Note: I got Born-Again August 27, 1995. This means that today marks 30 years of me walking with God. I rejoice over that!
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.
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 CEV
“But God treated me with undeserved grace! He made me what I am, and his grace wasn’t wasted. I worked much harder than any of the other apostles, although it was really God’s grace at work and not me.”
Scripture(s) we will study today:
Galatians 3:6 TPT
“Abraham believed God and God recognized his faith as righteousness.”
Galatians 3:6 NIV
“So also Abraham ‘believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.'”
Genesis 15:6 NIV
“Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”
Romans 4:3 TPT
“Listen to what the Scriptures say: ‘Because Abraham believed God’s words, his faith transferred God’s righteousness into his account.'”
Setting the Stage:
Today, Paul drops a theological bomb on those in Galatia who were determined to focus on the Law by bringing up Abraham. Why? Because the Jews considered Abraham their spiritual father, the ultimate example of righteousness. But Paul shows them something revolutionary: Abraham walked in God’s grace as he lived by faith! Abraham was not following the rules. He was exercising faith in what God said, and it was attributed to him as righteousness.
Think about this: Abraham lived 430 years before the Law was even given! He never kept the Sabbath, never offered the prescribed sacrifices, never followed dietary laws, and never got circumcised until AFTER he was declared righteous. Abraham didn’t have the Ten Commandments, the Torah, or any religious system to follow. All he had was God’s word and his faith.
Here’s something that most believers miss today: Abraham became righteous the exact same way you and I become righteous. How? By believing God. Not by performing religious duties, not by being morally perfect, not by following a set of rules that didn’t even exist yet. Just simple faith in what God said. Abraham was living #TheGraceLife before there was even a Law to contrast it with!
The legalists were trying to make the Galatians think they needed to go back to Abraham through the Law. But Paul shows them that going back to Abraham actually means abandoning the Law and embracing faith alone. Abraham proves that God’s original plan was always grace through faith. Adam had grace through faith. Abraham had grace through faith. And guess what? We now, under the New Covenant, have grace through faith. Grace was God’s plan from the beginning.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. God’s Original Plan Was Always Grace, Never Performance.
Adam did not earn anything to be God’s son. It was all grace. Abraham did not earn anything to be God’s chosen vessel. It was all grace. Before God ever gave a single commandment, He established the principle of righteousness by faith. This wasn’t Plan B after the Law failed; this was always Plan A!
How this applies to you:
— You’re not living under some new experimental system when you live by grace. You’re returning to God’s original design for His relationship with humanity. Studying the life of Abraham reminds us that grace came first, not the Law.
— Abraham had no religious credentials, no spiritual pedigree, and no moral perfection when God called him. He was an idol and moon-worshiper from Ur of the Chaldeans! Yet God declared him righteous simply because he believed. This proves that God has always been more interested in faith than in religious performance.
— When God looks at you, He’s not looking for Law-keeping; He’s looking for Abraham-style faith. God hasn’t changed His requirements. What made Abraham righteous is the same thing that makes you righteous: believing what God says about you.
— The fact that righteousness came by faith 430 years before the Law proves that the Law was never God’s ultimate plan for making people right with Him. Grace isn’t God settling for less; grace is God giving us His best!
— Abraham didn’t have to clean up his life before God could use him mightily. God called him while he was still worshiping other gods, and his faith journey included lying about his wife, having a baby outside of his marriage(with Hagar), and a laundry list of other failures. Yet he remained “the friend of God” because his righteousness was based on faith, not flawless behavior.
— Your relationship with God operates on the same principle that Abraham’s did: God speaks and you believe. This is how grace is received through faith.
— If Abraham could be declared righteous without the Law, then the Law cannot be essential for your righteousness either.
2. Faith Is Simply Taking God at His Word, Not Trying to Impress Him.
When the Scripture says Abraham “believed God,” it doesn’t mean he had perfect theology or never doubted. It means he took God at His word. When God said, “I will,” Abraham said, “You will.” That’s it, and that’s faith!
How this applies to you:
— Faith isn’t about the quality of your belief; it’s about the quality of the One you’re believing in. Abraham’s faith wasn’t perfect, but the God he believed in was. Your faith doesn’t have to be flawless; it just needs to be rooted in the One who is flawless.
— Abraham believed God’s promise about having descendants as numerous as the stars when he was childless and his wife was barren. He didn’t wait for circumstances to line up before believing. Faith believes God’s word even when current reality contradicts it.
