COVENANT OF INFINITE GRACE (B)

At the beginning of every year, a lot of people set new year resolutions for themselves but before the end of January, many would have defaulted. This is because by strength shall no man prevail, but by grace. This is where a lot of holiness teachers miss it, they end up enumerating the ‘dos’ and the ‘donts’, self rule-keeping and once it gets to that stage it becomes carnal. That also, is an error. If we can obtain righteousness by our self rule-keeping, then, there would not have been any need for God to send his Son to die for us. We must therefore avoid legalism.

Jesus Christ has died on the cross, all we need do is appropriate his finished work and then receive our righteousness which is called imputed righteousness. There is imputed righteousness and there is imparted righteousness. As we continue to connect, God imparts the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ as our righteousness by faith in the finished work on mount Calvary.

Psa. 103:1-5, “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

Here we see the celebration of the grace of God; the practical demonstration of the grace of God in what he does for us, the Psalmist needed to say, thank you. What you celebrate is what gets magnified in your life. The Psalmist was a consummate worshipper and that was why he saw grace in the Old Testament. He was not a perfect man but he was a worshipper who reverenced God and God blessed him so much that he did not lose in any battle. He was a consummate worshipper; ten times a day he went to the temple and seven out of those ten times, he worshipped God. David was the great Psalmist of Israel.

We must get the issue of worship right. You need not teach grace to a worshipper. If you teach grace before making someone a worshipper, the person may think that grace is license to sin. That is the problem today, grace has been presented as license to live anyhow. It does not matter how you live; once saved, grace covers you, they say. This is not true!

Psa. 103 depicts practical demonstration of grace in our everyday life. Grace flows from the benevolence of God; our heavenly Father is a benevolent God. Whenever we mess up he forgives our iniquities if we repent. It is by his grace that we are not consumed despite our iniquities. He heals all our diseases. God satisfies us with good things.

John 1:16 says “From the fullness of his grace, we have all received one blessing after another” (NIV).

PRAYER

• Lord, it is from the fullness of your grace that I have received every blessing that you have given me. I appreciate and celebrate your grace. Thank you so much. I give you honour and praise. May your name be magnified. May your name be hallowed. May your name be exalted. May your name be praised.
• Thank you for your faithfulness; thank you for sustaining me by your grace. Thank you for the finished work of your Son on the cross at Calvary. Thank you for the greatest display of your grace at the cross.
• Thank you for the gift of salvation, the greatest miracle in the whole universe. Blessed be your precious name. I give you all the glory. I appreciate, bless and magnify your name. Thank you for your wisdom which has made your grace possible in every facet of our lives. May your name be praised in Jesus’ name.

Anything God has, he has in infinity raised to power infinity over zero. That is why we cannot liquidate anything that God has to give; we can’t liquidate God. His grace is continually sufficient for us and it continues to flow because it is self-generating and self perpetuating. That is the God we serve! He is the inexhaustible source of every good thing. All good and perfect gifts come from the Father of light from whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning (James 1:17). From his benevolence, grace continues to flow infinitely. God’s grace is to overflow dimensions for those who connect and celebrate him.

TO BE CONTINUED……