Steve McVey - Grace Walk Moments: A Devotional

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

T his book isnt your regular feel-good devotional. While the things you read here are certain to encourage and warm your heart, I believe they have the potential to do much more than that. The truths in these short devotional chapters can transform you by changing the way you see your heavenly Father, yourself, others, and the world around you. My prayer is that the chapters will both touch and teach you. I believe they canbecause that is exactly what happened to me when the Great Teacher began to open the meaning of grace to me in the ways you will read about in Grace Walk Moments .

These devotions arent intended to motivate you to try harder. Instead, they will motivate you to trust Him . As you read these chapters you will learn how to stop struggling to advance spiritually and simply rest in His ability to carry you into a stronger, deeper walk of faith. Its amazing. Amazing grace.

The order in which you read the chapters isnt important. I would encourage you to read only one a day and to let what youve read that day incubate in your heart, allowing it to produce fruit in your daily walk. Grace does more than inform you about your faith. It transforms you by His faith operating in your life. Its not about you trying to do better through religious self-improvement. It never has been. Its about Jesus Christ and what He can and will do in you, then through you.

Just relax and read in the knowledge that the One who led you to this book will show you what He wants you to glean from it. Dont be surprised to hear your Fathers voice in these pages. After all, grace is the language He speaks.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Verses marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Emphasis (italics) in Scripture quotations has been added by the author.

Cover by Left Coast Design, Portland, Oregon

Cover painting CYC / Shutterstock

GRACE WALK MOMENTS

Copyright 2013 by Steve McVey

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-5247-7 (HC)

ISBN 978-0-7369-5248-4 (eBook)

All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of authors and publishers rights is strictly prohibited.

I f reading Grace Walk Moments has helped you, I would be happy to hear from you. It is always encouraging for an author to receive feedback from those who have read his books. You may write me at the following address:

Dr. Steve McVey

Grace Walk Ministries

PO Box 6537

Douglasville, GA 30135

You may also e-mail me at info@gracewalk.org. I invite you to visit our ministry website at www.gracewalk.org, where you can learn more about our ministry around the world. Every week, on our home page I post the Sunday Preaching Program, a 30-minute teaching from the Bible that guides you in how to live each day in the loving grace of your Father. The teachings are free and are always practical to daily living.

You can also connect with me through my blog, at www.stevemcvey.com, as well as through Facebook. My goal on these sites is to share details from both my ministry and day-to-day life in order to connect with readers more personally.

I have written numerous other books besides this one, including the bestselling Grace Walk . Those books, as well as a wide variety and CDs and DVD teachings I have produced, are available through the online store accessible through gracewalk.org. I invite you to visit our store to browse the many other writings and records there that can help you in your own daily grace walk.

Finally, if Grace Walk Moments has encouraged you, would you share it with others? Many of us who believe that this message of grace needs to spread are teaming together to make it known to others.

How can you help? If you purchase a copy of this book through my office as a gift for somebody else, I will be happy to autograph the copy you purchase. Another way to help bring visibility to the book is to post positive reviews on online sites that sell the book, such as amazon.com and other retailers.

Together we can reach out to encourage people with the transforming power of the gospel of grace. It isnt self-effort or magic formulas that transform people. It is the living presence of Jesus Christ. Join me in making this message known, and then stay in contact with me to let me know what our Father is doing through you to reach others with the wonderful news of His transforming love!

Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

J EREMIAH 33:3

O ne of the greatest barriers preventing many people from enjoying a life in grace is what they think they know. They are firmly entrenched in a paradigm of spiritual reality that to them is self-evident, however imaginary it may actually be. Without divine intervention, the religionist will never experience grace to its fullest extent. Why? Because a religionist is a person who depends on his or her own practices and efforts to gain acceptance with God. Recipients of grace must have a heart and mind that is open toward Godand nothing so decidedly shuts down ones capacity to receive as empty religion.

Many think they understand the truth about grace, yet they have never even begun to comprehend the reality of its beauty in full bloom. Would you be willing to consider for a moment that some of the ideas about the Christian life that you have held as truth may not be grounded in reality? As you continue to grow in your understanding of Gods grace, you will see that it is so much bigger and better than you could even imagine. Open yourself to learn, and the Great Teacher who lives in you will show you greater things about Himself than you have ever known.

By His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.

1 C ORINTHIANS 1:30

Y ou will be completely free to rest in your grace walk when you fully understand that it isnt up to you to become a better person by trying hard to do the right things. It is by your Fathers doing that you are in Christ Jesus. Jesus has become your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Your only role is to believe in that reality and rest in Him, refusing to struggle to improve yourself.

This doesnt mean your life is passive. Rather, your lifestyle is one in which you accept the fact that Jesus has done for you all the things you couldnt do in a lifetime of religious commitment and effort. Learn to focus on what He has done and thank Him for His finished work. To the extent that you rest in the reality of what He has already done in you, your experience will increasingly conform to that reality, and you will see your lifestyle be transformed. However, the change wont come by self-effort. It will be by the operation of His grace within you.