Day 114 "Grace means, I Need Do Nothing For God. He Did It All!"

A full tank. Nothing lacking. Completely justified. Completely accepted. Completely holy. Completely sinless. Completely loved. Completely reconciled to God. Completely God's child. Completely spiritually blessed. Completely fearless. Completely free to live life in each and every moment. God did it all. I did nothing. That is grace!

"Grace" is unmerited, unearned favor.

A heart-felt, soul grasping understanding and acknowledgement of grace changes everything for our lives.

To help understand the concept of grace, I invite you to read and meditate on the words of Ni Tuosheng, better known throughout the Christian world as Watchman Nee. Nee was a spiritual leader and planter of churches in China during the 20th century. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prison under the Communist regime and died behind bars. To the world, Watchman Nee died imprisoned. But if you were to ask Nee, himself, he would say that he died totally free.

Watchman Nee's conversion:

In the spring of 1920, when Nee was 17, Dora Yu was invited to hold ten days of revival meetings in the Church of Heavenly Peace in Fazhou. After Nee's mother attended these meetings, she was moved to apologize to her son for a previous incident of unjust punishment. Her action impressed Nee so much that he determined to attend the next day's evangelistic meetings to see what was taking place there. After returning from the meeting, according to Nee's own account:

On the evening of 28th April, 1920, I was alone in my room, struggling to decide whether or not to believe in the Lord. At first I was reluctant but as I tried to pray I saw the magnitude of my sins and the reality and efficacy of Jesus as the Savior. As I visualized the Lord's hands stretched out on the cross, they seemed to be welcoming me, and the Lord was saying, "I am waiting here to receive you." Realizing the effectiveness of Christ's blood in cleansing my sins and being overwhelmed by such love, I accepted him there. Previously I had laughed at people who had accepted Jesus, but that evening the experience became real for me and I wept and confessed my sins, seeking the Lord's forgiveness. As I made my first prayer I knew joy and peace such as I had never known before. Light seemed to flood the room and I said to the Lord, "Oh, Lord, you have indeed been gracious to me." — Watchman Nee, Watchman Nee's Testimony.

Watchman Nee's understanding of "grace":

Grace means that God does something for me; law means that I do something for

God. God has certain holy and righteous demands which He places upon me: that is law. Now if law means that God requires something of me for their fulfillment, then deliverance from law means that He no longer requires that from me, but he himself provides it. Law implies that God requires me to do something for Him; deliverance from law implies that He exempts me from doing it, and that in grace He does it Himself. I need to nothing for God: that is deliverance from the law.

Watchman Nee's point is that God did it all! That is grace!

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us

alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves,

it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

If God has done everything for us, then what is left for our own actions to complete? Absolutely and categorically, NOTHING! So, freed from any requirement of action on our parts, what now is left to the meaning of any of our actions? Our actions, what we do with our lives, is now a matter of a heartfelt response to what God has done for us. The have to's have been forever replaced by the want to's.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." Romans 12:1

God gave his one and only Son as a gift to us out of his love and grace. What we do with our lives is our gift back to God.

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"Grace Changes Everything!"

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Ephesians 5:1-2

In his love, see you, again, tomorrow....

"Carpe Momentum in Love" (Seize the moment in love)