For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11.
He preordained us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. Ephesians 1:5-7.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Grace and glory I bestow. Where grace is, you will find glory and every good thing and perfect gift. Grace makes your life beautiful if you will reach out and take it by faith. Let everything in your life be grace—speak in grace, think in grace, and live by grace—and then grace will make your life beautiful, the most beautiful life ever lived.
Today in our series on the surpassing riches of grace we reach Life Lesson No. 5: “Grace Makes Your Life Beautiful.” Without grace your life will be filled with darkness, remorse, bitterness, shame, blame, strife, fear, unforgiveness, emptiness, pain, malice, self-ambition, and pride. But with grace you will have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, because grace opens to you My Kingdom and the floodgates of Heaven.
And I, being rich in mercy, because of My great love with which I love you, even when you were dead in your transgressions, made you alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised you up with Him, and seated you with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come I might show the surpassing riches of My grace in kindness toward you in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7. Grace is not just for this life you are living upon the earth now, but for all the ages to come in My eternal Kingdom. For I am compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth. And I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. That is My Name, Yahweh (יהוה), the One who is, who was, and who is to come. And I am so filled with grace towards you that My gracious Word took flesh and dwelt among you and you have seen His GLORY and of His fullness you have all received, grace on top of grace. He is overflowing with grace and truth.
I give grace and glory to you freely in My gift to you of Christ Jesus your Lord and through Him and with Him I give you the gift of the Holy Spirit who bestows grace gifts and endowments upon you for the benefit of all, making you good stewards of My manifold grace. For My grace has appeared in Jesus, bringing salvation to all men, instructing you to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, for Jesus is your Teacher, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for you to redeem you from every lawless deed, and to purify for Me a people for My own possession, zealous for good deeds to the praise of the glory of My grace. Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 1:6. Grace instructs you how to have a beautiful gracious life filled with good days and the pursuit of peace from lips without deceit. Psalm 34:12-13; 1 Peter 3:10.
And My grace gift of the Holy Spirit makes you beautiful. For when My kindness and love for you appeared in Jesus, whom I sent as your Savior, I saved you, not on the basis of deeds which you have done in righteousness, but according to My mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom I poured out upon you richly through Jesus Christ your Savior, so that being justified by My grace you would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Speak confidently concerning these things so that those who have believed in Jesus will be careful to engage in good deeds. Titus 3:4-8. My grace, lavished upon you in the gift of the Holy Spirit, leads you in a life of good deeds that I prepared for you, by My grace, in advance that you might enjoy them. Ephesians 2:10, Romans 8:14. My grace has not just welcomed you back to Me as servants but as sons, like the story of the prodigal son. And a son has a place in My house forever. And in My house it is beautiful and you can begin dwelling there now. Psalm 23:6; Psalm 36:7-9; Psalm 84:4. David sang, and you should join him if you are wise, “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and inquire of Him in His temple. Psalm 27:4. And how do you dwell there? By My grace.
It is not enough just to believe in Me that I exist as your creator and God, the demons believe that and tremble in fear of Me, you must believe in and live in and enjoy My grace to have the life I created you to live with Me. Grace makes it and faith takes it. You have My grace as a free gift to you, it is now up to you to take it by faith. And faith takes by speaking My Word, honoring My Word, and acting accordingly. And faith comes by hearing, and hearing My Word of Christ, and that is the Word of grace. My servant Paul said he taught the gospel of grace, but what did he teach? He taught the good news of Jesus everywhere he went. Jesus is grace incarnate offering salvation to all and teaching you to live godly, beautiful lives filled with good works. And many times those works come through the miracles, signs and wonders that follow and confirm the preaching, teaching, reading, and sharing of My Word.
So how do you live grace? First, you listen to My gracious Words of forgiveness, salvation, love, redemption, sanctification, and glorification in Jesus. And you receive and believe those gracious Words. You must receive Jesus as your Lord to be in the grace in which you now can stand by faith. For to be there you must be justified and have your sins washed away by the blood of the Lamb.
Next, you must speak words of grace, that is, gracious words that edify, not words of gossip, anxiety, fear, stress, condemnation, and impurity. Let no unwholesome, evil, impure word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as I in Christ also have forgiven you (by the Blood). Ephesians 4:29-32.
Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. Colossians 4:6.
Jesus spoke with grace, that is, He spoke gracious words. When He spoke in the synagogue at Nazareth, all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips (but they were also questioning how this could be, saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”). Luke 4:22. He exhorted those who were sinning but it was always with grace that He spoke giving the opportunity to repent and return to Me in the beauty of forgiveness and holiness restored. And His gracious Words healed and delivered. Imitate Him as My dear children and walk in love, and grace is My lovingkindness appearing to all men bringing salvation and the knowledge of the truth. Jesus was full of grace and truth. Grace, truth, and glory come together and the manifestation of My mercy, compassion, and great love. Grace gives you skill, ability, and the power to live a good life filled with the beauty of holiness.
You also have to speak grace into your life. Do you remember when I inspired Cyrus, king of Persia, and later Darius, to send the exiles from Jerusalem back to rebuild the ruined temple that was built as My house to dwell among them by Solomon? I funded it by pagan funds and told them to take courage and work! But they became discouraged at the work and the opposition from the neighboring enemies and went to building their own houses and ignoring Mine. But I sent prophets to encourage them and get them back on track at building My house. At the time that Darius was reigning, Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah (a descendant of David) and Joshua was the High Priest. I sent Zechariah to give Zerubbabel My Word, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the cornerstone, the first stone, with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’ Zechariah 4:6-7. And I said more, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it.” Do not despise the day of small things when My eyes are upon it to see it through. Zechariah 4:9-10.
When he laid the first and chief cornerstone of the project I told him to do so with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” You must begin everything in your life on grace, you must build on it with grace, you must continue to build with the help of My grace. Declare grace over your life! Declare My favor! It is all about grace because it is all about My love and My divine life in you making you powerful by My Spirit in you quickening your mortal body, which is now My house and a temple of the Holy Spirit. Not by man’s might nor power but by My Spirit and the gifts of grace, the endowments of skill and ability, that He gives for the benefit of all by your stewardship of My manifold grace in your life. And My Spirit guides you to all truth and leads you in the way you should go. Sit down with Me and let My Spirit show you the plans for your building project for the Kingdom and do not despise small beginnings. Coming to Jesus as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is chosen and precious in My sight, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Me through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5.
Speak with grace, think with grace, and live in grace. We just discussed speaking with grace. How do you think with grace? You focus on gracious thoughts: whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, ponder these things. Philippians 4:8. And you cast down all other imaginations and take every thought captive in obedience in Christ. You can only speak with grace if you are filled with grace, for you speak from your heart’s abundance. Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, while the lips of a fool consume him. Ecclesiastes 10:12.
But above all focus on that you are loved, forgiven, blessed and healed by the One who created you, blessed you, planned you, sustains you, died for you that you might live forever with Him, removed all your sins, and made you holy, blameless and beyond reproach. Your sins are gone, gone, GONE, and your sickness and pain is gone, gone, GONE! Remember who bore them and set you free and in the midst of any trial that comes against you remember My grace—ponder it, speak it, and enjoy the manifestation of My goodness till it overflows. Praise and thanksgiving make My grace flow in ever increasing measure. Nothing is too hard for Me. My grace is sufficient for you. Shaddai.
When My grace appeared He offered salvation to all people. It is by grace you are saved through faith. You are saved by Me from the wages of sin, eternal death, sickness, pain and poverty, and you take this by thanksgiving and praise. And just to know what is yours by grace should make your heart sing, and a cheerful, confident heart is the best medicine of all. I clothe you in Christ and He is beautiful, fairer than all men. “Let them praise His name with dancing; let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre. For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.” Psalm 149:3-4. Yes, it is so. I clothe you in the garments of salvation (Yeshuah) and wrap you in the robe of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). And how do you receive that? “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10.
I love you. Grace makes your life beautiful if you will take it by faith. Come with confidence to My throne of grace and receive mercy and find grace just when you need it. Those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through Christ Jesus, and if you are reigning, sin, sickness, pain, lack and death are NOT reigning over you. You belong to another Kingdom, the Kingdom of grace.