January 22: The Access

From “Relentless” by John Bevere

This power I write of, the grace of God, you cannot earn, merit, or deserve by your own effort. As Paul confirms, grace is received only by faith: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). To the believers in Rome he wrote, “We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand” (Romans 5:2). What gives us access to the grace of God? It’s not working hard, living a good life, praying two hours a day, fasting twice a month—not any of our human efforts. We have access to this grace only by faith!

So why don’t we simply believe? Look at it this way. If your fresh-water well runs dry, you have a problem. Without fresh water, you and your family will die in a few days. But just down the road the city has a huge water tower filled with millions of gallons of fresh water, and one of the main pipes from that tower runs along the front of your house. What would you do? You’d go to city hall and get a permit. Then go to the hardware store and buy some PVC piping, return home, and hook up your house’s plumbing to the main pipe that runs past your front yard. Now you’ll have access to millions of gallons of fresh water—more than you and your family need. Simply put, faith is the pipeline of grace. Therefore, we could read Romans 5:2 in this light: “We have access by the pipeline of faith into all the water of grace we need.” It’s that simple: The only way to partake of empowering grace is through faith. This is why the writer of Hebrews states, “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (4:2).

If we Christians remain ignorant of what God’s Word declares regarding God’s empowering grace, then how can we believe? We cannot believe what we don’t know. If we have no pipeline to access this grace, the promise of His Word will not profit us.

The Armor of HumilityJanuary 15: His Incredible Grace

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