what did God say to him? “My grace is sufficient!”
Next time, I would like to encourage you on this road to
knowing God to consider other ways God offers to us believers His serving
grace. We have everything we need through
Jesus Christ our Lord!
Until next time, Lord willing...
Sharon
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