And with great power the apostles gave witness to the ressurection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Acts 4:33 (NKJV)

As I was at my moms house the other day i smelled something rather distinct. This smell was the smell of smoke because my mom is a smoker. The thing that I have always noticed about smoke is that you can tell what it is weather someone was smoking at that point or not, you could smell it. In their clothes, hair, fingers, house, car...you name it. You just KNOW if someone has been smoking. Now, Smoke is something that we can get rid of but it takes cleansing, washing and purifying to get rid of the lingering smell but also, to prevent it from coming back you have to kick the habit. As I was doing my devotions today, I thought about this as I came across a scripture that talks about GRACE. Woah. What a word. 5 letters, infinate oppertunities to experience it and give it out. I started also thinking about Gods grace and how we feel when we sin, no matter how big or small. We feel bad, to say the least. We also feel bad when we dont' stand for the truth. I know I do. Sometimes I look back and say "That was and oppertunity and I missed it." Grace. Jesus is really cool did you know that? In the New Testament he is really good friends with a guy named Peter. When Jesus was going to go to the Cross this is what happened;
Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me." Luke 22:34 (NKJV)

and Peter says "No I won't ever deny you. I love you." It is my belief that Peter really believed that he was not going to deny Jesus. Well...He did. THIS is the part that caught my attention. Peter was upset and he wept. Jesus died on the cross and Peter was not there. He had left. But then Jesus rose again. I used to look at this passage and forget that there was a word over Peters life. One of such great magnitude that it could not be denied or hidden away;

"And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18 (NKJV)

THAT IS A WORD, my friends. Jesus knew what was going to happen on Peters part (denying Jesus) but Peter didn't embrace right away what Jesus was doing on His part and what Jesus was doing is Grace. It's love and forgiveness even when we don't deserve it. Now. Sin is something that we tend to let linger in our lives. We let it keep pounding us down even if we aren't doing it. We are thinking about it and the pain it caused. We keep feeling bad about it and comparing out sin to others sin. This is not easy to deal with. I KNOW! Trust me. But check this out. Jesus does grace like no other so that we can experience it and give it out. Same deal with forgiveness. We just have to accept it! Jesus said he was building His church in Peter who had denied Him 3 TIMES and He did build His church on Him but Peter had to embrace the grace and love and forgiveness of Christ and press on leaving everything else behind! Lets see what happens is our story:

And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, (15) so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Acts 5:14-15 (NKJV)

Just the shadow of a man who loved the Lord with his all. You see, Sin is just like smoke. It will grab onto you and make you smell. It will linger in your home and car and hair and life unless you KICK IT OUT and go through the cleansing process. His name is Jesus. He died for us and that is so awesome. When it says in the bible we are cleansed it means it. That is truth. Are we going to embrace it though? Are we going to grab onto it and run with it? My friends the reason tht I bring this up is because I am currently learing it. I haven't yet grabbed ahold of it really. But I am trying because God is so awesome. Is Gods grace not big enough to take us over and cleanse us? Is He too small to help us to walk out a life of righteousness and to help us get rid of that? Does he not have enough grace for us? If he could build His church on Peter, who denied Him could He not then use us for His will? Think about it. :)