Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective

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TGP Volume 2

(2004-2006)

Living In An Adverse World With Hurtful Circumstances: The Opportunity To Experience God's Care

You have opportunity every day to experience living in a fallen world filled with adverse people and hurtful circumstances. But you are not without God's love and care, and you do not need to react as others do who do not have faith.

"Surrender yourself to the care of God's almighty hand, and he will lift you up in due time. Unload the full weight of all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:6-7 (paraphrased)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4A17

Salvation from Judgment and Brokenness Through Faith in God's Provisions of Grace

We were saved from God's judgment against us (eternal separation from God because of Adam's disobedience in the Garden of Eden - Romans 5:16-19) through faith in God's provision of Christ's blood shed for us at Calvary. And we are being healed from our brokenness (sanctification) through faith in God's provision of Christ's resurrected life birthed and nurtured in us by the Holy Spirit through his Word.

"For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son (for us), how much more (certain and unfailing), having been reconciled, shall we be saved (from the power of sin) by his life (in us)." - Romans 5:10

"...how much more (certain and unfailing) will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of his righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." - Romans 5:17

"For by grace are you saved (every aspect of it, from the penalty AND power of sin) through faith..." - Ephesians 2:8a

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4B18

Christ In You: The First Focus of Fitness

You can help avoid colds by staying warm. (Viruses do not survive as well in warmth. That is the reason the body develops fever - to combat the virus!) Also by keeping your hands washed and away from your face, especially your mouth, and even your ears. (Doctors say your hands are the number one transporter of viruses.)

Your best protection, however, is to daily include in your diet the essential nutrients that support your immune system. (More than you catch colds, they catch you.)

This illustrates a spiritual principle: You can help guard against failure in your Christian life and service by establishing wise and common sense boundaries, taking care that you do not compromise yourself to elements in the world that contaminate your mind and emotions (Romans 6:11-22).

But your best protection is to be renewed daily in your experience of "who Christ is" in you (the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-23) by the Holy Spirit through his Word and prayer. Christ in you is the central theme of the grace (God-enabled) perspective (Colossians 1:27).

"In the day when I cried out, you answered me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul." - Psalm 138:3

"Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." - I Corinthians 4:16

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." - Ephesians 3:16-17 (See also Philippians 2:13.)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4B27

Christ In You: The Eternal Significance of Your Existence

Everything for which Christ is the explanation has eternal significance. Nothing can exist in your life apart from Christ except what can exist in the darkness.

"In him was life; and the life was the light of man. The light shined into the darkness - and the darkness could not put it out." - John 1:4-5 (See also 8:12.)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4C01

Unconditionally Valued: The Deepest Need of Children

Dear (Parent): Your children need to know they are valuable, but their deepest, most essential need is to know they are valued. There is a difference: the one is conditional; the other is unconditional

"We (have the power to) love (God, ourselves, others), because he first loved (Gr. agapao: 'unconditionally valued') us." - 1 John 4:19

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4C05

Under the Influence of Grace: Changed From Who You Are by Who Christ Is in You

Without Christ, you will always be basically who you are. Education, experience, and environment can only make a marginal difference. Only by the power of "Who Christ Is" in you can you be lifted up out of your fallen human condition and set free from who you are.

"Your sinful nature shall not be your master, not because of the demands of the law or your solemn commitment to strict religious rule keeping, but because you are under the influence of grace." - Romans 6:14 (paraphrased) (See also 2 Corinthians 5:17.)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4C10

Grief: Guidance from God for Our Growth

The difference between feelings of guilt and grief may be understood this way: Guilt is from Satan to condemn our neglect of religious performance to win God's favor; grief is the Holy Spirit's expression within us and our response to our brokenness and unmet need for God.

"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God." - Ephesians 4:30

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4C15

There is only one perfect person and it's not your pastor!

Church leaders live in mortal bodies and have a fallen human nature, so we have confidence in no man, but only in the God who lives in them. See 1 Corinthians 1:11-31.

P.S. Every person God uses to help guide and support your Christian growth will be imperfect.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4C17

Repentance: A Change of Thinking About Religious Rule-Keeping

Repentance is a change of thinking, not about the "sinful behavior" you think will keep you out of Heaven, but about the good works you think will get you into Heaven.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4C24

The Death of Christ: A Religious Plot Failed, A Redemptive Plan Fulfilled!

Religionists plotted his death, Pilate and Roman soldiers facilitated it, but no one took Jesus' life; he willingly gave himself in infinite love to redeem the lost according to God's eternal plan.

"I lay down my life for the sheep. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again." - John 10:15,18 (See also Revelation 13:8.)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4D09

To God, It's All About You

To God, it is all about you. His interest is not what you can do for him, but what you will allow him to do for you - and through you for others. He did not create you for him to experience you, but for you to experience him. To praise God means to commend him to others. To worship him means to open your heart for him to birth his life in you. To glorify him means to radiate the light of "who he is" into a dark world.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4E05

"Who Christ Is" in You: God's Grace Sufficient for Life and Service

God has birthed and nurtured in us the nature of Christ to enable our Christian living and service to others. Without "who Christ is" in us, all that remains is our best self efforts - which is not enough.

"God's divine nature has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge (experience) of Christ." - 2 Peter 1:3 (paraphrased)

"Christ in you, the hope (confident expectation) of glory (Gr. doxa: 'the character and ways of God exhibited through Christ to and through believers' - Vines)." - Colossians 1:27

"Without me you can do nothing (of eternal value)." - John 15:5

"...how much more certain and unfailing will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of his righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." - Romans 5:17

"My grace (God's provision of himself) is sufficient for you." - 2 Corinthians 2:9

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4E13

Immersed in Christ: God's Abundant Provision for Heaven and Happiness

Christ's death on the cross satisfied God's righteous judgment against all mankind because of Adam's disobedience. All that we were guilty of by our union with Adam in his disobedience, we have been acquitted of by our union with in Christ in his death. This means, our behavior, performance, etc. have no relevance to where we will spend eternity, but only to our health and happiness in this life - for which your union with Christ in his resurrection is God's abundant provision to enable us.

"...For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more certain and unfailing did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to each of them." - Romans 5:15

"We were immersed into spiritual union with Christ in his death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection." - Romans 16:4-5

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4E17

Experiencing God's Presence and Power: The Purpose of Creation and the Cross

God created Adam and Eve, not for his pleasure, but in order for mankind to experience his divine presence and power - which was lost when Adam and Eve disobeyed. But God provided Christ (his death/blood and resurrected Life) in order to reconcile mankind to himself so that he could be restored in his previous experience of God's presence and power, in ever-increasing measure, both in this life and in Heaven.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4F03

The Powerlessness of Adversity to Prevail Against God's Provisions

No person or power on earth can prevail against God's provisions in you to accomplish his redemptive (healing) purpose for your life. Trust him.

"The Light shined in the darkness and the darkness was not able to prevail against it." - John 1:5

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4F09

Your Freedom: The Goal of Grace Leadership

You are not under your pastor's rulership, but under his care. (Neither is a wife under her husband's rulership.) God's grace sets us free to respond, as we are enabled, to the trusted influences we willingly allow into our lives.

"But now, having been released (through our union with Christ in his death and resurrection) from what once bound us, we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.- Romans 7:6

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4F16

The Faithful Father: God Being Who He Is

God is a faithful Heavenly Father to his children. Earthly parents can fail, but it is impossible for God not to be who he is.

"Even if my father and mother should abandon me, the Lord will not; he will take care of me." - Psalm 27:10 (See also: Hebrews 13:5.)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4F22

Investment Leadership in the Home: The Husband's Opportunity to Increase Influence

A husband's care for his wife's health and happiness needs (Investment Leadership) builds her confidence and willingness to trust, in increasing measure, his influence for the choices she makes for her life.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4F26

God, the Giver of Truth and Hope for Understanding

God is the Giver of Divine Truth and also our hope to understand it (1 Corinthians 2:1-16).

"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." - John 16:13

"The anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you... remain in him." - 1 John 2:27

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4G03

Looking Beyond the Behavior to the Brokenness

Our fallen human nature sees negative behavior and criticizes, but the heart of Christ in us sees the pain and brokenness of unmet needs and grieves.

"Weep with others who mourn." - Romans 12:15

"If someone is overcome by some sin, you who are spiritual should gently and humbly restore him." - Galatians 6:1

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4G13

WhooptyEmotions: Evidence of Error

Error is carried along by emotional energy and rooted in deceit. Truth has inherent power, doesn't assert itself, and is rooted in love.

"Christ gave pastors and teachers to the church to teach the truth in love so that the body of Christ may become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, and no longer infants tossed one way then another at the mercy of those who are skilled in the presentation of deceitfulness." - Ephesians 4:11-15 (GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4G19

The "What, When, and Where" of Your Usefulness: Giving God the Opportunity Not to Use You Just Now

God may not accomplish his work through one in the same way he may through another, so we do not set out to duplicate the work others are doing, but instead commit to be increased in our experience of Christ so that we are enabled to surrender to him the responsibility for the "what, when, and where" of your usefulness.

"If you remain connected to me so that I can be more fully in you, you WILL bear much fruit." - John 15:5 (GracePoint interpretive parahrase)

"Humble yourself under God's mighty hand that he may lift you up in his own time." - 1 Peter 5:6 (See also Psalm 1:3)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4G30

When Others Do Not Care: Giving to God What You Cannot Control

You cannot control what others do (And you may lose your health trying!), nor can you make others care or do the right thing. You can only take time each day to be renewed in your own personal relationship to Christ by the Holy Spirit through his Word, trust in his unfailing love and care for you, and surrender to him the responsibility for meeting your needs according to his redemptive plan.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4H27

Grace: God's Provision of Himself

Grace is God's sovereign provision of himself, birthed and nurtured in you by the Holy Spirit through his Word, to enable your experience of his love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, humility, and self-control. (See Galatians 5:22-23.)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4I02

Worn Out Trying To Be Perfect: Hyping The Image of The Ideal Home

There are no perfect husbands and wives, moms and dads, or children. Your expectations for a perfect marriage, to have perfect kids, or to be the "ideal family" will be disappointed. And striving to hype the image will wear you out.

Honest confession of your weakness, and trust in God's provision of Christ to sustain you, is your only hope for a healthy, happy home.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4I16

Considering the Counsel of Your Parents: The Commandment With A Promise

The fifth commandment "honor (kabed) your father and your mother, so that you may live long" (Exodus 20:12) means more than taking care to not disrespect your parents; it means "to make weighty" their influence.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4I23

"God Is Watching You:" The Religious Fear Factor

God is not "watching" you but is "watching over" you. There's a difference: The one is a fear based religious notion to motivate performance; the other is faith based in God's care to meet your needs.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4I28

Creation: It Was About You - Not God!

Before creation God was all that he is now - sovereign and self-sufficient. He was not lonely or unfulfilled. He had no unmet needs. He did not create you to make him smile or to add to his pleasure. Creation was not about God's happiness; it was about yours.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4J01

The Joy of a Broken Heart: Finding Hope for Health and Happiness in Helping Hurting People

The pursuit of superficial goals will not make you happy, but worn-out and miserable. Your only real hope for happiness is enabled usefulness in God's redemptive work motivated by a broken heart for hurting people.

"Those who sow in tears will reap in joy." See Psalm 126:5-6.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4J06

Performance Without Power: Dr. McPerfect's Failing Plan For Fallen People

You will not do long-term what you know to do, but only what you are enabled to do by God's grace. Dr. McPerfect's plan for improved behavior is rooted in a form of godliness which rejects the Power that enables it.

"...having a form of godliness but denying its power." - 2 Timothy 3:5

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4J12

The Essential Work: God's Work of Grace to Enable You

The essential task is not our work in the world but God's work in us. All we do that is not enabled by "who Christ is" in us is not redemptive and can have no eternal value.

"And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns." - Philippians 1:6 (TLB).

"Apart from me (the work I am doing in you) you can do nothing (of eternal value)." - John 15:5

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4J15

Transformed by Truth: The Myth of Memorizing Scripture

We are not renewed in the likeness of Christ by the Bible verses we memorize in our heads, but by the Word/Seed (Logos) which the Holy Spirit births and nurtures in our hearts as we sit before him each day with an open Bible for extended Scripture reading, confession of need, prayer, and quiet-time worship.

"...the written letters bring death, but the Spirit gives life." - 2 Corinthians 3:6b

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4J22

The Perennial Power of Parental Love to Persuade Your Child: Breaking Down the Barricade of Resistance

The outcome of investing daily in your children's health and well-being is their ever increasing confidence in your unfailing love for them, and also, their subsequent willingness to give you life-long opportunity for influence in their lives. Their assurance of your unconditional love for them is the persuading power that breaks down their inborn resistance to Truth and the hostilities ("strongholds") that barricade their minds against wise instructions.

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, our weapons have divine power to demolish strongholds, the proud arguments and pretentious obstacles that are built up against the knowledge of God." See 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4J27

Heaven, Health, and Helping Others: You're In Way Over Your Head!

God's provision of himself - his Blood and his Life - is our only hope of Heaven, holiness (spiritual health), or helping others. By our self effort we deny the reality of our fallen human condition and the words of Jesus, "Without me, you can do nothing (are in way over your head)" - John 15:5.

"Christ in you: your hope of Christlikeness (heaven, holiness, and helping others)." - Colossians 1:27 (GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)

"For it is God who works in you both to will and to act according to his good (redemptive) purpose." - Philippians 2:13

"For what the sinful nature was powerless to do in that it was weak, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who live enabled by the Spirit and not by the sinful nature." (See Romans 8:3-4. Also, 6:6.)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4K04

Grace: Freedom from Bondage to Perfect Behavior

There is now therefore no (reason for) condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, because in Christ Jesus the power of the Spirit of life has set us free from bondage to the spirit of perfect performance in order to escape punishment. (See Romans 8:1-2.)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4K09

Horrified by the Depth of Our Depravity: Rejoicing in the Hope (Confident Expectation) of Our Recovery

The heart of man is wicked and deceitful, and in desperate denial of it (See Jeremiah 17:9.). But as we grow in our confidence concerning the faithful work God is doing in us right now to purify us by the Holy Spirit through his Word, we will become less reluctant to confess the depth of our depravity, and although we grieve because of the wickedness of our hearts, still we rejoice in the confident expectation of our recovery.

"We rejoice in the hope (confident expectation) of the glory of God (Christlikeness)." - Romans 5:2

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4K17

Learning to Trust God's Love Living in a Dangerous World

We live in a dangerous world; much can go wrong over which we have no control. But taking time each day for Scripture reading, confession of need, prayer, and quiet-time worship, in order to be renewed in our faith concerning his unfailing love and care for us, will enable us to trust him and to be at peace.

"I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.' Surely he will save you from the hunter's snare and from the deadly pestilence... You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you." - Psalm 91:2,3,5-7

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4K30

Groaning: The Reality of Growing in Grace

Your salvation, sanctification, and enablement in service to others are the work of God in you by the Holy Spirit through his Word (Christ the Logos/Seed - John 1:1-4). And although you can trust that, as you abide in Christ, the full realization of God's plan for you will be accomplished, you can also expect that inward groaning, under the weight of a sinful nature in a fallen world, will be the reality of your growth experience leading to health and happiness.

"We know that the whole creation has been groaning, as in the pains of childbirth, right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruit of the Holy Spirit (are born again), groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for (the full realization of) our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." - Romans 8:22,23

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4L03

God is Able! Trust Him

The redemptive work of God in the world is far greater than the resources of your human strength to do it. But the God who has called you into the work is faithful to enable you in the performance of it; trust him.

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." - 2 Corinthians 9:8

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4L07

Giving to Support Good Health: God's Goal for the Gift of Christ at Christmas

God's gift of his Son was redemptive and motivated by his passion for our well-being. Our giving to others to build and support their good health, motivated by our love for them, appropriately celebrates God's gift of Christ at Christmas.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4L10

Grace-Enabled Christianity: Trusting the Work God Is Doing In You Right Now

The Christian life is not a life we live, but a life that is lived in us. There's a difference: The one is performance-based - the work we try to do for God (the religious perspective); the other is faith-based - the work God is faithfully doing in and through us right now (the grace perspective).

"For it is God who works in you both to will and to act according to his good (redemptive) purpose." - Philippians 2:13

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4L14

Confidence in Christ: Your Only Real Hope That Your Family Can Change

The more we grow in our confidence that Christ alone in others is their only real hope for change, the more we will support their growing relationship with him, and the less we will attempt to motivate changes otherwise.

"For what the law was powerless to do... God did." - Romans 8:3

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4L17

You Will Not Be Able to "Just Get Over It": Healing for Hurt Rooted in Relationship to Christ

At the root of every emotional pain is an unmet relationship need. We will not be able to "just get over it." We may try to suppress or mask the symptoms, but our unmet needs will manifest more painfully and critically elsewhere, either physically or psychologically. Only in relationship to God through spiritual union with Christ can our deepest needs truly be met and the healing of our hurt begin.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4L22

Just Do It Now! Beginning Tomorrow's Behavior Today

New behavior to improve our health motivated by a change in the calendar may not endure. We will not likely do long-term the new behavior we are not willing to start today, right now, at this moment.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 4L31

Inappropriate Goal-Setting

You can trust that God will faithfully add increase to your life this year according to his power and consistent with his redemptive plan for you. Setting goals to be the best or to have more, etc. is not appropriate for faith-based Christian living and service, and will set you up for disappointment, disillusionment, discouragement, and defeat.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5A01

Trusting God's Power and Timing to Perfect His Plan

Nothing God does will die; nothing you do without him will live. His plan and timing for the work he does is always perfect, and the strength he gives to enable it cannot be defeated.

"In him was life (power), and that life was the light (strength) of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it" - John 1:4,5.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5A11

Religious Resolutions: A New Year's Lists for Legalists

Resolutions to "work on yourself" this year through commitment to religious rule-keeping will fail; but what Christ does in and for you by the Holy Spirit through his Word will not.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5A18

The Need To Be A Hero: How To Become A Zero

Redemptive service to hurting people enabled by Christ's love in us for others is "gold, silver, and precious stones" and will abide forever. Religious performance motivated by our need to be a "champion for Christ" is "wood, hay, and stubble," and will not endure.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5A25

Having All You Need For Helping Others: God's Faithfulness to Fully Fund His Work

We may need borrowed money and an aggressive resource development (fundraising) program to generate support for our ambitious agendas, but the work God establishes in and through us to meet the redemptive needs of a hurting world will always be funded fully by his unlimited resources. We can trust that he is never a little short on funds, never late, and does not need our credit or fundraising schemes.

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." - 2 Corinthians 9:8

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5A28

Beating Others To Be The Best: When Winning Is Losing

Our need to compete and to do our best is appropriate; but our need to win or to beat someone is not.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better (Gr. huperecho: 'hold higher') than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ." - Philippians 2:3-5 (See also Romans 12:10; Galatians 5:13; Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 5:5.)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5B01

The Voice of God: When What You Hear Is From Him

The voice we hear within us that encourages our preparation is from God. The voice we hear that condemns our performance is not.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5B08

Living in the Fast Lane, Dying a Slow Death

Your health, physically, psychologically, and spiritually, is not automatic and will not tolerate your failure to take time each day to be renewed in your strength.

"All men are like grass (and) the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even the young grow tired and weary. But those who wait upon (take time for) the Lord will be renewed in their strength." - Isaiah 40:6-8, 29-31

"Come to me all you who strive and are worn out, and I will give you rest (restore you)." - Matthew 11:28 (GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5C04

The Truth About Things

You will be content only with what God provides. Your expectations for everything else will be disappointed.

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Working on Yourself: A Failing Help for a Fallen Nature

In this life, we are subject to our fallen human nature, so we can expect to be troubled by doubt, fear, anger, and lust. But God has made provisions through Christ for us to overcome. Working on ourselves will be a disappointing help.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5C16

Salvation from the Condemnation and Contamination of Sin: The Goal of the Cross and the Empty Tomb

You are saved from the penalty of sin (condemnation) by trusting in the death of Christ for you. You are saved from the power of sin (contamination) by trusting in the resurrected Life of Christ in you. Both aspects of salvation are by grace through faith - not by your self effort.

"...we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son... we will certainly also be made holy by his life." - Romans 5:10

"He saved us not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy, through the new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." - Titus 3:5 (See also Ephesians 2:8-9)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5C25

Relationship to Christ: The Power That Enables the Performance that Endures

Religion focuses on rules, performance, and rewards; Grace focuses on relationship to Christ, healing of brokenness, and enablement in service to others. Religious performance without enablement has no eternal value and will not endure. Only what God enables through Christ by the Holy Spirit and his Word will last.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5C30

WWJD: An Impossible Standard

Only one person ever lived the Christian life. WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) is an impossible standard for us to try to live by. No human being can live like Christ did. He had a sinless nature; we do not. Our only hope for any measure of holiness is for Christ to live his life in and through us by the Holy Spirit through his Word.

"Christ in you, the hope of glory (Gr. doxa: "the character and ways of God as exhibited through Christ to and through believers" - Vine's)." - Colossians 1:27

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5D12

Your Child's Greatest Need

Children need to know they are valued more than they need to know they are valuable. There's a difference. One is unconditional, based in God's love for them. The other is conditional, based upon what they do, how smart and talented or useful they are, and promotes behavior motivated by pride, guilt, or the fear of rejection.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5D17

(Dear Husband): Your Wife May Have a Boss, But You Are Not It!

(Dear Husband): The opportunity of influence your wife gives you does not include control. She may have a "boss" at her employment, but not in her home. Her response to you is voluntary and must be won.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5D27

Trusting Christ: Your Hope for Heaven

The Bible meaning of the word "believe" (Gr. pisteuo: "to trust, to rely upon") means more than its usual English meaning "to accept as true" (Webster's). You can accept as true every word the Bible says about God, eternity, Christ, even that he is the Son of God, born of a virgin, lived a pure, sinless life, died on the cross to suffer the penalty of God's righteous judgment against all mankind, rose from the dead, and is coming back again, but until you turn from choosing to trust in what you can do through your accumulation of good behavior or religious rule-keeping in order to somehow earn your way to Heaven to trusting and relying instead, wholly and alone, in and upon what Christ has already done for you by his death on the cross, you have not believed in the sense of John 3:16 and have no promise of going to Heaven.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5D29

Your Children Do Not Want To Be In Charge

The happiest children have the confidence that someone else is in charge. You think you make your children happy by giving them their own way, but you are creating for them a miserable, insecure existence.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5E03

You: The Priority of Your Attention

Your first responsibility is to yourself, to make wise (diet, exercise, and lifestyle) decisions for your own health and well-being. The best gift you can give to others is a healthy you.

Your second responsibility is to those you serve. For the husband and father, it is to his wife, then to his children, to value them and prepare them for life. The best gift he can give to his children is a healthy and happy mom and a stable, secure home. For the wife and mother, it is to her children and home.

Your next responsibility is service to others outside the home, beginning with family members and friends, through your church, employment, and community.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5E05

Waiting Patiently: The Evidence of Trusting

We can trust God to provide our needs (2 Corinthians 9:8; Philippians 4:19). The evidence of our trusting is that we do not scheme, but wait patiently.

"But if we hope (Gr. v. elipzo, 'trust' from n. elpis, 'confident expectation rooted in faith') for what we do not have, we wait for it patiently." - Romans 8:25

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5E11

Discovering the Nearness of All You Need: God's Goal for Your Circumstances

From one man God created all mankind and appointed the times, the circumstances, and the limits of the places where they would live. (He first placed them in the Garden of Eden, and then expelled them.) He did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find that he is not far from anyone of them (See Acts 17:25-27).

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5E12

Dependence Leading to Disappointment: Misidentifying the Source of Your Supply

Dependence upon your family and friends, or even employer, to be substitute for God to meet the needs that only he can meet will lead to disappointment, then resentment. God may use others as a resource to meet your needs, but he alone is the Source. There's a difference.

"But my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:19 (NIV)

"I depend on God alone; I put my hope in him."- Psalm 62:5 (TEV)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5E20

Health and Happiness: Recognizing God's Resources for Meeting Human Needs

God has made provisions in Christ for every human need - through creation (soil and atmosphere) and community (support relationships in the home and church. The choices you make that do not identify and appropriate his resources for meeting your needs will always result in lost health and unhappiness. This is the meaning of "sin": Sin is not behavior that makes God mad, or you bad, but behavior that makes you sick: It is the choices you make to meet your needs with disregard to the resources God has provided.

"Those who become wise are happy; wisdom will give them life." - Proverbs 3:18

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5E25

Ministry: A Sovereign Plan to Meet the Needs of Specific People

The ministry to which we have been called is the sovereign work of God. We are earthen vessels he has chosen and prepared to meet the redemptive needs of specific people who are hurting. He knows who they are from the beginning; we may not. But when they hear the message he has given us, they will know it is for them, and welcome it.

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last." - John 15:16 (See also 15:18-21; 17:6-12.)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5E31

Worn Out Working Hard to Win God's Favor: The Failure of Religious Rule-Keeping

Religious rule-keeping to win God's favor will wear you out. Without Christ you are dead, and the law (your knowledge and performance of it) cannot give you life. (See John 6:63; 2 Corinthians 3:6.)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5F20

Chosen for the Work and Renewed in It Daily

God renews daily the work he begins through vessels he chooses. But the work we begin impulsively, motivated by guilt ("Christ died for me; I must live for him"), or fear (the anxious need to win God's acceptance and approval), or pride (the need to be a "champion for Christ") can only be sustained by human strength and will not endure.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5F21

(Dear Husband) Focus on Changing Your Wife: A Short Cut to Failure

Dear (husband): Your best hope for reconciliation with your wife is for you to focus on your own experience of Christ and personal healing and recovery. Your focus on changing her interferes with God's redemptive plan for your life and home, and will not succeed.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5F23

Grace Ministry: The Heart of Christ for Hurting People

The heart of Christ in us will not focus our attention on the inappropriate behavior of others to condemn them, but on their unmet needs and on God's provisions for their recovery.

"And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and patient. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them a change of mind leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." - 2 Timothy 2:24-26

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5F28

You Cannot Be Trusted: The Truth About Human Depravity

Trust no one, not even yourself, and invite no one to trust in you, but only in the God who lives within you.

"If anyone does not remain connected to me he is like a branch that withers." - John 1:6

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5F29

Parameter Parenting: Teaching Small Children Impulse Control

Dear (Parents): The part of the human brain that controls reasoning, inhibitions, and problem solving is the last to develop. Young children simply do not have the cognitive ability to understand your intellectualizing explanations for the behavior you expect from them. Parameter parenting 1) lovingly chooses for small children the behavior and boundaries that support their health needs and 2) expects them to comply because the parents who are the adults say so. Your children's greatest need is to experience affection and to know they are loved, but also to learn about authority, boundaries, and impulse control.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5G08

A Value for Self: The Start of Fitness Renewal

Your greatest need is not for discipline, but motivation. People are not really lazy; they're just not motivated. Two leading motivations for beginning a fitness program are ego (to look good, for example) and the fear of failing health. But the most powerful and enduring motivation to sustain you long-term in a fitness renewal program is a passion for good health rooted in a value of self. This motivation, however, comes only from God. It is one of the nine-fold characteristics of "Who Christ is" in you (Galatians 5:22-23) and is renewed in you daily by the Holy Spirit through his Word.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5G11

Grace: The Divine Resource for Doing God's Work

You can bring 100 percent of all your strength and talent into the work you are doing and have the resources of all the world to support you, but unless God is accomplishing his redemptive purpose in and through you by the glory of his grace (by the power of "who Christ is" in you), your work will have no eternal value.

"Let the beauty (the glory) of the Lord our God be upon us to establish the work of our hands." - Psalm 90:17

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Apart from me you can do nothing (of eternal value)." - John 15:5

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5G13

Parenting: A Long-Term Responsibility

The aspect of parenting that focuses on the needs and well-being of children is long-term; it will continue until after they are grown, away from home, and caring for their own children. Not until our health is broken and our strength is gone will it be appropriate for us to expect our children to serve our needs.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5G15

It's Normal! Starting and Stopping a New Schedule

Once you establish a schedule for your fitness renewal program, you may not be consistent to follow it every day at first. Do not be discouraged. Stopping and starting over again is normal for everyone beginning a new schedule. Remember, it is harder to get the wagon moving than it is to keep it moving. Even if you stop your schedule after you start, don't give up. Your consistency will increase as you keep trying.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5G18

Debt: The Burden of Doubting What God Has Promised to Provide

God's provisions to meet your needs will come - faithfully, but in his own timing and as you wait for him. They will meet your needs exactly, and you will be satisfied and happy. Also, you will not be burdened by the disappointment of faithless schemes (to go in debt; also, lie, cheat, steal, or seduce) to have them.

"And if we hope (Gr. elpizo, v. "confidently anticipate, trust") for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." - Romans 8:25

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5G20

Your Body's Intolerance to Inactivity: Increasing Energy Through Exercise

Your body cannot tolerate inactivity; it's a law of physics: Natural energy (life) is not constant; it must be maintained. Your body renews energy in response to the demand your make upon it through exercise (called "training effect").

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5G25

Grace: The End of Legalistic Leadership in the Home

Dear (Husband): Grace leadership in the home does not include your right to control the actions and choices of your wife. Your attempt to impose "religious" authority over her will destroy her health and the happiness of your marriage.

"The old way of the law kills, but the new way of the Spirit gives life." - 2 Corinthians 3:6 (GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5G25

Let Your Schedule Be Your Boss: Support for Staying On Course

You probably will not do consistently for your health what you do not schedule to do. A schedule is like a budget: it is a control to support focus and accountability. By including exercise in your daily schedule, you will not need to make the same decision over and over again each day; your schedule will make it for you. This means your exercise regimen is not subject to the weather or how you feel, but to your schedule which does not change.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5H01

Experiencing God's Care Living in a Broken World

Adversities will come - circumstances you cannot control, that are overwhelming, that hurt, that are unfair, or that you don't understand or agree with; it's a part of living in a broken world. But they will give you an opportunity to recognize your need for God, to practice trusting in his care for you, and to experience his faithfulness to provide.

"We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." - (The Apostle Paul) 2 Corinthians 1:8-9

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5H03

God's Golden Guarantee of Grace

There's no problem too hard for God to solve, no storm he cannot calm, no hunger he cannot satisfy, no sin he cannot forgive, no broken heart he cannot mend, no unhappy home or life he cannot restore.

"(Jesus said) Come to me all you who are worn out working on yourself, and I will give you rest (restore you)." - Matthew 11:28 (GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5H10

Grace: God Being Who He Is

God is sovereign, his love for you is unconditional, his interest in every detail of your life is intense and passionate, and his commitment to your health and happiness is unfailing.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5H16

The Hardship of Doing What You Don't

It's harder to exercise one or two days a week than to exercise five or six days a week. That's because the hardest day to exercise is the day after you didn't. It's easier to keep doing what you do than to start doing what you don't.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5H22

The Husband in the Home: Leading the Family in Faith and Lifestyle Fitness

The Husband in the home leads the way for responsible lifestyle choices, including for diet (healthy food choices), regular exercise, safety, sufficient rest, spiritual renewal, ongoing education, meaningful work, and service to others.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5H26

Beginning Measured Movements to Increase Interest, Build Momentum

You will not likely enjoy at first doing the things that are essential to your good health, but as you begin to include them into your daily routine, even in small measures, your disinclination for them will diminish. It's a law of nature: Movement builds momentum; inclusion increases interest.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5H29

Trusting God's Care to Meet Your Needs Completely

You can trust that God is right now accomplishing his redemptive purpose for you and that his provisions for your life will meet and satisfy your needs exactly.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need." - Psalm 23:1

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5H31

Holiness and Helping Others: The Measure of a Man That Matters Most

The truest measure of a godly man is not what he looks like, says, or has, but his relationship to Christ by the Holy Spirit through his Word and his fruitfulness in redemptive service to others - beginning with his family.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5I09

Boosting Metabolism to Burn More Calories

Exercise that gets your heart rate up and sustains it for 20 continuous minutes not only burns calories during the exercise but increases your metabolic rate to burn more calories for up to 24 hours following.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5I12

Dear (Husband): God's Plan for Your Life to Provide the Needs of Your Wife

Dear (Husband): Every woman would rather be in love with her own husband. If she leaves your marriage, it is your failure, not hers. This is not in the sense you are totally the problem, but that you are the beginning of the solution. God put you in relationship to her as a resource for the flow of his provisions into her life to meet her needs for health and happiness.

"And you husbands, show the same kind of love to your wives as Christ showed to the Church (his spiritual Bride with whom he is united as one and for whom he died). That is how husbands should treat their wives with whom they are united as one, loving them as parts of themselves." - Ephesians 5:25,28

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5I16

Opposing the Opinions of Others: The Real Reason We Resist

It's a paradox. The more confident we are of what we know and believe the more tolerant we are to hear and consider the views of others and the less intolerant we are to the possibility we are wrong.

Don Loy Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 5I30

The Prayer of Faith: Surrendering to God's Sovereign Plan

The prayer of faith is our opportunity to confess our needs to a loving, sovereign God, call out to him to receive his provisions, then surrender the responsibility for the outcome to his redemptive plan.

We may not experience answered prayer exactly as we imagined, but we can trust that God's provisions will always (always) meet our redemptive needs exactly.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6A23

God in Me: Living and Serving Out of the Strength Christ Gives

Those who knew Jesus personally during his walk among men testified about him that he was full of compassion and joy. He was peaceful, they said, never in a hurry, and without anxiety or frustration. He was gentle in every relationship and patient in every adversity. He longed to minister and bless, and yielded himself to be poured out in service for others. His faith was deep, his life was pure, and without stumbling or faltering, he was faithful to every duty and responsibility.

How was this so?

"The Father is in me," Jesus said. "It is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work" (John 14:10). Then he said, "If you remain connected to me so that I can be more fully in you, you will (also) bear much fruit" (John 15:5 GracePoint interpretive paraphrase).

"And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him." - 2 Corinthians 3:18 (TLB)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6A24

The Difference You Cannot Make

God did not call you to make a difference, but to sow your life in service to others as he enables you, and then to surrender to him the responsibility for the outcome. It is not the results you produce that will make the difference, but the increase he gives.

"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." - 1 Corinthians 3:7 (NIV)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6A25

Resting From the Work That Wears You Out

"Come unto me all you who labor and are worn out, and I will give you rest." See Matthew 11:28-30.

It is not stress that kills, but strain. Stress is weight and essential to health; strain is weight greater than the strength you have to bear up under it, and will wear you out. It is not from the weight of your work that Jesus promises rest, but from the weariness of your working without his enablement.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6A26

Moving Past Your Failures: God's Plan for Your Future

First, he said he just wanted to get drunk and lie down. Soon, he lost all he had. Then, he said he just wanted to grow in his relationship to Christ and in usefulness for service to others. Today, he is healthy and happy and a servant leader to his family and church.

God's plans for you are good, not evil. His heart for the marred vessel is not to throw it away, but to make it again another vessel according to his loving wisdom and in his own time. (See Jeremiah 18:4; 29:11.)

If God is in your future, it will be greater than your past.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6A27

Grace: The Strength and Supply of Your Heart When You Slip

Your problems are not bigger than God. His power to bring you back to him is greater than the power that took you away.

"I had almost slipped. Then I entered the sanctuary of God (the quiet place). There I understood: You are always with me; you hold me by my right hand; you guide me with your counsel and restore me. My flesh and my heart (my fallen human nature) may falter, but God is the strength of my heart and my supply forever." - The Psalmist's Confession of Faith (Psalm 73)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6B06

Living in an Adverse World: Your Opportunity to Experience God's Care

You have opportunity every day to experience living in a fallen world filled with adverse people and hurtful circumstances. But God is watching over everything that concerns you.

"Let him have all your worries and concerns, because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:7

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6B07

Grace: An Increasing Measure of God's Strength for Life and Service

Unlike Jesus, we are hindered in our service to others by a fallen human nature. But wait! Although not entirely in this lifetime, we may, in increasing measure, also serve as Jesus did, unhindered by lust, greed, and malice. Christ's life birthed and nurtured in us by the Holy Spirit through his Word transforms us from strength to strength into his likeness. This is grace.

"And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him." - 2 Corinthians 3:18 (TLB)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6B09

Christ's Blood And Resurrected Life: "For Sin The Double Cure"

Your trust in the Blood/death of Christ for you is your only hope for going to Heaven. Your trust in the Life of Christ in you is your only hope for holiness (Romans 5:10). Christ's Blood and Resurrected Life are for sin "the double cure, to save from wrath and make me pure" (hymn).

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6B10

Grace: The End of Hierarchal Headship in the Home

Dear (Wife:) You are not under your husband's rule in the home. God's grace sets you free to respond as you are willing to the influences you choose to allow into your life.

"Having been released from what once bound us, we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." - Romans 7:6

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6B21

You Can Have An Awesome Marriage

Dear (Husband): It is your role in the marriage to be concerned for the health and happiness needs of your wife. Your experience of God's heart for you and your wife's growing confidence in your heart for her is the basis of an awesome marriage.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6B23

Dear Husband, It's Your Move

Whatever may be said about a marriage taking two, it begins with one - the husband. It is his investment to make.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6B24

To God, It's All About You!

God is not concerned with what you can do for him, but what you will allow him to do for you.

"We are the people under his care." - Psalm 95:7

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6C16

Trusting God's Faithfulness in Your Deep Disappointments

Nothing, no reversal or failure, can stop God's providential plan for your life. No matter how hopeless your problems may seem, or deep your disappointments, God will reestablish you in his own timing according to his redemptive plan. Continue to take time each day for his Word and prayer.

"Though you have allowed me to see troubles, many and bitter; you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up; you will increase my honor and comfort me once again." - Psalm 71:20-21

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6C23

Giving to God What You Cannot Control

You cannot control what others do. You can only be renewed each day by the Holy Spirit (through Scripture reading, confession of need, prayer, and worship) in your confidence of God's faithful love and care for you and in his unfailing commitment to meet your needs according to his redemptive plan.

"But I call to God, and the Lord saves me." - Psalm 55:16.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6C24

Surrounded by God's Power and Sovereign Plan for You

You live in a fallen world filled with imperfect people. But you are also covered as with a shield by God's presence and power. You can trust in his unfailing love and sovereign plan for you.

"Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. But let all who take refuge in you be glad. For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield." - Psalm 5:9a, 11a, 12

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6C28

Adversity: No Big Deal to God

No person or power on earth can mess up God's plan to accomplish his purpose for your life. Trust him.

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" - Romans 8:31

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6C29

The Essential Faithfulness: It's Not Yours But God's

The most important work is not your work in the world but God's work in you. The most essential faithfulness is not your faithfulness to God but his faithfulness to you.

Prayer: "Thank you, Lord, that you are right now accomplishing your purpose for my life in this place today according to your redemptive plan."

"His faithfulness will be your shield and support." - Psalm 91:4c

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6C30

Worn Out Trying to Be Perfect: Hyping the Image of the Ideal Home

There are no perfect husbands and wives, moms and dads, or children. Striving to live up to the image of a perfect family will wear you out. Confession of weaknesses and trust in God's love and care to meet your needs is your only real hope for a healthy, happy home.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6C31

A Good Marriage Doesn't Need to Be Hard Work

Dear (Husband and Wife): If you are working hard to have a happy marriage, you probably do not have one, especially if you are trying to survive your unmet need for God.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D03

Made Fruitful And Effective By Grace

God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, so that by his glory and grace (the impartation of "who he is"), we may from strength to strength (in increasing measure) escape corruption (our fallen human condition) and be made fruitful and effective in our Christian living and service to others. For this very reason, make every effort to grow in your experience of his likeness through his Word. See 2 Peter 1:3-8; 2 Corinthians 3:18.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D04

Rules Without Relationship: The Reason For Their Rebellion

Taking time is better than talking tough. Your child's rebellion is not against the presence of rules, but the absence of relationship.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D05

God Knows: Finding Hope When You Hurt

God knows you are hurting. He knew about this time in your life before you were born. He also cares. Look to him.

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." - Psalm 139:16b

"Trust in his care to help you, and he will." - Psalm 37:5

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D06

The Blood of Christ: Your Only Hope for Heaven

You were born into the world separated from God because of Adam's disobedience.

"...the many died (were separated from God) by the fall of the one man." - Romans 5:15-19

You cannot be reconciled to God by trying to obey the Ten Commandments.

"God's way of putting men right with him has been revealed, and it has nothing to do with law. God put men right through their faith in Jesus Christ." - Romans 3:21-22

Jesus Christ died on the cross at Calvary in order to provide a way for you to go to Heaven.

"What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did by sending his own Son to be an offering for sin." - Romans 8:3

"...we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." - Romans 5:10a

The blood of Jesus Christ is the only payment for sin that God will accept.

"By the will of God we are made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." - Hebrews 10:10

"In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." - Ephesians 1:7

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D10

The Failing Hope of Trusting Human Effort for Going to Heaven

No amount of human efforts to perform good deeds is adequate or can add in the very least to the merit and power of the blood of Jesus Christ for your salvation.

"In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." - Ephesians 1:7

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us...by the renewal of the Holy Spirit...through Jesus Christ our Savior." - Titus 3:5-6

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D13

Christ in You: Making the Connection That Enables the Christian Experience

The Christian life does not exist without Christ. Trying to live or be like Jesus in this world without being daily renewed by "Who he is" in you (Galatians 5:22-23) to enable you is impossible.

"The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints... is Christ in you, the hope of glory." - Colossians 1:26-27

"Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life and that life was the light of men." - John 1:3-4

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains (connected) to me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing." - John 15:5

"But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus, and God has made Christ to be our wisdom; by him we are put right with God, we become God's holy people, and are set free. So then, as the scripture says, 'Whoever wants to boast must boast of what the Lord has done'." - 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (TEV)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D14

God: The Explanation for Your Success

Nothing God gives life to will die. Nothing you do without him will live. Unless the Lord is the explanation for your success, it won't endure.

"Except the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain." - Psalm 127:1

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D18

Set Free from Fear and Fighting Through Faith In God's Unfailing Care For You

Surrendering to God the responsibility for the outcome of every aspect of your life, and trusting him that he is right now accomplishing his redemptive purpose for you, will set you free from your anxious concerns and restore you to peace and joy. See Isaiah 26:3-4.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D19

Worn Out Working Hard: Finding Strength to Sustain Your Day

The urgency need of each morning is not your duties, but your experience of Christ to sustain you in all he gives you to do.

"Come unto me, all you who are worn out working hard, and I will give you rest (renew you)." - Matthew 11:28

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D21

The Gentle Guidance of a Patient God

God does not impose his way on you, but patiently waits at the door of your heart. When you fail, he will gently guide and support you in a better way.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D24

Waiting To Win Wayward Family And Friends

Until wayward friends and family become confident of your love and care for them, and also disillusioned with their own circumstances, they will not open the door to give you an opportunity for influence - and will resent your attempts to impose. You can only wait, live and confess your faith, and pray, especially for you own transformation and renewal.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D26

God's Provision of Christ: Your Only Hope for Holiness

You cannot choose not to be thirsty - not really, but only to drink water. Neither can you choose not to be sinful, but only to be renewed in Christ's holiness each day by the Holy Spirit through his Word.

"Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst." - John 4:14

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6D28

Waiting for What God Wants You to Have

God will bring quietly into your life all that he wants you to have. You may not recognize it at first, but as you wait on him, he will build confidence and peace concerning his will for your life.

"My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I have stilled and quieted my soul as a child lies quietly in its mother's arms and have put my hope in the LORD both now and forevermore." - Psalm 131:1a, 2-3

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6E02

Experiencing God's Love: The Starting Point to Solving Your Problems

Your experience of God's presence in your life will set you free from your fear of the future and fill you with peace concerning your present.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6E04

Taking Time to Experience God, the Warmth of His Presence

The experience of God's presence in your heart, as real as the warmth of the sun on your face, is the certain outcome of taking extended time each day to wait quietly before him with an open Bible for Scripture reading, confession of need, prayer, and quiet-time worship.

"O taste and see that the Lord is good." - Psalm 34:8

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6E05

Trusting God's Care to Be On Time

God knows exactly the urgency of all you need for health and happiness. His provisions will not be late and you will not be disappointed. Trust in his care for you.

"The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing." - Psalm 145:15-16

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6E09

Failed By the Best You Can Be

Your only hope to be like Christ, to care for the redemptive needs of others, is to be filled with his heart and mind. Your best self efforts without him will not succeed.

"God's divine nature has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our experience of him." - 2 Peter 1:3

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6E10

When Life Changes: Finding Safety in Surrender to God's Sovereign Care for You

Changes in your life do not intimidate God. He is sovereign and in total control (his provisions are effectual and enduring). You are safe in surrender (connection) to his care. Trust him.

"Everyone who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will (be at ) rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'" - Psalm 91:1-2

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6E22

Care for Self: The First Focus of Your Call to Ministry

Ministry to others will not include giving up the choices we make that supports our health. Christ calls us to personal health, not away from it.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6E23

The Failed Hope of Having Fun: Finding Happiness Through Health

Work and play have their place, but at the end of the day, what you do to make money or to have fun will not make you the happiest, not deep down or long-term, but what you do to be healthy (beginning spiritually).

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6E25

Freedom: Not the Absence of Challenges but the Presence of Christ

Freedom is not the absence of duties or boundaries, but the presence of "who Christ is" in your heart to support you for any circumstance or challenge.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6F03

Love Is Not a Choice! It's a Divine Enablement!

Love is not a choice; it is a divine enablement. Without "Who Christ is" within us, we have no power to love others, but only to use them. See Galatians 5:19-23; John 15:4-5; 2 Peter 1:3.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6F12

Worn Out Working Hard to Win God's Favor: The Failure of Religious Rule-Keeping

Religion (rule-keeping to win God's favor) will wear you out. Without Christ we are dead, and the law (our knowledge and performance of it) cannot give us life. (See John 6:63; 2 Corinthians 3:6.)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6F20

Chosen for the Work and Renewed in It Daily

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6F21

Grace Ministry: The Heart of Christ for Hurting People

The heart of Christ in us does not focus us on the inappropriate behavior of others to condemn them, but on their unmet needs and on God's provisions for their recovery.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6F28

Set Free from Fear and Fighting Through Faith in God's Unfailing Care for You

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6G04

Support for Good Health: The First Focus of Grace

We are established in good health, not by what we take care to exclude from our lives that is harmful, but by what we take time to include in our lives that is healing.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6G05

Grace Resources: Provisions to Sustain Godly Service

Nothing supported by human ability or giftedness is adequate to sustain us in the performance of our Christian life and service. Our only hope for endurance to live out God's calling for our lives is daily renewal of "Who Christ is" in us.

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." - Philippians 4:13 (See also John 15:1-8.)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6G06

Grace: The Explanation for Your Godliness

We have no strength except God's strength, no light except his light. Our only hope for health and happiness is the life of Christ birthed and nurtured in us by the Holy Spirit as we wait quietly before him each day with an open Bible for Scripture reading, confession of need, prayer, and worship.

"In him was life, and that life was the light of men." - John 1:3

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6G10

The Powerless of Thirst to Prevail Against God's Provision of Water

The problem is not really the heat, you know. It's dehydration. The problem is really never the circumstances in our lives that are adverse, but the absence of God's provisions to sustain us.

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." - Philippians 4:13

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6G21

Christ's Presence in Your Heart: Your Hope for Happiness

Happiness is not the absence of adversity. It is the assured outcome of Christ's presence in our hearts, birthed and nurtured in us by the Holy Spirit through his Word.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6G25

The Joy of a Broken Heart: Finding Happiness in Helping Others

The pursuit of worldly, self-centered goals will not make you happy, but worn-out and miserable. Our only real hope for happiness is enabled usefulness in redemptive service to others motivated by the heart of Christ in us for hurting people.

"Those who sow in tears will reap in joy." - Psalm 126:5-6

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6G26

Grace: Renewed Strength for a New Start

God allowed you to make unwise choices so that out of the hurt of your unmet needs you would look to him and find in him recovered strength for a new start in a new direction. He is watching over all that concerns you, and cares. Trust him.

"The LORD will watch over your life." Psalm 121:7b

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6G27

A Husband's View of God Lived Out Giving Leadership in the Home

Whatever a husband's view is of God's relationship to him, it will manifest in his relationship to his family. If he views God as difficult and demanding, his family will predictably experience him in the same way. If he views God as supportive and caring, it will guide him in living out that role in relationship to his wife and children.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6H10

Getting It Right Regarding Faith

Faith (Gr. pistis) is a noun; it is what we have, not what we do. (We do not faith; instead, we have faith.) Also, faith is not self-generated; it is produced in us by the Holy Spirit. There is no other way for us to have it.

God gives faith in increasing measure - more, much, great, and perfect faith. It is given in order to enable us in increasing measure to confess (who he is and our need for him), to pray (ask/trust/believe/connect/receive – this is rudimentary obedience for enablement), to continue praying (supplication), to give thanks (continue to connect), and to obey (in service to others).

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6H18

Wising Up to What's Happening to Your Wife: The Husband's Hard Heart

Dear (Husband): It will be your wife's confidence in your care for her that will affair proof your marriage, not her religious commitment to your marriage vows as you hope. Your knuckleheaded expectations for her to survive your insensitivity to her needs will be disappointed.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6H21

Human Love: A Failed Hope in Adversity

Human love is conditional and will break down. It will not hold up against adversity. But the love of Christ (Gr. agape: "to value unconditionally"), birthed and nurtured in us by the Holy Spirit through his Word, is unending and unconditional and will endure (1 Corinthians 13).

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6H22

Giving Up the Ownership of Outcomes to God

Increasing confidence (faith) concerning God's love and care for us enables our willingness to give up to him the responsibility for the outcomes (the what, when, where, why, and how) of our lives and services to others.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6H23

Grace Counseling: Response to Broken Behavior

Grace counseling does not focus on inappropriate behavior but on the brokenness and unmet needs at the root of it and on God's provisions to support health and happiness.

"To have good fruit you must have a healthy tree." - Matthew 12:31 (TEV)

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him." - Matthew 12:35a (NIV)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6H24

God's Purpose for Pain: It's Not to Make You Stronger

We are not made stronger by trials - not really; rather, we are made stronger by Christ. God does not use brokenness to build us up. He only allows it reluctantly - sometimes as the outcome of our foolish choices, but always for the purpose of turning our hearts away from trusting in self to trusting instead in Christ, to finding in him faithful provisions for your renewal and increased health.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6H29

Loving Parents: Winning the Battle for Lifelong Influence

Mom and Dad's unfailing love and care for their children wins for them lifelong opportunity for influence, particularly for communicating Truth about life which they may not otherwise want to hear.

"The sinful mind is hostile to God: It does not submit to God's law (has no affinity for God's way) nor can it do so." - Romans 8:7

"The power we have to demolish the barricades set up in the mind against the knowledge of God is not of this world, but divine (i.e., love)." - See 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6H30

The Fall of Genesis 3, the Darkness of 9/11/01, and the Grace of God

In the beginning, God set in order the laws of life by which the universe would operate. But grief and sorrow entered the world through Adam's disobedience (Genesis 3, Romans 5), and now, until Christ returns to establish his kingdom on earth, we live in a dangerous, fallen world subject to the powers of darkness. It was in this darkness that so many died on September 11, 2001 during the terrorists attacks.

But it was also into the darkness that Christ came. The Light of "who he is" shines into our dark hearts and through us into a dark world to bring light, healing, and renewal.

"In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shined into the darkness and the darkness was not able to prevail against it." - John 1:3-4 paraphrased (GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I11

Waiting on God to Meet Your Needs Exactly

God has resources (vendors and service providers) to meet every need you have. When you wait on his guidance and timing for the choices you make, you will never be disappointed, including with the cost (so no need for quibbling about price) or with the quality of services provided.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I13

The Husband: Where Divorce Intervention Starts

The divorce rate in America is approaching 60 percent. It has also been estimated that 90 percent of marriages are in divorce status. Counseling (from a grace perspective) for divorce intervention always begins with the husband, providing him guidance and support leading first to his own personal recovery, then to possible reconciliation with his wife.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I14

Getting It Right! The Inappropriateness of Praying for the Holy Spirit to Come Upon You!

God is not off in the distance waiting to descend upon you in power. He has already come! in the person of the Holy Spirit and lives within you - and within every one who has trusted in Christ's provision for salvation (his death on the cross). The work of the Holy Spirit within you is to produce in you the likeness of Christ (the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-23). He does it as you confess your brokenness and need for help and as you open the doors of your life to him.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I15

Beware the Hype

Strength never asserts itself. Light never imposes. Truth is faithful and will present itself timely and appropriately to your opened heart. Hype promotes foolishness. Beware.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I16

How to Hear God: The First Purpose of the Pulpit

We are sustained in our faith, not by what we hear the pastor say about God from the pulpit on Sunday, but only by what we hear God say personally to us about himself each day as we sit quietly before him with an open Bible for Scripture reading, confession of need, prayer, and quiet-time worship. The first purpose of the pulpit is to teach parishioners how to hear God.

"Faith comes by hearing what the Holy Spirit says to you through his Word." - Romans 10:17 paraphrased (GracePoint).

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I18

Your Morning Devotional: It's Not a Substitute for Hearing God Speak

There is no substitute for sitting quietly before God with an open Bible each day for extended Scripture reading, confession of need, prayer, and quiet-time worship. We may read in a devotional book or hear in a song that God loves us (has made provisions for our healing - beginning with his Life), but our faith concerning it (to enable our obedience to trust/receive those provisions) is sustained only as we hear God communicate it to us personally by the Holy Spirit through his Word.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I19

Experiencing the Reality of God: Your Most Essential Need

We are supported for health and happiness by our experience of God's provisions for us in creation (the soil and atmosphere). We are supported also by our experience of community life (supportive relationships in the home and church). But our most critical support for health and happiness is our experience of God's presence within us spiritually (through Christ by the Holy Spirit).

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I20

Christ, Not Striving, Is Our Only Hope for Holiness

You can not disappoint God. He knows you are broken, that your strength to do good indeed is small. Your only hope for holiness is to turn from your heroic self efforts to perform to trusting instead, wholly and completely, in God's provision of Christ's life birthed and nurtured in you by the Holy Spirit through his Word.

"I am passionate about the Gospel because it reveals the power (dynamic) by which we are saved (from the judgment and contamination of sin). It reveals a righteousness from God, a righteousness which is by faith to all who believe (trust in his provisions)." - Romans 1:16-17 (GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I22

God's Faithfulness, Not Our Failures: The First Focus of Grace

Grace does not condemn our flaws or failures, but lifts us up out of our unmet needs, and makes us able for life and service by the strength he gives.

"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything (to be considered), but only God who makes things grow." - 1 Corinthians 3:7

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I26

Big Budgets and Burned Out Believers: When a Church Has It Backwards

The following quote from John Hagee is an example of a performance-based theology that will burden, bind, and break your life:

"When you give, it qualifies you to receive of God's abundance. If God gives to you before you give to Him, God Himself will become a liar. If you are not prospering, it's because you are not giving."

The message of grace is: When you receive God's provisions, it enables you to give. If you give before God gives to you, you will give out and get hurt. If you are not prospering, it is not because you are not giving, but because you are not receiving. Grace ministry exists to serve you (your health and happiness needs) and will sow its resources into your life and through you into the lives of others. If your church burdens you with its expectations for you to invest your resources ("sow seed") into its programs and projects, it has it backwards.

See Religious Performance

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I27

You Cannot Do God's Work! Giving to God the Responsibility for Redemptive Ministry

You will wear yourself out trying to establish a ministry to communicate your message. But if God gives you the message, he will also in his own timing establish the ministry to communicate it.

Striving to do God's work is hard. But your experience of God using you in service to others is not. Redemption is God's big idea. Trust him to do it.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I28

O Blessed Thought! Jehovah God Without Beginning Present in Your Life Forever

God had no beginning; he has always existed! (Can it be!) He was present in the beginning of time and creation. He was present in your beginning, is now present watching over and caring for you, and will be present in your future forever. Trust him.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6I29

Giving to Get: A Religious Calculation for Receiving

Giving out of the overflow of God's provisions into your life to meet the redemptive needs of others is absolutely God's way for your needs to be met, but calculated giving motivated by an expectation for return (greed), also by an anxious commitment to religious rule keeping, will have a disappointing outcome.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6J02

God's Purpose for Your Pain: Experiencing His Help When You Hurt

The hard times you hate that turn your heart to God will serve you better than the easy times you love that take you away. Your experience of God in the storm will establish you in health and happiness more than your experience of the calm without him.

"We rejoice in our suffering because we know that the outcome of experiencing him in our adversity is renewed strength for the journey." - GracePoint (See Romans 5:4-5)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6J03

The Light of Christ: God's Grace for the Blind and Broken

The Bible, especially in John's Gospel, represents darkness as all that is true about you apart from the Light of "who Christ is" in you. A lot of busyness can take place in your darkness aided by the artificial light of the world (human wisdom). But not without stumbling. (Christ referenced this darkness when he spoke of the blind leading the blind. "They are blind guides," he said, "and if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the ditch" - Matthew 15:14.)

It is in the darkness of human wisdom that poor choices are made which lead to brokenness. Our hope for health and happiness is in the choices we make enabled by the light of Christ birthed in us by the Holy Spirit. He is "the true light" that has come into the world (John 1:9). The light he gives will heal, warm, and guide (support wise choices).

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." - John 1:1

"Your Word is a lamp to my feet (next step) and a light for my path (future)." - Psalm 119:105

"The entrance (entering in) of your Word gives light." - Psalm 119:130

"In him was life, and that life was the light of men." - John 1:4

"If a man walks in the darkness he stumbles because there is no light in him." - John 11:10.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6J11

The Failure of Forced Compliance: How to Stop Fighting with Your Children!

Grace parenting establishes guidelines for behavior that support the long-term health needs of the child. Children may not like the rules and may even make a scene, but rather than fighting with them, your expressions of empathy ("I know, sweetheart; I am so sorry") will grow their confidence that you care about their suffering (their greatest need) and will help motivate their willing compliance.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6J18

Experiencing Christ: Our Enablement to Attend Appropriately to Essential Needs

Your multidimensional needs can be considered in the order of their importance: spiritual (relationship with Christ), psychological (intellectual, emotional, volitional support), and physical (biological needs).

But this is not the order they are generally served. Typically, the most attended to of our human needs is physical. The second most attended to is psychological. The least attended to is spiritual, which is our deepest and most essential need. How about that for the hostility of our fallen human nature with respect to our health needs! (Thank you, Adam, very little!)

Who will deliver us from our foolishness. Thanks be to God! it is through our experience of "who Christ is" within us (Galatians 5:22-23) that we are refocused to attend appropriately to our essential needs.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6J19

Living in a Dark World Losing Election Outcomes: The Legacy of Dimwatted Christianity

Living in a fallen, darkened world as we do, the campaign efforts of conservatives to persuade voters to nonetheless make right choices at the ballot box is daunting work with disappointing results. Our surest hope for a good outcome with respect to the election of moral, wise leadership in government is for the Church to manifest, out of our experience of Christ, the light of "who he is" into a dark world sufficient for darkened minds to make sound judgments.

"In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not prevailed against it." - John 1:3-4 GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)

"God has brought us into union with Christ Jesus, and has made him to be our wisdom." - 1 Corinthians 1:30

"It is my earnest hope and expectation that in nothing I will be ashamed (paled by fear or failure, i.e., dimwatted), but that like a beacon light, the brilliance of Christ may be made manifest through me into a dark world." - Philippians 1:20 (GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)

"They stumble who walk in the night because they have no light." - John 11:10

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6J26

Part-time Support: Why People Struggle

The support we need for physical health, we need daily. The support we need from God for godly living and service to others, we need daily. The support children need from their parents, they need daily. The support a wife needs from her husband, she needs daily. God's provisions are fresh every day and in good supply. No one needs to struggle.

"God‘s divine nature gives us everything we need for life and godliness through our experience of Christ." - 2 Peter 1:3

"Give us today (again for this day) our daily bread (Gr. epiousios artos: that which is absolutely indispensable to our health and well-being, literally, ‘for our going on')." - Matthew 6:8

"God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work." - 2 Corinthians 9:8

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6K02

The Disingenuous Vote: Dark Hearts Accommodating Their Hostility

Dark hearts are hostile to the light and will vote to accommodate their darkness no matter the issue. They hate not only the light but will crucify every provision for its entrance into their dark world which they love.

"Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." - John 3:19-20 (NIV)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6K07

Does God give America the government leaders it deserves?

