Manefestation Of Flesh And Spirit

Galatians 5: 13-26

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, 

If we do that, then we are forfeiting our freedom for slavery again. 

but through love serve one another. 

This is our purpose, that Jesus leaves us here for, instead of taking us directly to Heaven when He saves us.

For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19: 18). 

God is Love, and He based all of His Law on love. When we love one another, we won't want to harm or offend each other at all. We will treat other people the same way we would like them to treat us. That will obey and fulfill all the laws and rules and precepts. 

Then Jesus told His disciples that He was giving them "a new commandment," that goes further than the original commandment, "that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another" (John 13: 34). 

And He repeats this, saying, "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you" (John 15: 12). 

Jesus was willing to go the extra mile, to sacrifice Himself for our benefit; He gave up His glory in Heaven to become one of us, so that He would qualify to die a human death for each of us. This was the Plan from before He created the Universe. 

And we are to "have the mind of Christ" to love one another sacrificially, just as He has already loved us. We are to be like Him.

But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. 

We certainly don't want to be destroyed by one another, as what would happen when we don't love one another. Let's not attack each other, but sacrificially serve one another instead.  

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 

When we are sensitive to the Spirit's leading, then He gives us the power and ability to not give in to any of our fleshly desires, preferring His gifts and enablements instead. 

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 

Our bodies are damaged and defective, and often we experience desires to indulge it, because this is where we live. 

But God's Spirit in us gives us new desires and abilities, and we need to learn to enjoy His good things, instead of the fleshly things we have previously enjoyed. 

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 

The Law laid out specific rules and parameters that we were bound to adhere to, but the Law that God wrote into our hearts by His Spirit are not hard boundaries, but soft, fluid paths to show us love and compassion and mercy to share with one another.  

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, 

Now we're going to see some of the things that God hates for us to indulge in, because they are so damaging to us and our sensibilities; and opposite to the way He designed us. 

which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 

These all pertain to our bodily functions as to how we treat our own and others' bodies. 

idolatry, sorcery, 

These relate to what we prioritize in our thinking (idolatry), and where we desire to obtain the power to do what we want to do (sorcery), from demons instead of God. 

These next deal with our relationships with one another: 

enmities (being an enemy), strife (competition), jealousy (unwilling to give up what you possess), outbursts of anger (lack of self-control), disputes (arguments), dissensions (strong quarrels), factions (opposing political parties), 
envying (wanting to possess what someone else owns for yourself), 

And our behavior:

drunkenness (too much to drink, not moderate), carousing (rowdy partying), and things like these, 

Everything that is related to all of these areas of thinking and behavior are all what our sinful flesh desires.  

of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 

People who live lifestyles like these are not learning how to behave in God's Kingdom, and will not fit in there at all. 

But the fruit of the Spirit 

This is the other side of the coin, the opposite of all the fleshly stuff we've been discussing. 

is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 
gentleness, self-control; 

These nine virtues cover everything that we need to inculcate into our thinking processes and lifestyles. God's ways are so simple, yet not easy. We cannot possibly live this way without His Spirit living in us to give us the power and ability. 

against such things there is no law. 

There has never been nor will there ever be any kind of law anywhere that would rule against being happy or peaceful or patient or any of the other qualities listed here. Everyone everywhere is looking for these. Only God can teach them to us, by His Spirit living in us. 

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

We who have realized that we are the criminals who deserve execution by crucifixion, and have let Jesus take our death for us, have by that act crucified our bodily desires and compulsions, and have received His Spirit who is teaching us God's ways of thinking and acting.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 

Now that our spirits are alive, having God's Spirit coming in giving them life, now we can also live our lives with a Godly lifestyle, as His Spirit leads us to do. A complete 180 turn-around. 

So let's continue on the road He put our feet on when He turned us around, and not even want to go back to those worldly, fleshly ways.  

Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.  

So let's not think we're someone special, because we're just as special as every other of God's children. We didn't create any of the good ways He has taught us, or designed any of the good things He empowers us to do, so we have nothing to boast about in ourselves; or to challenge someone else to be like us when we're all gifted differently. And when we envy someone else's gift, then we're not appreciating them or developing our own gifts that we are responsible for before God.

O my Father, thank You so much for rescuing us from all those manifestations of the flesh, that work to destroy us. You are not willing for any to perish, but for all of us to come to the knowledge of repentance, realizing how much You Love us all! 

Father, show Your children that You have given them the power and ability to turn from all the manifestations of their flesh, and to turn around to build Your fruit of Your Spirit in them. In all of us, Father. 

Teach us to be Your Light in the darkness of our World, and to not hide our light, but allow it to display Your ways, how much better they are than the World's ways. Your ways bring us good health--physically, mentally, psychologically, spiritually; and prosperity in every way--relationally, socially, financially, spiritually. 

O Father, You are our Source of Life, of joy, of everything good, and beneficial, and enjoyable. You designed the Universe to be the environment for this Earth, so we could build our World upon it. And when we cooperate with the way You designed it to operate, then we prosper in the World. But when we turn from Your ways, deciding that we know better than You, then we lose the good times and come into times of trouble and strife. (See the continuous cycles in the Book of Judges!) 

My dear Father, You have Loved me more than I can ever possibly comprehend in my little mind! I don't understand how You do all that You do, but I thank You and praise You for Your greatness, and goodness, and compassion, and grace to me. 

Send me out, Father; send out all Your children into Your fields, that are fertile for the sowing of Seed, and the fields ripe for harvest. Fill Your great house with all Your big family, every place at Your grand Banquet Table occupied, to feast with You everlastingly. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, King of Creation, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever, Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus 

Who Is Leading Astray?

Galatians 5: 7-12

You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the Truth? 

