“Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight...”
“He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.”
Are you satisfied with just seeing the sick healed, the sea split and manna fall down from heaven? Majority of the Body of Christ covertly answer "yes" to this
question. However, regardless of whether you answered yes or not, we encourage you to re-read the Scriptures above.
Our knowledge of God falls under two categories – ways of God and the actions of God. From these Scriptures, we can see that Moses knew the ways of God, because
he asked to be taught the ways of the Lord, but the people of Israel were satisfied with the actions of God. While it is not bad to see God’s actions, settling
for this status quo and refusing to advance to the ways of the Lord, did not position the people of Israel to please God. They did not please the Lord neither
did they find grace and favor in God’s sight, like Moses did. We cannot afford to imitate the complacency of the people of Israel. We need to be taught the ways
of the Lord, so we can find grace and favor in God’s sight and please him more.
What are the ways of God?
The word ‘ways’ refers to principles which make things work. Contemporarily it can be called laws, principles or procedures. It is little wonder, then, that
the Bible says that everything is controlled by procedures (a step-by-step approach towards achieving a predetermined result).
Ecclesiastes 8:6
“…there is a proper time and procedure for every matter”
These principles control the actions of God, and when the Believer activates these principles, he can be guaranteed of results on a consistent basis. If we know
certain principles that make things work, then we can have results every time. I want to know what it takes to make things work. I want to understand the principles
behind the miracles. I want to know the ways of God. Do you feel the same way, too? If you said "yes", please read on.
Before we proceed to identify the ways of God, we need to understand a major key to being taught the ways of God. This key is called meekness because the Bible says
that only the meek shall be taught the ways of Lord (Psalm 25:9). Therefore, we cannot afford to be prideful. We need to humble ourselves and come with the meekness
of an inquisitive child and ask the Father to teach us His ways.
Alright, an example of the ways of the Lord includes identifying the principles that make for the recreation of human spirits. In other words, what principles were
activated to get me born again? This question is extremely important because Colossians 2:6 says that these principles that got us born again are responsible for
keeping us going and growing as Christians.
Therefore the first order of business to being taught the ways of the Lord is to identify certain principles in the Word of God, through which we got saved.
A Scripture in Ephesians 2:8, which says we got saved by the grace of God through faith, identifies for us the first two principles that got us saved – GRACE and FAITH.
And based on Colossians 2:6, we must carry on attracting the grace favor to our lives and operating in faith, so we can lead successful Christian lives.Since the vast
majority of the Body of Christ is grounded in the principles of faith, we will concentrate on the grace of God for now.
What exactly is the grace of God?
A key characteristic of the grace of God, according to Titus 2:11, can help us define this concept. This Scripture says that the grace of God is the tool required to
make us say "no" to all forms of ungodliness. Therefore, we can define the grace of God as: the favor of God which makes us stay godly. It is the fuel for godliness.
This favor makes us behave like God in all circumstances. It got us started, and will keep us going. We certainly cannot make any significant progress if we stifle its
flow. We must keep attracting this favor of God to our lives. We need to carry on with the grace of God.
So how do we attract the grace of God?
1 Peter 5:5 gives us a clue. An attitude of humility will attract the grace of God because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We need to keep exercising
our wills in humility to keep attracting the grace of God.
What is humility?
The God kind of humility is defined as the attitude which was in Jesus, who although was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be made in the likeness of a
servant and submitted to death, even the death on the cross (Philemon 2:5-8). The God-kind of humility is submission to the revealed will of God, just like Jesus did.
We have been encouraged to imitate this mindset of humility. Anytime the Believer submits his will to the purpose and plan of God revealed in God’s Word, he exercises
himself in the God-kind of humility and receives a greater measure of the grace of God as a result of this act of submission. This subsequently fuels his desire to say
"no" to all forms of ungodliness.
If Jesus said "yes" to God’s plans, then nobody in this dispensation has the right to say "no" to any instruction of the Word of God, either with his will or with his
mouth. Saying "no" to God is automatically saying "yes" to the devil, and this epitomizes the spirit of pride and rebellion, which staunches the flow of grace. I
choose to say "yes" to the Lord!
Another way through which the believer attracts the grace of God is by increasing in revelation knowledge.
2 Peter 1:2
“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
We can infer from this Scripture that grace is ministered, as the Believer increases in the knowledge of God. The Believer increases in the knowledge of God’s Word by
exercising faith in Proverbs 2 and Pauline prayers for the churches. As knowledge enters the heart of a Believer, a fresh level of grace is ministered to him, and he
is subsequently positioned for more godliness.
