Grace comes in relationship—a relationship with God. God’s grace is God’s unconditional acceptance of each person, a covenant relationship that gives life to the recipient in the presence of the almighty love and power of God. As Christians, we highly value God’s grace as the supreme expression of God’s love and as the foundation for spiritual gifts and fruit.
There are many obstacles set in our path, thereby sin occurs. We all experience sin in some fashion (e.g., mental or physical abuse, lying, cheating, overindulgence). Sin takes many forms:
Combined, the first letter of each of these “obstacles” spells SELF-HATE. Put simply, we do not love and respect ourselves as consecrated children of God and we fail to live by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26). The Bible teaches us that sin can be overcome by:
There are many obstacles set in our path, thereby sin occurs. We all experience sin in some fashion (e.g., mental or physical abuse, lying, cheating, overindulgence). Sin takes many forms:
Situations: We find ourselves in enticing situations and lure ourselves into sin.
Evasion: We intentionally evade doing what we know God wants us to do.
Laziness: We do not make the effort to serve others as God would have us do.
Factual: We say we didn’t know it was a sin; we plead ignorance.
Habits: We have developed years of bad habits by not accepting and nurturing the relationship God offers.
Attitudes: We want to “enjoy” life; but we are actually missing the real joy of living - a deep relationship with God
Time: “I don’t have time” to pray, read scripture, help others. In actuality all of life’s fullness can be ours in God’s time.
Evil: Daily we struggle with the internal and external forces of good and evil; we battle our human, at times evil, tendencies in the face of God’s call to holiness (1 Peter 5:6-9).
Combined, the first letter of each of these “obstacles” spells SELF-HATE. Put simply, we do not love and respect ourselves as consecrated children of God and we fail to live by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26). The Bible teaches us that sin can be overcome by:
* Realizing that God loves us and wants to forgive us of our sinBy placing our lives completely in God’s hands, it is possible to strive to live a sinless life, understanding that we do not do this alone. God is with us (Emmanuel) empowering us with the Holy Spirit. The church is with us as we share together in worship, prayer, and watching over each other in love.
* Living a life of prayer, with God at the center
* Striving and seeking to know and do God’s will for us
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