QUESTION #3: WHERE IS THE GRACE OF GOD THE STRONGEST?
Grace in the Greek is defined as: God’s divine influence on the heart & its reflection in the life!
The Grace of God is certainly front and center at our initial salvation experience. His grace makes us receptive to faith for life. Saving grace includes here and now grace on planet earth.
For the sake of illustration let’s look at Romans 12:6-8. Paul writes to the Romans believers about their grace gifts:
God’s marvelous grace imparts to each one of us varying gifts and ministries that are uniquely ours. So if God has given you the grace-gift of prophecy, you must activate your gift by using the proportion of faith you have to prophesy. If your grace-gift is serving, then thrive in serving others well. If you have the grace-gift of teaching, then be actively teaching and training others. If you have the grace-gift of encouragement, then use it often to encourage others. If you have the grace-gift of giving to meet the needs of others, then may you prosper in your generosity, without any fanfare. If you have the gift of leadership, be passionate about your leadership. And if you have the gift of showing compassion, then flourish in your cheerful display of compassion. (PBT)
Recognize that in your gift area you have a bias for using the gift. It should be natural for you to go into action when your gift is what is needed in a given situation. You gift areas are the areas of your strengths. A bias in your gift areas is not offensive nor is it a prideful. Your grace-gift is part of God’s divine influence on your heart. It should be reflected in your life.
God’s grace is strongest where He is resolutely turning you in a certain direction. Your uniqueness is in your strength areas. We are responsible for growing in the Grace of God in all areas, but especially in our grace-gift areas. We should make room for others to do the same.
My best times of leadership have been when I encouraged my team to thrive in their individual gift areas. My leadership is made stronger by stepping back and letting others grow in the grace of God relevant to their callings.
You should find that God’s kingdom dialogue in your life is relevant to your grace-gift areas. Grow your capacity. By c.a.p.a.c.i.t.y. I mean grow in your curiosity, awareness, potential, authority, commitment, investment, tenacity and by yielding to Holy Spirit promptings for you to use them.
We are responsible for growing in our strengths. It’s not enough to just know where His grace is the strongest. Where we are hungry and where our understanding is limited should connect us with where His grace is the strongest. Remember these questions are circular. Each one feeds on the other. Our expectations connect to each answer.
Next question: What are your expectations and why?
This was again a very relevant teaching for me. My grace gift has been Teaching for years. No matter what job I ever had, ultimately I ended up instructing someone in the end. Currently I am a. Librarian of a school and it is often my job to direct you g people ages K thru 6th grade, either in Library behaviors or even how to act during bus rides. My grace gift has allowed me to build the prerequisite rapport so that the students respect me and follow instructions from me.