GRACE COURSE | STEPS TO EXPERIENCING GOD’S GRACE

Introduction
In the story of the two sons in Luke 15, both brothers found themselves at a distance from the father; however it was their father’s desire for both of them to live in a deep, loving, close relationship with him and to experience the fullness of their inheritance as his true sons. Both were welcomed by their father to come back home again but only the younger son accepted the invitation and experienced his father’s grace.

No matter where you are today, God the Father offers you this same invitation to come “home”. You may want to use The Steps to Experiencing God’s Grace simply to affirm your love for Him and enable Him to point out areas in your life that need some attention. But if you feel distant from God, if your Christian walk has become free from slavery to sin or fear, it will help you take hold of who you are and what you have in Christ to live life!

• Love God and others because of the love yourself receive from Him and not for any other reason
• Experience daily victory as a consequence of the power of the Spirit within you, rather than any power or effort you have to exert
• Find yourself becoming abundantly fruitful, bringing God much glory, by staying in a dependent relationship of rest in Him

When we begin to see our lives from His perspective, it can be painful to realize just how far we may have wandered away from Father God. In seeking to return to that place of experiencing grace, God does not require us to try harder to please Him. Quite the opposite, for it was this “slaving away” that kept the elder son at a distance from the father.

Returning to our Father begins with having a change of mind [what the Bible calls “repentance”], and committing ourselves to believe the truth [as revealed in His Word, the Bible] about who He is, who we now are in Christ and the circumstances of our lives.

In this kind and gentile process, we would encourage you to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal not only actions, but also attitudes (including false beliefs) that have kept you from living in the daily reality of His grace and producing fruit that will last. Remember that God looks inside our heart. Striving for acceptance with God and others through our performance can look very spiritual on the outside, but is based on beliefs that misrepresent who God is and who we are. There may not be anything obvious to point to in your actions that needs addressing (unlike the younger son), because the external behavior itself may not look that different from those who are living in the experience of grace. But inside there is all the difference in the world. Thankfully, in Christ we have all been given a brand new heart!

We will depend completely on His ability to lead us into all truth so that we can take hold of our inheritance as God’s precious children, and use the freedom He gives to offer our whole lives back to Him in love and gratitude, believing that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20). So to begin, we will read the following prayer and declaration out loud:

Opening prayer
Dear Heavenly Father,
I thank You that You love me and that Your Son died and rose again so that I could have an intimate relationship with You. I have spent too much of my life trying to gain Your acceptance when I already have it. I have related to You more on the basis of head knowledge rather than heart experience, laws rather than love.
Your Word says it was for freedom that Christ has set us free, and I really want to take hold of that freedom! There are many ways in which I have not stood firm in Your new covenant of grace, but instead have allowed a yoke of slavery to weigh me down and wear me out. Please deliver me from all bondage in my life, and bring to my mind all the attitudes and actions that have kept me from receiving and giving away Your love. I ask that Your truth would set me free to love, worship, know, obey and serve You and others in the love and acceptance that You have extended to me in Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Opening declaration
In the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has all authority in heaven and on earth, I take my stand against all His enemies who want to hinder my quest for freedom.

I refuse all fear, anxiety, doubt, confusion, deception, distraction or any other form of interference that comes from the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. I choose to take my place in Christ, and I declare that all His enemies have been disarmed, and that Jesus Himself came to destroy the devil’s work in my life. I declare that the chains of bondage have already been broken by Christ and that I am in Him. Therefore His victory is my victory.