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May God be glorified in and through your life, as you are established and strengthened by grace even as a new year unfolds the grace that takes you from where you are, to where God wants you to be. Get ready therefore, for a promotion in the kingdom of God in the coming days and months. And as you walk in the path to it, do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines, for it is good that the heart be established (strengthened) by grace not with food which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. [Hebrews 13:9]
Heart strengthened – the world view
In a world where sickness is multiplying, there is much focus on what is nutritionally good and strengthening for the heart. Nothing wrong with that. But with God the heart of a person is much more than just his physical heart.
Heart strengthened by grace is God’s truth
With God, the heart is the entire being of a person, and its complete planned food is in one word “grace”. It is good to be strengthened by grace, for today at the click of a button information (both needed and not needed) is at your fingertips. It is important to know what you need to know. What you need to know is what Jesus says about you. Avoid blindly depending on the opinion of men. For ultimately, it is the word of God that has the final word, in your life and in your circumstance to strengthen you. And it is where your heart plays a key role. Therefore there arises
The importance of guarding your heart
Guard your heart with all vigilance, For out of it flow the issues of life. [Proverbs 4:23] All that affects you begins from within you. It is why the Lord teaches, There is nothing outside a person that by going inside him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. [Mark 7:15] And the apostle John adds may you prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. [3 John 2] It is also why your heart needs to be strengthened by grace.
Grace is the person of Jesus Christ
Grace is not a concept. It is a person, who is Jesus. Grace and truth come from Him. He is the source of all grace. And from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [John 1:16,17] Three pictures can be painted to describe being established in grace. Established in grace is
1) Being planted in God’s word
He is like a tree planted by streams of water. That yields it’s fruit in season and it’s leaf does not wither. In all that he does he prospers. [Psalms 1:3] The picture above is an analogy. As in the natural, so it is in the spiritual. Just as a plant needs water to grow and thrive, man needs the spiritual nourishment of God’s word in order to live and bear fruit. For Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. [Matthew 4:4]
Consistency the key to stability
Not just at the beginning of a year, it is what you do each day with consistency that counts. Be planted in the word of God, making it a regular and daily habit. It is delighting in the word of God to meditate upon it day and night. This is the key to your good success this year. For any permanent change to take place in you that you may be prosperous in God’s kingdom there needs to be an inner transformation. It comes only when you are planted, rooted in God’s word. ‘White washed tombs’ is how Lord Jesus unflatteringly refers to the Pharisees who acted holy on the outside but remained unchanged within.
Transformed through renewal of mind
Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. [Romans 12:2] Inner transformation takes place as your mind is renewed by meditating on God’s word consistently. For you will then find a replacement taking place in your mind, as your human thoughts get expelled, and God’s thoughts which are expressed in His word get planted instead.
What is meditating ?
It is nothing mystical or magical, for if you know how to worry, which everybody does, then you also know how to meditate. It is focusing your thoughts on a protracted basis on something. Therefore when you are constantly worrying about something, you are indeed meditating, but wrongly. Your thoughts are focused on the problem, only to magnify it. But true meditation is when your thoughts are focused on the promises of God concerning your problem that come to you as you delight in His word. When faced with a problem your human thought process may be saying ‘How is it possible ?’ concerning an end, a solution to it. But when your thoughts are replaced by God’s thoughts, as you meditate on His word, you will be able to say ‘All things are possible with God’. It will find you empowered to overcome the problem ,for
His thoughts are higher
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. [Isaiah 55:8,9] The wondrous truth is that His thoughts that are infinitely higher can become your thoughts, for you to act upon it and find success. Meditate upon His word and be planted in His word. It happens even as the entrance of God’s word brings light – The unfolding of your word gives light. It imparts understanding to the simple. [Psalms 119:130]
Darkness is displaced by light
The light of God’s word dispels your lack of understanding regarding what you may be going through in life, to bring with it the solution. There will no longer be the need to live in the darkness of ignorance, for God is the God of clarity. He says to you, I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. [Psalms 32:9] He further elaborates, And your ears shall hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it’. [Isaiah 30:21] God keeps His eye upon you and speaks to you to counsel you. And meditating upon His word, being planted in His word is the key to it all. Being planted in a place where the word of God is taught in soundness and truth is also of vital importance.
For you have been designed to have life in all it’s fullness
There is a lot of difference between living and just surviving in life. And God wants you to live, experience life in all it’s fullness. It is when you are planted in the Word that you will be established, strengthened by grace to live and yield your fruit in season. And this is your season to bear fruit in the kingdom of God.
