GREAT POWER COMES THROUGH GREAT GRACE
Acts 4:33-34 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.
This verse reveals the source of God’s great power… it is great grace.
It says that God’s grace was so powerfully at work that there were no needy persons among them. That means nobody had physical or mental health needs, no financial needs or addictions or incurable diseases. There were no needs at all!
Today, one of the great needs of so many people, especially men is the need of deliverance from the dual combination of substance and sexual temptations. They are like a double barrel shotgun. They are so pervasive in society today that it’s impossible to escape them.
For many men they have secret sins they struggle with and hide from everyone else. They bring shame and condemnation and these two voices of the devil are the real and true source of many men’s struggles. As soon as you can deal with shame and condemnation, substances and sexual sins begin to lose their power over you.
The power of God’s great grace is the way to overcome shame and condemnation.
A church member one day shared with me their struggles with substances and sex and how they were carrying a double load of shame and condemnation that weighed heavily upon them.
This member tried everything they could in their own strength to deal with these “issues”. They went to counseling, support groups and practiced prohibition, but these can only bring you so far. If you want to experience true and lasting deliverance, you need the power of God’s grace to bring you a supernatural breakthrough.
Grace begins by hearing the good news about Jesus.
Romans 5:17 says it is through God’s abounding grace and the gift of His righteousness that you can reign in this life through Jesus Christ. It starts with believing that Jesus’ righteousness is a free gift. It doesn’t matter how deeply entrenched you are in your addictive habits, this gift of righteousness is what will remove shame and condemnation from your life. That righteousness will chop the head off shame and condemnation and that’s when your addictive habits will lose their power over your life.
The key is to keep hearing/reading the truth about Jesus' gift of righteousness – you need to be conscious of it every day. Why? Because every day the devil is bombarding you with lies and voices that seduce and entrap you. You cannot overcome these through your own abilities – you need a heavenly power and that power comes through the knowledge of His grace and the gift of His righteousness.
Become conscious of Jesus' grace and the gift of His righteousness. Listen to sermons that preach this. Meditate on scripture that declares this. Let the power of grace do it for you!