Grace Filled Words of Life

Do you ever find yourself speaking words that are not very gracious? This is really a rhetorical question to which we all know the answer. There are so many words that are not gracious - insults to others, saying things in anger that we wish we could take back, lies, gossip, profanities, putting ourselves down- just to name a few. Words can destroy so many things. They destroy life. They destroy futures. They destroy relationships. They destroy us. I am sure none of us want or intend for that.

The Lord wants us to have life. He wants us to live in right relationship with Him, ourselves, and others. The scriptures tell us in Proverbs 16:24 (ESV), "Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body." God speaks sweet words of grace to us all the time. He wants us to know we are loved. He wants us to trust and receive the words He speaks over us. He tells us so many things and here are just a few.

We are called by name and are His- Isaiah 43:1

We are chosen- Revelation 17:14

We are known- Jeremiah 1:5

We have a future- Jeremiah 29:11

We are loved beyond measure- Ephesians 3:16-21

As Ephesians 2:8 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” God has given us this precious gift. A gift we don’t have to work for or have to ever earn. This gift of grace overwhelms me sometimes. I am humbled to think the God of the universe has freely extended His grace to me just because He loves me. This truth changes how I think and what I say. I know that when my heart overflows with the knowledge and reality of God’s grace, that my speech becomes more sweetened with grace. We are called to live and speak with grace because we have received grace, we have heard grace, and we want health to our souls and bodies.

We all want to be healthy. We all want to move through the easy and difficult seasons of life with grace. It starts with speaking grace to ourselves through agreeing with God’s words. When we don’t, we are agreeing with the enemy’s words. He is a liar. Always. God is always truth. He always tells the truth and wants us to be living in freedom. Grace is God’s mind, heart, and nature to treat us better than we deserve. This grace is not only what God possesses, but power that is imparted - a force from God at work in our lives to change how we behave or respond to situations or people. We can live more gracefully, starting with things we say. God’s grace gives us the power to be who He has made us to be, and our speech is impacted because of the power of grace that we allow to take control in us. Grace is active and produces real, practical outcomes in our daily lives. We show grace when we make daily choices to have speech that practises gratitude, chooses forgiveness, compassion, shows acceptance, and is a flowing stream of love. The powerful truth about grace is that God’s favour which saved us and gifts us daily, is meant to overflow into our lives and others. God’s powerful and practical help is ours to live with and share, whenever and wherever we or others need

it. Freely received from God and freely shared with others. Undeserved and powerful.