Today we continue our series entitled, “Grace and Truth” by continuing to look at by continuing to look at The Law given under Moses vs. the Grace provided by Jesus. Our main scriptures are John 1:14 & 17. Let’s look at them again.
(John 1:14 New International Version)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:17 New International Version)
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
In this series we studied Galatians 3, 4, and 5. For the past couple of days we looked at Galatians 5:18. I feel led to go back to it again today.
(Galatians 5:18 The Passion Translation)
“But when you are brought into the full freedom of the Spirit of grace, you will no longer be living under the domination of the law, but soaring above it!”
So what does this mean for you today? Let’s talk about SOARING ABOVE the domination of The Law.
1. You must get to the point where you are convinced God loves you.
a) In the Old Covenant the emphasis was on YOU and what you could do for God. Scriptures read like this: “If you obey…”, “If you acknowledge…”. “If you honor…”, and etc. The question of the Old Covenant was, “Do you love God?” Under the New Covenant (the grace and truth Jesus ushered us into), the emphasis is NOT on us and what we do for God. The spotlight is on God and what He has already done for us. The problem is that: 1) most believers don’t have a revelation of what God has planned for their lives (meaning that they cannot see into the future God has prepared), and 2) on those occasions where they DO get a glimpse of God’s plans, they don’t have the faith to believe what God revealed. Why? Because the plans seem to good to be true. They don’t believe that God would be that good to them. They struggle with God’s goodness because they don’t truly believe in His grace. I pray you get past these struggles. You have to get to the point where you settle the issue of God’s grace towards you. God wants to bless you richly. He wants to use you for His glory. And He does NOT want to do so because YOU are good. God wants to do so because HE IS GOOD! Simply because of His grace.
b) You will never fully embrace the grace of God until you are convinced God loves you with an unconditional love. The Apostle John is the Apostle of love. He was so convinced that God loved him that when he wrote about himself, he did so in third-person, and he called himself, “The disciple Jesus loved.” John basically saw himself as God’s favorite. And this is how you have to see yourself in order to truly open your heart to His goodness. John said, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us…” (1 John 4:16 NASB). It’s not good enough to just know about God’s love for us. You have to believe it. You have to believe God loves you. You must be convinced that God wants to bless you and use you because He loves you and not because you love Him. This is the message of the New Covenant. This is grace and truth. This is how we can SOAR, like Paul said. This is the gospel!
2. Once you know God loves you, you are able to SOAR in life, by His grace.
a) The reason why it is paramount for us, as New Covenant believers, to live free from the bondage associated with The Law, is because you will never be able to believe God on the level of your divine assignment if your belief system is contingent upon your performance. Said another way, if the level of your faith is tied to the level of your perceived goodness, then the level of your faith will never reach God’s best. Because your performance will never be good enough to measure up to the size of your calling.
b) God calls you BEYOND your ability to perform. God’s call on your life far exceeds anything you could ever work for, earn or deserve. God does this to take the spotlight and pressure OFF of you. If you are going to be the man/woman God called you to be, if you are going to SOAR in life, it will happen because of God’s goodness and not yours. It will happen by God’s grace and NOT your performance. This is the message of the New Covenant. This is grace. This is the gospel. I pray you get this down in your heart!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for Your goodness, kindness, mercy and grace towards me. I have come to know Your love. More importantly, I believe it! I believe You love me unconditionally. I believe You want to use me for Your glory. I believe You made plans to use me before I was born. I believe You looked past my faults, flaws and failures, and You called me anyway. You saved me and called me by GRACE! Your grace is unmerited. Your favor is undeserved. You don’t bless me because I am good. You bless me because You planned to do so, because YOU ARE GOOD! I believe Your love. I receive Your love. I SOAR in life because I am convinced YOU LOVE ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
