Grace Gripped

November 9, 2009

“I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left — feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.” John 14:25-27 The Message

What does Jesus know about you …?

He knows that you need a Friend who will help you know how to live a life of trust. He knows you need a Friend who will remind you of his teaching and words. He knows that you will struggle at certain times and moments … feeling abandoned .. alone .. and without. He knows that the world you live in will continually try to tell you that you can find peace on your own .. out of your own efforts and from your own resources. He knows that you can only be well and whole in His life .. So .. He’s sending the Friend to pour out and pour in His unshakable and assuring peace. It is a gift you can share with others in the name of Jesus. It is a gift you can receive as well. Jesus is that peace that He gives and He is the One who makes you well and whole. There are indeed upsetting moments and even distraught moments that assault every reservoir of trust. But .. Jesus has not abandoned one of his own … ever! He is not unclear .. the world you live in is godless and you are his ambassador of peace .. authorized and empowered with the peace filling name of Jesus. It is to be the parting gift of every Christ-Follower wherever you go today. It is also the gift that Jesus gives you today .. for you life! It only takes a moment …

“I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” John 16:32-33 The Message

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Followers of Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

November 6, 2009

“Your blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.  .. You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. .. You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are — no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought …” Matt. 5:3-5

Is there room for the Jesus way of life in you …?

You’re blessed if you are a follower of Jesus … Why? Because you can walk in the life He is living in you ..  You can begin to live toward others through the life He is living in you .. You can actually know how Jesus defined blessed and how the world you live in describes “blessed”. Jesus turns the world upside down when he describes those very moments in your life when you are at the end of your rope .. when you’re hurting so deeply that only the love of God can begin to make you sane and comforted .. and when you realize that your life is only and always whole in Christ who has given you everything of His life for everything of your life. The world says that you are blessed when you don’t need .. Jesus promises you a God-created and God-sustained life when you place all of your needs in His hands. The world  says that you are blessed when everything and everyone around you are well .. Jesus says that you are blessed when you your need for Him is the greatest. The world says that being content is finding your worth and self-value in what you do .. Jesus said you are blessed when you realize that it is not what you do but who you really are as a God-created son or daughter that will lead you to wholeness. God simply wants to fill your life with the love and life of His Son. It is an offer .. not an order. Is there room for the Jesus way of life in you ..? It won’t crowd out those that you love. There is room to spare with your heavenly Father .. room open and wide when Jesus was at the end of  your rope .. at the your deepest and darkest brokenness .. and at all those moments when you were trying so hard to be somebody God never intended  you to become apart from Him. There is a very real God-created life that Jesus wants to generously and graciously make real inside of you. It only takes a moment …

“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” Matt. 5:48 The Message

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to men and women whose lives have been changed by Jesus and are being changed by Jesus .. and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

November 5, 2009

“I am the bread of life .. I am the light of the world .. I am the good shepherd .. I am the resurrection and the life .. I am the way and the truth and the life .. I am the vine ..” John 6:35, 8:12, 10:11, 11:25, 14:6, 15:5 New American Standard

Is there room for anyone …?

His life has been scrutinized to find something to disqualify him .. His ministry has been minimized to distract us from his offer .. and His followers are ostracized to scare away anyone longing for real freedom. Jesus offers everyone a generous life .. inside and out. Anyone can have this life: the broken .. the hungry .. the lost .. the diseased .. the dying .. the privileged .. the powerless .. the gifted .. the untalented .. the unloved .. the up and out .. the down and out .. the desperate .. those who have given up .. and those who have much to give. He offers the same life to anyone longing for real life. He offers fresh starts .. new beginnings .. and a life that bears fruit when it is intimately connected to Him. There is no hidden agenda. The very thing within you that disqualifies you will be the very place where you will find his acceptance .. his help .. his healing .. his fresh start .. and his absolute grip of grace upon your life. He said .. you wouldn’t hunger or thirst anymore .. you wouldn’t walk in darkness anymore .. you wouldn’t be alone or abandoned anymore .. you wouldn’t live in the fear of death anymore .. you wouldn’t have to find your own way anymore .. and you wouldn’t have to try to produce something good from your life from your own strength anymore. For apart from Me you can do nothing. He wasn’t saying this to shame you .. to force you .. or to bruise you. He told you this so that you would know and trust the greatness of his life for you and in you as you live for him. And when you do .. your life becomes an offering for others to meet and trust the I-AM One. There is plenty of room for you. It only takes a moment …

