The Greek word for Grace in the New Testament is charis: It means: a person having an awareness of well being with feelings of rejoicing as; God and them are communicating; which is based on an understanding of shared views or concerns and when we meet in our daily meetings; it is enjoyable and with careful attention. Grace is a divine influence we can experience on our heart which causes our soul which is made up of our mind, will and emotions to thrive.

A person who is experiencing God's grace knows that; they are highly favored in God's sight. It causes them to rest from their cares of life that at times gnaws at our consciousness which give us anxieties or distress of impending danger or lack that we all are dealing with in one form or another.

The first time a person experiences God's grace is the day they are delivered from their sin fallen cursed nature that all of us were born with by asking Christ to come into our life and we become born again. This is what saves us from our sin cursed fallen nature. God sent His best love gift in Jesus his first-born son to die a gruesome death by being nailed to a tree to heal our relationship with Him.

Grace is the living love of God that He wants us to open up to daily and without experiencing God's grace; a person cannot truly experience God's love. (I pray that you are truly hearing me on what I have just said.) There are many counterfeit love symbols in the world and people are constantly being led away to look for love in all the wrong places and that including the children of God. Many are trying to fulfill their desire to find love and their identity by trying to look for it in a relationship with their mates. Some are trying to fulfill their need for love in their church affiliation. Some in their hobbies and some I am sad to say; in having, ungodly relationships and I could go on.

God Himself is love and not a person who works at loving.

God made man to look for love and Paul reminds us of this in Romans 5:5-8 through prophetic utterance by the leading of the Holy Ghost when he says. "Our hope in searching for love will not be disappointed because; the love of God is a living entity that can actually be experienced in our heart by the Holy Ghost who God has freely given to us. For when we were without strength, it was God whole intent to send Christ to die for the ungodly. Now to a slight degree, a person may die for a person always behaving according to a religious or moral code. Moreover, someone may die for a noble, lovable, and generous benefactor. However; God because of His own free will and power bestowed His love to us, in that, while we were still continually breaking God's moral codes; Jesus Christ died for us who were un-godly."

We must have this foundation securely planted in our mind and heart if, we are going to live in Christ's own perfection. Our leaning of our whole personality on our relationship with the Holy Ghost as He speaks His wisdom into our heart and mind gives us the want to and the power to obey His commands. There is only one command that the born again church must adhere to that being, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." For most people, their behavior is controlled by them trying to obey God's laws, not because of its intended purpose, but because of the fear of the consequences if they do not.

No one can capture the favor of God by trying to keep his commandments.

In John 14:23, Jesus says, "If a person really loves me, he will keep my commandments." Blind obedience without love will maintain order, but does nothing to enhance a loving relationship. Blind obedience without recognizing its value is destined for failure.

Love gives the reason to obey and gives us value and worth.

The hungering heart will seek with Passion the kingdom of God. However, the self-satisfied heart will grow restless in his walk with God.

God created, nourishes, sustains, and matures the universe by His power of grace and love. God made His (human creation) perceptive and passionate beings and there is no reason to be alive and live on this planet being separated from having a loving relationship with the God of the universe and enjoying His favor that we do not have to earn. If you have been born again by the seed and sperm of God the Father, you have been called for a higher purpose then to live in the mundane experiences of getting a reputation for yourself and hanging out with the Jones and trying to gain the whole world of pleasures that dies with its very use.

God's grace and love has a holding security effect on the mind and heart and it gives a person an immense desire to walk in the light and counsel of his presence. It also makes you realize that; without having a living relationship with Him; life has no meaning. Christ Jesus must be our total focus and His life must be motivating our thoughts and actions. Experiencing God's grace; causes us to surrender and rest in His care even though we could be going through some frightening or disturbing physical and emotional situations. I have been there many times and God has always calmed the storms of life for me. It is these times of feeling insecure that; we must press in and an abandon our self to God's care and the jealous love that he has for us as His children.

God's grace gives us a spirit of liberty and wholeness and we stop living with a spirit of measuring up and trying to obey His laws to earn His favor. Many Christians that I have talked to over the years act as if; they are always looking over their shoulder and carry a burden of self inspection into second guessing their motives and not truly able to believe that God favors them just because; they are His children in Christ Jesus. People who live under a religious spirit constantly live with the idea that; they are breaking laws and are working hard to be good.

Its man's fallen nature to seek security in his five senses and when a person lives like this; there is no hoping and waiting on God and living by the faith of Jesus Christ. The Galatians were one of the many congregations that Paul had to remind about this because; after they became born again; they went back to believing certain doctrinal laws in performance rather then letting God's grace give then the strength to live in peace and resting in their relationship with Him.

Paul tells them in Galatians 5:1-6. "Stand fast in the liberty where with you have been set free by God and don't become hampered and held ensnared and submit you're self to any yoke of bondage (restrictive and oppressive rules.) You have put a rule on yourself that you must become circumcised and because of this, your walk with Christ will profit you nothing.

