Full Grace
Luke 2:36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the
daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had
lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; 37 And she was a widow of
about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served
God with fastings and prayers night and day.
This portion of text begins with Joseph and Mary presenting
Jesus at the temple as required by law.
They were extremely poor and offered a sacrifice of two turtledoves
which was the least possible offering for a male child that opened the
womb. They were met first by Simeon, an
elderly man who God had promised would see the Messiah. He was the first witness. Scripture says that in the face of two or
three witnesses let every word be established (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15; Matthew
18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28).
The next witness was a prophetess. I’ve often heard people say they want God to
use them in ministry but then they run off or quit when things become too hard,
confusing or painful. No ministry comes
without pain. No ministry comes without
trials. I can well imagine Anna being a
special woman who knew God’s will and did her best to live it. Like most women of her day she married and
submitted to her husband until his untimely death after only seven years.
God said that a woman shouldn’t be accepted as a widow and
supported by the church until she was at least 60 years old because she would
cease pressing into the things of God and seek a husband (1 Timothy
10:9-12). In spite of this prohibition
Anna pressed into ministry from her mid twenties and never looked back. For her great sacrifice God blessed her with
a strong prophetic gift. When you want
to be used for great things in Christ, don’t expect the path to be a smooth
one. Anointings come in many levels and
every level has its own valley to cross and mountain to climb. Great ministries have come through great
sacrifices. Can you stand to pay the
price?
Luke 2:38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks
likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption
in Jerusalem.
The INSTANT Simeon offered his prophet word to Mary about
the things she would suffer as the mother of our Lord, Anna appeared and began
to prophesy of the blessing given to all who look for redemption. One thing is certain; when you follow God and
submit to His leading in all things, you will never be out of time or miss the
mark. You will be instant, in season and
out of season. Your words will be on
time and timely.
Luke 2:39 And when they had performed all things
according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city
Nazareth. 40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with
wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
Luke always mentions the human aspect of our Lord’s birth
and life. He fails to mention that
Joseph and Mary had to take a significant detour into Egypt to escape the
madness of Herod when he tried to kill every child under the age of two. He thought he could kill the God given King
of Israel as an infant. God had already
made arrangements for his protection hundreds of years earlier (Hosea 11:1,
Matthew 2:7-15).
Notice verse 40 above…
“…waxed strong in spirit, FILLED with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.” Your spirit does not remain the same unless
you neglect it. If you feed it the Word,
water it with prayers and exercise it with acts of faith your spirit will grow
to be much larger than the body that carries it about. You will walk into situations that would
cause great men to quake in their boots and instead others will give way to you
(John 18:4-8). You might say after
reading this passage in John, “But He was Jesus.” Jesus said, “And I say
unto you that greater things than these shall ye do because I go to the Father
(John 14:12, 28).” When that grace
abounds in you and your spirit waxes strong YOU WILL, “…run through a troop and
leap over a wall (2 Samuel 22:30; Psalms 18:29).”
Grace and Truth
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)
full of grace and truth.
Grace alone is not enough.
Grace is unmerited favor. Without
truth your grace can be seen as an opportunity to sin without reproach or
punishment. That is a false attitude
that many uneducated men and women fall into.
They are ignorant of God’s Word and only understand enough to get
themselves into trouble. This attitude
of belief that God will ultimately allow everyone into heaven because He loves
us to much to send us to Hell has been gaining ground lately. It is false.
Whatever is false is against truth.
The glory of Jesus is contained in His grace AND truth.
What is truth? Truth
is the absence of lies. Hundreds of
years ago religious leaders refused to allow scientists to perform experiments
or explore theories that could refute the Bible if proved. These well meaning men of God denied truth
the opportunity to prove itself because they feared its failure in the light of
scientific fact. I don’t know what I
would have done back then but one thing I do know; evolution has been PROVEN to
be false. Spontaneous self-genesis of
our species has been PROVEN to be false.
The problem is that scientists today have taken a page from
ancient religious leaders and have threatened the professional lives of any
scientists who will not tow the line in THEIR religion called science. God is not afraid of the truth, in fact he
has blatantly stated that “The heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm
19).” He isn’t speaking of how pretty
the stars are when you look up. He is
saying that if you will examine the stars and heavens with your science and not
approach it with self-deluded attitudes, the heavens themselves will declare
God to be real.
John 1:15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying,
This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me:
for he was before me. 16 And of his fullness have all we received, and grace
for grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ.
I love verse 17.
Verse 15-16 let us know that Jesus has brought everything we need for
our lives and specifically grace, God’s unmerited favor. Let us not ever doubt how wonderful it is to
be able to walk in God’s favor. I find
it exciting to know that in spite of my weaknesses and flaws, I will ultimately
die a success if I surrender to God because His favor is upon me. That is wonderful.
The reason I love verse 17 is that we always say that we are
in a dispensation of grace but I disagree.
I believe we are in a dispensation of grace AND truth. Because of that God has waited for nearly
2000 years so our scientific abilities will increase to the level that we will
have no excuse for missing His handiwork in the heavens. Grace has carried us along this far, but
scientific, social and economical Biblical and spiritual truths will always show
themselves to be superior to all the so-called wise men in leadership and
colleges today. The foolishness of God
is much greater than the wisdom of man.
The only way for science to prove God is a lie is for
scientists to be sold out to the lie and the devil. There is not an honest and forthright
scientist out there who will ultimately fail to believe in God because God has
promised wisdom to all who seek the truth.
In ten years, science will have increased to the point where the truth
of God will be available to any who are willing to accept the scientific truth. Even then, they will probably still teach
evolution and other false theories in schools because they do not want to
accept anything but their own lie (Romans 1:18-32). How sad; to have the truth in your hands and
still to suck up to a lie for the sake of your job or tenure.
Great Grace
Acts 4:33 AMP And with great strength and ability and
power the apostles delivered their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus, and great grace (loving- kindness and favor and goodwill) rested richly
upon them all
There is something wonderful about walking under the
anointing of God. It requires you to
shut down your own abilities and to embrace God’s. The touch is at once empowering and
exhausting. Most men and women who
preach under a heavy anointing have a physical crash afterwards. I have experienced it in myself and have seen
it in others; even those who operate under an extraordinary anointing.
The Grace of God abounds in our lives through Christ
Jesus. That grace empowers us and lifts
us above petty concerns. We know who we
are and whose we are and it is enough and more.
Let grace abide richly upon you and learn to walk and abide in it. Keep your message according to the Word of
God and remember that God expects it to be undiluted and true. If you preach the gospel of finance you might
get finances and if you preach the gospel of strength, you might get strong; but
if you preach the gospel of the Grace of God in Christ Jesus then you will walk
in the favor and blessings of Almighty God.
Develop great grace beloved.
Bishop J
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