Grace and Work 1

Grace and Work 1

By Apostle Felix

9  And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 

10  And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 

11  Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 

12  Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 

Genesis 18: 9 – 12

Grace comes from a Greek word, charis, which may mean the gift of God to man, for man to do what he cannot do in his own strength. In order to experience the possibility power of God, we need to understand the place of grace and work in our lives. The two are not antagonistic to each other. If anything, they work together. We have do differentiate between works for manifesting fruitfulness from works to gain the righteousness of God. God commanded man to work the land before the fall. Work is not a product of the fall, but it has been intended by God as an instrument for exercising dominion in the earth. Work is not a curse. The blessing is expressed through work. When God blessed man in Genesis chapter one, He commanded him to work. There cannot be expression of fruitfulness without work.

15  The LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden in order to have him work it and guard it. 

Genesis 2: 15

God works too. Work is of God. Jesus affirmed it when He was on earth. He said His Father is always working, so He is working too.

17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 

John 1: 17

Jesus is full of grace and truth, but yet He worked in order to manifest the grace of God upon Him.

17  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 

John 5: 17

Abraham had received grace to have a child when God visited them. Both the husband and the wife had grown past the child bearing season. These were old folks who had entered their night season of life. Sarah had reached menopause, besides her infertility condition. Even the passion for physical intimacy had eroded away. The birth of the promised seed required Abraham and Sarah to engage in physical intimacy. This may sound crude for some, but it is the truth. The grace was made available but yet work was required to bring the promise to manifestation. God did not intend man to dominate any sphere of life through manna and quails. Israel in the wilderness had no land for themselves, but God provided food for them daily without work. They had the same kind of food for forty years. That was not a joke at all. It was very frustrating for the people. The reason is because God intended man to live and be sustained by the work of his hands. God blesses the work of our hands, not our prayers for miracle money. When Israel entered the promised land, manna stopped.

12  And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

Joshua 5: 12

This is the reason why, people should not fall for the miracle money scam. Money is not a miracle, it is a reward for the work one has done. The church is the only entity that meets on Sundays to receive money miraculously from God. The world goes to work to make money from Monday through Friday. And the results are indeed visible. The church is impoverished, while the world is enriched. God forbid. Jesus never performed such kind of miracles for His disciples. Even when He wanted money to pay His tax, He sent Peter to go and work. Peter was a fisherman, so Jesus sent him back to his trade or career to go and get money. He did not ask Peter to check his pockets or wallet to find miracle money which God had miraculously transferred. That is called fraud. Peter went to work, under grace. Jesus, the embodiment of grace had sent him. The miracle was the favour Peter had in his fishing endeavour. He caught a fish that had a coin in it’s mouth. How did the coin get into the fish’s mouth. Common sense, the fish got one of coins for food that was dropped into the lake. Fishes swallow stones and many other objects. This is the possibility of God. He made it possible for Peter to catch the fish that had a coin because he went to work. Do not just sit back and wait for life to unfold itself before you. Get to work and life will begin to unfold. The possibility of God manifests through work.

27  But so that we don’t offend them, go to the lake and throw out your hook, and the first fish that rises up will have a coin in its mouth. It will be the exact amount you need to pay the temple tax for both of us.”
Matthew 17: 27

That is called work under grace.