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:
Galatians 5:6-9 TPT
“When you’re placed into the Anointed One and joined to him, circumcision and religious obligations can benefit you nothing. All that matters now is living in the faith that is activated and brought to perfection by love. Before you were led astray, you were so faithful to Messiah. Why have you now turned away from what is right and true? Who has deceived you? The One who enfolded you into his grace is not behind this false teaching that you’ve embraced. Not at all! Don’t you know that when you allow even a little lie into your heart, it can permeate your entire belief system? Deep in my heart I have faith that the Lord Jesus the Anointed One, who lives in you, will bring you back around to the truth. And I’m convinced that those who agitate you, whoever they think they are, will be brought under God’s judgment!”
John 1:17 NIV
“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Setting the stage:
In the opening chapter of Galatians, Paul expressed deep concern about believers who were being led astray from the pure gospel of grace. After experiencing the freedom that comes through faith in Christ, some were reverting to a performance-based relationship with God. This same issue plagues many believers today. We start our journey with Christ by grace through faith, but somewhere along the way, we often slip back into trying to earn what God has freely given.
This mixing of law and grace – of human performance and divine provision – is more dangerous than many realize. As Paul points out, even a little leaven (or yoke of bondage) can affect your entire belief system. Just as you cannot mix oil and water, you cannot mix law and grace. They are two completely different systems. One is based on human effort; the other is based on divine enabling. One depends on your performance; the other depends on Jesus’ finished work. Today, we will explore how to get back to pure grace and why this is so critical for living the life God intended.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. Understanding The Danger of Mixing Law and Grace.
Romans 11:6 NIV
“And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”
The Apostle Paul was deeply concerned about believers mixing God’s grace with human performance. This dangerous mixture can infect your entire belief system.
How this applies to you:
— When you mix performance-based religion with the gift of God’s grace in your spiritual life, it inevitably affects your mindset. Let’s say you are a business professional. If you think performance-based over grace-based (even if it’s sometimes), you will start believing that God’s blessing on your company or your department depends on your performance rather than His grace.
— Many business leaders unconsciously operate their organizations like the Old Testament – focused on rules, regulations, and human effort. God wants you to operate your business dealings and/or professional career by grace, where His supernatural ability flows through your natural efforts; where God’s “super” is constantly flowing through your “natural.”
— Just as a small compromise in your business ethics can eventually corrupt your entire organization, allowing performance-based thinking to creep into your belief system will eventually contaminate your entire approach to God.
— When you try to earn what God has freely given, you create unnecessary pressure on yourself and everyone around you. This pressure often manifests in unrealistic expectations of yourself and your team members.
— Your position as a leader comes with authority, but your righteousness comes from your position in Christ. Don’t confuse the two. You can strive for excellence in business while remembering that your standing with God is based on Jesus’ performance, not yours.
— Many business owners feel they need to prove themselves to God through their success. Remember: grace is not about your track record; it’s about God’s dedication to the plans He made for you before you were born.
2. The Truth About Righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
One of the biggest deceptions in Christianity is thinking you can become righteous through your own efforts.
How this applies to you:
— As a business leader, you understand Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). But with God, Jesus is your only KPI. You don’t earn righteousness through spiritual performance metrics; you receive it through faith in what Jesus already did.
— In business, results matter. But in God’s Kingdom, where righteousness is concerned, Jesus’ results are what matters. His perfect performance is credited to your account the moment you believe in Him as your Lord.
— Your company’s (or team’s) success may fluctuate based on market conditions. If you are in the government, your funding may fluctuate based on whether or not the government budget is passed. But in the Kingdom, your righteousness never fluctuates because it’s based on Jesus’ finished work, not your performance.
— Understanding grace revolutionizes every area of your life, especially how you handle business or professional failures. When you know you’re righteous by faith, you can face challenges without your identity being tied to your latest business outcome.
— Your business or government agency may have different departments. In the same way, there are many areas or aspects of your life. But righteousness is not departmental. Once you are in Christ Jesus, you are the righteousness of God in Him. Understanding this “settled state” should affect every area of your life, transforming how you lead, serve, and make decisions.
— You don’t perform to become righteous; you perform because you are already righteous. This truth liberates you to pursue excellence without the pressure of trying to earn God’s approval.
