Most of us may have heard religious definitions of grace and faith, but they might have been taught to us wrong. Some churches teach exclusively about faith, while others focus solely on grace. However, anything in the extreme will lead us into error. To achieve any level of success in our lives, we must find a balance between both.

An overemphasis on grace produces a passive, lazy Christian who thinks God is in control of everything—even the bad things that happen. An overemphasis on faith produces a legalistic Christian who thinks that their actions will make God do something for them. However, for us to see manifestations, faith must be combined with works. Faith without works is dead; therefore, real belief results in action.

God’s power has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness, and faith takes possession of them. Grace promises us healing, deliverance, prosperity, peace, joy, and victory over problems; our faith positions us to receive those promises. Inheriting the promise is the outcome of faith, and depends entirely on faith, so that it might be given by an act of unmerited favor. Our belief in this gives us access to this grace.

Faith and grace always go together. Faith us our positive response to what God’s grace has done. We’re saved by grace through faith. Our salvation isn’t because of anything we do; it’s a gift from God.

What gives our belief the power it has are the finished works of Jesus Christ. Our believing is certainly important, but faith is ineffective outside the context of grace. We won’t see any results if we leave either one out of the equation. Combining them in the right proportions gives us the ability to move mountains.

Prayer:

Lord, You showed us grace in the person of Your Son, who made available to us everything we need in life. You also taught us how to position ourselves to receive what we need through our belief in what He did. We’re grateful for this. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

James 2:26

2 Peter 1:3

Romans 4:16, AMPC

Romans 5:2

Ephesians 2:8