Grace Like A Flood

One of the wretched characteristics of Satan is his desire and willingness to kill your heart. He may not be able to kill you but he’ll try to get you to the point where you see no other way out but death.

The devil is a master at deception: Jesus called Satan the father of lies. All lies germinate from his heart. His lies are rarely open and blatant. He preys on the unwitting and uninformed to bring confusion. He’s been doing it from the very beginning:

    “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” (Genesis 3:4-5)

Remember that Genesis 3 begins with “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” The craftiness and skill at deception the devil employs can take down even the most devout of Christians.

No one is immune.

Gee Brother Dave, such a doomsday message! Not at all. I am trained in military tactics and in my studies I’ve seen that the greatest tacticians never underestimate their enemy and try to predict its next move. Once they do, they employ their most powerful weapons.

We have seen the devastation the floods in South Carolina have wrought. I have been the Mojave Desert at the National Training Center and experience flash floods. Water can be devastating and floods destructive.

However, when grace comes like a flood, then all of heaven is employing its power on behalf of a saint. Few Christians outside of Christ Himself experienced the persecution and satanic attack, as did the Apostle Paul. He also encountered divine grace in such a way that he could write:

    “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)

The word all is used three times and every is used once in the above verse. Both words denote absoluteness. God doesn’t just give us some grace so that we can have a measure of sufficiency in some of the things we face so we can do average work.

No, abundant grace will abound, come like a flood, so that we can do anything and everything according to God’s will. Remember this refrigerator magnet verse?

    “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

Paul wrote his epistle to the Philippian church while chained to a Roman guard. Be sure to read the verse before verse 13 and you’ll find that Paul never intended it to become a “name it and claim it” power verse. He was telling his beloved church in Philippi that even in our darkest moments Jesus will gives us grace to persevere.

That alone is enough to get me to enlist into God’s Army. Notwithstanding, our Lord Jesus helps us to overcome ourselves, to remove the garments of guilt and regret and unhitch the weight of despair.

In the driest of spiritual deserts, when we cry out grace comes like a flood. Why? Why does He give us grace like a flood? He does so because He can:

    “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” (Ephesians 3:20)

He does so to reward our faithfulness. If we are willing, to use another church cliché, “To let go and let God,” then He will provide amazing grace that brings forgiveness, healing, and joy beyond what any human could hope for or imagine.

Do not give up and do not despair.

Lie down on that hot desert floor and let Jesus’ grace come over you like a flood.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

If you’re receiving these devotionals for the first time and would like to receive them on a regular basis, please email me at jeffers221@bellsouth.net and use “Please add to Devotional List” as the subject. You can purchase Dave’s eight devotional books by visiting his Amazon author page.

    Copyright © 2015 David Jeffers

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,