— Once you embrace the righteousness Jesus died to provide you and you are no longer taking on the pressure to perform in this area, the grace-based mindset you will develop will impact every area of your life. You will be able to run your business or lead your team without the pressure to perform.
3. Getting Back to True Freedom.
Galatians 5:1 NIV
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Jesus didn’t die to give you a new set of rules. He died to restore you to God’s original intent – living in intimate fellowship with Him through His Spirit.
How this applies to you:
— Most business leaders understand standard operating procedures (SOPs), but Jesus didn’t die to give you a new SOP manual. He did not die to give you a new set of rules. You did not go from Old Testament rules to New Testament rules. Jesus died to give you direct access to the Father through His Spirit. Once you are Born-Again, you have access to God directly. This means you have access to the wisdom of heaven, enabling you to lead supernaturally in a natural world. This is how Adam lived before the fall.
— Adam received divine insight for naming every animal without going to school. Adam lived by revelation over education, discerning over learning, and instinct over intellect. This is the position we were restored to. This means we can receive supernatural wisdom to make decisions for our families, businesses, teams, departments, churches, etc.
— True freedom comes when you operate beyond human wisdom. Did you know the Holy Spirit can give you divine intelligence that exceeds MBA-level thinking?
— The Holy Spirit can give you million-dollar ideas in a moment that would take years to develop through natural means. Just look at George Washington Carver – he locked himself in his laboratory with nothing but peanuts and asked God to reveal their secrets. Through divine inspiration, he discovered over 300 uses for peanuts, including milk, plastics, paints, dyes, cosmetics, medicinal oils, soap, ink, and wood stains. He went on to develop approximately 500 synthetic products from peanuts, along with hundreds more from sweet potatoes and soybeans. Though his discoveries could have made him wealthy through patents, he chose to freely share most of them to help poor farmers improve their lives. This is what it means to live naturally supernatural in the marketplace – letting God’s wisdom flow through you to provide solutions that benefit humanity.
— Carver said, “When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” He also frequently stated that he asked God to reveal the mysteries of the universe to him, and God said, “Little man, you’re not big enough to know the mysteries of My universe, but I’ll show you the mystery of the peanut.”
— So, while your competitors rely solely on market research, you have access to the mind of Christ. But you won’t hear God’s voice clearly when you are focused on your performance, how you don’t measure up, and you struggle to get your mind past the web of guilt, shame, and condemnation.
— The type of revelation Adam received in the Garden, and George Washington Carver received in the lab only comes when you are resting in God’s unearned grace.
4. Operating In Pure Grace.
Many believers struggle to maintain a pure grace mindset because the world’s system is entirely based on performance. But God’s Kingdom operates differently.
How this applies to you:
— Many believers acknowledge grace with their lips but deny it with their lives. You can tell what you really believe by how you respond when things go wrong. Do you immediately try to fix it in your own strength, or do you rest in God’s ability? Do you seek Him first? Whenever something goes wrong, or an outcome is not what we expected, my first thought is, “We have the grqace for it!“
— The moment you start trying to qualify yourself for God’s blessing through your performance, you have fallen from grace. Not because God stopped giving it, but because you stopped receiving it.
— Religion teaches us to strive. Grace teaches us to receive. The difference is not in how hard you work, but in what you’re relying on while you work.
— When you truly understand grace, you may work harder than you ever have before, but it won’t be you doing it. It will be the Father, living in you, giving you the words, and performing the work.
— Pure grace means you never take credit for the results. Like Paul said, “I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor 15:10).
— Your success in life is not tied to your performance but to your ability to yield to God’s grace. The more you get out of the way, the more God can flow through you.
— Living in pure grace means you can face any challenge knowing that God’s ability, not yours, will determine the outcome. This removes all pressure to perform and positions you to experience His supernatural results.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for delivering me from performance-based religion.
I am righteous by faith in Christ, not by anything I have done or ever will do.
Your supernatural ability flows freely through my natural efforts as I rest in Your grace.
I receive divine revelation and direction as I fellowship with Your Spirit.
I am free from the pressure to perform, knowing Your grace is sufficient for all things.
Everything I accomplish is by Your grace, through Your power, and for Your glory.
I yield myself completely to You, becoming a conduit of Your supernatural ability.
Living in THE GRACE REALM in 2025 and beyond, I walk in Your pure and amazing grace.
As a result, you give me downloads from heaven that enable me to solve the most challenging problems.
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!
