GRACE is the missing link: An LDS perspective

I'm a Mormon, or Latter-Day Saint. While I wholeheartedly believe that Joseph Smith restored truth to the earth, I don't believe we always understand the truth that is there for us to a fullness. I feel that "grace" in our religion is one of those misunderstood doctrines. It is perhaps a cultural belief that  we we only receive the grace of god after all we can possibly do (aka, after doing all the work we can on our own THEN Christ makes up the rest). However, that is not what the scripture means. I had a teacher at BYU-Idaho tell us once that the scripture should actually read "after all we can do...to come unto HIM."

In terms of receiving his enabling power we simply have to come unto him and believe that he can change us, and that he is mighty to save. You don't have to be perfect to qualify for this power. You don't even need to have a temple recommend, or even be a member of the church. The grace of God is administered in my understanding through the holy spirit. All men have the spirit, not all have the holy ghost. The Holy spirit speaks to us through our conscience. It enlightens us, guides us, leads us to do that which is good. It leads us to do that which we would normally not do, think, or say. It leads us to do what is completely unexpected.

This is why I rejoice when I understand the missing link between my righteous desires ~ and the actual fulfillment of those desires. I cannot be the only one who feels overly frusterated when I try to do all I can do (of my own will) and continue to come up short. Why? It is because I and others do not understand that we are missing the entire point of the atonement! Through that atonement the Lord is able to offer us power, through his grace, to help us overcome all things. That means A. we cannot do all we can do and expect to get to the gates of heaven. We have to do all we can do to come unto Christ, to know him, to trust him, to obey him. He will not ask us to do more than we are able. He will lead us line upon line, precept upon precept. As long as we are obeying the promptings of the spirit we will receive his grace to continue in this way until we reach our goals. All goals and any righteous goals that we may have can be attained through this method.

My favorite quote from my favorite talk by LDS - Brad Wilcox, "His Grace Is Sufficient" This talk changed my life!

 I am so sad it took me so long to understand this. Luckily the Lord led me to this talk by Brad Wilcox entitled "His Grace Is Sufficient." It changed my entire life.

I wanted to share this excerpt with you out of a book entitled "Grace Goals" by Arabah Joy. I just started reading and stumbled upon this:

Scripture tells us Christ has purchased the provision we need to change and has given us everything we need to live a life of progressive godliness! (II Peter 1:3)

But how?

There’s this passage I stumbled on in II Thessalonians around the same time my friend first confided her addiction to me. It’s Paul speaking here, the same author of Romans 7:15, and again he speaks of desires, those yearnings for godliness. But get this: instead of rehashing the angst of Romans 7, he says, “We constantly pray for you, that our God may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness... according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (II Thessalonians 1:11-12, NIV)

When I first read those verses, something connected, like a missing piece of the puzzle. On one hand we have godly desire~ those yearnings for righteousness ~ and on the other we have the fulfillment of those desires in the living out of our daily lives. And that missing piece, the thing in the middle that connects the two? It is...
Well, read this passage again so you see it for yourself:

“We constantly pray for you, that our God may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness... according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” II Thessalonians 1:11-12, NIV

Do you see it? Our godly desires are fulfilled “according to” or “by” the grace that God gives us.
Does this fire you up? It sure does me! God is willing to fulfill our desires for godliness and put rubber on the tarmac of our spiritual lives and He does it through the provision of grace.

Now I know grace is one of those Christian-ese terms we throw around a lot and sing about it. We think we understand it because, well, we’ve all experienced it to some degree or another. But let me tell you, grace is extremely practical. 

Grace is the power of God. It is more than God’s forgiveness when we do wrong... it is God’s enablement to do right. Grace is what has the power to transform a person’s life.

Let me just show you what I mean... Titus 2:12 says the grace of God trains us and teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and to live self-controlled and godly lives.
Hebrews 13:9 says grace is what strengthens the heart. There is a unique strengthening that can only come from grace.
II Corinthians 9:8 says the grace of God is always sufficient, always in abundance, always present, and always relevant (applicable) to your situation.
From these verses alone, we see God’s grace ENABLES us to say YES to every good and godly work and say NO to every ungodly and selfish desire.

The Bible tells us the grace of God is always sufficient, no matter what.