— Abraham stood on a Word from God for 25 years before Isaac was born. I am convinced that most modern-day believers think he was applying his faith to some written Word. But Abraham didn’t have the Bible. He did not have thousands of years of testimonies (like we do). He didn’t even have the Holy Spirit living inside him. Yet his simple faith was enough. How much more should we believe with all that we have?
— Faith isn’t about you convincing God. Faith is what happens when God convinces you. Abraham got to the point where he was fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able also to perform (Romans 4). Abraham didn’t beg God for children; he simply believed God’s promise about children. Your faith accesses what God has already declared, not what you’re trying to talk Him into.
— When Abraham believed, God “credited” or “transferred” righteousness into his account. This is accounting language! It’s like God made a direct deposit of righteousness into Abraham’s spiritual account, not because Abraham earned it, but because Abraham believed God would do it. The same transfer happens in your account when you believe!
— Abraham’s faith wasn’t based on his ability to perform but on God’s ability to provide. He looked at his 100-year-old body (which was dead, from the waist down at that point) and Sarah’s womb (which had been dead all her life), and he still believed God. Why? Because faith isn’t confidence in yourself; it’s confidence in God’s power and faithfulness. And God can do anything!
3. Your Spiritual DNA Comes From Abraham, Not Moses.
Paul is establishing something crucial here: If you’re in Christ, Abraham is your spiritual father, not Moses. Your spiritual heritage is grace, not Law. Your spiritual DNA is faith, not religious performance.
How this applies to you:
— You’re not children of the Law; you’re children of promise. Your spiritual lineage traces back to Abraham’s faith, not to Sinai’s commandments. This means your identity is rooted in grace, not in rules.
— Abraham became the father of many nations before he was circumcised, before he offered Isaac, before he did anything religious. This means your spiritual inheritance doesn’t depend on your religious performance.
— Abraham’s blessing comes to you the same way it came to him: through believing, not achieving. Galatians 3:9 says those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham. You don’t get Abraham’s blessing by following the Law of Moses; you get it by living by faith, like Abraham did.
— Your spiritual pedigree is one of faith heroes, not law-keepers. If you look at Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you should quickly realize that none of them had the Law. They all walked with God through faith alone. You’re part of this grace lineage, not the law lineage that came 430 years later.
— God called Abraham His friend, not His servant. When you understand that you’re Abraham’s spiritual descendant, you realize God wants friendship with you based on faith, not servitude based on rule-keeping. This changes everything about how you approach God! Say this, “I am a friend of God!“
— The promises God made to Abraham are yours through faith, not through the Law. Every promise God made to Abraham about blessing, multiplication, and impact is available to you through the same means Abraham accessed them: faith in God’s grace. You get to enjoy THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM (which is a natural blessing), and THE BLESSING OF JESUS (which is a spiritual blessing).
4. God Counts Faith as Righteousness, Not Religious Performance.
God didn’t count Abraham’s circumcision as righteousness. He didn’t count Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac as righteousness. He didn’t count Abraham’s leaving his homeland as righteousness. He counted Abraham’s FAITH as righteousness!
How this applies to you:
— God is not keeping a scorecard of your religious activities. He’s not counting your church attendance, your prayer hours, or your good deeds. He’s looking for faith, and when He finds it, He counts it as righteousness.
— Abraham was declared righteous in Genesis 15:6, but he wasn’t circumcised until Genesis 17; at least 14 years later! This proves that the religious ritual didn’t make him righteous; faith did. Your religious activities don’t make you righteous either; your faith does. You are the righteousness of God in Christ, by faith (2 Cor 5:21); not by performance.
— God’s accounting system is different from the world’s. The world keeps track of your mistakes; God keeps track of your faith. You are not perfect, but by faith, God credits you with Jesus’ perfection.
— This destroys the religious mentality that says you need to earn God’s approval. If Abraham (the father of faith) received righteousness as a gift through believing, then that’s the only way anyone gets it. There’s no other plan, no other path, no other program. Just grace through faith!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You that Your original plan was always grace through faith.
This is the way Abraham lived, and it is the way I live.
I believe Your promises about me, just as Abraham believed Your promises about his future.
My righteousness comes from believing, not achieving.
I am in Christ and am therefore Abraham’s seed. This means my heritage is grace, not the Law.
You count my faith as righteousness, not my religious performance.
I take You at Your Word every day. I live by faith in every Word You speak to me!
I refuse to complicate through Law what You made simple through grace.
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!
