The gift Paul was
talking about was the gift of God, grace.
Paul, of all men,
even after years of service to God, after years of intense devotion - An
Apostle to the Gentiles - An Hebrew of Hebrews - A man acquainted with the
supernatural - One who could speak life into a dead body - One who could take
the deadly snake bite and just shake it off - One who could touch a
handkerchief or an apron of someone and they would be healed and devils would
run - This same Paul had a thorn in the flesh and needed to be reminded, “My
grace is sufficient for thee:...” 2 Corinthians 12:9a
Sometimes we have a
thorn in the flesh and we need to be reminded, “My grace is sufficient for thee:...”
I know now, why Paul
starts out, not one of his epistles, but all of his epistles with this
salutation:
“Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, (or
Thessalonica or Galatia or Collose) and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
V2 Grace be to you,
and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 1:1-2
Each epistle begins a
little differently and addresses believers in different regions, but in every
epistle, after addressing those in whom he was speaking to, there was one word
that Paul used - the first blessing in a succession of blessings that
Paul spoke, without exception, was - “GRACE BE UNTO YOU”.
There is no greater
blessing to bestow on anyone than grace.
Peter ends his 2nd epistle with these words, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18
Peter ends his 2nd epistle with these words, “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18
This sounds like God-thinking to me. Grow in grace?
Grow in the richest
soil there is?
To grow in the gift
of God?
To grow (you mean,
you can have more of what already is given without measure)? Yes
To grow in the gift
of gifts from God, the gift that is already beyond explanation?
The gift that already
supplies all our needs?
The gift that already
mends all our wounds?
The gift that already
heals our diseases?
The gift that already
goes before us and prepares a path?
Can you really grow
in something that is already complete?
Do you sense with me
the awesomeness and depth of what grace is?
Excerpt from God Thinking L - One Word by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014
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