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The Sufficiency Of Grace
Author : Ann Doupont
Grace? What is it? Some of us were taught as children that we should say our grace before meals. When I’ve been invited to say grace at a meal, I have said the word “grace” and then waited for a response. Not everyone, however, appreciates my humor.
As a former Catholic, certain words were taught to be routinely recited before a meal. We were taught to say, “Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.” The sign of the cross is then made by each person touching first their forehead, then their chest, then each shoulder while saying “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
At the Thanksgiving, or Christmas, dinner I was the only one there who used different words when I prayed before eating. Did I say grace before the meal or did I pray? I thought about the words of the Catholics before meals. There was no giving of thanks. There was merely a request for a blessing. The Scriptures say that it is by the giving of thanks and the Word of God and prayer that the food is sanctified (1 Timothy 4:4-5).
What then is grace, if it’s not just something we say before meals? Is it something tangible that we can touch? Is that what God was telling the Apostle Paul that would be sufficient for him (2 Corinthians 12:9) in his weakness? No, it wasn’t and it’s not.
Grace is not a tangible item like a teddy bear you can hug or a $100 bill you can spend. Grace is an empowerment within the heart of an individual that will enable the recipient to overcome any and all obstacles in its path. Grace is the moving of the Spirit within the heart of the believer that many are looking for outwardly. Grace will influence the heart to do what is right in God’s sight.
It cannot be seen. It cannot be earned. It can only be received and experienced. Grace/empowerment from God/enablement to do His will needs to be appropriated from Him daily. It cannot come from other sources – at least, not the kind that’s needful in being sufficient for all that we need.
Ask God for His grace for the day as you come to Him each day. It is then that you will have it working in your life that day. It will truly be sufficient for all that you need – His grace in you and it then influencing everything you do.
Ask, believe and receive – daily. It’s yours for the asking – His enablement and empowerment to live for Him. Not my (or your) will be done, but His will working in us and then through us.
In His great love and grace,
Ann Doupont
Author, Intercessor, Preacher/Teacher
www.anndoupont.org
P.S. Please pray for me that I will be able to finish some of the books I’ve begun to write, that He will give me the right words to write. I have 6 in the works which I hope to complete…others, I’ve shelved.
Author's Resource Box
Ann Doupont has authored 4 books and 6 booklets to date. Has several more in the works. You can follow Ann at @AnnDouponnt on Twitter and find her also on Facebook.
Visit her website at www.anndoupont.org to see her books and other works.
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