” .. you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 New American Standard

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Followers of Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

November 4, 2009

“So Jesus explained himself at length. “I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing.  What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing.” John 5:19-20 The Message

Do you see …?

… what the Father is doing? … what the Son is doing? God wants you to see what He is doing through a Son-living .. Son-seeing .. Son-including life that is focused  and clear. You can’t live a life of faith that seeks to honor God apart from the indwelling life of Jesus in you. You can try .. You can even be successful for a time .. but .. you won’t live  a life that sees what the Father is doing .. what the Son is doing .. and what you will be doing in His strength. Jesus was very clear about how he lived his life: He couldn’t do anything apart from what his Father in heaven was doing. You live in an independence rewarding world and your old self  (the old part of you that wants to be in control) wants to be independent. But the new you .. the Christ-in-you life wants to be intimately connected in everything yo u do to the Father’s heart. One ancient follower of Jesus said it best: Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. (Phil.4:13) The key is being “in the One” who makes you who you are. It only takes a moment …

“I ask — ask the God of our Master Jesus Christ, the God of glory — to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his  followers … Ephesians 1:16-18 The Message

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F Followers of Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

November 2, 2009

“He treated the outsiders exactly as he treated us, beginning at the very center of who they were and working from that center outward, cleaning up their lives as they trusted and believed him … He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life generously.” Acts 15:9 .. Titus 3:5-6 The Message

The call of the Inside-Out life …

God is doing today exactly what he was doing yesterday in  your life … making  you whole. You generally look outside in … it is your built in limitation. But God … sees perfectly from the inside out … where He is patiently and generously forming the life of His Son in you. You were once an outsider .. but no more. God has never treated you differently from anyone else. He’s working at the very center of who you are .. and working outward .. cleaning you up and clearing away all the contaminated debris that you carry along in this life. The Poured-Out One has changed your hell-bound life into a life-freely-formed by grace. It is amazing how patient God really is with our lives. We get impatient when God doesn’t work fast enough or remove all the things that we think hold us back or cause us to stumble. We so quickly want to be rid of every distraction .. dis-ease .. and discomfort. But God … is doing something so permanent … working through all your layers of trust and distrust … belief and unbelief … surrender and stubbornness. Jesus generously poured out his life for you .. so that the Holy Spirit could generously pour His life in to you. And in all of this .. God is working at the very center of who you were and who you are becoming through the life of Jesus in you. He’s working at this very moment and all that you can do … is just be you. It only takes a moment …

“I’m happy from the inside out, and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed. You canceled my ticket to hell — that’s not my destination! Now you’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way.” Psalm 16:9-11 The Message

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Inside-Out Followers of Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

October 30, 2009

” … until Christ’s life becomes visible in your lives? ” Galatians 4:19 The Message

How do you know God is pursuing you …?

Because Jesus started a prayer that the Father is answering in your life this very moment … shaping you into the image of the Son … shaping your heart and mind into the same heart and mind that Jesus has with His Father … shaping your life from weightless-wanderers into Son-weighted Followers. Only God can take all the pieces of your life .. everything that you were born with .. everything that went into shaping your life .. and everything you’ve tried to shape on your own .. and lovingly work the life of Christ through your life so that He becomes visible in you. The cross nailed everything you were born with … the grave buried everything that went into you from the outside … and the resurrection life of Jesus gives you a new life in Christ. Jesus prayed perfectly .. and exactly what you could never pray: a life that is filled with the fullness and presence of Jesus. Jesus prayed that you would have the life He has with his Father .. the same life!! And God is pursuing you today with an immeasurable and inexhaustible patience so that you will know .. believe .. and rest in the Perfectly-Answered-Prayer of Jesus .. prayed for you .. and prayed for everyone who loves and trusts the Risen One. It only took Jesus a moment to pray for you. It only takes a moment for you to open your heart and mind to his perfect prayer …

