Habits Of Grace Pack Of 25

Our God is lavish in his grace. He's free to liberally dispense his goodness without the least bit of cooperation or preparation on our part, and often he does. But he also has regular channels through which he pours out his favor. These are sometimes called "spiritual disciplines" or "means of grace." We as Christians can routinely avail ourselves of these revealed paths of blessing, positioning ourselves to go on getting as God keeps on giving. His regular channels of grace are his voice, his ear, and his body--the Bible, prayer, and fellowship. The greatest grace along these paths is knowing and enjoying Jesus himself. HEARING GOD'S VOICE The fundamental means of God's ongoing grace, through his Spirit, in the life of the Christian and the life of the church is God's self-expression in his Word, in the gospel, perfectly kept for us and on display in all its textures, riches, and hues in the external written word of the Scriptures. The Bible is for us. The whole Bible is for the whole church. There's simply no replacement for finding a regular time and place, blocking out distractions, and letting your mind and heart be led and captured and thrilled by God himself communicating through his objective written words. As you read, learn to linger over a text, whether seeking to better understand it ("study"), or to emotionally glory in that understanding ("meditation"), or to memorize a portion to help renew your mind throughout the day. As we understand and engage with Scripture's meaning, we refocus our souls for living out our day. We increasingly "have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16) as we're conformed to his image. HAVING GOD'S EAR As we go deep in God's revelation, taking it into our very souls and being changed by his truth, we respond to him in prayer. God not only bids us hear his voice; he wants to hear ours. Prayer, for the Christian, is not merely talking to God, but responding to the One who has initiated toward us. He has spoken first. This is not a conversation we start, but a relationship into which we've been drawn. Prayer makes its requests of God, but is not content to only receive from God. Prayer must have him. Prayer is ultimately about having more of God. Private prayer shows who we really are spiritually. It's essential in healing the many places we find ourselves broken, needy, lacking, and rebellious. Prayer changes hearts like nothing else. It's for all of life, and especially for our life together in community. Praying together adds power to the request, but also means more glory for the Giver when he answers. BELONGING TO HIS BODY We were made to worship Jesus together. Corporate worship is the single most important means of grace and our greatest weapon in the fight for joy. More than any other means, corporate worship combines all three principles of God's ongoing grace: his word, prayer, and fellowship. In corporate worship, our focus together is the crucified and risen Christ and the incomparable excellencies of his person and work. We experience the secret of worship--the joy of self-forgetfulness--as we become preoccupied together with Jesus and his manifold perfections. In our gatherings for corporate worship, hearing the fresh preaching of the gospel from the Scriptures is the climactic grace. It's that moment among the assembled church when God speaks most clearly and completely. In faithful Christian preaching, we not only hear about Jesus, but we meet him. The act of preaching itself is a picture of the gospel. As the preacher stands behind the Book, doing his level best to reveal Jesus afresh to his people, our Lord is put on display. When we listen, we realize that what we need is not some boost from a trusted fellow to get us over the wall, but the rescue of the Savior for the utterly helpless. And so Jesus was sent not only to die as the remedy, but to preach (Luke 4:43). Jesus himself is the person the Scriptures most often refer to as preaching. Jesus was the ultimate preacher, but after his ascension, the preaching doesn't disappear. When we turn to Acts in the Bible, preaching is alive and well as ever. The preaching of the Groom [Jesus] extends into the life of the church. GRACE WILD AND FREE In considering these means of grace and the habits that help us go on receiving God's grace in our lives, this much must be made clear: These things are never about earning God's favor. God's grace is unmeasured, boundless, wild--and free. Because of it, we're enabled to repent of our sins and to believe God's promises. It is grace to be forgiven of sinful acts and grace to be supplied the heart for righteous ones. It is grace that we are increasingly "conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29), and grace that he doesn't leave us in the misery of our sin but pledges to bring to completion the good work he has begun in us (Philippians 1:6). This flood of God's favor brings us his forgiveness and our adoption as his children. It starts us on the path of grace-empowered effort and initiative. Have you taken the first step on this journey?

Put Yourself in the Path of God's Grace This study guide is designed to help you connect more deeply with the three crucial power sources for the Christian life: hearing God's voice (in the Bible), having his ear (in prayer), and belonging to his body (in the fellowship of the church). Created as a supplement to the book Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines by David Mathis, and intended for individual and small-group study alike, this 31-day resource includes relevant Scripture readings, discussion questions tied to specific sections of the book, and prompts for applying each lesson to your everyday life. Rehearsing and reiterating key practices outlined in Habits of Grace, this study guide will equip you to stay focused on the gospel as you cultivate your own specific life-transforming habits aimed at keeping you connected to the grace of God in Jesus.

