Enjoy Christ as the Spirit as Grace – Grace is Multiplied to us in our Sufferings

Grace is Christ as the Spirit giving Himself freely to us to be everything to us and do everything in us, through us, and for us; the multiplication of grace is grace being multiplied in our daily life in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Hallelujah!

This week we come to the topic of, Grace in Peter’s Epistles. We need to realize that, although the subject of the first and second Peter is God’s government, everything concerning God’s government should bring us back to the central focus and basic structure of these Epistles.

This central focus and basic structure is the Triune God as our full enjoyment to carry out the economy of God.

Peter’s Epistles, in particular, are very precious, for they combine the government of God and the Christian life, revealing that the Christian life and the government of God go together as a pair. Amen!

If we read Peter’s Epistles we will notice that both of them begin and end with grace, and grace is revealed in Peter’s Epistles in a very particular way.

May the Lord be gracious to us that we may be open vessels to see more and receive more of Him as grace.

The God of all grace who has called us, the believers in Christ, into His eternal glory, perfects, establishes, strengthens, and grounds us through our sufferings.

This all grace is the true grace of God in which we believers should enter and in which we stand today. Amen!

Peter mentions grace many times in his Epistles.

For example, when he said that we need to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, which is a sober matter, he also adds, for God gives grace to the humble but resists the proud.

There is a supply for us to live the Christian life and the church life under the government of God for the economy of God; this supply is grace.

Grace is abounding, grace is varied, grace is the center, and grace is everything to us; grace is of life, and grace is multiplied to us believers in Christ.

May we realize that, as we live the Christian life and church life under the government of God, we need to focus not on God’s discipline or His government but on enjoying the Lord as grace so that we may live Christ, express Christ, and be built up in Christ to be His corporate expression.

The God of all grace, who called us into His eternal glory in Christ, after we have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us (1 Pet. 5:10). Amen!

Grace is Christ as the Spirit Giving Himself Freely to us for our Enjoyment to Be and Do everything in us, through us, and for us!

What is grace? May we not take the word grace for granted, and may we not take the definition of grace as something common.

Grace is Christ Himself as our enjoyment. Grace is the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit giving Himself freely to us, being everything to us, and doing everything in us, through us, and for us (John 1:14, 16-17; Isa. 55:1; 2 Cor. 1:8-9, 12; Gal. 2:20; cf. 1 Cor. 15:10).

We may memorize or read verses concerning grace, realizing that we are saved by grace through faith, not through works, but we need to know what grace is.

Among Christians today grace is understood to be the unmerited favor of God; yes, grace is this, but grace is much more.

God doesn’t just give us something called grace; He gives us Himself, even His very being.

Many times Christians think that grace is God’s blessing, especially when it relates to our success in school, at work, in life, etc.

Many think they are blessed with good children, a good job, a good spouse, or a good house and a good car, so they say that God is gracious.

Grace is not a good house or a good car. Grace is not a material blessing.

In John 1:14, 16-17 we are told that the Word, who was in the beginning with God and who was God, became flesh, and He came to us full of grace and reality.

If grace were houses and cars and material blessings, the Bible would say that the Word became flesh and came to us full of houses and cars and prosperity and material blessings.

In v. 17 we are told that the law was given through Moses but grace came through Jesus Christ.

When Christ came, He came as grace, and He brought us grace.

We may read this and we may still try to live our Christian life on our own and by our own energy.

If we lack the proper view of grace, we will still live our Christian life and church life according to law, according to doing things, and according to rules and regulations, not according to grace.

May the Lord enlighten us to see that grace is Christ as the Spirit giving Himself freely to us for our enjoyment to be everything to us and do everything in us and through us.

God became a man and this man Jesus was the embodiment of God, full of grace and reality; now Jesus is the life-giving Spirit to dispense God as grace into us for our enjoyment.

Christ is in us as the Spirit to be grace to us and do everything in us.

For example, in our Christian life we may find it difficult to forgive someone; the more we try to forgive, the more we remember and we may even keep the offense dearly, not letting it go.

This hinders our enjoyment of Christ, and we cannot go on with Him.

But if we just exercise our spirit and enjoy Christ as grace, forgiveness will just flow!

The Lord in us will forgive the other person in us by our enjoying Him as grace. Grace can do what we cannot do.

Grace can be it, grace can do it, and grace can make it. Paul testified that he laboured more abundantly than the others, yet it was not him but the grace of God which was with him (1 Cor. 15:10).

He realized that he was what he was by the grace of God, and as he laboured, he could labour more abundantly because of the grace of God, for grace was labouring in him.

Paul used to be a hater of Christians, even breathing threats and murder toward them.

