Grace Notes & Announcements

Dear Grace Family,

As I’ve said before, I’m not a big fan of New Years resolutions.  Mostly because the pressure is just too great, but also because that means I’m relying on myself to get something accomplished.  If I know one thing for certain, I’m not always that reliable over the long term, no matter how much I want to be.

But I do spend time asking God to give me a word for the year. It may seem like hocus pocus to some, but I promise you that when you ask God to speak something to you, He will. 

This year the word God gave me is ‘Abundance.”  If you seek the definition of that you find it refers to a “large quantity or ample supply of something.”  Initially I thought “I have everything I could ever desire right now, God.”  That’s not to say I wouldn’t like things to be a bit more stable financially, but I have a sound roof over my head, plenty to eat, and warm clothes to wear.  That’s more than many can say these days.

But I’ve come to understand that abundance is about so much more than material possessions.  It has to do with personal and spiritual well-being, satisfaction, living in the knowledge that we will always have more than we could ever hope for.  So long as we’re asking Him to bless us with what we need rather than what we want.

Ephesians 3:20 says “Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more that we might ask or think.”  We don’t need as much material stuff as we might desire, but we absolutely crave a feeling of accomplishment in our lives.  And that is only possible with God’s ‘mighty power at work within us.’  So, abundance really means to feel an exceeding amount of self-worth because of who we are in Christ Jesus.

I can promise you this, when we’re in God’s will – working to the plan He has established for us, we will find that true ABUNDANCE follows in material, emotional and spiritual ways.  It will be pouring out of us because we are at peace and satisfied.  In God’s will!

So that is what I’m seeking this year.  To find His abundance in my life by allowing God to work through me in all ways.  Paul said it best in Philipians 4:12-13:  “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.  For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.”  That is abundance.

Be blessed my Grace Family.  God is on the throne!

   Pastor Bobbie