Know God's Will

The mystery of God's will is revealed, "having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself" (Ephesians 1:9). God's will is revealed in the Bible (Romans 12:2). The word of God is the will of God for you.

Know God's will is good. As a believer you can say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:6). Believe in God's goodness. Because God's revealed will is good, "we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). God's will for you is His good purpose.

Know God's will in Christ. God's will is love, mercy, grace, and truth in Christ. Jesus came into this world to do God the Father's will in word and deed. "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him" (Acts 10:38). God's will for us is good in Christ.

Know God's will through the Holy Spirit. God's will is in the fruit of the Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). That's God's revealed will working in you by the Holy Spirit, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

God's Grace in You

God's grace is his good work in you (Philippians 1:6). God continues to work in you to do his good will (Philippians 2:13). Grace is sufficient for your every need. Law can tell you what you ought to be; only grace can make you what you need to be.

God's grace is in you through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). That faith is in the power of God saving you through the gospel of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Grace is the workmanship of God in your life through the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:10). God will continue working in you by faith in Christ.

God's grace to you is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). Grace is far more than a theological term or a religious song. Grace is about God Himself. He is the God of all grace. His grace is undeserved favor that you can never earn nor merit. We all fall short of God's glory, but God will work in you to the glory of God (Romans 3:23; Ephesians 1:12-14).

God's grace delivers you from unbelief unto faith in Christ. Grace finds you helpless and gives you hope. Grace brings you to Christ. God's grace in Christ cannot be bought, earned, nor deserved. Grace is unmerited favor from God through Jesus Christ. "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace" (John 1:16). Jesus our Lord is the fullness of God's grace working in you. 

Is Your Faith Growing?

Dwight L. Moody wrote, "I prayed for faith, and thought that some day faith would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, 'Now faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God'. I had closed my Bible, and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since." 

Faith comes to you as a gift from God. It is one of the three abiding gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 13:13). Dwight Moody knew how the gift of faith comes to us. "So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). 

The Holy Spirit inspired the Word of God. The same Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to bring faith to you in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us preach and share the Word of God, that others may come to faith in Christ. We pray for those who are not believers, but we must do more. They must hear the Word of God. 

Moody discovered that faith grows stronger as he studied the Word of God. He testified, "I now opened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since." If you want to grow in faith, the Bible tells you what to do. To pray for stronger faith and neglect Bible study will not work. Through the Holy Spirit, your faith grows in the Word of God.

Does God Love You?

Unbelief says, How can anyone believe in love, when we see so much hatred in this world? Faith says, I believe in love, because I believe in God. The Bible says, God is love (1 John 4:8). How does God love you? He loves you through the words of truth in your Bible.

God loves you through His Son. But, you may say, How could God love me? I'm not worthy of His love. God loves sinners, and He proves it at the cross of Jesus. God loves you, because God is love. It's not about who you are. It's about who God is. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

God loves you through the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit can make the love of God a real experience in your heart. People may hear about the love of God, read about it in the Bible, and hear songs about it, without ever experiencing God's love. God's great love for you only becomes real when you experience it in your heart. The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5).

God loves you through others. That includes parents and family, friends and church. It is also God's will to love others through you. Jesus said, By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another (John 13:35). We may experience God loves you through others, and others may experience God's love through you.

Believers Are Righteous

Righteousness is God's gift in Christ to believers. Upon trusting in Christ,  believers are accounted righteous through our Savior and Lord. It's known as imputed righteousness. Through faith in Christ, you are accounted righteous before God. It is never self-righteousness, but the righteousness of God in Christ.

Believers are righteous by faith in the gospel of Christ. The apostle Paul speaks of the righteousness of Christ imputed to believers. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Martin Luther called it the great exchange. Christ takes away our sin and gives us His righteousness.

Believers are righteous by faith in Christ alone. The Christian life can never be based upon our self-righteousness, which is as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6). To the contrary, you give up your self-righteousness, and become righteous before God in Christ alone. Christ gives us perfect righteousness from God. Simply stated, believers are righteous in Christ alone.

Believers are accounted righteous in Christ alone. Our sins are imputed to Christ as our sacrifice for sin at the cross. His righteousness is credited to us by faith alone. There is only one way we can be righteous with God. We are the righteousness of God by faith in Christ alone.

The Fullness of Grace

Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, "It is grace at the beginning, and grace at the end. So that when you and I come to lie upon our deathbeds, the one thing that should comfort and help and strengthen us there is the thing that helped us in the beginning. Not what we have been, not what we have done, but the Grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord."

God's grace is unmerited favor for every believer. That's the grace of God in Christ alone. It is the gift of God that can only be received by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace is not what we have done, but what God has done for us in Jesus Christ our Lord. 

God's grace is salvation in Christ. "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace" (John 1:16). God's grace is in Christ dying for our sins (Hebrews 2:9). God's grace is at the empty tomb. He is risen for our justification (Romans 4:25). He lives as our sanctification (1 Peter 1:2). He is coming again for our glorification (Romans 8:30). The fullness of grace is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Lloyd-Jones was saying that the Christian life is the fullness of grace in Christ. It is grace in three tenses, past, present and future. He said, "The Christian life starts with grace, it must continue with grace, it ends with grace." Salvation is the fullness of God's grace in Christ, from the beginning unto the end..

Your Ministry Gift

Every Christian has one or more gifts for ministry to serve God through the church. All members of the body of Christ have a ministry gift. These gifts are used to serve others to the glory of God. Each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God (1 Peter 4:10).

Millard Erickson wrote, "The Holy Spirit dispenses his ministry gifts to the church wisely and sovereignly. Possession or lack of a particular gift is no cause for pride or regret. His gifts are not rewards to those who seek or qualify for them."

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills (1 Corinthians 12:11). God decides your ministry gift. The Holy Spirit gives us our gifts. All believers have a ministry gift according to God's will. That includes you. Every believer has a ministry to serve others. 

How can you know your ministry gift? First, read the Bible to understand the ministry gifts (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Peter 4:10-11). Also, consider your ability to minister or serve others. Next, look at the opportunities that God has given you. Finally, remember how God has used you in the past. Every believer has a ministry. God will confirm your gift through prayer and experience.