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.
As part of this series, I am teaching a verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Galatians. Let’s get into it.
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.” ?? ??
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.” ??
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.”
Scripture(s) we will study today:
Galatians 1:16 TPT
“…to reveal his Son in me so that I would proclaim the good news of him to the non-Jewish people. After I had this encounter, I kept it a secret, sharing it with no one. And I had no desire to run to Jerusalem and try to impress those who had become Apostles before me.”
Galatians 1:16 ERV
“God was pleased to let me see and know his Son, so that I could tell the Good News about him to the non-Jewish people. When God showed me his Son, I did not ask any person for advice.”
Galatians 1:16 NIV
“…to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.”
Setting the Stage:
This verse reveals something extraordinary: God called the most qualified person to reach the Jews (Paul) and sent him to the Gentiles instead. Meanwhile, He took the least qualified person (Peter, an untrained fisherman) and made him the Apostle to the Jews. This move by God, which seems like a divine reversal, demonstrates that God’s ways are above our ways, and His thoughts are above our thoughts. God routinely operates in ways that defy human logic.
Let’s “pull the string” on this thought and how humanly nonsensical it was. Paul had spent his entire life preparing to be a Jewish religious leader.
He was:
- Educated at the feet of Gamaliel (the most respected Jewish teacher of his day)
- A Pharisee of Pharisees
- An expert in the Law
- Fluent in Hebrew, Aramaic, and the ancient texts
- Connected to all the religious power brokers
And God said, “Great! Now go minister to people who don’t care about any of that!”
Meanwhile, Peter, who couldn’t quote the Torah if his life depended on it, was sent to reach the very people Paul was trained to influence. This is what happens when grace gets involved: God flips the script on human expectations. In this case, I believe God did it this way for two reasons: 1) so He could get all the glory, and 2) so neither Peter nor Paul could rely on their flesh (or experience).
Here’s what made it even more complicated for Paul: all his friends were enemies of Jesus, and all the people who loved Jesus were his enemies. He couldn’t go to his old crowd for support—they would see him as a traitor. He couldn’t go to the Christians for help—they were terrified of him. Paul found himself in the ultimate no-man’s land. So, he had to spend three years in Tarsus, all by himself, getting to know Jesus intimately, until the one person who believed in him, Barnabas, came to Tarsus to recruit Paul and involve him in ministry.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. God’s Grace Calls You Outside Your Comfort Zone.
Paul was trained his entire life to minister to Jews, yet God called him to the Gentiles. This divine assignment pushed him completely outside everything familiar and comfortable.
How this applies to you:
— God often calls you to minister where your credentials mean nothing. Paul’s Jewish pedigree was useless among Gentiles who didn’t know Abraham from Adam.
— Your greatest preparation may be for something God never intends you to do. Paul thought he was preparing to be a Jewish leader, but God was actually preparing him to translate Jewish concepts for Gentile minds.
— When God calls you outside your comfort zone, it’s because He wants to be your only source of confidence. In familiar territory, you naturally rely on your training; in unfamiliar territory, you are forced to rely on God’s grace.
— The very skills God developed in you might be used in ways you never imagined. Paul’s knowledge of the Law helped him explain why Gentiles didn’t need it. He was actually THE most qualified person to explain why the Law did not apply anymore.
— Grace-based assignments often feel like God is wasting your preparation, but He’s actually using it in ways that transcend human planning.
— When you feel overqualified for one area and underqualified for another, you’re probably right where God wants you—dependent on His grace rather than your credentials.
— God’s calling will stretch you beyond what makes sense to your natural mind. If your calling doesn’t scare you a little, it may not be from God.
2. When Your Calling Makes No Sense to Either Side.
Paul’s conversion and calling created a unique dilemma: he became too Christian for his Jewish friends and too Jewish for his Christian enemies. Nobody trusted him, and humanly speaking, nobody should have.
On a side note, I know what it is like to be in this type of situation.
How this applies to you:
— Sometimes, God’s calling will isolate you from every support system you’ve known. Paul couldn’t lean on old relationships or new ones—only on God.
