There is a reason why we as Christian believers must pause early in April every year and be reminded of exactly what happened around the crucifixion of Jesus, the three days in the tomb, and then the resurrection early that Sunday morning.

At least we will realize that it cost God a tremendous price to be able to have mercy on you and me.

Do you realize how much God must have loved us, from before the foundation of the world, even though we were the only people on earth, that He, as John 3:16 says: … “That He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

God the Son, Himself God, had to become a man, be born here on earth, and live, suffer, and be crucified, so that God, as the Holy God, could have mercy on us.

For God to be able to forgive and acquit us... It cost Him everything!

Already in the Old Testament, God made it clear to His people that without blood, without the death of a substitute sacrificial animal, the perfect lamb, it was not possible for Him, as a Holy God, to forgive sin and to let the punishment for that sin fall away and disappear!

Even if you and I had only committed one sin in our entire lives, God had to punish us with death, and we had to go to hell! His holiness and His righteousness legally required this of Him!

The good news, the Gospel message about Jesus, His coming, His life, His suffering, His crucifixion, the three days in the tomb and His resurrection from the dead, is about how God as a Holy God made it possible for Himself once and for all to forgive our sin, rebellion, insurrection, disobedience, unholiness and to absolve us of it…

Therefore, you and I need to pause at least once a year before these events, which we contemplate at the beginning of April every year.

Our body, our soul, and our spirit need to be reminded of what happened during that week in April 30 AD, when Jesus was finally crucified there on Golgotha ​​that Wednesday morning, 09H00.

Yes, how He hung there in the worst of severe pain with the nails through His hands, and now and then tried to relieve the pain by lifting Himself in attempting to stand on His feet that were pierced with iron nails!

For six hours, He hung there… suffering… until He died of pain at three o’clock that afternoon!

God, the Son, did this for us and our sins!

Yes, God loved us so much that He could have mercy on us!

Maybe you should watch a movie like THE PASSION again to taste how expensive God’s mercy was!

When I think of God’s grace, I think of the overflowing, giant storerooms full of possibilities and “impossibilities,” as well as a whole bunch of open doors! There is everything we need and may need in the future.

The Lord gives us hundreds of promises that most of us know by heart. 

I don’t know which verses these are for you. Think about it for a moment. Go then and read a few of these verses aloud to yourself, so that your head, heart, and spirit can hear it loud and clear again.

Then, choose to believe it again.

For my wife, Hetta, and me, one of these promises is 2 Cor. 9:8, which we have taped to our bedroom closet door for years to help us remember.

Do you remember what it says? Let me quote it for you.

“'And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

I went to read this verse in the original Greek and was just struck by what exactly it says there. Let me translate directly from the Greek, word for word, what exactly it says there:

“And God… He is able… to make all (or every form of…) grace… abound to you… so that… you… always… having enough… in everything… having an abundance… for every good work.”

Think about this for a while.

Roll it around in your mouth, your heart, head, and spirit. Suck it in slowly until it gets deep inside you… Until you believe it! Until you can taste it!

I have been thinking lately about what faith is.

Yes, I know the definition of Hebrews 11.

Then I hear and see Jesus acting in faith. He can calm a storm with stormy winds in a few moments. And in John 2, He turn 6 water jugs with between 6 and 10 liters of water each into the best aged wine in moments.

My winemaker friends have tried to explain it to me in scientific formulas to help me understand how much energy was needed for this to happen!

Then there are all the blind eyes that He suddenly made see. And deaf ears that begin to hear… Yes, even dead bodies that begin to live again!

I hear Jesus say in Matthew 17:20 and 21 that faith is the key that unlocks these stores in heaven.

Listen to what it says!

“He replied, 'Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Faith in God’s grace makes remarkable things happen!

Believing that Jesus Christ is truly King and Lord here on earth and in your life at this moment, with all that is going on in and around you, can open the doors so that remarkable things can begin to flow into your life!

Do you believe it?

Dare to start believing it and see what happens!

Do you remember I told you previously that the Hebrew letter Hei represents the number 5 in Hebrew? That Hebrew letter, symbolizes “God’s grace” for me but can also represent God Himself and His Holy Name.

