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So pray this way: Our Father in heaven, may Your name be honored, may Your kingdom come, may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Matthew 6:9-14 NET

It’s a message of unconditional and unending acceptance by God, based on His grace and received through faith in Jesus. I’ve discovered that it’s one thing to agree with grace or even recite verses about grace, but it’s another to truly understand it and live it. 

Honestly, that’s where we can tend to miss the message the most. 

We listen to grace on Sunday and then live with guilt, law, and self-condemnation Monday through Saturday which then puts walls around us often withholding grace from those we encounter. 

It’s not hard news, bad news, complicated news, or frightening news. It’s good news. GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL.

The message of Jesus is one of hope, of joy, of peace, of freedom.... let us continue to be faithful to Him who created all things because what does how we feel have to do with Who we are serving. 

When suffering, struggling, reeling in emotion and sadness the answer is often to throw ourselves into the day ahead, into the roles we need to be in.... parent, sister, friend, employee. So even though could be difficult, choose to smile, speak friendly, with care and concern ...... choose to let our feelings catch up with our actions for we are NOT going to feel better until we DO better.

Take that step, ask for Holy Spirit to walk along side, forgive, surrender the tight grip of control, our moving forward from this point requires accepting God’s grace and walking in the freedom He has given us from bondage that held us tied to bad habits, addictions, damaging behaviours. Do that and you will be one step closer to flourishing, planted..... Its what Jesus Christ has done, and still continues to do for any who ask it of Him. 

He takes a tattered, broken, marked person and makes them better than ever before. When Jesus goes to work on us we become unrecognizable to the people who knew us before.  God’s definition of restoration doesn’t just mean putting us back together, but it means to go above and beyond in making us better than before. We’re always in far better shape after Jesus has gone to work on us than before. 

It doesn't mean we won’t suffer or feel the growing pains because we will and it doesn’t mean we will never remember the trauma we experienced or the damage we have caused because we feel like our past has left us too broken to be of any use. 

Jeremiah 30:17 NET Yes, I will restore you to health. I will heal your wounds. I, the LORD, affirm it! For you have been called an outcast, Zion, whom no one cares for. 

.....but God will restore us. 

That’s not a “maybe” or “if He feels like it.” It’s a promise that the Lord will restore His people to a better place.

Maybe you have been abused, a piece of you is kept locked away from anyone else. But God sees it. He loves you through it, He is grieving with you because it happened. We might feel so used and ashamed that God could never love someone like us, but my friends we are not alone in those feelings, sinners forgiven by God are saints who have gone before us, chosen and loved by God. 

When crushed by the world, or at the hands of another, or by our own sin God puts us back together - and there’s more than the external picture of being put back together like a broken vase, God does an INTERNAL working in our heart, soul, and mind that is a healing. 

He wants to reach down into the innermost parts of our soul where no one else can go to mend and fill us with grace. To rid us of shame, guilt, sorrow, pain, insecurity, and more. 

These are works only God can do; no human has the ability to fill the void and depths of the heart. 

Hebrews 13:20-21 NIV Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

We are called to pursue Jesus Christ.  Furthermore God calls each believer to the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel with our lips, spoken and written word, and with our lives, action and deeds. 

In Mark 2 Jesus is explaining why He came to Earth. 

To the surprise of many at that time, it wasn’t so that He could hang out with the spiritually stable or prominent religious leaders. It was so that He could get into the messy business of compassion and hanging out with the down trodden dejected. 

Jesus came to relate to the broken, the sick, the criminal, the destitute and lost - to lead us to eternity. 

Mark 2:16-17 TPT  But when the religious scholars and the Pharisees found out that Jesus was keeping company and dining with sinners and tax collectors, they were indignant. So they approached Jesus’ disciples and said to them, Why is it that someone like Jesus defiles Himself by eating with sinners and tax collectors? But when Jesus overheard their complaint, He said to them, Who goes to the doctor for a cure? Those who are well or those who are sick? I have not come to call the ‘righteous,’ but those who are sinners and bring them to repentance.

I know we look for outward signs that we are qualified to follow God, but Jesus, teaching us to love, to pray, shatters that preconceived idea. He doesn’t wait for us to clean ourselves up, He finds us where we are and calls us to follow Him. No job application or qualifications needed. 

It’s grace. 

And Jesus’ message was grace. It was and is salvation for all who believe in Him. It is mercy and compassion and forgiveness for all who would put their faith in Him. 

Jesus is the personification and the embodiment of grace. In other words, Jesus Himself was and is the message. The Gospel. He is the purpose and the point. 

Read The Bible. It isn’t mere doctrine. It isn’t just encouraging behavioural change. It is God’s living word written down for us to read, hear, speak, thousands of years!  - teaching us that no matter who we are or how badly we’ve  messed up, or how terribly we’ve  been messed up- God’s grace and forgiveness are available in and through Jesus Christ. That’s why Jesus came to earth in physical, tangible, human form. He came not to just tell us about grace but to literally BE grace. 

His life was His message, and His message gives life. The more we follow Jesus, and follow His ways of prayer, action, the more we find our lives defined and transformed by the love and grace of God.  Reborn into the life He had planned for us in our mother’s womb. 

Psalms 139:9-13 TPT  If I fly with wings into the shining dawn, you’re there! If I fly into the radiant sunset, you’re there waiting! Wherever I go, your hand will guide me; your strength will empower me. It’s impossible to disappear from you or to ask the darkness to hide me, for your presence is everywhere, bringing light into my night. There is no such thing as darkness with you. The night, to you, is as bright as the day; there’s no difference between the two. You formed my innermost being, shaping my delicate inside and my intricate outside, and wove them all together in my mother’s womb.

Lets begin, and continue, cultivating a relationship with God through prayer, through songs of worship, sitting silent on a park bench, reading our Bible. Carving out that time to listen for God’s guidance is super important. It was important yesterday, It matters today when we are saying goodnight to a loved one, and it matters tomorrow because that day is never promised. 

When emotions are running high, and everyone really wants God to supply the answers to “why did that happen” or “what will happen tomorrow”

intentionally listening for God and experiencing God’s deep peace and love is so needed. When we carry that light received so freely from our Lord we can pour it over our households, social groups, neighbourhoods. 

We are all community together, for better or for worse. Even in the midst of turmoil and uncertainty, God is with us and is active. Praise be to God!

Our lives can get overwhelming, daunting, and hard. We can easily get discouraged, frustrated, and burned out by circumstances or relationships that are beyond our control. In those seasons where we are feeling hopeless and helpless, the best thing we can do is turn away from the challenges and turn toward Christ. When we remember that God is in control and our lives are not our own, we remember we have the Savior who gives us strength when we are weak and who comforts us in all our times of need.

That’s right.. we are chosen. We are not forsaken. We are who He says we are. 

Amazing grace…