2026-03-20
Good morning, Dear Ones,
This week, I’m commanded to write about God’s forgiveness and grace. God’s grace defined is: His unmerited favor, is a free gift of divine love, forgiveness and acceptance given to the unworthy enabling salvation and relationship with Him, expressed through actions like Jesus’ sacrifice rather than our earned merits. This is God’s inherent goodness, providing abundant blessings and power to live righteously, even though humanity deserves punishment for sin. If we take an honest inspection of ourselves, it would be hard to ignore God’s grace in our own lives. EPH 2: 8-10, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Humility before God is a foundation for receiving grace, and we know from GA 5: 22-23 that it is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
God’s heart can be seen in His sacrifice on the cross of His Son, Jesus Christ, at a point in time when He realized there were some good people who needed the chance to avoid certain spiritual death. Our decision to believe in Him is crucial to receiving the blessing of eternal life. My own experience in making that decision came after a difficult childhood. That was followed by being snapped into a cult during a 13-year unhappy marriage that ended in divorce. The latter was painful but brought me to the place where I was ready to seek out God’s help. What I had to realize is in 1 TIM 1: 14, “And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” Prior to this, I thought that God was ignoring me and I didn’t deserve His help. While the latter is true, the former surely was not. HE 4: 13, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account.’
This issue of God’s grace can be clearly seen in RO 5: 9-11, “Since we have been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath though Him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have now received reconciliation.” Imagine, we were His unbelieving enemies, and yet, He extended the grace of salvation to us through the death of His only begotten Son! Now that’s grace!
One might ask: Why does God allow the suffering of believers still on earth? His reasons are always sound and righteous but do demand our faithful understanding. The best explanation comes in RO 5: 3-5, “Not only so [we’ve gained access to saving faith though God’s grace] but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, Who has been given to us.”
Once this suffering is understood for what it does, we will know what we are told in HE 4: 16, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Of course, that is not the only reason we should visit God “under the shelter of His wings;” there are many reasons for doing this. This is a habit we should all practice, because we can receive His direction, give Him a chance to communicate with us in quiet prayer, show us His will, and develop that close relationship with Him that He wants so very much. We can also be reminded to pray for others in need and find ways God wants us to serve Him.
PRAYER: O Lord, we must make ourselves available to You and freely receive the grace inherent in our relationship with Him. The Lord Jesus demonstrates what true grace really is, a special and undeserved kindness He extends to others. Moreover, we’ve been told, in 2 COR 12: 9, “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ And Paul adds, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” We stand before Your throne to offer You praise, honor, glory, and thanksgiving, for all You are and all You do, in Christ’s holy/mighty name, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Although I’ve written on forgiveness and mercy before, I’m commanded to write more about them in this context of God’s amazing grace next week. We must remember RO 6: 24, “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.” Grace liberates believers from the dominion of sin. What a pickle we would be in, if God never forgave us in response to our confession of sin! Because of His grace, we are transformed, so praise and thanksgiving be to Him!
Grace be with You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2026. All Rights Reserved.
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