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 2:14,17 NIV
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?… Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Mark 9:23-24 NIV
“‘If you can?’ said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!'”
Matthew 9:29 NIV
“According to your faith let it be done to you.”
Setting the stage:
We’ve spent this week discussing how faith works by love and the importance of being convinced of God’s love. However, the goal isn’t just to feel warm and fuzzy about God’s love – it’s to develop a strong, ‘living’ faith. Living faith is not just a belief in God’s existence but a trust in His promises and a willingness to act on that trust, receiving what grace has already provided.
Let me share two recent examples that highlight this truth:
First, I shared with you (on the video versions) that my aunt Gladys passed away last week. When she was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the doctor’s prognosis was not promising, I encouraged my family to pray in faith. I reminded them that while doctors are skilled in their practice, they are just practicing medicine, and their abilities are limited compared to God’s. One family member initially agreed, saying, ‘There’s nothing God can’t do.’ However, the very next day, that same family member said to me, “I think she’s going to die,” I asked the nurse, and the nurse said she would not make it. Despite their verbal affirmation of faith, their actions revealed they put more trust in the nurse’s words than in God’s promises. This is frustrating to me because when you are in a “faith fight,” you cannot afford to be surrounded by fear, doubt, or unbelief.
Second, this week, I was speaking to one of my family members in the Dominican Republic, checking in on her because she is up in age and is dealing with the loss of my aunt. She has a young lady who lives in the house with her to help her cook and clean. She said to me, “Right now there is a huge virus going around in the country and people are sick everywhere. I don’t want to get sick, but “such an such” (her helper) is sick and she lives in here with me. I said, “Let’s pray!” She said, “Okay.” I prayed for her NOT to get sick and she said, “AMEN!”
The next day, I called her back. She said, “This girl is coughing and sneezing all day long. There is no way in the world I am not going to get sick. What do you think is going to happen to me?” I did not say anything, but I knew what would happen. She was going to get sick. Because 1) what you fear the most will come upon you, and 2) you will have what you say. These are Biblical principles. Guess what? She is sick right now.
In both cases, though they agreed to pray, the very next day, they were speaking words AGAINST what they prayed. Their words of fear and unbelief canceled out their prayer of faith. These examples perfectly illustrate a common problem among believers. We say we believe God’s Word, but when faced with real-life situations, we often believe what we can see, touch, and feel more than what God has said. The Bible teaches, “As a man thinks, so is he” (Prov 23:7).
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. The Gap Between Religious Talk and True Belief.
Many Christians verbally affirm their faith in God’s Word but demonstrate that they believe other things more strongly through their actions. This disconnect between what we say we believe and what we actually believe hinders us from receiving what grace has provided.
How this applies to you:
— Your true beliefs are revealed by your actions, not your religious declarations.
— You got Born-Again by speaking words of faith from a believing heart (Romans 10:9,10). Think about it. You spoke words, out loud, that you believed about Jesus and that release of faith helped you to access God’s grace for eternal life. What do you think is going to happen when you speak words of fear, doubt, and unbelief, and you believe what you are saying?
— Furthermore, your actions are birthed from your thoughts and beliefs. If you truly believe something, you will act on it. So, just like strong faith leads to actions rooted in faith and love, strong fear leads to actions of doubt rooted in fear and unbelief.
— Many believers say they trust God’s Word but then turn around and live by what they can see, feel, and touch. Their words claim they live by faith, but their actions prove their lives by sight.
— Religious talk without corresponding faith-actions is just empty words.
— What you actually believe will manifest in moments of crisis.
— Your default response in challenging situations reveals your true beliefs.
— Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. In other words, your mouth reveals what your heart contains. Your words are telling me what you truly believe.
— Faith isn’t about what you say you believe; it’s about what you actually trust in when it matters.
2. You Are the Way You Think You Are.
Your capacity to receive from God is directly tied to your thought life. Solomon said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7). He also said, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” If you can’t see it on the inside, you’ll never experience it on the outside. Your life will never exceed your thinking.
How this applies to you:
— Your thoughts shape your reality more than your circumstances do.
— What you consistently think about yourself determines what you will receive from God.
— If you think small, you’ll live small, even if God has big plans for you.
— Your mind must be renewed to think in line with God’s unlimited nature.
— You can’t think defeat and experience victory.
— You can’t think fear and turn around and attempt to speak words of faith because your words will be empty. True words of faith must come from a believing heart.
— Your life moves in the direction of your dominant thoughts.
— What you believe possible determines what you will attempt for God.
— In the Kingdom, you have to SEE IT to BE IT. Your legs will never take you where your soul has never been!
3. From Mental Agreement to Living Faith.
There’s a vast difference between mentally agreeing with God’s Word and having a living faith that actually receives what grace has provided. Living faith takes action based on what God has said.
How this applies to you:
— Mental agreement says, “I believe God can.” Living faith says, “I believe God will – through me!“
— Faith without corresponding actions is dead.
— True faith will always manifest in actions that align with what you believe.
— If you truly believe something, you’ll act on it. Faith is an action word.
— Your actions demonstrate what you really believe.
— Faith isn’t passive; it actively pursues what grace has provided.
Living by faith boils down to this:
— God speaks to you (through His Word, the Holy Spirit, prayer, dreams, visions, people, or circumstances), and what He said cannot be validated with sense-realm evidence.
— You don’t have any physical evidence to support what God said and you may have a mountain of physical evidence (paperwork, reports, emails, statements, etc.) that all go against what God said.
— To live by faith, you must be more persuaded by what God said than by the mountain of evidence you can see.
— If you truly live by faith, you will be so convinced of what God said that you will say things and do things that align with what God said OVER all the evidence the world has presented to you. You live IN THE PRESENT, with thoughts and actions that align with what God said about YOUR FUTURE, fully expecting it will come to pass in the fullness of His timing.
— This is how we live by faith, and we tap into God’s grace.
4. The Love-Faith Connection.
Understanding God’s love is not just a comforting thought; it’s a powerful force that is meant to produce strong faith. When you’re convinced of His love, you’ll believe what He says and act on it, knowing that His love is the foundation of your faith.
How this applies to you:
— When you are fully convinced of God’s love, you will believe what He reveals to you about your future.
— Understanding God’s love positions you to trust His voice over sense-realm evidence.
— God’s love gives you the confidence to stand on His Word when everything you see contradicts it.
— Being rooted and grounded in God’s love enables you to believe and declare what He said, even when you look foolish doing it.
— The revelation of God’s love becomes the foundation for unwavering faith that stands in the face of opposition.
— When you know how much God loves you, you can trust His plans, even when they exceed your human understanding.
— Living with the confidence of God’s love empowers you to release your faith for the supernatural, knowing His love will never fail you.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me the difference between empty religious talk and living faith.
I declare that my faith is demonstrated through my actions, not just my words.
My thoughts and words align with what You have revealed, not what circumstances show me.
I am fully convinced of Your love, which empowers me to believe and receive Your promises.
I refuse to speak fear, doubt, or unbelief that would cancel out my prayers of faith.
My faith comes from a believing heart, producing actions that align with Your Word.
I choose to be more persuaded by Your promises than by sense-realm evidence.
I live in the present while believing and declaring my God-ordained future.
I live THE GRACE LIFE in 2025 and beyond, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and prosper!