Planted by the waters
The leaves of a tree that is planted by the waters do not wither even when rains fail as they sometimes do, and a time of drought ensues. So it is in your life when you are planted in God’s word, your roots going deep in it. Then even when you face tough situations, you will not give up, but will have the strength to carry on. For guiding you by His word the Lord will speak to you and lead you. You will find that whatever you do prospers, because you only do what prospers. How is it possible, you may wonder. But when your mind is renewed by God’s word, God’s thoughts will become yours. And when you speak it out in faith, as you are established and strengthened by grace, you will have the power to do it and also see it prosper. This is your season.
Established is – 2) To be built up
It is when your life is built upon the rock. As Jesus says, Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his upon the rock. [Matthew 7:24] And the apostle Paul teaches in his epistle how Christ Himself is the foundation, the Rock. [1 Corinthians 10:4] Luke, in his gospel letter adds another detail while narrating the same parable, when he mentions, He is like a man building a house who dug deep, and laid the foundation on the rock. [Luke 6:48] He ‘digs deep’ – this is the key word. It encourages you to lose your shallowness in life to enter into the depths of God’s love for you, that you may
Swim and soar in the Spirit’s power
The prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the new temple and the waters flowing from it that steadily gets deeper and deeper, can also apply to and aptly illustrate the varying spiritual depths of each child of God. [Ezekiel 47:1-5] Some may be content in being in the water that is just ankle deep, symbolizing a very fragmented and occasional relationship with God. Some others may progress to being knee deep or the next level of being waist deep in the waters, in their walk with God. But the problem with them would be that when a problem arises, a disturbance in the waters, they will immediately stand on their own feet, trusting in their own strength to navigate the crisis. But when you progress further to go deeper, to a depth where you are able to swim, you will find that you do not have to carry your own weight. It is the water, the power of the Spirit that is taking you forward lightly and easily. The same picture of comparison can be applied to the birds of the air that fly at varying heights in the sky. The crow and the eagle both fly, but in the way they operate there is a vast difference. The crow flaps it’s wings and makes a lot of self effort to fly for it flies at a low height. The eagle though, once it mounts up, spreads it’s wings and soars effortlessly, for it flies high, and it is then the wind current that carries it majestically forward to it’s destination. You too will not flap or fret, but will soar this year as you are carried by the strength of God. You will fly with God Himself.
Digging deep – the key
A bore well that you dig to meet your need for water, needs to go deeper and deeper into the soil until water is found. It is the same when you study God’s word. You cannot stop with just a verse or two, but you need to continue in the word, progressing in it till you hear from God regarding your life, and the questions and doubts that you may be having. Only then is the transaction complete, your foundation strong. And your life, signified by the house that is built on the strong foundation, will stand firm in the midst of rain and storm. This is your season and you can stand firm when you are built upon the foundation of God’s word. You need not worry when storms and winds come to beat against you. They will only prove that you are firmly grounded in the word of God. People or negative circumstances may arise to trouble you, make you fall, but you will not be shaken, as you stand upon His word. A servant of God has said these words, ‘God has said it, I believe it and that settles it’. It needs to be your life principle too.
Established in grace is – (3) Firmly in relationship with Christ:
Therefore just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith… [Colossians 2:6,7] In Him it is walking in union, in relationship with Him. There is a vital difference between reading a book, and knowing, having a relationship with the person who wrote the book. Similarly, reading the bible is good. But there should also be a relationship with the one who wrote it, who is God Himself. And as you develop and grow in it, you will be able to echo the words of the well loved song saying ‘He walks with me and He talks with me, and tells me I am His own’. Christianity is a relationship with God. And if there is a rift in your relationship, you can undo it by the grace of God.
Regaining the love you had at first
The Risen and Exalted Lord, in His word to the church at Ephesus, has this grievance, and also a solution to it. You have lost your first love. Remember therefore, from where you have fallen, repent, and do the works you did at first. [Revelation 2:4,5] It applies to any relationship at the human level too, with your spouse, your child, at the work place, whatever. God can mend any relationship that is broken and restore it to what it was in the beginning. In your walk with God, He is a faithful God who remains faithful to you saying, How can I give up on you ? It is a relationship of love where personal revelation from Him leads to a personal relationship with Him. And there must be reciprocation for any relationship to flourish and grow. Therefore know God for He knows you. In any human setting too, two is better than one. Get deepened, planted and be continually built up in the Lord and His word. And this is His reassuring promise to you that
He will settle you
The God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen and settle you. [1 Peter 5:10] Yes, God Himself will settle whatever is troubling you, as you get settled in His word. For He is the powerful God and there is no God like Him to help the powerless. You may be powerless in your situation, but you have a powerful God in whom you can rely and rest. Whatever needs to be done is an easy thing in the sight of the Lord, who has already done it all for you on the Cross of Calvary. And as you wholly trust in Him and get deeper in His word, you will be firmly planted, built up, and grow in your walk and in your union with Him Amen.
