“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8 KJV)

There are two parts to salvation, grace and faith. You are saved by grace but it’s through faith!

Grace is God’s part.

It’s His unmerited favor. It’s a free gift. You cannot work for it. You cannot earn it.

Faith is your part!

It is your positive response to what God has already done for you by His grace!

Without faith, you cannot unlock the power of grace! What is faith? It’s what you must do in response to what He has said. Simply put, you’ve got to believe what he has already provided in His Word in order to receive.

“If you (by your faith) declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, (by His grace) you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (Rom. 10:9-10 NIV)

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Rom. 8:26-27 NIV)

Sometimes we don’t know how to pray

Sometimes were confused, in pain, or emotionally distraught. Sometimes it’s because we don’t know all the facts surrounding a particular situation. But, this passage of scripture acknowledges that problem with a great promise: “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us… And, He, who searches our hearts, knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

In other words, God searches our hearts and repairs our prayers

He understands the situation perfectly, and knows what we SHOULD be praying for. He then turns whatever prayer we are attempting to pray into the perfect prayer that we SHOULD be praying!

HE KNOWS all the facts of the situation and fixes our prayers for us “in accordance to the will of God.”

Wow, what a promise. God turns our ordinary prayers into perfect ones! This takes a lot of pressure off!

By the way, a poem I have enjoyed reading over the years is about the proper way to pray. It is funny and makes a valid point. Enjoy!

The Prayer of Cyrus Brown

By Sam Walter Foss (Public Domain)

“The proper way for a man to pray,” Said Deacon Lemuel Keyes,

“And the only proper attitude Is down upon his knees.”

“No, I should say the way to pray,” Said Reverend Doctor Wise,

“Is standing straight with outstretched arms, And rapt and upturned eyes.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” said Elder Slow, “Such posture is too proud.

A man should pray with eyes fast-closed, And head contritely bowed.”

“It seems to me his hand should be Austerely clasped in front,

With both thumbs pointing toward the ground, ”Said Reverend Doctor Blunt.

“Well, I pray while resting every day,” Said Mr. Henry Pack.

“So I should think you say your prayers While lying on your back.”

“Last year I fell in Murphy’s well — Headfirst,” said Cyrus Brown.

“With both my knees a’stickin’ up, And my head a’pointin’ down.”

“And I made a prayer right then and there, The best prayer I ever said,

The prayingest prayer I ever prayed, A’standing on my head.”

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20 NIV)

The Parable of the Lost Son – and/or the day God ran! (Luke 15:11-24)

This is a wonderful parable that Jesus told about a son who asked his father for his inheritance. He then departed for foreign lands where he squandered his money on wild living until it was all gone. Finally, after losing everything including all his friends, he became so desperate that he took a job feeding pigs and he was so hungry that he was tempted to eat the pig slop. He then came to his senses, changed his attitude, realized his sinfulness towards his father, and decided to go home. He planned to ask his father for a servant’s job.

But, according to the story, his father saw him a long way off, had great compassion for him, and ran towards his son with great joy!

This parable is meant to teach us about God’s great love and compassion towards us. The young man in the story represents us, and the father in the story represents God. Notice that the father “saw the son afar off, and ran towards him.” God ran! And, that’s how God is towards us! He sees us “afar off, runs toward us, with great compassion!” Another verse says it this way, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8 NIV)

Here is another fun version of the prodigal son with a lot of letter F’s. Enjoy!

Feeling footloose and frisky, a feather-brained fellow forced his fond father to fork over the farthings.

He then flew far to foreign fields and frittered his fortune, feasting fabulously with faithless friends.

Fleeced by his fellows in folly, and finally facing famine, he found himself a feed-flinger in a filthy farmyard.

Feeling frail and fairly famished he fain would have filled his frame with the foraged foods of farmyard fodder fragments.

‘Fooey’, he figured, ‘My father’s flunkies fare far finer.” The frazzled fugitive fumed feverishly, frankly facing facts.

