The Holy One calls to me early this morning. Darkness brings so many doubts into my mind. Winter is approaching and the chill creeps into my bones.
Death has left it's empty mark. Funny how the presence of things can seem like such a trial until the absence of the same things with the emptiness and loneliness kicks in. Sometimes silence can be louder than a rock band concert. Today is one of those days.
The Holy One is here. I know He will never leave me nor forsake me. Yet, He allows me these moments, hours and even longer sometimes, to open up the dark catacombs of thought that need His Light to heal.
"The age of Grace" has been on my mind as I look around and see life here on earth spinning out of control. People acting out their lusts for power and control. Millions of people walking wounded, scarred by an unseen enemy, in a battle they don't even know is raging. A battle for their very souls.
This "Age of Grace" bears a double edged sword. On one side we have been given the most outrageous opportunity to lay down our guilty lives. Guilty from the standard that Righteousness holds and guilty to receive the judgement and wrath of a Holy God.
If we reject the opportunity to have Christ and the Cross of Calvary as the place of judgement for our guilty lives, then we will face Holy judgement on the final "day" before an Almighty Sovereign God with absolutely no defense.
"Grace" is favor from God given or extended to man. What is there, that speaks of more favor than the acquittal of a guilty person on the basis that someone else took the blame and paid the ultimate price the guilty would otherwise have to pay?
Jesus, God in the flesh, in an act of total and unfathomable Grace, came and paid the ultimate price for you and me. Christ took all the wrath of Holiness and paid the penalty for all that our sin nature could conjure up and do. That is a fact and that is the basis of our faith.
The "Age of Grace" and God's favor brought a new Covenant between God and man. God has written it and signed it with the Blood of Jesus. But this new Covenant can be rejected and many do.
The other side of that double edged sword of Grace is that this life is the only time and place where we can enter into the new Covenant with Holiness, and accept His offering of favor. The "Age of Grace" in which we live brings total freedom. There is no awful personal judgment here like unto the judgement at the end of time or that which was experienced by Christ on the Cross.
Life can be hard or cruel but Holiness poured out all His wrath for sin on the Cross and on Jesus over 2000 years ago in earth time. Today each one of has the freedom to choose where we will spend eternity and whether we will choose to endure the wrath of a Holy God on our own merits, thus denying a need for a Savior.
The "Age of Grace" in which we find ourselves began when Jesus came to bring the Truth about God's love. He came and He loved. He fixed people's lives and the distorted perspective of God that had been twisted by evil. He call God, "Father". And He gave to those who will accept His death as a substitute for their own, the privilege to do the same.
The Bible says that there is no other name under Heaven by which we can be saved. Acts 4:12 There is only one way to God and that one way is through the death to sin that Jesus paid. Jesus and the Cross is the only access God Almighty as provided as the "Way" to Himself.
Many will say, "but I'm not all that bad". If we judge ourselves by ourselves or against the sin of others who are worse, that argument might seem viable to our own minds. However, the truth about "Grace" is that we desperately need God's favor because it is His standard of Holiness that we have violated.
"The Age of Grace" will come to a close one day. Our ability to receive it and act upon it will end. Most likely it will come as suddenly and unexpectedly as Jesus came into the world. The picture of that day is written in Rev 19:11, as the Rider on a white horse enters the scene.
The Holy Scriptures of prophecy shriek out the wrath of a Holy God and Divine judgement of sin not yet atoned for. Sin, as in wrong doing, (according to the standard of Holiness), lawlessness, rebellion and ultimate rejection of the only name by which we can be saved.
Grace begs the question, "From what are we saved?" What does God's favor really mean?
If we think that it means that a Holy God will wink at our sin, we would be wise to think again. Rev 19 describes the return of the Lord yet to come. His 2nd coming will not be as the "suffering Messiah" subject to the torture and power of men. No, no, no! His next appearance will be in power so great that none will be able to stand in His Presence or speak a word.
Rev 19 provides some stark visuals of that day. "With justice He judges and makes war". "His eyes are like blazing fire", "Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword", "He treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty". There will be no escape and no where to hide on that day.
While future ultimate judgment awaits us, the "Age of Grace" still provides a small grasp of what will be more heartbreaking than even physical death. It has been said, that the wrath of God in this "age" comes through His "slipping away". If we do not grab hold of Him now, we will not be able to grab hold of Him later.
The dark absence of the Light of life, will be a more profound penalty than physical death. I felt today, to a very small extent that loneliness brought on by the death of my husband of 31 years. His absence and my loneliness is real. However, that emotional hole is nothing compared to the darkness of a world and eternity without God.
Amazing Grace is ours for the taking.
The warmth of His love flows to me. The loneliness of my circumstances is cured and I am overwhelmed by the sense of His Presence.
By and through His amazing Grace, not only am I saved for all eternity from the wrath my sin deserves, but I am welcomed in the courtyard of His fellowship and love.
People and the love relationship we have with them may pass away from our temporal place and in each case we must deal with the hole in our heart that they leave. But we will never have to deal with losing relationship with the "Light of life", who is the Savior of our souls so long as we accept His "Amazing Grace".