With this in mind, I want to bless you today with a prophetic revelation from the Word of God.

Turn with me to Gen. 17:3-5 where we read the following:

“Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.’”

What you cannot see in the English translation of this text is what is written in the original Hebrew. When God changed Abram’s name to “Abraham”, He added just one letter to his name in Hebrew.

Can you guess which letter it was?

Yes, you are right. This was the Hebrew letter, “Hei” we are talking about now, and which the number 5 of the Jewish year 5785 reminds of.

In other words, look at what God said would happen because the Hebrew letter “Hei” was added to Abram’s name.

We read it in Gen. 17, verses 6 to 8:

“I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

Wow, don’t let that make you gasp for breath, too!

However, that’s not all God wanted to tell Abraham. Listen to what God says to him and his 99-year-old wife in Gen. 17:15 and 16:

“God also said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’”

Do you hear what the Lord does? Even with Sarai’s name, God, in his grace, adds one more letter to her name, and again it is the Hebrew letter, “Hei”.

This opens the heavens into her life!

This happens in our lives the moment we allow God’s grace to enter our lives. It will start happening the moment we accept God's grace in Christ Jesus in faith. But it will also happen when we choose in faith to “seek God’s Kingdom and His will,” as Matt. 6:33 describes it.

It also happens when we start believing God's promises and begin to obey and take that one step out of the boat of security because we are convinced that this is what God has told us to do.

At that moment, God's grace begins to multiply in our lives. It will start working on levels and dimensions and ways in our lives that we will only recognize clearly years later.

Of course, sometimes, God's grace and blessings will bring with them discomfort, inconvenience, trouble, even embarrassment, discouragement, and defeat. Your identity, the entire course of your life, can change the day you make room for God's grace in your life. So, be warned, God's grace will, in most cases, come with a price!

Because we do not always immediately understand everything happening in and around us, we need God's prophetic revelation, word, and promises to help us understand what is happening where we cannot yet see!

Let's try to say and describe “grace” in a new way.

Of course, “grace” means that it is a gift that a person does not deserve. It is given to you freely, undeservedly, free of charge.

God gives it to you because He is a good, loving God. This is who He is in the essence of His being.

Now what does this gift of “grace” entail?

Yes, part of this “gift of grace” is everything, everything, everything that Jesus is still doing and has done for us in and through His life, His cross, His death, His victory over the powers of hell, His resurrection from the dead, and while reigning now at the right hand of the Father, as the One on the throne, as the King of all kings.

Part of this “gift of grace” is therefore the total salvation that Christ Jesus has worked for you and me and has already achieved. It also includes the total work of reconciliation that He has completed for each of us on the cross through His blood and the sacrifice of His Body.

This includes forgiveness, justification, healing, restoration, sanctification, and victory until the end of our lives.

This also means that part of this “gift of grace” is the promise that God will equip us and continue to equip us with day by day with everything we need to do and for what He wants us to do in His greater plan.

Yes, that which God’s Spirit speaks of prophetically in Eph. 2 when it says: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

As someone said: “God set us up in His grace in Christ Jesus for the success He has in mind.”

“Repent”, in Hebrew, is “teshuv ah” which if we can translate it literally, means “return to “Hei”, which can mean “grace”, but which in Hebrew can also mean “God”. (The Hebrew letter “Hei” is used many times as a replacement of the holy Name of God.)

In other words: “Return to God’s grace”!

However, remember what the Lord has already said and revealed about “His grace”.

Like what the Spirit of God reminded Paul of in 2 Cor. 12: “Remember that My grace is always sufficient for you!”

If I have to think about this practically, what it means if I believe, it means that I have to say: I choose to serve and follow Jesus as King again in this part of my life, in this area or aspect of my life, come what may! I choose to believe and honor God's grace in Christ Jesus.

Of course, we do not always understand what this entails and cost! However, everything starts with the choice to say this in faith and choose to believe it every day, come what may!

Friends, make today the day you choose again to follow and obey Jesus as King unconditionally, regardless of the cost!