Today is 5/5. The number 5 in the Bible often refers to God’s grace. That’s His constant giving to us in love, no matter how we respond. Our loving Father is a great Giver. One of the greatest lessons we can learn in life is to RECEIVE His love and gifts with a thankful heart.
2 Corinthians 9:14:
And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the EXCEEDING GRACE OF GOD IN YOU.
THANKS be unto God for his unspeakable GIFT.
God does not change, there is no variableness in His love and grace to us. He provides every good and perfect gift through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
James 1:17:
EVERY GOOD GIFT AND EVERY PERFECT GIFT is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Jesus understood the Father’s loving grace. He told his followers that God would give them His gift of holy spirit if they would ask. God is not a foolish and imperfect parent, but a heavenly Father Who knows our needs and supplies them willingly.
Luke 11:13:
If ye then, being evil [not perfect like God], know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT to them that ask him?
Peter, on the day of Pentecost, first proclaimed God’s promise to all mankind: they can be born again in the name of Jesus Christ and show forth God’s spirit within them!
Acts 2:38:
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and YOU SHALL RECEIVE [MANIFEST, SHOW FORTH] THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Peter taught the people in the Temple on Pentecost that Jesus is Lord and that he was raised from the dead [Romans 10:9,10]. They were saved and showed forth God’s spirit within them by speaking in tongues. Peter later taught these same truths to a group of Gentiles. They too received God’s gift of grace.
Acts 10:45:
And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was POURED OUT THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Peter and those with him saw Cornelius and his household speak in tongues, like he had done on Pentecost. They knew these Gentiles were now born again and a part of God’s spiritual family. Everyone of us who is born again has received the measure of God’s grace in the gift of Christ. The spirit of Christ in us gives us eternal life and a right standing before God, our Father.
Ephesians 4:7:
But unto every one of us is GIVEN GRACE according to the measure of THE GIFT OF CHRIST [IN US].
Now that we have God’s spirit in us, we can continue to walk by His grace in Christ and “stir up” God’s spiritual power within us.
2 Timothy 1:6:
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou STIR UP [LIKE REKINDLING EMBERS TO FULL FLAME] THE GIFT OF GOD, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
Being members of Christ’s body, there are SO MANY WAYS that we can minister to one another with the gift of holy spirit within us! Just as we have received God’s gracious gift, so too should we minister to each other. We carefully and faithfully steward the Father’s gift in us.
1 Peter 4:10:
As every man hath RECEIVED THE GIFT, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the MANIFOLD [MULTI-FACETED] GRACE OF GOD.
Let us live each day, thankful for the Father’s grace in our lives. Our physical bodies, the breath that gives us life, and all that we have in this beautifully-created world is by His grace. And ALL GOOD THINGS come us through His Son, Jesus Christ!
1 Corinthians 8:6:
But to us there is but ONE GOD, the Father, of [out of, the Source] whom are all things, and we in him; and ONE LORD Jesus Christ, by [THROUGH, our connection to the Father] whom are all things, and we by him.
