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(12/11/2001) grace, the unmerited favour


Dear prayer warriors, 1. Prayer note: grace, the unmerited favour In the last email, I mentioned that grace as mentioned in the bible has two meanings: i. unmerited favour ii. supernatural enabling. I talked about grace as supernatural enabling. Now, I'd like to talk about grace as unmerited favour. What does unmerited favour mean? It means we don't deserve it. It means we don't have to work to earn it. What is it that we don't have to work to earn? God's acceptance of us. He accepts us. But unmerited favour goes beyond that. Beyond accepting us, He loves us and finds favour in us. I've mentioned this before in previous emails that many people take Christ as their sin offering to God. Jesus died so that our sins may be forgiven through Him. But He did not just come to become our sin offering. He also became a burnt offering, which is a fragrance or aroma pleasing to God. In sin offering, our sins are transferred to the animal. In burnt offering, an animal perfect and without blemish is chosen so that the perfection of the animal can be transferred to us. That is what Christ did for us so that we will not just have a right standing with God, but He will find favour with us. [Romans 3:24-25] 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; What does propitiation mean? The Greek word that is used is Hilasmos, which means "the means of appeasing". It comes from the root word hileos which means gracious, happy, friendly, bless. This means that when we accept God's sacrifice, what Jesus has done for us on the Cross, God is happy with us and He finds us pleasing to Him. That is the difference: not just acceptance but love and favour. What we have from God far supercedes His acceptance of us. If only many of us realise that. It doesn't matter how much you have not done for God or how much you have failed Him. We don't work to gain His favour or His love. He has given it to us unconditionally on the Cross. We just have to realise that and learn to accept His complete sacrifice, not just forgiveness of sins or acceptance but we have special favour with God which is known as "grace". So, everytime you "feel" that God is not pleased with you, just remember the significance of His sacrifice (propitiation) and confess the following out loud: "I am deeply loved, greatly blessed and HIGHLY FAVOURED in Christ." 2. New prayer requests: i. Please pray for my parents! -- dt http://mydevotion.com/p.asp?tid=2028 ii. The world at large -- kimbatts http://mydevotion.com/p.asp?tid=2030 iii. my son's health -- guest http://mydevotion.com/p.asp?tid=2031 3. Prayer update: i. my marriage -- april1758 http://mydevotion.com/p.asp?tid=2015 4. Number of prayer warriors: 1104 We welcom christinnix, mishellie, mrsh, pollard, rparks1493, kimbatts, cglover, 121212, davidm and frank into our prayer group. Please vote for the site by clicking the link below to encourage more visitors. Our ranking has been sliding down. http://mydevotion.com/mailvote.asp in Christ, Wai Hun
Tuesday, December 11, 2001 10:27:59 AM waihun

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