HOW ARE WE SAVED BY GRACE ? God has acted graciously toward us in Christ entirely apart from human merit. In Rom. 5:8;God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Eph.2:8-9; makes this point very clear; For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not as a result of works, that no one should boast. These show that our salvation was unmerited but God gave it as a gift to us graciously. What a caring and loving Father. We owe Him our all. But, what is saving by grace, how, and why ? There is no better way to explain than my personal testimony. MY TESTIMONY. Two years before becoming a church goer, I attended a baby naming ceremony where the officiating pastor was being assisted by his church elder who was continually speaking in a strange language (tongues). The constant tongue speaking got on my nerves to the extent that I publicly ridiculed him and left the room to wait outside. My friends and I laughed and made mockery of the elder outside. Two years later, I was invited to a funeral thankgiving service at The Apostles Continuation Church International in Montreal, Canada. I was so touched by the Word of God that day so much that I responded to the Altar Call. For ten years as a member of this Church,The Apostles Continuation Church Intl. Montreal 378 Cremazie E., Montreal, Que., Canada. Tel. 514-654-6178. I struggled with the guilt of my mockery of the elder at the naming ceremony. It continued to haunt me no matter how much I prayed for forgiveness. I earnestly desired the Spirit of Tongues to no avail.I fasted frequently, prayed day and night; pastors upon pastors prayed for and with me, but all to no avail. I led a life I considered righteous before God but still did not qualify me to receive the Spirit of Tongues which had become an obsession for me. All my good works could not help me even though new converts come and within a week or two, some receive the Holy Spirits touch. All my good works could not help me all those ten years. Then, one day I got hold of a booklet, LIFE BOOK by David Shibley, which threw more light on how to enter into a relationship with God and receiving Gods gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. It made it clear to me that I needed to declare and receive Jesus Christ as my savior and make Him Lord over my life. The booklet made me understand that I needed to renounce any attempt to be saved by my own good actions and rely completely on the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as the only payment for sin God accepts. I then used the foregoing as my prayer points at the basement of my shop, (Not even Church premises) and started praying for Holy Ghost Baptism earnestly, and also started mentioning the name of JESUS repeatedly, and all of a sudden, IT HAPPENED. Out of the blues I started speaking in tongues and for close to FORTY-FIVE minutes I could not stop. What an awesome God we serve. God showed me mercy by forgiving my sin of blasphemy against the church elder by withholding the punishment I deserved and went further by extending grace to me by pouring out His Holy Spirit upon me as a gift which I did not deserve. All my good works and efforts could not save me but Gods grace(unmerited favour) saved me. Gods grace does not stop. Even though it took me ten years to receice Holy Ghost Baptism, within one year of speaking in tongues, my Spirit language changed four times, to the glory of Jesus. This is how an unbeliever who did not believe in the gift of speaking in tongues became so obsessed with the desire for the Spirit of Tongues and eventually got rescued and saved by Gods grace. My testimony here is what it means to be saved by grace. This initial salvation is not the end of Gods plans for your life; its just the beginning. Our past guilt led to present grace and by that grace we are saved, and yet a future glory awaits in heaven. After this initiation into salvation by grace, Ephesians 2:10 takes over; God has chosen you, called you, saved you, and has a plan for you. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. From the point of salvation as a believer, the rest of your life is GOOD WORKS. We now know that even though salvation is not of works but grace; were saved to WORK. The hardest part of Christianity is good works. This is the chore of the GOSPEL. Good works is obeying the commands of Jesus as He obeyed the commands of His Father. Yet, we do not have a choice as true believers in Christ to obey Christ. As mere mortals, were inhibited and so let us be thankful to God for our salvation and pray for the empowerment of the ever faithful Holy Spirit to live a righteous life to be worthy of His glorious name, JESUS. We cannot hide our sins or pretend before the throne of Grace. each mans work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it.1 Cor.3:13. Beloved in Christ; let us not be tired of doing the bidding of the gracious Father, for, God is good all the time. Receive Gods favour today to abide in you always, in Jesus name; Can I have an AMEM?
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 15:49:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015