God showed grace to all people by sending His Son Jesus, to be our Saviour. God’s grace allows us to become members of His family (see Ephesians 2:8). God’s grace also keeps on helping us live as God wants us to (see Acts 20:32). A person cannot earn God’s grace by trying to be good; it is God’s free gift.

“With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and MUCH GRACE was with them all” (Acts 4:33).

“From Attalla they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been COMMITTED TO THE GRACE OF GOD for  they had now completed” (Acts 14:26).

Why was the grace of God so important in the experience of the early Church? Why did the church in Antioch pray that the GRACE of God would be upon Paul and Barnabas, and later on Paul and Silas, as they set out on their missionary journeys?

A. The Meaning of Grace

The most common understanding of the word “grace” is “God’s unmerited favour” – in other words, even though we were sinners, deserving of judgment, God looked upon us in love and forgave us.

God’s grace also means “God’s enabling power.” (2Ths 2:16-17). Not only does His grace make us accepted into the family of God, but it also provides the power we need to live the Christian life. Two scriptures indicate the two aspects of God’s grace in every believer.

1. God’s Unmerited Favour

“For it is by grace [God’s unmerited favour] you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph 2:8-9).

2. God’s Enabling Power

In salvation, not only is God’s unmerited favour expressed (in that we receive forgiveness and restored relationship with Him even though we don’t deserve it), but so also is God’s enabling power that we can be transformed. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, and the new has come!” (2Cor 5:17).

This principle of grace continues throughout our walk with God. In every area of our Christian lives, it is God’s grace that causes us to grow and be strong – God’s enabling power given to us without any merit on our part.“…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ…”(2Peter 3:18).

B. Grace Given the Heroes of Faith

This operating force of grace is revealed in the lives of men and women throughout the whole Bible. Every hero of faith began his walk with God aware of his own weakness and inability.

It was only through Him allowing God’s grace – His enabling power – to work in his life that he was able to become the kind of person that God wanted him to be, and to fulfil the plan and purpose God had for his life.

1. Grace in the life of Moses

Read Exodus 3:11-13; 4:1-13. The command the Lord gave Moses was no small task. Egypt was the ruling empire of the day.  When God told Moses to go down to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let His three million, people go free from slavery, Moses’ immediate response – out of his own weakness and inability – was as follows: “Who am I?, Who are You?, They don’t believe me!, I’m not eloquent!, Lord, send someone else!. But with God’s grace, Moses did go down to Egypt, and with signs and wonders brought the people of Israel out as God told him to.

2. Grace in the Life of Gideon

Read Judges 6:1-24. The call of God came to Gideon to deliver His people from the conquering armies of Midian. Israel had known only defeat for many years. Despite Gideon’s fear and inability, with God’s grace (enabling power) Gideon saved Israel. And he did it with just a small band of men. It was GRACE that made the difference!

3. Grace in the Life of the Apostle Paul

Read Acts 15:40. Before Paul and Silas set out on their missionary journey together, the church at Antioch prayed for them and “ commended [them]… to the grace of the Lord” for the work that was ahead of them. Paul’s description of his experience in 2Cor 11:22-33 is understandable that he was first commended to the grace of God! He needed it to survive! The Lord’s answer to Paul’s confession of weakness is His promise for us too: “…My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…” (2Cor 12:9).

C. Grace Released in our Lives

In our relationship with God – as we walk with Him each day – we constantly meet situations that would try to overwhelm us. Our response to God is to trust His Word. We express our trust through obedience. This proves we believe what God’s response to our faith is His grace – His enabling power, which causes us to triumph in every situation.

D. Two Important Promises

1. We Have Bold Access to the Throne of Grace

“Let us then approach the THRONE OF GRACE with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and FIND GRACE [divine enablement] TO HELP US IN OUR TIME OF NEED’ (Heb 4:16).

2. God Is Able

“And God is able to make ALL grace ABOUND to you, so that in ALL things at ALL times, having ALL that you need, you will ABOUND in EVERY good work” (2Cor 9:8).

MY COMMITMENT

Today I decide to receiver God’s grace – His enabling power – into every area and problem that arises in my life, and teach others to do the same also.