Accelerate Your Spiritual Growth

Here is the email I asked you to watch for. This is an eptastic opportunity for you to accelerate your spiritual growth. We've watched God do this in hundreds of lives and now we want you to have this same opportunity for yourself and/or others you care about. Here's how. Discover the power of God's grace with our Advanced Discipleship Training program (ADT). ADT is an 8-month journey designed to help you encounter the fullness of God's love and learn how to disciple other people in His amazing grace. Each participant receives the following:   Live, weekly, grace-based teaching by our qualified staff Personal mentoring by a GLI staff member Interaction and community within a small group Audios and videos by nationally-known teachers Collection of specialized books and resources Specific training on how to disciple others   ADT runs for eight months every Monday night from 6 - 9pm starting July 11, 2016 at the Grace Life offices in Charlotte, NC. Go deeper into God's grace with three-hour classes taught by our gifted staff. Topics include:   Untwisting Your Concept of God Embracing Your Identity in Christ How to Forgive from Your Heart Resting in Grace versus Exhaustion from the Law Hearing God's Voice and much more...   In case you miss a class, you will receive a free audio recording. Here's what recent alumni say about attending ADT:   "Next to my salvation, ADT is the greatest experience of my Christian life!"  - James C.   "I couldn't have imagined how much more I was going to enjoy God until He replaced my law-based thinking with grace-based thinking at ADT.'" - Joye D   "I'd trade my seminary education for what I experienced at ADT. It literally changed the course of my life and ministry." - Paul C.   The cost to attend ADT is only $1,700 for eight months of life-changing instruction. Pay up-front for only $1,500 and save $200! You can attend at our office or live online through a powerful tool called Zoom. However, seating is limited for both!  So decide now if you want to come.   To get ADT details or to register email Sandy@GraceLifeInternational.com    What if I'm not ready to commit to ADT and the 8-month schedule? We offer a "taste" of ADT during the first four Monday nights in June from 6-9. For more info on this, email our Director of Training, Sandy Witherspoon at Sandy@GraceLifeInternational.com

In His Grace,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

Do You Enjoy God?

Enjoying God is a foreign concept to many Christians. Asked to describe their relationship with God, few would use the word "enjoy".  A famous statement tells us that our purpose in life is to "glorify God and enjoy Him forever". We have probably been taught many times about glorifying God which is absolutely true but what about enjoying God. Be honest, do you enjoy God?  Is the word "enjoy" one that you would use regarding you and God?

It is fascinating the way that Jesus taught us how to pray in what we usually term the Lord's Prayer. By the way, I don't think His intent was for us to simply recite this prayer. It is a guide, almost an outline that we pray through the lens of grace. He begins the prayer with this opening, "Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be your name". It was only a few years ago that I realized the significance of beginning our prayers to God in this way.  Here is what I mean.

"Our Father" speaks of the close relationship we can experience with God when we understand the transformative gospel of grace. Many Christians perceive that God is like some other significant person in their lives such as a dad or mom. Those who experienced a close relationship with that person do not have a lot of difficulty relating to God in a positive way as their Father.  Those who experienced a distant or painful relationship with that person often relate to God as their Father in negative ways. The transformative gospel of grace can change that incorrect concept of God so we can actually enjoy God. We see it all of the time in our ministry.

"Hallowed be your name" speaks of the transcendence of God.  Don't be scared away by that word. It communicates to us that God is our Creator.  He is holy. He is awesome. He is eternal.  He needs no one.  He is God and we are not! This leads us into a place of a proper fear of God, worshipping Him for who He is. Don't get sidetracked here with the word "fear". It does not mean that we are afraid of Him and His discipline for our sins. This fear is a deep reverence and awe for God. As we recognize the truth of Who God is, it sometimes puts us on our knees or on our faces and we say, "Wow!" There is great enjoyment in worshiping Him as God.

We can enjoy God the most, when we relate to Him as our loving close Father and our awesome Creator God. We can get out of balance if we emphasize one over the other.

So do you enjoy God? If not, ask Him to correct your erroneous view of Him as your Father and as your great God.

Until next time, remember, He loves us!

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder GraceLifeInternational.com

Is Your Life "Rooted" in God's Love?

You may be surprised to learn that I have a degree in horticulture.  Though I do not use that degree, I do know some things about plants and trees. Take Azaleas for example.  There is nothing more beautiful in the spring than a yard full of these colorful flowering plants. One of the greatest displays of them is often seen on television at the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.

One of the fascinating tricks to growing beautiful healthy Azaleas is to make certain the soil they are rooted in is acidic. The acid must be the correct kind or it will destroy the roots which will then wither the plant possibly killing it.

In Ephesians 3:14-20 there is a terrific prayer I often pray for myself, my family, my staff and all those we minister to.  The prayer is basically one where we are asking God to give Christians a deeper revelation of Christ in us.  One of the results of this will be that we will be rooted and grounded in God's love for us.

Ponder the picture God gives us of roots from our soul being in the best soil they could ever be in, the perfect soil of God's love.  To have the roots of our soul drinking deeply from God's love is indescribable.  I not only say that from personal experience but mainly from the conclusion of that prayer.

So where are the roots of your soul today?  Here is a reality check. If those roots are not first and foremost in God's love, then they are somewhere else vainly attempting to get our God-given need for love met in a person, a possession or a position.  When we live like this, over time our soul withers and we may even feel like we are dying.  No spouse, child, parent, date, friend, house, car, clothes, job or anything else can provide our soul with the love we need.  Only God Himself, Who is love, can constantly nourish our soul with the perfect kind of love we need.

All of us at times seek to meet our deepest need for love in the wrong place.  This will eventually lead us into disappointment, emptiness or frustration.  Don't get me wrong, it is great to be loved by someone else, to enjoy our possessions, and to look forward to our job.  The reality is that we can actually enjoy those more when we are rooted in God's love; then we can be OK when those sources dry up.

Why don't you pray that prayer in Ephesians this week for yourself and those you care about?

Until next time, remember He loves us.

Live free in Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com 

Does God Punish Us for Our Sins?

Is the God we believe in truly the real God? Through the years, I have observed many people who leave their faith in God and the church they were a part of. Yet, in many cases they are not leaving the true God but a false god they have created in their mind. There are misperceptions of who God really is. One misperception is that God punishes His children when they sin. I have heard this one many times and I used to believe it myself! Yet, our punishment was taken in full by Jesus on the cross.

In 1 John 2:2, the word "propitiation" means the wrath of God the Father towards our sin was completely satisfied in the death of Christ on the cross. Since that is true, difficult circumstances are NOT God's punishment on us. We have been forgiven for all of our sins and will not be punished for them.

Those who do not have faith in Christ will be punished for their sins after their life on this earth is over. But we are focusing on believers right now.

That does not mean that believers in Christ do not have consequences when we sin. For example, if we are a believer in Christ and we rob a bank. Jesus died for our sin of stealing. So God will not punish us but we will go to jail! A friend of mine said it this way. God does not punish us for our sins but our sins sometimes punish us.

He does discipline His children according to Hebrew 12 but this is our Father's correction to get us back on track, not to punish us. In fact, His discipline is an act of His love for us. So the next time we begin to think that God is punishing us, we need to remember that the cross of Jesus debunks that misperception of God and how He treats us. He loves us!