Grace In Place Of Grace
We sing about grace and how it’s amazing. Our lips belt out every word. Lifting arms to the heavens, we shout out our praise, thanking God for all He has done for us.
Yet in spite of all this, we continue to live in bondage to the law.
What is it about the law that holds us captive? It’s as if grace is too good to be true. What has begun in grace is sustained by grace and will be finished by grace. We can’t earn our salvation. God freely gives us everything we need.
Read Galatians 2:11-21
Here we see that we can be right culturally but wrong theologically. It’s not our job to prop the Holy Spirit up. It’s our job to submit to Him and allow Him to have His way in our lives. He always does more than we could ever dream.
When we operate in the law, it points to our effort; we’re striving to achieve something the Holy Spirit has already fulfilled. The fullness of the Holy Spirit comes from operating in grace and truth. It is out of His fullness that I am filled.
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.—John 1:16-17 NIV
Journal: Why do you think we tend to cling to the law rather than accept God’s grace?
We must ask ourselves if our lives are full of grace or striving. Are we resting in the Holy Spirit today? Our trust is demonstrated when we fully rest in Him. His outcome is better than we could ever dream. As we consistently submit to His desires, our desires will become more like His.
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.—1 Peter 5:7 NIV
We don’t have to be perfect. If we mess up, He’s still going to be right there. When I’m operating in God’s grace and truth, I’m walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit and giving a full expression of what He looks like in the life of a believer.
For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God.—Galatians 2:19 NLT
Where the law condemns us, God’s grace justifies us. We don’t have to perform to earn a position with Him. If we have a thought that doesn’t agree with the Word of God, then we need to toss it out.
Respond: What thought do you need to toss out today?
With Him, there is no condemnation, no shame or defeat. We don’t have to earn a place in the presence of God. He fulfilled the law on our behalf. So take off the requirements of the law; remove the shackles of guilt and shame. Submit to the Holy Spirit and put on the freedom of grace. He has so much more to offer. We have only to receive.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.—Romans 8:1-4 NLT
When we put on the Holy Spirit, He doesn’t conform to our lives, but we conform to His, transforming our future forever. We’re no longer bound by sin and shame. His grace is sufficient; His mercy endures; His freedom is ours. Accept it today.
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.—Galatians 2:20-21 NLT
Activation: Daily, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal ways that you may be operating in the law rather than grace and submit to His guidance.
Prayer Prompt: Incorporate these Scriptures in your prayers.
Yet in spite of all this, we continue to live in bondage to the law.
What is it about the law that holds us captive? It’s as if grace is too good to be true. What has begun in grace is sustained by grace and will be finished by grace. We can’t earn our salvation. God freely gives us everything we need.
Read Galatians 2:11-21
Here we see that we can be right culturally but wrong theologically. It’s not our job to prop the Holy Spirit up. It’s our job to submit to Him and allow Him to have His way in our lives. He always does more than we could ever dream.
When we operate in the law, it points to our effort; we’re striving to achieve something the Holy Spirit has already fulfilled. The fullness of the Holy Spirit comes from operating in grace and truth. It is out of His fullness that I am filled.
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.—John 1:16-17 NIV
Journal: Why do you think we tend to cling to the law rather than accept God’s grace?
We must ask ourselves if our lives are full of grace or striving. Are we resting in the Holy Spirit today? Our trust is demonstrated when we fully rest in Him. His outcome is better than we could ever dream. As we consistently submit to His desires, our desires will become more like His.
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.—1 Peter 5:7 NIV
We don’t have to be perfect. If we mess up, He’s still going to be right there. When I’m operating in God’s grace and truth, I’m walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit and giving a full expression of what He looks like in the life of a believer.
For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God.—Galatians 2:19 NLT
Where the law condemns us, God’s grace justifies us. We don’t have to perform to earn a position with Him. If we have a thought that doesn’t agree with the Word of God, then we need to toss it out.
Respond: What thought do you need to toss out today?
With Him, there is no condemnation, no shame or defeat. We don’t have to earn a place in the presence of God. He fulfilled the law on our behalf. So take off the requirements of the law; remove the shackles of guilt and shame. Submit to the Holy Spirit and put on the freedom of grace. He has so much more to offer. We have only to receive.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.—Romans 8:1-4 NLT
When we put on the Holy Spirit, He doesn’t conform to our lives, but we conform to His, transforming our future forever. We’re no longer bound by sin and shame. His grace is sufficient; His mercy endures; His freedom is ours. Accept it today.
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.—Galatians 2:20-21 NLT
Activation: Daily, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal ways that you may be operating in the law rather than grace and submit to His guidance.
Prayer Prompt: Incorporate these Scriptures in your prayers.
He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,—2 Timothy 1:9 NIV
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God——Ephesians 2:8 NIV
The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.—1 Corinthians 1:3 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.—1 Corinthians 15:10 NIV
So then, it does not depend on the person who wants it nor the one who runs, but on God who has mercy.—Romans 9:16 NASB
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.—John 1:16-17 NIV
The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, for His compassions do not fail.—Lamentations 3:22 NASB
For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the Law but under grace.—Romans 6:14 NASB
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