Romans 5:20 “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”

Isn’t it mind blowing to think we can’t out sin God’s grace? We can’t overrun God’s good with our bad. We can’t screw up past the point of return.

Check out this same scripture in The Message translation: “But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life.”

God’s grace not only covers our shortcomings, but it invites us into an eternal life after death, and a BIG Life here on earth. We are aggressively forgiven and relentlessly invited into a better life.

Nobody likes to talk about their sin. No one wants to put their weakness and shame on display. But sister, understand where there is sin, there is grace. Where the worst within us resides, the best of God covers. Where there is failure, there is grace. Where there are shortcomings, there is grace. Where there is this “I can’t believe I screwed this up again”, there is grace. The more you need it, the more supply there is with your name on it. God’s got you covered my friend. May his grace cover your life, changing you from the inside out.

I used to view grace as a “get out of jail free” card. An immediate pardon for my screw ups, then I would run away from it as quickly as I could. Now I view grace a little differently. Grace is what changes the hardest areas of my life. Grace is what unleashes God’s power to work within me. Grace is what covers this girl who gets it so darn wrong so much of the time and guides me in the right direction.

I’ve found this is what we can’t live without. This grace. This is what the world doesn’t offer today. This grace. And that means our amazing, loving creator is offering it all that much more today, in an overflowing abundance just for you. This grace.

A sermon by TD Jakes helped me understand what role God’s grace plays in my life. I have a few notes in my journal I would like to share with you. Perhaps something will stand out to you today and you can take notes.

The enemy likes to take our sin and shortcomings and lather it with guilt. Guilt over what we have or haven’t done. Anyone have some of that? You’re playing the screw up and beat up game. Yeah, that’s the game of the enemy … get off his playing field! Never will you see God beating you up over your screwups. God’s grace just comes in truckloads.

Guilt brings us down into a place where we are stripped of power to make changes. Is this where you find yourself? Down and depressed over what you just can’t seem to STOP doing, or over those things you know you need to do but somehow can’t seem to make yourself get started? That’s a nasty little scheme of the enemy. This is where you get stuck and stay stuck, convinced you lack the power to do anything about it.

But you have access to something so powerful it can part any sea, move any mountain, and change any situation. You have God on your side and in your corner saying “that’s my girl … I want her to win!”

What a powerful picture of truth for each of us today. Whatever you’re struggling with, wherever guilt and shame threatens to render you powerless, God desperately WANTS YOU TO WIN. He is for you, not against you. He is covering you, right now. Equipping you, right now. Making a way for you, right now. BUT YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE TO ACCEPT THIS POWER FILLED GRACE. He wants you to win.

To win, we must understand the correlation between sin and grace. Wherever sin does it’s dirtiest work, grace climbs to it’s highest degree. Grace puts out the fire of raging sin. The raging sin of jealousy. The raging sin of laziness. The raging sin of no self-control. When sin has done every little dirty thing it can do to you, grace comes in and says “I can handle it.” GRACE COVERS YOU.

Grace is defined as the unmerited favor of God, but it’s more than a saving agent – Grace is also an empowering agent. God wants to empower you through his grace. You can do what you do because of his grace. You have POWER here. You find your confidence. You tap into your courage. This is a total picture of grace.

Lord, give us the grace for the challenges we face.

God is offering you grace today. Grace over your failures. Grace over your shortcomings. Grace over your sin. Accept it today. Let his grace wash over you and as it does, it will empower you.

You see, God’s grace takes the weight off our willpower and turns it over to God’s power. We straight up lack the power ourselves. The power must come from God. We can’t deliver ourselves. If we could, we wouldn’t need God. The grace of God allows us to change. The grace of God allows us to step out of what we simply can’t do ourselves.

So God has given us his grace, now we have a responsibility. We can’t be the recipients of this grace and then just sit there. We must build on that grace. Grace is our foundation, now build on it. Take what God has given you and do something with it.

Bring your worst to God. The thing which you’ve been hiding in your closet, creating shame and guilt. Your worst mistake. Your biggest struggle. Your greatest failure. Your overwhelming regret. Or maybe it’s nothing big at all, it’s just all that little stuff. Those little slips and little bad choices, those little nasty conversations and hidden little acts of ugliness. No one else knows about this, but you do and it’s all piling up creating your overwhelm, eating at you from the inside. Bring it to God today. The bigger that pile, the bigger his grace will be. He has exactly what you need for whatever you’ve been struggling with.

Bring him your worst and he will stamp it with forgiven and equip you with the power to change it. This is the picture of God’s grace. And my sister, you are totally, completely and wholly covered by it today.