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The Grace of Father God is that He provided a way to restore the broken relationship in the Garden of Eden, between mankind and Himself. The Father did this by providing a “Seed”, a Messiah in Hebrew, a Christ in Greek, a Savior in English, and in any language- Jesus.

The Grace of Jesus Christ is revealed in the Gift of the Holy Spirit to the believer. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live the Christian life in grace and power.

When Jesus walked the earth, His followers had the benefit of His presence. They felt His love, experienced His fellowship, witnessed His signs and wonders that only God could produce. Jesus came to the earth to live as a human being for approximately 33½ years. Jesus made it very clear that when He departed He would leave us “another like Himself” or a “Helper”, but this time instead of a physical person the Helper would come in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

Jesus in the flesh could only be in one place at one time, but in the spirit, He could live in every believer. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and that He lives in us.

In Acts 1:4 Jesus appeared to His disciples and commanded them to stay in Jerusalem where they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. They were to wait in Jerusalem for the Promise of the Father, of which Jesus had already told them about before He was crucified. Listen to what Jesus said in John 16:7, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you”. In Acts 1:8 Jesus assures his disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them.

Power to do what you might ask? Power to live the Christian life and to be a bold witness in words and action of the Gospel or Good News of Jesus Christ.

You see, Jesus had to leave or ascend to heaven, in order to send the Holy Spirit to us. In the gospel of John 14:16 Jesus says the following, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you”.

The word “Helper” means intercessor, advocate, or one who is alongside you through thick and thin. Jesus calls Him another Helper, in other words one like Himself. God will never leave you or abandon you. How wonderful it is to know that although Jesus in the flesh is not here, His Spirit lives in us. The Holy Spirit provides the love, the fellowship, the signs and wonders that only God could produce, but now though us!

An important function of the Helper is to guide you into doing what Jesus would do. Jesus says in John 14:25, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Now what are some of the truths that the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance? Here is a list of ten out of hundreds that the Holy Spirit reminds us of:

1. The Holy Spirit confirms to us that we are the children of God (Romans 8:16).
2. The Holy Spirit is our down-payment or guarantee of the our future resurrection (2 Cor. 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5).
3. The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us and in us (John 16:14-15).
4. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to pray (Rom. 8:26-27; Jude 1:20).
5. The Holy Spirit sets us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).
6. The Holy Spirit reveals to the world what sin is, what is righteousness and the coming judgment(John 16:8).
7. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth (John 16:13).
8. The Holy Spirit fills us (Ephesians 5:18).
9. The Holy Spirit empowers us (Acts 1:8).
10. The Holy Spirit produces in us the fruit [character] or evidence of His work and presence in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23).

As you can see Jesus’ gift of the Helper or the Holy Spirit is actively revealing to us that we are loved, forgiven and accepted by Father God!

As Christians we believe in one God in three persons, God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is a difficult spiritual concept, if not impossible concept to fully understand, therefore we accept it by faith! A natural, but simplistic view would be that a man can be father, husband, and son at the same time. Not three persons but one.

What we see in the scriptures is that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit share the same nature. The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are gift-givers or givers of grace.

1. Father God gave us the Son Jesus. John 3:16
2. The Son, Jesus, gave the Holy Spirit to all believers and ministry gifts to the church. Acts 1:8, Ephesians 4:11
3. Holy Spirit gave Spiritual Gifts to believers 1 Corinthians 12

Now let’s examine in more detail the Gift or Grace of the Father. You may recall the account in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve which is found in Genesis two and three. Before they sinned, they lived in a state of innocence in relationship with God, they “walked” with Him in the Garden of Eden. When they were deceived by Satan and disobeyed God by eating of the fruit of the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”, this became the defining moment for sin. Sin is simply not believing God, in essence disobeying what He has said.

At that moment of disobedience, Sin entered the world and mankind would now be separated estranged from Father God. Yet, because of the love of the Father for His creation He cursed Satan and made a promise to mankind; Genesis 3:14-15, “The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity (hostility) Between you and the woman, and between your seed (offspring) and her Seed (Offspring- Messiah); He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”This singular verse in the beginning (Genesis) holds the hope of all mankind.

In verse 15, Father God is speaking to the serpent (Satan) and addresses his offspring as seed (note the lower-case “s” in the word seed). His head will be bruised, crushed, or destroyed. Satan’s end is coming!

Whereas the capitalized Seed represents the Messiah, Christ, or Jesus. He will be the seed (offspring) of a woman (human or incarnate) and His heel will be bruised or crushed which represents Jesus’ heel bruised on the cross of Calvary.

God the Father promised a gift (Grace) and that gift was in the person of Jesus Christ who would come to restore the relationship between the Father and His creation or mankind. Jesus would do this by forgiving our sins.

In Jeremiah 31:31-34, Father God makes a promise of a New Covenant of Grace which will replace the Old Covenant of Law in which He says, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”.

In the New Testament, Father God fulfilled the promise of the greatest gift of grace to all of mankind in that He sent Jesus the Son to die for us so that we might receive forgiveness of our iniquity and remember our sins no more. John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Have you received this great gift of Jesus Christ from the Father? There is no better time than right now!

Next time we will look at:

1. Gift of the Son, Jesus – As He gave the Holy Spirit to all believers and ministry gifts to the church. Acts 1:8, Ephesians 4:11
2. Gift of the Holy Spirit – He gave Spiritual Gifts 1 Corinthians 12

Until then—

If you been following along you have an idea of what faith and works are:
1. Faith is trusting in Jesus to keep His promises and living in a manner that is consistent with that trust or faith.
2. Works, in this verse, are those things that we do to try and earn or deserve God’s acceptance.

