In the movie "Chariots of Fire", there's a scene where the main character, Eric Liddel's sister is trying to manipulate him into going back to China to be a missionary. (He was currently back in the U.S.A.., getting ready to run in the Olympics). His response was this: " I believe God has made me for a purpose, but He has also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure!"
It's time to talk about your grace zone! In modern Christianity, we have one general definition of grace and it sounds something like this: God giving us what we didn't deserve. i.e.. salvation. I'd like to take the word grace back to the original Greek and Hebrew really quickly and provide a different definition.
Hebrew- Chen: 1) favour, grace, charm
a) favour, grace, elegance
b) favour, acceptance
Greek- Charis: 1) grace
a) that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech
2) good will, loving-kindness, favour
a) of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
3) what is due to grace
a) the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace
b) the token or proof of grace, benefit
1) a gift of grace
2) benefit, bounty
4) thanks, (for benefits, services, favours), recompense, reward
How's that for a little bit of an expansion? There's a whooooooole identity talk we could go into here because probably about half of you are going off in your mind about how you don't deserve half of this list because you're a "dirty sinner" or twisting the context so that all this is for the millennium but that's not what we're here to talk about so instead, we just bind and break that lie right now in Jesus name and go read my blog " 41 things you should never have to pray about" What we're really here to talk about finding that grace zone, that place where….everything just feels right…like a joint that's been slightly out of place for years and suddenly gets popped back into place and you'd hardly noticed anything was wrong before but now that it's how it should be, you're overjoyed…. that place where, like Eric Liddel, when you're in it, you feel His pleasure. That which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness, and grace of speech.
For me it's missions. There's something about experiencing other cultures, raising up leaders there, bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth, and causing splashes that ripple into the next generations, discipling, and raising up team members around me, and living a life based around the basic necessities, community, and focus on an unimaginably wonderful God that just makes my heart race. It's been that way ever since my first trip to Guatemala with Never the Same Missions and Big World Ventures back when I was 18 and just graduated high school. There's just something so powerful about it. With training camp coming up in 4 days, it's like something that's been hidden and slumbering deep within me for the last nearly two years is finally waking up again and stretching it's arms, chomping at the bit in anticipation for this next great adventure. I can say with full confidence that I'm never more passionate, more inspired, and more alive than when I'm traveling the world and doing so for Him. God promised the nations, I want the nations!
What do you want? What's your sleeping giant? What's the area in life that you come more alive in than anything else in the world? Not everybody's is standing behind the pulpit, or living in a mud hut in Africa. For some it's photography, for some it's farming, for some it could even be disc golf, but in some way or another, God has made you fast, and when it comes to your grace zone, nobody else can do nearly the job that you can. Eric Liddel wasn't made for missions, but when he ran, he felt God's pleasure.
Ya know the really cool thing about God is that He doesn't just love you, He likes you….There's a lot of power behind that and here's why: I have family members I have to love because they're my family, but I don't always like them….To like them implies that what they do with their lives and the way the walk out their beliefs is something I can get behind or be impressed with…. God doesn't just love you like a family member that has to out of obligation, He loves you like His bride, but then on top of that He likes you because He sees the dreams and the callings and the destiny He's got inside of you and He says that it is good, and it is worthy, and it is lovely, and that gives you 100% permission and freedom to be you, and fully believe without fear of pride that nobody else can do what you do, quite like you do it, and that you are in God's good pleasure.
Zephaniah 3:17 "For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."
In the words of the Avett Brothers, "decide what to be, and go be it" Papa God's so proud of you! As for me? I'm gonna take God up on His word and disciple nations. I'm gonna stand at the peaks of mountains and proclaim His truth over countries, speaking into existence that which is not as though it were. I'm gonna go hug lepers, and then cleanse them in the name of Jesus. I'm gonna raise the dead, preach the gospel, see people get saved, healed, and delivered. I'm going to raise up leaders everywhere I go and serve the least of these. I'm going to find the untouchables and wash their feet. I'm gonna give drunks a taste of the new wine, and get them addicted. I'm gonna give counsel to diplomats and presidents, and through all of this, I will feel His pleasure! 🙂
