By His Grace

I believe a new chapter of my life is opening up. The title of my whole blog, "Live Worthy of the Gospel", comes from Philippians 1:27. Most of you who know me know that that has been my life verse since summer of 04. I sign every email with it. The truth of it is still amazing but I'm seeing it in a whole new light now. Before this summer I lived out that verse by doing missions. Now, I'm daily faced with the challenge of living worthy of the gospel in the ways I conduct myself such as in humility, patience, forgiveness, gentleness, love, etc. I would venture to say that I have realized that walking daily in those Christ-like qualities is harder for me than doing missions. So, now the phrase that seems to be coming to mind is, "By His Grace...". I will be honest...I have never been tempted more in my life to walk in anger and bitterness and pride and laziness and selfishness as I have in the last four months. I have given in many times to those sins and I have often given over my joy to Satan without much of a fight. I also have not been so pummeled by Satan's many lies before as I have in the past four months. He is the father of Lies and he is good at what he does. BUT...By HIS GRACE, we are more than conquerors! He has given me the ultimate victory over sin and death and Satan's lies. I spoke with a good friend of mine yesterday and realized we were both in the same boat spiritually. Married, single, it doesn't matter...when we don't choose the Lord we grow cold. Sin creeps in and brings death. But By HIS GRACE He never lets go of us. My friend said to me, "He chose me when I didn't want Him so I need to choose Him." That is so good to remember. Well, we sung a hymn this morning in church that I think applies perfectly to the situation. Here are the lyrics:

O great God of highest heaven, occupy my lowly heart;
Own it all and reign supreme, conquer every rebel power.
Let no vice or sin remain that resists Your holy war.
You have loved and purchased me-make me Yours forevermore.

I was blinded by my sin, had no ears to hear Your voice;
Did not know Your love within, had no taste for heaven's joy.
Then Your Spirit gave me life, opened up Your word to me;
Through the gospel of Your Son gave me ENDLESS HOPE AND PEACE.

HELP ME NOW TO LIVE A LIFE THAT'S DEPENDENT ON YOUR GRACE;
KEEP MY HEART AND GUARD MY SOUL FROM THE EVILS THAT I FACE.
YOU ARE WORTHY TO BE PRAISED WITH MY EVERY THOUGHT AND DEED;
O GREAT GOD OF HIGHEST HEAVEN, GLORIFY YOUR NAME THROUGH ME.

Great lyrics huh? All I know is that BY HIS GRACE, and dependent on His grace alone, I will live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Once again (and my heart has been cold) my heart only desires that He be known, worshiped, and glorified. Praise God that He is a gracious and loving Father that displays incredible patience with us as sinful, adopted children. I pray I will rightly reflect the image of my Father in the way I display patience and love and forgiveness towards others.