Grace

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
—Philippians 2:13, NKJV
            Popular definitions of grace are: “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense” and “the unmerited favor of God.” These definitions are based on Ephesians 2:8, NKJV, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” But Grace plays a much greater role in the life of a person once he becomes a Christian. Grace is the enabling power of Almighty God working in the believer through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is the ability to know and do the works of God in the earth. The above scripture implies that there is a certain power of God working in the believer that enables him “to will and to do for His good pleasure,” and that power is grace.
            Without grace the believer is stuck in the flesh. Grace raises him up into the spirit realm so that the works that are done will have everlasting, staying power. It lifts him up above the corrupted flesh and the works done in it. Grace allows him to participate in the nature and the works of Almighty God, for the works of God are assigned to the spirit, not the flesh. Nothing done in the flesh will prosper in spiritual matters. (Romans 8:8, NKJV) “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”