2 Timothy 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Greetings Rose Buddy!

It’s December and if you’re reading this you should just take a moment right now to thank God. Go ahead. I’ll wait. 🙂

We thank Him because this has been a whirlwind of a year with more bumps and curves than a rollercoaster. One thing that is certain, God has remained the same. For that alone is why He deserves our honor and gratitude. Last week, I talked about what a suitable offering looks like to God. As believers, we honor Him by taking up our cross and living a life completely sold out for Jesus. That honor looks like humbly offering our lives as a living sacrifice which entails inconvenience, self-denial, & being kingdom minded. This doesn’t look like perfection, but yielding to The One Who is indeed Perfect. Want more? Then, feel free to read last week’s post. シ Now, let’s discuss what strong Grace means to the believer. Why is it so important to operate in The Grace of God? What happens when we don’t operate in His Grace as believers?

In the reference scripture, Paul is encouraging Timothy to be strong in the Grace of God. To give a visual background, Paul is writing Timothy from jail. Yes, for those of you who are unaware Paul and jail had a pretty bittersweet relationship. While in jail, Paul writes letters to Timothy and some believe these were his last words to his protégé. Believe it or not a few things stood out for me in this one scripture. The fact that Paul even took time to write Timothy while imprisoned showed devotion, urgency, and leadership. He showed devotion to God and Timothy by not allowing his current circumstance hinder the Great Commission. This is the example we should follow. No matter what may come our way our minds and hearts should be so intertwined with Heaven that our focus doesn’t shift. It showed urgency because he didn’t delay his writings. He could have put it off and just wallowed in jail singing woe is me. However, he chose to keep the same energy and continued instructing Timothy even while imprisoned. This brings me to my next point which is the display of leadership. As I said earlier, Timothy was his protégé. In my opinion, not only did his letters to Timothy help lead him but also his life. Paul wasn’t writing while on a luxury vacation. Paul wasn’t taking a break from ministry because it was getting too hectic. He literally lived what he taught. To me that is the best way to teach and lead people- by example! Living as an example is something I am seeking after in my life. It’s not enough to write and make videos or have personal conversations with people encouraging them if they can’t look at my real life as a human outline. Be mindful that the only way this is done is by depending on the Strength of God and not man which is the focal point of this verse for me. Everything else were added points.

Now, we are down to why it is important to lean into the Strength of God and not our own. Spreading The Truth of God’s Word is not an easy task. This is why we should wait on the calling and not rush to a particular office. Why? Because where God appoints He also provides measured Grace so that we are able to endure and work honorably. Spreading the Gospel comes with much opposition that may include danger. Paul being well versed in this area gave light to how he is able to remain steadfast. It was not his intelligence or his Jewish background that he attributes to how he is able to endure such hardship. Only by The Grace that is found in Christ Jesus is what Paul boasts in and lives out. Even if you aren’t called to a particular office in ministry, understand you still need to rely on the Grace from God. Whatever He has called you to or gifted you for will require measured Grace to sustain that position. Picture Grace as the support you need for the weight of what God has placed in you to carry out. This is what separates good leaders from glorious leaders. Being apart of a royal priesthood comes with this very benefit. We acknowledge and utilize every natural benefit that comes with our jobs, school, etc…however when it comes to God we tend to get selective amnesia. Christians should not adopt the worldly principle that we do everything on our own. That we are self made, self paid, and don’t need anyone. How far from the truth that could be because we can’t save ourselves! There’s not enough human intelligence or power to even change ourselves. Sure we can affirm and there are even people who try to perform mind control over people which is also witchcraft. Even in that, people aren’t 100% changed. Only Jesus can change a person’s entire life around! Only Jesus can save us from hell. Only Jesus can cleanse us from the stench and stain of sin. It’s so easy to get caught up in worldly traditions, but this is why we have to renew our minds in the word and not in Instagram. Ask God to clean our hearts and not seek a “spiritual”cleanse from worldly rituals and traditions. A smoothie or water fast won’t cleanse the filth in your heart. Only by the Grace found in Christ can do that. So, utilize the strength in His Grace and nothing else because there is nothing else!

The danger of not working in the Grace of God is burnout, pride, and selfish ambition that leads to vain works. We can have a godly idea and foolishly try to carry it out with human methods. It doesn’t work. Well, at least it doesn’t work for God. Who wants to do all this work here on earth only for God to not care about it when its judgment day? Think about having a project at work and our supervisor gives clear instructions on how to carry this project out. He says to use Bob to get this done because he has the material to efficiently complete this. We decided not use Bob and do it on our own. It took more effort to go around Bob and once finished the supervisor doesn’t accept it. That’s two major blows that could’ve been avoided. Bob in this scenario is Grace to the believer. God has freely given us Grace to help complete the work He sets before us yet we would rather proclaim we did something on our own than give God glory for helping us. Sadly, we live in such a I can do this on my own type of world that even the Christians are being effected by it. When in fact, we should be declaring I can’t do this on my own, I need Jesus! It’s a joyous opportunity to give our burdens over to God and that we don’t have to exert the same strength we did before we gave our lives to Christ. Why keep wanting to do the heavy lifting? What are we trying to prove? The more we waste time trying to prove how strong we are, the more we forfeit our witness to point people to Christ. Let’s change this mindset. The only proof people should see in our lives is the miracle working Power of God found in the Strength of His Grace through faith in Jesus that saved us from hell. This is the posture and space our hearts should consistently look like. Again not perfection, but yielding to The One Who is Perfect – God. シ✞

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us Your Strength by way of Grace. We repent of trying to do things on our own and seeking recognition in our flesh oppose to relying on our faith in You, Jesus! You have given us the gift of Grace and we pray to grow more in understanding of what that truly means. Fill the holes in our heart that will cause us to revert back to worldly traditions. Show us the brokenness so that You can mend it. We want to be more like You and that includes relying on Your Grace, because in Your Grace is power and support to finish the work. May Jesus continue to be lifted in my life. Amen.

Alright you know what to do. Be on the lookout for the new Faith filled Christmas series on my YouTube channel! While everyone is doing vlogmas, I will be doing FAITHmas. Keeping Christ in Christmas. Until next time, Peace!!