What Does " The Grace Of God Mean " ?

In this article I'm exploring the meaning of grace because it is quite often misunderstood by seekers and nonbelievers.  In the article below, I will do my best to convey an understanding.  My hope is that you will seriously think about the depth of your life and what happens after you die.

Grace Definition
1. elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action. 2. a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment. 3. favor or good will. 4. a manifestation of favor, esp. by a superior: 5. mercy; clemency; pardon: an act of grace. 



 






The Meaning Of God's Grace 

In the English vernacular, grace is defined first as elegance.  In the latter definitions, we learn what is actually meant when someone mentions the Grace of God.  As far as this side of life is concerned, grace is more accurately described as existing in a status of temporary pardon.  God's Grace means that as we live on this side of life, we won't face the harshest consequences of sin, and that would be spiritual separation from God.

Grace extends to everyone, but to have a pleasant eternal existence, one must truly have faith that Jesus is their Lord while existing on this side of reality.  Abiding in the believer's life nets inner peace, even through the hard times.  The believer may go through excruciating physical hardship, but at the center of their being they will have peace at the core.   The true believer knows that death in this world is not the end.  Once belief and faith are truly proclaimed, sin becomes highly uncomfortable and disliked. 

Time Is Of The Essence 

If God decided to stop his grace toward humanity, the world would be deserted in an instant.  I feel that the reality of time came about because of God's Grace toward humanity.  Life on this side of reality is actually a time period to get things right between ourselves and God.

Thousands of years ago Moses illustrated his God inspired claims in manner understandable to everyone of that cultural historical era, and one of his books is called "Genesis". ...  Almost immediately after creation, the Grace of God became necessary if humanity was to survive.  Instead of total spiritual separation, God gave humanity a grace period, thus " time " started.  God veiled His side of eternal reality from us because the first transgression corrupted humanity. This corruption effects every human on this side of life.  Life on our side of existence can be measured with time, but God's side of reality is infinity...our human minds can't even begin to comprehend the realm of our Lord.  After Adam and Eve's first disobedience, their physicality suddenly took on the same biological life that we have, and this is evident because they quickly noticed they were naked.  In my opinion, the initial humans noticed their nakedness because the embodiment of our side of life is all together different.  The glorified bodies that Adam and Eve likely had previous to "the fall" were of an entirely different physicality.  They instantly knew the disobedience changed their relationship with God.  They covered themselves, hopelessly trying to hide the proof of their sin from God. 

God's First Gift Of Grace

Genisis 3 

The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'  "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"  He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid."  And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" 

Our Side Of Existence 

Grace shouldn't be squandered or toyed with because there is consequence for sin on our side of existence.  Sometimes we learn the hard way, but it's better to learn life's lessons with Christ as your savior.  Now that we know what God's grace is, we should proceed accordingly! 

For Those Wanting A Glorious Eternity. ...

Confess that Jesus is Lord 

 After confessing that Jesus is Lord, He will stand as a barrier between you and living an eternal death ...  Without Jesus as our Lord, sin WILL result in eternal separation from God!  Separation from God is also known as hell!  With Jesus as our advocate, our sin no longer separates us from a wonderful, heavenly eternity.  This doesn't mean that you won't sin anymore, but it means that you will not be comfortable living in sin. 

Confess all of your sin, and then repent. 

You basically tell Jesus all the bad stuff you've done...all of it.  In the future, should you remember a sin you didn't confess, make sure that you talk to Jesus about it.  Repenting means to turn away from sin and the sinful life style. 

Repent from all future sins on this side of life. 

You will have set-backs, but that's life. ...  Just continue to work on a closer relationship with God through prayer, and then pushing back the darkness of evil will become more frequent.  It's takes time to heal from sin, never give up! 

Living out what is listed above is what it takes to receive eternal life!  Read the Holy Bible, perhaps start with the book of John...John 1 and John 2 are the shorter of the three books of John, but ensure you read specifically "John" FIRST.

Biblical References 

John 1 

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  John testifies concerning Jesus. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " From the fullness of his grace upon grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. 

Ephesians 2 

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

All Bible references were NIV 1984

Witchcraft. ... It's not all hocus pocus !!

You'll be surprised to see that witchcraft is not only spells and enchantment.  I think an introspective review is needed among many Christ Followers on this subject.  What I'm going to cover in this article is very messy. ...  Witchcraft can cause fear, despair, anxiety, depression, and anger...indeed, it is TOXIC to the well being of the individual and those around the person.

