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.“
Setting the stage:
The relationship between God’s grace and our faith is foundational to living a victorious Christian life. Many believers struggle because they have the equation backward – trying to use their faith to earn what God has already provided by grace. Looking at the lives of Abraham, Moses, and Paul, we see a consistent pattern: God’s grace always precedes our faith. These spiritual giants didn’t earn their calling; they simply responded in faith to God’s gracious initiative. Their stories reveal that true faith isn’t about getting God to say “yes” to our plans but instead us saying “yes” to His pre-established purpose for our lives. This understanding totally changes how we approach both God and our divine destiny.
So, what does this mean to you today? Let me give you several golden nuggets as we break down God’s grace and our faith.
1. God’s Love Initiates Everything by Grace.
1 John 4:19 NIV
“We love because he first loved us.”
Our foundational truth today is that everything God does flows from His unconditional love. Before you ever thought about God, He was thinking about you. Before you made any moves toward heaven, heaven was moving toward you. This is the essence of grace. The Apostle John makes it clear that God’s love always comes first.
How this applies to you:
— God initiated His plan for your life before the foundations of the world, not because of anything you did, but because of His everlasting love.
— The Father sent Jesus, Jesus gave His life, and the Holy Spirit gives His commitment, all flowing from God’s unstoppable love for you.
— While you were still actively sinning and completely undeserving, Christ died for you, demonstrating the unconditional nature of divine love.
— The Holy Spirit lives inside of you despite your flaws and failures, proving God’s commitment is based on His character, not your performance.
— Like Abraham, who was called while still an idol worshipper, God’s grace reaches you right where you are.
— God’s grace does not have to wait until you are performing right to call you, because if it did, then grace would no longer be grace! It would be performance-based.
— Your past mistakes, current struggles, and future uncertainties don’t diminish God’s grace toward you one bit.
— Understanding that God’s love initiates everything frees you from the pressure to perform and positions you to receive God’s best by faith.
2. Faith Requires Divine Revelation.
Romans 10:17 KJV
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
I dealt with the following passage yesterday:
Ephesians 1:17,18 TPT
“I pray that the Father of glory, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would impart to you the riches of the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of revelation to know him through your deepening intimacy with him. I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of his calling.”
Here’s a powerful truth: you cannot respond in faith to something God hasn’t revealed. True faith isn’t born from human wisdom or desire – it comes by hearing from God. This is why Paul emphasized that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
How this applies to you:
— Every major move of faith in scripture started with God revealing His will, not humans creating their own plans.
— Divine revelation always precedes authentic faith, which is why spending time in God’s presence is non-negotiable.
— Like Moses at the burning bush, God must first reveal His plans before you can exercise faith to fulfill them. There would be no Moses saying, “Let my people go!,” if it were not for the burning bush, where God gave him the instructions.
— You can’t generate true faith by your own willpower; it must be birthed through divine revelation.
— The Holy Spirit lives within you specifically to reveal God’s preordained plans for your life.
— When God reveals His will, He also imparts the faith needed to believe it and receive it. Furthermore, He also imparts the grace to perform it. This makes your life ALL ABOUT HIM!
— Since faith starts with grace, meaning that it must be birthed in God’s heart and not your own, your primary responsibility is to position yourself to receive revelation, not to create your own vision.
3. True Faith is Your Response to God’s Grace.
Hebrews 11:1 NIV
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
Many believers misunderstand faith, thinking it’s about convincing God to do something. However, Biblical faith is actually our positive response to what God has already determined to do by His grace.
How this applies to you:
— Faith is not you telling God what to do; it’s you agreeing with what He has already planned to do.
— Your faith doesn’t move God; His grace moves you to exercise faith in His revealed will.
— Like Paul on the Damascus road, when God reveals His plan, your only response should be, “Yes, Lord!“
— It is true that Paul went on four missionary journeys, wrote half the New Testament, and changed the landscape of Christianity in the first-century church. But none of that would have happened if God had not FIRST revealed Himself to Paul and provided him with his marching orders.
— True faith always aligns with God’s preordained purpose for your life.
— Faith is the currency that allows you to withdraw what grace has already deposited.
— You’re not trying to get God to put a “Yes” on your plans; you’re learning to put your “Yes” on His plans.
— The stronger your revelation of God’s grace, the stronger your faith will become.
4. Walking in Pre-ordained Purpose.
Genesis 12:2,3 ERV
“I will build a great nation from you. I will bless you and make your name famous. People will use your name to bless other people. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you. I will use you to bless all the people on earth.”
Ephesians 2:10 NIV
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Jeremiah 1:5 NIV
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Look carefully at God’s words to Abraham. Notice how many times God says “I WILL.” God didn’t say, “Abraham, if you do this, I will do that.” No! God simply declared what HE had already decided to do. This wasn’t about Abraham at all. This was about God and His predetermined plans. God decided to make Abraham’s name great, to bless those who blessed him, to curse those who cursed him, and to bless all the families of the earth through him. Abraham didn’t come up with any of this. This was all God! Understanding that God established His plans for you before the world began completely transforms how you approach life and faith. You’re not creating your destiny; you’re discovering and walking in what God preordained.
How this applies to you:
— Like Abraham, your assignment was established before you were born; your job is to discover and align with it.
— God’s plans for you are not reactionary to your life circumstances; they were set in eternity past.
— Your current location, situation, or occupation doesn’t limit what God pre-ordained for your life.
— The Holy Spirit is committed to revealing and leading you into God’s pre-established purpose.
— Walking in your pre-ordained purpose requires death to your own plans and complete surrender to His.
— God’s grace empowers you to fulfill what He pre-ordained, removing the pressure to perform.
5. Patience is Required to Get From Revelation to Manifestation.
Hebrews 6:12 NIV
“We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”
James 1:4 TPT
“And then as your endurance grows even stronger, it will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.”
The journey from receiving divine revelation to seeing the manifestation of God’s promises requires patient endurance in faith. This is where many believers struggle, but understanding the process helps you stay the course.
How this applies to you:
— Every promise God reveals will be tested, but His grace provides the strength to endure.
— Like Abraham, the space between revelation and manifestation involves preparation and transformation.
— God is more interested in who you become in the process than in how quickly you get to the destination.
— Your faith grows stronger as you learn to trust God’s timing and process.
— The larger the promise, the more preparation time is typically required.
— Every delay has a divine purpose, developing your character to handle the manifestation.
— Stay focused on God’s faithfulness, not your circumstances, during the waiting period.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for initiating everything in my life by Your grace.
I declare that Your grace precedes my faith, establishing the foundation for everything
You have done, are doing, and will do You do in, with, and through my life.
I position myself to receive divine revelation, knowing that true faith comes by hearing from You.
You made plans for me before the world began, and I say YES to Your pre-ordained purpose.
I surrender my plans and align myself completely with Your divine will.
Your grace empowers me to fulfill what You pre-ordained, removing all pressure to perform.
I patiently endure between revelation and manifestation, trusting Your perfect timing.
Living in GRACE and walking by FAITH in 2025 and beyond, I am becoming everything You created me to be!
Living this way, 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!
