GRACE AS WEED KILLER

GRACE IS WORKING AS A WEED EATER!

Weeds: I have weeds in my backyard, and I am free to have them.
Picture: I am free to disobey; I am completely free.

Weeds: Those weeds in my yard are ugly, but no one is going to arrest me because I am free to have them. I am also free to experience the ugliness of those weeds.

Picture: While I am free to disobey, I am also free to experience suffering this life of Sin.
Weeds: I could go out and mow those weeds down, but they would come back since the root has not been dealt with.

Picture: The same thing applies to sins versus Sin — sins are the individual weeds that come up, and Sin is the root that produces all sins.

Grace, The Weed eater: Grace kills weeds in our life as a weed eater. Grace moves constantly over our lives, knocking those weeds of sins off. In fact, grace works so quickly, that as soon as one sin pops up, before it can even pop up, grace knocks it off. That is a picture of grace forgiving us for our sins. So for a Christian—for the rest of his life—every sin, before it even surfaces, is forgiven and washed. It is grace working as a weed eater on our sins.

That is the grace with which we are familiar, and that is the grace that people think we can abuse. In fact, Christians can abuse grace. But when we preach grace, we proclaim grace in its two aspects:

1. Grace is the weed eater knocking those weeds of sins off all of time, and
2. Grace is, simultaneously, God sending His grace to kill off the root of Sin if we let Him.

That is the process of sanctification—
q Saving grace is keeping us clean on the top.
q Sanctifying grace is the same grace; it is accessed by faith too. It is going underneath and killing off the roots.

There will still be a lot of weeds of sins, but the underlying problem, which is Sin, has been addressed—those roots are being killed.
By Johnny Tatum

GRACE CONSCIOUSNESS

Paul testifies, “By the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (I Corinthians 15:10).

BE GRACE CONSCIOUS DAILY

We have a ministry build by grace and not a graceless ministry. We do not want to be grace killers but be conscious of God’s grace daily so that our work will not be in vain. Ministry that is not build by grace will be in vain. That is why Paul was very concern about this ministry in the churches today. He said in his own words "I labored more abundantly than they all". He put daily emphasis on it.

God’s grace that is freely given to us is our generous giving to others, for “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8; see also 2 Corinthians 8:1–19; 9:8–15).

GRACE FOR MINISTERING TO OTHERS

God’s grace to believers involves spiritual gifts that are to be used in edifying all the members of the Body of Christ.

“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (I Peter 4:10).

“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness” (Romans 12:6–8) KJV.

GRACE TO BRING OTHERS TO SPIRITUAL MATURITY

God’s grace works in us to bring us to spiritual completeness and maturity. “The God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you” (I Peter 5:10).

The grace of God is multiplied to us, and we grow in grace through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord…. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:2; 3:18).

In this definition of grace, Dr. Spiros Zodhiates commented, “Grace is like God’s power generator, and we are like the conduits which carry His power to its intended purposes by the Holy Spirit.”

Hillsong United - You Are My Strength - With Subtitles/Lyric

THE STRENGTH OF GRACE

The Lord is strengthening His people daily and everywhere they go:

1. The strength of His grace is to empower – “My Grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” – 2 Cor. 12:9 Strength in weakness? What a contradiction?

The concept of strength in weakness is really about emptying ourselves of ourselves, so that God can fill in the space. It's only by admitting our weaknesses, and accepting God's grace that we can gain true strength. In many spiritual battles, or even tests of will, our own strength is not enough to carry us through. We need God. And the only way we can get God's strength is to get ourselves out of the way and let Him work.

Strength of His Grace. There is strength in the Grace of God. God is the God of all grace. The grace of God in your life is to end weakness. God will replace godly strength for you to live for Him and serve Him. Grace will build you up and give you an inheritance – Acts 20:32 What grace calls you – Grace provides, restores, establishes and strengthens you.

