15 lines
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15 lines
4.2 KiB
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<html><head><title>Blue Letter Bible: Day By Day By Grace — Bob Hoekstra</title>
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<div class="head">Day By Day By Grace</div>
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<div class="subhead">Bob Hoekstra</div>
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<div class="desc-center"><div class="pad2020">December 3</div></div>
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<h1>More on Continuing in the Word of His Grace</h1>
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<div class="block"><i>I commend you to God and to the <b>word of His grace</b>, <b>which is able</b> to build you up and give you an inheritance…receive with meekness the implanted word, <b>which</b> <b>is able</b> to save your souls.</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Act', 20, '32-32');">Acts 20:32</a> and <a onClick="return mV('Jam', 1, '21-21');">James 1:21</a>)</div>
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<p>Paul's exhortation to followers of Jesus Christ was to <i>"<b>continue</b> in <b>the faith</b>"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Act', 14, '22-22');">Acts 14:22</a>). "The faith" (in which we are to continue) is the word of God. Paul later called it <i>"the <b>word of His grace</b>."</i> Since God's word is permeated with His grace, it is <b>able to do</b> glorious things in our lives.</p><p>James wrote of <i>"the implanted word, <b>which is able</b> to save your souls."</i> God wants to plant His word into human hearts that the word might bear fruit therein. This is how the Lord began His work in us: <i>"having been born again, <b>not</b> of <b>corruptible seed</b> but <b>incorruptible</b>, through the <b>word</b> of <b>God</b> which lives and abides forever"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('1Pe', 1, '23-23');">1 Peter 1:23</a>). By communicating His word to us (through preaching, teaching, witness, or evangelism), God sowed the incorruptible, eternal seed of <i>"the <b>word of His grace</b>"</i> in our lives. As we believed on Him, the seed of the word germinated in our hearts unto everlasting life. Now, the Lord wants to continue sowing His life-giving seed into our lives that we might grow, mature, and abound in Him.</p><p>Our role involves a humble receptivity of His word. <i>"<b>Receive</b> with <b>meekness</b> the implanted word."</i> We are to continually take in the Scriptures with a sense of urgent, personal need. Such an attitude would indicate agreement with the words of Jesus. <i>"Man shall not live by bread alone, <b>but</b> by <b>every word</b> that <b>proceeds</b> from the <b>mouth</b> of <b>God</b>"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Mat', 4, '4-4');">Matthew 4:4</a>). We cannot truly continue in grace without regularly partaking of <i>"the <b>word of His grace</b>."</i> If we humbly and consistently take in God's word, the grace of God at work through the word will demonstrate the transforming power of the Scriptures: <i>"<b>which is able</b> to <b>save</b> your <b>souls</b>."</i> This delivering work of God's word is not limited to justification (that is, saving us from the guilt and condemnation of sin). It also includes sanctification (that is, saving us from the tempting and controlling influence of sin in daily living). Jesus prayed for His followers concerning this sanctifying work of the word of God. <i>"<b>Sanctify</b> them by Your truth. <b>Your word</b> is truth"</i> (<a onClick="return mV('Jhn', 17, '17-17');">John 17:17</a>). God's word is able to make our lives all that He wants them to be: <i>"the <b>word of His grace</b>, <b>which is able</b>."</i></p>
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<div class="dbdbg_prayer">Lord God, giver of life, I thank You for planting in my heart the life-giving seed of Your word. I praise You for the changes Your word has already brought into my life. Now, I long to continue partaking of the word of Your grace, which is able to deliver my soul from all that is diminishing and destructive to all that is edifying and sanctifying, Amen.</div></div></div><div class="desc-center"><div class="pad2020"><a href="./devotions/daybyday/12/1202.html">Yesterday's Reading</a>
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