Day 16 – Rediscovering The Goodness Of God

WEEK THREE FOCUS… CREATING SPACE FOR HIS GOODNESS

It’s time to ramp up this last week of the Daniel Fast and believe God for His goodness.

Week one, we created space for God’s Presence. Week two, we created space for God’s Voice and now as we come in for a landing. The Focus this week is Creating Space For God’s Goodness… The cry of my heart is that this week we will “Rediscover” God’s Grace…

Too many people allow themselves to be restrained and limited by the closed box of human opinion and traditions. But God is calling for a new breed of people to break out of the mold of religion and traditions made by men. People who are not afraid to step out of the boat onto the water with Jesus; a people whose eyes are fixed on Him and not on the storm. If we are going to impact this world for God, then we must stay desperate for all that God has for us and we must be willing to change when He deals with us.

Some of the most amazing things have taken place over these past two weeks as we’ve been praying and fasting. I believe we’ve entered into a time of rediscovering God’s Grace and His goodness.

Spiritual Disciplines such as fasting, prayer, and studying God’s Word will “Re-Awaken” and fuel our passion for God. But to enjoy those benefits long term we must first make sure we have the right mind-set for how we approach prayer, fasting, reading and studying God’s Word… and all the methods of drawing closer to God.

This is critical to our approach… ALL METHODS OF DRAWING CLOSER TO GOD MUST BE SEEN THROUGH THE FILTER OF THE GOODNESS AND GREATNESS AND THE GLORY OF GOD!

In today’s world and modern culture, and even in the church circles at times, the word “grace” has lost its power and become a commonplace. We use the word for everything. We give grace. We say that people have grace. We shave grace periods on our credit cards payments…Grace. Grace. Grace.

Grace is the very foundation of our walk with God. This may seem a little basic to you but I promise you, it’s critical that we rediscover the foundational work of God’s grace in our lives.

One way to understand the grace of God is this…The grace of God is the practical working of the goodness of God in life of the believer.

So how does that change the way you relate to God? The truth is, ever though we understand the freedom grace brings, we have more of a tendency to relate to God based on our elevation of ourselves. But God wants our relationship with Him to be based on how He views us, and He views us through the complete work of His Son. When we trust and rest in the complete work of Jesus Christ, we walk in grace!

START YOUR DAY WITH THE RIGHT MIND-SET… 

Having the right kind of mind-set requires intentionality. We have to be aware that our natural human instinct when we wake up each day will be to gravitate towards everything we think is wrong with our lives…

So we have to be intentional about setting our focus with the right perspective before we start moving forward with our day. Here is an option to begin your day that I believe can change your life!

Do this whether you’re having a good day or tough day… Every day direct you attention to God in a concentrated way. The first thing you do is make sure you focus on the goodness, greatness, and glory of God.

Focusing every day on these three attributes of God will give you a complete picture or filter of His grace.

The model for this is the first line of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9,

“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” (Matt 6:9 NIV)

I’ve also noticed that nearly every prayer the apostle Paul prayed for the New Testament churches follows this same pattern as well.

 All methods of drawing closer to god must be seen through the filter of the goodness and greatness and the glory of god!

The Lord’s Prayer starts with “Our Father.” You have to remind yourself that you are a child of God and that all your sins are forgiven (John 1:12; 1 John 2:2).

You have to know that you are going to heaven and have eternal life through Jesus (Romans 5:21). You have to know that you have the favor of God and that God is for you (Romans 8:31). You need to remind yourself every day that your real home is not here on earth but in heaven (1 John 2:17). Your life on earth is so temporary, but your life with your heavenly Father is forever (Colossians 3:1-3).

Thank God for who He is and for all He has done for you. But it doesn’t stop there. Tomorrow I will go deeper into this great truth that will change the way you approach God. This week create space for God’s goodness because it’s just the beginning!

I love you guys with all my heart and I am believing for greater things for you!

- Pastor Sam Hinn