2. The strength of His arm to sustain. – “Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee” - Isaiah 51:10

Strength to sustain you. The gospel of Jesus Christ declares the grace of God as the answer to all the struggles of life. The grace of God is for all your fears, your hurts and your pains. But unfortunately, fear, hurt and pain do seem to grip our lives far too often. Only grace can saved you because is in a Person Jesus Christ. Grace save you from hatred, sickness, coldness fire dies down, lukewarmness, helplessness. Grace is an exchange of Him that you don’t deserve it. He freely gives it to you and me. Fear Not, my strength of grace will perfect all your weaknesses.

Let the Strength of His Grace comes upon us today! Amen!

THE STRENGTH OF THE LORD

The Lord gives a sevenfold strengthening to His people as they trust Him.

1. The strength of His grace to empower – “My Grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” – 2 Cor. 12:9


2. The strength of His arm to sustain. – “Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee” - Isaiah 51:10


3. The Strength of His love to inspire. – “The love of Christ constrains us” – 2 Cor. 5:14


4. The Strength of His armor to protect. – “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God” – Ephesians 6:10,11


5. The Strength of His joy to gladden. – “The joy of the Lord is your strength” – Nehemiah 8:10


6. The Strength of His Word to comfort. – “This is my comfort in my affliction, for Thy Word hath quickened me” – Psalms 119:50


7. The Strength of His power to qualify. – “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me.- Acts 1:8

Let the strength of the Lord be upon you each day as you walk with HIM! Let many MIRACLES
happen for you and your family. Let the FAVOR of the Lord be upon you always! Amen!

SIN AND RIGHTEOUS CONSCIOUSNESS

For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Roman 4:3-8 KJV

Sin Consciousness

The opposite, of course, of a righteousness conscience is a sin-consciousness. The state of being where you feel separated from God. You do not sense your oneness with God, but you are very aware of your sin. You are very aware of your lack. You are very aware of your inability to do that which you want to do. Sin-consciousness is that state where you could want with all your heart to please God, and yet you find within your members that sin-consciousness, the sense of being separated, the sense of failure, the sense of fear. "Oh I would love to be able to pray in a meeting, but I feel so inferior." That is sin consciousness, and that will rob from you and steal from you everything that God wants you to have.

Sin-consciousness destroys faith. How can you have faith to believe for anything from God, if you feel inferior, if you are so aware of your sin and your shortcomings? It creates an inferiority complex. "I would love to be able to stand and share at a meeting, but I can’t." "I wish I had the boldness to share the gospel with people but I can’t." I wish I could be a better person, but I can’t." That is sin consciousness.

Sin-consciousness destroys your peace with God. Because of it you are conscious of your sin and your failure all the time, and it robs you. How could you have peace with God, knowing that you are such a failure? Now when you understand righteousness, it doesn’t mean that you never fail. It doesn’t mean that you never miss God, but you don’t have that consciousness of always failing. You have the exact opposite. The opposite of sin-consciousness is God consciousness. You are aware of your oneness and unity with your Father God, just as Jesus was. You realize that in your spirit, (the new creation man) there is no separation between you and your Father. Was there any separation between Jesus and His Father? Neither is there in you, except in your carnal mind. Your sin-consciousness robs you of your peace with God. There is no peace – Isaiah says – to the wicked.

Sin consciousness makes us feel unworthy. How many Christians ever come to a meeting, and feel worthy to have the joy of God come upon them and flow from within them? Very few Christians ever meet together on Sunday morning, or any other time, with a sense of worthiness. It’s always a sense of unworthiness. "I’ve failed God so miserably. I’ve missed God so many times this week, and I have a sense of unworthiness." So when we come together, there is no real joy. There is no real expression. There is no real release of the spirit. There is just a sense of unworthiness. Sin-consciousness is the biggest enemy that the church of the living God has today.

