I was meditating recently on the grace of the Lord. I wrote down 7 P’s: Pardon, Plan, Presence, Protection, Provision, Power and Prayer.
As I meditated on these words, the Lord pointed out to me that inherent in His Pardon is His Presence going with us always (Exodus 33:14) through His Holy Spirit living in us (John 14:16-17; 2 Timothy 1:14).
The implications are:
- Plan: God has a wonderful Plan for us not just in eternity, but from the day we received Jesus Christ till the day He takes us home. There is a personal specific road planned for each of us for our few years on earth. This Plan is “for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). This Plan may sometimes bring us “through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4), albeit when He allows it, always in the end, “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). It is good because through it He changes us to be more like His Son (Romans 8:29). Therefore, for every road we take and every turn we make, we must find out what His Plan is for us. At YCKC, we encourage intentionality by asking everyone to seek the Lord for His Plan for your life, to write them down and to work on them. Remember Pastor’s call to write down how we want to grow in our “devotion to Christ”, “devotion to His Body” and “devotion to His mandate” in 2014?
- Protection: Although the Lord has a wonderful Plan for each of us, we are always in the midst of a spiritual battle. The devil and his evil forces constantly wage a war to try and stop our allegiance to Jesus and our living out the Plan our Lord has for us. But God always protects us against ALL “schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11) and against ANY harm (Job 1:9).
- Provision: Even though sometimes in His Plan, He calls us into routes that in man’s eyes may not “maximize our earning potential”, but He will always provide. We and our household will always have more than sufficient for our daily needs (Exodus 16:11-12).
- Power: At every step of His planned road, He always hold tightly to our hands (Isaiah 41:10,13). It is the picture of a father walking his toddler up the stairs, over a hump, or crossing a road. He always ensures he holds his child’s hand tightly through whatever obstacle and path. His child follows with confidence, with his hand holding tightly to his father’s and eyes fixed on his.
- Prayer: When someone sits at the right hand of a leader, not only is it a powerful position, it is one in whom the leader gives ear to all the time. Not only is the Lord Jesus now seated at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19, Hebrews 1:3), He undergirds all the P’s herein by interceding in prayer for us, through every step of His Plan (Romans 8:34, Luke 22:32). How precious it is that the Lord himself pleads in prayer for us!
Therefore, let’s reword our prayer from “….Lord, please give me your presence and protection” to “Lord, as I walk in Your Plan, I claim upon Your Presence to go with me, Your hedge of Protection around me, Your sufficient Provision for me, Your mighty Power and victorious Prayer upon me.”
We can be certain of His grace, because they are inherent in His Pardon.
By Sam Tan, Deacon (YCKC Bulletin 22&23 March 2014)