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 a passage from Ephesians for us to consider as we continue to flow in this vein.
(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.
(Ephesians 3:16,17 TPT)
16 And I pray that he would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power.
17 Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things:
1. God’s love is unconditional.
(Romans 5:8 TPT)
But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!
(1 John 4:10 TPT)
This is love: He loved us long before we loved him. It was his love, not ours. He proved it by sending his Son to be the pleasing sacrificial offering to take away our sins.
— God did not wait until we were living right or holy before he showered us with His love. God loved us despite our performance, not because of it. And guess what? He loves us with that very same unconditional love today.
— Nothing you did caused God to start loving you, and nothing you can ever do will make Him stop. God’s love is not based on your performance.
— Those who focus on performance-based religion struggle with embracing the love of God because they think (consciously or subconsciously) that God’s love for them is based on their performance towards Him. The truth is, if God only gave us what we deserved, we would all be miserable. God loves us because He is love.
— Love is not something God does or something He gives. Love is WHO HE IS!
— God loved you before you ever got here. His love cannot be based on your performance because He loved you before you could perform.
— God wants you to know just how much He loves you. When you believe and receive the love of God, all your fears roll away. Perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).
— God’s love for you is not based on anything that you do or fail to do. God has chosen to love you. I pray you open your heart to His love.
2. God’s love is unsearchable/endless.
(Ephesians 3:17-19 ERV)
17 I pray that Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith. I pray that your life will be strong in love and be built on love.
18 And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is.
19 Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you.
— The Bible teaches us that God’s ways are above our ways, and His thoughts are above our thoughts (Isaiah 55). His love is above our love as well. It’s hard for humans to comprehend the love of God because His love is far beyond what humans consider love to be.
— Our concept of love is limited. God’s love is limitless and unsearchable. There is no earthly comparison to the love of God. God loves you with an inexhaustible, everlasting, and unfailing love.
— Paul said, “Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love.” God’s love is so amazing that it takes prayer and the Holy Spirit for us to understand it. But if we do, Paul goes on to say, “ Then you can be filled with everything God has for you.” The love of God is the key that unlocks your heart to God’s best.
3. Your life will change forever the day you trust and believe in the love God has for you.
(1 John 4:16,17 TPT)
16 We have come into an intimate experience with God’s love, and we trust in the love he has for us. God is love! Those who are living in love are living in God, and God lives through them.
17 By living in God, love has been brought to its full expression in us so that we may fearlessly face the day of judgment, because all that Jesus now is, so are we in this world.
— God is looking for opportunities to SHOW His Love in your life on His behalf, not your behalf.
— John told us to “trust in the love he has for us,” because “God is love!”
— When you trust and rest in God’s love, Paul says, “…the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.”
— In this passage, John talks about fearlessly facing God the Father on the Day of Judgment. I don’t know about you, but as a child, when I was religious, I was afraid of the Day of Judgment. But John tells us that we can be fearless on that day. Why? Because we know God loves us. When you are convinced that God loves you, you can stand before God the Father and say, “As Jesus is, so am I!” But you will never stand with that type of confidence if you don’t believe God loves you.
Say this, “I believe and I receive the love God has for me!”
Maintain this thought in your heart every day: “GOD LOVES ME and I know it!”
4. When you are FREE of the pressure to perform, you can be led by the Holy Spirit without the hindrances of guilt, shame, or condemnation.
— Paul said, “We must live in the Holy Spirit and follow after him” (Galatians 5:25). You cannot do this to the full extent without embracing the grace of God. Said another way, if you are a religious person (focusing on the rules instead of God’s grace), you will never be able to do what the Holy Spirit leads you to do because you will never feel worthy of the assignments.
— If you live your life focused on your performance, you will never feel good enough because God calls you BEYOND your ability to perform.
— God’s call is always BEYOND you and your performance. God does this to force you to rely on Him and His grace.
— If you can do it without God, and if you only attempt to do things that are clearly within your human ability, then you don’t need faith, you don’t need God’s power, and you are not relying on God’s grace. If this is you, you have made Jesus irrelevant. You don’t need him to live the life you are living. Actually, you may be existing, but you are not truly living yet. You start truly living when you open your heart to the life God planned for you before the world began. This life will be FAR BEYOND anything you can do on your own. This life will require God’s grace. This life will require your faith. This life will require you to be led by the Holy Spirit every second of every day. This life will require you to release guilt, shame, and condemnation so you can FULLY embrace the LOVE of God. Your faith will only be strong when you are convinced that God loves you with an unconditional love!
— I used to preach in jail on a regular basis. I will sit in a cell, or in the common area, with a group of men who were down on themselves. They were awaiting their trial. Some knew they messed up. Some even thought they had wrecked their lives and derailed themselves from their destiny. Humanly speaking, many had. However, God still loved them, and He still wanted to use them. God specializes in people the world threw away.
I would tell them to open their mouths and say, “God loves me.” They would do it. I would then do it again. I would say, “Say God loves me.” They would do it. And then, the third time, I would say, “Say God loves me and I know it.” I did this many times, and I can tell you that I saw grown men break down crying as it dawned on them that God still loved them. They were sitting there, in orange jumpsuits and flip flops, in jail, having disappointed all the people that loved them, and many grappling with the reality that many had given up on them. And then I came to tell them that God had not given up on them, that He still loves them, and that He still has plans for them. I wanted them to have faith, but they could not have faith until they believed in the love of God. Faith works by love!
I keep teaching you this message in many different ways. Like the men in jail, I hope you finally get it. Your faith will never be strong until you believe that God loves you with an unconditional love, and it has nothing to do with your performance.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I know and believe the love You have for me. You are love. I am IN You. You are IN me. Loves lives inside of me. I believe and receive Your love. Your love has changed me from the inside out.
I enter this day with fearless confidence. My confidence is rooted in the revelation of Your love for me. You love me. I am loved by God. I am God’s beloved. I was created in Your image. I am Your likeness. I look like You, and You look like me. I look like my Daddy. When people see me, they see You because You live IN me, and I live IN You. The only way I can truly SAY and BELIEVE these things is by BELIEVING and TRUSTING in Your love for me.
I know You love me. Therefore, I enter this day, and every day, determined to BE LIKE YOU in this world! Not because I am so good, but because You are… simply because YOU LOVE ME! GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
