Thank God For His Grace December 12th Devotional by Keith Edwards worship leader/speaker

Read:

17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

There was a story told one time about what the difference between the law and grace was. This story gave an example of an ole' hound dog that wanted to be a German Sheppard police dog. When the old man would come to do role check with all of the other German Sheppard's, the hound dog would sit there and act like a German Sheppard police dog, and bark like a Sheppard police dog. The old man finally got tired of him acting like a German Sheppard police dog and told him one day, "your not a German Sheppard police dog!" The ole' hound dog said, "sure I am!" I can talk, act, and walk like one. So one day the old man came with a quail behind his back. When he pulled that old quail out, that old' hound dog jerked and kicked and ran after that old quail. You see, the quail is like the law. That quail strengthened what was really inside of him. This is what the law of God does. It strengthens what is already in us before we are born again. The only way we can be changed on the inside is to repent of our sins and make Jesus Christ Lord of our life. We need a miracle, and if it were not for the grace of God that really changes us and make us new creatures, we would never really be changed on the inside. You can take an old donkey, pull his ears back, make him look like a beautiful race horse, but when you put that old donkey on the race line, he will kick and scream and act just like an old donkey. You can take a pig and call him Feefy. You can walk him, feed him dog food, and let him sit at the foot of your bed, but eventually that old pig will run right back to the mud where it was created to be at. Thank God for His grace that can change our old spirit and make us brand new in Him. The Greek word for creature in 2 Corinthians 5:17 is Ktisis and it means the act of founding, establishing. Our new spirit on the inside of us has no bad past. We still have memories in our head and emotions about our past, and that's why we need the blood of Jesus everyday to purge our "conscience" from dead works through a healthy repentance, but our spirit is brand new and unused. The Greek word for new in this scripture is Kainos and it means recently made, unused and unworn. I want to encourage you today if you don't know Christ in a true conversion to really repent and ask Him to change you on the inside. If you have accepted Christ Jesus don't try and walk this Christian walk alone. You can't change yourself before you come to Christ, and you can't grow in the Lord through the law after you have accepted Christ in your own righteousness. It's all by His grace. His grace will help you do things that you can't do. It will help you walk in the spirit, and it will guide and direct you in His ways.

prayer:

Lord we come to you today and ask that you help us to totally rely upon your grace to get us through each day. Help us to realize that there is nothing we can do in our own strength that helps us to walk in your spirit. We need you Lord and we love you today. Amen.

by Keith Edwards