His Grace Is Sufficient For You!

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
2 Corinthians 12:9

Have you ever stopped to ponder the greatness of God?  Thinking about Him is an exercise of enlightenment at the highest level, but also stretches our brains to the breaking point!  Trying to wrap our finite minds around an infinite being is as impossible as trying to capture the ocean in a zip lock sandwich bag.  We have to agree with Job when he says that God is truly “past finding out”.  Have you ever tried to think of the power of God!  In order for us to be right here right now there had to have been a non physical self existing eternal cause that set our material world into motion with an independent source of power to do so.  So, God is a being that provided all the energy that created the universe and unimaginably, all the energy that sustains the universe.  If your brains are not well done by now, leave them on the grill a little longer and think of this.  Thanks to Einstein, we know that energy is never made or destroyed.  In other words, energy never expires. If energy is not converted to matter, it’s converted to another form of energy.  The same power that created our universe sustains our universe.  God didn’t only create a universe surpassing 30 trillion light years in breadth with a power coming solely from within Himself, but that same power is still at work sustaining our universe at this very moment.  Incredible.

After pondering only briefly the vastness of God’s power, why are we so prone to lean on our own ability and strength to get us through the ups and downs of life?  Why is looking and leaning on God usually a last resort when our own fix-it attempts have fallen short?  We become so frustrated when we come to the point when we know that we don’t have the answers or the ability to deal with what we have to deal with.  Guess what?  God intentionally made us this way so we would lean on His sufficient grace to get us through life!  God has made us completely reliant.  In order to survive and operate at any given second we constantly rely on sources outside of ourselves.  We breathe oxygen that we didn’t provide.  Our hearts pump blood through our bodies powered by electrical energy that we didn’t produce.  We are completely reliant.

Even though reality speaks to our dependence, we still try to live a self reliant life don’t we?  We try to carry weight that God never intended us to carry.  We try to figure out what we are incapable of figuring out.  Have you ever carried a large object to your car when you had a dolly in your garage the whole time?  Have you gotten into a rhythm of typing out the numbers to people you’re trying to call when all you had to do was look up there number in your contact list and push two buttons instead of seven?  I know these are silly examples, but God wants you to unburden yourself with… yourself!  He wants you to every single day come to Him with your worries, concerns, anxieties, and impossible situations.  When we come to the point of no longer trusting and relying on ourselves, God’s grace is ready to be accessed and appropriated.

God’s grace is sufficient for you today!  Rely on grace!  Don’t just want to rely on His grace but do it by waking up every morning and praying a prayer like this:

Father, you know the ins and outs of my life.  You know exactly what I’m going through and I know that you’re working through all things for my good.  I acknowledge that fact that without you I’m completely powerless and incapable.  I no longer look to my self but I rely and rest in Your grace.  Please give me grace to be who you want me to be today and do what I need to do.  I let go of my fears and worries and fully rely on You and You alone. Thank you for Your amazing grace and the power you do provide and you will provide.  In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

How To Study The Bible Part 1

We could spend a considerable amount of time talking about studying the Bible, but I want to break it down in a few blogs in a way that will outline a step by step guide geared to set you up for productive and joyful Bible study.  Remember, you can study your Bible!  I know that you’re life is crazy busy, but don’t substitute your busy calendar with the joy and growth that comes with scripture study!  It’s our most important life practice!  I’m here to help along the way so email or call me and I can counsel, clarify, and answer questions and concerns. Let’s start studying God’s glorious Word to grow in Christ-likeness and become a greater and greater asset for the Kingdom!

Step 1) Read through the entire Bible without studying it. 

Wait a second, isn’t this a study guide?  Yes it is, but in order to answer the questions you have concerning any particular part of the Bible you need to have a working knowledge of the Bible as a whole.  In other words, you understand a verse by understanding the paragraph.  You understand the paragraph by understanding the chapter.  You understand the chapter by understanding the book.  You understand the book by understanding the Testament.  You understand the testament by understanding the entire Bible.  Scripture always interprets scripture.  Start reading through the Bible (From front to back or Genesis to Revelation or if you like from Matthew to Revelation and then the Old Testament) and write down questions you have, but don’t study a particular portion, just read it.  By the time you’re finished and begin reading again, you will have answered most of those questions because of the knowledge you gain from the other portions of Scripture.  Scripture as a whole will answer questions regarding any individual part.

Start reading 3-5 chapters a day without detailed studying, then choose a book to study (John,1 John, and Ephesians are good books to start) and study 1 chapter until you can understand, remember, and explain the content and theme of the chapter.  Work on only 1 chapter until you understand it.  Don’t rush through your study time for the sake of getting chapters under your belt.  The Bible is meant to be understood, not read to gain spiritual brownie points!


Step 2) Invest in a good Study Bible.

There are many quality Study Bibles available that hugely aid your study time.  A good Study Bible is usually thick because each page has a commentary portion on the bottom where the author has commented on each verse or a number of the verses that he has studied.  Study Bibles also have many other helps such as concordances, maps, dictionaries, topic teachings, etc.  The NASB MacArthur Study Bible is excellent and happens to be the one I use.

Step 3) Purchase “30 Days To Understanding The Bible” by Max Anders to help you clarify and comprehensibly navigate your way through the scriptures.

If you are having trouble understanding the Bible, this is a great tool to help clear away the cobwebs.  I remember having a hard time understanding until I read through this helpful tool that outlines the basic structure and layout of the Bible.  Reading this book is likened to taking an airplane ride over the Bible to help you grow accustomed to the major geographic features (or the main and plain things) so you can navigate the Bible in more detail.


Don’t wait until tomorrow!  Start reading and studying today!  Coming Soon: How To Study Your Bible Part 2.  I wanted to give you only a few doable steps to accomplish before you move on to the next.

Let me know how it’s going!