Wednesday: I Do Not Frustrate the Grace of God
WEEK 33
WEDNESDAY
I DO NOT FRUSTRATE THE GRACE OF GOD
Romans 12:19-21
Had the disciples allowed resentment to invade them even the slightest, it would have blocked and canceled all that grace had planned. Paul, misunderstood and misrepresented, battered and badgered, could have let some self-pity and resentments invade him; and that would have canceled everything. But he could say, “I do not frustrate the grace of God” (Gal 2:21 KJV). I do not cancel it by my attitudes. Many do.
An Indian pastor tells how he sat by the lake in Sat Tal in the Himalayas, “I looked at the lake for an hour and enjoyed the beauty of nature. I asked, ‘Are you, O God, beautiful too?’ And I couldn’t answer my own question. I further asked, ‘Why don’t I enjoy you, O God, the way I enjoy nature?’ And I found the answer: there are resentments in my heart, and I have exaggerated the offense.” He blocked the grace of God by resentments.
Another Indian, this time a bishop, tells how he set aside an evening for prayer for the Holy Spirit. As he prayed, the matter of a grudge he held against a man came up. This was blocking the prayer for the Holy Spirit. Tears flowed as he prayed for this man. As he prayed for him, release came, and he was filled with the Spirit. His life since then is showing the fruit of the Spirit, an ordinary man doing extraordinary things.
I was about to go into a situation that had baffled me. It was all tied up with resentments and clashes. As I sat writing in a plane, the Lord said, “Lay aside the writing; I want to talk to you about this situation. You are to go into it with love and nothing but love, no matter what happens.” I promised I would. To my surprise, two members of the group came to me beforehand and asked forgiveness for their attitudes. Barriers began to fall. Difficulties cleared up, and there were no problems. Love dissolved them.
O Lord, I thank you that I need not fight my resentments; I can surrender them. And when I surrender them, you take them over and make me over. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: No resentments shall be the seed plot for spiritual weakness within me.