The Christian life is built on three seemingly unremarkable practices: reading the Bible, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. However, according to David Mathis, such “habits of grace” are the God-designed channels through which his glorious grace flows—making them life-giving practices for all Christians. Whether it’s hearing God’s voice (the Word), having his ear (prayer), or participating in his body (fellowship), such spiritual rhythms of the Christian life have the power to awaken our souls to God’s glory and stir our hearts for lifelong service in his name. What’s more, these seemingly simple practices grant us access to a host of spiritual blessings that we can only begin to imagine this side of eternity—and the incredible joy that such blessings bring to God’s children today.

GRACE-FILLED PARENTING There is nothing more important to consistent, faithful, patient, loving, and effective parenting than to understand what God has given you in the grace of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Understanding God's grace will change you, and as it changes you, it will change the way you relate to and parent your children. God doesn't call people to be parents because they are able. If you read your Bible carefully, you will understand that God doesn't call able people to do important things. Abraham wasn't able. Moses wasn't able. David wasn't able. The disciples weren't able, and the story goes on. The reason for this is that there are no able people out there. They just don't exist. And they surely don't exist as parents. God did not create human beings to be independently able; he designed us to be dependent. It's not a sign of personal weakness or failure of character to feel unable as a parent. None of us has the natural storehouse of wisdom, strength, patience, mercy, and perseverance that every parent needs in order to do his or her job well. Since independent ability, like independent right-eousness, is a delusion, why would a God of perfect wisdom ask inadequate people to do such an important job? The answer is so crucial to grasp. God calls unable people to do important things because ultimately what he's working on is not your immediate success, but that you would come to know him, to love him, to rest in his grace, and to live for his glory. God calls unable people to do the impossible so that in your search for help, you would find more than help--you would find him. God never sends you into anything without going with you. He never tells you to do something without giving you what you need to do it. This is the story of the whole Bible. This is why God sent his Son to earth. But what does this have to do with parenting? Everything! It means that if you are God's child--if you have placed your trust in his Son, Jesus Christ, as your Savior from your inherent sin--it is impossible for you to be left to your own limited package of resources. God is in you and with you! In the morning, when you dread getting out of bed and facing another hard parenting day, God is with you. He is with you when your children are in your face and disrespectful. He is with you when you fall into bed with a combination of exhaustion and regret. He gifts you with his presence. And he will not turn his back on you until what he has called you to do as a parent is complete. What do you have as a Christian parent? You have the best thing ever and with it you have hope. You have God in every moment of the day. But, will you remember that you do? God's grace works to open your eyes to see yourself as a parent accurately. If you fall into thinking that you (as the parent) keep God's law perfectly, then you expect the people around you to do the same. This self-righteousness will have a negative effect on your relationship with your children and the way you handle their weakness and failures. So here's what God does in all of our lives. He uses things like our marriages and our parenting to expose thoughts, attitudes, and desires in our hearts that we previously denied were there. God uses irritation, impatience, anger, and lack of gentleness and joy to show how much we need his forgiving and transforming grace. God's plan is to make his invisible grace visible to children by sending parents of grace to give grace to children who need it. And parents who know they need grace tend to want to give grace to children who are just like them. God's grace grows and changes you as a parent. Remember the gospel; although the power of sin has been broken in the beautiful justifying mercies of Jesus Christ, the presence of sin still remains with us. So God's present zeal is to progressively deliver us from the remaining hold that sin has on us. Think about how beautiful this is. In every moment you are parenting your children, the heavenly Father is parenting you. As you are lovingly confronting your children with the hope that they would confess their need and commit to change, the heavenly Father is confronting you. God hasn't just sent you to do his work in the lives of your children; he will use the lives of your children to advance his work in you. God's grace liberates you from the prison of regret. One of the most beautiful things about God's grace is that it welcomes you to fresh starts and new beginnings. Way too many parents are paralyzed by the "what ifs" and "if onlys." Yes, you will make mistakes. Yes, you will learn and grow as a parent. Yes, you will look back and be embarrassed by things you said and things you did. If you're at all humble as a parent, you will look back with some regret. But it's important to understand that although regret is a sign of a humble heart, it is also dangerous and debilitating to live in regret. Living in regret robs you of your confidence. It weakens or steals your hope. And for all of its remembering, regret can be tragically forgetful. It tends to forget the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the cross, Jesus bore the entire burden of our guilt and our shame. On the cross, Jesus purchased, by the shedding of his blood, our complete forgiveness: past, present, and future. This means we can boldly come to him in our failure, receive his forgiveness, deposit our regret at his feet, and move on to new and better ways of doing what he's called us to do as parents. God has called you to be a parent. How does he give you what you need for this calling? He gives you what you need by giving you himself, and in giving you himself, he showers his amazing, forgiving, rescuing, transforming, empowering, and wisdom-giving grace down on you. The one who called you to this very important job is with you. And because he is always with you, you as a parent can always have hope.