1 February Philemon 1

Grace be with your spirit

Philemon 1:25(NLT) May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

2 Timothy 4:22(NLT)May the Lord be with your spirit. And may his grace be with all of you.

Galatians 6:18(NLT) Dear brothers and sisters, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Grace is the life-giving Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit Himself. The Bible says that grace is with our spirit. The Spirit of grace conveys grace to us. This divine Spirit made our human spirit alive when we were born again.

John 3:5-6(NLT) Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.

Because this Spirit of grace is now one with our spirit, grace is with our spirit.

Romans 8:16(NLT) For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.

Zechariah 4:6-7(NKJV) So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”

In Zerubbabel's time, rebuilding God's temple seemed like an enormous task. However, that wasn't what God intended. He told Zerubbabel that the difficult situation would become easier, like a flat plain, once God finished His work. Eventually, Zerubbabel would place the final stone, completing the temple. When that happened, the only fitting response to describe God's work in building the temple was, “Grace, grace to it!”

We can apply the same idea to our lives. The Holy Spirit works to shape and build us. As we approach the completion of this process, just before the Church is raptured, we can also say: "Grace, grace to it!" to acknowledge God's grace throughout the entire journey.

John 1:16(NKJV) And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.

Grace is the overflow of God's total self-sufficiency. Describing God as a God of grace means saying that He is God—He is the limitless, all-encompassing, self-sustaining, and ultimate source, owner, and sustainer of all existence, value, and worth in the entire universe. When goodness comes from Him, it comes without any conditions or expectations. It can only come this way—freely and generously.

So, every bit of His goodness is grace.