More Reflections on Obedience by God's Grace
Obedience doesn’t come from striving, but from staying connected to the Source.
Devotional Credit: Day by Day by Grace by Bob Hoekstra
Photo Credit: Unsplash
Today’s devotional from Bob Hoekstra reminds us that the Christian life begins by grace and continues by grace—not by effort, striving, or willpower. Paul’s words to the Galatians confront the absurdity of beginning with the Spirit but trying to finish the race with the flesh. The same Spirit who brought us new life is the One who grows that life within us.
At salvation, we humbly acknowledged our need and trusted the Lord to do what we could never accomplish. Why then would we now shift to self-effort to live obediently? The grace of God, applied to our hearts by the Spirit, is not just the doorway into the Christian life—it is the entire path forward.
We’re reminded in 2 Corinthians that our sufficiency is never from ourselves. Even the desire to obey God must be drawn from His fullness. We do not manufacture godliness; we receive it. We don’t produce obedience; we participate in it as Christ lives in us. This is the ongoing grace dynamic—humble dependence that draws from a limitless supply.
✍🏼 Personalized Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
I began this work in you. I breathed life into your spirit when you believed. That life was not from your flesh; it was My Spirit igniting what was dead and making it alive. Why then would you turn from Me now and return to the weakness of self-effort?
You are not sufficient to produce obedience, nor do I expect you to be. Your sufficiency is from Me. I am the source of your new life, and I remain the source of your growth. You began in Me—continue in Me. I will not ask you to finish what I alone began. Instead, I invite you to walk in the same trust that first brought you to Me: confident that I am enough.
I grace the humble heart, and I dwell in the yielded one. Let your obedience arise from rest—not from striving. Let your fruit come from abiding—not from labor. I do not ask for more effort. I ask for your heart to remain open, trusting, and yielded, that My life may flow freely through you.
Obedience is not your achievement—it is My expression through your surrendered vessel. You are not a worker striving to please a distant master. You are My beloved, through whom I delight to shine.
Scriptures referenced: Galatians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 3:5; Titus 3:5–7; Hebrews 13:9; James 4:6; Romans 5:2
🧺 Real-Life Analogy
It’s like trying to power a lamp by blowing on it instead of plugging it in. You might manage to flicker the flame of effort now and then, but it won’t sustain the light. Only when connected to the source does the lamp shine steadily—effortlessly, naturally, as it was designed to.
🙏🏼 Prayer of Confidence
Father, I thank You that You never ask me to finish in the flesh what You began in the Spirit. I rest today in Your complete sufficiency. I rejoice that obedience flows not from my effort but from Your life within me. Thank You that in Christ, I am not working toward approval—I’m living from it. I trust You to express Your will through me as I walk in humble dependence today.