"Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound (Rom. 5:20)."

A few days ago, in the wee hours of the morning, I heart the LORD say, "Where sin abounds, Grace does much more abound." That's Romans 5:20.  

He said it twice, quickly, and I felt almost as if He, my very Best Friend Forever, was tugging on my shirt telling me this--like it was recent news.

Where sin abounds, or has abounded, Grace--all good, the Spirit of God; His mercy and favor and goodness and overcoming love; does much more abound!
Hallelujah!

The LORD, our Father (from the moment we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and LORD, through our belief in His shed blood on the cross, which paid for all our wrongs, HALLELUJAH!), will tell us things ahead of time, if we're just sensitive to His sweet Spirit.

Sometimes we have to quiet our minds on purpose long enough to hear Him, and to remember, as I heard one minister exhort last night, that talking to God is a dialogue--a two-way conversation.

My own pastor has stated that God is always speaking; we just need to get better at hearing Him.

When the LORD spoke Romans 5:20 to me, I knew I needed greater insight into what it applied to specifically. After hours of editing a book, I went for a walk and listened and prayed.  He revealed to me that, because of His sovereign power and all-encompassing love; because of His omniscience in knowing all people ahead of time and choosing to die for us even when we were His enemies; because His mercies are new every morning; because His faithfulness is forever, and He is the unchanging God (Hebrews 13:8)  Who will not break His covenant (Psalm 89:34); and because He is Love (I John 4:8) and His Love endures forever--that not only can we repent and ask forgiveness for specific sins, but we can ask for abundant, abounding Grace of the opposite good to replace those things!

For example, where there's been impurity in our lives, we can repent and ask for abounding Grace for purity!  Where there's been addiction in our lives, we can repent and ask for the abounding Grace of freedom! Where there's been fear in our lives, we can repent (for fear is never of God, and differs from true Wisdom!) and ask for the abounding Grace of confidence in God (faith)!
Hallelujah!

We ask and we receive, when we pray in His will, for we know that He hears us and thus we have what we ask (I John 5:14,15)! Hallelujah!

My covenant will I not break or profane, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.--Psalm 89:34, AMPC

Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is [always] the same, yesterday, today, [yes] and forever (to the ages).--Hebrews 13:8

God alone is able to forgive and cleanse and restore us to righteousness (2 Corinithians 9:8), which only comes by faith in what Christ did on the cross (John 3:15-17)!

15 In order that everyone who believes in Him [who cleaves to Him, trusts Him, and relies on Him] may [a]not perish, but have eternal life and [actually] live forever!   16 For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([b]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.  17 For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.--John 3:15-17, AMPC

If you think your wrongs are too bad for even God to help, then consider the Apostle Paul, who was a serial killer (of Christians!) when he was Saul! But when the LORD intervened and stopped Saul in his tracks (literally, while he rode a donkey to Damascus!), then Paul became a true Believer and stopped that.

Not only did he immediately stop killing Christians, but after some time, he became a radical preacher for the LORD Jesus Christ! He wrote many books in the New Testament! But before the LORD could use him, he had to truly realize he was wrong, stop his wrong actions (which is really what true repenance is--not just saying, "Please forgive me"!), and ask for and receive the LORD's forgiveness and Grace to realize that, only because of the cleansing power of the holy Blood of Jesus can we be forgiven, cleansed, and transformed into a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17).

Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!--II Corinthians 5:17, AMPC

It is vital that, once we repent of something, to fill up that former rotten place with the fresh, living, cleansing, nourishing water of the Word of God.  We must seek His Presence, His Word, His worship, His ways, His people (church and in friendships with people that truly follow the LORD), and also ask the LORD to show us objects, habits, and activities that are not pleasing to Him.

Then we partner with Him to remove those wrong things, and replace them with things and habits and activities that bring glory to Him, and advance His Kingdom in this world.

After all, the only reason we are on the planet is to know Christ and help others know Him. That is the bottom line!

Another thing we can do, as the LORD has taught me, is to ask Him to "put His Grace all over (specific situations that we can name and ask Him for Grace with) for us and others."

He will!

His Grace will make things easier, smoother, more economical, more revelatory, and just better and even more delightful, because He is so good!

Ask for the LORD to give you more of His Grace today. He will!

Through books, courses, presentations, service, prayer, worship, and more, Tonja and her husband live to exalt God. Her series for girls, P.O.W.E.R. GIRL ADVENTURES, is now out (books I-V), along with LEGACY; YOUR HOLY HEALTH: VISIONS OF THE KING, and more. See the "River Rain Creative" YT channel.