The Grace of God

In the last lesson, we talked about the greatest benefit that grace brings us. That is the benefit of salvation that we have in Christ. That is,the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven with Him. There is no benefit as great and as good as this.

But by God’s grace, there are other benefits for us from God. Here, we are going to talk about some of them.

Look at Psalm 103:3, “He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.” (NLT)

What a great benefit. Christ is a healer and has the power and grace to heal us, physically and emotionally. I Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. By his wounds you are healed.” (NLT) The wounds that Christ received can bring us healing.

These two verses show that through Christ’s sacrifice there is not only forgiveness but also healing. What a great benefit. If you are sick, there is grace to heal you.

Another benefit is that Christ is a provider who supplies the needs of His people. If you are short on money or need a job, He can help you. Look at Philippians 4:19, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)

He has the grace to help you; you just need to ask for help. Even if things don’t look good, he can open a door of blessing to help you.

Another great benefit that God gives us by his grace is emotional strength and peace. He is the Prince of Peace, and he has peace and strength to help you.

Look at what Ephesians 2:14 says: “For Christ is our peace.” (NIV) In this time of great anxiety, He can give you peace.

There are many other benefits we have through grace, but we don’t have time to talk about all of them. It might be worthwhile to look up God’s promises in the Bible because they are true and are for us by His grace.

But let’s mention another great benefit that we sometimes forget. Look at what Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (NLT)

Through Christ we have access to the throne of God. And what is the name of this sublime, powerful, and glorious throne where God is? It is called the throne of grace. In other words, if you need grace, you only need to approach this throne through prayer, and you will receive the grace you need. What a blessing! You don’t have to go through all these problems or trials alone. You can receive grace and help from Him today. And we know that we have all this only because of God’s love and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, where He died so that we might all have this grace and these blessings today.

The apostle Paul knew and learned much about this grace of God. He said of himself in 1 Timothy 1:15 that he was the worst sinner. He persecuted the church before he became a Christian. And he understood that he was saved by the pure grace of God.

Look at what he wrote about grace in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. “Each time he said to me, “My grace is all you need; my power is best shown in weakness.” So now I am happy to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can act through me. ¹⁰ That is why I delight in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (NLT) In other words, Paul learned through many problems, persecutions, and weaknesses that he needed God’s grace, and he learned that this grace was sufficient to help and sustain him in everything. He took advantage of and depended so much on this grace that he said in 1 Corinthians 15:10, But by the grace of God I am what I am, and the grace he gave me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (NIV)

He did everything by grace. There is grace for your life and situation. All you need to do is approach this throne of grace and ask for help.