Grace Welcomes You In, Grace Keeps You Here
Resting in place, receiving what is already given.
Devotional Credit: Abide Above, Miles Stanford, featuring Andrew Murray and J. N. Darby
Photo Credit: Unsplash
We come into the family of God by grace. Not by our record, not by our resolve, and not by our promises to do better. Miles Stanford gathers the voices of Andrew Murray and J. N. Darby to remind us that the same grace that first drew us to Jesus is the grace that holds us, shapes us, and shines through us. Conversion is not the finish line. It is the doorway into an abiding life where Jesus lives His life in us.
Many of us were taught to treat grace as the entry ticket, then to switch back to law for the daily walk. We try hard, pray harder, and call it Christian maturity. Yet the result is often exhaustion and discouragement. Today’s reading invites us to a better way. Abiding is not something we accomplish for God. Abiding is consenting to what Jesus is already ready to do in us and through us.
Murray’s gentle call is simple. Yield, trust, abide, and wait on the Lord who has pledged Himself to act. As He once said come, He now says abide. Darby adds a steadying word. The Father bears witness to His Son. He does not fix our gaze on ourselves, since that would only lead us back to our lack. He sets our eyes on Jesus, and peace follows. Our peace does not rest on our report card. Our peace rests on the Son.
From a corporate salvation lens, the Father has placed His people in the Son. In Him we share what He is, and we learn to live from who we are in Him. We do not climb up to earn a place. We receive the place we already have in Jesus and walk it out by His Spirit. That is why grace does not make us passive. Grace makes us trusting. And trust opens the door for Jesus to express His life in real time.
Journal Entry, Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I drew you to My Son by grace, and I keep you by the same grace. I began a good work in you, and I will carry it to completion. You stand in peace because you are in Jesus. Remain in Him, and you will bear much fruit, for life flows from Him through you. The life you now live in the body is lived by faith in the Son of God, and I am at work in you to will and to do what pleases Me.
You have been united with Jesus in His death to sin and raised to walk in newness of life. Consider yourself alive to God in Him. Present yourself to Me, not as one who must earn favor, but as one already made Mine. As you received Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in faith, and abounding in thanksgiving.
I do not ask you to stare at yourself for proof. I bear witness to My Son. In Him you have righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. There is now no condemnation for you, since you are in Christ Jesus. Set your mind on the things above, where your life is hidden with Him. Keep in step with Me, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. My grace is sufficient for you. My power finds room in your weakness.
I am able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all sufficiency, you may abound in every good work. Faith works through love as I pour My love into your heart. I will equip you with everything good to do My will, working in you what is pleasing in My sight by Jesus Christ. I am faithful. I called you. I will surely do it.
Real-Life Analogy
Think of a phone resting on a wireless charger. The phone does not strain to receive energy. It simply stays in contact, and the current flows. When you step into the day, life in Jesus is like that steady contact. You rest your whole weight on Him, and His life flows into ordinary moments, steady and quiet.
So when a tense email lands in your inbox, pause, then place the moment on the charger, so to speak. Whisper, Lord, I receive Your life for this reply, express Your patience and clarity through me right now. Then answer with calm words and honest grace. You are not managing yourself by rules in that moment. You are trusting the indwelling Spirit of Jesus to act as your life, and He does. The One who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it.
Prayer of Confidence
Father, thank You that I came to You by grace, and that I remain in Jesus by that same grace. Thank You that I stand in peace because of Him. Thank You that You work in me to will and to do what pleases You. Today I gladly consent to Your indwelling life. I rest in Your sufficiency. Complete every desire for goodness and every work of faith in me by Your power, so that the name of the Lord Jesus is honored in me, and I in Him, according to Your grace. Amen.
Scripture References for the Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture Section
2 Thessalonians 1:11, Romans 5:1 to 2, Philippians 1:6, John 15:4 to 5, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:13, Romans 6:6 to 14, Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:6 to 7, Colossians 3:1 to 3, 1 John 5:9 to 12, 1 Corinthians 1:30, Romans 8:1 to 4, Romans 8:5 to 14, Galatians 5:16 to 25, 2 Corinthians 12:9, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Galatians 5:6, Hebrews 13:20 to 21, 1 Thessalonians 5:24, John 6:37, John 6:29, John 17:21 to 23, Jude 24 to 25