The grace of God is multifaceted but we will just focus on one face. Simply put, God’s grace are gifts we receive from God: spiritual gifts that enable us to possess certain God-like qualities. For example, the ability to remain calm and unirritated in the face of difficult people and to respond with kindness and genuine compassion is a gift from God. This kind of response is not natural to any human heart. I don’t know if I need to spend much time trying to prove this, but it really is. Just think of how rare that type of response is among our fellow humans. A few people do naturally have higher levels of endurance, but are not our innate strengths gifts from God as well? Truly, any good character quality or action does not naturally arise from our human heart, but is a divine enablement: an undeserved gift from God. If we are to become more and more like God and effectively do his will, we need as many gifts as we possibly can get! The first step, of course – as always – is to realize and admit that we are in deep need of his grace. Secondly, we must earnestly seek for his grace moment by moment. 

Christian, you need the Gospel. Do you think you are okay today? Are you all set? In what ways, specifically, are you not like Jesus? Are you kind to every person you can come into contact with? Are you more focused on yourself instead of the needs of others – your wife, your kids, your neighbor or coworkers? Are you deeply concerned about those around you who don’t know Christ? Are you ashamed of the Gospel? How often do you cross paths with people and not give glory to God or preach his Gospel? Do you carry a spirit of gratitude and contentment or are you weighed down with depression, anxiety, complaints and murmuring? Are you self-disciplined in your appetites and activities? What is your singular focus in life – is it heavenly things or earthly things? Are you bitter towards anyone? Are you harboring resentment towards anyone or for something that happened in the past? Are you angry with God or in awe of him? Are you watching things on the internet you shouldn’t be? Do you have any besetting sin? How are you falling short of the glory and goodness of God? If you’re not sure about your weakness, then maybe your struggle is with pride? Ask the people that know you the best, “What is my weakness?”

When you first came to God for salvation you had nothing to offer him except your sin. Nothing has changed in this regard. You still have nothing of value to offer God to earn his favor except your repentance. Once you realize this just simply tell him how busted up you are. Name your sin and the gift that you need. “God, I don’t deserve it, but I need patience. I need love. I need boldness. I need a spiritual mindset. I need kindness. I need joy and contentment. I need the right priorities . . . and God, you are the only one who can give me these abilities, because Jesus died for my inadequacies so that those parts of me might die and only Jesus rose from the dead, being the only one able to create in me these fresh, beautiful, powerful, Godlike qualities.”

In asking for such precious gifts, you must ask for the right reason. James 4:3, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” We’re not fooling God. He knows our true motivation. It must be pure. These gifts are not for our glory or pleasure, they are for the glory and pleasure of God, that his will would be done in the earth. Sure, when we do his will, most often we find ourselves with peace, contentment and joy, but our main desire must be that we please him and serve others well. So, when you begin to experience your relationships being handled in a supernaturally different way, verbally give God praise right then and there and then afterwards as many times as you have opportunity. When you achieve success through God’s grace in the areas that you failed repeatedly for years and years and years give God joyful praise and thanksgiving.

Thankfully, James also tells us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you (James 1:5).” No one is more ready and prepared to give you a gift than God. We can go to him boldly, as the scriptures say, in prayer. Any grace that you ask for is certainly praying according to the will of God, which gives us confidence that he will grant that request. What are you waiting for? Go now and receive from our heavenly father the good things you need to be more like him in the earth that you live in. 

Why did God set things up this way? Doesn’t it seem like a strange operation – we have to come to God to receive the ability to live in a way that is truly righteous? Why can’t we just do it on our own? Well, first of all, we can’t. It’s that simple. Furthermore, if we could, who would get the glory and praise? O, you know we definitely would take as much of it as possible! The reality is that there is only One Man who is worthy of it all – the Lord Jesus Christ. All things considered, is yucky when man receives high praise, because we all know that no man is an island, and every man has great faults that others don’t know about. However, it is soo fitting that Jesus receives all and the highest praise. He is the Almighty One (Heaven’s eternal adoration) who willingly and humbly left heaven in great condescension; who took off the garment of infinity and wrapped himself in restrictive human flesh; who suffered and died the most horrific, shameful, brutal, unrighteous, substitutionary death ever; who, by his own power and virtue, raised himself from the dead and was exalted back to the highest throne! What have we done that can even begin to compare?

May the Lord receive his fitting glory from you today. What an honor, that our sins would expose his generosity and power, which as a result we benefit from!!!