Part 9 2026 The Year of Great Grace
God’s Way Bible Study
Part 9: 2026, The Year of Our Lord
Tuesday March 17, 2026
The year of the Lord is a year of Great Grace.
To Grow in Grace means we are to grow in understanding.
1 Corinthians 2:12 NLT
And we have received God's Spirit (not the world's spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
Imagine you have a product, like say a car, that you have been driving for years and did not know all its features. You paid full price for the car but you have not been enjoying its full benefits, simply because you did not know about them. Grace is free for us, but that's only because Jesus paid the full price. For our salvation, Jesus did not get a family discount from God. The Son of God paid the full price for our redemption and it would be a shame if we get to heaven and only then learn of all the benefits in the package called Grace. That would be prodigal, which means wasteful.
James 4:2-3 NKJV
You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
You do not have, because you do not ask, because you do not know what is yours for the asking.
Even when you ask, you ask for the wrong things, because you do not know what to ask for, what has been made available for you.
Great Grace is universally available, but not universally accessible.
The requirement for access is thirst.
Isaiah 55:1 NKJV Everyone who thirst, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come buy and eat; Yes come buy wine and milk, Without money and without price.
John 7: 37-38 NKJV On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. [38] He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
Revelation 21:6 NKJV And He said to me,”It is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. and I will give of the fountain of the river of life freely to him who thirsts.
Your thirst separates you from everybody else. Many are called but few are chosen.
Your hunger and thirst places a demand on the promise.
Matthew 5:6 ESV Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Your hunger and thirst places a demand on you.
Matthew 6:33 ESV But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
The righteousness we seek is not our own, so that we can brag in our sanctimonious attitude. The righteousness we seek is of God and is from God. It is a reward that God gives to those who diligently seek Him, by faith.
Hebrews 11:6 Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.
The thirst must be deep, the hunger like a craving.
Philippians 3:9-10 ESV and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that depends on faith—[10] that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.
Paul was ready to go all the way. This kind of desperation is perhaps the missing element today. Many are hungry to know Him and the great power of His resurrection, but they are not willing to share in His suffering, and definitely not in His death. This kind of hunger has become a craving… so hungry and thirsty that he will stop at nothing. May God give us such. Holy craving.
For those who are seriously thirsty, the rate of our spiritual upgrade this year will be rapid.
When we speak of spiritual upgrade, we are speaking of maturity. The fourth dimension of Grace, Transformation affects all the others. Your level of transformation, which is actually your sanctification, or in other words, Christlikeness will impact how you handle God’s favor, mercy and spiritual gifts.
Give enough favor to the immature and he will become entitled. Show mercy to the unconsecrated and he will return like a dog to its vomit. Give spiritual power to one who is unlike Christ and watch him merchandize the gift and oppress people.
Isaiah 55:6 NKJV Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.
Zechariah 10:1 Ask the Lord for rain, In the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain; Grass in the field for everyone.
This is not a year of addition but one of multiplication.
However quickly you yield to God, that much quickly you will grow in grace.
Sadly, some will see very slow growth because of their stubbornness.
Sadder still, some will be stuck and fail to grow, which is actually a form of backsliding.
Grace grows, as we grow in grace.
1 John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth through Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
2 Peter 1:2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Growing in Grace requires a continued upgrade in our appetite, our palates, desires and ambitions.
Psalm 16:11 ESV You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
We have known some of the joys of the present world, but now He wants to develop in us a taste for the joys of the world to come. In order to access the new things of God, we have to let go of the old familiar, comfortable things. Our old ways will have to be traded for new ways. We will have to learn to pray differently, both in substance and in form; in other words, what we pray for will have to be different. How we pray for them will also have to be different.
At the beginning of this change, we will be uncomfortable. It will not be pleasant. We will have to love God more than pleasure for us to go along with God this year.
The pleasures of this age are good, but they are not worth comparing with the greater pleasures of the age to come.
We will find that the pleasures of this world come with pain, sorrow, hangovers and brain freeze, etc.
God is ready to change our appetite, to train our palates, to give us a foretaste of the sweeter and longer lasting pleasures that come from His Presence.
1 John 2:16-17 ESV For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life-is not from the Father but is from the world. [17] And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
These are pleasures at levels beyond our physical senses of touch, taste, sight, hearing smell.
John 4:31-34 ESV Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." [32] But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." [33] So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?" [34] Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
When we did not know God, church seemed boring. Bible Study produced yawns. Praise and worship music sounded unfamiliar. As we grew in the Lord, we began to find pleasure in the things of God. We changed.
The church is built to change sinners into saints. If the church changes to accommodate the new Christian, there is something wrong with that picture. If Bible Study has to be reduced to the lowest common denominator, it will be unsatisfactory for the hungry faithful and will soon prove to be useless to the babies when they outgrow milk.
A truly regenerated person will hunger for the word of God, ask questions when things are unclear, literally become the pastor’s pest, until illumination sets in. That was the way of the disciples. After most of His teachings, Jesus’ disciples will go to Him privately with questions like, “Why do you…?” “Why couldn’t we?” “When will you?”
Such questions are not born out of sheer curiosity. They are born out of desperate hunger.
Hebrews 11:6 NKJV For without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
No longer will we be fed bread and fish, but we will be fed with His flesh.
John 6:26-27 LSB
Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. [27] Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, set His seal.”
John 6:34-35 LSB Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” [35] Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
When Jesus tried to change their diet, many disciples left Him.
John 6:60-66 NKJV
Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" [61] When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? [62] What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? [63] It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. [64] But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were, who did not believe, and who would betray Him. [65] And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father." [66] From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
Hebrews 5:13-14 ESV for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. [14] But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
To grow into maturity, our diet must change.
We grow to maturity as we battle with solid food. When we become mature, we continue to eat solid food. Like a baby who is being weaned from milk, some solid food is introduced to that child. With its gum and milk teeth, the child cannot yet chew but he will keep gnawing on the solid food. Its teeth become stronger and stronger and the child grows to the point of handling strong tough food.
When a child is a baby, the lives of the parents are completely wrapped up in the child. The child’s needs dictate their schedule, when they go, when they come, what they do. They catch a few winks when the child is asleep because when the child wakes up, he must be catered to. He must be changed, fed, washed, entertained, watched, held, rocked, pampered etc. Parents sacrifice a lot in the hope that the child will grow. As that child grows, the parents do less and less for the child. They begin to get their lives back, now that the child can do a lot for himself.
Spiritually, when you are a child, it is all about you. As you mature, it becomes all about God, His purpose and His will.
If life is still all about you, guess what you are?
If your relationship with God is still all about what you can get from Him, what He will do for you, guess what you are?
Back in the day, the mature child is taught some skills for the family business. He begins to work as an apprentice until a day comes when he can be left to mind the store. The customers have watched him grow under the parent’s training and so are comfortable to deal with him in the absence of the parents.
This is a year when God wants us to grow so He can hand over to us the keys of the Kingdom, so we can mind the store on His behalf and do a good job at it.
Matthew 16:19 NKJV And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
It Is Tough By Design
Often children of wealthy parents often end up becoming broke. When everything is given to you, you won't learn how to search for yourself.