Galatians 5:19-21 ( NIV1984 )

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:  sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;  idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Manipulation


Yes, the heart of witchcraft is controlling an individual in order to achieve a desired result !  That's right, the most common form of witchcraft is not magical or mystical at all!  Do you find it tough to think of it this way?  I'll explain below. ...

Basically, both natural and supernatural witchcraft is the lust to control, it is fueled by greed and desire.  Ultimately, the force behind all of it is the devil ! The desire to manipulate others is most definitely a fruit of the flesh which is fed by our rotten sin nature !  I suppose fear in the life of the manipulator is the axis of it all.  Fear is the most influential emotion that a human has. 

Good and bad fear:  Fear is good when we don't step into traffic because of it.  Fear is bad when we don't get out of bed because of it.  Fear is satanic when paranoia paralyzes rational thought causing one to manipulate another!

Manipulate

1. ( tr ) to handle or use, especially with some skill, in a process or action.

2.to negotiate, control, or influence (something or someone) cleverly, skilfully, or deviously

3. to falsify (a bill, accounts, etc) for one's own advantage.

Smutface, the Ultimate Puppeteer When someone is hurt by the actions of another we tend to protect ourselves, but sometimes people go far beyond reason to prevent the issue from re-visiting.  The evil one is actually in control of a control freak.     What could happen when we go way overboard in trying to maintain our situation?  I will demonstrate below, in detail, how fear causes control issues. ...  I will prove that manipulation, exacted physically, is nothing more than witchcraft!  an example story: There was a corporation where there was a greedily influenced hostile takeover attempt.  The owner is Godly and does his best to live by the Word...he loves God, and God loves him.  The owner is alerted to this treason attempt, previous to its unfolding.  The Holy Spirit caused an individual to approach the owner and tell him about this evil bid to do harm.  The owner expels the scandalous individuals from the company, and it's all over.    Or, is it over?  After the dust settles, the owner is shaken and is now cautious.  Soon, cautiousness is overtaken by fear because the owner isn't fully comfortable that God is in control.  Instead of relaxing in the fact that God handled the situation, he begins to fear that it will happen again.  Years later Toxic fear begins to boil over, giving way to the evil one who gladly takes advantage of an opportunity to inject paranoia.  The paranoid owner soon goes into extreme mode and starts placing microphones all over the business to monitor the situation. Soon, the owner feels as though microphones in the business isn't good enough. ...  The owner really crosses the line when he has microphones placed in the homes and cars of his suspected employees in order to protect his business! This goes largely undetected for years until an innocent employee catches on and understandably becomes very upset.  The employee knows a former FBI agent who is actually looking for a regular job and convinces his buddy to apply, and he gives him tips on how to get hired.  The last time this individual was active in the FBI he was sent to role play in a community to sniff out information in a stale voyeurism and prostitution case.  After a few half-hearted investigation tactics the skeptical former agent begins to notice Freudian slips among the owner, vice president, and other management members!  The new employee performs a few more tests in locations where he was told microphones were. ...  Sure enough...the observations are confirmed.  After he does a bit of subjective role playing, he rouses the protective instinct of the owner!  He goes deeper into the role playing, utilizing his training...soon microphones are in his home.   Later, electromagnetic and RF detectors discover the exact location of the mics, but it wasn't until after the investigation that they found video and spy microphones that could hear conversations 50 yards away.  The former FBI agent is a Christ Follower, and is disappointed.  The owner would even bring up the spied sins in indirect, paraphrased conversations while holding corporate company meetings.  Many were left deeply disturbed, which caused physically illness.  Ultimately, the FBI took full control over the situation and the business owner was ruined and incarcerated.  His family had to leave town in shame with no possessions due a revenge fire. ... This intrusion of privacy and manipulation caused stress and turmoil, thus causing people to change their lives for the worse. Prove it ? Covertly overreaching into the life of an individual and influencing their actions is manipulation!  It's witchcraft to the core because the dark lord is tempting and vexing one into his agency, using the human manipulator to do evil bidding!   Nobody has any business doing this! It is a type of judgment that God hates!  It is God's place to deal out the consequence of sin, NOT mans!  Praying the "get him God " prayer is no better when self-gain is at the center of the petition...it has potential to become a demonic incantation because God doesn't hear flesh motivated prayer.  Selfish prayers are nearly the same as dark spiritual meditation.  God doesn't hear those selfish prayers, BUT guess who's happy to get it done for you?  YUP, the devil!  You will not like the way those prayers are answered. ... Writing seasons for me are sporadic. ...  I was spiritually tapped on the shoulder early this morning to write this, and basically I was asked not to return to sleep by the Holy Spirit.   Bible verses were NIV 1984