Frustrated by failure and filled with foreboding, he forthwith fled the foreign farmyard, back to his family.

From faraway, the father focused on the fretful familiar form on the horizon and flew to him and fondly flung his forearms around the fugitive.

Falling at his father’s feet, he floundered forlornly, ‘Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly forfeited family favor.’

But the faithful father, forestalling further flinching frantically flagged a field hand. ‘Fetch forth the finest fatling and fix a feast.’

The fugitive is found! “Unfurl the flags, with fanfares flaring! Let fun and frolic freely flow!”

“Former failure is forgotten, folly is forsaken! And forgiveness forms the foundation for future fortitude.”

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4 NIV)

A very simple and powerful, answer for dealing with any fear is found in this passage!

Two Wonderful Things!

When fear attacks, you must immediately seek the Lord! And then two wonderful things happen:

1) He ANSWERS you!

2) He DELIVERS you from all your fears!

Activated by faith!

Of course, this is an act of faith (all promises are faith activated! - See Heb 4:2)

I heard this promise stated simply the following way:

Fear knocked,

faith answered,

and there was nobody there!

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:29-31 NIV)

Notice that this section of scripture, containing several promises, is about how to get help from God for many different types of people who may be weak, weary, or have stumbled and fallen.

How does the answer come?

It comes from “putting hope in the Lord!”

This is not a difficult thing to do to receive such great benefit!

Here’s what you get

“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31 NIV)

Such great promises!

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” (Deut. 31:8 NIV)

I turn this promise around and begin with the ending (the result), and I say it this way:

“I am not afraid or discouraged, because the Lord Himself goes before me, is with me, and never will forsake me!”

Then I say to myself

“He promised it! I believe it! And, that settles it!”

Therefore…

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isa 41:10 ESV)

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deut. 31:6 ESV)

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.” (1 Cor. 12:4-5 NIV)

When you become born again by receiving Christ, (John 1:12 & John 3:3) God gives you at least one spiritual gift, and sometimes several. (1 Cor. 12:11)

To help you and others!

These wonderful gifts are provided to help you grow in your relationship with God and to help you be effective in helping others, too.

You can find these gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30, Romans 12:6-8, Ephesians 4:11, and 1 Peter 4:11.

God gives these gifts for a number of great reasons:

To equip His children for service. To build up His church. To bring unity in faith. To bring knowledge of Jesus. To bring spiritual maturity. And, to bring the whole measure of fullness in Christ. (1 Peter 4:10 and Eph. 4:11-12)

You must “stir them up” and then put them to work, so both yourself and others can benefit from them!

“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you…” (2 Tim 1:6a NKJV)

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:7 KJV)

Sometimes when a HUGE problem comes suddenly and unexpectedly, (this happens to everyone from time to time) you need to remind yourself of this great promise! “cast ‘all’ your care upon him!” This means every care, every worry, or concern, no matter how small or how big!

Where you will get the best results

The word “cast” means to throw something in a specific direction. A fisherman casts where he believes he will get the best results. In the same way, our best results (solution) to any and all problems will always come from God! When you “cast” your care on him, He will help you! And, He even gives the reason why He will help you; “Because he cares for you!”

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” (Eph. 1:18 NIV)

It’s a problem that has been around for a long time and still is the same today! You don’t know what you don’t know! And if you could see into the spiritual world you would be astounded at what you would see!

Army of Angels!

There is a story in the Old Testament, that tells how the king was mad at the prophet Elisha, and sent his armies to attack him. When Elisha’s servant saw the armies coming he was afraid. But Elisha wasn’t concerned or alarmed because he knew something that his servant didn’t know. “And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:17 NIV)

They were surrounded and protected by God’s army of angels!

In the same say, our promise is saying “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” (Eph. 1:18 NIV)

You have so much readily available to you as a follower of Christ! Open your spiritual eyes and see!