Grace for Grace

As a result of the hyper legalism that most have experienced, Christianity has started to focus only on the soft, sweet, humanized version of God. We have fit Him into our understanding, but anything that leaves out a part of the nature of God is a false and incomplete religion. I will not settle for a God that is less than the reality. The principle of "dying to self" has been painted over with the message of grace, but they can coexist. They are not at odds against one another, they compliment each other. We have been given victory through Jesus' blood over our flesh, the power to choose righteousness AND we have been given grace through Jesus' blood to sin, to choose our flesh, and then get right back on the horse. He has given us the miracle of moment to moment choices. One choice no longer defines our entire life. But it is because of that insane grace and the gentle guidance of the Holy Spirit that we are called to righteousness. "Be ye holy, for I am h...

Everything in the Christian walk revolves around choice. I would be journaling my prayers to God, asking for peace and joy and strength and asking for so much, and that was all I knew how to do, because that was all I had ever heard to do. What I didn't know was that it was already within my reach. because we live with the Holy Spirit, we live with all of that waiting for us. I remember one morning I was having a hard time relating in love to a family member, and I journaled a prayer, and ended it with: Holy Spirit, I want to love my sister unconditionally. And I felt Him whisper: "So do it." And every time after that when I would pray an "I want" prayer, I felt a non-judgmental eye roll of "don't you get it? it's your choice. it's up to you." I've had fruitful encounters from those "I want" prayers, where I am all of a sudden overwhelmed by abundance of what I asked for, but I really don't think that's the norm. I...