Today we will continue our series entitled “God’s Grace & Our Faith.” For the past few days, we looked at John 1:14&17 and Galatians 5:6. I shared messages about how faith works by love. I will add two more verses to look at as we continue in this vein today.
(John 1:14 NIV)
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 NIV)
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
(Galatians 5:6 KJV)
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
(Matthew 17:20 TPT)
He told them, “It was because of your lack of faith. I promise you, if you have faith inside of you no bigger than the size of a small mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move away from here and go over there,’ and you will see it move! There is nothing you couldn’t do!
(Romans 12:3 KJV)
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things:
1. When you know God loves you, you are willing to give up your plans for His.
— When God reveals His plans to you, they will most certainly exceed your plans, but regardless of how big or good they are, most humans will still have an issue with it because they are wed to the plans they came up with before God revealed His. This then puts us in a situation where we have to choose. We can choose God’s plans, by faith, without a clue as to HOW they will come to pass. Or we can choose to continue down the path we were already on, chasing our dreams and desires based on the plans we came up with. God wants you to choose His plans over yours, even though you don’t have all the details. This is hard. This requires faith. And this is why faith only works by love. You will NEVER WILLINGLY choose God’s plans over your own unless you are convinced that He loves you and that He will never hurt you. Faith requires trust. For you to give up your will for God’s will, you have to trust God, and you won’t trust Him with your whole heart unless you are convinced that He loves you!
— Jesus was so convinced that the Father loved Him, that He trusted the Father enough to say, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” With those words, Jesus died to self in His heart, to the point where He willingly accepted the cross for us, trusting the Father’s plan, even though it caused Him much pain. Do you trust God enough to put His will above your own? Are you so convinced of God’s love for you that you willingly accept His will and pursue it by faith, even when it goes against what you wanted to do? And even when it may cause you pain? That, my friend, is living by faith, and this type of faith is based on God’s unending love.
— When you are convinced God wants to do what He wants to do in your life because He loves you, you are able to provide the faith that accesses His grace. Not only do you provide the faith to believe God’s will in the moment, but you also provide the faith to walk it out daily, no matter how long it takes, until you see (IN YOUR HANDS) what you believed (IN YOUR HEART). This type of endurance is fueled by the fact that you are convinced of God’s love. So when your faith is rooted and grounded in God’s love, not only will it be strong, but you will be able to believe God for the long haul. You won’t give up along the way, because God’s love towards you will never fail. The Holy Spirit is constantly reminding us of God’s love. Therefore, our faith will remain strong.
2. God has dealt to every human “the” measure of faith we need to live the life He has called us to live.
Romans 12:3 says, “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” So the issue is not whether not you have faith. If you did not have faith, you could not be Born-Again. Every human on this planet has “the” measure of faith. God gave us the same faith He gave Jesus. So God has done his part. He made plans for us from the foundations of the world, He dealt us the faith we need to be able to believe, and He called us according to His purpose. He did all of that by His unearned grace. We have to use our faith to tap into God’s grace (His empowerment), so we can maximize a purpose and potential a place inside of us before the world began.
So the issue is not whether not we have faith or whether not we have enough faith. The issue is whether or not we are using the faith we have properly. Jesus said that even if we had faith the size of a mustard seed, we could speak to the mountains in our life (Mat 17:20). So the issue is not the amount. We have the faith we need. No matter how small you may think your faith level is, even the smallest amount (the smallest seed) can have supernatural results.
If your faith is not working, or if you are not seeing the results of your faith the way you believe God wants, then you are obviously doing something wrong. God gave you the faith you need, He called you to His purpose by His unearned grace, and He also gave you the empowering grace to perform it. So the issue has to be with “how to properly use the faith we have been dealt.” This is where the teaching I have been providing you comes in. How does faith work? Faith works by love! Our faith must be tied to God’s unending and unyielding love towards us.
3. For your faith to be limitless, it must be tied to and based on God’s limitless love for you.
a) Faith works by love! Faith only works when you are convinced that God loves you and that He wants to use you for His glory because of His grace and not your performance. Because invariably, your performance will not be good enough to measure up to the magnitude of the assignment wherewith you have been called. God calls you to do things that exceed your education and experience. He calls you to do things that far exceed your wildest dreams. So if you are not convinced that He is only calling you to do it because He loves you and NOT your performance, you will never build up the faith required to believe God to actually do, THROUGH YOU, what He revealed. Faith works by love! Your faith will be strong when you are convinced that God ONLY wants to do what He wants to do in/with/through your life because He loves you! Because He is good, not because you are!
b) God is immeasurable, inexhaustible, and infinitely limitless. We, as humans, are finite and limited; until, of course, we become filled with the Holy Spirit. Once we are Born-Again, the God of no limits is living inside of us. Since there is nothing He cannot do, there is nothing we cannot do by His grace. Without God, there are plenty of things we cannot do. With God, we can do all things through Christ and the power God deposited down inside of us. The challenge then becomes BELIEVING and RECEIVING what God reveals that He wants to do in/with/through us. If we can ever get past our limited mindset, the impossible will become possible for us! This is where mustard seed faith and limitless love come in. If our faith is rooted in our performance, it will fail because our performance will never be flawless. However, if it is rooted and grounded in God’s love, our faith will not fail becuase God’s love will never fail!
c) Wherever God gives imparts vision, it is because He has already He obligated Himself for the provision. He will never INSTRUCT you to do something He has not already INJECTED you with. Meaning that if God is telling you to do something, it is because His grace is already on you to get it done. Your job is not to measure up to the task with your performance or human effort. Your job is simply to believe God. If you can believe, God can perform!
d) God’s dreams have no limits because His resources have no end. God is limitless by nature. He wants us to open our hearts to His best. In order to do so, our minds must be renewed to the point where we no longer judge God’s goodness towards us based on our performance towards Him. Performance-based religion trains you to only expect good from God when you feel like your performance has been good towards Him. The problem with this mindset is that we will NEVER be good enough to earn God’s vision. What He calls us to do is not based on our performance. It is based on His goodness. Until you decouple your faith from your perceived goodness or human performance, you will never open your heart wide enough to receive all God is calling you to do.
e) Stop dreaming man-sized dreams. God-sized dreams require God to do, in you, with you, and through you, things that you could never earn. So stop trying to earn it. Your job is to BELIEVE!
f) God will give you a vision that you can’t share with everyone because they will think you are crazy. His vision will exceed your education, experience, background, bank account, and every earthly qualification. God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called by His grace. So your job is to not to attempt to measure up to the size of the task with your performance. Your job is to believe God will do what He said He would do, even though you know it far exceeds what you have earned, even though you feel inherently unworthy, and even though you have no idea how it is going to get done. Your job is not to figure it out. God already figured it out. Your job is to believe. If you can believe, the Holy Spirit can achieve through you!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for making plans for me before the world began and for calling me from my mother’s womb. You knew all the mistakes I would make, and You called me anyway. You did not call me based on my performance. You called me based on Your goodness. Therefore, I know my performance could never measure up to the magnitude of the call. I do not live my life trying to work for Your vision. My job is to BELIEVE. I declare that I do. I am a believer and not a doubter. I walk by faith and not by fear. I believe and receive all You have called me to do. You provide the grace; I provide the faith. My faith accesses Your grace, and I am able to do what I could never do without You. I see the invisible. I believe in and perform the impossible. I live the supernatural daily. GREATER IS COMING FOR ME because my faith is rooted and grounded in Your love! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
