Tuesday, December 8, 2009

I Choose to be Defined By Grace.

1 Timothy 1:12-15 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

How we define ourselves affects everything we do and everything we think. It's our paradigm, our mental framework. It's the self-imposed box we live in that tells us what how to look at our abilities and limitations.

Before getting saved, the apostle Paul was a murderer, a blasphemer. Upon salvation he recieved a new way of looking at himself and looking at the Lord.

When I define myself by grace:
  • I admit my weakness (I have sinned, I am a sinner, and therefore I am in need of the grace of God)
  • I will not allow myself to be defined by what someone has done to me.
  • I will not allow myself to be defined by the sin of my past.
  • I will define myself as God defines me- In Christ
  • I acknowledge the goodness of God (He loved me in spite of my sin)
  • I am assured that I am not alone (God is involved, He has not forsaken me)
  • I acquire the help of God (God gives me grace)
  • I accept the power of God (I find no help in the self-life)
  • I activate the power of God in my life (one aspect of grace is that grace is the desire and ability to do God's will) Grace is not only something outside me given to me by God, it is something within me- changing my heart's desires and my will to conform to the will of God.
  • I agree that the power of God is greater than the power of sin
  • I attribute all glory to God
  • I allow myself to accept the unconditional love of my Heavenly Father Romans 8:31-39
  • I affirm that I am a new creature in Christ, a resurrected man and not the old dead man that was stuck to sin Col 2:10-14
Once you get saved you are no longer dragging around a dead man (the old nature with its sins). Stop pointing to your old nature and defining yourself by that stinky, smelly, corpse.

Colossians 2:10-14 says you are:
  • Complete in Christ 
  • Cut loose from sin (spiritual circumcision)
  • Risen to new life
  • Forgiven
  • Free from condemnation
Romans 8:31-39 says that God is for you, and nothing shall separate you from the love of God

Grab hold of those truths and define youself by the grace of God