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 dive deep into this foundational truth about how grace transforms us from the inside out.
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:
Titus 2:11-12 TPT
“For here’s how God’s marvelous grace has appeared, bringing salvation to all people! Grace has trained us to turn our backs on ungodly living and sinful pleasures and to live each day with self-control, right conduct, and devotion to God.”
Philippians 2:13 NLT
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Philippians 2:13 ERV
“Yes, it is God who is working in you. He helps you want to do what pleases him, and he gives you the power to do it.”
Ezekiel 36:26 NIV
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
Setting the Stage:
Over the past two messages, we’ve dealt with the ridiculous suggestion that grace is a license to sin. We’ve shown that people who ask this question haven’t truly experienced the transforming power of God’s grace, and that Paul’s response reveals how absurd the suggestion really is.
But today, I want to take you deeper. I want to show you exactly how grace works in the life of a believer. Grace doesn’t just cover your sin; it changes your heart so you don’t want to sin. Grace doesn’t just give you permission to live a holy life. Grace gives you the desire and the power to live as Jesus lived.
This is where religion and relationship go their separate ways. Religion tries to change you from the outside in through rules, regulations, and external pressure. Grace changes you from the inside out by giving you a completely new heart with new desires and supernatural power to fulfill those desires.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. Grace Is Your Personal Trainer That Works from the Inside Out.
Titus 2:11-12 tells us exactly how grace operates: “Grace has trained us to turn our backs on ungodly living and sinful pleasures and to live each day with self-control, right conduct, and devotion to God.”
How this applies to you:
— Grace doesn’t just forgive your past sins; it trains you to avoid future ones. The word “trained” here means “to educate,” “to discipline,” or “to instruct.” The grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit are like having a personal trainer for your spiritual life. But the difference is that this trainer works from the inside out, changing your desires rather than just your behavior.
— Grace trains you by changing what you want, not just what you do. Religion says, “Don’t do that!” Grace says, “Let me show you something better and I will help you want to desire something new.” There’s a huge difference between avoiding sin because you’re afraid of punishment and avoiding sin because you’ve found something exceptionally better.
— Grace teaches you to say “no” to ungodly living because it shows you who you really are in Christ. When you know you’re a son or daughter of the Most High God, living below your identity becomes unthinkable. You don’t avoid sin because it’s forbidden. You avoid it because it’s beneath you. It’s not who you are anymore.
— Grace produces self-control that flows from love and identity, not fear and insecurity. Fear-based self-control is always temporary and creates inner conflict. Love-based self-control is permanent and creates inner peace. When you’re in love with Jesus, pleasing Him becomes natural, not forced.
— Grace develops conduct that comes from a changed heart. Right thinking and right believing lead to right living.
— Under The Law, you behave right because you have to. Under grace, you behave right because you think like Goda and you want to.
— Religious duty says, “I have to serve God.” Grace-based devotion says, “I get to serve God!” It’s the difference between slavery and sonship. In Christ, you are not a slave. You are not a servant. You are a son!
— When your identity is secure in Christ, your behavior changes becuase you know who you are.
2. God Gives You Both the Desire and the Power to Live Holy.
Philippians 2:13 reveals the incredible partnership between God’s grace and our transformation: “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
How this applies to you:
— God doesn’t just command holiness; He creates the desire for it within you. Religion says, “You should want to be holy.” Grace says, “Let me give you the desire to be holy.” God works in your heart to make you want what He wants.
— The desire comes before the manifestation. God gives you the desire first, then He gives you the power to fulfill it. This means if you have a genuine desire to live holy, that desire itself is evidence that God is working in you.
— God’s instruction is always equal to His injection. When God tells you to live holy, it’s only because He has already injected you with the grace to do it. God will never instruct you to do something He hasn’t already equipped you to do. That would be unrighteous of Him as a heavenly Father.
— This process makes your life all about Him, not about you. When both the desire and power come from God, all the glory goes to God. You can’t take credit for wanting what’s right or for having the ability to do what’s right. It’s all grace!
— Your role is to cooperate with what God is doing in you, not to create what only God can create. You can’t manufacture holy desires or produce spiritual power. But you can yield to the desires God gives you and access the power He provides.
— When you understand this, serving God becomes effortless rather than exhausting. You’re not trying to work up desire or generate power—you’re simply flowing with what God has already placed within you. You get to live in harmony with God.
3. Grace Gives You a Completely New Heart with New Desires.
Ezekiel 36:26 shows us God’s ultimate plan: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
How this applies to you:
— God likens your old heart to stone; cold, hard, and unresponsive to God. And to be clear, grace doesn’t try to soften your heart of stone. God, by His grace, gives you a completely new heart that naturally responds to God. This is a heart transplant, not heart medication.
— Your new heart has new desires built into it. You don’t have to try to manufacture love for God, hunger for righteousness, or passion for His will. These things are programmed into your new heart. They’re part of your new nature.
— Your new heart makes holiness natural, not forced. With a heart of stone, living holy was impossible. With a heart of flesh, living holy becomes your natural inclination. You have a natural “bent” towards the things that please God.
— When God gives you a new heart, it means you are no longer fighting against your nature anymore; you are flowing with the Holy Spirit and your new nature. To explain this further, before you were Born-Again, you may have wanted to please God, but you were, by nature (as Ephesians 2 explains), a child of disobedience. However, once you are Born-Again, your spirit is made new, and God gives you a new nature.
— Your new heart responds to love, not fear. A stone heart only responds to threats and punishment. A heart of flesh responds to love and kindness. This is why grace works where The Law failed.
— Your new spirit has God’s Spirit dwelling within it. You’re not alone in this change process. The Holy Spirit lives in your new spirit, providing guidance, power, and fellowship. You have divine help from the inside out.
— Your new heart makes sin unnatural, not just illegal. Under The Law, sin was wrong because it was forbidden. Under grace, sin is wrong because it conflicts with your new nature.
4. This Heart Change Is What Makes Grace So Powerful and Practical.
Grace isn’t just about theological theory. It’s about making practical changes that transform your life every single day.
How this applies to you:
— Grace changes your motivation system from external pressure to internal passion. You don’t serve God because you have to; you serve God because you love to.
— Grace changes your question from “What can I get away with?” to “How can I please the One who loves me?” When your heart is changed, your focus shifts from avoiding punishment to expressing love.
— Grace makes obedience a joy rather than a burden. 1 John 5:3 says, “His commandments are not burdensome.” Under grace, God’s instructions become love letters from a Father who wants the best for you, not rules from a tyrant trying to control you.
— Grace gives you power to overcome sins that used to have dominion over you. With a new heart and God’s power working within you, addictions break, strongholds crumble, and patterns of defeat become patterns of victory.
— Grace produces fruit automatically, not artificially. Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruit of the Spirit. Under grace, these qualities grow naturally from your new heart: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You that grace doesn’t just cover my sin. Your grace has changed my heart, so I don’t want to sin.
I declare that You have given me a new heart with new desires.
You are working in me, giving me both the desire and the power to do what pleases You.
I am not trying to live holy in my own strength. Your grace is training me from the inside out.
My motivation to serve You flows from love, not fear; from gratitude, not guilt.
I have a new heart that naturally responds to Your love and naturally resists sin.
Grace has changed my question from “What can I get away with?” to “How can I please You?”
I am living from the inside out—expressing on the outside who You made me to be on the inside.
I am living #TheGraceLife, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