“For by Grace you have been saved”, now, what is this thing that we see in Ephesians called Grace? The Greek word for Grace is “Charis” and is most often defined as “unconditional gift”. We could spend a lifetime trying to figure out what this magnificent thing called God’s grace is. Grace is so awesome, unexpected and undeserved. God’s grace in the area of salvation is that if we put our faith in Jesus we are forgiven of all our sins and receive the guarantee that we will go to Heaven and spend eternity with Him. In other words, Heaven is actually a free gift to those whose faith is in Jesus! To truly understand God’s Grace, you must understand God’s love first.

In the New Testament, there are three important words that are translated from the Greek into the word “Love”.

1. Storge: This is the type of love signifies the natural affection between family members. 
2. Phileo:  This Greek word for love signifies, to be a friend to…fond of an individual or object; having affection for; a matter of sentiment or feeling.
3. Agape: This Greek word for love appears most frequently in the New Testament.  It is most often understood in the Bible as “unconditional love”, or a choice to love.

Agape love is a love that is the outcome of a moral principle, rather than a feeling of liking or affection. As a result, Agape love means to love the undeserving, despite disappointment and rejection. At no time, does it mean to love as a duty or a cold religious obligation.

Parents of children can appreciate this kind of Agape love. No matter what the children do, no matter how they may disappoint you or hurt you… you still love them and want the best for them. That is the kind of love God has for you. No matter what you have done, no matter what kind of person you have become… God sent Jesus just for you! Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

God’s nature is Agape love, 1 John 4:8 tells us that, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love”. This doesn’t mean that God is capable of love, it is more than that. He is the embodiment of Love! Everything He does is from the perspective and motivation of Agape love. God loves His creation even when the creation rejects Him. This kind of love is quite foreign to our life’s experience. Honestly, most of us have experienced a performance type of love. If we are “good” we experience love. If we are not “good: we are punished or rejected.

 Ephesians 2 says, “It is the gift of God”, The word “gift” makes it undeserved and unearned. “Not of works” clearly means that it is not based on “how good you are”! For most of us, we are taught and go through life believing that if we are good we will be rewarded. While there is a practical and natural truth to this it does not apply to God’s view of us. John 3:16 clearly shows us what motivates God to give us wonderful gifts ”For God so loved or Agape the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”. You see, God gives out of love”.

So here are two things that are quite impossible to fully understand, God’s love and God’s grace. They are difficult to understand with our natural minds or intellect because they are spiritual principles. How then do we comprehend them, it must be by faith! When we accept by faith that God loves us, it then naturally follows that we can then accept that He wants to bless us.

Take these steps of faith today, see yourself, not as the world sees you, but see yourself as God sees you… you are loved by the Father, forgiven by Jesus, and accepted into the family of God by virtue of the Holy Spirit living in you.

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The point that faith requires doing something is well made in the book of James. First look at James 1:6-8, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways”.

We must be steadfast in our faith in God. If our faith is in the promise then circumstances will cause our faith to waver, but if our faith is in Jesus and our relationship with Him then we will be steadfast. It is very much like being a passenger in a plane, is your trust in the advertising promise that you will have a safe flight or in the pilot to make it a safe flight?

The second point is found in James 1:22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”. If we are not doing or responding according to the Word of God; then we are hearers only! Don’t deceive yourself in thinking that you have faith if there is no out-working of that faith. It is like the person who believes it is going to rain but doesn’t bring an umbrella along. Let your actions correspond to what you are believing for!

The third point is found in James 2:14-26. This section of scripture is sometimes misunderstood in particular verse 24 which says, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only”. It is a tragic mistake to think that James is saying that salvation or any other area of spiritual life is by works and faith. In the context of verses 24-26, James is saying that faith must have some evidence or outworking that points to faith in God. Just doing good deeds or good works, while noble and should be encouraged, by itself will not justify you. However, believing in Jesus and as a result, you are led to do good deeds… well that is the evidence of Faith!

Now there will be times when we must wait upon the Lord to do His part, but this by no means suggests that we do nothing. Resisting the temptation to sin is an important faith action. Resisting doubt and fear is also an important action. The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand”. Too many interpret this to mean I do nothing and God will do it all. Yet Proverbs 16:9states, “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps”. We need to walk it out or as the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “we walk by faith and not by sight”.  

Finally, what’s “the story” when what we are believing for doesn’t come to pass. Sometimes it is just a timing issue. God is always at work and the promise is on its way. Remember God is not limited by time and space. However, it could be that as it says in, James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. In other words God cant bless those things that are contrary to His nature of love, forgiveness and acceptance.

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So, faith is not wishing, hoping, or wanting something to be. Instead, it is the confidence and assurance that because of the love of God He will not leave you or abandon you to your circumstances. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 8: 38-39, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Do you believe that… that nothing can separate you from God’s Love?

 It is your faith in the Lord that causes you to behave or act in a manner that shows you have already received that for which you are believing. Now that was a mouthful! The world says, “Show me and then I will believe!” God says, “Believe in Me and then I will show you!”

Abraham of the Old Testament is called the “Father of Faith” because he acted on what God said even before there was physical proof. God spoke to Abraham that he would be the “father of many nations” even before he had any children. Abraham received the promise of a son when he was 75 years old and was reminded of that promise when he was 90, but it wasn’t until he was 100 years old that the promise was fulfilled. During all that time Abraham believed in what God said. Listen to what Genesis 5:19-22 says about Abraham, “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” You see faith is believing that you have it before it comes to pass.

Believing with your mind is not the same as demonstrating faith with your actions! True faith gets you into the wheelbarrow!

Start your adventure with God today by remembering that “we walk by faith and not by sight! (2 Cor 5:7)