Where does the Grace of God meet the effort of man?

Having thought for most of my life that my best efforts where required to be mixed with faith in trusting that the grace of God would somehow emerge, I’m since becoming convinced that God’s grace abounds as freely as the air we breathe. However, this grace exists in a realm that has little to do with our natural experience. It is a newly created spiritual existence that is summed up in the begetting, the dying and the resurrection of the Son of God. It is Christ who has the power to impart this spiritual Life capable of surviving the consuming fire of God’s judgment that resides upon the whole natural world as we know it. This Life however, will not compete with our own. Truly, death must be tasted for New Life to begin. We must give up all claims to the man of Adam’s decent and continue in agreement and thankful assurance that the Lord’s death was our very own.
It is this severe.
It is this final.
All that we are and all that this invisible world urges us to be must be sacrificed and laid on the altar of the Holy Spirit’s fire. It has been a drastic revelation for me to think that so many things I have sought after in this life have only contributed to the further sustaining of the man who is in opposition to God, the man upon whom the judgment of God resides.
Yet so many years ago when I realized the impact of Christ’s sacrifice, it became clear to me that I had nothing to offer to God. I simply received this gift of Christ’s Righteousness and the awesome creative power of God called into being that which did not formerly exist; a new seed, a new man, a new destiny. His Spirit has enabled me to face battle after battle in the survival of this existence which finds no comfort nor has any residence in this present world. After many years of what seemed to be unrestrained zeal for the Kingdom of God, I then walked through darkness where my strength was insufficient to bring about the things I longed to see. Having come close to what I felt in my mind was perdition; I discovered that my only hope was to place my faith in the fact that it was God who had authored this new Life, who was I to contend with the promise of God Almighty? I then began to abandon my natural practice of relying upon my abilities to accomplish anything spiritually. My youthful indulgence in sports and competition had convinced me that more effort was the solution to most everything. How little we understand that even the things we consider good in this world are many times sustaining an opposition to the will of God. Nevertheless, this place of darkness has served me well as a training ground for the beginning of what I can only describe as the discernment between soul and spirit. Abundant Life comes from a place beyond the reach of man’s abilities. God needs not our efforts we simply need our God. This newness of Life is complete in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ; if we have the Son we have the Life. Therefore, it is this uncreated Life that awaits emergence from within the husk of soul and body; planted by the very hand of God Himself to bring forth that which is pleasing in His own sight. May we recognize and yield to this awesome reality. The Creator and Sustainer of Life has chosen to display His very essence in the frail, mortal bodies of we who believe. Let us now give expression to the God imparted, effortless tendency to Love. Not human love which disguises its selfish motives, but God’s Love which never fails.
Only when we know the security of our place with God as Sons do we become free to express the Love of our Father in Heaven.
Our lives must be lost in order to find them. We must let nothing rival our abandon to Christ. As soon as our affections stray in any direction, our capacity for God’s Love is diminished.
Both the man who found hidden treasure in the field and the man who was seeking beautiful pearls went and sold all they had.
Let us not fall short in reaching this place of full devotion; devotion that can only be found at the end of ourselves and through faith in the One who loved us and gave Himself for us.