Understanding God’s Amazing Grace: And Your Faith That Receives It

By John C. Williams Jr.

“This inspirational book takes a brief but in-depth look into God’s grace and the faith we have to receive it. From salvation to a deeper, more personal walk with God, this book is intended to ground you in God’s unfailing, unending, ever-flowing grace, and encourage and embolden you to open your hands of faith and receive all that your Abba Father has for you. Scriptures are provided and referenced for a more personal and deeper level of study. May your spiritual eyes be opened and your heart be uplifted as you discover and explore God’s amazing grace!”

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781728319759

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© 2020 John C. Williams, Jr. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/26/2020

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1976-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1975-9 (e)

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AMP

Scripture quotations marked AMP are from The Amplified Bible, Old Testament copyright © 1965, 1987 by the Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified Bible, New Testament copyright © 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

NIV

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

KJV

Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version. Public Domain

ASV

Scripture taken from The American Standard Version. Public Domain

NLT

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Website

MSG

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Website.

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Part One

Grace: A Gift From God Received By Faith

Part Two

Saving Grace: Salvation Through Faith In Christ Jesus

Part Three

Grace And Faith: In The Daily Life Of A Christian

About The Author

PREFACE

My father had cancer. Two kinds, both blood cancers. He had leukemia and lymphoma. The man had a slew of medical issues, including an eleven-year pituitary tumor excised in 1993, and was a walking medicine cabinet. If anybody knew about grace, it was him. God took him down a road to discovery, to understanding, to a place where many of us would not care to go – all for the sake of His Word to take root and grow and produce in you.

He didn’t always know about grace, though. He wasn’t always a Christian, and even in the beginning, he didn’t understand what being a true disciple of Christ meant. It was my sister who started us going to church regularly when she asked why we couldn’t go to church like normal people. My parents didn’t have a good answer, so we started going. But I also remember the stories my father told (I was too young to know myself) of him sitting in front of the television watching Kenneth Copeland, roach in hand, tears streaming down his face. He wasn’t saved yet, but grace was calling him even then.

When he got to know Christ personally, he became hungry. He read a lot for a non-college man! He had four bibles (this was before parallel versions), dictionaries, concordances, commentaries. He began a bible study group when I was around ten or eleven with his new-found knowledge. At first, it was a couple of people he knew from work, along with his (somewhat reluctant) family. An hour bible study would turn into three hours easily. He had a lot to say about what God was showing him. And it truly was wisdom. If someone asked him a question, he began in Genesis and ended in Revelation with the answer – he was beyond thorough. But people listened. Grace tugged at him still.

My dad began this book in 1993. Why did it take twenty years to come out? Because he had to understand grace. He had to experience it for himself. God wanted him to tell people about something he knew firsthand. It always means more to someone when you’ve gone through it. But why did it take so many years after his death to get the word out? Because we had to go through it as well. Reading what the Holy Spirit breathed in him, seeing what he penned, helps us understand our loss, our pain, and His grace in a whole new way.

It was his dream, his vision, for people to read this book and the lights come on. He was not a scholar, not a theologian, not as the world would call a learned man, but he knew God. He loved Jesus, and he spoke with the Holy Spirit every day. As you read this book, take your time. Digest it. Pray about what you’ve read. There’s no hurry, no rush. But read with a hunger and a thirst, with your knife and fork ready. I pray that you see what he saw, understand what he knew, and experience grace and faith on an entirely new and powerful level!

–Christian A. Williams

INTRODUCTION

Within Christendom prevails a prevalent understanding that the grace of God is His ‘unmerited favor’ bestowed upon mankind; and through faith Christians are able to receive and benefit from His grace. This truth was also the limit of my understanding of the way God’s grace and a Christian’s faith functioned together. Although I had this general understanding of grace and faith I still didn’t know how they really worked together within a Christian’s life. It was from this deep desire to know and understand more about the workings of grace and faith, coupled with an increasing feeling that others within Christendom were like me, limited in their level of understanding, that writing this book was divinely placed within my spirit.

I knew in my spirit that there was a deeper level of understanding and knowledge to be had concerning how grace and faith worked together in my life and other Christians. I began to search through Scripture looking up every verse pertaining to grace and faith. As I searched, I became more and more convinced that all of Christendom needed to know that a deeper higher level of understanding and knowledge of grace and faith was to be had.

I began to see why so many Christians saw faith and grace within Scripture as one word meaning one thing only. They did not understand that the words translated as faith or grace maybe a different word in the Greek expressing a different meaning than what they think. It is in this lack of understanding that Scripture is taken out of context causing confusion, misuse, doubt and in some cases a weakening of an individual faith.

This book is intended to help Christians understand and increase their knowledge of how grace and faith work together in their relationship with God their Father through Christ Jesus. A lack of knowledge and understanding in this area has hindered spiritual growth and maturity in many Christians. It has lessened their ability to use their faith to receive the fullness of God’s grace in the way He intended. As Christians we are missing out on the ultimate life God has for us as His Children because our knowledge of Him is limited because our understanding of how He distributes grace and how we receive it by faith is limited.

PART ONE

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"GRACE: A GIFT FROM GOD

RECEIVED BY FAITH"

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THERE’S MORE TO REVEAL

Christians understand God’s grace as His unmerited favor. A gift granted to mankind that they did not deserve or earn. We recognize faith as our way to receive God’s free gift of grace, His unmerited favor. Especially, His gift of saving grace granted us through His Son Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. We also realize that without faith it is impossible to please God for it is through our faith we believe God truly exist.

(Hebrews 11: 6 (NLT) – "So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that there is a God and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.)"

However, the