Choosing Grace

In thinking more about yesterday's post, I wanted to share one of the biggest stories of grace I know.

You see, there was this guy who thought he was doing what God wanted him to do.  He was going around, persecuting Christians because what they were teaching threatened everything he knew about God.  His name was greatly feared.  He later called himself the "chief" of sinners because of the many horrible things he had done.  It was that bad.

God, however, extended grace to this man and his life radically changed.  He went from being the guy who Christians feared to the guy who ended up writing a large portion of the New Testament of the Bible.  He went from being a persecutor of the church to being a faithful missionary, spreading the news about God's grace through Christ and building up the churches that he once sought to tear down.  You've probably heard of Paul, right?

Grace caused a radical change in his life and it can do the same in yours, if you choose to let it.  

If God's grace was big enough for Paul, it's big enough for you, too.  His grace, just like that, will allow the sins you've been carrying to be forgiven--totally taken off your record--and the Holy Spirit would like nothing more than to take up residence in your life, replacing the space that those sins used to occupy.  But you have to let Him in, in order for that to work.  You have to seek His grace and you have to seek out the Holy Spirit's presence by building and fostering a relationship with the Lord.  If you continue to live in sin, you don't give the Holy Spirit room to live, but if you're seeking the Lord through things like prayer and time in the Word, He and his grace can change your life in ways you can't even imagine.

I'm sure Paul had no idea that his experience with grace would turn him into a missionary for Christ whose influence is still so powerfully present today.  That is grace at work.

Galatians 5:22-23
But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Here there is no conflict with the law.  

Holy Spirit, you are welcome here!

This song is my prayer right now...

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As part of a 31 Day blogging challenge, I will be posting every day in October.  The link on the left will get you to the home page for this series, where you can find all the posts written so far. Don't forget you can Subscribe to get posts sent to you by email. (There is a simple form towards the top on the right where you can do this.)  Thanks for reading!

Feel free to comment with your own thoughts and questions!