Grace to Pray
“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV)
When Joseph Parker, the great London preacher of the last century, was debating one day on the town green with enemies of Christianity, an infidel shouted to him, “What did Christ do for Stephen when he was stoned?”
Parker answered and he said the answer was given him like an inspiration from Heaven: “He gave him grace to pray for those who stoned him.”
It was the belief of St. Augustine and of Luther that the prayer which was offered by Stephen for those who stoned him, and which Paul must have heard when he held the clothes of those who did the stoning, was used of God for the conversion of the apostle.
Grace:
- a disposition to kindness and compassion; benign good will; “the victor’s grace in treating the vanquished”
- (Christian theology) the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God; “God’s grace is manifested in the salvation of sinners”; “there but for the grace of God go I”
- a sense of propriety and consideration for others
Grace, in itself, is hard for us to understand, but the more we use of it, the more He gives… it seems an endless supply… I choose to prove that! Consider this:
He Giveth More Grace
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater;
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.
To added affliction He addeth His mercy;
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
His love has no limit;
His grace has no measure.
His power has no boundary known unto men.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
~Annie Johnson Flint, 1866-1932~
