Today we will continue our series entitled “God’s Grace & Our Faith.” We are looking at The Law given under Moses vs. the Grace provided by Jesus. Our primary scriptures are John 1:14 & 17. Yesterday we also looked at 2 Peter 1:1-4. We will look at these again today.
(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.
(2 Peter 1:1-4)
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
For the past couple of days I have been focusing on this line: “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him…” I will flow in this same vein today.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. God measures success in purpose; nothing else.
The life of faith is not a journey of performance, evaluation, and reward. It is a journey of discovery, development, and deployment, which means that the emphasis is not on you and your performance. The spotlight should be on God and His dedication to the plans He made for you before the world began. Your role is to find, follow and finish those plans; to discover, develop and then deploy into your divine assignment with the singular focus of completing it before you die. When you get to heaven, God is not going to ask you about your house, cars, or titles. He is going to measure you against the purpose He placed IN you before the world began. If you completed your assignment, then you will be a success in His eyes. If not, then you failed to make the most of the ONE LIFE God gave you, and it won’t have anything to do with fame, money, or earthly status.
2. Life in Christ is supposed to be different from the world.
The system of the Kingdom of God is much different than the system of this world. Unfortunately, many religious people have presented God’s system in a way that is no different than this one. Religion makes your life about you, your performance, and the repetition of rituals, rites, and routines. This is all human, and it comes down to things you do in your humanity to please divinity. But God has called you to live a different type of life. God has called you into a life that exceeds human power, ability, and strength. God has called you into a realm where your performance is not good enough, your power is not strong enough, and your intellect is not smart enough. God has called you into the supernatural. Once you are Born-Again, the supernatural is supposed to be natural to you. God has called you to be a partaker of HIS divine nature. This does not happen through your performance. This is not about what you DO; it is about discovering what God has already DONE and walking in it by faith.
3. #TheGraceLife takes the spotlight and the pressure OFF of you and puts it squarely on God.
The more you come into the knowledge of God concerning who you are in Him and what He called you to do, the more you will know what HE has signed up to do through you. Your life is not about you; it’s all about Him! You are called to be ONE with God. He is the one living in you. He will give you the words. He will perform the work. He will release the supernatural. He will open doors no man can close. He will bring you before great men, who will use their power, ability, influence, and money, to help you in ways you cannot help yourself. God is the one who is ready, willing, and able. He planned it. In eternity He has seen it. And now, in time, He is looking for you to believe it and to release your faith for it.
4. The life of faith is all about tapping into God’s grace to do and experience what He already planned.
— The life of faith is not about working to achieve or about getting God to move. It is about discovering what God planned, which is what He already did within the halls of eternity. Once you know that, your job is to believe, receive and live by faith to experience what God revealed. In eternity, it is already done. So by faith, you are seeking God concerning what you must do, in time, in order to bring the manifestation of it to the earth domain.
— The life of faith is a journey of discovery where you are peering into heaven daily, asking God to reveal to you what His plans, purposes, and desires are. Once you can SEE, in the Spirit, what God is revealing (or displaying in Spirit), you then come back from that moment of discovery to pray the prayer of faith that will bring what you saw in heaven to the earth. We are to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
— True faith is not about you “doing” to get God to “do” or to “move.” When you understand faith within the context of God’s grace (what He already empowered you to do and what, in God’s mind, is already done), you know that faith is about discovering and discerning what He has already done, opening your heart to it, and then providing the corresponding action, on the earth, to bring to pass what heaven revealed.
5. As you grow in the knowledge of God, you will grow in grace, peace, faith, and holiness.
The text we have been studying (2 Peter 1:1-4) teaches us that “all things that pertain to life and godliness” have already been prepared and stored up for us. It also teaches us that God has given us “exceeding great and precious promises: that by these we might be partakers of God’s divine nature.” Once we partake of God’s divine nature, we will “escape the corruption that is in the world through lust.” All of this comes “through the knowledge of Him.”
As you grow in the knowledge of God and what He already planned for you, you will:
— Grow in grace because you will know what you have already been supernaturally empowered by God to do.
— Grow in peace because you will know who you are and what you are called to do. This knowledge of self gives you a peace that will not be shaken.
— Grow in faith because, through divine revelation, you will know what to pray, what to say, and what to do in order to receive and experience what God revealed.
— Grow in holiness because you will become a partaker of God’s divine plan and His divine nature. The text teaches us that this will help us escape the corruption that is in this world.
I will stop here for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me about Your grace and my requirement to live by faith.
I declare that this year will be a year of amazing progress for me. My progress will have no limits. But it won’t be because of my effort, ability, or performance. It will be because I am growing in the knowledge of the things You planned for me before I was born.
I am at a point in my life where I can see into Your realm. I peer into eternity, and You reveal to me things You planned for me before the world began! I come back into time to pray what I saw.
By Your Spirit, You enable me to peer into heaven, and I come back to the earth to pray what I saw.
Living this way, I experience heaven on earth daily. The things I am seeing You do in my life today, in time, are the things I already saw You in my prayer closet. This is the life of faith, and it is how I am called to live! I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
