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:
(James 2:10 NIV)
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”
Setting the stage:
Many believers misunderstand what it means to “fall from grace.” This phrase has traditionally been interpreted as losing one’s salvation, but that’s not what the Apostle Paul was teaching at all. When Paul talked about falling from grace, he was referring to believers who cut themselves off from the revelation of God’s grace (the covenant of grace Jesus died to usher us into), to go back to living under The Law of Moses, relying on human performance instead of God’s grace. I don’t want you to dismiss this discussion as a theological concept that has no significance to your daily life. If you fall from grace, you will most certainly feel the impact of it, because you will be forced to rely on your humanity, failing to make the most of the divinity God placed in you.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. Understanding What It Means to “Fall from Grace.”
Falling from grace doesn’t mean losing your salvation. It means leaving the covenant of God’s grace to live under a performance-based system. When you attempt to earn your righteousness through your own works, you have “fallen from grace” because you’re no longer relying on what Jesus did. You are relying on what you can do. Not just to make you righteous but to do all you are called (by God) to do.
How this applies to you:
— When you try to earn God’s favor through your performance, you’ve fallen from grace.
— If your mentality is, “I have to do all these things right, so God can bless me,” your focus is on your performance, and you are attempting to earn what God has destined you to walk in.
— Living under grace means relying completely on Jesus’ finished work. It means receiving, by faith, what God has provided, by grace.
— Falling from grace happens when you choose to focus on human effort in order to receive the manifestation of God’s promise. God makes His promises to us by grace, and we receive them by faith, not because of our performance.
— The moment you start trying to earn what God freely gave, you’ve fallen from grace.
— Religious people often fall from grace without realizing it because they’re focused on what they do FOR God instead of what He has already done for them.
— Grace is not about your performance; it’s about Jesus’ performance. It’s not about what you can do; it’s about what He has already done. This may not seem like a “big deal,” to some, but in actuality, it changes the way you approach God and how you attempt to receive from Him. So, it can have a lasting and significant impact on your life.
2. The Danger of Performance-Based Religion.
Paul warned believers not to get “tied up again in slavery to the law.” Performance-based religion is a form of bondage that keeps you focused on your efforts instead of God’s grace.
How this applies to you:
— Performance-based religion always leads to frustration because you can never perform good enough to match up to the level of what God wants to do in your life.
— The Law demands perfection, which no human can achieve. It’s not that The Law is flawed. It’s not. It’s perfect. It’s so perfect that no human can fulfill it. Jesus was the only one ever to do it.
— When you break one part of The Law, you’re guilty of breaking all of it (James 2:10). For you to be justified by The Law, you have to keep every one of them (all 613 commandments), for your entire life!
— Living by works puts pressure on you to perform.
— Grace removes the pressure to perform and places the emphasis on what Jesus has already done.
— Religious people who focus on works while attempting to comply with The Law to make themselves right with God run the risk of becoming self-righteous instead of embracing the righteousness Jesus died to provide us.
— Your righteousness comes from Jesus, not your performance.
3. Living Under Grace vs. Working Under The Law.
There’s a vast difference between working BECAUSE you are righteous and working TO BE righteous. Under grace, you serve God because you are already righteous through Christ, not to earn righteousness.
How this applies to you:
— Under grace, you work FROM acceptance, not FOR acceptance.
— Your works don’t make you righteous; Jesus made you righteous.
— Grace empowers you to serve God from love, not obligation.
— Under grace, you don’t work to be blessed; you work because you are blessed.
— Grace-based living produces fruit without pressure because you are not the one doing it.
— When you open your heart to God’s grace, you recognize that the Holy Spirit lives in you, giving you the words and performing the work (John 14:10). Therefore, your life is not about you; it’s all about HIM!
4. Staying in Grace.
Paul said, “Make sure that you stay free.” Once you understand grace, you must purpose in your heart to stay in grace while resisting the temptation to fall back into performance-based living.
How this applies to you:
— Make a conscious decision to live by grace every day.
— Guard against self-righteousness and religious pride. Don’t convince yourself that you are good and that others are “bad.” It’s not that you are right and they are wrong. The gospel is: WE ARE ALL WRONG without Jesus!
— When tempted to rely on your performance, remember Jesus’ finished work and open your heart to His grace. This does not mean you become lazy. It actually means you believe (by faith) to do things that far exceed your power, ability and strength.
— When you are performance-based, you are limited by what you can do. But when you open your heart to God’s grace, you know the Holy Spirit can empower you to operate in ways that exceed your education and experience.
— When you open your heart to God’s grace, you wind up working harder than you ever have in your life, but it’s not you, it is the grace of God through you (1 Cor 15:10).
— Rest in your position in Christ, not your performance for Christ. Once you settle your position, God’s grace will empower your performance, and you will be able to do much more than you ever could without God.
5. Applying Grace in Your Daily Life.
I shared Galatians 5:4 earlier. For this point, I want to bring your attention to verse 1, where Paul said, “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.” This freedom applies to every area of your life, including your career and business endeavors. Understanding grace changes how you approach your professional life and releases you from the pressure of performance-based success.
How this applies to you:
— As a professional or business owner, you can pursue excellence without the crushing weight of perfectionism; knowing God’s grace empowers you to do what you could never do on your own.
— Your success is not limited to your education, experience, or expertise because God can grace and favor you to operate far beyond your human capabilities.
— When you make decisions in your business, you can rely on God’s wisdom (which He freely gives by grace) instead of feeling like everything depends on your ability to make the right decision.
— You don’t have to take on the pressure of constantly competing with others because you know that what God has for them is for them, and what God has for you is for you.
— When you walk in God’s grace, you know favor can do, in a moment, what labor could not do in a lifetime. So, you live with an awareness, and even an expectation, of God’s favor.
— Even in failure or setbacks, you can rest in God’s grace, knowing that His ability to restore and redirect is not dependent on your perfect performance.
— When you do make a mistake or a poor decision, and the enemy says, “You see, now you are disqualified from what God said about your career (or your business),” you can say, “No! That’s a lie! God knew all the mistakes I was going to make when He gave me the promise. I never qualified, so I cannot be disqualified. Jesus qualified for me. Everything God promised me is STILL going to come to pass!“
— Under grace, your work becomes an expression of worship rather than a source of stress, as you allow God to work through you rather than trying to achieve everything in your own strength. Living this way, you look at your calendar, consider every meeting, conversation, and activity you will engage in each week, and say to yourself, “I have the grace for it. I am not stressed. God’s grace has equipped me for such a time as this!“
Now that you understand all of this, please do NOT fall from grace!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for helping me understand what it truly means to fall from grace.
I declare that I will not leave Your grace system to rely on my own performance, either in my spiritual life or my professional endeavors.
I rest completely in what Jesus has already done for me, embracing the freedom He died to provide, which enables me to excel without the pressure of perfectionism.
My righteousness comes from Christ, not my works or performance, and I refuse to go back to religious bondage or performance-based success.
My confidence is in Your grace, not my ability to perform, and I trust You to take me beyond my education, experience, and expertise.
I choose to live every day by Your grace, leading with peace instead of pressure, and making decisions by Your wisdom instead of merely human understanding.
I enter this day determined to live THE GRACE LIFE, where my righteousness, success, and prosperity come from You!
GREATER IS COMING FOR ME because I refuse to fall from grace!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and prosper!????????????????
