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 3:3 TPT
“Your new life in the Anointed One began with the Holy Spirit giving you a new birth. Why then would you so foolishly turn from living in the Spirit by trying to finish by your own works?”
Galatians 3:3 MSG
“How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?”
Matthew 16:17-18 TPT
“Jesus replied, ‘You are favored and privileged Simeon, son of Jonah! For you didn’t discover this on your own, but my Father in heaven has supernaturally revealed it to you. I give you the name Peter, a stone. And this truth of who I am will be the bedrock foundation on which I will build my church—my legislative assembly, and the power of death will not be able to overpower it!'”
Ephesians 1:11 NIV
“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”
2 Peter 1:3 TPT
“Everything we could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness.”
Setting the Stage:
Let me drive home the power of Galatians 3:3 today with a truth that should change the way you live. Paul is essentially asking, “Are you really so foolish that you think your human effort can perfect what the Holy Spirit started?” The Message translation puts it bluntly: “After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?”
Here’s what’s happening: The Galatians began in the Spirit (they were born again by grace through faith), but they then shifted to attempting to mature and grow through human performance. Paul calls this foolish! Why? Because the same Spirit who birthed you is the same Spirit who matures you. The same grace that started your journey is the same grace that completes it.
Let me give you a perfect biblical example: Peter. Before Peter understood grace, he was constantly trying to perfect himself through human effort. He tried to prove his devotion by saying he’d never deny Jesus. He tried to show his faith by jumping out of the boat. He tried to defend Jesus by cutting off the soldier’s ear. All of this was human effort trying to complete what only the Spirit could do.
But when Jesus revealed Peter’s true identity, “You shall be acalled Peter (the rock),” everything changed. Peter didn’t become the rock through his efforts; he discovered he already was the rock through revelation. After Pentecost, when he was filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter stopped trying to perfect himself and started operating from who the Spirit had already made him to be.
This is exactly what Paul is teaching in Galatians 3:3. You cannot perfect through human effort what the Spirit started through grace. You must believe what God believes about you!
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. The Spirit Started It, and Only the Spirit Can Complete It.
Galatians 3:3 makes it crystal clear: Your new life began with the Holy Spirit, not with your effort. The Spirit gave you new birth. So why would you think your human effort could finish what the Spirit started?
How this applies to you:
— You began in the Spirit when you were Born-Again. The Spirit didn’t just save you and then leave you to figure out the rest. He’s committed to completing what He started.
— When you try to perfect yourself through human effort, you’re actually saying the Spirit’s work wasn’t sufficient. You’re saying, “Thanks for saving me, Holy Spirit, but I’ll take it from here.” Or maybe you are saying, “I was taught that I need to take it from here. I was told that I need to ‘live right’ and ‘be holy’ in order to stay saved.” That is exactly what I was told.
— The foolishness Paul speaks of is thinking that what started supernaturally can be completed naturally. What began by divine power cannot be perfected by human willpower.
— Every time you feel the pressure to try harder to be more spiritual, remember that the Spirit who started your transformation is the only one who can complete it.
— You’re not waiting on God to finish the work; He’s already committed to it. You’re learning to cooperate with what He’s already doing instead of trying to do it yourself.
— The same grace that qualified you for salvation also qualifies you for sanctification. You don’t graduate from grace to human effort. No. You go from the grace that saved you, deeper into the grace that changes you. This means our dependence must be on God and His grace, not on our ability to “live right” and perform good enough for God to use us.
— Stop asking, “Am I doing enough?” and start asking, “Am I yielding enough to what the Spirit is already doing?” We must grow (and by growing, I mean drying) to the point where our lives are ALL ABOUT HIM!
2. Human Effort Cannot Perfect What Grace Has Already Provided.
Here’s the revelation: Everything you need for spiritual maturity has already been deposited in you by divine power. You’re not trying to become something; you’re learning to allow God to manifest who and what you already are. This is what Galatians 3:3 is teaching.
How this applies to you:
— God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. In His mind, you’re already complete. The work is already done. Your journey is discovering and believing what He’s already accomplished. As you discover it, you can yield to it, and God will manifest it through you.
