The book of Ephesians tells of the living works that God wants us to enter into. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God (He provides salvation, then gives us enough faith to believe it); not as a result of works, that no one should boast. There is never a reason for anyone to boast when something is from God. If it is worth having, God gave it. If God did not give it, then it is not worth boasting about. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8–10.
The way in which one can merit favor with God has always been a great problem to the theologians. The word “grace” means unmerited favor. The Word says, “By grace you are saved through faith,” which means it is an unmerited favor. Suppose you received an unmerited favor—a gift—and you asked the giver, “What did I do to deserve this?”
“You did not do anything to deserve it.”
“Then why are you giving it to me? Did my personality attract you, or did you have sympathy for me because of my deep need? Perhaps you wanted a tax deduction.”
“No, none of those reasons. I wanted to give it to you because I love you.”
You may be mystified when a person relates to you that way, but even more so when God blesses you in that manner. You may feel as if you ought to do something to merit the favor, that maybe God foresaw what you were going to be next year and He thought, “He is going to be a good man, so I will bless him.” You must realize that it is not based on merit at all, because He planned ahead of time the works for your life. Grace is given as a favor from God which you do not deserve. You do not earn it—He gives it to you.
By the grace of God which is heaped upon you, not only are you saved, but you are able to do His works. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. II Corinthians 9:8. You can do everything God wants you to do—the works He prepared beforehand that you should walk in. The process can be compared to the game of bowling. The Lord puts the bowling ball in your hand and you ask, “What for, Lord?” He says, “I have all the pins set up for you; just roll the ball.” He even gives you directions so that you can make a strike. These works were prepared beforehand for you, that you should walk in them.
God has special works for you to walk in, not because you are a special person, but because He is special in His grace and anointing. God is saying, “There are things I have prepared for you to walk in. There are things I have planned for you. I am bringing you into one Body to be a part of My family, but not because you deserve it.” Many churches have promotional stunts that God does not want you to have. Believe for the living works to come forth in your life. Believe to speak a living Word. Believe that the words you speak will work the works of God in the earth. Believe that He loves you that much. Prophesy and know that you are doing right because you are speaking the Word of the Lord.
You may be a mess, but God deals with you. Like a fish on a hook, you may do flip-flops; but you can thank God that you are in the boat, even though you do flip-flops. Even though God landed you, you may still be afraid that those flip-flops might flip you right out of the boat and back into the deep. Be thankful that God has a hook in your jaw, so that if you jump out of the boat and start swimming off, He will reel you back in. By grace He has saved you; by grace He has reeled you in. Even if you become a little rebellious, the Word assures you that He ascended on high and gave gifts to men, even gifts to the rebellious (Psalm 68:18).
God keeps on doing good things for you because He loves you. Many times when the Lord is chastening you and you do not know what you did wrong, you may feel like crying out, “God, why are You doing this to me?” When He does something good for you, and you know you do not deserve it, you cry and pray the same prayer, “God, why are You doing this to me?” It may seem as though you are always crying out to the Lord, “Why are You doing this to me?” God loves you, and there is nothing He is trying to hold back from you.
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32. God not only has in mind what you already have possessed, but He expresses in His Word that He has an intent and a purpose to give you all things—everything. He wants you to possess it all, every bit of it. This involves the meaning that your life is to have. You are to walk in the works that He has prepared beforehand for you to walk in. Even when you walk in them, you cannot take credit because it is God who is working all of your works in you. There is no way He can reward you for what you do, but He still finds a nice way of rewarding you for your faithfulness. A steward who is found faithful is rewarded for his faithfulness.
All of the great works we walk in are set up for us by God, as if we were players in a great baseball game. He batted the home run; we cannot take any credit for that. We just trot around the bases. We do not even have to slide home. Jesus gave us the promise, “Greater works than these shall you do.” There is a blessing for those who walk in the greater works of God. But when we walk in them, we cannot take any credit, because He set them up for us to do. He can only give us credit if we reach in to the Lord and believe in Him. If we believe to be faithful instruments in His hand, then He will give us a double portion.