To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:6

Gratitude for His Grace

Gratitude and praise come natural to Christ’s followers who focus often on His grace, His underserved love, His unmerited favor.  (See Ephesians 2:8-9, I Peter 4:10)

Imagine taking a blank sheet of paper with a line down the middle.  On the left side of the paper, you make a list of all the things you’ve done this week that prompted God to love you more; on the right side of the paper you make a list of all the things you’ve done this week that caused God to love you less.  Now before you start frantically writing, your paper should remain blank; that’s GRACE!

Pause to reflect upon your experience of the glory of God’s grace, recently or in the past. Be still before the Lord and ask His Spirit to stir up remembrances, perhaps of times when:

• He unexpectedly provided for you.

• He accepted you in the midst of a failure.

• He healed your physical or emotional pain.

• He restored a broken relationship.

Complete the following sentence:

I give thanks and praise to God for the grace He gave me when
_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________.

Share your completed sentence with a friend or small group. Then pray together,expressing further thanks and praise to God.