December 17th
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More on Relating Rightly to the God of All Grace
The God of all grace… it is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing… that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. (1 Peter 5:10; John 6:63; Philippians 3:10)
In order to live day by day by grace, we must relate rightly to "the God of all grace" (1 Peter 5:10). Essentially, this involves the developing of a personal relationship with the Lord. "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). A growing relationship with the true and living God produces the relational realities of humility and faith. Thereby, we are able to live by the grace of God: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble… We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand" (1 Peter 5:5 and Romans 5:2).
As we are in the word of God, growing in the knowing of God, there are many ways to appropriately express humility and faith toward the Lord. We have emphasized a number of these in previous sections of these devotions. Living by the Spirit was one of these. "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing." The spiritual life that the Holy Spirit alone can provide is what the new covenant of grace offers to man. God "also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). As we humbly depend upon the Spirit, God graciously fills our lives with His life.
We considered another way to walk relationally in humility and faith in living by the power of the resurrection: "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection." Yes, resurrection power is available for daily Christian living. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know… what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:18-20). Of course, experiencing this power hinges upon us humbly admitting that we have no power on our own, and then relying on His mighty power.
Living by the Spirit and living by resurrection power are two ways to relate rightly to the God of all grace. They both are experienced through humble dependence. They both result in the grace of God becoming our daily resource from the Lord.
Lord God of all grace, I need Your Holy Spirit to fill me with Your life. My flesh profits nothing. Lord, each day, I need the power of Your resurrection working in my life. I have no effective power that I can generate on my own. I praise You that these are available through humble dependence!