"Don't Try To Change Yourself"
I'm the kind of person that if I don't have what I'm supposed to have than I'm willing to ask God why I don't have it, and begin to look at some things that might be the root of my problem so I can have and enjoy what God wants me to have.
God wants us to learn how to live by grace! Grace literally means that God's favor comes to us. It's like we're His favorite, and He wants His favor to come our way unearned. This is so important because religion makes us earn God's blessing, but Jesus died in our place, and when we give our life to Him, His favor is ours! No matter what God has put on our plate, we can do it, but we cannot do it through presumption, or assumption or because we have a lot of education or we are a sharp cool person. We have to do it by leaning on God. I mean literally like we are desperate, I need you, I need you, I can't do this without you. Spending time with Him, waiting in His Presence, being thankful, and letting Him know that without Him we can do nothing.
Some seem to be angry because grace messes with their religious traditions. They hear someone preaching grace and assume, "Uh - oh, he's talking about grace. That means everyone can go and act wild and do anything they want to do!"
I don't know what kind of grace their talking about, but the grace I live by doesn't give me a free pass to sin. The grace I live by - and the grace I hope you live by - is about relationship. It doesn't ask, "What can I get away with?" It says, "How can my life honor the one who has given me so much?"
Grace is the power we need for everything we do.
I found out that anytime I'm frustrated it's because I'm trying to do something on my own and I'm not trusting God. When we trust God we enter into His rest. The bible says, those who have believed do enter the rest of God - Hebrews 4:3.
