Grappling with the grace of God

“Taste Life – Healing the Wounded” is Francois Mostert’s gift to the church. It is a comprehensive guide to Theophostic Prayer. Through the book the reader is given access to the transformational power of the imminent and loving God of the universe. Mostert uses his extensive experience in Christian counselling to reveal the intricacies of spiritual healing in a very pragmatic and transparent manner. By not holding back, but sharing all his trade secrets, Mostert has given us a wonderful gift that can potentially bring deep eternal healing to many wounded souls.

This is part one of my review of this book. A review that I write more for my own internalisation of the treasures within it, and share that others may be blessed as I was blessed.

GRAPPLING WITH THE GREATNESS OF GRACE

The story of the Good News is a story of grace. It is not just another story from the annals of history, but a historical account that gives credibility to our present reality. For those who heed the call, there is access to a loving, doting heavenly Father God who is actively engaged in the world and longs to rise up in compassion and favour towards us, His children.

Before the Holy of Holies

God’s compassion and grace towards His chosen people has been the focal point of Satan’s disruptive activity from the very start. The authenticity of God’s compassion and grace was under attack when Adam and Eve agreed to eat the forbidden fruit. It proved to be an effective strategy that has been used repetitively. When a child of God doubts the sincerity of their Father God’s compassion and grace towards them, they are more tempted to disregard God’s leading and take things into their own hands. The consequence for Adam and Eve is applicable to us today: a feeling of shame that made them hide from the Lord, disrupting their love relationship with Him. Suddenly, they felt inadequate to be in the presence of the Holy of Holies.

Go

d’s grace and willingness to intervene on behalf of His people was magnificently revealed in ancient Egypt. The family of twelve brothers who found refuge in Egypt was, after 430 years, a vast family who found themselves homeless and in bondage. That they were in bondage at all was probably a result of the type of behaviour the twelve brothers demonstrated when they sold their brother into slavery all those years before. When this family repented and cried out to the God of their forefathers. Their cries were heard and God intervened. Through an unprecedented series of miracles, God not only released this family from bondage, not only transformed this family into a nation, but established His covenant with them: a declaration of His grace.

After the one and only God of the universe had powerfully demonstrated His grace for ancient Egypt, He invited His chosen people to ascend into His presence on the holy Mount Sinai. Alas, the shame that plagued Adam and Eve, is the shame that plagued the ancient Israelites and drove them to respond to this invitation with fear and shame. They felt inadequate to be in the presence of the Holy of Holies.

God’s compassion and grace for His children meant He would make a plan to remove the source of their shame: sin. The cross is the ultimate demonstration of God’s grace, His unmerited favour for His chosen people. The most powerful intervention of God for the sake of His children. Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, the Son of God paid the ultimate price in order to restore our relationship with our good, good heavenly Father God. Through our faith in Jesus Christ we have been made holy, we are now right before God. No longer does shame have to prevent us from connecting with our loving saviour God. We can savour the fullness of God’s grace and love for us and rest in the Holy of Holies.

Being Real

Our faith is qualified through our choices. When we have faith that God loves us absolutely; that nothing can separate us from His love; that our sins have been demolished; that we stand before the throne of God as holy and righteous; then we respond by coming before our heavenly Father with complete confidence. When we risk being authentic and vulnerable before our heavenly Father, in all of our brokenness and mess, we find a loving, gentle, powerful, holy heavenly Father God waiting for us, longing to interject Himself into our current reality. Confessing with absolute honesty about our thoughts and beliefs unleashes healing from heaven. Humble transparency is the key! It helps us grapple with our weaknesses and identify our blind spots and deal with them. This calls for a great humility and the willingness to own up to our own weaknesses and sinful responses in the past. The more we are willing to invite Him into the hidden most parts of our heart, the more powerfully and radically He will transform us and heal and restore our hearts.

Sharing Hearts

To access the fullness of God’s transformative power, God calls us to an even bolder step of faith: to entrust the most delicate, hidden realms of our hearts to another believer. A believer who has walked their own journey of grace and love and now has the humility to transcend themselves and embrace others with warmth, acceptance, understanding and empathy. When God transforms a heart, His reward is to invite that heart into the journey of transforming another. The calibre of relationship is the hallmark of genuine Christian communities where love is shown explicitly and members are positioned to breathe life and hope into each other. Relationship where two people have no need to be perfect, no need to meet a standard, but can be broken together and leverage the commonalities of their struggles. When two people are united in prayer, facing the inner space of their deepest pain: a lovely and dark place; they find Jesus there, ready to transform their pain into joy.