Category: Galatians

Galatians 6

3/7/2012

Galatians 6:14-15 “As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of or Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not, what counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.”

Paul is so clear here about what matters. We are new creations after we accept Jesus as Lord and when we do that our focus should be on Him fully. When we put our focus on what He did on the cross and then learn to grow through God’s word we will transform and be different.

Verse 16 says, “May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.” This is such a great way to think about it because when we can keep our eyes off the world and on Christ we can have true peace and joy.

Paul also makes it clear that we are to learn and grow with fellow believers and be willing to do good for everyone. In chapter 6 verse 10 it says, “Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone – especially to those in the family of faith.” This is so important because this is the way God wants to give us peace and joy.

When we as Christians are struggling God wants us to be there to lighten the burdens and help people see Him. This is why discipleship in the church is so vital because our growth and transformation never stops as long as we live. We must remember that when we transform we are outwardly focused and we remember the cross in everything we do. And it is our responsibility to grow and learn or ask, seek and knock so we can never stop learning and making a difference for the Kingdom of God. Amen

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Galatians 5

3/4/2012

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Galatians 5:13 “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.”

I like this because it keeps our focus on others and not ourselves. We tend to think freedom is for us to do and have whatever we want but here we see it is for us to love others and serve them. Christ has given us the freedom to learn and grow to be like Him. It is not about trying to be so perfect that we check off the Christian boxes. It is about us surrendering our will and seeking wisdom form the Lord so we don’t have to worry about checking boxes we just live it because it is no longer us living it is the Spirit living in us.

Verse 16 says, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” When we let the Spirit drive we don’t have to worry about the law because the Spirit will never do wrong.

So it is important to study and ask God to show us all that is good because the bad will come no matter what and we must be ready for it.

Chapter 5 verse 17 says, “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

The more we learn the more we let go and let God lead and then we can hear and feel the Spirit loud and clear teaching us what is right. Verse 18 says, “But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not obligated to the Law of Moses.” This is because our life will resemble Christ and what we do will be honoring to God. I say let’s pray this: Dear Father in heaven, please continue to fill me with the desire to accept your Son and belong to Him letting the Spirit guide and comfort me in life. Give me the strength to work hard to learn and grow and never let me feel satisfied with what I know. I ask this in Jesus name, amen. Start looking for the things in our lives that the Spirit produces. Galatians 5:22, “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

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Galatians1

3/2/2012

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Galatians 1:10 “Obviously, I’m not trying to win approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”

Paul just gets done with a high challenge message and shares verse 10 so people understand how important the Good News about Jesus is. We can’t lower our standard or try and get people to church with a soft message that will entice them. We must speak truth in love and let people know exactly what Jesus did for us and teach them all God requires. The gift of salvation is free because of what Jesus did on the cross. When He took our sin He bridged the gap to the Father and through Him there is eternal life, that can’t be changed or earned. But we still are expected to accept Him and live through Him serving God by sharing the Good News about Jesus.

We need to continually learn and grow so we understand more and then our lives change and we live out what the Spirit is showing us and people see Christ in us. Transformation is so important in our lives. We must realize that we aren’t worthy and we fall short but God has called us to Him through Jesus Christ. It is not just knowing Him, it is belonging to Him. It’s not just saying we are Christian, it is living it out. It’s not an excuse to say well we all fall short but at least I am trying. It is surrendering our will for God’s and working hard to show our love by dying to self and opening our hearts for change.

In chapter 1 verse 6 Paul says, “I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to Himself through the loving mercy of Christ.”

Our desires to know more and be a student of the Good News is so vital to our development because all of us who claim to be Christian must learn to do what Jesus did. We are all called to make disciples and teach people to obey all that God has commanded. We can’t do that without effort and passion to understand. What is keeping us from giving it all to Him and living to glorify God with all our actions, and knowing that we must show our love by our transformation or circumcision of our heart. Amen

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Galatians

6/7/2011

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Something from the heart: As I have been reading in Galatians Paul has been opening my eyes to things that matter and things that don’t. In chapter 2 Paul shares how when you are sharing the Good News and are living by the Spirit and not by your own desires God will give you the words to say, and you can be confident in what you say.

