Grace Is More Than Enough

By Mylon Avery

We all want to be happy and live with a sense of purpose and victory, but we all keep coming up short. It is easy to say you're going to live a life that pleases God, but it is harder to actually do it, and our failures often make us feel unworthy and unable. In Grace is more than enough, Mylon Avery clears a path for living a victorious life that pleases God even when life's not perfect and neither are you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mylon Avery
• Release date: Sep 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781636494821

Book preview

Mylon Avery

Grace Is More Than Enough

First published by Mylon Avery Ministries 2020

Copyright © 2020 by Mylon Avery

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

Scripture references noted NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®.

Third edition

ISBN: 978-1-63649-482-1

This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

Find out more at reedsy.com

This book is dedicated to my wonderful

wife, Kathy, whose steadfast faith and support has made me a better man. You are my best friend and a true partner in life and ministry.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:8-10

Contents

1. Introduction

2. I’m Just Not Good Enough

3. I’m Just Too Ordinary

4. I’m Just Too Hurt To Help

5. Grace Is More Than Enough

About the Author

1

Introduction

Fear: It’s a common feeling among all of mankind. What we fear in life can vary greatly, but there is one fear that most of us grapple with all our lives – the fear of failure. Most people have dreams, but few ever achieve them because of fear. We dream of making it big, hitting the game winning homerun, or making partner at the firm. There are seeds of great expectations in all of us. God has given us the ability to look at life and dream big. But dreaming is not hard to do. It requires no work or commitment; it requires no sacrifice and no risk. Dreaming is a fearless endeavor. To achieve success in life it takes more than dreaming.

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When I was a child, I loved to play basketball in the driveway. Basketball is one of the few sports you can play by yourself. I’d hit the court all alone and start shooting. I’d move around to different places on the court and work on my set shot, then I’d work on my jump shot. But even the most dedicated basketball player gets tired of shooting alone.

To make it more fun I would start daydreaming. I would let my mind run free. I would dream I was playing for the Boston Celtics, and we would always face off against the Los Angeles Lakers. Millions of fans were watching all over the world. With 5 seconds left on the clock, behind by one point, who did the coach give the ball to? That’s right, me. I’d shoot a fade away while falling out of bounds. Score! When I made it, it was awesome. When I missed it, it was half time. It’s amazing how much fun a kid can have with just his imagination.

As a kid, I didn’t just play basketball in the driveway. I spent a couple of years playing for the Golden Bears, a league for kids. My first year was disastrous. I found out early on that playing in a real game with real players and a real clock was much different than playing make-believe in the driveway. Shooting a game-winning shot was the furthest thing from my mind. I was just trying not to mess up. And there was always that kid on the other team who had a god-given talent for stealing the ball from me. When the ball came to me, he would come running at me with his eyes wide open like a lion pouncing on his prey. And sure enough, I would freak out, lose the ball and turn around just in time to watch him score at the other end of the court. I felt like an ordinary kid in a game that’s played by giants.

I got better as time went by and even made the All-Star team in my second year, but I could never achieve on the real court what I could in the driveway. The shots that would fall for me at home would fall short in the big game. At home I was always ready to take the game winning shot, but in the real game I would much rather pass it off to someone else.

What was the difference? Fear. At home I was at ease, and I played with peace. The game was fun. But in the real game, I played with fear. The dream of making the game winning shot was overshadowed by my fear of failure. I was like two totally different players. One player played with confidence and enjoyed every minute of it, while the other player just wanted to get off the court and hide behind the bleachers.

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The truth is, I wasn’t really that great at basketball. Even on the All-Star team, I only played one play and turned the ball over. At home my lack of skills didn’t matter. I wasn’t being tested, and there was no one else keeping score. But when I hit the real court, the fear would set in. And the fear was justified because I wasn’t that good. I knew deep down that I lacked the skills and size that other kids had. It would have been silly for me to expect to conquer the court. Confidence that is misplaced leads to failure. Life is no dream in the driveway. There are people to deal with and an enemy trying to stop your progress. Problems arise out of nowhere, and the way forward is seldom clear. All the while, the clock is ticking away.

We may start out with big dreams in life, but as we experience the pain of failure, we soon learn to temper our dreams with the hard metal of reality. We learn to be cautious and not expect too much. We quit looking for the game-winning shot, and just hope we don’t mess up. This is the very attitude that makes men ordinary, and God does not like ordinary. There is nothing ordinary about God and nothing ordinary about His people. We are His children, filled with His Spirit, covered by His blood, called to be victorious – to be more than conquerors through Jesus. So, why are there very few Christians who live that confident life of victory? Why do we see so many of God’s children living in fear, afraid to take the game winning shot? Why? It’s because their confidence is misplaced. In this book, I hope to tear down your misplaced confidence so we can rebuild it in its proper place.

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The reason people live in fear is because they have spent their lives trusting in themselves. They have placed the burden of the world on their own shoulders. Everyday they go out into the hostile world with the clock winding down, falling behind in the game. They close their eyes and hope for the best, because deep down inside they know they cannot get the job done. They know they’re not good enough or talented enough. Remember, misplaced confidence leads to failure, and putting all your eggs into your own basket leads to broken eggs. Why? It’s because we’re human and being human means we’re not enough. That’s right, you are not enough.

Things may be going well for you now, but there will come a day when the doctor has bad news, or a tornado eats your house, or the IRS decides to make you their pet project. Life is bigger than you, and at some point, everyone will face this reality. Most of us instinctively know this. That’s why we live in fear. We are continually afraid because we know that in our own strength, we are just ordinary people in a game that’s played by giants.

This may sound like terrible news and you might expect the remaining pages of this book to be one big downer but let me assure you – I have nothing but good news for you. You see, it is when we finally come to grips with our own humanity that we can learn to trust in God’s divinity. One of the greatest revelations you will ever receive as a child of God is to finally realize that you are not enough, but God is more than enough. Freedom comes when you learn that confidence in your own ability will lead you to failure, but confidence in God will lead you to victory. This is the attitude that makes people extraordinary.

You can live a life of confidence and victory. Yes you, with all of your faults and failures. Yes you, even though you may not be the prettiest or the tallest, even though you may not have a PhD, even though you have made some bad choices, even though you weren’t born into royalty or privilege or don’t have the voice of an angel. A life of victory for the child of God doesn’t come from faith in one’s self, but faith in God. That is why the Apostle Paul said, I will glory in my weaknesses because when I am weak it is then that God becomes strong in me. The life of power that you will live is not based in your power, but in God’s. Your victories, He has earned. The rewards you receive will come through what He has done. Nothing feels better than finally getting the pressure off you and onto the One who can handle it – none other than God almighty.

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This book comes down to one simple truth