” The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind — Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact sent me. The same glory you gave me, I gave them, So they’ll be as unified and together as we are — I in them and you in me.” John 17:21-22 The Message

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Christ-Formed Followers and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

October 29, 2009

“We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.” Romans 8:..29-30 The Message

The Cross of Nothing …?

He used a Cross because nothing else would work. He used a Cross because nothing else could restore your original and intended shape. He used a Cross because nothing will ever be able to come between you and God’s love again. Nothing …! Do you really know in the depths of your heart … your life … your everyday world how free you are to love God with nothing in between? Jesus embraced every spot in you .. every contaminated thought in you .. everything unthinkable about you .. every force or influence that would destroy you .. with his whole life .. so that you would discover God’s intended shape of your life in Christ. So .. as you begin this day .. you can begin with this unconquerable promise .. Nothing can come between God’s love and you today. Nothing! That covers every step you will take .. every thought .. every action .. everything. You don’t have to hang on to anything that would get in the way of the life Jesus is living in you. It only takes a moment …

“I’m absolutely convinced that nothing — nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable — absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” Romans 8:39 The Message

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to the Nothing-Fellowship of Christ Followers and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

October 28, 2009

“Now, God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:7 The Message

What is God up to in your life …?

Whatever it is … He is incredibly patient to the point of producing impatience in you. Why..?  Because He knows all the “outside” influences that shaped your insides … Because He knows exactly how all the broken pieces of your life have to be put together through Jesus …    … Because He is a grace-showering God … Because there is nothing in your life that catches Him by surprise …  … Because He knows you and what it takes for you to receive the kindness of Christ’s love for you. God is working in every layer of your life … every scar … every day of your whole life to work in you the  redeeming–reigning love of Jesus. And it begins with a moment … this moment connected to every moment of your life. Will you give the Lord your heart today …?

“But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ.” Ephesians 2:11 The Message

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent  M-F to grace-showered followers of Jesus and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)

October 27, 2009

“I ask — ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory — to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do,  grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him — endless energy, boundless strength!” Ephesians 1:18-19 The Message”

How will God answer the question …?

“What do you want me to do God”? … “Where do you want me to go God”? … “What have you made me to do God”? You live in a world that is constantly trying to infect you and your life with the lie that “You” are the one in control … “You” are the one who gets to decide what you do for a living … and “You” can have the life “You” want and still do things for God. When you gave your life to Christ .. you gave Him your life … every minute .. every moment .. and every mile ahead. The world you live in doesn’t want God to lead your life. The world you live in depends on you to live anxiously and independently on your own or at least with the appearance of being in control. When Christ moved into your life .. he didn’t just move in to watch how you would live or offer you some suggestions on how to live. He actually moved into your life so that “You” no longer have to do the impossible: Try to live a God-pleasing life on your terms .. in your strength .. with good-intentioned prayers and efforts. God is not vague or haphazard about your life. He really does want your life to be a living-message of wholeness that reveals the life of His Son. He really does want you to love the life that Jesus is living within you. Your sin-dead life wasn’t just redecorated and rearranged. Your life was literally made alive in Christ! There isn’t one Christian life that can be explained apart from Jesus. Your life is no exception. God has a way of life for you  … a life that is filled with His love .. a life that is filled with His energy and strength .. and a life that is focused and clear about who you are as a follower of Jesus. He’ll answer .. He’ll guide .. He’ll patiently love you along the way. It only takes a moment …

He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.” Ephesians 2:5-6 The Message

Ken Chester: Grace-Gripped is sent M-F to Christ-alive Followers and friends of Priority One (ken@priorityone.org)