God as Daddy

   When I was growing up, my friends next door called their father and mother by their first names. They called their dad Bill and their mom Hazel. That seemed really strange to me. I do not ever recall hearing one of them call them dad or mom.

   Here is something else that seems strange to me. Many of us are very comfortable calling God by the name "God" or "Lord" but we may really struggle to call him Daddy, Dad, or Papa. In fact, it may even seem irreverent or even sacrilegious. The truth of the complete Gospel tells us otherwise.

   The Holy Spirit explains to us in Romans 5, that as God's children, He has made us 100% acceptable to Him by making us righteous. In Romans 6, we read that we are no longer slaves of sin because of our new identity in Christ. Next in Romans 7, it becomes clear that we are not under law but under grace alone. With that in mind, we read the really good news in Romans 8:15, "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

   The word "Abba" is an Aramaic word which communicates the intimacy of a father who delights in his child, such that the child also delights in his or her father. Abba Father then means Daddy Father. Jesus said the same about His relationship with God the Father in Mark 14:36 and it is repeated again in Galatians 4:6.

   As God's deeply loved children, let's take a step of faith this week and call Him Daddy, Dad or Papa. It is a step into deeper intimacy with Him.

Live Free In Christ,


Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com

All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding

Why God Blesses a Person

     Have you ever wondered what you need to do to get God to bless you? How do you get yourself in a "position" to be blessed? The answer is actually very encouraging.

    Under the Old Covenant which was centered in the 10 Commandments, a person was blessed because of obedience. Just read Deuteronomy 28:1-2. "If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all His commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God". NIV All of the blessings are listed in verses 3-14. Then verse 15 says, "However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all His commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you." NIV There are about 4 times as many curses as there are blessings if you read to the end of the chapter. The blessings God promised under the Old Covenant are conditional based on obedience. I don't know about you but I am fairly certain I do not want to be in that kind of relationship.

    Under the New Covenant, a person is blessed because of one reason and one reason only: they are in union with Christ. Ephesians 1:3 says, "Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ He has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world." GNT These blessings are conditional also but here the condition is faith not obedience. It is our faith in Jesus Christ which unites us with Christ. Once united with Christ, we are able to experience and enjoy our blessings only if we continue to live by faith. For example, God loves and accepts us unconditionally but we only enjoy this if we believe it whether we feel it or not. Have you noticed that in some instances we tend to get caught up in checking in with our feelings to tell us if something is true rather than God's word?

    It would be like having one million dollars in our checking account. If we believe we have it intellectually that is a good place to begin. But only when our faith leads us to withdraw from our "every spiritual blessing" account do we get to enjoy it.

    So then what about obedience? Living like who we are in Christ is a blessing. Living like who we are in Christ is an act of faith. The more we believe and act on our faith that we are sons and daughters of God who are deeply and unconditionally loved, the more we will obey.

    Let's be careful. We are Covenant people but the flesh wants to cause us to drift towards an Old Covenant mentality of obedience based blessings. To put it another way, we are to live with a grace based mentality growing in our understanding that we are already blessed because of Jesus' obedience. A law based mentality is exhausting while a grace based mentality is restful.

    We are already "positioned" to be blessed because we are united with Christ. He is our ultimate blessing and every aspect of who He is and who we are in Him is to be enjoyed now and forever. 

Live Free In Christ,


Mark Maulding, President and Founder



www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding

Christian Minister Freed from Addiction

In this blog, I want you to read a wonderful story of the power of the Gospel to free each of us who are Christians.  This man was counseled in our Asheville, NC satellite office. 

"It is my pleasure to recommend Grace Life International to anyone who finds themselves in need of solid, Biblical counseling from people who have experienced the life changing good news of Christ in their own lives.

I had the distinct privilege of learning and growing beside my counselor in Asheville, NC. He is a man of great character and has an incredible drive to share the love of God with anyone, regardless of background. It was through him that I was able to see the incredible program that Grace Life has assembled to remind all of us of the unfathomable amount of freedom that Christ offers to us.

As someone who works in full-time ministry, I have to be honest that, at times, I have become numb to the message of Christ. It wasn't because I didn't believe it was true. On the contrary, I knew it was true but I never experienced the power of the message as strongly as I did than when I began my discipleship counseling at Grace Life. The practical, thought provoking questions were not an uncomfortable psychoanalysis but rather a call to return to the life giving message of Jesus Christ. The lessons are clearly laid out with pointed objectives at the end.