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
Death has left it's empty mark. Funny how the presence of things can seem like such a trial until the absence of the same things with the emptiness and loneliness kicks in. Sometimes silence can be louder than a rock band concert. Today is one of those days.
The Holy One is here. I know He will never leave me nor forsake me. Yet, He allows me these moments, hours and even longer sometimes, to open up the dark catacombs of thought that need His Light to heal.
"The age of Grace" has been on my mind as I look around and see life here on earth spinning out of control. People acting out their lusts for power and control. Millions of people walking wounded, scarred by an unseen enemy, in a battle they don't even know is raging. A battle for their very souls.
This "Age of Grace" bears a double edged sword. On one side we have been given the most outrageous opportunity to lay down our guilty lives. Guilty from the standard that Righteousness holds and guilty to receive the judgement and wrath of a Holy God.
If we reject the opportunity to have Christ and the Cross of Calvary as the place of judgement for our guilty lives, then we will face Holy judgement on the final "day" before an Almighty Sovereign God with absolutely no defense.
"Grace" is favor from God given or extended to man. What is there, that speaks of more favor than the acquittal of a guilty person on the basis that someone else took the blame and paid the ultimate price the guilty would otherwise have to pay?
Jesus, God in the flesh, in an act of total and unfathomable Grace, came and paid the ultimate price for you and me. Christ took all the wrath of Holiness and paid the penalty for all that our sin nature could conjure up and do. That is a fact and that is the basis of our faith.
The "Age of Grace" and God's favor brought a new Covenant between God and man. God has written it and signed it with the Blood of Jesus. But this new Covenant can be rejected and many do.
The other side of that double edged sword of Grace is that this life is the only time and place where we can enter into the new Covenant with Holiness, and accept His offering of favor. The "Age of Grace" in which we live brings total freedom. There is no awful personal judgment here like unto the judgement at the end of time or that which was experienced by Christ on the Cross.
Life can be hard or cruel but Holiness poured out all His wrath for sin on the Cross and on Jesus over 2000 years ago in earth time. Today each one of has the freedom to choose where we will spend eternity and whether we will choose to endure the wrath of a Holy God on our own merits, thus denying a need for a Savior.
The "Age of Grace" in which we find ourselves began when Jesus came to bring the Truth about God's love. He came and He loved. He fixed people's lives and the distorted perspective of God that had been twisted by evil. He call God, "Father". And He gave to those who will accept His death as a substitute for their own, the privilege to do the same.
The Bible says that there is no other name under Heaven by which we can be saved. Acts 4:12 There is only one way to God and that one way is through the death to sin that Jesus paid. Jesus and the Cross is the only access God Almighty as provided as the "Way" to Himself.
Many will say, "but I'm not all that bad". If we judge ourselves by ourselves or against the sin of others who are worse, that argument might seem viable to our own minds. However, the truth about "Grace" is that we desperately need God's favor because it is His standard of Holiness that we have violated.
"The Age of Grace" will come to a close one day. Our ability to receive it and act upon it will end. Most likely it will come as suddenly and unexpectedly as Jesus came into the world. The picture of that day is written in Rev 19:11, as the Rider on a white horse enters the scene.
The Holy Scriptures of prophecy shriek out the wrath of a Holy God and Divine judgement of sin not yet atoned for. Sin, as in wrong doing, (according to the standard of Holiness), lawlessness, rebellion and ultimate rejection of the only name by which we can be saved.
Grace begs the question, "From what are we saved?" What does God's favor really mean?
If we think that it means that a Holy God will wink at our sin, we would be wise to think again. Rev 19 describes the return of the Lord yet to come. His 2nd coming will not be as the "suffering Messiah" subject to the torture and power of men. No, no, no! His next appearance will be in power so great that none will be able to stand in His Presence or speak a word.
Rev 19 provides some stark visuals of that day. "With justice He judges and makes war". "His eyes are like blazing fire", "Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword", "He treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty". There will be no escape and no where to hide on that day.
While future ultimate judgment awaits us, the "Age of Grace" still provides a small grasp of what will be more heartbreaking than even physical death. It has been said, that the wrath of God in this "age" comes through His "slipping away". If we do not grab hold of Him now, we will not be able to grab hold of Him later.
The dark absence of the Light of life, will be a more profound penalty than physical death. I felt today, to a very small extent that loneliness brought on by the death of my husband of 31 years. His absence and my loneliness is real. However, that emotional hole is nothing compared to the darkness of a world and eternity without God.
Amazing Grace is ours for the taking.
The warmth of His love flows to me. The loneliness of my circumstances is cured and I am overwhelmed by the sense of His Presence.
By and through His amazing Grace, not only am I saved for all eternity from the wrath my sin deserves, but I am welcomed in the courtyard of His fellowship and love.
People and the love relationship we have with them may pass away from our temporal place and in each case we must deal with the hole in our heart that they leave. But we will never have to deal with losing relationship with the "Light of life", who is the Savior of our souls so long as we accept His "Amazing Grace".
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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