Our God is a God of all grace. He does not treat us as we deserve given the fact that we sin and fall short of his expectations daily, but rather he gives us what we do not deserve: his presence, his provision, his protection, his power, and his peace.

God’s throne is a throne of grace that we can approach with confidence and receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. God’s word is the word of his grace that when spoken into the messed up circumstances of our world and of our lives, assures us that God is a our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, that no matter what happens we are safe. If the economy completely tumbles, if we have to go to war, if there is a repeat of 9/11 in every major city in America, and an outbreak of West Nile Virus, in the words of Psalms 91:1: "He/she who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." Whatever you face in life, as one who has the grace, the favor of God in your life, God will give you more grace not simply to endure but to rise above the circumstances and let them work for your good.

Grace is truly amazing. Many of us already know this, because as the Apostle Paul makes clear in the second chapter of his letter to the saints in Ephesus, we were like them at one time, dead in our transgressions and sins, living according to the ways and the whims of the world, under the influence of the ruler of the kingdom of the air—Satan—the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient, and doing anything and everything that we thought we were big enough and bad enough to do.

There may have been times in our past when we wanted to do better, but we couldn’t, not in our own strength. We were driven by the desires and demands of our own sinful nature. We may not have realized it then, but we were powerless and we had no help. We were spiritually dead, which means we were living apart with God with no hook-up, no connection, no relationship.

To make matters worst, we were by nature the children of wrath. Because of our attitudes and actions, we had incurred the wrath of God, who hates sin and in his government must judge it. The wages of sin are death, so that meant that we were destined to spend an eternity apart from God. That is what spiritual death is: separation from God, who is the creator, redeemer and sustainer of life.

But, Paul says, "But!" I like that conjunction because it indicates an interruption in the way that things are proceeding. It represents an exception to the rule, a change in a foregone conclusion. The conjunction "but" alerts us that something’s different; in this case something amazing is about to happen.

You see, we were on our way to hell is what Paul was saying, but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, interrupted our journey. We were dead and he made us alive with Christ; it is by grace you have been saved. God, who by the way was the only one who could have changed the direction in which we were headed and delivered us, Paul said, loved us enough to do just that.

Paul refers to God’s love for us as "great love." You already know that the love of God comes from the Greek word Agapeo, unconquerable benevolence, invincible good will, seeking another’s highest good above one’s own. The love of God is the kind of love that will not let you go even when from all indications you don’t want to be bothered.

The Love of God is the love that pursues us, and woos us, keeps on making a way for us, moves heaven and earth to care for us, keeps us alive, keeps us from losing our mind, does not give up on us until we give in and finally receive all that God wants to lavish upon us. The love of God is what sent Jesus to Calvary to die in our place. The writer John says in 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

The amazing thing is we weren’t even friends. In our sin, we had turned our backs on God. Had he decided to destroy us, he would have been entirely justified and nothing could have averted the catastrophe. But God, in his great love for us, Paul says in Romans 5:6-8: "At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man or woman someone might dare to die. But God, who is the supreme exception to the rule, demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." The love of God is displayed in that God showed us mercy, he did not give us what we deserved. He graced us. He gave us what we did not deserve.

By grace we are saved. God accepted us, forgave us, delivered us, he set us free from the bondage of sin and guilt. He made us alive with Christ. Colossians 2:13: "When you were dead in sin and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sin, having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and stood opposed to us."

God has given us a wonderful new life in Christ, we are no longer powerless and earthbound, we have been raised with Christ to sit in the heavenly realm where everything in all creation is under our feet and we share with Christ a position of majesty, power and authority. We reign and rule with Christ, everything in all creation is subject to us, we have authority. We have the power to influence or command thought, opinion or behavior.

There is no better time to use our authority than now, when everything in the world seems to be going crazy with wars and rumors of war, with an unstable economy and the rising unemployment, with little girls being kidnaped and/or killed, with people living on the edge wondering what is going to happen next. This is no time for the saints to shrink back in fear, with a wait and see attitude. We need to take our authority. Since we are seated with Christ in the heavens, we have immediate access to him.

We need to talk to him. It is time to pray; we need to intercede on behalf of a torn and desperate world and it’s people. We have the authority to turn this thing around. It’s time to pray. We have God’s ear. God said himself, in II Chronicles 7:14: "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land."

We have all of this because of grace: God’s unmerited favor in our lives. God has graced us and blessed us and put us on display in order that he might through the ages continue to show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed to us in Christ Jesus. He wants to exhibit his favor towards us so that the world will see the surpassing wealth of his grace. "For it is by grace we have been saved, through faith—and this not of ourselves it is a gift of God—not of works so that no one can boast."

God showed his love to us when we needed it the most. We owe our salvation to the undeserved favor of God, through our faith in Him. Even our faith is a work of grace. Faith is our trustful response evoked by the Holy Spirit, not something that we came up with on our own. Everything, including faith, is a gift of God. We dare not congratulate ourselves and act as if we did anything to put us in the enviable position that we are in. We are God’s workmanship, his craftsmanship, his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to be on display to the world through the way we live our lives and the way we conduct God’s business.

Grace is not just the initiatory act of God by which he gives us eternal salvation, but it is also that which maintains us throughout our entire Christian lives. By grace, God not only saves us, but he keeps us. Grace is divine enablement and power to live each day and handle the temptations, the disappointments and challenges that come our way.

Grace teaches us to say "no" to sin and ungodliness. There is grace for every need and every trial. God pours his grace out on us in abundance. Grace comes to encourage us and build us up. It is grace that keeps us and gives us strength when we think we can go no further. Paul found that out when he prayed and asked God three times to remove a thorn that he had been given in the flesh. God told him in II Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made great in your weakness."

It is when we are weak and are willing to admit it that we find that God has promised that for every trial, for every disappointment, for every sickness, for every trouble, there will never be a lack of sufficient grace to carry us safely through. Therefore, like Paul, we can delight in our weaknesses, for when we are weak, then we are strong—all because of God’s grace.

Cynthia Hale: Yes, I think we do. I think we need to be aware of God’s grace so that we can live life freely and abundantly. The message was meant to convey that God loves us just as we are and so we can live life freely.

Talbot: Cynthia, in your own life, what would you say the greatest moment of grace is for you?

Hale: Probably the fact that God even allows me to preach because I know that I have received God’s unconditional love and acceptance.