GRACEhttp://www.seekgod.org/newlife.html#GRACE

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GRACE

(2 Peter 3:18 KJV) But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Grace is an undeserved free gift, undeserved favor, and undeserved love.

All of the other religions of the world offer salvation by works. They say if you become good enough you can work your way to God, you must go through procedures and sufferings and rituals to get to God. Some religions say that you can become a god, this appeals to man's pride. Just as when pride entered into Satan and he said, "I will be like the Most High God", and he became God's enemy. The new age religions all pickup on this theme, that you can become a god. It is not new; even in the Garden of Eden Satan tempted Eve by telling her if she ate the fruit that she would become like God.

Only through Jesus Christ we are offered grace, a free gift. This is contrary to human nature, which in pride says I can do it myself. Our attitude is, "my life is my own and I will do with it as I please." Jesus says yes I gave you life and I gave you a power to choose, it is your choice. So we choose love and give our life to Jesus and rest in Him, or we choose pride becoming God's enemy, trying to work and climb up to heaven another way besides through Jesus. (John 14:6 NKJV) Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

The deeper I get into knowing and experiencing God one thing becomes more and more clear. That is, all that I am, all that I ever have been, and all that I ever will be is totally one hundred percent a result of God's awesome grace. Every failure I experience causes me to humbly become more dependent upon God's grace, causing me to decrease and Jesus to increase in my life. All and every success I have is not mine but rather a result of God's grace at work in me. Spiritual success has nothing to do with me or the things that I do or don't do; except for the choice to both accept and live in grace, or reject the free gift by rejecting God and His Love. I can't add anything to grace and I can't take anything away from it.

(Ephesians 2:1-10 NKJV) And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, {2} in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, {3} among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. {4} But God, who is rich in mercy (compassion), because of His great love with which He loved us, {5} even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), {6} and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, {7} that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. {8} For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, {9} not of works, lest anyone should boast. {10} For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

The works that we do for God are the works that He has prepared in advance that we should walk in them; they are not a result of our efforts. They are God's works that we move in being guided by His Holy Spirit of Love. This is your destiny on earth.

If you are thinking that, "I am unworthy to do works for God", then you are the perfect candidate, and you are the one He is calling. You are the one God desires to give grace to. The first step toward accepting God's grace is to understand that you don't deserve it. (Proverbs 18:12 NIV) Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor. People that try to work their way toward God are an insult to Him and His grace; they are working in pride, which is the opposite of Love. (1 Peter 5:5-7 NIV)