ApprehendingGrace.com

God spoke to me during worship at our church today.

Before I share it with you, let me get the “business side” of the blog out of the way. I know that readers of this blog are of many different spiritual backgrounds. When I say God spoke to me, I do not mean that I’m hearing the audible voice of the Lord. Rather, He spoke to me through the unexpected thought planted in my mind and the stirring of my spirit that says “pay attention to that thought” (again, not audible of course).

Back to God speaking to me…We were singing “I Will Never Be The Same Again” (words and music by Geoff Bullock, copyright 1995, Word Music, LLC and Maranatha! Music, made popular by Hillsongs). If you want to hear Hillsongs sing the song, click here.

I also worship through sign language as I sing.

The last lines of the song are “The Glory of God fills my life and I will never be the same again.” While singing, I unintentionally signed “satisfies” instead of “fills.” Upon realizing the error, God spoke to me, and He did so in such a way that I don’t believe the word was just for me, that it was a word for others as well.

I signed “The Glory of God satisfies my life” and God asked “are you satisfied with Me? Let Me be your ‘all in all.’ I do that by filling your life. Let me fill you — and you will never be the same again.”

Does the Gory of God satisfy your life? I confess that there are times when I don’t feel like He does. But I want Him to. I want to be satisfied with only Jesus. Lord, sweep away the darkness in my life and fill it with your light. Burn away the chaff and fill me with Your presence, Your thoughts, Your desires. I don’t want to be the same tomorrow as I am today.

“If God was no greater than my experience with Him, He’d be a very shallow God!”
                  Pastor Larry, River of Life Christian Church, Norwalk, OH

Every now and then I need to be reminded to expand my view of God. How about you?

Hi Folks,

After getting my feet wet on with a Yahoo 360° blog, I felt ready to move to something else. Yahoo provides a great service, but it seems more “family news” oriented than I want this blog to be.

The purpose of my blog is to encourage and edify the Body of Christ as I grow in Christ. So this is part journal, part teaching, part sharing my passion for Christ. With the personal desire that (1) you, the reader are blessed and (2) I, the writer, grow in Christ as I write and prepare to write regularly.

But first, I needed a name for the blog. Sandy’s Blog sounded too egotistical to me. I pretty much assume you don’t really care what I have to say. Hopefully, you care what the Holy Spirit might say through me. So Sandy’s Blog was out.

The Evolution of a Name
(Yes, I believe in evolution…the kind that’s otherwise know as progressive revelation — or hearing from God progressively instead of having Him dump the whole answer in your lap (or mind or spirit) all at once.) One of my favorite verses is Jonah 2:8 — “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” It might sound like a negative verse to you, but it motivates me not to cling to those idols because I want all the grace God has for me.

So I began thinking…what’s the opposite of the word “forfeit?” And the King James version (yes, I’m old enough to have done most of my Scripture memorization in KJV) of Philippians 3:12 came to mind: Paul wants to apprehend that for which Christ apprended him.

The light bulb went off. I don’t want to forfeit grace, I want to apprehend it. Newer translations of the Bible say “take hold.” I don’t want to give up grace God has for me without a fight, I want to take hold of it.

So I looked up the word in Strong’s Greek Dictionary. And I found that the word in Philippians that is translated “apprehend” or “take hold of” was a key word in one of the first sermons I preached.

Well, that’s enough connections for me. “Apprehending Grace” it is.

I hope you’ll visit often and add your comments so that we can apprehend God’s grace together.

Grace & peace,
Sandy

Back in February, I read the following on a website for a hip fast food restaurant chain. As most hip places do, they’ve totally changed their site since I copied the text so I can’t send you there to read it for yourself. It’s a great place, but I thought I should conceal their identity to protect the innocent! Take a minute to read what they’ve written.

[XXX is] a company out to create a new kind of business: a business about great people, breakthrough brands and passion for what we do. We’re not talking about your everyday, run of the mill type of passion, either. This is a passion verging on insanity. Our goal is simple, to create a world of [XXX] Fans, one mouth at a time. We’re always on the lookout for partners who can help us make this a reality.

What sets us apart is originality and vision. Our “why not?” attitude challenges us to take risks others in the industry won’t take. The result? Groundbreaking concepts consumers love and opportunities franchisees can’t wait to be part of.

Each of our breakthrough concepts is unique in its own right. We combine braggable food with a healthy twist to create fresh, innovative concepts in environments that resonate with consumers.

Does this describe how Christians should be or what? How the church should be or what? I was so struck by this description when I read it that I had to copy it into my journal. Lord, make us more like the world in ways that we should be like the world! Give us more passion for you than the world shows in their business. I want to be a part of a group of Christians who are as passionate about Christ and the Gospel as these people are about their business!

Last Wednesday evening we studied Paul’s pastoral epistles — his letters to Timothy and Titus. As the pastor was giving an overview of the three letters, I found myself distracted by the content of the letters! (Being distracted by the Word of God — what a great thing!)

What caught my attention is that the Apostle Paul presented the Gospel in nine of the thirteen chapters of these three books. I was amazed by this. Remember the setting. Paul is writing to leaders of churches, men he had discipled and set in place as pastors. Paul calls both Timothy and Titus “my true son” in the faith (1 Tim 1:2, Titus 1:4). Undoubtedly these men know the Gospel message. Undoubtedly Paul knows that these men know it. Yet Paul repeats it ten times in thirteen chapters.

The question I have to ask is “Why?”

• To encourage himself? (Remember, he was in prison and soon to be executed)
• To encourage Timothy and Titus? (They were young and had their share of struggles)
• To reinforce the many facets of the Gospel? (watch for a future post on this)
• Because he was consumed by it — it was what he lived and breathed?

It was probably a combination of all of these, but as we discussed this discovery at the end of the study, we concluded that the most prominent reason was probably because he was consumed by it. Paul lived and breathed the Gospel.

I love to watch interviews between secular media and Billy Graham. He very naturally includes the Gospel message in almost every answer. I watch amazed that he can do it so frequently without coming across as preachy or avoiding the questions. Politicians put forth the same message but it’s often at the expense of answering the question. Billy Graham was able to answer questions while including the Gospel.

The same was true of the Apostle Paul. I want to say “it’s their gift.” But I think that’s a copout. I think it’s much more like that they were/are more consumed with the Gospel than I am. I want my passion to be as Paul’s:

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:7-11, NIV

Paul says he considers everything in this life that he might otherwise have considered of value rubbish! And that what he wants is only to know Christ. I’m not there. I am not consumed with Christ as I’d like to be. There’s still way too much rubbish in my life!