Experiencing the God Who bestows Grace

¡§From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.¡¨ (John 1:16)

Thank God! Those of us who are in Jesus Christ can continually enjoy and experience the myriad bountiful blessings of God. These blessings are freely bestowed by the Lord as His grace, an endowment through being selected and loved by God. Simply put, we rely on the blessings conferred by God to live and grow.

Paul himself had experienced deeply the grace given by God. He said, ¡§The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.¡¨ (1 Timothy 1:14) In the 13 letters written by him, including epistles to churches and individuals, the opening salutations and concluding greetings all bring people into the grace. The opening salutation is often ¡§May grace be to you¡¨. The concluding greeting would be ¡§May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you¡¨. Paul knows clearly that we cannot lack God¡¦s grace. Through Jesus Christ, ¡§we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand¡¨ (Romans 5:2), and also continue to be dependent upon the grace of God to live.

In the past 2 weeks, my family had in fact experienced the compassionate grace of God. I am prepared to share the account with everyone here. A week or two before our church commenced the pre-loading work at the new property, the weather was very hot. My wife and I were rather worried, because our residence is very close to the building site. We were concerned that during construction, the trucks going back and forth and dumping the river sand would create a lot of dust. On the one hand, the dust clouds and noise would oblige us to close the windows. On the other, a stifling heat would require that they be opened. We would be put into a dilemma. We were also worried that the polluted air would cause Timothy¡¦s asthma to act up again. But the Lord¡¦s work is amazing beyond our supplication. One day before the pre-loading was to start, there was a heavy downpour. The rain not only washed away the heat of the past few weeks, it also moistened the earth so that any dust clouds due to excavation were greatly reduced. Not only that, in the two-week work period, a drizzle kept falling, so that there were no dust plumes when the sand was dumped. As well, we did not feel stuffy inside the house. This was a miraculous experience for us. It truly was the compassionate grace of God. He listened to the prayers of the brothers and sisters and changed the weather, so that the things we of little faith were afraid of were removed, putting in it¡¦s place His silent providence, and conveying to us the blessing of solicitude.

Dear brothers and sisters, have you fallen into hard times and feel that there is no aid anywhere? I suggest that there are at least 2 things you can do: 1. Through prayers, relay your problems to the Heavenly Father, because the word of the Lord instructs us: ¡§Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.¡¨ (Hebrews 4:16) 2. Find one or two close friends who are in Christ and share with them your present difficulties, so that they can help you bear the heavy burden, and pray for you. ¡§Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.¡¨ (James 5:16) God has not forgotten us. He is still the Heavenly Father who loves us and willingly bestows His blessings.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be to you and with you as well!

By: Daniel To