If you have a mentality of living under law; then you are tied to a mentality of living by all laws. If you think you are going to be justified by living by laws, you are brought to nothing and have severed yourself from God's grace and unmerited favor. For we no longer live by laws but; through the Holy Spirit's help and His righteous faith, which is at work in us because we are already in right standing in God sight. For if, we are in Christ Jesus nether being circumcised or not prophets anything. The only thing that counts is; faith activated, energized and expressed through love."

Mans human reasoning makes his judgments by the outward appearance or the behavior actions of things however; God makes His judgments by the appearance of our heart. God is righteousness Himself and Christ who is God; impregnated Himself into Mary and she became the mother of Jesus the God man. This made Jesus the first born again son of God and He needed no second birth as we do to become God's children. God the Father looked at His first-born son as being righteous because, Christ's entire being is righteousness itself. Righteousness from God the father's perspective says; I see my son as blameless, free from evil and set apart unto me as my ambassador to the world.

Why is it so difficult for people to believe that; when they had a supernatural born again experience in their life and Christ impregnated His being in side them as He did in Jesus life that; God the Father also sees them as blameless, free from evil and set apart as His ambassador to the world the same as Jesus? It must be because; the majority of the pulpits of the world are not truly preaching our saintly righteous position with God's grace but are teaching behavior modification of does and don'ts.

From a spiritual and biblical perspective and from God's point of view, there is a circumcision that takes place in our heart when, we had the miracle of becoming born again by His spirit.

Paul states this in Romans 2:29 when he says. "There is a circumcision that must be applied to our heart in the spirit, and not in the letter of rules of an outward manifestation or in a physical sense." This spiritual circumcision by God now that we have been spiritually impregnated into His family; is the appearance he sees in our heart of us being the same as His first born son Jesus.

There is a cry in humanity; that wants to be set free from authoritative rules of forced obedience with a survivorship type mentality of forever learning and trying hard to be successful; but always falling short of true peace and security.

In turn; no matter what you put your hand to; it never becomes truly fulfilling and it ends up being second rate. This is what Adam and Eve were condemned to when they became ashamed of them self by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. They put rules of judgment on them self and left God's grace and protected hedge of security to go out and work by the sweat of his brow and woman had to labor in childbirth. This cursed nature that we were born with is what made Christ Jesus step out of heaven and take on human form to die on the cross so we could be set free to rest in Jesus finished work on the cross alone.

A child of God who is not being taught their saintly righteous position in Christ will not know how to let His grace and love do the job that secures their entire being. When this scenario exists, there will never be a true rest from their laboring, and life becomes a bunch of mundane experiences of following rules of obedience that wears a person out because; they live in a constant awareness of trying to clean up their act and fly right. ( I get weary at times of even being tempted to fall back under this cursed thinking because; it robs a person of their righteous position in Christ and the joy and peace, that goes along with it.)

Paul tells us in Eph. 2:5-9. "When we were dead in sins, God quickened us together with Christ. (By His grace, He has quickened and saved us.) Moreover, He has raised us up and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that from the beginning of time to the end He might show us the exceedingly riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For we were saved by grace (God's unmerited favor) not by any of our own works: it was a gift of God. For we are God's own handy work created in Christ Jesus doing His good works because, it was God preordained plan for us to walk and live in Him"

As I meditate and reason with the Holy Ghost; He has been the one persuading me to believe God's word as He teaches it. It boggles my mind over the years the born again believers that I have met who have no conscious spiritual revelation that walking in the spirit of God's love is a very real relationship that super cedes all human reasoning. Unless God is building our makeup and we are experiencing His love through grace, life has no true meaning and we have constant trouble with agitating passions and moral conflicts. It is impossible to really understand God's make up without experiencing His grace. Anything other than living in God's grace is nothing more then, obligated slavery.

A reality kicks in when a person truly understands this and they come to understand how utterly helpless they are to walk with God in any of their own will and strength. In turn; they want to abandon them self and cast all their care on Him because they truly know; He really cares for them.

Not experiencing God's grace causes us to have the inner belief that; "God loves me and he loves me not. " A person can have a real zeal in wanting to get close to God and still miss functioning and resting in God's grace.

We allow God's grace to control our life when we obey what Jesus said in Math: 6:33. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things will be added to your life." God's grace is His righteous spirit and what empowers us to become comfortable in our walking in heavenly places with Him daily while we are still in our earthly bodies. A person, who is not being taught what their righteousness in Christ represents and how God's grace (His unmerited favor) works, causes them to live in a survivor mode mentality.