He made it his personal quest to destroy this group of heretics, but the Lord met him as grace, and he became the foremost of the apostles and the lowest of the saints, ministering the grace of God to others.

If we put 1 Cor. 15:10 with Gal. 2:20 we realize that, Not I but Christ, equal with, Not I but the grace.

In our Christian life it should be not us but the grace. Amen!

In 1 Tim. 1:13-14 he testified that he was shown mercy, for the Lord’s grace superabounded with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to us as the Spirit to be grace to us for our enjoyment. Hallelujah, God was incarnated in Christ and came to us as the Spirit to be our enjoyment and our everything! We open to You today, Lord Jesus! We want to enjoy You as grace. We exercise our spirit to enjoy the life-giving Spirit giving Christ to us freely to be everything to us and do everything in us, through us, and for us. Amen, Lord, may it be no longer us but Christ – may it be no longer us but the grace of God doing everything in us! Keep us enjoying You today. May the grace of our Lord superabound to us with faith and love in Christ Jesus. May the grace of God supply us, nourish us, and enable us to labour for the Lord – yet not us but the grace of God which is with us! Yes, Lord Jesus, dispense Yourself as grace into us more today! May grace do everything in us today. May grace do everything through us and for us today as we live for the fulfilment of God’s eternal purpose!

The Multiplication of Grace: Grace is Multiplied to us in our Sufferings as we Love Him

In 1 Pet. 1:2 and 2 Pet. 1:2 Peter says, Grace and peace be multiplied to you. Hallelujah for the multiplication of grace!

The multiplication of grace is the grace that multiplies in our daily life in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord (1 Pet. 1:2b; 2 Pet. 1:2; John 1:16; Eph. 1:6-8; 2:7; Rom. 5:17, 21; 1 Tim. 1:14; Rev. 22:21).

The grace of God in His economy is rich, multiplying, and abounding.

Peter doesn’t just bless the saints with grace; he blesses them with multiplied grace. Wow, grace can be multiplied!

In 2 Pet. 1:2 Peter says that grace to us and peace be multiplied in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

This means that, as we have the full knowledge of Jesus and of God, grace is multiplied!

As we enjoy the Lord in His word, grace is multiplied. We need to take the word of God, read it, pray over it, and apply it.

We may read a verse like John 1:16 concerning receiving grace upon grace as the Lord came, and we can make it into our prayer, asking the Lord to give us the portion of grace we need for today.

Daily we need to pray that the Lord would grant us today’s portion of grace.

And if we wake up a bit late and cannot have a good amount of time with the Lord in His word, we can apply His precious blood and enjoy Him.

1 John 1:9 is a good portion to pray over, for we can thank the Lord for His cleansing and we can enjoy fellowship with Him.

May we come to the throne of grace in our spirit to receive mercy and find grace for timely help.

May we tell the Lord, Lord Jesus, we want to have grace upon grace! Grant us more grace today!

Eph. 2:7 says that the Lord displays in the ages to come the surpassing riches of His grace in us.

We can tell Him, Lord, we want the surpassing riches of Your grace today! As we read the Bible, we can turn the verses into our prayer and grace is multiplied to us!

Another good verse is Rom. 5:17, receiving the abundance of grace.

We can tell the Lord, Oh Lord, we want the abundance of grace; give us grace in abundance! His grace abounds to us! Grace is multiplied to us through our sufferings, limitations, and weaknesses (2 Cor. 12:7-9; cf. 1:12, 15).

Grace is Christ Himself as our burden-bearer; the more burdens we have, the more opportunities we have to experience Christ as grace.

We all have sufferings, limitations, and weaknesses; the more we get older in our human life, the more limitations and sufferings we experience.

But the grace of God can be multiplied to us – grace can superabound, for Christ as grace is our burden-bearer!

He knows we are bearing a particular burden, He knows the pain we are experiencing, and He understands that ongoing affliction.

He is with us as grace to bear our burdens, problems, and afflictions.

He did this with Paul; he had some kind of health situation, a thorn in the flesh, and he asked the Lord three times to remove it, but the Lord said, My grace is sufficient for you.

Amen, the Lord’s grace is sufficient for us.

We should not look at our situation nor believe that our situation is larger than the Lord’s grace; rather, we should take God’s word, believe the word, stand on the word, and apply the word by exercising our spirit of faith.

Everything in the human life is a burden; our daily life is a burden, taking care of our home is a burden, and even though family life is sweet, it is also a burden.

There are many responsibilities to take care of with the children, and doing the daily chores including doing our work at the office is a burden.

But the Lord is here to be our burden bearer, for He is grace to us.

