Yesterday began our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting at Grace Life Church and we began with a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s grace. The Scripture we looked at is the verse our church name is founded on: Titus 2:11-12.

11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

These two verses summarize the Gospel and they give us insight into God’s grace for our lives.“Grace Life” is more than a name, it’s a lifestyle. We know that if it were not for God’s grace, we would not be here. We would be without hope and salvation and we would be wandering aimlessly in our sin. Our life is nothing without God’s grace.

There are three aspects of God’s grace that I believe we should never lose sight of and what we celebrate each day as we head into these 3 weeks of prayer and fasting. Here’s God’s Grace at work in our Life. This is the Grace Life.

1. Saving Grace

This grace is God sending Jesus to die for us, in our place, and providing salvation to lost and sinful mankind. We are undeserving of salvation. We were suppose to face the wrath of God for our sins but Christ did this for us! The payment for our sin was death and Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8; 6:23). Salvation and forgiveness of our sins comes through faith in Jesus Christ and trusting in his finished work on the cross and his victory of sin and death.

God saving us should never grow old to us, but too often, we become stale. We lose sight of what Christ has done for us. This happens because of sin or because of trials. Whatever the case, when we find ourselves cold to God’s saving grace, we should all pray, as David, for God to restore the joy of our salvation (Psalm 51:12).

2. Sanctifying Grace

This grace is God, through His Word and the Holy Spirit, training us to turn away from our sin, While salvation gives us a perfect positional standing before God, practically speaking, we are still at war with our sin. This is why Paul uses war language in Ephesians 6.

But God does not desire for us to live in sin so He supplies the grace that teaches/trains us to turn from our sin and our worldly passions and to pursue Jesus. This sanctifying grace is God’s work in us to make us holy; to make us more like Jesus (Colossians 3:1-17). And God forbid we think we can keep sinning so God can put on a display of Grace. Paul forbids this in Romans 6:1. A prayer for God to sanctify our hearts is found in Psalm 51:10:

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

3. Sustaining Grace

God saves us, he sanctifies, and he sustains us. What God its doing here is not just teaching us to renounce sin, but he’s showing us how to live in Christ. He shows us how to live holy. One way to understand this is by looking at how a parent disciplines a child. When a child does something wrong, the parent doesn’t just call out their sin, but they also show the child how to do what is right.. The Holy Spirit not only convicts us of our sin, but He shows us what is good and acceptable in the eyes of God.

God’s sustaining grace is also seen in the midst of trials and suffering. When everything around us is failing, God’s grace sustains us. It keeps our eyes on Christ. Sustaining grace is placing our hope, our strength, and our desires in Christ. It is by God’s grace that we can face each day.

As we begin this journey of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, let’s trust in God’s sustaining grace. Let’s focus on his grace and his work in our lives. May our prayer of thanksgiving everyday be Lamentations 3:22-24:

22The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,“therefore I will hope in him.”

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For more information on 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, visit thegracelifechurch.org/21days