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DON'T MISS STEVE SHULTZ
TOMORROW ON THE MIRACLE CHANNEL April 21st, 25th & 26th
April 20, 2005
 As
promised, we would like to let you know that Steve Shultz of The Elijah List will
be airing on The Miracle Channel and will be featuring two programs. The first program
will air on Thursday, April 21st, at 12:00pm, 8:00pm, and 6:00am Monday, April 25th.
The second program airs on Monday, April 25th, at 12:00pm, 8:00pm and 6:00am on
Tuesday, April 26th (Mountain time).
The programs will also air one week and a day later on Faith TV out of Odessa, Florida,
and Alpha and Omega Broadcasting out of Albuquerque, NM. For more information, visit
www.faithtelevisionnetwork.com
and http://www.kazq32.org/.
It can also be seen on the Miracle Channel website at
www.miraclechannel.ca. Click on the "Watch
us Online" icon in the upper right hand corner to watch.
If you have questions about the webcast,
please email lifeline@miraclechannel.ca.
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April 20, 2005
"Shout Grace!"
by Francis Frangipane
Frangipane Ministries, Inc.
www.frangipane.org
comments@frangipane.org
 We
sing Amazing Grace, but I don't think we realize how amazing grace actually
is. Grace is God's power, motivated by His mercy, working to fulfill His compassion.
We are saved by grace, but what culminates in a "day of salvation" experience is
actually months and even years of God quietly, yet powerfully, working in our hearts.
Recall: Jesus said, "No one can come to Me, unless the
Father who sent Me draws him" (John 6:44a). Do you remember that drawing
power? Before we knew God, divine power was working invisibly within our hearts,
drawing and wooing us to Christ.
Yet let me take this miracle of grace further, for after Jesus spoke of the Father's
drawing power, He then said, "and I will raise him up on
the last day" (John 6:44b). This is the power and commitment of our Father's
love: from the days of our sin and rebellion even to the days long after we die,
grace continues working to unite our hearts with God's. From our utterly helpless
beginnings to our utterly helpless end, from being dead in sin to being dead in
the grave, grace carries us to the arms of God.
Unlocking the Power of Grace
"But God,
being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when
we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace
you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly
places, in Christ Jesus, in order that, in the ages to come, He might show the surpassing
riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:4-8
Paul says that grace saved us "through
faith." Faith unlocks the power of grace and releases it to function in our world
-- and faith itself is another gift of God. The difference between both gifts is
that the grace-gift must be activated by the faith-gift. We must believe that God
is "rich in mercy." We must accept as true that God loves us with "great
love." We must not doubt He atoned for "our transgressions." We must be
confident we are "alive together with Christ."
Grace works through faith. Believing the words of grace unlocks the power of grace;
the power of grace to fully transform us comes through faith. As it is written,
"For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon
grace" (John 1:16). The true stride of a Christian's walk is "grace upon
grace." The same grace that turned our hearts toward Christ continues to work in
us, transforming even our sufferings and trials into virtue and power.
Are you in a battle? Are you struggling
with finances, health, righteousness, or relationships? Your grace-miracle has already
been created. But you must believe that not only has God created a grace-provision
for you, but Christ is motivated by love and actually desires to show
you favor.
You may feel like a loser, a sinner, a person others routinely reject -- and perhaps
you are! The purpose of redemption was so that, in the ages to come, God might display
through us "the surpassing riches of His grace." You may be poor in this world,
but you can become rich in the transforming grace of God. Believe Him. A day will
come in the future world of God when He will point to you and I, once fallen and
depraved, filthy and isolated creatures, and display us before heaven and earth
as radiant, transformed beings -- a glory to His workmanship and love. And it will
come to pass because we believed in the grace of God to change us.
Who cares what other people think of you? God says He loves you! Indeed, His grace
is working to set you free. God knows you have been struggling with desperate issues;
that's one reason why He has inspired this message. His grace is reaching to you
to deliver you. The means to your victory is not more prayer or more Bible study,
but faith-activated grace. Of course, I strongly believe in both prayer and study,
but the power to release each of us is a free gift of grace. Don't postpone your
breakthrough. Believe that God's grace is here to release you!
What We Cannot Do On Our Own
We've been taught that grace is God's unmerited favor which, of course, it is. Yet
unmerited favor is only one aspect of grace. In reality, grace is God's promise
to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
The Bible says that "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned
to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3). It doesn't mean that Abraham believed
there was a God. No. Demons believe in one God and tremble! When Abraham "believed
God" it meant that he believed what God had promised would come to pass. God
promised to do for Abraham what Abraham and Sarah could not fulfill on their own.
The Lord had promised Abraham he'd be a father of many nations. This is the glory
of God's grace: it accomplishes what is otherwise impossible for us. You see, grace
not only chooses me, saves me eternally, and blankets my life with mercy, but grace
also works in me realities unattainable without divine help.
Consider Zechariah and the story about Zerubbabel, who was governor of Israel. The
Jews had been held in Babylonian captivity for 70 years. Now, they were being restored
to Jerusalem. It was Zerubbabel's task to oversee the restoration of the city. In
the struggle of the battle, weariness settled on the governor. So, the Lord gave
Zechariah a promise for Zerubbabel. He said,
"'Not by
might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts." Zechariah
4:6
God was saying, in effect, "You have
labored, your enemies are many and they are strong, but this work I've set before
you isn't about your abilities; it's about what I can do working through you."
Likewise, our salvation isn't about our works or power. It's about believing
in the Holy Spirit's power and the grace of God. Then the Lord gave Zerubbabel an
important word. He said,
"What are
you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring
forth the top stone with shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'" Zechariah 4:7
Zerubbabel had mountains in his life
that were too much for him. He had a task that was beyond his abilities. Yet God
promised His Spirit would help and, when it was done, multitudes would be shouting
"Grace, grace!" at the finished work.
Listen, my friends, don't run from the mountains in your life, face them with faith
-- and then shout "Grace, grace!" to them. Let God make your mountains into "a plain."
Let's not mutter an unbelieving whisper about grace, but shout it out loud. It doesn't
say, "think about grace," but release your faith and shout "Grace, grace!" God's
unmerited favor has been poured out upon you; now speak to that mountain of discouragement,
sickness, or financial need -- GRACE, GRACE!
Blessed God, You have drawn me to Yourself and have sheltered my life in the
impenetrable stronghold of Your grace. Forgive me for drifting back into trusting
in my works or abilities. Lord, I believe in Your grace! I shout "Grace, grace!"
to the mountains that stand before me! In Jesus' name!
by Francis Frangipane
Frangipane Ministries, Inc.
www.frangipane.org
comments@frangipane.org
~~~~
Francis Frangipane's Itinerary:
May 26-28, 2005
MorningStar Spiritual Warfare Conference
Charlotte, NC
Visit www.MorningStarMinistries.org
for more information.
A service of Frangipane Ministries, Inc.
Copyright (c) 2005
All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture quotations
were taken from the NASB.
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"With
all the tensions and conflicts in our world, it is easy to be distracted from
the primary focus of the church, which is the Presence of God. The Presence of
God is to Christians what the Promised Land was to the Jews -- our 'Promised
Land' is God Himself. If we find His Presence, our evangelism will reach the
lost and our nations transformed. This book will revolutionize how you view the
end times and rivet your heart upon attaining Christ's likeness."
-- Francis Frangipane
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