This morning we continue our series entitled, “Refined Focus”, with an emphasis on “Focusing on God’s Finished Work”. There is a clear relationship between God’s grace and our faith. Since I used salvation as an example yesterday, I will use it again. God provided the path to eternal life over 2,000 years ago. He did this through His own Son. He did this as an act of His will. He did this completely by grace. It was unearned, unmerited and arguably undeserved. While the offer for eternal life stands by grace, humans must accept the offer and receive it with their faith. Only those who actually call upon the name of the Lord are saved (Romans 10:13). Those of us who have believed on the Lord Jesus have received eternal life. We did not earn it, Jesus earned it for us. But we did have to believe for it. We had to make a decision. We had to accept, by faith, what God had already provided, by grace.
What is true for salvation is also true for our life’s assignment. After we come to God, we have the blessed opportunity to discover His assignment for our lives; an assignment He developed completely by grace. And our role is to then pursue it by faith. I will give you some examples of people who came to God and then accepted, by faith, the assignment God made for them from the foundations of the world, by grace.
So what does this mean to you today? Let’s see.
- God approached a man named Abram who was married to a lady named Sarai. He was 75, she was 65, and they were not able to have children. They lived in Ur of the Chaldeans as idol worshippers. God revealed to them that He had special plans for them. God told Abram that he would make his name great, He would bless anyone who blessed him, curse anyone who cursed him, and cause all the families of the earth to be blessed through him. This was all God’s idea. The entire thing was God’s plan. Abram and Sarai did nothing to earn it or work for it. It was an offer made completely by grace. Abram and Sarai accepted the offer by faith and they launched out into a new life. They made their share of mistakes along the way, but in the end, Abraham and Sarah used their faith to access God’s grace and we are still talking about them today. Not because they came up with a special plan. Not because they were so smart that they mapped out their life’s success. But because they submitted to God’s plans and used their faith to access God’s grace. Abraham and Sarah are clearly a grace case.
- David was the 8th and youngest son in his household. He was charged with tending to his father’s sheep. He spent countless days out in the fields with no one around. It was just David and his sheep. One time he had to fight of a bear with his bare hands. Another time he fought off a lion. He was just a teenager while he was having these experiences out in the fields with his sheep. I am sure he thought no one was watching, but God was. One day David was called out of the fields. When he entered his home his father was there, his seven brothers were there, and there was a stranger in the house. He was prophet, sent by God, to anoint David to the next king of Israel. This was not David’s plan. This was not David’s idea. I am sure this is ‘above and beyond’ anything David would have ever imagined for his life. But it was what God imagined and David submitted to it. David spent 13 years of life on the run before he would assume the throne. But in the end, King David ruled Israel because he had the faith to accept and access God’s grace. David could have pursued life on his own, but he chose to accept God’s plans. David is a grace case.
I thought I was going to give you more examples, but I feel led to stop here for today. Tomorrow I will give you more grace cases. My point should be clear: God already made plans for you. He made those plans by grace. Your part is to receive, believe and pursue God’s plans with your faith. When your faith accesses God’s grace you wind up becoming the person God planned you to be, from the foundations of the world.
Closing Confession: Father, this is a season of refined focus for me. I bring my life into focus in 2016. I have believed on the Lord Jesus. I have made the decision to acknowledge You as my Lord, my God, my King and my heavenly Father. I submit to You in all ways. As I walk with You, You reveal the plans You made for me before the world began. As You do, I am quick to repent in the areas where my plans don’t align with Your plans. I accept, believe and pursue Your plans by faith. I declare that my faith accesses Your grace and I become the person I was born to be. Living this way, You get to live through me, and leave a mark in this world that will not easily be erased! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
