Are you struggling with drugs or alcohol? Grace is enough.
Are you struggling with porn? Grace is enough.
Are you struggling with overeating? Grace is enough.
Are you struggling with un-forgiveness? Grace is enough.
Are you struggling with pride or greed? Grace is enough.
Are you struggling with gossip? Grace is enough.
Are you struggling with fear? Grace is enough.
Are you struggling with rejection? Grace is enough.
Are you struggling with disease or lack? Grace is enough.
Are you struggling with brokenness? Grace is enough.
We are broken people, living in a broken world. Our brokenness manifests itself everyday, in a thousand different ways, and this troubles us because we know that there is only one way that leads to eternal life.
Grace is enough.
The Apostle Paul prayed three times, and asked Yeshua to remove a “thorn” that was in his flesh. Yeshua answered Paul, and told him that grace was enough. Yeshua did not remove the thorn from Paul’s flesh because it served as a constant reminder to him that he was a broken man, living in a broken world. This thorn caused this great man just enough pain to make him constantly aware of his lowly position before the Exalted Creator of the Universe. In other words, the thorn kept Paul humble and positioned to receive the grace that would develop his character.
Think about that for a moment. Yahweh’s Spirit inspired Paul to write most of the New Testament, but He allowed a painful thorn to remain in his flesh to develop his character. Yahweh did not put the thorn in Paul’s flesh, but He used that thorn to develop Paul’s character in order to equip him to fulfill his purpose in the Kingdom.
Paul wanted Yahweh to remove the thorn, but grace was enough.
I have thorns in my flesh. Over the years, I have asked Yeshua to remove these thorns. As I have matured spiritually, Yeshua has removed some of the thorns. However, some of the thorns are still embedded deep in my flesh, and they continue to cause me a lot of pain. I do not like the struggle, pain, and brokenness that these thorns cause, but grace is enough.
How about you? Do you have a thorn in your flesh that is causing you a lot of pain? Does this thorn constantly remind you that you are a broken human being, who is living in a broken world? Does this thorn keep you dependent on Yahweh’s grace? Is Yahweh allowing this thorn to remain in your flesh so that He can mature you and change your character in order to equip you to fulfill your purpose in the Kingdom?
Grace is enough.
Yeshua is our Great High Priest. Our Great High Priest entered into the Temple in Heaven, and placed His blood on the altar in order to pay for all our sins. Yeshua sat down at the right hand of the Father where He now intercedes for each of us.
Yeshua sent His Spirit to live in the bodies of those who put their faith in Him. When we believe in our heart that Yeshua died for our sins on the execution stake, and, three days later, rose from the dead, and we confess Him as Lord, He saves us.
At that moment, Yeshua’s Spirit enters our body and becomes one with our spirit. Everything Yeshua is, we are. Everything Yeshua has, we have. It is finished! Yeshua makes us whole and complete. In Christ, we are righteous and holy.
In Him, we, (our spirits) are perfect, righteous, holy, whole and complete, but we (our spirits) live in broken bodies in a broken world with broken people. We strive to walk in the Spirit and manifest perfection, but, all too often, we end up walking in the flesh and manifesting our brokenness and adding to the brokenness of the world. This is painful because we know who we really are…we are sons and daughters of Yahweh, who sometimes act like Satan’s children.
Grace is enough.
Grace is the forgiveness and mercy that we do not deserve. Grace channels Yahweh’s goodness and blessings to broken humans, who live in a broken world. Grace inspires us to strive to manifest perfection, but covers us when we end up manifesting our brokenness and adding to the brokenness of the world. Grace matures us and develops our character as we struggle with the thorns in our flesh.
Are you struggling today? Is there a painful thorn in your flesh that you have asked the Lord to remove many times, and He hasn’t? Welcome to the club. When you were born from above, you were born into the Character Development Club. Character is not imparted by the laying on of hands, character is developed, as we wrestle with Yeshua, and plead with Him to bless us by removing the painful thorns from our flesh, while applying the salve of His grace to ease the pain.
Grace is enough.
Yahweh wants you to mature spiritually so that you can fulfill your role in His eternal Kingdom. Consequently, Yahweh is more concerned with your character, than He is your comfort. Comfort (the lack of worldly struggle and pain) is temporary, but the character that is forged, as your perfect spirit rightly interacts with the struggle and pain, which is caused by him living in a broken body, on a broken planet, with broken people, is eternal.
Make no mistake. Character development is a painful, time-consuming business. It is painful to be a perfect creature, who lives in a broken body, in a broken world with broken people. It is painful to grow up spiritually.
Grace is enough.
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