Today we continue our series entitled “Living the Grace Life,” where we will learn to embrace and walk in God’s unmerited, unearned, and often undeserved favor throughout 2025.
Key scriptures for this year:
2 Corinthians? ?9?:?8? ?TPT??
“Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything —every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.”
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??Galatians? ?5?:?4? ?TPT??
“If you want to be made right with God by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from the revelation of grace!”
Romans? ?6?:?14? ?ERV??
“Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace.”
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1 Corinthians? ?15?:?10? ?NIV??
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.“
Additional scriptures for today:
2 Peter 1:2 NLT
“May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.”
2 Timothy 1:9 NKJV
“Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”
Setting the stage:
Yesterday, we learned about our transition from slaves to sons through God’s amazing grace. Today, we’ll explore how this understanding of grace completely transforms our approach to God and life itself. Many believers know they are God’s children but still approach Him like desperate servants begging for favors, rather than sons and daughters accessing what their Father has already provided. They spend their lives trying to convince God to bless their plans, instead of discovering the plans He already blessed. This misunderstanding causes them to live beneath their privileges and miss out on the life of grace God intended. I know, becuase I used to be one of them. I lived this way for years.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. Grace Reveals God’s Pre-Existing Plans.
The religious paradigm many of us were raised in was based on us, as Christians, attempting to do the best that we could to “live right” before God. When we prayed, if we were honest, we were 1) hoping we were good enough for God to hear us and 2) hoping God would be kind enough to give us what we were asking for. I lived this way for years until I started learning the revelation of God’s grace. Grace reveals that God already made plans for us before we were born. We’re not waiting on God to do something; we’re learning to access what He has already done. Therefore, faith is not about us convincing God to give us what we came up with in our hearts. Faith is about discerning what God planned, about dying to self so we can yield to His plans, and then seeking to position ourselves to receive what He has already provided.
How this applies to you:
— God’s grace provided everything before you could do anything to earn or deserve it.
— Your blessings don’t depend on your ability to convince God, especially not to give you what you came up with in your heart. Faith is about aligning yourself with what God came up with in His heart for you.
— You’re not trying to get God to make plans; you’re discovering His pre-existing plans.
— Living under grace means accessing what’s already provided.
— Your role is to believe and receive, not achieve and retrieve.
— Grace shifts your focus from trying to earn to learning to receive.
— Living in God’s grace means walking in the reality of His predetermined plans and provision. This frees you from the pressure to perform and further drives home the importance of walking and living by faith. Because it is by faith that you tap into God’s grace.
2. Grace Changes Your Approach to God.
Instead of approaching God with your plans and trying to get Him to bless them, grace teaches you to seek His predetermined plans and align with them.
How this applies to you:
— God’s plans for your life preceded your existence.
— You don’t have to convince God to be good to you; He already is. He already wants to bless you because 1) He is good, 2) He made plans to use you for His glory, and 3) He sent you to this planet for His purposes.
— When you open your heart to the revelation of God’s grace, your prayers shift from begging to receiving.
— Grace helps you discover what God already purposed and then live by faith to experience it. Since faith is an action word, this means you take actions in the present based on what God revealed to you about the future He planned. Not the one you were trying to fabricate.
— You learn to seek God’s will instead of trying to impose yours.
— The most straightforward way to explain what I am saying in his point is this: When you get a revelation of God’s grace, your relationship with God becomes about fellowship, not requests.
3. Grace Empowers Divine Partnership.
Under grace, you become a partner in God’s predetermined plans. Instead of trying to get God to help you with your plans, you discover the joy of being used in His.
How this applies to you:
2 Cor 6:1 ERV
“We are workers together with God. So we beg you: Don’t let the grace that you received from God be for nothing.”
Phil 2:13 NIV
“for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
— You work WITH God, not just FOR God.
— Grace reveals your role in God’s master plan.
— You’re not creating the vision; you’re discovering it.
— God’s grace empowers you to fulfill His predetermined purpose.
— You participate in what God is doing, rather than trying to get God to participate in what you’re doing.
— The pressure is off because the plan is His, not yours.
— Success is guaranteed because it’s His work, not yours.
To further drive home that last bullet, let’s look at something Jesus said. In John 5:30, He said, “I can do nothing alone. I judge only the way I am told. And my judgment is right, because I am not trying to please myself. I want only to please the one who sent me.”
Since we are supposed to live like Jesus, we can learn a few things here:
— Jesus claimed several times, in several ways, that He could “do nothing” without the Father.
— Jesus only said what He heard from the Father, and He only did what the Father led Him to do through the Holy Spirit.
— When it came time to judge (make decisions), Jesus did not make decisions without consulting the Father. As a result, His judgment was always right.
— This is the way we are supposed to live. This is #TheGraceLife, which is much different than how I lived for years as a Christian. I pray you are getting a revelation of God’s grace.
4. Grace Establishes Right Perspective.
When you understand grace, you stop seeing God as someone you need to convince and start seeing Him as a Father who has already provided.
How this applies to you:
— You see God as a loving Father, not a reluctant giver.
— Your confidence comes from His provision, not your persuasion.
— You learn to rest in His predetermined plans.
— Grace helps you see situations from God’s perspective.
— You approach life from a position of having, not wanting.
— Your identity is secure in His plans, not your performance.
— This frees you from all sorts of pressure. Living #TheGraceLife empowers you to live free from the stress, struggle, and strain of trying to create a life. Instead, you are free to receive the life God planned!
5. Grace Changes How You Pray and Live.
Many believers spend their prayer time trying to convince God to do something He has already done. They approach God with a wishlist of requests, attempting to persuade Him to bless their plans. But when you understand grace, you realize that God already made plans for you before the world began, and true faith is about discovering and aligning with those plans.
How this applies to you:
— Without understanding grace, many believers spend their prayer time trying to convince God to bless their plans.
— They approach God like He’s a cosmic Santa Claus, presenting their wishlist of wants and needs.
— They mistakenly believe faith is about getting God to say “YES” to their plans.
— True faith is actually about God trying to get you to say “YES” to His plans.
— I have said this to you many times, but let me say it again, “Your life will change forever the day you believe what God believes about you.”
— Grace helps you understand that God’s plans are better than anything you could come up with.
— You stop trying to get God to bless your journey and start discovering the journey He already planned. Once you discover it, you don’t have to ask God to bless it because if it comes from Him, it is already blessed.
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for revealing Your predetermined plans for my life through Your amazing grace.
I declare that I am no longer trying to convince You to bless my plans. I am discovering and aligning with the plans You already blessed.
I approach You as my loving Father who has already provided, not as a reluctant giver I must persuade.
Your grace empowers me to participate in Your divine plans, taking all the pressure off of me to perform.
My prayers shift from begging to receiving as I discover what You already planned for my life.
I rest in knowing that You made complete provision for me before I was born.
My confidence comes from Your heart towards me, not my performance towards You.
I believe what You believe about me, and I embrace the plans You made for me before time began.
This is how 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!
