Today we continue our series entitled, “Pursuing Grace-Based Success!”
Here are our foundational scriptures:
(Ephesians 2:8-10 ERV)
8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.
9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about.
10 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.
(1 Corinthians 1:30,31 NLT)
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”
(2 Timothy 1:9 NKJV)
Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
For the past couple of weeks, we have been discussing “Entering Into God’s rest” from Hebrews 4:1-11. We worked our way through the entire passage. Now I feel led to give you some general thoughts about resting in God and how critical this is for your overall success in life.
So what does this mean for you today? Let’s see.
1. Making peace with God comes as a result of accepting Jesus as Lord and receiving the forgiveness of sin. You can make peace with God and not have the peace of God. There is a peace we can receive from God that far surpasses human understanding, reasoning, or explanation. The peace of God is amazing, and it is available for every believer (see Phil 4:6,7). Without this peace, it will be hard for you to become the man/woman God has called you to be becuase it is challenging to hear God’s voice when you have no peace. This is why the devil tries so hard to strip you of it. If he can cause you to lose your peace, you may lose your joy and your ability to hear from God. At that point, you are susceptible to his attacks, and he can derail you from your destiny.
2. The same God who made a way for us to be saved (from sin and death) by grace (free and unmerited), made a way for us to succeed in life, also by grace (free and unmerited). We used our faith to access God’s grace for eternal salvation. In the same way, God expects us to use our faith to access His grace for earthly success. Just about everything we do in the Kingdom of God is by God’s grace, accessed with our faith. Having a functional understanding of faith and how it can only be activated where God’s grace has already been released is key and central to walking with God.
3. We get to choose what we do with our cares. We can carry them around and allow them to burden us, like we were accustomed to prior to coming to Christ, or we can CAST them over to God. The Father is ready, willing, and able to receive the cares we cast over to Him because He cares for us. So be a care-caster, not a care-carrier! (see 1st Peter 5:7). If you get boggled down with the cares of this world, it will be difficult for you to become the success God sent you to this planet to be. Said another way, it is hard to live focused on your divine purpose if your heart is full of care, worrying about things that were designed to distract you and ultimately derail you from your destiny.
4. While it is possible to do so, the Father does not want us to become weary in doing what is right. If we become weary, we will lose the grip we have on our faith. If not corrected, we will experience what I call a faith failure. This is what happens when you get so frustrated while you are waiting on God that you give up on what He promised. However, if we hold on, remain steadfast, maintain our hope, and remain confident, in due season (which means that there is a season when our breakthrough is DUE), we will reap the harvest God promised (see Gal 6:9). When God speaks a Word over our lives, and we believe it, knowing it is only a matter of time before we see (in our hands) what we have seen (in our hearts), the only way we can lose is if we quit. This is why satan tries so hard to get us to become WEARY in well-doing. If you get WEARY and we quit, satan did not stop you. YOU STOPPED YOU by giving up before your breakthrough came. So to become a success in God, you must add patience to your faith. It is through faith and patience that we inherit the promises of God (Hebrews 6:12).
5. The Father offers us a Great Exchange. He is willing to exchange our weariness for His rest. Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” What a great deal! We bring him our heavy burdens, and He is willing to do a one-for-one exchange with them for His rest. You won’t find a better deal anywhere (see Mat 11:28-30). If you want to become a success in God’s eyes, you will have to make this exchange many times during your lifetime. Whenever you get burdened down with anything, you catch yourself, you give those burdens to God, and He will give you rest!
6. You can’t be in-trust or in-faith and in-worry at the same time. If you are worrying, it is an indication that you don’t trust God. But if you fully trust Him, there is a perfect peace – actually written in scripture as “peace peace” – available for you (see Isa 26:3). You need this peace-peace to walk with God for the long haul. If you want to arrive at God’s overall expected end for your life and get OUT of you everything God deposited IN you along the way, you will need to trust God and enjoy His peace.
7. Get good sleep! The Word says that it is vain to get up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows because you can’t sleep because the Lord gives His beloved sleep. Stop letting worry rob you of the rest the Father wants you to have (see Ps 127:2). Walking with God is a marathon and not a sprint. Therefore, you will need sufficient sleep and rest along the way.
8. Have fun! If you are miserable all day, you will likely be the same at night. Don’t live a miserable life. You can be saved and still be miserable. But you can also Enjoy your life in Christ and have FUN! The choice is yours. Solomon said, “A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” If you have fun during the day, you will be more apt to be at peace as you dose off into sleep. This way, you can enjoy the sweet sleep the Father talks about (see Prov 17:22). Maintain the right disposition. It will help you walk with God for the long haul.
9. If you are going to do all the work and rely on your human strength and ability, you are blocking God out of your life, and He will stand by and rest while you work. But if you embrace the grace of God and take God up on His offer to enter into divine rest (see Heb 4), then God will perform the work in and through your life. God will work through you to do what you could never do on your own. Simply put: If you do all the work, then God will rest, but if you enter into divine rest, God will work [through you]. Which will you choose today?
That’s enough for today. I will flow in this same vein tomorrow.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me about grace-based success.
I received Your grace for eternal salvation. I accessed it with my faith, and I am now saved. I also receive Your grace for earthly success. I access it with my faith and trust that I will succeed in life as I die to self and allow You to live through me.
I take You up on your offer for divine rest, and I do this every day. I release the pain, bitterness, resentment, and stress that harboring negative energy from my past has caused, and I am ready to make the Great Exchange. I take off all the negative yokes I have carried in the past, and I decide to only put on one yoke from this day forward for the rest of my life. That yoke is Your yoke. Your yoke is easy, and Your burden is light.
I yoke up with You, and as I do, You partner with me so that I don’t have to attempt to do life on my own. You share the load, and Your presence helps take the pressure off me.
I am confident I will maximize my purpose and potential before I die because I won’t be the one doing all the work. The days of me working while You are resting in my life are over. I will now rest and allow You to work through me. I am excited about it! GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
