If you could ask God for anything, what would it be? Are you normally asking the Lord for material things, or are you usually requesting spiritual things? If spiritual, then what spiritual things do you ask Him for most often? One of the most needed and probably the most frequent spiritual requests we beg God for is grace. "God give me the grace to do this, give me the grace to get through this trial; God give me the grace to cope; God give me grace to put up with my husband; Give me the grace to deal patiently with my children; God give me the grace to....” Grace is a profitable thing to ask for, amen?
Grace empowers men for service as seen in the example of Paul in 1 Cor. 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.
Grace is sufficient for all human needs as seen in 2 Cor.12:9:
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Grace is the source of power as seen in 2 Tim. 2:1:
Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Salvation is by grace as seen in Ephesians 2:8:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.
No doubt about it, the call for grace is an excellent appeal!! It is an essential ingredient to living a triumphant Christian life. No wonder we petition our heavenly Father for it over and over again. We request it of Him because we realize that God alone is the giver of grace. It is a well that never runs dry with our Lord…
James 4:6a (KJV)
But he giveth more grace…
Now, I have a question to ask each of you ladies today... Just because God is the giver of grace, and just because He giveth MORE grace – does that automatically mean we are the "getters" of it? He gives, we get? In other words, who gets God's grace - anyone that asks for it?? Let's look for the answer in the second half of James 4:6 which says:
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Often times we wonder why God doesn't give some people what they ask for. But considering how desirable grace is, why wouldn't the Lord grant it whenever somebody asks for it? When does He give grace? Who gets it?
Grace is promised when we are H-U-M-B-L-E! Not only do the humble get grace, the Bible says they get MORE grace! Now that’s exciting!
So then, how much grace have you been getting these days, dear lady? Are you humble today? Were you humble yesterday? Will you be humble tomorrow? Without humility, we aren’t getting one drop of grace from God! Now that scares me! I NEED grace, don't you? What must we do then? How can we guarantee that we’ll be "getters" of God’s grace???
We have learned from James that God strictly opposes the proud and liberally awards the humble in heart. He withholds grace from the one yet grants it to the other. Ladies, any pride we possess should tremble at this truth! The thought of God opposing me raises fearfulness in my spirit. How about you? And so, we must willfully seek God’s favor…. Fortunately, we find the steps to acquiring grace in James 4:7-10:
1) "Submit yourselves therefore to God."
2) "Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
3) "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you."
4) "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners."
5) "Purify your hearts, ye double minded."
6) "Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep."
7) "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift
you up."
All throughout scripture it is clear that our God is a God of order. Therefore,
I believe then that the Lord put these steps to getting His grace in perfect
order in His Word. Over the next few days we will take a look at each
of these steps to getting God's grace. We'll begin of course, with step
one today…
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
The Lord used this verse to convict me during one preaching service. As a matter of fact, He told me to bookmark this verse and said, "I want to talk to you some more about this when we get home!" Ever had that happen to you in church? A verse during the message pricks your heart and you just know you have to study it out at home because there is more God wants you to get from it? Well, that's precisely how this study began and now I am sharing with you what the Lord taught me…
God showed me that I am always asking Him for His grace to deal suitably with various persons, to adequately manage the different seasons of my life, and confidently face the range of issues that come up from day to day. Oh sure, I WANT God’s grace and no doubt about it; He certainly WANTS to give it to me! So what's the problem then?? ME! The Bible says I have to submit myself to God! I have been guilty of skipping step one and jumping instead on down to step three - an easier step for me. I’d rather just draw nigh to God, but that is nothing more than religion. Anybody can draw nigh to God; anybody can TRY to get close to the Lord. But not without taking the proper steps in order we can't! I've even skipped on down to step four in the list above and cleansed my hands of the sinful things that I used to do, yet what good is all that if I haven't first submitted myself to God?? Doing things my way is not going to get me any grace…
You know what I realized from this verse, ladies? That God wants to give me grace but He wants to put it in my container already labeled and filled with "PAM'S PRIDE". We can't have one container labeled "PRIDE" sitting on the shelf of our hearts, and just expect God to fill up another container and label it "GRACE" and stick it on the shelf right next to our "PRIDE". No, instead He tells us to pour out all our pride so He can fill THAT specific container up with His grace! We can't submit to God and have our pride at the same time! Not if we are seriously looking for grace from Him… The two cannot dwell side by side.
The plain and simple reason I don't get grace is because I don't submit myself to GOD. In other words, I don’t submit my will to His will before I try to do anything else. For example, think about how ridiculous it must sound for married women to pray for grace to submit to their imperfect husbands when we haven't first submitted to God! The Lord says to me, "Pam, I'd really like to help you submit to Paul, but you have neglected to surrender yourself to me. I can't fill you up with My grace until you dump out every last drop of your pride!" No wonder I don’t contain the grace necessary to submit to my husband properly! I haven't wholly given myself to God…
Proverbs 29:23 (KJV)
A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble
in spirit.
Yes, step one is submission to God. Have you really taken that step yet? Have you truly yielded yourself entirely to the Lord? If you have, you would have tasted of His grace when faced with struggling to submit to your husband, or any other authority in your life for that matter. Ladies, my pride doesn't want to submit to my husband, but God's grace does! I think any woman would find submission is not such a dirty word when God's grace fills their hearts! Grace is not something we can go to Walmart and purchase; it's not an item we'll find on the shelf in aisle 7. It is initiated through first submitting ourselves to God. If you're serious about receiving God's grace in order to thrive as a Christian, and to finish your race and glorify God, you'll have to take this first step! The Giver of grace does not allow any skipping of steps! God is not going to submit to our will; we are to submit to His.
Perhaps like me, you need to start over with step one. Do you need to go back to the beginning and get it right with the Lord in your heart? When is the last time your husband and/or children witnessed the beauty of God's grace in your life, witnessed a submissive spirit in the lady of the house? How has pride been showing up on the scene in your home? How has pride been manifesting itself in your conduct outside of your home? Be honest with yourself; you can tell when you've grown to be prideful! What sinful actions or attitudes do you need to confess to God today in order to invite more humility into your life and the life of those around you? Ladies, through confession we can regularly empty the prideful content of our hearts. Most of us mistakenly think that God wants only perfection of us, but in reality, He desires that we have a submissive spirit toward Him most of all. Why do we hesitate to give our lives to God when it makes it so much easier to take the next step in growing in grace??
Your assignment before tomorrow is to get yourself ready to take that next step to being a recipient of Heaven’s charm by submitting to God today! It's step one to getting grace...and then more grace...and then more grace...and then more grace! No telling what we'll be able to do for God with all that grace, amen? \O/
The Bible says, "My grace IS sufficient for thee." We need nothing more. I've seen how insufficient my pride is - perhaps you've noticed that about yours too. Pride meets life with the spirit of the flesh; grace meets life with the Spirit of God. Pride gets me absolutely nowhere but in trouble with God and man! Let thy grace be sufficient for me, Lord! I submit myself to you!
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000 Pamela A. Iannello
Revised 2004
