Grace Leads to Victory...

When we read the Bible, we realize God enjoys and desires what is first. He desires the first born. He desires the first fruit. The first, the best is offered to the Lord. As I reflect upon our New Year's Eve worship, I am glad we gave our first hour, our first moment in 2013 to the Lord as we celebrated Him as His church!

Exodus 34:26 | Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.

Grace is the most fundamental understanding of Christian living. Grace leads to victory. What I realize as I walk with the Lord is that when we hold on to grace, victory comes in His time.

In the Bible, we find a woman name Leah. She had deficiencies. She had self image issues. The Bible says that her eyes were weak. She was not attractive. No man would turn their head to check her out. In comparison, her younger sister was feisty and was beautiful. Men whistled when she passed by. And Rachael was loved by Jacob, husband to both of the women. So to Leah, her sister Rachael was a life-long rival and an 'enemy'. And to a certain extent, it was a losing battle for her. But what we find is that when Leah holds on to grace, she finds victory in God! What did she do? How did she handle her situation?

1. Leah focused on what she had!

The Bible says that Leah was not loved by Jacob, her husband; and yet, she kept her role as a wife faithfully. She could have said, "I've had it with this man. I am done! He does not love me. I am leaving!" But she stayed and remained faithful; and God honored her. God gave her children as an expression of His approval of her faithfulness while Rachel was barren for a period of time. When you study the cultural understanding of the time, to not have a child, is to not have anything. So Rachel, who seemingly had everything: beauty, a man, love, etc; in fact, had nothing. 

We tend to focus on what we do not have. We tend to exaggerate our weaknesses. We harbor 'poor old me' attitude. But rather, let us hold on to the grace of God. Allow His grace to set a fire upon what you already have! Don't despair, rather stay faithful where you are and look forward to what God will do through you as you move and carve your future in 2013. Life is not about what I don't have or what I lack; but it's about what we do with what God has given us. 

2. Leah Prayed

Leah in her despair and desperation, found her solace in God through prayer. We find this in the way she names her children. Her first child was named, Reuben, which simply means 'a son'. Her faith is developing but not there yet. But the second son's name, Simeon, means "one who hears." Levi, her third child, means "attached!" This is the group by which God will receive glory as the Levites are the priestly tribe. But as we reach her fourth child, she names him Judah - "praise!" You can see the progressive development of her prayer as she continues to conceive. Leah relied on God. But Rachel relied on her looks and Jacob. In the 30th chapter of Genesis, Jacob gets extremely angry at Rachael when she asks of him only what God can do! Friends, prayer is simple! You don't have to make it complicated. Prayer shows on whom we rely upon! In 2013, the fundamental rock we must know and live by is God. It's not our skills. It's not our wealth or health! It's not even our availability! It's going to be God who will continue to fuel our lives to pursue His vision to make disciples of all nations to impact the world! It's God who will continue to lead us towards planting more churches like ours so that God's name may be honored and glorified throughout the Bay Area, and not just in Milpitas! When we rely on God, we can do in five minutes what we alone will not be able to do in 50 years! May 2013 be a year in which we rely on God for all things!

3. Leah was approved by God!

When we read the story of Leah in the book of Genesis, we can't help but to empathize with her. She lived in a house where she was not loved by her husband. She lived under the shadow of her sister's beauty! She did not have good image of herself. Yet when Leah sought God's grace, God recognized her! 

We are all desperate and hungry for recognition. We want recognition from people we respect. When we do not receive recognition from God, our lives often feels void. We often say, "Is this all there is to life?" 

In the end, it was Leah that the Lord approved as the wife of Jacob, not Rachel! Leah had six of Jacob's twelve children from her own womb. Her fourth child would begin the line of kings and ultimately bear Jesus Christ Himself. The Levites were the tribe who were given God Himself as their inheritance. 

Finally, we know that the approval came when Jacob sought to be buried in the cave of Machpelah! The  cave of Machpelah was where Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebecca were buried. If one was to be considered to be in the linage of Abraham, one needed to be buried in this cave. 

Genesis 49:29 | Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. 31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. 32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.

Jacob loved Rachael, but it was Leah God approved as his wife! At the end, even Jocob himself saw Leah as his wife. How are we going to receive and live in 2013? Let us hold on to one of the most fundamental realities in following Christ, grace! When we hold on to grace, even when our circumstances seem desperate, God will lead us to victory! My prayer and hope is that as we continue to pursue Jesus through Disciple Church, we will worship fervently because of grace; we would seek discipleship to follow Jesus fervently because of grace and we would seek the movement of the Holy Spirit in and through us fervently because of His grace! May we return to fundamental grace as we grow and build the church of Jesus - Disciple Church!