Daily Devotional - Amazing Grace

I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. 
—Galatians 2:21

In today’s scripture, the apostle Paul said that if he did not receive the grace of God, he would be treating His gift as insignificant. In the Amplified Bible, the first part of this verse says, “I do not treat God’s gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose. I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate the grace (unmerited favor) of God.” In other words, the grace of God is so awesome and so wonderful that we need to highly esteem it, deeply appreciate it and allow it to work in our lives.

I discovered years ago that every time I became frustrated, the reason was that I was trying to do something in my own strength instead of putting my faith in God and receiving His grace (help). I was frustrated and struggling with something most of the time in the early years of my walk with the Lord. Receiving a revelation of God’s grace was a major breakthrough for me. Prior to that, I was constantly trying to change myself, change other people, get something I wanted, or change some circumstance I did not like. I was extremely frustrated because none of my efforts ever produced good results.

Maybe now is a time when you need to embrace God’s grace in your life. He wants you to stop trying to do things in your own strength and simply rest in Him, trusting that He will handle everything in the best possible way. Our works of the flesh (us trying to do God’s job) will always produce frustration, but receiving grace (God’s power to do what needs to be done) always produces peace and joy.

God will not permit us to succeed in life without His help. If He did, we would take the credit that is due Him. Because He loves us, He wants to pour out His grace in our lives. When we receive it, we will be thankful, joyful and amazed by what He accomplishes on our behalf.

Love God Today: Have you been frustrating the grace of God that is available to you? Relax, receive it and let God’s grace do for you what you cannot do for yourself.