by Dona Hake
I am purposely and deliberately taking longer to share with you about God’s grace. I want you to be saturated with understanding how vital it is that we understand His grace. Today, I want to review the past four days of what I have shared.
We have looked at the question, “What is grace?”. We have learned the beautiful fact that it was here even before time began. Grace is freely given, none of us can work for it, nor do we deserve it. It is solely from the Spirit of God and it operates in us as it regenerates and strengthens our spirit. It is as we maintain a humble heart that we will always be vessels in which God’s grace can flow toward!
If one is proud they will not even consider their need for help from above. A proud person will not ask for grace from God. The proud in heart will always seek to do things their own way, and of course they will desire to take credit for all their accomplishments for these feeds the pride of anyone. I would like to share a scripture with you from 1 Peter 5:5. This is from the Amplified Bible…yes, it’s a bit wordy but read it slowly and allow it to minister to your heart. I promise you, it will!
1 Peter 5:5 Amplified Version
“Clothe (apron) yourselves, all of you, with humility [as the garb of a servant, so that its covering cannot possibly be stripped from you, with freedom from pride and arrogance] toward one another. For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)—[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.”
“Clothe (apron) yourselves, all of you, with humility [as the garb of a servant, so that its covering cannot possibly be stripped from you, with freedom from pride and arrogance] toward one another. For God sets Himself against the proud (the insolent, the overbearing, the disdainful, the presumptuous, the boastful)—[and He opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.”
Today I encourage you to “bundle up” in the garments of humility! It was 0 degrees this morning, and before I went out with my dog, I bundled up in layers. I dressed wisely for my own protection. I was trying to take a picture with my iPhone so I had to go without a glove on the hand I was holding the phone. I was not out even three minutes, and that hand began to burn from the freezing temperatures.
You see, you cannot play around with keeping yourself protected by using common sense and God given wisdom. So it is that we need to heed from all wisdom from above! Can we just think about how wise it is to “bundle up” in humility so that we can take a protective stand against any temptation that pride can bring? I do not know about you, but I want to be the vessel looking up at God’s greatness and be a recipient of His wonderful grace!