Hello friends, welcome again to my blog. Yesterday I started a topic which is Faith and Grace and I wrote on Saving Faith. If you will like to read about it please visit here

Spiritual salvation comes as a gift of God's grace (i.e., His undeserved favor, love, kindness, help and spiritual enablement), but it can only be received and become personally effective in individuals' lives by the response of faith. To understand the process of salvation, we must understand these two words.

Romans 5:21

so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God's Grace

In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself as a God of grace and mercy who showed love to His people, not because they deserved it, but because of His own desire too have a personal relationship with them and to be faithful to the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Justice could be described as getting exactly what we deserve. The New Testament focuses on the theme of God's grace in giving of His Son, Jesus, who willingly gave his life for undeserving sinners. Christians today continue to experience that grace through the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit conveys God's will (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Titus 1:15-16). The whole process and progress of the Christian life, from beginning to end, is dependent on this grace.

for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. - Philippians 2:13

Purposes of God's Grace

(1) God gives a degree of grace as a gift (1 Corinthians 1:4) to unbelievers (i.e., those who do not yet know or have not accepted Christ) so that they may be able to respond to His message and mercy and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 2:11; 3:4).

(2) God gives grace to believers (i.e., those who choose to accept and follow Christ) so they can be "set free from sin" (Romans 6:20, 22), "to will and to act according to His good purpose" (Philippians 2:13;). God's grace also helps believers to pray, to grow in their relationship with Christ (2 Peter 3:18) and to communicate the message about Christ to others (Act 4:33; 11:23).

(3) God's grace must be desired, pursued and accepted (Hebrew 4:16). Some of the ways by which God's grace is received are: studying and obeying God's Word (John 15:1-11; 20:31; 2 Timothy 3:15); hearing and responding to the preaching of the gospel-the "good news" about Christ (Luke 24:47; Act 1:8; Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 1:17-18); praying (Hebrew 4:16; Jude 1:20); fasting which is going without food for a period of time to focus on spiritual matters through prayer; worshiping Christ; being continually filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18); and participating in the Lord's Supper, or "communion".

(4) God's grace can be resisted and rejected (Hebrew 12:15), received in vain and without lasting effect (2 Corinthians 6:1), set aside and disregarded and abandoned by people who, at one time, truly believed and accepted Christ.

You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. - Galatians 5:4

In all, I want us to check ourselves well. Are we still under the grace of God as a sinner or as a believer? This is the time to choose wisely and stand firmly on our faith in Jesus. May the grace of God abound in our lives in Jesus name.

Thanks for reading.
God bless you.
Shalom.

[NIV Study Edition Bible]

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