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Word4Today Daily Bible Devotional

by Bob and Debby Gass

‘My grace is sufficient for you.’ 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV

There are two kinds of grace:

(1) Saving grace. The moment you place your trust in Christ, God expunges the entire record of your sin.

(2) Sustaining grace. Paul writes: ‘I was given a thorn in my flesh… Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”’ (2 Corinthians 12:7–9 NIV)

Ouch! A thorn pierces the soft skin and lodges beneath the surface. Every step is a reminder of it: The alcoholic parent. The overwhelming credit card debt. The criminal offence. The craving for drugs. The hidden tears. ‘Lord, take it away…’ you plead. But instead what you hear back is this: ‘My grace is sufficient for you.’ Sustaining grace promises us not the absence of struggle, but the strengthening presence of God.

John Newton, the Anglican clergyman and former slave-trader who wrote ‘Amazing Grace’, found that God’s grace was sufficient. On the day his beloved wife, Mary, died, he found the strength to preach a Sunday sermon. The next day he visited church members, and later on officiated at her funeral. Looking back on his grief he wrote: ‘The Bank of England is too poor to compensate for such a loss as mine. But the Lord, all-sufficient God, speaks, and it is done. Let those who know Him, and trust Him, be of good courage. He can give them strength according to their day. He can increase their strength as their trials increase… And what He can do, He has promised He will do.’

SoulFood: Deut 22–24, Luke 11:1–13, Ps 78:56–64, Pr 16:33

word4today an adaptation of The Word For Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2024

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