We need God's Grace

I thank Brother Peterson and Brother Mark for the following stories on transformation and the Grace of God:

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From Brother Peterson, who provided synopses of two books by C.S. Lewis:

The first is Voyage of the Dawn Treader

In one scene, the selfish boy, Eustace encounters and becomes a dragon. (here is a summary of the incident)

"Eustace wanders off to avoid helping refit the ship and takes refuge during a storm in a dragon’s cave, where he finds a vast treasure of gold and jewels and lies down to sleep on a pile of coins.

When he awakes, he finds that through his greediness and selfishness, he has himself become a dragon, the outer form manifesting his inner self. He eventually tries to shed his skin, along with his dragonish nature, by bathing himself in the pool, but to no avail, a clear picture of the self-effort of man to cleanse himself of sin through works of some sort (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16; Philippians 3:8,9).

When he is finally confronted by Aslan, the great lion of Narnia who is the picture of Christ in the series, it is Aslan himself who must remove the rough, scaly dragon skin with his claws. “The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart,” Eustace explains.

Aslan then dresses him in new clothes, the whole process being symbolic of the Christian becoming a new creation in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:8-10). From that point forward Eustace begins to be a better boy. He still has lapses, but his transformation has begun"
The other book is The Great Divorce in which a man is dilievered from a red lizard who holds the man in constant bondage. The lizard is transformed into a beautiful horse upon which the man rides into heaven.

Thanks Brother Peterson =)

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My DOH Mentor, Brother Mark for his review on my Day 16 lesson and wrote the following:

A man was mountain climbing and near the top where it was snowy and cold, he found a deadly snake. The snake was too cold to make it down the mountain, and begged the man to carry it to safety. The man said no, because he would bit him. The snake promised he wouldn't, so the man put the snake inside his coat and made his way down the mountain.

Finally he reached the warmer area at the base of the mountain, and reached in and pulled the snake out. As he did, the snake struck, sinking his venomous fangs into the man. As the man lay there dying, he gasped out, "but you promised you wouldn't bite me". The snake just replied, "you knew what I was, and what I was capable of when you picked me up".

What a sobering thought… it is a continuation of the story on the dragon in my earlier blog.

The story provided by Brother Mark shows how sins (particularly sins of the flesh) promise pleasure and fulfillment, and delivers death and pain.

BUT by God’s grace, we’ll have deliverance. Believe by faith and act upon it. Focus on Jesus, we’ll see deliverance so that God could be glorify!

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Brothers and Sisters, it is not easy to turn away from sins (speaking from experiences) and I am still learning.. falling and standing again.. it is frustrating at times but it takes obedience, determination, conscientious and deliberate efforts on our part.

We fall, we stand up, we walk (by God’s Grace), then we may fall again, BUT we stand up again and walk (again) by God’s Grace until we’re perfected in Christ Jesus. His grace is sufficient for us. The Holy Spirit will convict us and help us to be more and more Christ-like day by day if we allow God to act and work in our lives. =)

The Lord bless you and He will help you when you decide to let go and let God change your lives, as He is doing in mine. =)

Be convinced that God is working in our lives slowly but steadily and surely!

To God be all Glory and Praise