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 2:20 NIV
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
John 15:5 NIV
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
James 4:6 NIV
“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.'”
Setting the Stage:
In our journey through “Living the Grace Life,” we’ve been exploring the multifaceted nature of God’s grace. Today, we will look at what is perhaps the most challenging yet aspect of grace: the power of surrender.
In a culture that celebrates self-reliance, independence, and control, the concept of surrender can seem counterintuitive or even weak. Yet, throughout Scripture, we find a truth repeated over and over that seems like a paradox – our greatest strength comes through surrender, and God’s power flows most freely through yielded vessels.
The Apostle Paul understood this profoundly when he declared, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul didn’t just receive Christ; he surrendered to Christ to the point where he could say he no longer lived.
As we explore grace and surrender today, you’ll discover that the greatest hindrance to experiencing the fullness of God’s grace isn’t external opposition but internal resistance—especially the internal desire to be in control of your life and everything.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. God Will Not Compete With You For Control.
One of the most powerful truths about God’s grace is that it never forces itself upon you. God respects your free will so much that He will not override it, even when doing so would be for your benefit. In other words, God will not force you to be blessed! He stands at the door and knocks; He doesn’t break down the door.
How this applies to you:
— The degree to which you experience God’s grace in your life is directly proportional to how much control you surrender to Him.
— Many believers do what I am about to say in their professional lives: The areas where you maintain tight control and rely solely on your expertise are the areas where you’ll experience the least supernatural empowerment from God’s grace.
— When facing complex decisions at work or home, your insistence on having all the answers before moving forward can actually block the divine wisdom that grace would otherwise provide. And living this way keeps you from faith becuase if you have all the answers, you don’t need faith.
— The projects and responsibilities that cause you the most stress are often those where you’ve unconsciously refused to surrender control, trying instead to manage them through human effort alone.
— Your reluctance to delegate or share control with others in your workplace or ministry may reflect a deeper spiritual issue – a reluctance to fully surrender control to God. You can trust others because you don’t trust God!
— The constant anxiety you feel about certain areas of your life is often a symptom of trying to maintain control rather than surrendering to God’s grace and timing.
— The areas of your life where you’ve experienced the most supernatural breakthrough are likely the areas where you finally gave up trying to make things happen and surrendered fully to God’s way and timing.
— God will not compete with your self-sufficiency. If you want to run your own life, make your own decisions, and pursue your own vision of success through your own strength, He will respectfully stand aside and wait until you get tired. Thankfully, God loves you so much that when you do get tired and come to Him, He will be right there, waiting on you.
2. Surrender Is The Gateway To Grace.
The paradox of grace is that it flows most powerfully through a surrendered vessel. In other words, the most power comes to and through those who realize they don’t have the power, so they yield to God!
James captured this principle perfectly: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (James 4:6). Pride, at its core, is self-reliance – the belief that we can manage life through our own wisdom and strength. Humility, on the other hand, is the honest acknowledgment of our dependence on God.
How this applies to you:
— When we surrender in humility, we position ourselves to receive an outpour of God’s grace.
— The breakthrough in your career or business may be waiting on the other side of surrender – the moment when you stop striving and start truly trusting God for the outcome.
— When you surrender your timeline and expectations to God, you often discover that His grace has been preparing something far better than what you were pushing for in your own strength.
— The healthiest, most effective leaders are those who have learned that surrendering to God doesn’t diminish their leadership; it actually enhances it by infusing it with grace that magnifies their impact.
— The most frustrating situations in your professional or personal life are often divine invitations to surrender – occasions where God is asking you to trust His grace rather than your effort.
— True surrender looks less like giving up and more like trading up – exchanging your limited perspective and ability for God’s unlimited wisdom and power.
— The prayer of surrender – “Not my will, but Yours be done” – isn’t a prayer of defeat; it’s the most strategically brilliant prayer you can pray because it aligns you with God’s perfect plan.
— Powerful things happen when you make a human alignment with God’s divine assignment for your life.
3. Surrender Is Daily, Not Once-For-All.
Many believers mistakenly think of surrender as a one-time decision, perhaps made at salvation or during a particularly emotional worship service. While those moments of consecration are valuable, true surrender to grace is a daily choice. Jesus taught this when He said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
How this applies to you:
— Each day presents new opportunities to either assert our independence from God or surrender to God. If you don’t depend on God, you cut yourself off from His grace.
— Starting each workday with a conscious surrender of your agenda, meetings, and conversations creates space for grace to operate in unexpected ways.
— When unexpected challenges arise during your day, the immediate choice to look up and surrender rather than stress out positions you to receive the grace you need to get through it. If in that moment, you look to self instead of surrendering to God, the result will be stress instead of divine wisdom and power.
— The habit of pausing before important decisions to surrender your preferences and preconceptions creates space for divine wisdom that transcends your natural thinking. God will give you wisdom that exceeds your education and experience, but you must look to Him.
— The areas of your life where you experience the most consistent peace are likely those you’ve learned to surrender daily, rather than areas you surrendered once but continue to take back control of.
— Each time you notice that you are feeling anxious in any area, it is an invitation to re-surrender that area to God’s grace and care. We are called to CAST-CARE and not CARRY it around.
— The most spiritually mature believers are not those who never struggle with surrender but have developed the habit of quickly recognizing when they’ve taken back control and promptly re-surrendering to God. This is how you walk with God daily. It is not a one-time thing. It is a life that is dedicated to dying to self and living for Him!
4. The Supernatural Life Is Simple, But Our Resistance Makes It Hard.
Living in the fullness of God’s grace through surrender isn’t complicated – it’s actually quite simple. Jesus described it as abiding in the vine (John 15:5). The complexity comes not from God’s side but from our resistance.
How this applies to you:
— We complicate the supernatural life with our attempts to maintain control, understand everything before we trust, and achieve things through effort that can only be received through surrender.
— Simply put, surrendering your life to God positions you to receive what grace has already provided.
— The moments when God’s power flows most evidently through your life are typically not when you’re striving hardest but when you’ve finally stopped trying and started trusting.
— Operating in the supernatural is actually not hard. It simply comes down to yielding to the Holy Spirit. For God to fully operate in your life, He just needs you to cooperate with Him.
— The goal of every believer should be to live in harmony with the Holy Spirit. When you do, you will receive downloads from heaven. You will know what to say and how to say it in any given situation. This is not hard work. It is not a matter of trying. It comes down to a matter of dying.
— The key to being used by God is simply getting out of the way. The less flesh (or carnality) you have in the way, the more God can speak through your vocal cords, think through your mind, and operate through your limbs.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I know that Your grace flows most powerfully through my complete surrender to You.
I consciously release control of every area of my life, knowing You will not compete with my self-sufficiency.
I embrace humility as the gateway to experiencing the fullness of Your grace in my life.
I choose to die to self daily, allowing Christ to live, speak, and work through me without hindrance.
I surrender my timeline, methods, and expectations, fully trusting Your perfect plan for my life.
I trade my limited perspective for Your unlimited wisdom and power through daily surrender.
I pause before every decision to create space for Your divine wisdom that transcends my natural thinking.
When anxiety arises, I immediately re-surrender that area to Your grace and care rather than carrying it myself.
Living this way, I experience THE GRACE LIFE in 2025 and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and prosper!????????????????