Sin-consciousness makes your prayers ineffectual. The scripture says, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." But if you do not have that consciousness, if you do not know that you are a righteous man, if you have the sense of unworthiness and weakness and failure, your prayers will not avail much. God only answers the prayer that is prayed with the consciousness of His righteousness

Taken from Gary and Carol Sigler Ministries

(http://sigler.org/righteousness) -

THE REALITY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

The Reality of Righteousness

We must know experientally and subjectively, the truths of the redemption of Jesus. One of the greatest difficulties for God's people is to realize they have been made righteous. In our carnal nature we are full of guilt and condemnation because we cannot measure up to God's holy standard. In our carnal nature we have no access to God. God's people keep trying to know God by the intellect and by performing certain deeds. If you want to know the Lord you cannot know or find Him in the natural mind. We can only know and worship him in spirit.

The systematized Christian religion has been very proficient in teaching people that they are sinners. Over the years this has developed a sin consciousness in God's people. What religion has not taught us is the reality of righteousness. Those who have not experienced God's righteousness know they are sinful and do not know how to rid themselves of it. When we receive the revelation and realization of redemption and righteousness it releases us from a consciousness of guilt. Once you lose your sin consciousness you will find yourself free from all of the bondage of sin.

By Gary and Carol Sigler

(http://sigler.org/righteousness) - Gary and Carol Sigler have written Part 1 to 6 on this subject. I recommended it.

Mum's the Best! lyrics. A Mother's Day Song - original

PRACTICING RIGHTEOUSNESS

The Scriptures given below are:

I John 2:29 - "If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. Knowing and Practicing Righteousness.

I John 3:7 - "Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. Please read also verses 8 and 9.

I John 3:9 says "Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin because he has been born of God". (Everyone can sin but this verse was interpreted "incline to sin or no desire to sin." The seed of righteousness causes the believer who has no desire to sin. The nature of sin is wearing away and he has become the New Creation in Christ.

If we are conscious of our righteousness in Christ and it is also an everlasting righteousness, then we will reign in life.

What do we mean reign in life? - Roman 5:17
"For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." There are some scriptures I found out in the book of Proverbs.

1) Reign in area of your prayer life - James 5:16; Proverbs 10:24
2) In life you will never give up - Proverbs 24:16
3) Reign in area of blessings - Proverb 10:6; 22
4) Reign in the area of influence - Proverbs 10:11; 20 (your mouth and boldness) Proverbs 28:1
5) Reign in the area of sharing your food - Proverb 10:21
6) Reign in fruitfulness - Proverb 12:12
7) Reign in wealth - Proverb 13:22
"A good man .... But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous."

When we are more conscious of our righteousness in Christ his words promised our blessings and our fruitfulness. We will be conscious of our spiritual authority - you will have power over the evil one that is you are above powers, principalities and you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. This will make us reign with Jesus now and forever.

We need to keep confessing we are righteous. We actually activate the gift of righteousness. God no longer looks at us as sinners. He sees us as the righteousness of God in Christ. not at our performance anymore. We cannot perform to add to our goodness and blessings. In the first place we don't deserve the blessings of God. It is our faith in Jesus and to all those who believe and will receive the blessings. The more we confess in faith the more we believe - the more we speak the more we are conscious of our righteousness.

The bible says, "since we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak..." We speak and confess what is written in the word of God. This will create faith in our spirit every time we confess who we are.
It will become part of you! Faith rises each time we confess who we are.

Remember righteousness is a force and our weapons to exercise our authority over our enemies, city and land. We have to put on the breastplate of righteousness spiritually the fruit of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:9)

2 Corinthians 10:4 says "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God (God's righteousness one of them) for pulling down strongholds...."

Ephesians 6:11 - "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. vs.12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. vs. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness... ...with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one."

May you be strong in the Lord and be so blessed reigning with Christ! Let it be!