— When your transformation is radical, both your past and present circles may reject you. But in God’s eyes, this isn’t rejection; it’s divine positioning.
— God may call you to bridge two worlds that see each other as enemies. Paul became the bridge between Jewish theology and Gentile freedom.
— Your calling might not make sense to religious people OR secular people. When you’re living THE GRACE LIFE, you transcend both categories. I know the feeling.
— The very people who should support your calling might be the ones who oppose it most. Jewish Christians should have celebrated Paul reaching Gentiles, but many opposed him.
— Your isolation is not punishment—it’s preparation. God often separates us from human influence when He’s about to do something supernatural through us.
— When nobody understands your assignment, it’s often because God is doing something new that doesn’t fit old categories. Once again, I know the feeling. I know what it is like to be called to ministry, but not to the same style of ministry as your friends (traditional Pastors), who know you are anointed, but they also know you are called to do something different from what they are doing. At the same time, I know what it is like to be in Corporate America while not being able to “fully” fit in either because the way many of them do business does not line up with God’s values or your calling. This means you are one of them, but not really. However, God uses this tension to force His children to rely on His grace and to become conduits of His love and light.
3. The Danger of Consulting Flesh and Blood.
Paul specifically mentions that he “did not consult any human being… no flesh and blood.” This wasn’t arrogance—it was wisdom. He knew that human logic would talk him out of divine assignment.
How this applies to you:
— When God gives you a revelation, be careful who you share it with. Not everyone is qualified to speak into your divine calling.
— You can’t give everyone the license to speak into your life. You need to reserve this right only for the people God identifies as uniquely anointed to lead and cover you.
— Human wisdom often opposes divine direction. If Paul had consulted others, they would have given him a thousand reasons why a former persecutor shouldn’t or even couldn’t preach.
— Sometimes obedience requires isolation. Paul went to Arabia (initially) and then home to Tarsus instead of Jerusalem because he needed to hear from God, not from men.
— Well-meaning people can talk you out of your destiny. Even other believers might not understand what God is doing in your life, and they will attempt to talk you out of it. Many times, simply because they love you.
— There’s a difference between godly counsel and human opinion. Learn to discern when to seek advice and when to simply obey.
— Your friends’ limitations can become your limitations if you let their opinions override God’s direction. What seems impossible to them is possible with God.
— When God calls you to something unprecedented, there’s no human blueprint to
follow (at least not that you are aware of). When God called me into ministry, I did not know anyone in my family or within my closest circle who had been called. So, I had to rely on God and trust completely in His grace and guidance. Paul had to do the same thing.
4. When Trust in God Is Your Only Option.
With no human support system and a calling that defied logic, Paul had no choice but to trust completely in God. This wasn’t a fallback position—it was God’s design.
How this applies to you:
— God often orchestrates circumstances where He is your only option. This isn’t cruel—it’s strategic.
— When human options are removed, humans often find a way to tap into divine power. Paul’s isolation forced him to develop a dependency on God that no human relationship could provide.
— Your weakness positions you for His strength. Paul couldn’t rely on his training, his connections, or his reputation—only on God’s grace.
— Sometimes, God has to strip away every human support to show you that He is enough. Paul learned that grace was sufficient when nothing else was.
— The impossible nature of your calling is what qualifies it as a God-assignment. If you could do it in and of your own strength, it wouldn’t require faith.
— When your assignment makes no human sense, requires skills you don’t have, and isolates you from support, you’re perfectly positioned to become a GRACE CASE!
— God’s grace flows most powerfully when human resources are exhausted. Paul discovered that when he was weak, he was made strong.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You that Your ways are higher than my ways.
I embrace the calling You’ve given me, even when it defies human logic.
I will not allow flesh and blood to speak me out of what Your Holy Spirit is leading me into.
I trust You when my assignment takes me outside my comfort zone.
When my calling makes no sense to others, I will remember that I’m not called to make sense—I’m called to make a difference as I live by faith.
I declare that my isolation is not rejection but divine positioning.
When I have no one to lean on but You, I discover that You are more than enough.
I will not let human opinions override divine direction.
My trust is in Your grace, not in human support systems.
I am living THE GRACE LIFE, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
