What Does a GRACE Day Look Like?

John 1:16 (NRSV)
¹⁶ From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

 In last month’s post we looked at changing our lens to see things differently in 2022. We looked at a message a well-known minister of the gospel had shared by saying that we could have a year with no more good days, no more bad days, just days of GRACE; GRACE to enjoy or GRACE to endure what each day brings.

From a practical standpoint, what does that look like in our lives? First, let’s look at one definition of GRACE that helps us to see GRACE in action in both the “enjoying and enduring”.  GRACE is the “empowering Presence of God that enables us to become what He already sees.” Who we are and what we do is the result of God’s power, not our efforts (when we yield to His leading through Holy Spirit).

What does a GRACE Day look like in which we get to enjoy the happenings around us? It’s pretty much a day in which GRACE “supersizes” the pleasurable experiences we are getting to take part in.  A GRACE Day is simply one in which the good things you are experiencing make you want to praise God for enriching those experiences beyond what they would have otherwise been. Those are days to remember especially during the times when things do not go so well.

What does a GRACE Day look like on those days/times where GRACE gives us the strength to endure whatever we may be facing? Psalm 27:13 (NKJV) gives us the answer: “13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” On all days, but certainly on the “enduring” days we must remember that when we look to GRACE, we are really looking at the Goodness of God. GRACE flows from His good nature and character.

God’s Goodness is where we must keep our focus on the “enduring days”:

• You get a bad report from the doctor. A GRACE Day in one in which you walk through it by reminding yourself of Isaiah 53:5 – by His stripes you were healed. God already sees you healed. God is good and He has a pathway planned for your healing – and it will be easier to see that pathway if you focus on His Goodness.
• You are in a financial situation with seemingly no way out. A GRACE Day is one in which you walk through it by reminding yourself of Deuteronomy 8:18 – that God has given you the power to get wealth. God already sees you prosperous. He will show you the way forward in the situation you are facing – and it will be easier to recognize the way forward if you will focus on His Goodness.
• Your world is falling apart emotionally for no particular reason. A GRACE Day is one in which you walk through it by reminding yourself of Isaiah 43:1 – that God knows you by your name. God sees you healthy emotionally, relationally, and every other way, and it will be easier for you to receive His emotional soundness and move forward if you will focus on His Goodness.

Someone once said that all faith failures are a result of broken focus. The most important thing we can focus on, no matter what we are facing, is the Goodness of God. As we do that, both the good days and the bad days will give way GRACE Days – days where God’s empowering Presence is enabling us to change into what He already sees so we can live the abundant that Jesus died to give us!

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