GIVEN GRACE

Grace cannot be employed without the Holy Spirit and His gifts. Grace is God’s nature transferred to us by a loving Father. The Holy Spirit creates the environment for transmitted grace either on his own or by the presence and use of His gifts. Each spiritual gift becomes another opportunity for some amount of grace to become better known to the individual and then to others. It takes spiritual gifts to know, receive, appreciate and appropriate the grace given to us.

Every gift helps create a certain atmosphere and environment for grace to more easily come to us. The more resistance to the Holy Spirit and His gifts the more difficult it is for the clear, smooth and accessible path for the grace of God to flow. There is often intentional resistance to this free flow of God because of our fear and intimidation and mistrust of falling completely into the custody and care of God. Though it sounds like a great idea and concept, the reality is a full giving up of our identity and kingdom for His. Without full trust that this is a good and secure exchange there will be careful, and even purposeful, resistance, excuses and reasons for blocking the Lord’s full access to our hearts and minds. There is great hope though, because for every real and imagined excuse there is a concise, definite and exacting Holy Spirit gift to combat our resistance and cause us to more completely open up to the grace of God. The natural resists the Spiritual.

But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me. Jesus