THE SON OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL RISE

Malachi 4:1-3 - "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Then you will trample down the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I do these things," says the LORD Almighty." (NIV)

When John the Baptist's father prophesied in Luke 1:78 he alluded to this verse and said that with the coming of Jesus the day was dawning from on high. The sun of righteousness was rising. And he has been rising all over this world ever since. And one day his rise will reach its noon day brightness and he will appear in glory and the final division between the believing and unbelieving will be made.

What does it mean for you today if you are a believing Christian? What could it mean for you and me? I saw five things to form an outline in this verse 2:

A rising sun
Beams of righteousness
Wings of healing
Breaking out of a stall and leaping out

Trample down the wicked into ashes

1.Jesus Christ is a Rising Sun.

He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. - Psalm 37:5-7

It was Isaiah 60 that says about the Glory of Zion:

1 "Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

2 See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.

3 Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

4 "Lift up your eyes and look about you:
All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters are carried on the arm.

5 Then you will look and be radiant,
your heart will throb and swell with joy;
the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,
to you the riches of the nations will come.

2. The sun is a Son with beams of righteousness.

That means that Jesus makes things right. He makes man right with God through reconciliation. He makes man right with man through grace and humility and patience and love. The Sun of Righteousness is shining into our hearts with that glory permeating through that attracts many nations and people. People will just come because of the light and glory of God in us.

3. This Son of righteousness rises with healing in its wings.

I can remember the sunrise over the sea. When you wake up early in the morning and you will see how it happens on the rim of the ocean. A thin line of orange and red appears along the water. Then it intensifies, brighter and brighter, and you see the brightness focusing more and more on the center of the line, until the flaming ball surges up out of the water. And then you watch it rise up, and in a sense it brings that whole red line on the rim of the rim of the water up into the air as though the sun had wings. Wings are for protection and in this case healing too.

The Sun of Righteousness is WILLING to HEAL! Matthew 8:3
Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.”…

Do you know that it is God’s will for you to be healed? In fact, Jesus always healed the sick who came to Him. The blind, lame, maimed, mute, deaf and demon-possessed — He healed them all. (Matthew 8:16) If Peter’s shadow could healed the people of his time then the shadow of Jesus wings would healed everyone under Him.

4) With the Son of Righteousness there will be a going forth from the stall -- "You shall go forth from the stall."

The coming of Jesus means freedom not bondage. It’s a freedom from all kinds of guilt and condemnation. Prison walls will be broken! Broken hearts healed! The blind will see and deaf hears. Luke 4:19

5) In this verse 2 is that when the sun of righteousness rises with healing in his wings and we are set free from the stall of bondage, we will not merely walk, or run; we will leap like calves.

The joy that the Lord gives is that leaping joy. It is that unspeakable joy and will be so emotional. The joy that Jesus gives is real freedom. In other words freedom is the necessary condition of leaping joy. Jesus said once (Luke 6:22-23), "Blessed are you when men hate you. . . Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven." - But I want tell you that there is a calf in every believer. And you are given the strength to leap. Your leap is a leap of faith, a leap of hope and a leap of victory. If you are walking in defeat and the joy of God makes you leap to victory.

6) The Sun of Righteousness has already defeated the enemy at the cross.

We are to trample them into ashes. How do you kill cockroaches? You stepped on it until it is flatten. That is also the meaning of Christmas. Jesus comes

• to give light and truth where there was darkness and confusion,
• to set things right where they were wrong,
• to give healing where there was sickness and brokenness.
• to give freedom where there was bondage,
• to give calf-life joy where there was worry and fear.
• to trample down the wicked one into ashes where there was defeat and failure.

May this day and days ahead, the Sun of righteousness rise with healing in his wings so that all of us might go forth leaping like calves from the stall. We leap out in healing and power and recovery. We leap out in faith and victory and joy. We come against every works of the enemy and defeat them at the Cross of Jesus this day. This is the day to put our feet on the head of the enemies and trample them into ashes. Darkness has to flee and the Sun of Righteousness has to rise in us. Arise and shine for our light has come. In Jesus name, Amen!