My Graces Accomplishes All Things, Even Prayer

November 30, 2015

The Lord is with us, Heartdwellers. And the Lord is truly dispensing His graces to us, and entrusting us with great gifts of sanctity and courage to press in.

Today's message is really quite beautiful. Before I go into it, I just wanted to say that yesterday's message was "Show Mercy To Yourself As Well", lest we fail to have mercy on others. And what a morning I had getting into prayer! It was close to impossible to enter into worship and prayer; my mind was like a Ping-Pong ball and my body followed close behind.

This morning, I was extremely cautious about not getting thrown off track and came swiftly to worship...and able to enter in deeply almost immediately. Although I know obedience has a very large part to play ... answering the call to prayer as soon as you get it, there is also another grace to consider, the grace of prayer. Not only the sure blessing of obedience, which is so often overlooked or not even recognized, but the grace of prayer.

I remember (and you've probably heard me say this before, if you've been with us for a while) I remember I had a really serious need in prayer one day, I needed answers. I was fasting before hand, and praying and fasting. And I went up to a mountain retreat that we had, high in the Sandre de Christo mountains - extremely remote, nothing within miles of it, total wilderness. And I went up there to pray and fast and seek the Lord. Anyway, I was fasting, worshipping and praying non-stop for at least 9 hours. And nothing. God was nowhere to be found. The Heavens were brass. I was brought to the point that if anything was going to happen between the Lord and I, it would be His Mercy. 'Cause I had done everything I could to meet Him. And it occurred to me (I wonder Who put that thought in my mind...) to ask Him to pray through me. So I did. I came to the Lord impotent, empty, unable to do anything. And I said, "Lord, I don't know how to pray as I should, nor do I know how to love You as I should. Lord, would You pray through me?"

Within five minutes His sensible presence was infusing me with a spirit of prayer and supplication.

I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of Grace and of supplication. Zach 12:10

And yesterday was similarly like that, in that I couldn't stay in prayer until I called out for His help...and this morning, the spirit of prayer was already with me. So the point is, we cannot rely on ourselves in any way shape or form to pray. We must rely on the Lord's grace, because He hearkens to our pleas of insufficiency. And He's also said, "My grace is sufficient for you."

That does not negate "You will find Me when you seek Me with your whole heart" or the sad consequences of being lazy and lukewarm in prayer. This is but one, tiny facet on prayer that I just wanted to share with you. To rely on His grace, even to pray.

Lord, what is on Your Heart to share with us?

"I want to speak to you about Grace and it's all sufficient significance in your lives. Many, if not all of you, My Precious Brides, find fault with yourselves and fall into the trap of comparing yourself to someone who has an outstanding attribute, but in fact you know nothing of their lives. This comparison leads to discouragement over who I have fashioned you to be and leaves you open to the sin of envy, as well as emulating them so you distort who you truly are.

"Firstly, I want you to know that no one is as they seem on the outside. No, not one. There is a hidden side to each of you, the side you have either conquered or are still hiding, hoping that it will some day die. While you are traveling this road of life I have given you graces for the moment, they are unlike the graces I have given anyone else, because you are My own unique creation.

"And these graces, My Precious ones, are sufficient to meet the needs of the moment. I am the only one who knows how much grace a soul is operating in, and how much they are lacking. I alone know what use they've made of the gifts I've given them. And I alone know precisely what they would look like if stripped of all My grace in their lives.

"My point is this, you are nothing without My grace, and no one is anything without My grace. I am the author and source of all that is good in each of your lives. And without My gifts to you, you would be less than nothing in the eyes of the world. But always precious to Me. In very fact, I am the one who sees you in your graceless state, and I determine and endow you with garments of salvation and grace, sufficient for the life I have called you to.

"To be jealous or envious of others who seem to have more grace is an affront to My Heart. I know it is human nature to compare and want, but if you saw the beauty in your own souls, you would not look to imitate others. With most, the problem is simply one of discovery of who I have made you to be and how beautiful you are in the scheme of things. Rather you would labor faithfully with what I have given and promised you, until you began to find fulfillment in the unique and priceless work of art that you are.

"You see My grace is like a crystal clear ocean without end, like thousands of fires in the finest cut diamond, like the sweetness of apple blossoms in the Spring, and the brilliant colors of the most diverse corrals. It is supremely elegant like the systems of the human body, like the source of light that overcomes the darkness, and its power greater than the sudden separation of continents. With My grace, through My grace, you accomplish all things, for there is nothing that can oppose Me. Once I set about to accomplish something, it is already done.

"This is how secure you can be, My Bride. Ponder these examples and understand that you are a work of grace that I have already completed in Heaven, beautiful to behold, stunning in design and purpose, unlike any other.

"All of you have My grace, it is yours to embrace and use, or to reject and lie fallow. But it is there, and it is all sufficient for you, right now, in this moment where you are. No need to look around and pine away because others have more than you. No, rather discover the beauty I have created your own soul with and cultivate that. I promise you, it will be unique and more pleasing than those you look up to now. In the end, you will be brought to tears by what I have created you to be. You will be supremely happy with who I have created you to be, and never again wish to be anyone else. Even if another were to offer you their place, your understanding of who you are to Me would prevent you from exchanging what I have done in your soul for what I have done in theirs.

At that moment, as He was speaking, a Scripture came to mind: I Cor. 12:21-26 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

The Lord continued after that Scripture. "And so it is in Heaven under the light of endless rejoicing. Let it be so on this Earth. For while you sojourn with Me, I illuminate your way with My songs of rejoicing. Lean on My grace, when things seem impossible. My grace is sufficient for you, when you are weary. My Grace is sufficient for you, when you fall short. And when you begin to bloom under My gaze, My grace, like a fragrance goes out to all the flowers of the garden and brings them cheer. My grace is my gift to you, along with My never failing love. You are beautiful and in Heaven you will finally behold the glory I have knit into your being. Yes, you will see, even as you are seen."

Your present sufferings and contradictions are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in you. Romans 8:18