Part 8 2026 The Year Of Our Lord
Part 8: 2026, The Year of Our Lord
Tuesday February 24, 2026
In 2026, the Lord is ready to upgrade us.
In 2026, we must endeavor to access and walk in all the four dimensions of Grace.
Grace is often described as God’s unmerited favor, and that is true. But Grace is more than thy. A lot more.
There are at least four dimensions of Grace: Favor, Mercy, Power/Spiritual Gifts and Transformation.
Favor: kind deed, generosity, goodness
Matthew 5:45 NKJV that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
You don’t have to be a believer to enjoy God's favor.
You can even be a wicked person and still enjoy great favor from God.
Romans 2:4 NKJV Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.
Romans 2:4 NIV Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Everybody, believer and unbeliever, enjoys God’s unmerited favor, in one way or another.
2. Mercy: forgiveness, debt-cancellation, reprieve.
1 Timothy 1:13 NKJV … although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
Luke 23:34 NKJV Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”
Ephesians 2:4, 5, 8 But God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, [5] even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, ( by grace you have been saved.)
[8] By grace have you been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Favor bestows on us benefits we did not earn, and mercy withholds from us the punishment we deserve.
Grace, that is, favor and mercy, involves reallocation.
The rights and status of Jesus were reallocated to us, while our just punishment was transferred to Him.
It looks unfair. Many say favor is unfair.
But God is fair. God is just. Even when we can’t see how, we must never accuse God of wrongdoing.
Psalm 51:4 NKJV Against You, You only have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight, That You may be found just when You speak, And be blameless when you judge.
Psalm 51:4 NIV Against You, You only have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight; so you are right in Your verdict and justified when You judge.
Romans 3:23-26 ESV for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:23-26 NLT For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. [24] Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. [25] For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, [26] for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
3. Power/Spiritual Gifts: God’s power and abilities given to believers through the Holy Spirit to do His work on earth and to stand in the face of difficulties.
Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
Acts 10:38 NKJV How God anointed Jesus Christ of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. [5] There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. [6] And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all; [7] But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all; [8] for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, [9] to another, faith, by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, [10] to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
[11] But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
Spiritual Gifts are manifestations of grace.
Romans 12:6-8 ESV Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; [7] if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; [8] the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Ephesians 3:7 NKJV and of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God, given to me by the effective working of His power.
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 NKJV Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. [9] And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
4.Transformation: God’s power to change believers into Christlikeness, by His Holy Spirit.
Power to become.
Romans 12:2 ESV Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
1 Corinthians 15:9-10 ESV For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. [10] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
Romans 8:6-11 NLT So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. [7] For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. [8] That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. [9] But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) [10] And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. [11] The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
Romans 8:6-11 NKJV For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. [7] Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. [8] So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. [9] But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. [10] And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. [11] But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
Galatians 5:22-25 NKJV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. [24] And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [25] If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-25 NLT But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! [24] Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. [25] Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives.
The way things work is with our cooperation. The Holy Spirit never forces us, either to act or to become. He inspires us, He instructs, He guides, He teaches, but He never forces.
1 Corinthians 14:32 NKJV And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
1 Corinthians 14:32 NLT Remember that people who prophesy are in control of their spirit and can take turns.
As we yield to His guidance, we will see His fruit grow in us.
As we use the gifts He has given, we will see the manifestation of God’s power.
The goal of God’s grace is to bring to pass God’s original vision of making man in His image.
Romans 8:29 NKJV For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Romans 8:29 NLT For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
John 14:9 NKJV Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
John 14:9 NLT Jesus replied, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?
Colossians 1:15 KJ21 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.
Colossians 1:15 NLT Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation.
The first two dimensions of Grace, Favor and Mercy, are things God does for us
. The third, Spiritual Gifts/ Power point to what God does through us.
The last, Transformation, is what God does in us.
