When you think about what grace is, the question in passing arises: “How is it different from the concepts of love and mercy?” In the literary Old Russian work "The Word of Law and Grace" one can draw many interesting conclusions on this topic. According to church teaching, it is a supernatural gift of God to man.
The Holy Fathers consider grace to be “Divine glory”, “rays of the Divine”, “uncreated light”. All three components of the Holy Trinity have its effect. The writing of St. Gregory Palamas says that this is “the energy of the general and Divine power and action in the Trinitarian God.”
First of all, everyone should understand for himself that grace is not the same thing as the love of God and his mercy (mercy). These three are completely different manifestations of God's character. The highest grace is when a person receives what he does not deserve and is not worthy.
Love. Grace. God's Grace
The main feature of God is love. It is manifested in His care for people, their protection, forgiveness (13 chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians). By the grace of the Highest, even a well-deserved punishment can be avoided, as evidenced by the forgiveness of Adam for his sins. God does notnot only did not kill, but also gave him a chance of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. As for grace, one can often find such a definition in the scriptures: grace is undeserved mercy. But we can say that this is a one-sided formulation. Some people who have received revelations from above claim that God's grace is also the power of the Heavenly Father, expressed as a gift, so that a person can easily endure what is difficult for him to overcome on his own, no matter how hard he tries.
Divine energy is available to those who sincerely believe
Every day you need to approach God in sincere prayer with such meaning that without him nothing in life will be as it should be, and only with him everything will manifest itself in the best way. Humility before the Supreme, faith in him opens access to his grace, requests become heard. The Bible Church "Word of Grace" teaches how to properly address the prayer to the Heavenly Father.
All who accept Jesus Christ will be saved through their faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast." It also follows from this that through what salvation comes, that should be honored, people should live by grace.
God does not have to knock on an open heart
From the realization that God is always there and not only to support in the hour of need, joyful peace comes, because a person begins to feel that he has the closest and most reliablefriend. It manifests itself in every moment of everyday life, in any, even seemingly imperceptible, trifle. Not a single detail passes by the gaze of the Almighty. That is why, with sincere faith, everything happens with God's help, and not exclusively by one's own strength. The biblical church is also trying to convey this truth to all the laity. Grace, according to its clergy, deserves everything. To gain access to it, you just need to enjoy every moment of your life and not rely only on your own strength.
What blocks the way to God?
There are three ways to humiliate your faith and thus distance yourself from God - it is pride, self-pity and complaints. Pride is manifested in the fact that a person ascribes to himself those merits that were rewarded by the grace of the Heavenly Father. By this the sinner "steals" glory from God. The proud one considers himself independent, but without Christ he can really do nothing. Having visited a biblical church, where grace is felt as a single stream, every layman will hear from a mentor that the sinfulness of such a plan destroys a person’s soul.
Self-pity can be attributed to idolatry. Man, all the time reflecting on his miserable fate, in fact, worships only himself. His thoughts: "What about me?" - lead to deep misunderstandings. It shows less and less true humanity. He is losing spiritual strength, as pity contributes to this.
Complaints are the first way to forget about gratitude to the Heavenly Father. Complaining, a person belittles everything that has been done for him, is doing and will be.do supreme. Having carefully studied the law and grace, a person understands that God needs to be grateful even for small gifts. He also knows better what is right for a person and what is wrong, what he needs more.
Who is worthy of grace?
Usually, before a person learns to live according to the biblical scripture taught by the Word of Grace Church, there can be a mess in his life. A woman can be grumpy, manipulate her family members, try to keep everything under her vigilant control. A man can be rude towards household members. But it is important to understand that in order for other people not to irritate, but bring joy, you need to start changes from yourself and, first of all, open your heart to God, trust him. Over time, positive changes will begin to occur in many areas of life.
God has his own individual plan for everyone, and he leads to learning to enjoy every day. Often people do not succeed because of the presence in their lives of constant fears and doubts. And you just need to trust the Higher, he will always and in everything help, direct, give strength to do what is necessary.
Earthly labor and grace
The Word of God says that something can be given to a person by grace, as a gift from above. This can come to someone who, at first glance, according to earthly laws, absolutely does not deserve it, who has done nothing for this. It must be understood that grace and work cannot coexist at the same time. Because Christians find it difficult to understand andaccept this fact, they, instead of enjoying what they already have and using it to comprehend the whole depth of their relationship with God, are constantly trying to get through work what they already have.
It is believed that grace is that for which God gave the best of heaven and thereby saved the worst of earth. Therefore, everyone can count on it, but this does not mean that you can no longer do anything, not improve, not honor the Almighty. He gives strength first of all to those who believe in him with all their hearts, then every day of a person will pass in joy. The main thing is to trust in his goodness and wisdom.
Essence of divine energies
God's grace is a gift. You can neither buy nor sell it, it is the mercy sent down by God, his uncreated energy, which can be diverse. There is a idolizing energy that makes a person a god by grace, it sanctifies and deifies him. There is an enlightening, cleansing, sanctifying energy. With their help, God sustains human existence.
Divine energy is the healer of the human soul
Jesus said, “…Just as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it is in the vine, so you too unless you are in Me” (John 15:4). And this means that the Heavenly Father does not require a person to manage on his own, God's grace will descend to everyone who believes in him completely.
Divine energy is the bridge between man and God. If it is not there, then there is an unbridgeable abyss between the first and the second. This is why Christians worship saintsicons, relics, as they are the bearers of the grace of God and help to join the energies of the Heavenly Father.
The greatest secret of grace is humility. When a person has humbled himself and repents, he looks only at himself and does not judge anyone. In this case, the Supreme accepts and purifies his soul. Grace can be acquired through unquestioning observance of God's commandments, but most of all, grace-filled energy will descend to the humble through their repentance.
