Tales from Tacoma: If God be for us...

Monday, October 9, 2017

If God be for us...

I wish I could say that this week was the craziest week of my mission because we were rushing between teaching appointments, but... it wasn't. Which is okay, I've learned to be okay with the constant door-knocking due to lack of investigators.

But this week I learned a lot about Grace, the Savior's redemptive power. What an amazing gift our Savior has promised us, that if we do all that we possibly can, He will make up the difference.

So I started by rereading one of my favorite talks, "His Grace Is Sufficient" By Brad Wilcox (https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/brad-wilcox_his-grace-is-sufficient/).I actually took the time to look up every single scripture it references, naturally I found some golden ones.

Romans 8:31

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"

If God is for us, then no one can really be against us, and if they are against us, they're pretty much powerless in comparison to our Heavenly Father. So if we are on His team, if we are doing what He wants us to do, then we should feel secure, knowing that He will take care of us. Further down in that same chapter we read:

Romans 8:37

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

Because our Heavenly Father and our Savior LOVE us infinitely, we can truly be covered by our Savior's grace. We can truly conquer those trials that seem insurmountable, because Christ has already paid the price for us, He truly, deeply loves us.

Brad Wilcox states that "Grace is not the absence of God’s high expectations. Grace is the presence of God’s power." We are not freed completely of our end of the deal just because the debt is paid, but we can know for sure that even if we do fall short, God's power is there to cover the difference.

In the WA-TAC we sing the song "Amazing Grace" it is our mission song, the one that always makes all the missionaries start crying because it hits us with the Spirit, but the version we sing is a little different, it's by Chris Tomlin, and here are the lyrics:

Amazing grace

How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me

I once was lost, but now I'm found

Was blind, but now I see

My chains are gone

I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy reigns

Unending love, amazing grace

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved