LIVE FROM THE ALTAR- Grace to reign over financial hardship

                                                       

                TOPIC: GRACE TO REIGN OVER FINANCIAL HARDSHIPS                DATE: 22 -05-2016

TEXT: ROM. 5:17; 2 COR. 9:8; PROV. 13:15

   INTRODUCTION:

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have received abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness to reign in life. So, grace and righteousness are two powerful forces given to empower new creation in Christ to reign over the forces of financial hardships. The Holy Scriptures is replete with cases where God’s people were exempted and shielded from calamities and famines as demonstrations of God’s grace and glory. Our God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8).

No matter the severity of hardships and difficulty in the land, if God’s people can stand in the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness made available to us in Christ, our souls shall be delivered from famine. In Psalms 33:18-19 and Psalms 37:18-19, God’s assurances are very certain that we shall not be ashamed in evil times and in the days of famine we shall be satisfied.

How do the forces of grace and righteousness serve as “weather proofs” for the saints against financial hardships?

1.     Grace

In 2 Cor. 9:8, God is able to make His grace abound towards us (God’s people), so that in all things and in all times we will always have more than enough to abound in good works. God gives His grace and glory as sun and shield to ensure that no good thing is withheld from His people (Ps. 84:11-12).

Isaiah prophesied that when the darkness covers the earth and gross darkness His people, God will arise upon us (because of His grace) and His glory shall be seen upon us to distinguish us from the darkness. In gen. 6:6-8, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and he and his family were exempted from the holocaust sent to consume mankind. That ark he built was a type or shadow of Jesus Christ today as a new creation is entering the ark of exemption.

2.     Righteousness

The Bible says hardships are meant to be the experiences of transgressors/sinners (Prov.13:15). God does not allow the righteous and the sinners to suffer the same fate (Ps.37:18-20). In the days of Abraham and Isaac, there was famine, but they came out stronger after the famine than they were before it (Gen.12:10; 13:1-2; Gen 26:1, 12-14). The grave of hardship is too small to hold the righteous (Ps.16:10).

There is therefore no better time for the believers to stand in faith appropriating the forces of grace and righteousness than now. We must get ourselves to believe in what Christ has accomplished to provide abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness to reign over financial hardships. The faith of the believer is a believing and a speaking faith (2 Cor.4:13; Rom.10:6-9). We should therefore not fear what the people of the world fear and talk the way they talk. The New Testament faith is released in speaking the word of God.