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Thursday... Two tremendous gifts that shows he understands.


Thursday... Two tremendous gifts that shows he understands.

If we could have walked beside someone who is successful we would see that their path to success was not a straight one. Have you noticed that when we are driving a car that we are constantly moving the steering wheel back and forth? We don't just set it and never move it. And this is where these two gifts of God come in.

Paul at the beginning of his letter to the churches around the town of Ephesus while he was in prison says in Ephesians 1:2 (NLT), "May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace." And we all need them because we will constantly need some course correction in our life. We definitely need grace and peace, don't we?

Think of Paul who was writing this letter in prison. He was in prison. He could have thought that he had blown it but he hadn't. He needed grace and peace to not feel like a failure and to be confident in God using him when it seemed he had blown it. He was exactly where God wanted him to be. And he also needed wisdom and understanding to see that.

In verses 6-8 Paul writes, "So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with wisdom and understanding." And we need understanding and wisdom in how God is working in our lives. He corrected this sin problem with his Son's death on the cross. And through his grace he will forgive us and get us on his path as we ask him to forgive us.  

We need grace and peace and understanding and wisdom to see that life is not a straight path but one with a lot of curves and hills and valleys and that is ok. That's what happened when sin came into the world but God didn't let that curve stopped him and he corrected the problem by sending his Son to earth. 

Yes, we will fail but we need to fail forward. We need to use wisdom, understanding, grace and peace to correct our course and use it as a stepping stone to grow and to learn. God used Paul in prison as a way to write a big portion of the New Testament. And Paul needed grace and peace and wisdom and understanding. God used what others and even Paul would call failure to make a major difference in the world. 

David over in Psalm 17:4-5 says, "I have followed your commands, which keep me from following cruel and evil people. My steps have stayed on your path; I have not waved from following you." And there will be some mountains, some valleys and some curves on that path and he has given us grace and peace to handle them. Two tremendous gifts that shows he understands. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning 


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