Peter 3:18 tells us the only way for us to grow up in Christ. "Grow in grace (undeserved favor, spiritual strength) which makes you recognize and obtain the spiritual knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Our struggle in understanding is our knowing the difference between God's grace verses man leaning towards his own understanding of how to live the Christian life which represents living by obligated rules that at times taxes us to tears.

Obligated rules represent a mental set of strongly-held beliefs, values, and attitudes that one reasons with and from the outward appearance it looks good however; these beliefs are contrary to God's grace and they become a religion unto them self. Rather than identifying them self with Christ; they join with like-minded people for acceptance and self worth. This condition is caused primarily because; they have been lulled into a mesmerizing mindset of works of some kind to get to God and Paul says. "They have become beguiled."

This condition has put a demonic spell on their mind into believing that; their steps are being ordered by the Lord however; they are being very deceived and mislead because they are walking in their own understanding. This is a matter of life or death, dangerous and tragic to the born again child of God. That's because; Christ is not the center of their worship and with all their good philanthropic endeavors: Christ never gets the glory that only He totally deserves. In addition, a person cannot continually flow in the supernatural power they need to live the abundant Christian life.
! (Do you have your spiritual ears on and are you truly hearing me.) !

Paul tells us in Eph. 4:7. "God's grace was given to each one individually and not haphazardly; but in different ways in proportion to the measure of Christ's gift." God's grace is the actual life of Christ and is a living relationship that God wants to have with each one of us that is personal and distinct from His relationship with His other children. We must be truly experiencing God's love and unbreakable holding power on a personal basis.

Paul was the first person to truly understand and try to explain God's grace in his writings in the bible. He grew to understand that it was God's loving-kindness and forgiving spirit of grace that delivered him from a lawish life style mentality of does and don'ts by him trying to be diligent in keeping God's laws. He was going about killing Christians because; they were not living by the Jewish laws of their day. After he had a born again experience on his trip to Damascus to kill Christians; the Lord appeared to him and made him come to his senses and he became a born again Christian. In his growing pains, he went through a process of growth of letting go of his own believing system and totally casting his decision making of life on God's grace (His unmerited favor.)

In 11 Cor 12: 1-10 Paul explains the dilemma that we all deal with daily. He says. "If I am obligated to boast; I will boast on the visions and revelations the Lord has given me. I knew a man who was in Christ; I did not know whether he was still in his physical body that was caught up to the third heaven. This man was in paradise physically or not: I do not know only God knows. Moreover, I heard words spoken beyond the power of man to interpret. Now I will boast of this other man's experiences, but of myself, (personally) I will not boast, except in regards to my own infirmities and my weakness. If I desire to boast, I will not be a witless braggart, for I will only tell the truth. I will not brag on myself because; I do not want anyone to have a higher opinion of me then (is justified by) what he sees or hears from me.

And to keep me from being puffed up and elated with this high degree of greatness of these revelations that I was having, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to rack and buffet and harass me, to keep me from this high degree of esteem. I called on the Lord three times and diligently sought Him and begged that this condition might depart from me. However, God said to me, my grace (My unmerited favor of mercy and loving kindness are enough for you. It is sufficient against all danger and it will enable you to bear the trouble manfully; for my strength and power shows itself most effectively in your weaknesses.

Therefore; I will be greatly encouraged and glory in my weaknesses and infirmities so that; the strength and power of Christ will be able to pitch a tent over me and I will be able to have great fellowship and security in Him. So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in my weaknesses of human nature, insults, physical and financial needs, for when I am weak ( in human strength), I am truly strong in divine strength."

As we recognize our weakness; it causes us to learn how to let God encourage us by His grace and we learn to surrender to God's ways and enjoy His hugs and total acceptance with out judgment. That is why scripture tells us that "everything works together for good for those that love the Lord and are called according to His purposes."

We said earlier; God grace is individual and not haphazard because; God's grace is particularly to whatever thorn that the devil is buffeting you with. Let this be perfectly understood by all. The devil is the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy with his darts or thorns and not God who is at work behind the scenes orchestrating these scenarios. I have heard far too many born again children of God believing that God brings confusion and lack in a Christian's life. When one has a tendency to believe this; it is God's nature to give more of His grace to those who oppose them self so they will not stay in a double minded mentality. The devil hates when God's kids get happy and brag on Him with joy, great passion and enthusiasm.

If we are told that we have to contend for the faith then; we are going to be buffeted and racked at times. However; by us flowing in God's strength by experiencing His grace we will have the power to not only be over comers but be able to do great feats in God's service. Because the majority of us have not had the spiritual revelations that Paul had, there is a tendency to think that, God's grace is only reserved for some and not for all. God's grace is the very personality and nature of God Himself and He loves and cares for all of His children with equality and personal attention. People MUSTTTTTTT believe this if; they are going to live in the joy and peace of the Holy Ghost and get all of the grace they need; to live in a loving relationship with God their Father.