Day 55
And because you are sons, God has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of His Son, crying, “Abba, Father!” Galatians 4:6 MEV
Psalm 28:8, 46:1, 62:7 Heb 6:18. The list is longer, but does our heart cry out to our Father God, or does it feel abandoned? I was without hope once, isolated and alone, but not anymore. Hallelujah!
My little children, of whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you, Galatians 4:19 MEV
I know this cry only too well. I thank the Lord for His lovingkindness and tender mercies, His unwavering faithfulness and compassion towards us, that we who often are in danger of taking Him for granted, are preserved.
Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a slave woman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but he of the free woman through the promise. These things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants. The one is from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and represents the present Jerusalem, and is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. Galatians 4:21-26 MEV
To me, this speaks volumes about the grace, so shunned upon through misunderstanding of God, that the Apostle Paul preached and taught so much on. This is the heart of God who gave us a covenant of grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Legalism is being overly zealous about keeping the law, or what they presume to be law, by a skewed interpretation of Scripture. A legalist has gone so far as to presume they could maintain or gain righteousness by deed.
So then, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
For freedom Christ freed us. Stand fast therefore and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians 4:31-5:1 MEV
I need to fully understand this to preach freedom to those who mistakenly think that they are the children of Hagar, the slave woman.
Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. I wish that those who are troubling you would castrate themselves! Galatians 5:11-12 MEV
This means that those who opposed the Gospel preached by the Apostle Paul were legalistic christians who counted the freedom won for us as invalid or in vain for their own gain or because of their insecurity. This I find to be true even now among the beleivers even today. This stresses the importance of Galatians 4:31-5:1. Also, considering what happened when Moses went up in mount Sinai to receive the 10 commandments, among other things, the apostle Paul’s usage of the word “castrate” takes on a deeper meaning when it comes to legalism against the Grace of God.
Think marriage, covenant, faithfulness, eunuchs etc.
I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Galatians 5:16 MEV
Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:24-25 MEV
This is freedom indeed. Oh that we could constantly walk and live in the Holy Spirit. This would be a tremendous personal achievement, worth striving for.
Let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches. Galatians 6:6 MEV
This makes me smile. This is a principle that we would be wise to follow.
Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. Galatians 6:7 MEV
Paul Stanley’s sixth Life Principle comes to mind: You reap what you sow, more than you sow, and later than you sow.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but a new creation. Galatians 6:15 MEV
Amen.
Day 56
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Ephesians 1:3 MEV
Past tense. While blessings are abounding and constant, He has already given us, for example, “the tools for our trade”. When people ask me what my trade is, I answer stating that I’m a ” planter”. People naturally think of agriculture and farming, but I specify that I plant the Lord’s Churches.
as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, which are in heaven and on earth. Ephesians 1:10 MEV
Not only in this world but also in the existence that is to come. I suspect that the depths of the idea that this verse speaks of cannot be fathomed even with a lifetime of pursuit.
In Him you also, after hearing the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and after believing in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13-14 MEV
The promised Holy Spirit completes our salvation. Jesus reconciled us to our Heavenly Father, He sealed us with the promised Holy Spirit.
And He put all things in subjection under His feet and made Him the head over all things for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all things in all ways. Ephesians 1:22-23 MEV
We are His body, the fullness of Him who fills all things in all ways.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the age of this world and according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among them we all also once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and He raised us up and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:1-7 MEV
Our past, present and future in Christ. Don’t ever be deceived from the simplicity of this great salvation.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10 MEV
By the grace of God, through faith in Christ, we are His workmanship, His masterpiece. Walk this way, talk this way!
But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13 MEV
Through a new covenant in which we live. Before, we were without a covenant with God, alienated and separated, but not anymore. We have a Heavenly Father, the mind of Christ, and are the temple of the promised Holy Spirit.
in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God through the Spirit. Ephesians 2:22 MEV
A dwelling place of God through the Spirit!
and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 MEV
The love of Christ, like His peace, surpasses knowledge.