There is a huge difference between the enemy’s ways with you and God’s. Have you noticed how the enemy (a.k.a. “the accuser of the brethren”) is always breathing out heavy threats, bearing down hard on you for every fault, putting pressure on you to fix yourself or your problems pronto, pushing you to be your own savior?
How different the Lord’s ways with us are! With God there are no demands pressuring us to rescue ourselves or our loved ones. With God there is always the gentle invitation to cast all such cares on Him and simply give ourselves over to believing the truth about His grace towards us.
Trusting ourselves to His grace is always the first step into the new life and it is set before us in every moment of the day: Believing the good news about there being 100% grace in God towards us.
Here is a snapshot of what 100% grace means:
1) Unconditional love—unfailing, unending, unmerited.
2) Total forgiveness—accomplished at the cross, held in God’s heart, always covering us, always available for cleansing and restoring us.
3) Complete acceptance. God has accepted us in the Beloved just as we are.
4) Justified freely by His Blood—we are not only forgiven, we are given the status of highly favored, well-beloved children, just as if we have never sinned.
5) The free gift of eternal life. How can you top that?
6) The free gift of Jesus Christ as our Savior, Redeemer, Lover and Friend.
7) The free gift of Holy Spirit as indwelling Presence, Teacher and Guide.
There is a whole lot more, but that’s a good opening perspective for viewing the panorama. Now, if I want peace and joy, then the invitation is always there to enter into this new life of grace as long as I choose to freely comply with the conditions that bring peace. Here are the requirements:
1) Believing the promises about how good His grace really is to us.
2) Obeying His commands, once I surrender to allowing Him to be Lord of my life.
This surrender allows God to lead me into life—the life He intends which I can’t possibly find by relying on myself and withholding total trust from Him. This is why the new life operates on:
100% grace (His grace offered to me)
100% trust and surrender (His grace believed in by me)
100% obedience to His guidance (His grace enabling me to walk in the Spirit)
What a way to go!
For more on the difference between the enemy’s ways and the Lord’s see Conviction Versus Condemnation.
About the Author: Steve Evans
For over a decade Steve Evans and Healing Streams have been helping people recover inner peace and freedom. Through Forerunners4Him he has been showing how we can be saved for heaven and teaching the way to live a Spirit filled life on earth. Go now to receive a completely free primer, Getting to Heaven and/or an introduction to Living in the Spirit at forerunners4him.org. 