In verse 6 he says, “And the leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. (By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.”)

The truth will set you free and we can all have confidence to understand what God is showing us. Let the Spirit guide you and share what you hear from God. The author and Pastor Warren Wiersbe said this about the church commission (Matthew 28:19-20) and I thought it to be a great way to look at it. “We are to make disciples, which calls for evangelism, we are to baptize, which implies fellowship in a local assembly, and we are to teach the word, which the Spirit uses to convict the lost. Let us be busy sowing the seed of the word, watering it with our prayers and tears and patiently waiting for the harvest.” This is what we all should be doing with our eyes focused on Christ as that perfect example. We need to remember as we are growing and learning that nothing can be in place of Jesus, not even if it is a good thing. We should always teach this and emphasize this when we passionately share our faith.

Paul in Galatians 6 verses 14-15 says, “As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died. It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not what counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.”

What is your focus, is it Christ or something else? There are good things in this world but Christ is our selling point for our faith and God is the only thing that makes it grow. Amen

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Galatians 5

6/6/2011

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Galatians 5:16-17 “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

How hard is it for us to listen to the Spirit the first time we hear it? It is as if when we hear the Spirit guiding us to do what is right we make excuses to not listen and do what feels good. That’s why Paul says that the “two forces are constantly fighting each other.” Because we know that as believers we should want to feed the Spirit more and more with wisdom from God. We know that most of what we watch or hear during the day will open our mind to desires of our sinful nature. So if we are not filling ourselves daily with wisdom and knowledge from the Lord, our sinful nature is louder in our hearts and we struggle even more with our daily decisions. When we accept Christ as our Lord we need to remember what it says in Galatians 2:20, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives me. So I live in this earthly body trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

What are the things that cloud your thoughts?

Galatians 5:19-20 says, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition, dissention, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

Do any of these things sound familiar, they do to me, and I pray and seek God to fill me more and more so I can hear the Spirit loud and clear. That daily growth doesn’t do it alone; it takes dying to self and trusting in what we know the Lord did for us and then realizing He is the only way to be free. Amen

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Galatians 5

10/25/2010

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Galatians 5:16 “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.”

Our minds run wild with crazy thoughts, it is important for us to surrender and learn all we can from the Lord. When we are full and seeking to be like Christ the Holy Spirit is loud and we hear it. But when this world and the sin in it is what fills us the Holy Spirit is quiet and we tend to ignore it.

Look what it says in verses 19-20, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasure, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, diversion, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

That is a huge list, how are we doing? These things cloud the Spirit in our hearts and we make all sorts of excuses why they are alright. I say get in God’s word and pray so you can hear the Spirit loud and clear. And when your mind wanders and you start thinking about that stuff you will turn to God for strength and the Holy Spirit will be clear. When this happens you will live as it says in verses 22-23, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self- control. There is no law against these things.”

We need to truly open our hearts and be full of the Spirit so that we desire to follow it and live our lives as Christ did. Amen

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Galatians 4

10/14/2010

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Galatians 4:4-7 “But when the right time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent Him to bring freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that He could adopt us as His very own children. And because we are His children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are His child, God has made you His heir.”

We need to remember that we are God’s children and need to listen to that Spirit in our hearts. So many times we hear or feel the Spirit but because it might not be what we want we follow the world. We can’t think lightly of what Jesus did, we need to understand that His act was for us not Himself. He suffered and died on the cross so we can have freedom through Him. He gave us the best example to follow and filled us with the Spirit so we have a guide. All we need to do is surrender and learn and live our lives following Christ’s lead then we will have peace and joy that we can’t get from this world. We need to have the excitement for Christ that we have for other things and realize there is nothing better or more satisfying. The Lord is all we need so we need to fill our hearts and minds with what God shows us in His word and be willing to be a light by living it out. Amen

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