— Everything you could ever need for life and godliness has already been deposited inside of you. The future God has for you is not in front of you; it is within you. The issue isn’t provision; it’s perception. Do you see yourself the way God sees you? Your life will change forever the day you believe what God believes about you.
— Just like Peter couldn’t perform his way into being the rock (he already was the rock, but he just did not know it), you can’t perform your way into spiritual maturity. You already have everything you need; you just need to discover it, develop in it, and then deploy into it.
— Nothing else has to happen for you to be who God called you to be. The Kingdom of God is within you right now. The only limiting factor is whether you believe what God believes about you.
— When your opinion of you lines up with God’s opinion of you, you stop trying to perfect yourself and start living as who you already are.
3. Identity Precedes Activity; Being Comes Before Doing.
Galatians 3:3 reveals a powerful principle: The Galatians were trying to do their way into being, but God’s way is that your being determines your doing.
How this applies to you:
— You do things because of who you are, not to become someone you are not.
— Look at Peter’s journey: Before he knew he was “the rock,” he was constantly doing things to prove himself. After Jesus revealed his identity, his actions flowed naturally from who he was, not from trying to become something.
— Your identity was settled before the beginning of time. It’s just that when you were born, you did not know who God called you to be. But when you get Born-Again, you can discover your true identity.
— When you discover Jesus, you discover yourself. When the Father revealed to Simon that Jesus was the Son of God, then Jesus revealed to Simon that he was to operate as Peter. The revelation of Jesus led to the revelation of his true identity.
— When God reveals to you who you are, you don’t have to earn it, prove it, or perfect it. You simply need to believe it and operate from it.
— Grace reveals your identity; performance tries to create it. The Spirit shows you who you are; the flesh tries to make you into something you think you should be. There is a world of difference there.
— Every day you spend trying to prove yourself is a day you’re not being yourself.
— The knowledge of Him is not just your knowledge of who God is; it’s God’s knowledge of who you are! When you see yourself the way God sees you, you naturally function in your purpose.
— Your being must precede your doing. When you know who you are in the Spirit, what you’re supposed to do becomes obvious and sweatless.
4. Rest in What’s Already Done Instead of Striving for What You Think Is Lacking.
The heart of Galatians 3:3 is this: Why are you exhausting yourself trying to finish something that’s already complete in the Spirit? The Galatians had moved from rest to striving, from grace to works, from Spirit to flesh.
How this applies to you:
— Faith is not convincing God to agree with your plans for spiritual growth. Faith is what happens when God convinces you to accept what He’s already accomplished in you through Christ.
— When your confidence is in God and what He’s already done, you don’t take on pressure to perform. You can feel the weight fall off as you enter God’s rest.
— You can either live based on confidence in your ability to perfect yourself or confidence in the Spirit’s ability to manifest what’s already perfect in you. One leads to exhaustion; the other leads to rest.
— Peter’s greatest failures came when he was trying to prove himself. His greatest successes came after Pentecost when he simply operated from who the Spirit had revealed him to be.
— Stop trying to get God to move in so you can grow. Realize that God already did what He needed to do for you, but He is trying to get you to believe, receive, and walk in it. He wants you to walk what He’s already provided and completed.
— God has already been to your future. He’s already seen it, already provided for it, and will show it to you if you tune in long enough for Him to reveal it. When He does, your job is NOT to strive for it, but to simply walk in it every day of your life. You are not working hard to become who God called you to be. You already are. God wants you now to live in the reality of what He has already provided. He wants you to live as WHO YOU ARE in Him!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You that the same Spirit who started my new life is the One who completes it!
Everything I need for life and godliness has already been deposited in me by Your divine power.
I’m not trying to become something; I’m learning to live as who I already am in Christ.
I stop striving to perfect myself and start resting in what You’ve already perfected in me.
I believe what You believe about me, and this changes everything about how I live.
Like Peter after Pentecost, I operate from Spirit-revealed identity, not flesh-driven performance.
The Spirit who began this good work in me will faithfully complete it!
I am living #TheGraceLife in 2025 and beyond, and GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and prosper!
