October 21, 2002 Monday
Where is the power of grace in your life?

In the Old Testament, we read in awe of God's power as He delivered Elijah from the hands of his enemies by consuming them with fire from heaven...what an incredible display of God's almighty protective power! This act of God was so impressive that even the Lord's disciples had this story close in their hearts; after being rejected by a certain Samaritan village they asked the Lord if He wanted them to command fire to come down from Heaven just like Elijah did! What a tremendous display of faith in the Lord's power they showed! However, the disciples were about to learn a lesson they would never forget for all of eternity as the Lord answered them and said, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them" (Luke 9:55) I wonder how often the Lord has said this to me in response to the condition of my heart. I imagine that the disciples were crushed when the Lord responded to them with those words, but the Lord used those crushing words to help them understand that the power of God's grace was about to be displayed to all of mankind in ways that were incomprehensible to most people. The ultimate manifestation of His grace is what we see on the cross, a Savior who was literally crushed for our sins, crushed even beyond recognition as a human being the Word tells us. Today God calls us to be crushed in our hearts for our sins so that the power of His grace can move through us and into the lives of the lost people we meet every day. Where is the power of God's grace in your life? Are you still trying to call down fire or have you begun to pour out grace toward those who would even have you to be destroyed?