Messages of Grace

Friday 1, May 2015

Grace Personified!

Bible Passage(s): Isaiah 58: 12 -14

Memory Verse: “Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In”. Isa 58:12

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of Grace Leadership Foundation. The text and memory verse for this message is foundation upon which the vision of Grace Leadership Foundation is laid.

Grace Leadership Foundation was founded by the inspiration of God in January 2015 by my wife and I. The vision emerged through our review of the state of our nation, Nigeria, and we came to the conclusion that the salvation of the country lies in raising up of a new generation of leaders for the nation. That is we need to raise up a collective, who will be in the vanguard of national rebirth and restoration of our country and the black raise under God.

The vision of Grace Leadership Foundation is to ”be a catalyst in the regeneration and renewal of our nation through ‘raising up of a New Generation of Leaders’ in all spheres of life; who will bring about a paradigm shift in the thinking, attitude and character of our people so as to ignite their potentials for the benefit of the black race and humanity in general.” This we are working to accomplish by our Mission, which is ”through leadership training and development, provision of scholarship, mentoring and demonstrations in community development, that will lead to the building up of the old waste places and repair the breaches in our nation and the black race in particular.” In these past ten years, the Lord has greatly helped us to stay faithful to this calling.

However, we could not have been able to achieve this without the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Himself grace personified. Jesus Christ is the bringer of grace as well as an icon of grace. By His death and resurrection, He purchased our redemption with His blood and secured our release from eternal condemnation. No wonder the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:1: ”There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” We received Mercy, Help and Favor through the instrumentality of His death in order to reconcile us to God, His father. As such we can see that Grace is at the intersection of Favor, Mercy and Help. Grace connects them together! So by implication, you cannot receive any or a combination of this trio if Grace is not present. The Bible says in Ephesians, chapter 2 verses 8 – 10; ”For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” So we see that our salvation is by grace. Jesus Christ is the channel through which we receive salvation.

A person cannot however enjoy this grace if he does not give his life to Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and savior. You need to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior and begin to live a life of godliness coupled with contentment. Then salvation and grace will be your daily experience. My life is a testimony of the grace of God. If not for His grace, I could not have lived to see my tenth birthday and Grace Leadership Foundation would not have come to life. But the Lord delivered me and set my feet upon the rock. He shamed all the enemies of my life and brought me thus far. Therefore, in case you have not yet received Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior and you are reading this message, you have a great opportunity to do so right now. So take a moment and pray this prayer solemnly and sincerely in your heart: ‘Dear Lord God I confess my sins to you right now and I ask you to please forgive them through the instrumentality of the blood of your Son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ I invite you into my life as Lord and Savior, please save me and accept me into the company of your beloved. Thank you for hearing me. Amen.’ If you prayed this prayer sincerely, you have now received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you are now born again! As such I enjoin you to begin living your life as a true testimony of your confession and profession of faith. It is no more ‘business as usual’, but you have to begin a daily walk with God so that you will come into a close relationship with Him. Then He will help you to discover your purpose and your life will make an impact. Find a Bible believing and teaching church and begin to fellowship with fellow believers, so that you can grow in Him.

May the Lord bless and keep you. May He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace, now and forevermore. Amen.

Have a wonderful month.

Prayer Points

1. Lord, thank you for bringing me into the month of grace, please be merciful unto me and grant me help and favor all through this month.

2. Pray for our nation Nigeria as we shall be having a new government later this month. Ask the Lord to help the incoming government to make a positive impact upon the nation and bring succor to our nation.

3. As the outgoing government is making great gains in the fight against terrorism, pray that the Lord will help the incoming government to be able to sustain and even increase the tempo. |That our nation will be totally free of the scourge of these evil men.

4. Pray for General Mohammed Buhari. That the Lord will give him the heart of a true father and make him a father to this nation. That the Lord will grant him wisdom to pick the right men and women who will help him achieve the goal of life abundant for all in this nation and make the nation really great.

5. Pray that the Lord will make this new dispensation to favour you and also favour the generality of the people of this nation.

6. Ask the Lord to grant our new leaders a heart of service, devoid of selfishness and personal aggrandizement. That they will realize that we are all in a commonwealth that they need to nurture and enhance for the benefit of all and sundry.

Bola Olowe,

President, Grace Leadership Foundation.

Friday 1, May 2015