Finding our way through the wilderness

Ephesians 2:4-5

New International Version (NIV)

⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Day Twenty

Saved By Grace

   Isn’t it great to know that even when we are in the middle of our wilderness we can rejoice in the fact that we are saved?  Even in our darkness days and in our most challenging hours, we can hold on to the fact that through it all we are saved and kingdom bound! Because we know that the moment that we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior and confessed with our hearts and our tongues we were Saved. From that moment we were no longer held captive by the enemy but by His stripes we were set free.

   So if we are saved, why are we still lost in our spiritual wilderness?

   The answer to that question is in the Word. We are to look to the Old Testament and the story of the children of Israel. After God saved and deliver them from bondage in Egypt, they spent the next forty years in the wilderness before they enter into their promised land. Why would God saved them and then let them wonder around in the wilderness for forty years? This was because He had lessons that He wanted to teach them and He wanted to soften their harden hearts so that they could be able to acknowledge the blessing that awaited them in the Promised Land.

   I don’t know how long it will take us to get to our own promised Land, but I do know that just like the children of Israel God is preparing us in the wilderness so that we can be ready to receive our blessings when we get to our promised land. 

   However I digress, because the point that I want us to see is the fact that we are saved even in the middle of our wilderness. If that is the case then we cannot be saved because of our actions, but rather we are saved because of Grace.

   Our text says it clearly, because of God’s, who is rich in mercy, great love for us. He made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions, it is by grace we are saved. If it was left up to our actions we would still be drowning in our iniquities, but it is because of the grace of God that Christ came to die for our sins.

   The reason that I want to emphasize the fact that we are saved by grace and not our own actions, is because now that we understand this we can walk the rest our journey with the sole purpose of getting closer to the Lord. We will find more joy in this instead of using our time in the wilderness trying to become saved, because it is all for not.  Because if we could get save by our own actions then the following scripture would have no power; For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16).

  

   However, this does not mean that we can do as we please, because when we truly turn our life over to Christ we want to walk and talk just like him. The closer that we walk with Jesus the more that we inhabit the Holy Spirit. The stronger the Spirit becomes the more resistant we become to the flesh.

   Knowing we are saved by grace and not actions only helps us become closer to Him. Now as we journey through our wilderness and as we wait to enter our promised land, we can focus our attention on becoming closer to Him and preparing ourselves for the blessings that we will receive once we reach our promised land!

Join us tomorrow as we continue our journey. Until then God Bless.