Acts 15:40 tells us that, as Paul and Silas were about to go on their ministry journey, the brothers commended them to the grace of God, to the word of His grace.

They had many things to do, much work to carry out, and many persecutions awaited them, but the grace of God could take them through and be the burden bearer in them. Amen!

The enjoyment of the Lord as grace is with those who love Him (Eph. 6:24; John 21:15-17; 1 Pet. 1:8).

If we want to enjoy grace multiplied to us, we need to love the Lord. Grace is with all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility.

Our response simply is, Lord Jesus, we love You!

As we love the Lord, as we turn our heart to Him and just love Him, grace comes.

May we not just know this and understand this but even more, may we claim this and apply this.

Just tell the Lord that we love Him, and grace will be multiplied to you!

The enjoyment of the Lord as grace with His divine nature is by our receiving and abiding in the word of His grace, which includes all His precious and exceedingly great promises (Acts 20:32; 2 Pet. 1:4; Eph. 6:17-18).

The Word of God is the word of His grace.

How can the word of God in the Bible become the word of God’s grace, even grace multiplied to us? It is by taking the word of God into us by means of all prayer and petition.

We need to mix the Word of God with the exercise of our spirit of faith and apply the Word of God to our life and experience; then, grace will come to us.

God gave us grace, but He wants this grace to be multiplied; the same grace needs to increase and be multiplied in us and to us.

As we enjoy the multiplication of the grace of God, we will be good stewards of the varied grace of God (1 Pet. 4:10).

Our God is the God of all grace (5:10), and He gives us the grace of life, which multiplies to become the multiplied grace, for us to become ministers of the varied grace of God and enjoy the all grace. Praise the Lord!

The grace of life is being multiplied in us, becoming the varied grace, and eventually, the all grace!

We have grace from all directions: from God, from man, from our situations, from our children.

Hallelujah, though we have limitations and sufferings, we can have grace multiplied to us!

Lord Jesus, may there be a multiplication of grace in our Christian experience today! Hallelujah, grace is multiplied to us in our daily life in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ! Amen, Lord, we come to You in Your word, we pray over Your word, and we apply Your word by the exercise of our spirit. Grant us to have grace multiplied to us today. May we enjoy and experience the grace of God in His economy, which is rich, abounding, and multiplying! Give us grace upon grace today. May grace abound in us in our experience. Amen, Lord, fill us with Yourself as grace today! May grace be multiplied to us through our sufferings, limitations, and weaknesses. We open to You, Lord, so that You as grace may be our burden bearer. We give You all our burdens and our problems; we want to experience and enjoy You as grace! Hallelujah, the more burdens we have, the more opportunities we have to experience Christ as grace! We love You, Lord Jesus, and we enjoy Your grace! We exercise our spirit today to receive and abide in the word of Your grace!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” pp. 367-397, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living a Christian Life and Church Life under the Government of God for the Economy of God (2024 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 5, Grace in Peter’s Epistles.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Realizing the sufficient grace of the Lord, a portion from, Enjoying the Riches of Christ for the Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
  – The Grace of God for New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – “Let Your Speech Be Always with Grace, Seasoned with Salt”, via, Shepherding Words.
  – Grace being God gained and experienced by us, a portion from, Messages Given During the Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry (2 volume set), Chapter 22, by Watchman Nee/Witness Lee.
  – The Highest Definition of Grace, via, Living to Him.
  – Enjoy the grace of God as we handle the word of God, sharing via, Christian Students on Campus youtube.
  – What is the Grace of God and How Can You Enjoy It? More via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Christ as grace, a portion from, Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit, An, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee.
  – 7 Compelling Reasons to Read the Bible, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – The grace of God in the economy of God, article via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – 2 Peter (Program #3) – The Divine Provision (3), via, Bible study radio.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, / He sendeth more strength when the labors increase, / To added affliction He addeth His mercy, / To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace. / When we have exhausted our store of endurance, / When our strength has failed ere the day is half-done, / When we reach the end of our hoarded resources, / Our Father’s full giving is only begun. (Hymns #723 stanzas 1-2)
  – Grace in its highest definition is / God in the Son to be enjoyed by us; / It is not only something done or giv’n, / But God Himself, our portion glorious. / God is incarnate in the flesh that we / Him may receive, experience ourself; / This is the grace which we receive of God, / Which comes thru Christ and which is Christ Himself. (Hymns #497 stanzas 1-2)
  – It is not resolving / Now to run the race, / But ’tis by Thy mercy / I receive Thy grace. / It is not by knowledge, / But by grace alone, / I can pass thru suff’ring / To Thine image grown. (Hymns #751 stanza 3)