Steve Lyston: Taking God’s grace for granted

No nation, organisation or individual can be great without the grace of God. It is the grace of God that allows any entity or person to be great and to accumulate riches, wealth and power.

These days, we are seeing many trample on the grace of God. Some are even using the very profits from their organisation to try to weaken God's moral values within the earth. Many may believe that the success they enjoy is only a result of their efforts and intellect. However, as is alluded to in Deuteronomy 17 and 18, it is in fact the grace of God that allows us to enjoy success at any level.

When we take God's grace for granted, we will begin to see the shifting of his favour from our lives collectively and individually. All eyes should be on the first-world nations that are now falling from grace.

When one falls from grace, it affects everything within the society. Even great football-centred nations such as Brazil, France and Argentina are now experiencing the shifting of his favour and grace slipping away from them.

Rising nations

If the smaller countries that are deemed insignificant continue to fear God and not take his grace for granted, they will undoubtedly experience success and God's promise for riches, honour and life. Those who take it for granted will, without doubt, come to the realisation that the cemeteries and morgues will be good investments.

I encourage every individual, organisation and nation to do a self-examination from time to time. Each needs to revisit where they are and where they come from. We often forget that it is, in fact, the grace of God that allows us to reach different levels of success. Even if a person gains wealth by illegal means (because no business is innocent), recognise that it is the grace of God why you didn't get caught at that time.

People need to ask themselves, regardless of their profession, when they were struggling to pass their exams, struggling to find a job, struggling to be selected to get a promotion and even to become leaders of nations or organisations, what they went through and how did they make it through.

Where God's grace takes us, neither man's degree, intellect nor contacts can take us there. As far as we can go, God's grace can take us further. It is critical for us to trust the Lord to direct our path (Proverbs 3: 5-6). Many ignore God's grace, word and precepts and are making choices and decisions which will take them in a path of destruction and defeat. Men rule, but God overrules. Men make decrees and change laws, but God makes new decrees and upholds his laws.

Recently, I was watching the celebration of the legalisation of same-sex marriages in the United States of America. But what the pundits and the global media networks do not understand is that this has also awakened the sleeping giants and there is about to be political shaking ahead. It will also affect other nations. So while some Christians were crying for defeat, it will, in fact, be victory and the true intercessors have been awakened.

God is going to use it to expose the fakes within the kingdom. So there are interesting days ahead.

Trust in God

I Timothy 6: 17-18 reminds us, "Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share."

Each person to whom God gives his grace to be wealthy, should be good stewards by sharing with others - an investment that will give eternal dividends. Every rich man should know that values change. Earthly riches are only as good as the present value. What might be valuable today may have no value tomorrow. That is why we must do good!

Greed is stopping progress globally. God wants us to pursue these six principles-- righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness - these bring true riches. Money should never master man. Man should master money!

When the wealthy begin to use their money to do good, the world will be a better place. The wealthy especially need to tread carefully, because we are entering into a new season and you never know what the next season will bring.