Grace...

I've been pretty bad lately. Not focused and fairly distracted (or so I feel). Some of my actions, attitudes and words have reflected this (in my perspective). God really used yesterday's sermon to raise questions about what grace really means and how to practically go about applying this to everyday life. Morning devos (my utmost for His highest) also challenged me about grace and what it means to live in the "NOW" and not "later..."

There's been so many things in my mind lately (personal, work-related, family, friends, future, etc.) and it's been really difficult to sort through things and circumstances that come my way. Wow... it's so crazy to know that I still desire control and this seems to show more when I'm faced with situations head-on. Ugh! Frustrating to know there's still such a long way to go... God has been bringing some amazing and Godly people into my life and I'm ever so grateful and thankful for each one... These days, I've been putting prayer, alone-time and other reflective actions on hold so that I can do it while in Indonesia. I keep telling myself that I have no time to think about things now; I have no time to address some issues about my future now; I have no time to decide on some personal matters now; and so on and so forth... Funny how God reminds us that the time is NOW. Not later. NOW.

The grace you had yesterday will not do for today. Grace is the overflowing favour of God; you can always reckon it is there to draw upon. "In much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses" -- that is where the test for patience comes. Are you failing the grace of God there? Are you saying -- Oh well, I won't count this time? It is not a question of praying and asking God to help you; it is taking the grace of God now. We make prayer the preparation for work, it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. Don't say -- I will endure this until I can get away and pray. Pray now; draw on the grace of God in the moment of need. Prayer is the most practical thing, it is not the reflex action of devotion. Prayer is the last thing in which we learn to draw on God's grace. "In stripes, in imprisonment, in tumults, in labours" -- in all these things manifest a drawing upon the grace of God that will make you a marvel to yourself and to others. Draw now, not presently. The one word in the spiritual vocabulary is NOW. Let circumstances bring you where they will, keep drawing on the grace of God in every conceivable condition you may be in. One of the greatest proofs that you are drawing on the grace of God is that you can be humiliated without manifesting the slightest trace of anything but His grace. "Having nothing..." Never reserve anything. Pour out the best you have, and always be poor. Never be diplomatic and careful about the treasure God gives. This is poverty triumphant.