Before coming to Grace Life, I had struggled with an addiction for several years. I never sought help because of the shame that I felt on a daily basis. No longer will I allow myself to stay in the "mud and mire" as described in Psalm 40. This incredible counseling organization worked with me and truly believed God was going to change me. Having that vote of confidence was crucial for me. While I still have days of strong temptation, I'm leaning more and more on God to find the freedom promised in His Word. Every day I am seeing how God is continuing to grow me and heal me from my past. I am convinced that this would not have happened had I not reached out for the help available at Grace Life.

Thank you, Grace Life, for being available to listen and offer Godly wisdom. You have made an incredible impact on my life!"

Sincerely, Jonathan Wood


Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder



www.GraceLifeInternational.com

All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding

Grace Works: Let God Change Lives through You in 2013

As you consider the beginning of a new year, I want to encourage you to pray about how you can make a positive impact for God's kingdom in 2013. Next year is not so much about your dreams but about God's dreams for your life. With Christ in you, you can do this!

Prepare
Experiencing God's life and love in you is the best way you can prepare to change your world. You don't have to live a perfect life to impact your world. God uses imperfect people to express Himself through us to other people. Yes, I know, we are perfect in our identity but you know what I mean. In a sense, we are all a mess. Here are some books to give you and those you care about, a deeper understanding of Christ in us. The Rest of the Gospel, The Naked Gospel, Classic Christianity, and The Ultimate Makeover.

Pray
Ask God who is currently in your concentric circles who He wants to love through you? What are concentric circles? They are areas of your life where you have or can have relationships. They may include family, friends, neighbors, work place, Christians and those not yet Christians. Write them down. Then ask God to show you how and when to express His love to them. God's love is radically transformative for everyone. That doesn't mean you will act weird and go up to them and say, "God loves you" out of the blue. You can tell them you are praying for them or ask how you can pray for them or anything God leads you to do.

Pause
You don't have to be in a hurry to express Christ's life and love to people. Wait and watch for where God is already working in people's lives. If you just watch for it, you will be amazed at what you see. People are empty and often hurting underneath the veneer of their smile. In the book of Acts, every time the Holy Spirit ministered through a Christian, it was because God was already working.

Praise
You might want to keep a journal of how God works through you in 2013. I think by the end of the year, you will be giving great praise to God at how He impacted people's lives through you.

Happy New Year in Christ!


Mark Maulding, President and Founder



www.GraceLifeInternational.com
All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding

Celebrate Christmas: Open the Gift of Righteousness!

    Do you have any gifts from last Christmas you have never opened?  Of course not! You opened those gifts with great excitement and anticipation.

    Yet, many who are in Christ have an incredible gift from God which they have never opened. We read about it in Romans 5:17. "Those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." God gave us the gift of righteousness the moment we believed in Jesus Christ for our salvation. It is already yours, but is it possible you are one of those who has not opened it yet? Here is what I mean. When you truly believe that your identity in Christ means that you are righteous, only then have you opened that precious gift. In believing this, you begin to revel in the reality of God's unconditional acceptance of you.

    From age 9, I knew that God accepted me into heaven because of my faith in Christ but I did not know that he accepted me as a Christian. Because I had not opened the gift of righteousness, I was blinded to the fact that I had a "work for God's acceptance" mentality. As a consequence, over time, I began to unravel. When God made clear to me at age 32 that He unconditionally accepted me, my self-worth improved, my marriage improved, my spiritual growth improved and my health improved. I have never been the same!

    I asked a man one time, "How righteous are you?" He said, "It depends on the day." Like many Christians, he was equating his obedience to God with how righteous he was, but his life was falling apart. Counseling and discipling thousands of Christians, we have discovered at Grace Life International that this is a central issue for every Christian.

    2 Corinthians says it this way, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Do you see it? God gave us His own righteousness so that it is now our righteousness. You can't get any more righteous than that!

    A lady who recently learned that God had made her righteous the moment she placed her faith in Christ, cried with joy saying she had been struggling with God's acceptance and being loveable.

    God made you acceptable and loveable to Him when He gave you the gift of righteousness! Why don't you do yourself a favor and tell God that you believe He made you righteous in Christ even if you don't feel like it is true? Then pray it as often as you can and watch what happens. Otherwise you will be working really hard to be more righteous and wonder why you feel so defeated. And if you want to help someone else truly celebrate Christmas this year, pass this on so they can choose to agree with God and open their gift of righteousness too!

    Comfort and joy are available to those who open this free gift.

Merry Christmas in Christ,


Mark Maulding, President and Founder



www.GraceLifeInternational.com 
All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding

Celebrate Christmas: Give to Christians in Need

     A Christian leader and his wife drove 100 miles to Grace Life International earlier this year because their marriage was in trouble. They could not afford to come but more importantly they could not afford to not come! Others paid for their counseling because they wanted them to have quality Biblical counseling before their marriage dissolved. Once at Grace Life, the message of the complete Gospel freed and healed them, restoring their damaged marriage. Like many of us, they wondered how they could have missed the simplicity and power of the complete Gospel. They were so impacted by what they heard, that they recently enrolled in our Distance Learning so they can be trained to share what they learned with many other struggling Christians.

