Additional information
by Carolyn Ann Bardsley (Author)
Grace, as it is commonly understood, is God's unmerited favor. This definition of grace is impoverished because it makes grace a characteristic of God rather than the presence of His Spirit within our heart. It is from our heart that we are to listen and follow Him. Grace is God's divine influence upon our heart and His expression in and through us. Living in grace shifts us from trying to live beliefs in our mind to believing in our heart where our Lord and Savior resides. Jesus demonstrated how to live in grace. He repeatedly emphasized that He said and did nothing but what Father God did in and through Him. We are to live as Jesus did by receiving and surrendering to God's Spirit within our heart. We are to listen and heed His voice and promptings from within. This book explains how to live in grace and develop an intimate relationship with God our Father through His Spirit residing in our heart. Jesus made it possible for us to come out from under the law and live in grace. This is the abundant life Jesus won for us. Trying to obey written words from Scripture can become laws we try to keep and cause us to deny Christ-God's Spirit-within us. Without understanding grace, Scriptures can seem to conflict with one another such as "a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (Romans 3:28) and "a man is justified by works and not by faith alone" (James 2:24). Without understanding grace, Scripture can seem condemning and impossible to live such as "He who commits sin is of the devil" (1 John 3:8) and "No one born of God commits sin; for God's nature abides in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God" (1 John 3:9). Early Christians understood the importance of grace. Their epistles in the New Testament start and end with the word grace. This book is a comprehensive Biblical study of grace with over 300 Scriptures interspersed with the author's discussion about the importance of living in grace. The author wanted to make sure that her new understanding of grace agreed with what Scripture says about Christ and what it means to be a believer. A sequel to this book, Living In Grace, is the author's testimony of how she lives in grace and the significant difference it has made in her life. This book is written for those who have submitted their life to Christ, yet have not entered the freedom and victory of living in grace that Jesus made possible for us. The purpose of this book is to increase your understanding of: How to come out from under the burden and bondages of trying to live by Scripture beliefs and laws and enter into the freedom and victory of living in grace by believing in Christ-God's Spirit-within your heart. How to have faith in a Living God rather than just having knowledge about God from the Bible. How to have a faith based on the Spirit of Truth in your heart rather than knowledge in your mind. How to hear God speak with you and develop a love relationship with your Lord and Savior.
Author Biography
Carolyn Bardsley studied Scripture for most of her adult life. Over time she realized she had considerable head knowledge but little heart connection to her Lord. This troubled her when she read Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees for their knowledge of Scripture, yet refusing to come to Him-a LIVING SAVIOR. She was also troubled by the commandment to love the Lord because how could she love someone without having her heart engaged? Having been taught to distrust her heart, this dilemma caused her to study what Scripture said about the heart and mind which revealed the importance of believing in our heart. In the 1980s Carolyn developed and taught a gifts and calling workshop for churches. Since Carolyn had developed and taught career and life planning workshops in corporations, she had a unique perspective on how spiritual gifts relate to motivations and skills in jobs and careers. In these workshops she saw how many people were disconnected from their hearts. She could identify with them having lived in her mind for most of her life. In the 1990s Carolyn realized that God wants to talk with people today. While studying Scripture about hearing God, she was surprised to find that hearing God's voice was a function of the heart. "Today, when you hear his voice do not harden your hearts." "Believe in your heart." Knowing that as a believer she had the Spirit of the LIVING GOD in her heart, she began to trust that God would speak to her if she trusted in His presence in her. Daily quiet time became a conversation with the Lord. Scripture became a pointer to a LIVING LORD and SAVIOR-not just a biography about Him. Her faith became one of believing in her heart because God's Spirit resides there. During a time of illness she sought to understand how God provided comfort during suffering. The Scripture "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness," prompted her to look up what grace meant. Grace as "God's unmerited favor" did not console her. Her grace study, using Scripture and Strong's Greek Concordance, dramatically changed her understanding of grace. She writes about her new understanding of grace in her books Grace and Living In Grace. Her discovery about the importance of heart faith and living in grace has been so profound in her own walk of faith that she joys to share it with others to strengthen their faith in a LIVING LORD AND SAVIOR who seek to have a heart relationship with them.
