Grace is God at Work

For week one of our Grace & Glory collection, Louie Giglio illuminates our need for God’s sustaining and all-sufficient grace. His power is made perfect in our weakness.

The story is a story of grace and glory.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

the Lord bestows favor and honor;

no good thing does he withhold

from those whose walk is blameless.

Psalm 84:11

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You can't earn or achieve grace; God gives it to those He knows need it, and that truth is sprinkled throughout Scripture. If we want to receive grace, we must first realize that we are in need and conclude that we cannot earn it on our own. Self-awareness is one of the greatest gifts that God can give us. The Church is full of people underusing the gift of grace, yet the Lord continually gives this gift to us freely, ushering us into a glorious future with HIm.

You may be familiar with the GRACE acronym—God's Riches At Christ's Expense. But Louie defines grace as when God is at work, doing something that we can't do. If grace is in the equation, God is moving.

Read Ephesians 2:1-10: when you were dead, you needed a lift. Only God could help you, and the grace you have been freely given is on the table for you to access each and every day, just as Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,

Colossians 2:6

Salvation isn't just one moment; there's a need for sustaining grace. If we have received Him, we will also walk with Him. God gives grace as we journey through life together, and it's in difficult situations that grace plays out the most.

Grace will sustain you through the suffering, and we are going in by grace through faith. We must proactively remember God's faithfulness, too, as it has the power to change everything. You don't get to practice it—it is a one-time moment for God to show off that He can provide grace. And He can do it again. There is a grace for every moment, mountain, valley, and grief. He attends to us in our circumstances. You don't have to figure it all out—Yahweh gives grace and glory, and we are desperate for Him.

or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

God may not be taking your thorn away because it will keep you close and humble and show His glory. In this, we must allow people to see that we're weak so that we can then show them how strong God is. His power rests on us when we're weak—that's grace. It's sufficient. When suffering comes, and it will, it's going to make you strong, and it will be evident that it's God in you.

The enemy wants you to give glory to the thorn. The thorn is real, but the grace gets all the glory. This is deliverance, salvation, and freedom, and His grace is sufficient.

We have a new name. We are not beggars; we are seated with access to divine power. We tear down every thought that opposes God. We are filled with the Holy Spirit, and He hears us. We know His voice.

We are the light, truth, and way. We are heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ. All because of Grace.