This morning we continue our series entitled, “Refined Focus”, with an emphasis on “Focusing on God’s Finished Work”. Yesterday I introduced you to five scriptures that I will teach from over the next few weeks. Before I do, I want you to read these scriptures again. Get them down in your heart. As you do, in today’s message I will provide a few more high-level thoughts concerning this topic.
Please read these scriptures carefully and prayerfully:
(Jer 1:5 KJV) Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
(Ps 139:16 MSG) Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.
(Isa 49:1 NLT) Listen to me, all you in distant lands! Pay attention, you who are far away! The LORD called me before my birth; from within the womb He called me by name.
(Gal 1:15,16 NLT) But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles.
(Eph 2:10 ERV) God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.
So what does this mean to you today? Two things.
1. God has already given you the grace to perform.
a) It would be unrighteous of a sovereign God to expect you to do something He has not equipped you to do. But our God is righteous and He equips us to do everything He expects us to do. As you get a hold of this concept in your heart, it will bring you peace and confidence. Every time God tells you to do something, no matter how BIG it may seem to you, the first thought that should cross your mind is: “The fact that God has called me to do this in proof that His grace is already IN me to perform it. God is not going to GIVE me the grace. He already did. I already have it. I can already do it. I must now rest in God’s finished work!”
b) God called you, equipped you, prepared you and prepared everything you would ever need to complete His divine assignment… before the world began.
c) God will only require OF you what He has already deposited IN you!
2. Along with the grace to perform, God has already given you the grace to overcome.
a) Not only did God grace you to PERFORM your divine assignment, but He also graced you to OVERCOME everything you would face along the way.
b) If you are facing it, then God trusts you with it. If we all have a breaking point (and I believe we do) and the Father will ensure that we are not pushed beyond it (and I believe He won’t), then we must start looking at challenges differently. We can find comfort in knowing that if we are facing a challenge, it is only because God has already equipped us to overcome it. If you did not have the grace for it, you would not be facing it. So if you are, then you can! If God allowed it to be in front of you, it is because He has already given you the grace to overcome it. Many times believers ask God for less challenge and what He does is respond with more grace. So face whatever you are facing head-on, in faith, with full confidence in God and rest in His finished work! (see 1 Cor 10:13).
Closing Confession: Father, this is a season of refined focus for me. I bring my life into focus in 2016. I choose to focus on Your grace. I choose to give my attention to Your finished work. When I am facing a challenge, meditating on Your grace frees me from stress, struggle and strain. There have been times when I asked You for LESS CHALLENGE and instead of reducing the challenge, you caused me to consider Your grace. So Father, I embrace Your grace, I become a conduit of Your power, I rest in Your ability, and I face every challenge head-on, in-faith, without a doubt, fully relying on Your supernatural power, because I know You have already given me the victory! I rest in Your finished work! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