   Can you imagine how some of those who paid for their counseling feel now? They are full of joy realizing that their financial investment in this couple kept this Christian leader's marriage from being another sad casualty. You, too, can help other Christians like this who cannot pay for their counseling but desperately need to receive quality Biblical counseling at Grace Life. You can be their unseen hero whom God uses not just to get them through a tough time but to bring them to a place where they want to share with others this marvelous message of "grace"! How can you help? By choosing to financially invest in other needy Christians. 

  At Grace Life International, we need monthly donors who know how transforming the complete Gospel can be in a person's life and relations. As one who receives my weekly e-devotion or blog, you are one of those who personally understand the power of the "grace" message in your own life. Most of these hurting Christians who come to us have not heard it and you can help them, especially the ones who cannot afford to pay for their counseling at Grace Life. To show how great the need is, we counseled 300 people per week in 2012 and have a waiting list even now. Those whom you help will be eternally grateful to God for you. It's like 2 Corinthians 9:12 says, "This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but it is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God".

   To help the needy Christians whom God keeps sending to us, Grace Life International needs monthly donors at $50 per month, $75 per month, $100 per month or any other amount smaller or greater. How do you get started? The easiest way is to sign up on our secure web site. To go there click here. Donate Now  Once on our Donation page, you will be able to check the "I want to make a recurring donation" box so that your gift will be automatic each month. You can also send your first check made out to and mail it to Grace Life International, 1337 Hundred Oaks Drive., Suite EE, Charlotte, NC 28217. We will send you a receipt and envelope for the next month. Or, we can do automatic check withdrawals for you each month. Just request a form at Info@GraceLifeInternational.com. All gifts are tax-deductible.

   Would you pray right now and ask Father about helping these needy Christians and at what monthly amount? He may even surprise you and ask you to give an amount beyond your ability. If He does that, then you simply tell him, "Lord, if You will provide that amount, I will give it each month." I think you will be blessed by what He does for you and through you! Let's work together to restore and strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ who need God's healing, freeing grace.

Merry Christmas in Christ,


Mark Maulding, President and Founder



www.GraceLifeInternational.com 
All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding

Celebrate Christmas by Surrendering Your Rights

As we approach the celebration of the Incarnation, God the Son becoming human, let's reflect on what happened in heaven before that blessed event.

In Philippians 2:5-7 we read, "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus who although He existed in the form of God." (NASB) Jesus, being God the Son, is equal to God the Father. Because of this, He had every right to remain in heaven. He did not have to leave and miraculously be born as a human. Yet, He did not hold onto this right but gave it up in order to obey His Father and to redeem us. In doing so, He put Himself in a position to depend upon His Father in heaven and in Him to live, minister, die on the cross and be raised from the dead. As a human, though He would still be 100% God, He would never once depend on His own deity to do one miracle or live one moment. Another way of understanding what Jesus did is that He gave up all of His rights to live as God the Son.

We are exhorted to have this same attitude or "thinking" in our own lives. God wants us to surrender our rights we are holding on to, to Him. For example, we all want to be loved and accepted, especially by certain people. That desire is from God. However, it is very easy to turn that into an expectation and then a right. Once we believe it is a right, if we do not surrender it to God, it puts us in bondage because we become disappointed and angry when a person does not come through for us.

There are many other rights that we need to surrender to God. How do we know what those rights are? Usually when we feel afraid or angry, that is like the "check engine" light in our car. It lets us know there may be a right God wants us to surrender. We need to ask God about that and see what He shows us.

Here is a suggested prayer for surrendering our rights. "Father, just as Jesus, who lives in me, surrendered His right to stay in Heaven and live as God so He could become human, I surrender my rights. I surrender the right to ________________ (Fill in the blank with each right the Holy Spirit shows you to surrender.) Having surrendered this right, Father is there an exchange you want to give me in its place? (Wait a few moments and listen to the Lord for each right you surrender.) Thank you Father. I receive that gift from you as an heir to one of my blessings in Christ Jesus. Amen."

Surrendering rights is not a one-time event. Throughout our lives, we will need to surrender our rights to God, some of them over and over. We will experience much more peace and freedom as we do so.

May your Christmas be bright as you surrender your rights to God even as Jesus, Who is our Life, did before being born into this world!

Live Free In Christ,


Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com
All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding