The Grace Perspective 2020
The Grace Perspective is excepts transcribed from Don's comments during sessions with groups and individuals, and may need more context for better understanding.
Week 53
Jesus did not have a personal need for status, to win, or to be prosperous, but came into the world in order to rescue us from the brokenness that came upon us because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L27
Our experience of Christ alone, living his Life in and through us, enables us to manifest him to others.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L28
The most hated Book in the world is also the most dearly loved by those who are renewed in their experience of Christ each day.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L29
No power on Earth, not conservative government, a booming economy, personal wealth, or even religion (religious posturing), has power to heal our brokenness or to prevail against evil in the world. Christ alone, living his Life in and through us in the coming New Year, has power to heal and make happy.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L30
We ask for love, God gives us Christ. We ask for joy, God gives us Christ. We ask for peace, God gives us Christ. God does not give love, joy, and peace, but the Seed for us to receive that produces them.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L31
Our best hope for health and happiness in the New Year is to open our heart to receive God’s Plan for our life.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A01
The Lord is watching us (Proverbs 5:21), but mostly he is watching over us (Psalm 1:6).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 21A02
Week 52
Every day God renews his Call within us to hear and experience him by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture so that we are supported for living out his Will for our life without wavering.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L20
The best gift we can give others is a healthy us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L21
Gifts at Christmas to meet fun needs will soon disappoint and be forgotten, but gifts that support us for making wise choice that increase us in health and holiness will keep on giving throughout the year.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L22
God expresses his Love for us by giving; we express our Love for him by receiving.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L23
Hearing
about Christ is surpassed by our experience of him in our heart during our
quiet time worship.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L24
Hustle and
bustle is shut down in
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L25
Our celebration of God’s Gift of Christ begins (not ends) on Christmas Day – the same as we celebrate the birth of a child more than we do the expectancy.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L26
Week 51
Pleading with God to give us good outcomes apart from our experience of Christ to live his Life in and through us is nonsense – the same as pleading with God to satisfy our hunger and thirst without eating the food and drinking the water he provides.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L13
Christ came into the world, not to be served, but in order to make possible our salvation
- for going to Heaven
(justification) and also
- to establish us in
health, holiness, and happiness (sanctification).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L14
Grace Resources do not support us for working on our self but for learning how to experience Christ who works within us to make us useful to God as vessels for his Redemptive Work in the world
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L15
During the Christmas Season, we celebrate God’s Gift of Christ to us, not by giving gifts to him (except ourself), but by giving gifts to others that support them for making wise choices that increase health, including holiness (purity and usefulness to God for his Redemptive Work in the world).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L16
Scriptural obedience is not giving sacrificially to others out of our brokenness but receiving support from God for our healing.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L17
Health, happiness, and holiness (Christlikeness) do not maintain themselves, but are renewed in us each day by our experience of Christ.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L18
Darkness cannot prevail in the world except in the absence of Christ living his Life in and through the Body of Christ to manifest his Light.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L19
Week 50
Sacrificial giving to the church is a religious hoax.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L06
We do not give to God, except ourself (an open heart), but receive from him support we give to others.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L07
We do not sell support we have been freely given.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L08
God communicates Truth to us by the Holy Spirit and then calls us to open our heart to the Scripture each day in order to receive/hear it.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L09
We do not teach Truth but share with others Truth the Holy Spirit teaches us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L10
We receive from God, not salvation, but Christ, his Blood/death and Resurrected Life – the same as we receive, not hydration, but water. There is a difference.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L11
We glorify God, not by applauding him (“Give God a praise!” says the tv preacher), but by manifesting the Likeness of Christ into a dark world.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L12
Week 49
We are supported for good health by a strong immune system – which means, we don’t really catch colds; rather, they catch us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K29
Christ, living his Life within us, fixes what’s wrong in our heart (mind, emotions, and will) so that we are made right.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K30
God identifies for us the wise choice we should make and calls us to the resources that support us for making them.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L01
We can receive from God only what he gives.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L02
God prepares us in advance for the work he calls us to do (Ephesians 2:9-10).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L03
Every good outcome for our life begins with our experience of Christ - his Resurrected Life to live within our heart.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L04
Evil plots, schemes, and scams; God provides, serves, and supports.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L05
Week 48
Our experience of Heaven, both here and when there, will be clean, safe, and beautiful.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K22
God does not circumvent the outcome of our wrong choices, but makes certain the blessings of health and happiness to all who receive his Provisions of Grace for our healing.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K23
God gives us ears to hear Truth and raises up ministries through whom he communicates it.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K24
God accomplishes his Redemptive Plan in the world through surrendered vessels.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K25
The humble vessel is much when God uses it.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K26
We cannot rescue people who reject God’s Provisions for their healing.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K27
No sin can prevail against God’s Provisions for our healing, except the sin of rejection.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K28
Week 47
Our experience of Heaven begins in this life when we give Christ opportunity to live within our heart.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K15
Support from God to meet our needs flows unconditionally from him to the door of our heart for us to receive.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K16
We will have better by receiving what God provides to meet our needs than by striving for what we think we want.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K17
We are not followers of Christ trying to be like him, but vessels through whom he lives to manifest his Likeness into the world.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K18
We do not work for God; rather he works in us and through us to accomplish his Redemptive Purpose in the world.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K19
We do not serve God; rather, he serves us and others through us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K20
Religious performance to earn God’s “blessings” will have a disappointing outcome and will also break our health.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K21
Week 46
We don’t lose time to read the Scripture in the morning, but gain strength to support increased productivity during our day.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K08
Knowledge of information is not the same as Conviction of Truth produced in us by the Holy Spirit during our quiet time to read the Scripture.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K09
Information (reading books) increases our knowledge (gnosis) about God, but our experience (epignosis) of Christ increases our Conviction of Truth.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K10
Rules and
Regulations to enforce good behavior are for broken people living in a broken
world. In Heaven, Rules and Regulations are not needed - both when there and
because of our experience of it now within our heart.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K11
We vote either
1) to protect our addictions or 2) to protect our freedoms to make choices that
increase health.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K12
We grieve
more for the absence of Christ in the Church than for the presence of socialism
in
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K13
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20K14
Week 45
Before the beginning of time, God chose to give us Life by sowing his Life (Christ) into us (John 1: 4; Romans 5:17; Ephesians 1:4; James 1:17-18) so that we reign in health and happiness and holiness (Christlikeness and usefulness to God as vessels for his Redemptive Work in the world).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L01
We can know that the choices we make are from God because they result in health, holiness, and happiness.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective
20L0
Family and friends support our need to feel valuable. Our experience of Christ during our quiet time worship supports our greatest need for confidence that we are unconditionally valued by God.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L03
The capacity we are born with to love others is conditional (give-and-take love). Christ’s Love in us for others is unconditional, not based upon who they are, but upon who Christ is in us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L04
We are
grieved today by
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L05
Resource supports in the world may change “like shifting shadows” but God does not change (James 1: 17).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L06
Socialism
in
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20L07
Week 44
God
accomplishes his purpose in the world through the Laws he ordained to govern
creation, including the Law of Sowing and Reaping (Cause and Effect).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J25
We are not controlled by God like puppets on a string but as vessels through whom Christ lives to manifest his Light/Likeness (his Glory) into a dark world.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J2
Mankind was created in the Image of God but we fell into darkness when Adam disobeyed in the Garden of Eden. God’s Light is restored in man when we (our spirit) is Born Again. Also, we once again begin to manifest God’s Image as we (our heart/soul: mind, emotions, and will) experience Christ (his Resurrected Life) during our quiet time worship.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J27
Our inborn need for significance is met by our experience of Christ, living his Life in and through us, so that we do not need to chase after the approval of the world
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J28
The solution to every problem a Christian has begins with learning how to be renewed each day by our experience of Christ (2 Peter 1:3-4).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J29
Every choice we make that is enabled by Christ will be redemptive – that is, it will support our health, holiness, and happiness.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J30
We are motivated for the choices we make either by the ruler of the kingdom of the air (the god of this world) or by Christ living his Life in and through us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J31
Week 43
At the Place of Exchange (Prayer), we receive Provisions from God which establish us in health and happiness (including holiness).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J18
God’s Provisions fully satisfy our heart so that we are not bored or need fun and entertainment to ease the pain of our unhappiness.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J19
The pleasures of sin last only for a season, but the Water of Life from the Well of God’s Provisions runs deep and fully satisfies.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J20
God does not have a set time to “call us home.” Our length of time on Earth is the result of our obedience to receive God’s Provisions of Grace into our life which support health and long life (Romans 5:17).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J21
Christ alone, living his Life within us, is our certain hope for holiness (Colossians 1:27). Performance Christianity (churchianity), motivated by religious rules, the expectation of others, guilt (because of all Christ has done for us), fear (of God’s judgment), and pride (desire to be a Champion for Christ) will wear us out.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J22
We should not expect to be happy clappy in Heaven (because we are bored), but to be in deep awe of Christ
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J23
The burdens
we bear, because of
- the weakness of our
will,
- the willfulness of
our ways,
- the weight of our
work,
- the worry in our
mind,
- the waywardness of
our children,
- the wickedness in our
heart, and
- the warring in the
world,
are lifted
at
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J24
Week 42
Evil wages violent war against righteousness. We wage war against evil when we take time each day to read the Scripture in order to hear and experience Christ in order to manifest his Presence into a dark world.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J1
Eternal Life is God’s Gift to everyone who trusts Christ’s death on the cross as the only Payment he will accept to satisfy his Judgment against the human race because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J12
We don’t do God’s Will; rather he accomplishes his Will in and through us – this so that no one can boast.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J13
We don’t do God’s work; rather he does his Work in and through us
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J14
God calls us to take care of our health and our family and then to trust him to take care of his Work - this so that we don’t become so busy doing good that we lose our home and ministry.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J15
We connect to others who are a Resource to us (to support our Redemptive needs) or to whom we are a Resource.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J16
A codependency relationship is two broken people using each other for superficial pain relief.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J17
Week 41
We hear sounds with our natural ears but understand Truth with spiritual ears (understanding) which God gives us (1 Corinthians 2:9-10; Ephesians 1:7,8,18; 2 Timothy 4:3; Matthew 11:15).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J04
Giving is for healthy people. Receiving is for broken people.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J05
The giving God calls broken people to is to give them self, to open the door of their heart to receive his Provisions of Grace, beginning with Christ (Romans 5:17; 2 Corinthians 8:5).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J06
We don’t give our way to health, we receive our way to health.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J07
The best gift we can give to our wife, children, and church is a healthy husband, parent, and pastor.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J08
God gives us Eternal Life (John 3:16) and secures it by his Power (1 Peter 1:5) so that we cannot lose it. God also gives us Provisions of Grace to support our good health (Romans 5:17) and calls us to maintain it lest we lose it (Galatians 6:7-8; Romans 8:12-13).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J0
Someone else will always have nicer things than we do, but no one can have a better God
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J10
Week 40
We do not teach Truth to others but
share Truth with them which God is teaching us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I27
Americans vote either to protect their immoral lifestyles or to protect the Scriptural values of our Founding Fathers
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I28
Wishful thinking is not the same as conviction of Truth (faith) produced in us by the Holy Spirit.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I29
Our experience to be filled with the Presence of Christ living within our heart (mind, emotions, and will) has power to sustain us in health and happiness (Colossians 1:27; 2 Peter 1:3-4) so that we are not left with only our feel good, happy clappy experiences at church to support us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I30
The Life of Christ living within us is “like the working of God’s mighty power which he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead” (Ephesians 1:19-20).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J01
Christ (God’s Power) is always at work within everyone who opens the door of their heart to receive it (Romans 8:28; Ephesians 1:19).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J02
Prayer is not hard work which we do (a performance), but the work which the Holy Spirit does in, through, and for us (Romans 8:26).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20J03
Week 39
We are not made holy by reading the Scripture (the Written Word), but by our experience of Christ (the Living Word).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I20
We do not really die to sin; rather, Christ, living his Life within us, puts sin within us to death.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I21
We do not love others as Christ does; rather, we experience his Love in us for them.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I22
Worshipping God is not what we do but our experience of what Christ does.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I23
During out quiet time, God’s calls us first to make choices that increase our health, and then he calls us to connect to his Resources that support us for making those choices.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I24
Darkness is not really the result of the presence of evil in the world but of the absence of the Light of Christ in the Church.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I25
We do not give, but receive, our way to health per Matthew 11:28-30.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I26
Week 38
We’d rather be broken and have a solution for it than to be broken and not know it.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I13
God has no unmet need for us to make him happy. The goal of his care for us is to support us for making choices that result in our health (holiness) and happiness.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I14
The Holy Spirit does not interrogate or intimidate us but reasons with us to encourage us to make wise choices
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I15
We have Provisions from God to support our life, not because he wants us to have them, or because he has promised to give them to us, or because we want them or need them, or even because we ask (plead) for them, but because we take time each day to receive them.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I16
We have opportunity to receive Christ when he is at the door calling to us (knocking) per Revelation 3:20 – which he does during our quiet time to read the Scripture. (“Seek the Lord while he may be found.”– Isaiah 55:6)
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I17
God created us with the capacity to experience the benefit of eating food and drinking water, of exercise and breathing oxygen, of relationship with family and friends, and also of intimacy in romance. He also created us with the capacity to experience him.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I18
God created one race and two genders; but after the fall of Adam, he separated mankind (Genesis 11:1-9) so that, while it remained two genders, it became divided by race, color, and nationality – each equally and unconditionally valued by God and for whom he gave his Son to die so that whoever trusts in him will not perish but be spiritually birthed into his family and have everlasting life.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I19
Week 37
God chooses per Galatians 6:9 for outcomes in our life to normatively be according to the seed we sow (choices we make). But he also chooses to intervene in the life of the weakest among us to protect us from adverse people and circumstances and also from making foolish choices that would destroy us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I06
God produces in our heart “both the desire and strength to do according to his Will” (Philippians 2:13) so that we are not left with only religious rules and our best self-effort for strength to live the Christian life.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I07
As we take time to be renewed by our experience of Christ during our quiet-time worship each day, it increasingly becomes our confidence that he is right now, by the Might of his Power, at work within us to accomplish his Redemptive Purpose for our life (Romans 8:28; Ephesians 1:11, 19).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I08
Prayer of Faith: “Dear Lord, I open my
heart to you again today to receive from you the Flow of your Life
into my heart (per John 4:14) to renew me for Christlikeness and for
the Redemptive Work you are doing through me in the world.”
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I09
Whatever we need from God to support our health and happiness, we will need to be renewed in it everyday. (“Give us this day our daily bread” - Matthew 6:9-11.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I10
We best express our love for God by opening the door of our heart to receive him, his Provisions of Grace, and also his leadership resources for our life.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I11
Husbands best express their love for their wife by giving her a healthy husband. Parents best express their love for their children by giving them a healthy mom and dad.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I12
Week 36
To know Christ in the Scriptural sense means more than to know (“gnosis”) who he is or to have information about him; rather, it means to experience him (“epignosis”) in the way we can experience water, food, sunshine, or oxygen (to be supported by them).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H30
Without our experience to be renewed by Christ each day, we are left exposed to the enmity of Satan, the world, and our fallen human nature.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H31
Self-righteousness is not thinking we are righteous but trying to be righteous without Christ.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H01
Our understanding of Truth is not supported by the books we read, but by the Work of the Holy Spirit to teach us during our quiet time each day as we read the Scripture.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I02
God is good, not because we possess the things we want that we think he has given us, but because he has provided for us to receive everything we need (Provisions of Grace) to support our health.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I03
The Mercy of God and the Grace of God are not the same. God’s Grace (Provisions of Grace) flows from his Mercy to provide a way for the outcome of our wrong choices to be forgiven (removed) and for us to be recovered to health.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I04
Grace does not give our wrong choices a pass, but supports us for making wise choices. Grace is one of the most misunderstood words in the Bible (along with the words glorify, praise, worship, faith, prayer, love, sin, and forgiveness).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20I05
Week 35
As we are renewed by Christ each day during our quiet time to read the Scripture, we are increased in our confidence that, regardless of any adversity, God is right now at this time and in this place accomplishing his Redemptive Plan for our life
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective
20H23
Christ alone, living his Life in and through us, has per to produce in us the Righteousness of God (1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 3:20).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H24
Self righteousness is not thinking we are righteous but depending on our own strength to be righteous.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H25
One day without experiencing Christ makes one weak.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H2
The more we experience Christ, the more we are saddened by our brokenness and failures, but also, the more we are made happy by the Might of his Power to recover us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H27
Wellness is not the absence of sickness but the presence of God’s Provisions in our life to establish us in health.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H28
Our health is supported by what we include in our life that helps more than by what we exclude from our life that harms.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H29
Week 34
Bible study to learn what the Bible says is not the same as reading the Bible during our quiet-time in order to hear and experience Christ (worship).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H16
Bible study informs us, enlightens us, and delights us. Reading the Scripture during our early morning quiet time to experience Christ produces in us the 9-Fold Fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-34) and also Wisdom and Righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H17
Codependency is two broken people exchanging favors to make each other happy. Christ, living his Life in and through us, supports us to invest in the health needs of others in order to set them free and without expectation of return.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H18
We confess our brokenness because we have a Solution.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H19
The Solution to our brokenness is, not working on ourself, but Christ living within us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H20
Light is powerful to dispel the darkness in a room but does not penetrate closed doors.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H21
Truth speaks quietly to open hearts and minds.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H22
Week 33
God gives us strength for our life, not because we “ask/beg” him for it, but because we open the door of our heart to Christ each day in order to be renewed by his Life (Revelation 3:20).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H09
The Heart of Christ living within us enables us to forgive (withhold punishment for offenses against us, and also to minister to the brokenness at the root of the offenses).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H10
The Heart of Christ within us supports us for what we say to broken and hurting people, and particularly how we say it.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H11
Christ lives his Life in us to support us for making choices that heal our brokenness, and lives his Life through us so that we are supported for investing in the Redemptive (health and healing) needs of others.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H12
We experience Christ, not through our membership in the local church, but by our immersion into spiritual union with him, and also by him living his Life in us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H13
We will have the ultimate “Woke” experience when we get to Heaven to learn that what we thought was most important here on Earth (making money and having fun) was really only superficial.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H14
God’s foreknowledge is not causative. That means, God does not give us a number to die so that when it is up, like at the DMV, it will be our time. But we can determine for ourself when our time has come by stepping in front of a bus. Or, we can take time each day to receive God’s Provisions of Grace to support our health (diet, exercise, lifestyle, and supplementation) so that we can live to an old age (Romans 5:17).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H15
Week 32
God’s Life (his Provisions of Grace) will never diminish or disappoint but will always accomplish the purpose (health and happiness) for which he gives it (Isaiah 55:11; Romans 5:17; 2 Peter 1:3-4). “He himself will deliver us from all our troubles” (Psalms 130:8).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H02
Religious rule-keeping is not the same as experiencing Christ. The one wears us out and breaks us down (Matthew 11:28-30); the other builds us up and “gives us everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3-4).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H03
We can not choose to have faith, or to love, or to have joy and peace, but only to open the door of our heart to experience Christ - the same as we cannot choose to be hydrated but only to drink water.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H04
Christ lives his Life
- in us to heal our heart (Romans 8:11) and
- through us to enable our Redemptive service to others (2 Corinthians 3:6).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H05
The door of a good life swings on the hinges of a right theology.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective
20H06
God communicates Truth to us through the Scripture and also opens the ears of our heart to hear it (Matthew 11:15; Ephesians 1:18) - so that our beliefs are not based upon foolish notions (1 Corinthians chapter 2).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H07
Our confession of brokenness, inadequacy, and need for God opens the door to him for the work he wants to do in, for, and through us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H08
Week 31
There are three aspects of salvation:
- the first, for
which Christ died, is justification, a past, one-time event which
we cannot lose;
- the second, for
which he was resurrected to live within us by the Holy Spirit, is sanctification,
a present, ongoing process which we can lose, and
- the third, for
which he will return at the Rapture to resurrect us, is glorification,
a future, one-time event which is certain.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G26
God justifies and reconciles to him everyone who trusts in the Blood/death of Christ on the cross as the only Payment he will accept to satisfy his Judgment against mankind because of “the one man’s (Adam’s) disobedience” in the Garden of Eden (Roman 5:12-19).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G27
Christ died for our sins – not “for” in the sense of “because of” our sinful behavior, but in the sense of “in order to” save us from the judgment against us because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden (Romans 5 12-19).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G28
The Bible word “sin” can mean the behavior of sin (any choice we make that disregards God’s Provisions to meet our redemptive needs), or it can mean the condition of sin (our sinful nature), the root cause of the behavior of sin.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G29
Repentance (metanoia) is a noun, not a verb (what we do). It does not mean to give up our bad behavior, but is the “change of mind” produced in us by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture concerning Truth.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G30
The only behavior of sin we “give up” that is required for our justification and reconciliation to God (the first aspect of our salvation) so that we will go to Heaven is the sin of trusting in the “religious works which we have done” in order to have Eternal Life.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G31
The choice to “give up or turn away from” the behavior of sin is Conversion (a 180 degree turn) – which is produced in us by Repentance (change of mind), which is produced in us by Faith (conviction of Truth), which is produced in us by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture.
“How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation” (Hebrews 2:3).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20H01
Week
30
Man runs from his salvation (John 5:40; Romans 7:14-25), but our experience of Christ transforms our desires so that we seek God (his Provisions of Grace to support our health).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G19
Our experience of Christ sanctifies our desires so that they are according to God’s Will.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G20
God provides for our needs, not to buy or control us, but to set us free.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G21
It is God’s Sovereign Plan for outcomes in our life to be the result of our choices according to his Law of Sowing and Reaping (Cause of Effect) per Galatians 6:7-9.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G22
We are in the world, but not of the world (John 15:19; 17:14-16).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G23
God meets our Redemptive needs through our connection to his Resources, beginning with Christ (Matthew 11:28-30; John 15:4-7).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G24
We can protect our health by shielding ourself from exposure to adverse elements. But mostly our health is protected by our connection to God’s Resources through which his Provisions flow into our life to support us.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G25
Week 29
Evil is never satisfied. Righteousness delights in God.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G12
Accommodating the demands of angry behavior will not help.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G13
Rules without relationship result in brokenness and rebellion.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G14
Our experience of Christ to be renewed in us daily is our only hope to be like him.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G15
Christ, living within us, enables us to Love the Father (his Person, his Presence, and his Provisions), and also ourself and others.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G16
Christ, living his Life in and through us, sets us free from panic, pride, perfectionism, and pettiness.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G17
We have from God what we take time to receive from him.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G18
Week 28
Christ lives his Life in us so that he can live his Life through us into a dark world.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G05
Obedience to God begins with “coming and receiving” his Provisions of Grace.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G06
We express our love for God by taking time each day to receive his Provisions of Grace to support us.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20G07
The world can fascinate and may fill, but can not satisfy or heal.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G08
It is not possible to have better than what Christ provides.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G09
We can ruin our health and finances chasing after fun trying to outrun our unhappiness.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G10
Christ makes us happy so that we are not left with only the world to manage our pain.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G11
Week 27
We can know that what we have is from God because it is redemptive (supports good health and happiness).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F28
Prayer is not trying hard (pleading, begging, and bargaining) to get from God what we want, but receiving his Provisions of Grace to meet our Redemptive (health) needs, beginning with Christ to live within our heart.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F29
Misbehavior is rooted in unmet nutritional needs, psychological needs (information, affection, and structure), and especially the need to experience Christ.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F30
God calls law enforcement to pound on bad behavior. He calls the Church to minister to the brokenness of hurting people.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G01
God hates sin, but speaks Truth in Love to sinners (1 Corinthians 13:6; Ephesians 4:15).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G02
Man is born with a heart prone to strife, discord, and hatred Galatians 5:19-21, but the heart of Christ living within us transforms us to love (value) every person unconditionally.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G03
In a broken world, leadership in the home, church, and government is imperfect. But Christ, living his life in and through us, perfects us so that we are increasingly made competent for the work he calls us to do (2 Corinthians 3:6).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20G04
Week 26
We do not have from God what he gives but what we take time each day to receive from him.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F21
Good health is not a reward from God because of our religious performances to make him happy, but the sowing and reaping outcome of the wise choices we make each day for diet, exercise, lifestyle, and supplementation.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F22
Christ is “made unto us Wisdom from God” (1 Corinthians 1:30) and enables us to make wise choices.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F23
The moment we trust in Christ’s death on the cross for us as our only hope for going to Heaven, the Holy Spirit imparts God’s Life into our dead spirit (so that we are spiritually born again into the family of God). When we take extended time each day for reading the Scripture, confession of need, and quiet time worship (per John 15:4-5), the Holy Spirit imparts God’s Life into our heart/soul: mind, emotions, and will (so that we can be healed from our brokenness).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F24
The experience of our spirit to be born again is the basis for our going to Heaven. The experience of our heart (soul: mind, emotions, and will) to be filled with Christ is the basis of our health, happiness, and holiness.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F25
The born again experience of our spirit is a one-time event, but the experience of our heart (soul: mind, emotions, and will) to be renewed by the Resurrected Life of Christ each day per Ephesians 3:19 and 4:13 is an ongoing process.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F26
Fathers represent the Law (its giving and enforcement) in the home; mothers represent the Church for ministry to support obedience.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F27
Week 25
Fathers, husbands, and pastors celebrate Father’s Day (“Leadership Day”) by giving (support to those they serve). Children, wives, and members of the church celebrate Father’s Day by receiving (the support given).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F14
Satan enters the darkness to agitate and tear down in order to seize control, but Christ ministers Life into the brokenness, wherever it is found, in order to recover health.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F15
God will not deny Support for our healing, health, and happiness when we open the door of our heart to receive his Provisions of Grace (Psalms 138:3; Matthew 11:28-30; John 6:37; Romans 5:17).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F17
One person can open the door for the entrance of Christ into his or her life, also into a church, home, business, organization, community, or nation (Revelation 3:20).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F16
The sin that separates us from health and happiness is not our religious failure to behave like “good Christians,” but our neglect to receive God’s Provisions of Grace to support us (James 1:5-8; Hebrews 2:3; Romans 5:17).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F18
Evil is sustained during perilous times by hiding in the darkness. But we are sustained by remaining connected to Christ (John 15:5) in order to experience his Life - against which evil cannot prevail.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F19
Satan enters hurting people in order to do evil (to steal and destroy). But God enters hurting people in order to produce in them the Life of Christ so that they are supported for health and happiness.
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20F20
Week 24
It is the
role of government to protect life and liberty, and the role of the Church to
minister to the brokenness at the root of disorder.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F07
Anarchy can
be the acting out of embedded evil, but always the result of unmet needs,
especially of fatherless and motherless boys and girls.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F08
Ministry to
broken behavior is patient and kind; but compromise with evil invites mores
anger and disorder.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F09
The
“unpardonable sin” (blasphemy) is the resolute rejection by a person of God’s Provisions
of Grace (in Creation, Community, and especially Christ) to support their
health – with the result that God gives them over to broken health and death
(Matthew 12:31-32; Romans 1:24).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F10
“Forgiveness”
by members of the Body of Christ, the Church (not government) means 1) to
withhold punishment and 2) to minister to the brokenness at the core of the
broken behavior, even if the offending person repeats the offense or does not
apologize (Matthew 18:21-22).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F11
Asking God
for forgiveness means to receive his Provisions for our healing. Asking others
to forgive us means to receive their ministry support for our healing.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F12
Judgment
preaching never helped anyone. Identifying bad behavior to condemn it to Hell
does not support healing or recovery. Support to hurting people for learning
how to experience Christ is alone the hope of ministry for broken people to be recovered
(Colossians 1:27).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F13
Week
23
God meets
our healing needs, beginning when we open the door of our heart during our
quiet time in order to experience Christ (his Resurrected Life – Romans 8:11).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E31
Christ comes
into our heart, not to control us, but to support us for making wise choices
that set us free (1 Corinthians 1:30; John 8:36).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F01
Christ is
King, but in this Age of Grace, he relates to us as a Husband to his Bride, to
support our needs for health and happiness (Ephesians 5:22-33).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F02
Government
is not the Church and its leaders are not pastors. God has ordained government
as his agent to punish lawbreakers (Romans 13:1-5) and the Church to minister
to the brokenness of hurting, angry people.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F03
Law
enforcement, without the experience of a ministering Church to care for hurting
people, feels like oppression.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F04
Protest by
hurting people is not evil, but when brokenness is not ministered to by the
Church, it opens the door to demonic influence.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F05
Enslavement
breeds anger and hatred. But usefulness to God as a free vessel for his
redemptive work in the world is a privilege and joy.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20F06
Week
22
We don’t
give to God; rather, he gives to us.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E24
We receive
from God in order to be supported for giving to others (2 Corinthians 9:8).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E25
God
expresses his Love for us by giving; we express our Love for him by receiving.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E26
God’s
Provisions of Grace are effectual to support health and happiness for everyone
who receives them.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E27
God created
us, not because he was lonely and wanted to experience people, but because he
wanted us to have the opportunity to experience him.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E28
We have
opportunity in this life to experience Heaven on Earth (Matthew 6:10).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E29
Our
experience of Christ is the greatest experience of our sanctified heart here
now on Earth (Ephesians 3:16-19), the same as it will be the greatest
experience of our glorified heart in Heaven.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E30
Week
21
God calls
members of the Church to assemble together (Hebrews 10:25), not as a religious
performance in order to win his favor, but for the purpose of
- learning what the
Bible says about God’s relationship to us and his Will for our life
(instructions in righteousness), including for being a witness for Christ
and sharing the Gospel with others - at home, in the Church, and in the
community (Matthew 28:18-20),
- fellowship (koinonia: “mutual burden bearing”)
with other Christians,
- singing psalms, hymns,
and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19), but especially for the
purpose of
- receiving support for
learning how to experience Christ each day in personal quiet-time worship
(through reading the Scripture, confession of brokenness and need for God,
and prayer).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E17
The word
“prayer” means “place of exchange” where we exchange our will for God’s Will.
The word “asking” in the Bible (Matthew 7:7) means to receive – the same
as opening a door to someone means to invite them in (Revelation 3:20).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E18
God calls us
to remain connected to him (“abide in him” per John 15:5). When we do not, he does not chase after
us, but remains faithful to provide Support when we return to him (Luke
15:11-24).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E19
God created
us with a free will to make wise choices for diet, exercise, lifestyle, and
supplementation (DELS), and he also supports us for making those choices
through our connection to his Resources in Creation, Community, and especially
Christ. This is the meaning of “according to the Plan of him who works out
everything in conformity with the purpose of his Will” (Ephesians 1:11).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E20
God has
ordained his scientific Law of Sowing and Reaping (Cause and Effect) to govern
outcomes in our life (Galatians 6:7-9).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E21
Every choice
we make, whether redemptive (healing) or reckless (harmful), supports us for
making another choice just like it.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E22
God has
provided support to us through the Holy Spirit and the Scripture, and
especially through Christ (his Resurrected Life to live within our heart), for
doing everything he calls us to do (John 15:5; 2 Peter 1:3) so that we do not become
overburdened and broken (John 15:1-8; Matthew 11:28-30).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E23
Week
20
God has
provided everything he wants us to have and has brought it to the door of our
heart for us to receive - beginning
with Christ.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E10
Vaccines and
behavior modifications can help protect our health. But the foundation of our
health is our experience of Christ.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E11
Our trust in
the Blood/death of Christ on the cross for us and our experience of his
Resurrected Life living within us secures our
- justification (our freedom from
God’s Judgment against us because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of
Eden – Romans 5:12-19),
- regeneration (our spiritual new
birth into the family of God), and also
- sanctification (the mental, emotional,
and volitional healing of our heart).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E12
God does not
pick and choose who among us goes to Heaven or who is healthy and happy, but
promises health and happiness and eternal life to whoever receives his
Provisions of Grace, beginning with Christ (the Wisdom of God - 2 Corinthians
1:31), who supports us for making wise choices that result in good outcomes
consistent with his scientific Law of Sowing and Reaping (Galatians 6:7-9). See
also Ephesians 1:19 and James 1:5-8.
“If you live according to the desires of your
sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds
of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E13
The journey
to recovered health and happiness begins with taking time each morning to read
the Scripture in order to hear and experience Christ for support to make wise
(redemptive) choices.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E14
The
Christian life is hard only when we attempt to live it in our own strength.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E15
Our only
hope to be like Christ is for him to live his Life in and through us - which he
promises to do as we take time each day for quiet time worship in order to
experience him.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E16
Week
19
We are
recovered from brokenness and failure through our
- confession of need and
- commitment to
following Christ.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E03
“Thanks be
to God who gives us the victory (over fear, sadness, sinfulness, pain, and
suffering) through (our surrender each day to make) Jesus Christ our Lord.” – 1
Corinthians 15:57
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E04
God calls us
to Holiness (purity and usefulness to him as a vessel for his Redemptive
Work in the world).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E05
Happiness is the promised outcome of
our purity and usefulness to God as a vessel for his Redemptive Work in the
world.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E06
God provides
support for our healing
- through our connection
to receive from his Resources (beginning with Christ per
John 15:5 and 2 Peter 1:3),
- to everyone,
- without picking and
choosing who is worthy (“finding fault” – James 1:5).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E07
During our
Quiet-Time Worship to read the Scripture, we
- confess our brokenness and
need for God,
- receive from him the flow of
his Life into our heart to guide and support us for making wise decisions,
and
- trust him for the outcomes
in our life according to as he has Promised.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E08
During our
extended quiet time to patiently read the Scripture,
- the Holy Spirit
reveals Truth to our understanding, so that
- we grieve
because of our brokenness, but also rejoice because of God’s
Goodness and Faithfulness to recover us.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20E09
Week
18
Nothing
that supports our health and happiness is missing from God’s Provisions of
Grace.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D26
Good health
is not
- a reward from God
because of our behavior to make him happy, or
- because “he is in
control” and produces outcomes in our life for sovereign reasons that are not
for us to know, or
- the result of
astrological forces (our lucky stars, for example) over which we have no
control,
but is the promised
result of us making wise choices each day to connect to his Resources in
Creation, Community, and Christ (per John 15:5) through which his Provisions of
Grace flow into our life.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D27
God is in
control in the sense that he predestined (pre-determined) in Eternity before
the creation of the world that outcomes in our life would be governed (with
merciful exceptions) by his Law of Sowing and Reaping (Cause and Effect).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D28
We can
protect our health by social distancing and wearing a mask so that we do not
put ourself at risk to harmful elements. But we best protect our health by
making wise choices each day for diet, exercise, lifestyle behavior, and
supplementation that increase our immune systems so that we do not become sick
– which means, we do not really catch colds (sickness); rather, they catch us.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D29
God removes
the outcome of our poor choices (the Scriptural meaning of forgiveness) when we have had a change of mind (the Scriptural
meaning of repentance) so that we
don’t continue to make those choices (the Scriptural meaning of conversion).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D30
To “glorify”
God does not mean to applaud him as we would an authoritarian in order to stay
out of trouble with him, or to make him happy with hopes of maybe receiving a
reward; rather it means to manifest his Light (his Likeness produced in us by
the Holy Spirit during our quiet-time worship) into a dark world – the same as
the moon or a mirror reflects the light of the sun.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20501
More
important than a booming economy (which can call us away from God and undermine
good health) is a renewal of love for Christ in
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20502
Week
17
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D19
God allows
man, when he disregards God’s Provisions, to invent his own ways to manage his
pain and suffering. But he also offers to us, for us to receive,
everything we need so that we don’t become sick.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D20
Our
experience of Christ is not mystical (positive thinking), but organic – the
same as our benefit of an orange is not by just thinking positive about it but
by eating it.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D21
We can
research to know everything there is to know about an orange, admire its
beauty, and write and talk about it to others, but still remain sick. Or we can
take time each day to eat it in order to be supported for health by it.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D22
Wealth does
not always support health but often enables us to make choices that barricade
us from God.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D23
The god to
whom the religious world pleads for relief from suffering is not the God of the
Bible, but Satan, the god of this world (Ephesians 2:2) masquerading as an
angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), who has power (as God permits) to
superficially relieve man of his pain.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D24
The
foundation of our health and happiness is not the abundance of our possessions
(according to James 1:9-11), but our experience of being renewed by Christ each
day during our quiet-time worship in order to be supported for making wise
choices for diet (food choices), exercise, lifestyle, and vitamin and mineral
supplementation.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D25
Week
16
God’s Gift
of Christ, his Blood/death on the cross for us and his Resurrected Life living
within us, far outweighs in scope and power the evil that comes against us in a
dark world (Romans 5:17-20).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D12
God allows
adversity for the purpose of removing from our life what is not needed to
support his Redemptive Plan.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D13
Everything
God provides
- is redemptive (supports health and
happiness),
- is built upon (provided through) Christ, the
Rock (Matthew 7:24-27), and
- has eternal value (cannot die).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D14
God
provides
- food, water, and oxygen to support our
physical health,
- leadership relationships in the home and
Church to support our psychological (mental and emotional) health, and
especially
- Christ, the Living Bread (our Daily Bread –
Matthew 4:4) to live within our heart
- to support our experience of him (his
Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness,
and Temperance - Galatians 5:22-23), and also
- to support us for manifesting him
(his Likeness) into a dark world (the meaning of “to glorify” him).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D15
The life
God provides for us on the Rock
- is secured by our connection to his Abundant
Provisions of Grace and
- does not change in the storm (Matthew
7:24-27).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D16
God’s
purpose for his Goodness to us is to
- demonstrate his Care for us,
- call us to receive his Plan for our life
(Romans 2:4), and
- support us for redemptive service to others
(2 Corinthians 9:8).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D17
God
- provides for our needs,
- identifies for us his Resources (through which his Provisions flow into our
life) in
- Creation (elements in the soil and
atmosphere),
- Community (leadership relationships
in the home and Church), and especially
- Christ, and then
- calls us by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture to receive them
(Revelation 3:20).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D18
Week
15
Our
experience to be renewed to a fuller measure each day by God’s Abundant
Provisions of Grace, beginning with Christ, far outweighs in power the
brokenness of our sin (Ephesians 3:19; 4:13; Romans 5:9-10, 15-17).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D05
America’s
greatest need is not mostly for a good economy, or for conservative leadership
in government, or even for its churches to be filled to overflow on Sunday, but
for individual members of the Body of Christ, the Church, to take extended time
each morning for Scripture reading, confession of brokenness and need, and
personal quiet-time worship (per John 15:5) in order for our heart to be
renewed to a fuller measure of the Resurrected Life of Christ to live within us
and through us into a dark world.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D06
Adversity
does not make us strong but moves us to seek Christ who does.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D07
God
faithfully brings his Resources (Provisions of Grace) into our life, identifies
them to us, and then calls us to open our heart to receive them - with the
promise that we will never be disappointed with the outcomes they produce.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D08
God does not
sit at a super computer imposing his Will, but supports us for making wise choices
that set us free.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D09
Our experience of Christ living his
Life within us each day (per John 15:5 and Revelation 3:20) fills us
increasingly to the measure of the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19; 4:13), so
that the adversity of our fallen sinful nature (Galatians 5:19-21), Satan, and
the world do not prevail against us.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D10
Our life is
useful and our work has eternal value as God lives his Life through us to
accomplish his Redemptive Purpose in the world.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D11
Week
14
God
continues faithful at all times to be who he is and to do what he does - to
provide for us and to call us to receive him (his Provisions of Grace,
especially Christ) - so that the outcomes in our life will always be exactly
according to his Promises (Romans 8:28).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
God’s
Provisions of Grace flow faithfully, fully, and freely to each one of us for us
to receive, and far outweigh in power any adversity or brokenness in our life
(Romans 5:15-17; 8:38-39).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective
20C30
Sin is the
choices we make that disregard God’s Provisions of Grace to meet our needs.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C31
Sin is not
the choices we make that make us bad or God mad, but that make us sick.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D01
We are not
separated from God because we are too sinful, but because we have not received
his Provision of Christ’s Blood/death on the cross for our reconciliation.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D02
Sinful
choices separate us from God; God uses the outcome of our sinful choices to
call us back to him.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D03
We should
not expect God to intervene to remove from our life the adversity he is using
to call us to him.
Don Whisnant / The Grace
Perspective 20D04
Week
13
Faith is conviction of
Truth produced in us by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture concerning God’s
Redemptive Plan for our salvation - physically, psychologically, and eternally.
Don Whisnant / The Grace
Perspective 20C22
By his death
on the cross, Jesus suffered in full God’s wrath against sin, and gives us
opportunity to receive his Provisions of Grace to support our health and
happiness and going to Heaven.
Don Whisnant / The Grace
Perspective 20C23
God grieves
because of our suffering, and has brought Provisions of Grace to the door of
our heart for us to receive, beginning with Christ, to support our recovery.
Don Whisnant / The Grace
Perspective 20C24
Wisdom is the Mind of God
produced in us by Christ to support us for understanding Truth and for making
wise choices.
Don Whisnant / The Grace
Perspective 20C25
We can
manage behavior, but only God can heal brokenness.
Don Whisnant / The Grace
Perspective 20C26
We cannot
really change people, but only support them to receive the One who can.
Don Whisnant / The Grace
Perspective 20C27
We say with
love what God gives us to say, kindly make it clear what we mean, and then
trust him to make our words effectual seed to produce an outcome according to
his Will.
Don Whisnant / The Grace
Perspective 20C28
Week 12
Increased pestilences, danger, lawlessness, wickedness, earthquakes, and wars
will foreshadow the days Christ said would exist as we approach the end of the
Church Age (the Age of Grace), the Rapture, and the Second Coming.
Our
experience of the Heart of Christ living within us supports us to not be
reckless and foolish (tempt God, his Law of Sowing and Reaping), but to make
wise choices for our health and safety, and then to trust him for his
protection and watchcare according to Psalm 138:7-8, 139:5, and Psalm 91:
“The
LORD says, ‘Because he loves me (expressed by receiving God’s Provisions of Grace, beginning with
Christ during our quiet-time worship per Revelation 3:20 and John 15:5), I will
rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name (confesses and
receives who I am). He will call upon me (receive my Provisions of Grace), and
I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor
him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation’” (Psalm
91:14-16).
Don Whisnant / The Grace Perspective 20C16
Disease is not punishment from God, but the result of us living in a
broken world with a sinful body making unwise choices.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C17
God
surrounds us with his Love and Care (“hems us in and holds us fast” – Psalm
139:5, 10), but he allows into our life the adverse outcomes we choose to
expose ourself to (open the door of our life to), for the purpose of giving us
opportunity to recognize our brokenness, his faithfulness, and our need for
him.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C18
Christ
alone is the Rock upon which we have opportunity to build our life, home, and
business, so that, when the shaking comes to remove those things which are
built upon the sand (have no redemptive or eternal value), when nothing will be
left standing except that which cannot be shaken, the Rock and all that is
founded upon him will remain (Matthew 7:24-27, Hebrews 12:27, Psalm 46, Psalm
91).
“For no
other Foundation can be laid (to support health and happiness and eternal
wellbeing) except Christ (his Blood/death on the cross for us and his
Resurrected Life living within us” (I Corinthians 3:11).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C19
God created
- our physical body with the capacity to respond to (be supported by) the
nutritional elements we give it so that our biological needs are met, and
- our heart (soul: mind, emotions, and will) with the capacity to
respond to (be supported by) his leadership resources for our life in the
home and Church, and especially by the Resurrected Life of Christ so that
our information, affection, and decision-making needs are met, and
- our spirit with the capacity to respond to (be made alive by) the Holy
Spirit imparted to us when we trust his Gift of Christ’s Blood/death on
the cross for us so that our eternal need is met (for going to
Heaven).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C20
Our experience of Christ to a fuller measure each day (during our quiet-time
worship for reading the Scripture in order to hear God) renews us in faith and wisdom (conviction of Truth and the Mind of God), so that we are
supported for making wise choices which increase us in health, and so that, to
the one extreme, we are not arrogant, careless, and irresponsible, or, to the
other extreme, fear-stricken, downcast and disheartened, holed up and paralyzed
in our home under a bed.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C21
Week 11
Week 10
Week
9
God
communicates Truth to us by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture and produces
faith (conviction) in us to believe the Truth - this so that we are not left
with only notions and human reasoning to guide us.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
When the
Holy Spirit penetrates our heart with Truth, we both grieve and rejoice: Grieve
because of our brokenness and the brokenness of others, and rejoice because no
brokenness can prevail against the presence of God’s Provisions in our life to
heal us.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
We can be
filled with self (greed, fear, pride, and anger), worldliness, and even with
the influences of darkness, but no power can prevail against our experience of
being filled with the Spirit (Christ).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Living in a broken world
filled with broken people, we are subject to suffering and death. But where
brokenness abounds, God’s Provisions of Grace much more abound in power for us
to receive to bring healing and renewal (Romans 5:17, 20).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
God allows
adversity into our life for the purpose of calling us to receive him (his
Provisions of Grace), beginning with his Blood/death on the cross for us and
his Resurrected Life to live within us.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
We are wise
to isolate ourself from harmful elements in order to protect our health, but we
are most wise to make choices (for diet, exercise, lifestyle, and
supplementation) that increase our immunity, so that, no matter what comes
against us, we are supported.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Good
outcomes in our life are the result of us including into our life each day
God’s Provisions of Grace which produce those outcomes.
Don Whisnant / The Grace
Perspective 20C29
Week
8
Asking God
to intervene to circumvent the outcome of our unwise choices is like jumping
off a tall building and pleading with God to intervene to keep us safe.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Our
experience to be filled with the Life of Christ living within us will not
protect us from the attack against us of elements that cause sickness and
disease, but will support us for making wise choices that increase our immune
system.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Christ is
lifted up, not by our singing to him or applauding him, but by receiving his
Provisions of Grace, beginning with his Blood/death on the cross for us and his
Resurrected Life to live within us, and then commending him to others.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
God allows
adversity into our life for the purpose of giving us the opportunity to
- recognize our
brokenness and need for him,
- practice trusting him
(receive his Provisions of Grace for our healing), and
- experience the
promised outcome he gives.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
The sowing
and reaping (cause and effect) outcomes we suffer because of our unwise choices
will in time run their course according to God’s Redemptive purpose for our
life.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Money can
buy freedom to make choices that compound addictions. Christ, living his Life
within us per John 15:5, empowers us to make choices that establish us in
health.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
We can only
lose in a storm what God did not give.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Week
7
God does
not remove the storms he uses to call us to him, but he does allow man to
discover worldly ways to superficially circumvent the painful outcomes of their
waywardness to an eventual ruin – the same as clueless ants cluster around the
poisoned bait to their death and the death of their colony.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Everything
we have (all of our successes)
- for which God in
Heaven (not Satan, the god of this world) is the giver and explanation,
- that establishes us
in health and happiness, peace and joy,
- that is built upon
Christ the Rock,
- that has eternal
value,
- which God uses to
accomplishes his Redemptive purpose in the world,
cannot be
shaken and will remain unchanged during the storm (Matthew 7:24-27).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Everything
that comes to us from God increases us in health and happiness. That’s how we
know that what we have is from God.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
God’s
Redemptive Purpose is accomplished in the life of everyone who remains
connected to Christ per John 15:5 and far exceeds our worldly dreams and
ambitions (Ephesians 3:20).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D06
“No other
Foundation can be laid (to support health and happiness and eternal
wellbeing) except Christ (his Blood/death on the cross for us and his
Resurrected Life living within us).” - I Corinthians 3:11
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D10
Motivation
for religious performance can come from without – the call of
religious leaders to please God and people; our experience of the Heart of
Christ moves us from within to serve the redemptive needs of hurting
people.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20D11
God has
provided for us so that elements that would destroy us do not reign over us.
This means, we do not catch colds until they catch us.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Week
6
Our
obedience to receive God’s Provisions of Grace into our life can have no other
outcome but health and happiness (Romans 5:5).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Good
outcomes in our life (health and happiness) are not the result of God choosing
to “bless” us because we have made him happy, or because of reasons we don’t
know, except maybe that God is Sovereign and can do whatever he wants to do,
but because we have been responsive to him to include his Provisions of Grace
into our life per Romans 5:17.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Christ died
FOR our sins – “for” meaning in the sense of “in order to,” and not in the
sense of “because of.” This means Christ died in order to satisfy God’s judgment against us because of Adam’s
transgression in the Garden of Eden (not because of our specific sins) in order to make possible our
reconciliation to God and regeneration (new birth) so that we could be saved
(so that God could save us) from the brokenness and ruin of our sins.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
God sends
us into the world, not as know-it-all’s, but as servant vessels through whom he
communicates Truth to support others for learning how to experience him.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
The faith
through which we have our needs met from God supports us to receive into our
lives the Provisions of Grace he uses to meet those needs (Romans 5:17). That’s
the meaning of “For by Grace (God’s Provisions) are we saved through Faith
(obedience to receive his Provisions)” (Ephesians 2:8) and “Faith without works
(obedience to receive) is dead (does not exist)” (James
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
God did not
create man in order to experience us, but in order to give us an opportunity to
experience him.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Everything
God does in relationship to us is for the purpose of calling us to him.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Week
5
Confrontation
wins on the battlefield, but redemptive investment in the brokenness of hurting
people wins hearts for Christ.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Religion
will drive children away, but sharing our experience of Christ with them will
win their heart.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
God’s
Provisions of Grace has power to prevail against the brokenness of our unmet
needs.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A04
God’s Love,
living in and through us, purifies and empowers our romantic love (eros) for
our spouse, our storge love for our family, our phileo love for our neighbors,
and especially our love for God’s Provisions of Grace, beginning with Christ.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
God created Adam with perfect health, but also with a free will to
disregard God’s Plan for him which resulted in his spirit dying, and also his
heart (soul: mind, emotions, and will) and body being infected with disease and
death. But God’s Abundant Provisions of Grace far outweigh the power of the
results of disobedience so that sin and death cannot prevail to reign over us
(Romans 5:17).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
The
Blood/death of Christ on the cross for us, effectual (particularly) for everyone who
receives it (per John 1:12; Ephesians
1:19; 1 Timothy 4:10), has power to satisfy (cancel) and forgive (remove) God’s
judgment against us (because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden –
Romans 5:12-19). The Resurrected Life of
Christ, living within us,
effectual (particularly) for everyone who remains connected to him (through
quiet-time worship each day per John 15:5), has power to establish us in health
and happiness (Romans 8:11; 2 Peter 1:3-4).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
The Work of
the Holy Spirit is to unfold the meaning of Scripture to our mind (John 14:26;
16:13; 1 John 3:24) and to also give us conviction (faith) concerning it
(Romans 10:17), so that we do not need to wonder if what we believe is Truth.
“Mansplaining” is nonsense; so is “womansplaining.”
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Week
4
God is in a
power relationship over us as a rule-giver, but mostly in a support
relationship beneath us to support us for complying with his
instructions.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A19
Broken
health is not the result of God’s punishment but the “sowing and reaping”
outcome of our unwise choices.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A20
Our
experience of Christ sets us free so that we are not left to live in bondage to
our brokenness and pain.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A21
Our
experience of Christ satisfies our desire for God, and also increases it.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A22
Good health
is supported by the choices we make to exclude elements from our life that are harmful, but mostly by the choices we make to include elements in our life that are helpful.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A23
God’s
Provisions of Grace, especially of Christ, is a Gift that, when received, has
power to prevail in our life against any foe or adversity (Romans 5:15-17;
Ephesians 1:19a).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A23
Week
3
Time does
not heal, but we are healed in time by our willingness to receive God’s Provisions of Grace into our life each
day.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A12
We are who
we are until we are renewed by the Life of Christ living his Life within us to
make us different.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A13
God’s
Provisions of Grace meet our redemptive needs and also enable us to meet the
redemptive needs of others.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A14
We wait on the Lord (Exodus 14:13) for his healing,
and then go in his strength to
serve the redemptive needs of others (Psalm 71:16).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A15
We do not
chase after God’s approval but open our heart to receive his Support.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A16
God’s Love
for us is expressed by giving; our love for him is
expressed by receiving.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A17
We express
God’s Love within us for the Resources he calls us to by receiving; we express his Love within us for those he calls
us to serve by giving.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A18
Week
2
There is no
brokenness that God (his Provisions of Grace) cannot heal, no burden he cannot
lift, no sin he cannot forgive.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A05
In a broken
world, filled with broken people, we are sustained in joy and peace by our
experience of Christ each day.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A06
In the same
way darkness cannot prevail against God’s Provision of light, and that hunger
and thirst cannot prevail against God’s Provision of food and water, so also a
broken heart and life cannot prevail against God’s Provision of Christ (his
Love, Joy, and Peace) to live within us.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A07
God’s
Redemptive Purpose is accomplished in the lives of those who receive his Provisions
of Grace each day.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A08
God’s
Provisions of Grace flow fully and freely to the door of our heart for us
to receive. “What he has provided,
we gather up” (Psalm 104:28).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A09
Health and
happiness are the result, not of our success to make God happy, but of
including his Provisions of Grace into our life each day.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A10
We don’t
mind confessing our brokenness because in Christ, living his Life within us, we
have a solution.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A11
Week
1
We are
supported for good outcomes in our life (health and happiness) by God's
Provisions of Grace – in Creation (elements in the
soil and atmosphere), Community (relationship to
leadership resources in the home and Church), and especially through Christ (his Blood/death on the cross for us and his
Resurrected Life living within us).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A01
God is
right now providing for the redemptive needs of our body, soul, and spirit –
and is calling us by the Holy Spirit through the Scripture to receive the Support he offers.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A02
Every good
thing we need to support us for health and happiness (God's Provisions of Grace
- Romans 5:17) flows to us unconditionally from God (his Mercy) and is
experienced by us through faith (confession of our need and obedient response
to receive).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20A03
God gives
us opportunity to experience the outcome of our wrong choices in order to call
us back to him.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
The person
through whom God lives his Life to accomplish his Redemptive Purpose in the
world will lack nothing that is essential to support health and happiness
(Matthew 6:33).
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Our fallen
sinful nature fights to hold on to a way of life in the world that barricades
us from receiving God’s best for us.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
Obedience
to God means mostly to “come and receive” from God before we “go and give” so
that what we give is effectual to accomplish God’s Redemptive Plan in the
world.
Don Whisnant
/ The Grace Perspective 20C29
_________________________
The Grace Perspective is a supplement to the information
provided during individual and group sessions.
