GRACE

FOR THE ABUNDANT LIFE
2 PETER 1.2

Grace and peace be yours in abundancethrough the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Grace is the work of God to empower His promises and purposes for those who believe and follow Him through this life into His Eternal Kingdom.

God's faithfulness is the basis of our confidence. Phil. 1.6

Our obedience is the basis of God's working out His promises and purposes--Phil. 1.12-13.

Our work is revealed to us and accomplished by prayerful meditation of Scripture--Joshua 1.8-9; Psalm 1.2-3; Psalm 19; Psalm 119; John 8.31-32; John 14.21-23; John 15.3, 7; 2 Timothy 2.15; 2 Timothy3.16-17; Colossians 1.5-7; Provers 2.4.8,9; and many, many more.

The process of "prayerful meditation" is outlined by Jesus in Luke 11.9-13:

ASK--SEEK--KNOCK

ASK

Ask using the prayers and promises of Scripture: Joshua 1.6-9; John 8.31-32;John 15.7; 1 John 5.14-15; 2 Peter 1.2-4.

SEEK

As we prayerfully read Scripture, God the Holy Spirit will awaken and draw our attention to the promises and purposes that He has and wants for us at the moment we are reading. The "moment" is any and every time we prayerfully read Scripture.

When our attention is drawn to any Scripture, we are to stop and "meditate," which means to "think!' Think! Think and Listen! Listen to the thoughts that come to us. The Holy Spirit will insert His thoughts into our consciousness. We must stop reading and and listen to these thoughts and think! The Holy Spirit will put the ideas He want us to believe, trust, and obey into our mind at this time.

KNOCK

Knock is the time to obey! The "enlightenment of the eyes of your heart" is the way "that you may know" the promise and purpose that God has revealed to us at this moment. Ephesians 1.17-18.

When we "knock" on this door, we must enter the new area of obedience that God has opened for us. It is at this moment that we must choose to believe, trust, and obey what the Holy Spirit is leading us to do. Remembering that "faith without works is dead," we must do the will of God now. Believing, trusting and obeying will lead us into experiencing the abundance of His grace, love, peace, and joy. As we follow His leadership into the fulfillment of His promises to us and His purposes for us, we will experience increasing abundance of grace, peace, and the fullness of the life God has for us now and for the coming ages of eternaity--Ephesians 2.7.