Living Grace

“After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” – 1 Kings 19:12

What does God have to do to get our attention?

This fascinating passage from the life of Elijah certainly speaks volumes into our perspective of the workings of God.  Elijah fleeing from the threats of death on his life seeks refuge in the safety of the wilderness, but God tells him to go to the mountain. And there on the mountain, God sends the wind, an earthquake and fire but that was just a prelude, God actually revealed himself in the silence of a whisper.

We may flee to the wilderness but God calls us to the mountain, for it is at the mountain where provision is found. The wilderness is full of wandering, crying out and waiting, but the mountain is the place of revelation, and in Elijah’s experience commission.

The mountain was Mount Sinai, the birth place of the Old Covenant, the place where Moses met God.  This mountain was the revelation of God’s Covenant with his people, and with his prophet Elijah.  But now for us the mountain in the New Covenant is Jesus Christ. All our life is found in the finished work of the Cross, when we come to Christ we rest in his revelation alive inside us.

And how does that revelation come?

It comes in the intimacy of our relationship with Christ, not in loud noise, earth shattering events or seeking words that tickle our ears but listening to that quiet whisper of love which motivates us to trust.

Elijah had to learn the hard way, he didn’t have Christ living inside him, he only partially knew the presence of God, but we who are born into the glory of God have the Holy Spirit interceding for us, speaking to us and alive within us.

Today, take time and cultivate listening to the whisper of God, it is more real and more powerful than any external source and it will bring you into a deeper, closer, more intimate relationship with God.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have whatever we asked of him.” – 1 John 5:14-15.

In Jesus Christ we are now the child God created us to be. His call to us from before time was to enter into all He planned and purposed for us. His will for us was birthed in Jesus Christ, formed in Christ, provided and given to us in His finished work. The cross was and is the declaration of God’s will to all who desire to listen.

Our confidence is now rooted and grounded in the finished work of Christ. It is not based upon our performance, effort and work. We can now be fully persuaded of God’s goodness towards us, in the fulfilment of all His promises through Christ.

And because our confidence is based on the finished work of Christ, we know that whatever we ask of him, he has already provided and given to us. For today, in Christ, we live in the day of answered prayer, the season of Christ’s eternal harvest, the time of the Lord’s everlasting favour.

You can be certain that God hears you, responds to you and gives you all the abundance of heaven through Christ.

Today is a day of anticipation and expectation.  You can anticipate goodness and unfailing love dwelling in you and flowing from you and you can expect the favour of God to shower his blessings on you and on everything you touch.

Let your whispers to your Father be filled with confidence and trust in all Christ has accomplished for you at the Cross. For you live in a day of answered prayer.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving” – Colossians 4:2

Grace at its deepest root means joy or rejoicing, and God accepts us into his arms and rejoices over us forever! Within us is a deep, deep well of living water formed from droplets of thanksgiving.

God has committed himself to you, He delights in you with gladness and is happy with you. He will never cut you off from him, leave you, reject you, abandon you or leave you alone to fend on your own. He is here inside you and He delights in you.

Jesus’ perfect work of grace has brought you into the relationship you always longed for, always wanted. In Christ, you have unconditional love, acceptance and intimate satisfaction.

Therefore, the pure satisfaction of our hearts united with Christ is an overflow of delight, vocalised with declarations of praise.  For thanksgiving is the voice of faith.

You were created for intimacy with God, to look in wonder at his wonderful provision, to touch the velvet skin of creation, to smell the perfumed fragrance around you, to hear the glorious sounds and to taste the delicious, healthy delights given to you. Everything God created was to fill your heart with delight and share with him his goodness,  that overflowed in a song of thanksgiving.

The essence of prayer is intimacy, the overflow of prayer is love and these are made beautiful with a heart of adoration.  Knowing all Christ has provided for us, experiencing his goodness in our life, is the way we cement ourselves into our abundant life.

Let thanksgiving be always in your heart and on your lips, for every word of thanksgiving confirms faith and realises the promises of God in you.

Now when all the people were baptised, and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.'”
Luke 3:21-22

The truth is that delighting in the Lord is important. Delight is at the core of our very existence. The infinite delight of God the Father in his only-begotten son, is an infinite delight in every member of Christ’s spiritual body. For when God accepted Christ my head, he accepted me and when he praised and glorified my head, he made me a partaker of that glory through Christ’s finished work at the cross.

It’s very easy to believe that if I feel and experience something then and only then does it become good, but the truth of the power of Christ’s resurrection is the indwelling power to become flooded with the delight by the assurance that I am accepted, beloved, and delighted in by God.

The evidence is there for me to reach out and take.  The resurrection power of Christ in me will make my heart dance for joy as I see myself in Christ fully pardoned, justified, and accepted into the Father’s heart.

Delighting in God is the overwhelming knowing and confidence that my relationship with God is rooted and grounded in the Father’s overwhelming delight and acceptance of his son, “’You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.'”

“Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, who is greater than I am.”  John 14:28

If you can embrace the truth of your union with Christ, you will begin to see life from a completely new perspective.  It is challenging, but the reward is a total liberation into the grace of God.

One of the traps that the world tries, with great success, is to make us believe that we are separated from the power of almighty God and if we are separated then we are alone and powerless.  We start to believe in a distant God who only shows up and acts in our lives when we cry out, pray and need him.

Our perception of God is often dependent on how we feel and experience his presence.

You as a believer in Christ are entwined and united into the glorious God who has created the universe. Every spiritual gift, blessing and ability has been made available to you and the infinite power of God dwells inside you. You have been made a New Creation in Christ, you are living in a place where there are no limitations, time does not exist, a place of no worries, no fears, a place where you are no longer a singular identity, because you are connected with God and Christ in his fullness lives inside of you.

Your true essence is that God, who is greater than you, now lives inside you and you in Christ have become a child of God. Acknowledge and embrace God’s greatness, feast on God’s greatness, let His greatness permeate and immerse your identity and let his power flow out of your life.