My wife, Christine, and I were married in 1964. As we began our life together, we looked for a church to attend. We found ourselves disappointed and unsatisfied; in fact, I told Christine, “If this is all there is to Christianity, I want out.” Little did I know that these words would propel us on a journey orchestrated by the Lord that has continued until this day…
The details of our journey are exciting, adventurous, and replete with the faithfulness of the Lord.
It is also a testimony of the Lord’s dealings in our lives.
It is strewn with struggles, failures, and successes; but there has been growth in the Lord and an awareness that there is more to Christianity than most of us realize.
The bottom line is that the Lord heard the despair of my words, picked us up, and put us on a pathway that taught us to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33)
Now 61 years later (2025), the Lord is still revealing Himself to us through His Word by the power and personal work of the Holy Spirit.
We have not arrived, but like Paul, we “…press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” (Phil. 3:12 b) [emphasis mine]
The goal of these posts is to exhort and encourage one another as the writer to the Hebrews stated in Heb.10:19-25.
The Tree of Life Version says, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have boldness to enter into the Holies by the blood of Yeshua. He inaugurated a new and living way for us through the curtain–that is, His flesh. We also have a Kohen Gadol (High Priest) over God’s household.” (emphasis and insert mine)
“So let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and body washed with pure water.”
“Let us hold fast the unwavering confession of hope, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds.”
“And do neglect our own meetings, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another–and all the more so as you see the Day approaching.”
In order to live out the truth this exhortation, we must remind ourselves that:
“For by grace we have been saved through faith. And this is not from ourselves-it is the gift of God. It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship–created in Messiah Yeshua for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-10, Tree of Life Version)
The life we began in the grace of God is the same grace that continues to work in our lives as we grow in the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God.
The traditional definition of grace is God’s ‘undeserved favor’.
This is absolutely true.
I would like to suggest an acronym for the word GRACE.
G.R.A.C.E. is: God’s Redemptive Activity Changes Everything.
Question: What is God’s Redemptive Activity? The Cross.
The Cross is the convergence of God’s mercy and judgment.
It is the place of God, the Father’s ultimate expression of love, fulfilled by the offering the sacrifice of Son of God Himself, the Lamb of God, governed by the Holy Spirit, according to the Word God.
As mentioned above, God’s Grace is understood to be His ‘undeserved favor’.
Grace comes from the Father and is centered in Christ.
The work of grace is the message of the Cross.
Jesus said, “It is finished.”
After the resurrection grace continues with the ‘way of the Cross ‘governed’ by the power of the Holy Spirit as taught in the Word of God.
I submit to you that the following verse is the epitome of what it means to be ‘governed’ by the Holy Spirit.
In Luke 9:23-24 (Tree of Life Version), “Then Yeshua was saying to everyone, “If anyone wants to follow Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross every day, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Let us P.O.S.T . together: Pursuing Obedient Spiritual Truth
a brother in Christ, deo
2017/updated 2023/updated 2024/updated 2025
Living Words of Encouragement 