grace – Page 3 – Gospel Minutes for Everyday Missionaries

May 12, 2012May 31, 2012

His grace is enough

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I have currently been dwelling on a passage these past two months. I find such an amazing joy when God brings it to mind. Lately, He has been bringing it up rather frequently; at the men’s retreat, in worship, conversations, lessons, and sermons. Of course, He knows it takes a few times for me to be told in order for it to really sink in.

In 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 God tells Paul, after he asked God a few times to take a thorn from his flesh, that “My grace is all you need.” How extremely powerful! To know that I’m capable of nothing without Him; that my faults are not limiting what God can do through me. In fact, God goes on to say that “My power works best in weakness.”

I am now beginning to learn the lesson and understand what Paul figured out: “…to boast in my weaknesses; knowing the power of Christ CAN work through me.” This means I need to learn how to not only “take pleasure in the insults”, but the “hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ,” as well as “For when I’m weak, then I’m strong.”

So my prayer is that God will make me weak so that He can be my strength and continue to use me however He wills.

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April 18, 2012May 31, 2012

Grace, grace, incredible grace

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by Dan Amos

A few years ago, I was walking to church and passed by a small classical Greek-type statue thrown from a vehicle. I kept walking but the statue’s head caught my attention and I had to turn around and pick it up. I had been thinking about the direction life seemed to be taking and the debris of a replica statue from a failed civilization was something I couldn’t just pass by. It was a year or so later that I was given the opportunity to take an extended, unpaid vacation. I felt my change coming; surely that civilization felt change coming, too.

Now, I feel the change at Elim as we grow in numbers. Things are different and that can be unsettling. There are more new people than I can get to know. I think it is great that there are so many people coming together to worship and work out our faith together in community, but the social side of me wants to get to know everyone and I can’t. (Read more about church growth stress.)

I also sense issues percolating beneath the surface that need to be addressed. The difficulty is they often don’t appear until someone is frustrated to the point of giving up. This is where we can help each other cope with the change. The first step to resolving an issue is in knowing the issue exists. Tell someone who can make a change or point you to that person.

But the most important thing is grace, lots and lots of grace, both given and received. In the “Love and Respect” seminar, the speaker asserts in most cases our spouse is “a good-willed person” and good-willed people can still try one’s patience. As we grow and change, most of our frustrations are going to be caused by good-willed people and with communication and grace we’ll get through this and thrive. I am always thankful for the grace extended to me by my Elim family. It is desperately needed!

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September 19, 2011June 1, 2012

Spinning out of control

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by Jeff Foerster

Wings spread wide. Whirling and swirling. Nothing within grasp. Three choices were before me: Do nothing and watch. Hasten its demise. Save. I reached down and the moth pressed into me as it made another rotation in the water. I lifted it from its watery mess.

I don’t know exactly what incited me to keep this tiny creature, whose relatives I have quite frankly often viewed as pests, from drowning. I placed it on dry ground and watched as it stretched each weary leg slowly outward and away from the churning water. On its own it would not have ended well.

That’s when it hit me – no, not the moth. It was Jesus. I realized I had been the one twirling to and fro, grasping at many things, but securing nothing. But God reached down, gently, until I pressed into Him. He lifted me from the mess.

Think back to what your life was like before Jesus. Thank Him. Praise Him. Recall and recount the ways He has changed you. He is not through with you, and no one is beyond His reach.

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