{"id":4923,"date":"2015-09-06T12:21:33","date_gmt":"2015-09-06T12:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=4923"},"modified":"2015-09-06T12:21:33","modified_gmt":"2015-09-06T12:21:33","slug":"acts-242","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=4923","title":{"rendered":"Acts 2:42"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sunday morning has once again rolled around and I want to remind you of how the early Christians spent their days. \u201cThey devoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.\u201d<\/em> (Acts 2:42 \u2013 NIV)<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As you plan your day, I pray that you have made space for these four elements. Nothing, nothing could be more important than being in Jesus\u2019 presence today. Just sayin\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Today\u2019s repeat blog post is about the word grace. I pray that you will find something in this piece to inspire a grace-filled life.<\/p>\n

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Grace<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I have a house filled with joy. Yes, when our granddaughter Joy is in the house, it is definitely filled with joy. But what I\u2019m speaking of are the plaques, the pictures, the trinkets all around my home that have the word \u201cjoy\u201d on them.<\/p>\n

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With a new granddaughter arriving at any moment, I thought it would be nice to begin incorporating her name into my d\u00e9cor. Her middle name is Grace, so I figured it would be easy to find. Boy was I wrong!<\/p>\n

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I visited two local Christian book stores and Hobby Lobby so far. I believe there were about a dozen items that had the word \u201cgrace\u201d on them. And most of them were in relation to the song, \u201cAmazing Grace.\u201d Really?<\/p>\n

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To say the least, I was amazed (no pun intended) that grace didn\u2019t flow off the walls and shelves of these stores. Because if Christianity is about anything, it\u2019s about grace.<\/p>\n

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So my next solution was to make something. So I searched Pinterest for ideas using the key word \u201cgrace.\u201d Nothing\u2026again. I guess my creative spirit is really going to have to kick into gear.<\/p>\n

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But this really got me thinking about grace. Why wasn\u2019t it as popular as joy, faith, or hope? Why aren\u2019t our homes filled with reminders of this wonderful gift?<\/p>\n

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So today, let\u2019s look at grace through God\u2019s eyes. Let\u2019s see what He has to say about it and how it impacts our lives. And through this process, I pray that I\u2019ll be able to create some worthy images of grace to use in my home.<\/p>\n

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We find several references in the New Testament to people who were filled with God\u2019s grace. Of course, there was Jesus. Luke 2:40 tells us of God\u2019s grace being upon him. The apostles had a good dose of grace as they worked for the Lord in Acts 4:33. And Acts 6:8 (NIV) tells us of Stephen who was \u201cfull of God\u2019s grace.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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But what is grace? How does grace change us? What does grace look like in our lives?<\/p>\n

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Grace is God\u2019s unmerited favor upon us. When we least deserve it, He offers it freely. You\u2019ve probably seen this acronym before.<\/p>\n

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G<\/strong>od\u2019s<\/p>\n

R<\/strong>iches<\/p>\n

A<\/strong>t<\/p>\n

C<\/strong>hrist\u2019s<\/p>\n

E<\/strong>xpense<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s grace. It\u2019s God\u2019s free gift to mankind. Ephesians 1:7 (NIV) says it this way. \u201cIn him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God\u2019s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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But I found that grace can show up in other areas of our life besides our salvation.<\/p>\n

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We can use grace for spiritual growth. 2 Peter 3:18 (NIV) tells us to \u201cGrow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.\u201d<\/em> So how do we do this?<\/p>\n

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In Romans 12:6-8 (NIV), Paul makes the statement, \u201cWe have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man\u2019s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith\u2026\u201d <\/em>Our gifts are given to us to meet the needs of those around us according to grace.<\/p>\n

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2 Corinthians 8:7 (NIV) says, \u201cBut just as you excel in everything\u2014in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us\u2014see that you also excel in this grace of giving.\u201d<\/em> We are called to give graciously. Grace-filled giving\u2026giving as Jesus gave (2 Corinthians 8:9).<\/p>\n

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In 2 Corinthians 12:9, Paul reminds us that God\u2019s grace is all we need. It is sufficient. It is enough. That through God\u2019s grace we are made strong.<\/p>\n

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Paul encouraged Timothy to \u201cbe strong in the grace that is Jesus Christ.\u201d <\/em>(2 Timothy 2:1 \u2013 NIV). And Hebrews 13:9 speaks of our hearts being strengthened by grace.<\/p>\n

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Colossians 4:6 reminds us that our conversations should be filled with grace.<\/p>\n

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We gain eternal encouragement and good hope through grace (2 Thessalonians 2:16).<\/p>\n

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Grace is available to us during our time of need according to Hebrews 4:16.<\/p>\n

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It is no wonder that many of the letter writers in the New Testament open and close their letters with the mention of grace. It is a powerful gift for the Christian and one that we need to be reminded of.<\/p>\n

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I suspect when we look at the many facets of grace, we can indeed see the glorious riches God lavished upon us. Perhaps it is bigger than we once thought. Perhaps more that we need to learn about grace.<\/p>\n

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What I do know is that as we study God\u2019s Word, He will enlighten our hearts and our minds to new and exciting concepts. Grace is just one element. Just think of all He has in store for us to learn.<\/p>\n

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I have to say that I did find one item to use in my home that held the word grace. It is a small ball and it says, \u201cGrace. \u2018Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.\u2019 <\/em>Romans 3:24\u201d<\/p>\n

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This will sit quite nicely next to a similar ball I have with \u201cJoy\u201d inscribed on it. And if that is the only thing I have with my precious granddaughters name on it, at least it is something that tells the story of grace. God\u2019s grace. Grace that is greater than all my sin.<\/p>\n

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Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Donna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Sunday morning has once again rolled around and I want to remind you of how the early Christians spent their days. \u201cThey devoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.\u201d (Acts 2:42 \u2013 NIV)   As you plan your day, I pray that you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,22,296,15,17,3438,14],"tags":[1372,3412,3924,954,4725,4723,393,4719,4720,1120,4722,4721,43,4724,309,4718,2376,2038],"class_list":["post-4923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accepting-god","category-believing-god","category-experiencing-god","category-knowing-god","category-obeying-god","category-reflect-god","category-seeking-god","tag-2-corinthians-129","tag-2-corinthians-87","tag-2-corinthians-89","tag-2-peter-318","tag-2-thessalonians-216","tag-2-timothy-21","tag-acts-242","tag-acts-433","tag-acts-68","tag-colossians-46","tag-ephesians-17","tag-gods-riches-at-christs-expense","tag-grace","tag-hebrews-139","tag-hebrews-416","tag-luke-240","tag-romans-126-8","tag-romans-324"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4925,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4923\/revisions\/4925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}