Grace-Filled Life (2 Corinthians 9:8), by Rev Alexander Faranpojo
Bible Text: 2 Corinthians 9:8 (Amplified Classic)
“And God is able to make all grace (every favour and [a]earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need [b]be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].”
A grace made life will always be superior to a self-made life. Our definition of a life well spent if not qualified by grace is self-made and hard work. There are men who work hard but a grace made life is easier and better. There are people who work like an elephant and eat like an ant and there are people who work like an elephant and eat like an elephant. You need to make sure that your substance or testimony is not because you worked hard but because you enjoyed grace.
1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace (the unmerited favour and blessing) of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not [found to be] for nothing (fruitless and without effect). In fact, I worked harder than all of them [the apostles], though it was not really I, but the grace (the unmerited favour and blessing) of God which was with me.”
When you declare a life of progress, the testimony should be God owned. “Although we worked but the result is more than commensurate with the result generated. I pray that your testimony will be grace made.
A grace made-life is better than a self-made life. There is a need to draw our definition of success and progress from grace. A grace made life defiles explanation and is full of miracles. When you can explain it by what you did or didn’t do it is no longer a miracle.
There are people who make so much progress with a self-made life. For example the story of the tower of Babel in the Bible (Gen. 11). The people gathered together in harmony and probably employed the experts in construction; they almost reached Heaven. Gen. 11: 5-8(AMPC)
“And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people and they have [a]all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do, and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confound (mix up, confuse) their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from that place upon the face of the whole earth, and they gave up building the city”.
God was not in the agenda of the building so they could not accomplish it. So many people are building everything well but there is no God in it. Such building or life is not grace filled and it is incomplete. It is never late to do the right thing.
I once heard a testimony of father in the Lord who at the beginning of his ministry had prepared to start in a particular location. After he had been anointed by other men of God in the ministry; he went back to pray and God told him that was not the location, even with all the preparations that had been done he had to change plans.
Moses declared in Exodus 33:15 “If your presence will not go with us, do not lead us from here…..”
You cannot be headed in the wrong direction and ask for grace. It is never too late to run in the right direction. Meanwhile, that someone is well dressed does not mean God is very well pleased with them. This applies to making decisions of marriage and other contractual relationships. Do not make decisions with your carnal mind, let God lead you. The fact that a guy is handsome and dresses decently doesn’t mean he is not ‘boxer’. That he speaks fluently and rich; doesn’t mean he is not dangerous. Always ask God. That you dare to ask, Lord God Almighty is committed to answer you.
You need to find out what a God-made life entails. How God does wants to help us to live gracefully.
Firstly, the Bible text 2 Corinthains 9:8 helps us to understand that “all grace is made available”; not just one but all. Some people are enjoying ‘mono-grace’. There are people who have the grace to be a good wife (husband) but do not have the grace to be mothers (fathers). There are good Pastors whose wife thinks differently of them as a husband.
So how can we enjoy grace?
There are various grace that are beneficial to us as individuals. These are the kind of grace that has been given to selected or appointed people to meet us at the varying point of our needs.
Evangelical grace: This given and we enjoy this through people who took their time to bless us with the word, sow the seeds of the kingdom which finally germinated and became heirs of the kingdom. At various point in time we have enjoyed this grace either as a beneficiary or as a tool to benefit someone else.
Pastoral grace: This kind of grace is special. These are people who teach with love. They are there to help you, patient to listen to your worries and guide you with the word of God
Prophetic grace:
The prophetic grace is the one that I am particular about. These are people that have the supernatural enablement to get answers quickly from God. There are Men of God who pray and receive answers immediately. Sometimes all you need is the right prophet; this is not to say that I despise diligence but you can be sincerely wrong. There might just be a side of you that you are overlooking; if concentrated on will yield the maximum result.
An example of a Prophet is Elijah, the Bible (1Kings 17:11-13) tells us the story of Elijah and the Alabaster oil woman and her son. She had nothing left but small flour and oil to make cake and eat with the thought of death afterwards but when they came in contact with Prophet Elijah, their story changed.
There are prophets around you. God has placed people around you who are there to bless you with words that would change your life. Jesus was once found at a party and he performed a miracle of turning water to wine.
Your man of God is also your prophet because as your Pastor, he has a responsibility. He might annoy you but ignore it do not let the devil take away your joy. Whatever he tells you to do, do it. Your perspectives must not constrain God; your fixations must not constrain what God wants to do in your life. Place value on the anointing and get a grace-filled result. One of the grace you should never ignore is the Prophetic grace.
I pray that you enjoy all grace that has been given to you in Jesus Christ.
The sermon, Grace-Filled Life (2 Corinthians 9:8), by Rev Alexander Faranpojo, Virtues Christian Centre, Lagos Nigeria was delivered on March 4, 2018.