UNRESTRAINED

“For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”

EPHESIANS 2:18 (KJV)

The dispensation of grace under which we now live presents us with an unrestrained access to the Father. We need call to mind the fact that what God lost in the Garden of Eden was family, and ever since then he had sought to restore that important reality of divinity.

Our opening scripture lets us know that we have access by one Spirit to the father. Under the dispensation of grace God has a Kingdom of sons and daughters – a reality that is superior to what Adam had.

In the Garden of Eden, mankind had the Spirit of God as their access to the father. This is judged true by the voice of God that they heard walking in the garden. A walking voice is definitely a person and that is the person of the Spirit as he is the voice of the father.

On the day of Pentecost – which was the beginning of the dispensation of grace – the disciples heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind. That was the Spirit of God returning to earth for a permanent abiding.

We now have the Spirit of God in us and therefore possess an unrestrained access to the father. As we commune with the Spirit we will experience the love of the father and the grace of Jesus that covers our weaknesses and besetting sins.

WHO TOLD YOU

“And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded you that you should not eat?”

            GENESIS 3:11 (KJV)

When Adam explained the reason for his dis-fellowship with God, stating that he was naked, God’s reply was “who told you that you WERE naked?” This question reveals God’s concern for how man lives his life as he knows that man’s life is sharpened by the information he conceives.

Notice that God didn’t ask, “Who told you that you ARE naked?” At no time did God relate with Adam on the basis of his weakness, and now that he is aware of his state, God still refused to relate with him on that level of knowledge. This is grace at work. God brought grace to Adam inspite of his sin, but he instead chose condemnation when he blamed his wife.

We still find ourselves do this at different times: we look for someone or a situation to blame for the issues in our lives. This happens when we are more conscious of our weaknesses than we are of God’s provision of grace.

We need to give the more earnest heed to what we hear. Our Lord Jesus said, “be careful about what you hear and how you hear. Do you hear the voice of your weaknesses? Do you hear the voice of your challenges? Choose to hear another voice: it is the voice of grace.

The message of grace is a revelation of an unrestrained relationship with God inspite of our moral and spiritual weaknesses. It is a relationship formed on the basis of God’s righteousness as wrought by our Lord Jesus. As we quite focusing on the fault lines in our lives and begin focusing on God’s ability to cover us we will experience an unbroken relationship with the one that means the world to us – GOD.

IMPERFECTIONS NOTWITHSTANDING

“And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

GENESIS 2:25 (KJV)

Did you ever notice that of all that God created man was the only creation that had imperfections? The first time we heard God say “it is not good” was in relation to man’s life. Going further into the scripture of truth we discover that mankind was naked. Nakedness connotes vulnerability, weakness, something to be ashamed of etc.

The nakedness that man came to be aware of after eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had always been a reality of his life. The difference in man’s life was grace as God was the covering of his weakness.

Grace does not necessarily take away your weaknesses, it covers your weaknesses. While we get submerged in fellowship with God, we grow to ignore our weaknesses and focus on the glorious life that God has in store for us. God’s grace does not come to us on the basis of our perfection; it comes on the basis of our imperfection.

God had a reason for creating Adam naked: he created animals with covering for their skin, but why not man? He wanted to let us know that man will continue to have personal weaknesses, and that is why he has need for me to cover him with my glory which is the beauty of grace.

God does not want us to focus on our attitudinal, sexual, spiritual imperfections; he wants us to focus on him through fellowship. When Adam told God that he was naked, God’s reply was, “who told you that you are naked?” That is it! God never wanted Adam to live by that information; he didn’t want him to be aware of it.

This is what the grace that our Lord Jesus Christ has brought to humanity. It is an experience where God becomes our righteousness, and this relieves us of trying to cover ourselves with fig leaves as Adam did. The fig leaves are resolutions, self-imposed restrictions; the fig leaves could even be service to God with the intention of making up for shortcomings. Know this; our shortcomings keep us coming to God for Grace and mercy. Hallelujah!

Paul urges us to “come boldly before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.” This should be our attitude towards our imperfections. COME BOLDLY!

THE GENESIS

“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.”

GENESIS 1:2 (KJV)

It may interest you to know that the experience of grace that we have under this dispensation called GRACE didn’t begin with the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, it began in the beginning. Grace was the experience Adam had with God, and it was from it he fell. What we saw Jesus doing during his thirty three and the half years on earth was a restorative work: so grace began yet again on the day of Pentecost.

Earth’s first experience of grace was in the beginning when God had to correct the imbalance that was on earth – grace restores.

We probably wouldn’t have known a thing about God if the event of Genesis chapter one verse two didn’t take place: for grace is compelled by a void in humanity. It was the void in humanity that made Jesus come to earth.

The writing of Paul reveals that where sin abounds grace abounds much more. Do not despise your present challenges: it is an invitation to grace. God likes to get involved in messy situations as that gives him the opportunity to display his love and power in our lives. God is not disgusted at your weaknesses, nor at your challenges, he had always understood the frailties of earth and so he has made himself available to help us. Only turn to him in faith, and you will see him right on the scene.

DON’T ASK FOR A KID

“. . . and yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:”

LUKE 15:29 (KJV)

The inspiration for today’s article is from the story of the prodigal son who asked for all that pertained to him. Quite surprising is it that his father didn’t hesitate in granting him his request. Our Lord Jesus gave that parable as a picturesque of the heavenly father and the church as the event in the parable couldn’t have happened during the time of the law least the prodigal son would have been stoned to death for his sinful lifestyle.

The focus of this article is on the elder brother who got annoyed over the celebration of his brother’s return. He blamed his father for not giving him a kid to celebrate with his friend. I submit to you that the fault was not with the father, it was with the elder son who didn’t ask a thing of his father all the years he had been with him.

James said we have not because we do not ask, and this leads to envy amidst brethren. The younger brother understood grace well enough to ask for all and yet still had some on returning. The elder brother wouldn’t ask a thing of the father: expecting the father to use his discretion in giving him, more so as a reward for his service.

God’s blessings to us are not a reward for our service in his kingdom. The reward for our service is a different reality all together. Blessings are the riches of our father, and they are for the taking whenever we want for we’ve been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

The father’s reply further proves the elder son’s negligence: “Son, you are ever with me, and all that I have is yours.” He should have known better to ask whatever he wanted and being sure that the father will give him as he gave to his younger brother.

We have established that his fault was in not praying, should he have asked a thing of his father he probably might have asked for a kid. Do not ask for a kid, all the father has is yours.