The Hebrew word for Grace in the Old Testament is chen: which means to show kindness, be highly valued and be helped by somebody for their own personal benefit. God wants to reach down and bend to an inferior, pitch a tent of encampment with them, and show them His generous mercy.

The Greek word for Grace in the New Testament is charis: which means: a person having an awareness of well being with feelings of rejoicing as; God wants to have a loving relationship with them which is based on an understanding of shared views or concerns and communicates with them in their daily meetings that is enjoyable and with careful attention. Grace is a divine influence we must be experiencing on our heart if; it is our intention to have our soul prosper which is made up of our mind, will and emotions and how we identify our self as God sees us.

When a born again child of God is experiencing His Heavenly Father's grace; it makes him recognize in his entire being that; he is highly favored in God's sight. God's grace is what gives us a rest from our cares of life that at times gnaws at our consciousness. These cares, 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 this fallen condition. 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 includes the born again 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.

However, in our quest for looking for love which God always intended for us to seek after, 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."

Now this foundation must be securely planted in our mind and heart if, we are to mature to Christ's own perfection. We must learn to, lean our whole personality on our relationship with the Holy Ghost as He speaks His wisdom into our heart and mind as He gives us the power to obey His commands. There is only one command that the born again church must follow 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 made, 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. 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 of His children. It gives a person an immense desire to walk in the light and counsel of his presence and it causes one to recognize 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. 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 in our life. I have been there many times and God has always calmed the storms of life for me. It is these times of having feelings of insecurity that; we must press in to God's care and the jealous love that he has for us 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 God's favor. Many Christian 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 being able to believe that God favors them just because; they are His children and 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 they live 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 in their relationship with God.

Paul tells them this when he says 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."

Scripture tells us that man makes his judgments by the outward appearance or the behavior 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, God's entire being is righteousness itself. Righteousness from God'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 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 on teaching behavior modification of does and don'ts.

From a spiritual and biblical perspective 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 adopted into His family; is the appearance he sees in our heart of us being blameless, free from evil and set apart as His ambassadors to the world and what He judges us by.

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 His Jesus finished work on the cross alone.

A child of God who is not being taught their saintly condition in Christ will in turn; 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 have reasoned in my mind with the Holy Ghost; He has been the one persuading me to believe God's word as He teaches it. It boggles my mind in the people I have met over the years and I am talking about born again spirit filled children of God; 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 showing us His reasoning with love by experiencing His grace, life has no true meaning and we have constant trouble. 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 servitude.

When a person truly comes to understand this; there is a reality that kicks in and one realizes how utterly helpless they are to walk with God in any of their own will and strength. In turn; they learn to abandon them self and cast all their care on Him because they come to know that; He really cares for them.

When we do not allow God's grace to be the prime influence of our mind and heart, our human reasoning lives with the mentality, "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 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 operating in His kingdom with Him now 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, it causes them to live in a survivor mode mentality.

In Peter 3:18 he tells us the only way for us to grow up in Christ when he says. "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." God's wisdom is given to humanity only through His Spirit of grace. 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 servitude by obligated rules.

This type of mentality represents a set of strongly-held beliefs, values, and attitudes that they reason with and from the outward appearance looks right however; they 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.

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 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."

It is us recognizing our weakness as a necessity of life that we all have to deal with daily that; causes us to learn how to let God encourage us by His grace and this very need of having these growing pains causes as we surrender to God's ways to 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 and want to accomplish His purposes in their life."

We said earlier; God grace is individual and not haphazard because; God's grace is particularly to whatever thorn that the devil is buffeting us 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 some think 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 that; they will not stay in a double mindedness 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 will we have the power to not only be over comers but 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 their creator.