PATH OF GRACE

1. As 2023 fades away, God’s thoughts are with you to  lead you into the PATH OF GRACE and establish you in His PEACE, “For I know the THOUGHTS that I think TOWARD YOU, saith the LORD, THOUGHT OF PEACE, and not of evil, to give you an EXPECTED END” [Jeremiah 29:11] This year may not have gone the way you desired, that does not change God’s PLAN for you; His THOUGHTS of you are of PEACE to bring you to an EXPECTED END that is beyond human imagination, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the THINGS WHICH GOD HATH PREPARED FOR THEM THAT LOVE HIM” [I Corinthians 2:9] God has an EXPECTED END here and hereafter, if only you will LOVE HIM and embrace His GRACE. How does a man embrace GRACE or LOVE God who is OMNIPRESENT yet INVISIBLE? The answer is simple yet a MYSTERY; God was manifest to us in Jesus Christ, “To wit, that GOD WAS IN CHRIST, RECONCILING THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELF, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” [2 Corinthians 5:19] PATH OF GRACE is a mystery revealed in due season, “Even the MYSTERY which hath been HID FROM AGES and from generations, but now is made MANIFEST TO HIS SAINTS” [Colossians 1:26]
2. As we ponder the pains and successes of the outgoing year, remember, “So then it is not of him that WILLETH, nor of him that RUNNETH, but of GOD THAT SHOWETH MERCY” [Romans 9:16] God’s MECRY preserved you and I while some lost their lives to COVI9-19, war, terror, poverty, plane crash and many more, for the benefit of His unfailing GRACE. You and I are not alive because we are smart or pray more than others, “It is of the LORD'S MERCIES THAT WE ARE NOT CONSUMED, because his COMPASSIONS fail not” [Lamentations 3:22] The nearest comparison of MERCY is a mother’s love for her child; we all came from God who fashioned us in His own likeness and desired above all that we should be HOLY even as He, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” [Ephesians 1:4] No sooner we came out of God man fell into error and through SIN enslaved to Satan. The afflictions we daily experience are the unripe fruits of SIN; we pray to God in all languages of the world to God to deliver us from consequences of SIN but things go from bad to worse because we refuse to tow the PATH OF GRACE, “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” [Isaiah 59:1-2]
3. As we review the old year, let us also examine our WAYS, “There is a WAY THAT SEEMETH RIGHT unto a man, but the end thereof are the WAYS OF DEATH” [Proverbs 14:12] If you always had it your own WAY, you may experience some material successes and live to old age in good health, your SOUL ishall receive full wages of SIN, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and LOSE HIS OWN SOUL? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” [Matthew 16:26] Your SOUL is the real YOU, this BODY is a temporary vehicle; whatsoever you gather with this BODY will not go with you past your last breathe, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For WE BROUGHT NOTHING INTO THIS WORLD, and it is certain WE CAN CARRY NOTHING OUT” [1 Timoth 6:6-7] Friend, permit God to show you the PATH OF LIFE brokered by GRACE; path of JOY and PLEASURES in a world overtaken by distress, as it is written: “Thou wilt shew me the PATH OF LIFE: in thy presence is fulness of JOY; at thy right hand there are PLEASURE for EVERMORE” [Psalms 16:11] As you may well know, HAPPINESS is not the same as JOY, the former responds to external stimuli and the latter, as wells not dug with human hands saturate those who BELIEVE in Jesus Christ with the LIFE of God, “He that BELIEVETH ON ME, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow RIVERS OF LIVING WATERS. (But this spake he of the SPIRIT, which they that believe on him should receive: … )” [John 7:38-39]
4. As we watch with bated breathe, the world staggers from disaster to calamity, prophecy is fulfilled with unerring accuracy, “MEN’S HEARTS FAILING THEM FOR FEAR, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the POWRS OF HEAVEN SHALL BE SHAKEN” [Luke 21:26] This generation bears uncanny resemblance to the days of Noah, as it is written: “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. … But NOAH FOUND GRACE in the eyes of the LORD” [Genesis 6:5-8] You are preserved not of your own strength, God’s MERCY kept you that you might receive GRACE passed to us in Jesus Christ, “For the GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGETH SALVATION hath APPEARED TO ALL MEN. Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious APPEARING OF THE GREAT GOD and our Saviour JESUS CHRIST;” [Titus 2:11-13] Everything happening around us point to imminent appearance of Christ and translation of His Church, “For the MYSTERY OF INIQUITY doth already work: only HE WHO NOW LETTETH WILL LET, UNTIL HE BETAKEN OUT OF THE WAY. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, …” [2 Thessalonians 2:7-8] Receive GRACE today to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, tomorrow may be too late. The Church will be gone in the twinkling of an eye, door of GRACE slammed shut and the WICKED ONE, Satan incarnate shall have his season.