Faith, Access Into God’s Grace

by Keith Butler | Uncategorized

Faith and grace are two very important subjects in the Bible. When you study the Bible, you’ll find that both of them operate together. Both Romans 4:16 and Romans 5:1-2 illustrate this connection: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace.” (Rom. 4:16) “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Rom. 5:1-2)

Faith gives us access into the grace of God; it is, therefore, important that we understand what faith is and what grace is. The grace of God is available to every believer, but it’s accessed by faith. Faith is the accelerator of grace; it makes the grace of God go in your life. You can’t receive anything in the grace of God except through the vehicle of the faith of God.

What is faith? Hebrews 11:1 in the Amplified Bible answers this question: “Now faith is the assurance, the confirmation, the title deed of things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.” If it’s not now, it’s not faith. Faith must be released through words. Faith-filled words dominate the laws of death.

Faith is acting on what you believe, acting as though the Word of God is true because it is. Individuals operating in the faith of God are not looking at what they see, but are looking at what God’s Word says about the matter. We’re not moved by what we see; we’re moved by what we believe. We walk by faith, not by sight. In other words, faith is supposed to be the lifestyle of the believer.

Now, let’s look at a few definitions of grace. Grace is unmerited favor. The word “unmerited” is important. It means that grace is not earned; we can’t work for grace. Grace is a gift from God to us, pure and simple. James 4:6 in the Amplified Bible says, “But He gives us more and more grace, power of the Holy Spirit.” Here’s another way you can say that: “He gives us more favor and more anointing.” The Holy Spirit, Who is the anointing, is also the grace of God, and by faith, we have access into this grace. Grace is also the divine or spiritual blessings of God as is indicated in 1 Peter 1:9-11, and Timothy 2:1 in the Amplified Bible.

If you’re in the middle of a problem, there is supernatural help, divine help. And of course, God is also the gift of life, because God is the giver of life. Grace is the mercy of God. Have you ever needed to call on the mercy of God? Well, by faith, we gain access into this grace that includes the mercy of God. Grace is beauty and can even be thankfulness, gratitude and loving kindness. Thank God for His loving kindness toward us. Praise God for His grace.

His Grace is Sufficient:
Paul had received an abundance of revelation knowledge. Because of those revelations, a messenger, an angel of Satan, was sent to buffet, or to continually strike him. Everywhere Paul went to preach, this angel stirred up trouble for Paul. Finally, Paul went to God three times to ask Him to get rid of this demon. The Lord told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.” What was the Lord telling Paul? He was reminding Paul of the revelation he received when he was in the Third Heaven, the revelation of the authority of the believer. When you have revelation of the Word of God, and when you access that revelation, you get to stand in that grace. Paul got it. In the last chapter of the Book of Acts of the Apostles, Paul was living in his own hired house, preaching the gospel to every man, no man forbidding him. He got rid of that demon! You know what? You have that same power. You have access into the grace of God, into all that grace is. Glory to God!

Attributes of Grace:
In 2 Peter 1:1-2 it says, “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.” One attribute of grace is that it can be multiplied; whatever measure of grace you have working on you can grow. Grace can be multiplied through the exact, complete, full knowledge of God the Father and of Jesus our Lord. Allow me to say this again: You don’t have to work for the grace of God; you can’t earn the grace of God. Just receive God’s grace and all that it provides.

Partners in the Grace:
In Philippians 1:4-7 it tells us that grace can be shared. That is, we can partake of the grace of God that rests on another minister or ministry through partnership. That’s what the word fellowship means in verse 5, partnership. When you contribute financially or in service to your church, you become a partaker of the grace that is upon that church. But you have to believe God for the manifestation of that grace in your life. Wherever you plant money, you get to partake of the grace that is on that individual, you get to partake of that anointing. You can receive the same benefits, because God will count what they do to you. If they win ten thousand souls to the Lord, so have you!

Activating the Grace of God:
How do you activate the grace of God in your life? One of the first ways to activate the grace of God is through sacrificial giving. Sacrificial giving is different than any other giving, because other giving is giving to what’s comfortable. Sacrificial giving is giving until it hurts. This is what the Apostle Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians, Chapters 8 and 9. The church at Macedonia, in spite of their deep poverty, gave liberally to help another church.

When people have financial needs, they don’t need to pull in all their funds. They need to sow seed. When you do this, 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you that ye always have all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work.” When you have “all sufficiency,” you no longer have a need. What happened? Grace was manifested to you in an abounding measure.

The second thing that activates the grace of God in your life is offering thanksgiving to God, no matter what is happening in your life. Give God praise and glory instead of bellyaching and complaining; that’s what Satan wants you to do. It could be worse. If you don’t believe it, go to the nearest cemetery. Philippians 4:4 instructs us to, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, rejoice.” So that means to rejoice when you don’t feel like it. Why? Because whatever the problem, it’s temporal. It’s subject to change. God will bring you out unless you get over into an area of murmuring and complaining that cause you to get out of faith. Remember, we have access by faith into the grace of God. Whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive (Matthew 21:22).

That brings us to the third thing that will activate the grace of God in your life: believing prayer. We can see an example of this in Acts 4:23-26. When the Sanhedrin Council threatened Peter and company not to pray in the name of Jesus anymore, Peter said you do what you have to do and we’ll do what we have to do. We’re going to obey God, not man. They went back to their own company and reported what happened. Then they all lifted up their voices to God in one accord and began to pray the solution, not the problem. The solution was based on what they knew God would do. They believed what they were praying. We also see a couple other things in these Scriptures that will activate the grace of God. Being in one accord, in unity, will manifest the grace of God in your life. So will being bold enough to tell people the outcome of the situation before it happens. In Acts 5:12-13, we see their prayers were answered. Glory to God!

Great grace was manifested for them and it will be for you too. But you have to access it by faith. God has given to every man the measure of the God kind of faith. So start accessing the grace of God, the favor of God, the anointing of God, the divine blessings of God, divine protection, and all that grace is. It belongs to you.

Keith Butler has been an ordained minister since 1974. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds diplomas from Canada Christian College and Rhema Bible Training Center.

He serves in ministry with the support of his lovely wife, Pastor Deborah L. Butler, and their children: Pastor Andre Butler (granddaughters Alexis, Angela, and April), Pastor MiChelle Ferguson and husband Pastor Lee (grandson Lucas), and Minister Kristina Jenkins and husband Pastor Joel (grandsons Andrew and Austin, and granddaughter Alyssa).

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