Grace…. 31 years ago I truly fell into grace. I didn’t know I was looking for it but the Lord knew. As I was falling apart, I fell into the grace of God. Since that time, my knowledge of grace has expanded along with my understanding of the Lord, His cross and His ways.

Grace is no longer just about my salvation or about the gifts the Lord has bestowed on His followers. I see the grace of God as flowing over the earth with the glory of the Lord becoming the hope and healing of the nations.

I think most believers have seen what the gospel of Christ can do in the lives of individuals, and what it has done for the nations is just as miraculous.

The Word of God spoke the universe into existence and His word speaks to us today. He is our healer and the hope of all mankind. The scriptures read, the time will come when…They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Is 7:9

Heb11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

Psalm 33:6  By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

Today astronomers know the universe is still expanding. Billions of planets, with not a sign of life on any of them. Except for this one little planet, Earth. Although, many peer through extraordinary telescopes expectantly looking for new alien life some place out there. It is in fact, as one secular scientist said – “its as if we climbed up the highest of mountains and finally peered over the top, only to find a bunch of theologians had been there for thousands of years.” The voice of God…. how do we comprehend something so vast, so omnipotent, so self-perpetuating? It is no wonder that Jesus was presented to us through the heavens. His majesty the King of Kings could only be announced through a star, the star of Bethlehem. Jesus Christ, son of God, the hope of nations born in us.

I see the grace of God throughout history, wherever the gospel has been welcomed… the change is significant… hospitals and orphanages built, schools created, governments become more compassionate, legal systems responding to people, charities introduced. Likewise, wherever the gospel has been purged we see the opposite effect. Once thriving nations becoming all but dust. As history has shown us in the Middle East, once a center of innovation and triumph, all but dust today. We have witnessed the debacle that was the USSR. The very evil that would fight against the Lord destroys all that is around it. Because without God, there is no reason to take the individual into account; no purpose for our compassion. It would always be the ‘whole’ or state that matters.

The Lord has never forced us to believe, never forced us to follow. What kind of Being wants a friend who has been forced to love Him. Jesus calls us friend. If we are only friends through obligation, what kind of friend would we be?

I see the grace of God flowing through me, through my family, friends, neighbors, co-workers. It is the power of God to redeem, it is His love for us. And so it flows across nations, pulling down strong holds and releasing healing, the healing over the entire earth.

When, Jesus on the cross said, ‘Father forgive them’ He was and is saying forgive Andrea, forgive Tom, forgive Danielle, let my grace wash over them, heal them. Let it heal their family, their neighborhoods, their enemies. Father forgive them all.

Grace did not begin on Calvary, it began in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. It was in the garden, when God chose to form a man and woman in His image. The image of a relational loving God, who would one day have a people He would call “friend”. A people that would choose Him, choose love, choose righteousness and healing, from Him and through Him. Those people would bring His grace and healing to the nations, one friend at a time, one hospital at a time, one act of forgiveness at a time.  Like that star, His grace would shine into the darkness and be the light of the world. So the world through His love and grace would be healed, regenerated and restored.

Rom 5:17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. 18So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.

 

I’ve added Psalm 65, it speaks of God’s grace and the redemption of the earth. As we praise our Lord and Savior hold fast, He is the hope of all the nations.

Psalm 65

1 Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion;

    to you our vows will be fulfilled.

2 You who answer prayer,

    to you all people will come.

3 When we were overwhelmed by sins,

    you forgave our transgressions.

4 Blessed are those you choose

    and bring near to live in your courts!

We are filled with the good things of your house,

    of your holy temple.

5 You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,

    God our Savior,

the hope of all the ends of the earth

    and of the farthest seas,

6 who formed the mountains by your power,

    having armed yourself with strength,

7 who stilled the roaring of the seas,

    the roaring of their waves,

    and the turmoil of the nations.

8 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;

    where morning dawns, where evening fades,

    you call forth songs of joy.

9 You care for the land and water it;

    you enrich it abundantly.

The streams of God are filled with water

    to provide the people with grain,

    for so you have ordained it.

10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges;

    you soften it with showers and bless its crops.

11 You crown the year with your bounty,

    and your carts overflow with abundance.

12 The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;

    the hills are clothed with gladness.

13 The meadows are covered with flocks

    and the valleys are mantled with grain;

    they shout for joy and sing.