No. America gives itself the government leaders it wants on election day at the voting booth. God gives light through relationship to his Son sufficient to illumine sound judgment for our choices. It is in this light, or in the absence of it, that voters make their choices and government leaders are elected.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6K08

Freedom to Choose: More Than a Constitutional Right, An Enablement of Grace

Freedom (from the expectations and imposition of any individual or organization, conservative or liberal) to vote our conscience with respect to political issues and candidates is an unalienable right provided for in our Constitution. But it is a freedom and right enabled by our experience of Christ ("who of God is made unto us wisdom" - 1 Corinthians 1:30). Without him we would be in darkness – which is not freedom, but bondage.Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6K09

God is Faithful: You Do Not Need to Be Overwhelmed

Stress is not the problem - not really. By definition, stress is only a weight. The problem, actually, is strain. Strain is our experience of a weight heavier than our strength to bear up under it. God does not promise to spare us from the weights of life (stress) but to provide resources for the flow of his strength to sustain us. We are only vulnerable to the trying circumstances of life when we are not connected to the resources he has given (in creation, in community, and especially in Christ).

"The trying experiences of life (stress) is common to man. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted (experience weight) beyond what you can bear, but has provided a way so that you can bear up under it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 (GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6K10

Useful Ministry and Personal Integrity Flow from the Same Source, Exist Together

The life Christ lives through us to produce fruitfulness in our service to others is the same dynamic working in us to establish our integrity. Religious performance can exist apart from integrity, but effectual ministry and personal holiness are rooted in Christ and exist together - like wet and water.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6K13

Understanding Grace: The Power that Fills You Does Not Fall Upon You

The "fire" does not fall from Heaven to empower you as you strive to win God's favor (including fasting and other religious performances), but his Life flows up to fill us from within our spirits where the Holy Spirit is in residence. The one is an Old Testament concept, the other a New Testament grace concept.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6K16

God's Provisions: Plentiful But Not Imposed

God has been faithful to make his provision for your life available and in good supply at the doorstep of your heart (mind, emotions, and will) - and to call you to them; but he does not impose. The door that allows for their entrance into your life is opened from within.

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in." - Revelation 3:20a

"In him was life and that life was the light (health) of men." - John 1:4

"The entrance (entering in or inclusion) of your Word (the seed of all life) gives light (health)." - Psalm 119:130

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6K17

Pride: A Miscalculation of God's Care and Need for Him

Pride is a human condition rooted in a lack of confidence (fear) concerning God's love and care for us and in a miscalculation (denial) concerning our need for him - and is expressed in the choices we make to meet our needs that disregard his provisions.

Humility is rooted in faith (confidence) concerning God's faithfulness and passionate interest in every detail of our lives - and is expressed in our dependence upon his provisions.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6K20

Quick-Fix Solutions: A Disappointing Hope for Deep Healing

God's provisions for your health and happiness are effectual and in good supply. If you are without them and hurting, it may be because you are not connected to the appropriate resources for their flow. Or, you may not be waiting (remaining connected per John 15:1-8) sufficient time for your renewal. Healing takes time. Quick-fix solutions may provide superficial pain relief (like a drug), but will disappoint your hope for deep healing and enduring health.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6K21

Chester Doesn't Know You - But That's Okay

A friend told me about Chester (a silly joke) who said he knew everyone and everyone knew him, which my friend said he did not believe - until one day he saw him at the Vatican with the Pope. He said he was impressed but didn't really become a believer until a nun in the crowd turned to ask him who that little man was up there with Chester.

The Pope doesn't know you. The President, even your senators or congressman, probably do not know you. Your favorite athlete or celebrity may have no idea you exist. Even the CEO of your company may not know who you are. But the God who created you, who also created the heavens and the earth, and by whom all things are sustained - he knows you and everything about you. He also cares. He knows about every burden or concern you have and is holding tightly on to you as his own. Trust him.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6K22

Confidence Concerning God's Love and Care for You: Our Greatest Need

You do not have a concern in your life today that God does not know or care about. You may have heard someone else say that to you today, or read it in your morning devotional, but unless you heard God communicate it to you by the Holy Spirit through his Word as you waited quietly before him with an open Bible, it will not be your strong confidence (faith). Your mind processed it only as information.

Information is powerful and important, but faith, not information, is our greatest need. The prophet Daniel (12:4) said concerning the last days before the Messiah returns, that knowledge (da'ath, from Heb. yada: "information") would increase. But Jesus asked, "When I return, will I find men on earth who have faith to trust me?" (Luke 18:8).

"Faith (Gr. pistis: "deep conviction, complete confidence, full persuasion" concerning Truth) comes by hearing God speak through his Word." - Romans 10:17 (GracePoint interpretive paraphrase)

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L01

Legalism: Dying to Act Like Christ

Christlikeness is the sowing and reaping outcome of our experience of Christ. Our attempts to be like Christ apart from the enablement he gives is religious legalism and will fail.

Jesus said, "No branch (body) can bear fruit (be healthy) by itself; it must remain (connected to) the vine (life source). Neither can you bear fruit (be like me) unless you remain (connected to) me." - John 15:4

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L04

The behavior of hurting people with unmet health needs is different from the behavior of people whose needs are being met. The heart of Christ enables us to understand the difference and to care.

The Heart of Christ: Support for Ministry to Heal the Hurt of Badly Behaving People

"But when he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion on them because they were hurting and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." - Matthew 9:36

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L05

Pharisaical Hostility: A Political Perspective on God's Provision of Christ for Heaven and Holiness

If Jesus had come into the world to support self effort in the performance of religious rule keeping, the Pharisees would have embraced him because he would have accommodated their carnal need for visibility, boasting (recognition and reporting), to be heroes, and to be in control. They hated, rejected, and crucified him because of their hostility to his message that, though they had taken care to appear religious on the outside, still they were full of decay on the inside, and that their only hope for Heaven and holiness was to confess their fallenness and to turn away from trusting in themselves to trusting alone in God's provision of his Son as their Savior.

"God has made Christ to be our righteousness, holiness, and freedom. Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." - 1 Corinthians 1:30

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L07

Sleep: It's An Outcome

It was said of a famous preacher that in bed at night, in those last few moments before he went to sleep, he would stretch out on his back, tuck the covers neatly under his chin, lift his head, look to the left, look to the right, then say, "That's it!"

Sleep is an outcome, not a pursuit. The goal is not to go to sleep at night - not really (well, maybe a little!); instead, it's to go to bed on time, get comfortable, close your eyes, relax, and say: "Thank you Lord for your love and care, and for the gift of sleep." Then trust God for whatever happens next.

"God gives his beloved sleep." - Psalm 127:2

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L08

Getting Hurt Trying to Help God

God does not need our help. The "ingenious" ideas we have may not be God's, and our pursuit of them will not be enabled. We can trust that God will accomplish his ideas in his own time and in his own way through vessels connected to him so that we are not hurt but renewed.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L11

Reading Scripture and Hearing God: There's a Difference!

Reading the Scriptures and hearing God are intimately related but are not the same. You can read/research the Scriptures as you would a textbook and report what you think it says (also start a new religion, cult, or denomination).

But that is not the same as hearing God communicate Truth to you concerning who he is and his love and care for you. Reading is what you do that produces information; hearing God is what he does that produces faith (to trust and pursue relationship with him through Christ). Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L12

Evolution: An Unsupported Theory Based in Personal Bias

Man's fallen human nature is predisposed to find explanation for his existence apart from a Creator, sometimes arriving at strange ideas that even science cannot support. The notion of evolution is "an illusion of knowledge" (insisting we know something when we really don't) based in theories ("strong hints" but without hard data) and personal bias.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L13

Grace: Abundant Provisions Available Through a Narrow Passage

Actually, the door to Heaven is very narrow, and few, Jesus said, go through it. Also, the door to health and happiness (the abundant life) is also narrow. Those who are energetic to find a more broad way will suffer loss.

Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction (This is the way that seems right but leads to death - Proverbs 14:12.), and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." - Matthew 7:13 (Excerpt from Sermon on the Mount)

"How hard it is for the rich (in personal resources) to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." - Luke 18:24-25

"I am the door," Jesus said. "Whoever enters through me will be saved." - John 10:9

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L14

Understanding Our Unhappiness

Unhappiness is our boredom and disappointment with the choices we make to meet our needs, which fill but do not satisfy, like a greasy meal. Only God's provisions never fail.

"Taste and see that the Lord is good." - Psalm 34:8

"For to me, to live is (to experience and manifest) Christ and to die is gain (to experience and manifest Christ even more)." - Philippians 1:21

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L19

The Power to Love Unconditionally: God's Gift to the World

Your ability to love those who are lovely, lovable, and loving (Gr. phileo: "brotherly love") is human. But the ability to love the unlovely, unlovable, and unloving (Gr. agape: "to value unconditionally") is not human. It is divine and possible only as Christ enables it through our experience of him.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L27

Preference for the Plain Preaching of the Past

The Gospel has its own power (the Holy Spirit). Preaching that depends on high-tech multimedia productions may excite (like a drug) but will not heal or set free from bondage.

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L28

Success for Going and Doing Supported by Waiting on God to Enable

Waiting is more critical to Scriptural obedience than going. (The Bible says more about waiting than it does about going.) Going and doing can be impulsive. But our enablement in service to others is supported by waiting on God to provide.

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall be renewed in strength." - Isaiah 40:31

Don Whisnant/The Grace Perspective 6L29

Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective

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