Where God's love leads - it could be a surprise...

Hearts for a "Fat Book" exchange on courage...

 At prayer team, we have been praying through and discussing what appears to be a disconnect within some believers...

The concept of grace...

How do a grace-filled people walk in their new life in Christ?  How do they support the convicting work of the Holy Spirit without moving in judgement?  How do we become a paraclete when our own lives fall so far short?

What causes our struggle in this area that covers so much of the New Testament?  Because this issue is so often addressed in Scripture, I can take comfort in the fact that believers have struggled with this concept for millennium!  And why even be concerned, when we know that God sees all of us through the filter of the finished work of Jesus Christ?   Indeed yes, why?  The thought comes to my mind that perhaps we are undecided, confused about an issue - the issue of "is God a God of love?" or is "God a God of justice?"  And I am not immune to this confusion!  But, because we are exploring this in our team, I thought I would share my thoughts, and our thoughts, here...

The first verse that the Spirit really gave me for this series is from Romans, Chapter 2.  I encourage you to read the entire chapter...but this is the specific verse:

 "...that the kindness of God leads you to repentance..."  Romans 2:4b (NASB)

To restate this portion of the verse, with all the definitions of the original Greek written out, the verse would read as follows:

God furnishes what is useful, gentle, pleasant, kind, beneficial, well-fitted and suitable to lead, bring, carry us towards a change of our mind and a change in our inner man...

In short, when we encounter the incredible eternal, deep, unconditional love of God, that encounter brings everything needed to change our heart and minds!  That is powerful!

But once we have encountered this "kindness" for the first time, and received our salvation, how does "the kindness that leads to repentance" apply to the rest of our earthly lives?

      We will be exploring that thought here on Mondays for the next several weeks...