24 Jan Lean on His Abundant Grace by Dr Mike Okonkwo
Dearly beloved, in-spite of the contrary news about the global economy filtering through the news media on a daily basis, I come to encourage you to lean on God’s abundant grace and mercy. Like I have taught over and over again, your real strength is that grace will work for you and not the socio-economic postulations and theories of men. If you take a look at what is happening around, you will see that everything is spiraling downwards; and that is because the best of men are still men. No matter how brilliant and sincere they are, they are still men because they are subject to limitations.
The Bible in Rom 5:17 says “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)” {KJV} If I will put that in my own words, it means you have received so much grace that nothing is powerful enough to pluck you out of His Hands. It also means that you have been wired to rule and reign here on earth in-spite of the prevailing challenges. It means that there is nothing you can do to fall out of God’s favor. You are secure in His Hands, without guilt or condemnation. In addition, when He looks at you, He sees you in Christ. He does not see your own obedience but sees you through the obedience of Christ. What a privilege! That should make you come boldly daily to the throne room of grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Beloved, stop struggling, stop fretting and just lean on the grace of God.
Let me remind you that Grace is God giving to you what you did not deserve, nor qualify for, just like your salvation which was not your idea. Remember that it was He who knew no sin that became sin that you may become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It was His decision to die, and while we all were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. Consequently, the grace of God reached out to you when you did not deserve it. Your labor, self -efforts, struggles couldn’t get it and yet He just made up His mind and said I am coming after you. In other words God took a decision to save you and love you unconditionally. Your assignment therefore is to believe and receive the grace that has been freely given to you. Stand back and watch the grace of God take you beyond your wildest imagination.
Let me illustrate this a bit. It was grace and mercy that went ahead of Esther to that foreign land and caused Vashti the incumbent queen to make a mistake. Queen Vashti made a mistake because God was preparing a place for Esther in a strange land. When Esther stood before the king, she was not as beautifully dressed and adorned like the other contestants, but grace made a way for her. She found favor before the king and she became his queen. She became royalty immediately even though she was coming from a poor background. That is what grace can do for you. Grace takes you from the back to the front. It is not about your abilities or self-effort, but it is all about grace. When you lean on grace, you break protocol and human barriers.
Child of God, don’t ever be discouraged about the happenings and events around you. Like I have always said and it bears repetition, this is the best time for God to reveal Himself in the lives of His elects. If God was to manifest Himself when everything is working well, people will explain it off, so He waits for a time when men no longer have the answers, to reveal His glory through His people. That is why the Apostle Paul says you should hold fast to the profession of your faith. In other words, hold on to what you have believed and don’t allow circumstances derail you. Things might look tough, just hold on fast. They may look like they would never work, lean on His grace and He will see you through. I charge you according to the words of Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 2:1 which says ‘’…Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Function in the grace that you have received. Work in that grace. Live in that grace. Allow that grace sustain you, go to bed and stop the struggle.
God is waiting on you to enjoy what He had already made available to you in Christ Jesus. He has it all figured out. Before the challenges you see today came on the scene, God already had the answers. As you go through this month, I declare that grace will make a way for you. You will not labor for trouble. You will not be stranded. God will bless you and cause you to have sufficiency in all things. I look forward to seeing you at the top because: YOU WILL GET THERE in Jesus’ name. Maranatha!
In His Royal Service
Dr. Mike Okonkwo, The Presiding Bishop
No Comments