One of the components of grace that we often miss is the ability to live by God’s power. This gift is what enables us to live a Spirit-empowered life that leads us to transformation, living beyond our human capabilities, unlocking our light and burden-free life.
Rather than experiencing life in the Spirit, we’re living with heaviness and stress not even close to that light and free life Jesus describes.
“. . . Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” — Matthew 11:29-30 (MSG)
Learning to walk with Him unlocks a facet of grace that much of the body of Christ is not grasping. The checklist Christianity has developed a “how-to” step plan that we have been conditioned to believe is connecting us to Jesus. But these methods have set us up to do much of life in our own strength, living by our standard of measurement, oftentimes leading many to religious burnout. This kind of living is exhausting and the complete opposite of what Jesus says our life with Him should feel like.
We are going to talk about grace from a different perspective and how we can even live outside of God’s jurisdiction, which blocks His power (given to us by grace) from being activated in our lives.
Yes.
You read that correctly.
If you take the time to read the ministry of Jesus and see the contrast between those He rebuked and those He received with open arms, you will find that the ones who seemingly “did it all right” were the furthest from Him.
They didn’t recognize their need for Him.
They felt they were doing pretty all right themselves as experts in the law, and they had their puffed-up knowledge to prove it. They were the self-righteous Pharisees who had their checklist to righteousness and looked down on others who didn’t measure up. This mindset yokes us back to the law. If we are going to create a how-to list, we will have to follow the entire law of Moses. We cannot create a checklist based on religious duties and live by His Spirit simultaneously; the checklist blocks the flow of the Holy Spirit completely.
This little truth bomb is found in Galatians when Paul is angry that “someone” is creating confusion with the Galatians about circumcision.
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for He is the one who called you to freedom. This false teaching is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough! I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you. — Galatians 5:1-10 (NLT)
First and foremost, we read that Christ has truly set us free. This is an inward freedom that should have an outward effect on our lives. From there we see what the breakdown looks like when we decide that we have to acquire certain religious practices to gain favor with God. Paul challenges that belief system and points us back to a reality that if we are trying to work toward acceptance, then what in the world is the benefit of Jesus’ suffering and what He paid for at the Cross? If you are working toward acceptance in your life, following the list of religious practices in your own strength, then the sacrifice of Jesus no longer carries the same power for you.
You have been cut off from Christ.
When we are walking in our own strength, working this life from whatever we can give it, we stop the flow of grace. The unearned gift of grace that empowers us to live through His strength, which gives us the ability to live a light and free life, is not activated. Grace is a benefit that we have from God and everything we have access to because of Jesus, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. God’s sufficient grace is living with undeserved, unearned gifts and abilities with His power attached to them.
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. — 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)
When you understand the power and the Source of His grace, your scope will expand at what you have been invited into as a citizen of Heaven and child of God. Notice what Paul writes that was relayed to him directly from God: “My grace is sufficient, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Simply put, because of God’s grace to us, we have access to His power. A power that actually works best when we are not trying to operate in our own strength.
Today’s devotional was quoted from my book, Ripple Effect. I pray it challenged and encouraged you!
Much love, J