Therefore, we attract the grace of God by:
1. Maintaining an attitude of humility, which is submitting to the will of God.
2. Increasing in the knowledge of God, by exercising faith for revelation knowledge
The Bible also records that we need to avoid ‘grace-depletors’ such as offense (Hebrews 12:15). While it is important to keep attracting the grace of God, we must
ensure that we do not allow any root of bitterness to disconnect us from this favor of God. If Jesus had the nerve to pray for the murderers who hung Him on the cross,
then nobody has a right to hold a grudge against any human because the real enemy is Satan. In the book of Acts, Stephen understood this concept, the early apostles
understood this concept and we can imitate their examples as well.
Ok. Since we have done some justice to understanding the concept of grace, let us now move on to understand other principles which got us saved.
What other principle got us saved?
Titus 3:5 tells us that we got saved also by the mercy of the Lord, and therefore if we want to obey God’s instruction in Colossians 2:6, we need to carry on leading our Christian
lives by operating in the mercy of the Lord.
But, what is the mercy of the Lord?
The story of the Syrophenician woman, in Matt 15:21-28, describes to us the concept of mercy. This story shows us that God’s favor, as a show of mercy, can be ministered to overcome
an individual’s weaknesses, infirmities, and frailties. This woman obtained God’s favor even though she was not of the nation of Israel, by mercy.
Also Lam 3:22 tells us that by the mercy of the Lord we are not consumed. Therefore, we can define God’s mercy as the favor of the Lord, which covers for human
frailties and weaknesses, tempering God’s judgment and preserving man from being consumed by his frailties. We all need to keep activating the MERCY of God to carry
on as Christians.
So, how do we activate this favor of MERCY?
If we refer back to the story of the syrophenician woman, we can see that she obtained mercy because she was honest about her frailties. She admitted with Jesus that
she was a dog! Although it may sound harsh on Jesus’ part to call this woman a dog, the Master was certainly highlighting a key hindrance to this woman’s miracle. At
this time, Jesus was only sent to minister to the house of Israel; and this woman, a gentile, stood unqualified.
However, because an individual can be justified by his or her words, this woman received her miracle on the basis of mercy. This attitude of honesty, displayed as she
admitted to the fact that she did not qualify for the miracle on the basis of her nationality, impressed the Master so much that He had to break the rule to give her
the miracle.
When we miss it, we need the mercy of the Lord to survive. Even if we have not missed it, by the sheer fact that we are in an environment full of pressures and frailties,
we need mercy to survive. This mercy, activated by exercising ourselves in honesty, will subsequently keep the Believer going and growing.
Although you may not have the nerve to tell others about your weaknesses, you cannot afford not to be honest with yourself. Look yourself in the mirror and point out the
log of wood in your eyes and judge yourself. Doing this connects you to the mercy of God, which reduces the effects of any negative seed sown and, coupled with the grace of God,
will position you to practice obedience better.
We activated this principle of mercy when we got born again by admitting to our desperate need of a savior to save us from our sins. Now that we are born again, we
need to admit to weaknesses associated with this hostile environment, such as the pride of life, the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh. These junks are in
the air and seek to penetrate our space, if we do not occupy like Jesus asked us to. We need to activate mercy to overcome these worldly frailties and weaknesses.
Paul encouraged the Believers in Corinth to judge themselves so that they would not be judged (1 Corinthians 11:31). In other words, if we refuse to judge ourselves
and keep telling ourselves a bunch of lies, refusing to call a spade a spade, we will be vulnerable to external judgment. I choose to do a constant inventory of my
thoughts, words and actions, with the intent of changing what needs to be changed so I can keep my blessing. Do you feel the same way, too? If you do, then activate
the principle of mercy by being honest with yourself and asking for God’s help.
So far we have identified two favors – Grace and Mercy – which got us born again and will keep us going. It is little wonder, then, that the Bible says let us come to
the throne to ask for grace and mercy to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16). We have also identified two principles which will keep us connected to these
favors – honesty and humility. It is also worth noting that these will-sets (honesty and humility) are key attributes of the good soil which brought forth fruit,
described in the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:15).
All other soils (pathy, stony, ‘thorny’) were devoid of these attributes, and could not bring forth the fruit of the Word of God in their
lives, as a result. Any seed of the Word of God can be cultivated to produce fruit, given the right conditions of the human heart (will).
If we want to keep attracting mercy and grace, we need to carry on with honesty and humility. In our subsequent articles, we will identify other principles from the
word of God which make things work.
Please reference additional resources on
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Christ Jesus.