They had been doing so well, following what Paul had taught them. But now someone has come in and turned them away from the sufficiency of the Cross, telling them that they need to do something, too. 

This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. 

This opinion is not according to the Lord who called them to Salvation. 

A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. 

Just one wrong idea can spread through the whole congregation. 

I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; 

Paul knows that the Lord can keep them from falling away, by taking on any view contrary to trusting Jesus Christ to have done all the work of Redemption. 

but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. 

Paul doesn't know who this person is, but no matter what rank of authority he seems to have, he's leading these new Christians away from the pure simplicity of the Gospel that they had believed. 

Jesus said that, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18: 6). This horrific punishment is not as bad as the judgment this person is calling down upon himself for leading these "little ones," new believers, astray.  

But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? 

They're saying that their message is the same as Paul's, yet they still talk him down. 

Then the stumbling block of the Cross has been abolished. 

And if circumcision is necessary, then there didn't need to be a Cross involved at all, and there would be no problems of admitting that we deserve that kind of execution. That's a real "stumbling stone" if there ever was one. 

I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves. 

Now Paul's getting personal! He says that since they are advocating that you cut yourselves, then they should cut themselves, too, all the way! 

He is very upset that these teachers that came from Jerusalem would try to corrupt the beautiful simplicity of the Gospel in order to gain followers for themselves. Paul never promoted himself, he always taught what the Lord had taught him one-on-one when He saved him. 

Paul never even went to Jerusalem to confer with the other Apostles before he went out preaching everywhere, he wanted to be sure he was teaching only God's pure Truth.

And he is still focused on the purity and simplicity of the Cross of Christ, and His Resurrection. Jesus has accomplished and finished all the work of our rescue, without any input from us--at all. 

O my Father, Your Love is so incredible! It is so rich and full and all-encompassing. It is pure and wide and deep. It is so much more that I can ever comprehend, I just can't wrap my mind around its immensity--I'm too small!

Father, You have done everything possible, and even what is impossible, to rescue us from destruction. To Redeem us out of the slave-market and adopt us into Your own family as Your children. 

Father, You have washed us pristine clean, as though we'd never sinned--even though we're still in these flesh bodies and we "miss the mark" every day! You see us as Perfect, so You placed Your own Spirit of Life into our spirits, making them alive. And Your Spirit in us teaches us, and leads us, and guides us. By Him You are re-molding us into the very image of Your Son, growing us up as Your Royal princes and princesses, to prepare us to help You rule all the Universes You plan to create. 

O Father, please protect us from any teaching that would take us away from the beautiful simplicity and purity of Your Plan for each of us. Keep our feet firmly on the Rock, not slipping into any kind of deception at all. 

Dear Father, continue to lead us confidently in the narrow path that is hedged in, so that our every step is following You, our hand in Yours, as we travel each day toward that final victory. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, King of Creation, to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever, Amen.

Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!




 

Who Does The Work?

Galatians 5: 2-7

Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 

Paul is still teaching about the physical sign God gave His chosen people to distinguish them from every other people group. They are receiving this rite as a way to try to get God's favor. But Christ has already favored us, dying for us. 

And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 

To enter into this realm of belief this way obligates one to continue being bound by all the rules and statutes of the Law. 

You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by Law; you have fallen from Grace. 

They have refused Grace, and cut themselves off from Christ in trying to be good enough; Christ has already made us perfect by washing in His Blood, applied to each of us by Grace through faith. 

For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of Righteousness. 

God has put Christ's Righteousness on us positionally, and we will experience the reality of being His Righteousness when He returns and changes our flesh bodies into spirit bodies. Because of what He has accomplished for us, not for anything we can do for ourselves. 

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through Love. 

Circumcision is done in the flesh, and nothing of the flesh is worth anything in the spiritual realm. So it doesn't make any difference if someone is circumcised, or pierced, or tattooed, that is all in the flesh, which will be transformed, and not flesh any more, but spirit. Because that's how much God Loves us.

You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the Truth?

Paul says they were doing so well following the Lord by faith. Now they've turned back around and are trying to work their way to God again. Who is this that has turned you away from believing that Jesus finished it all already for you?

This whole letter is refuting the teachings of those who came from Jerusalem who are telling them that they have to be Jews first before they can be Christians. 

The first Christians were already Jews, but God saved them right where they were. And God also saves Gentiles right where they are, too. There is nothing we need to do to "get ready" to be saved; God loves us just as we are, and saves us right where we already are, no matter where that is. 

Whether we've been following the Mosaic Law, or a set of rules laid out by religious authorities, or serving any other god by any other of the many names people use for God, or from atheism or pantheism or any other -ism, God will save you if you just turn around to seek Him. 

Even if you are caught and trapped in deep sin and evil. It doesn't matter to God, He is bigger and stronger and has authority over every other thing or idea or belief system, and will overpower everything that is not of Himself. 

He is God! He is the One who thought up and made everything, so we are His imagination, His idea. He is in full control, and does whatever He wants. 

And He wants to save people. Everyone who seeks Him honestly and sincerely will find Him, no matter where they're coming from. 

O my Father, You made Mankind to be Your own children. You plan to make many more Universes, and You want us to help You govern them. All the varied and different things You will make, and You will set us over them as kings and queens to rule in Your authority. 

Nothing can deter You, Your authority is absolute. You are God! There is no other. Only You are the Self-Existent One, You have caused everything else to exist. And You are doing everything You want to do. 

You are good, our standard for what is good. 
You are righteous, our standard for righteousness.
You are wise, our standard for what is smart or intelligent. 
You are our Source for everything. 

And You, Father, will draw all Mankind to Yourself for judgment. Those who seek You, You will draw for salvation; and those who reject You, You will draw to your Court for sentencing. 

O Father, send out Your children to every corner of this World where people are, so that every living person will be able to hear who You are and how much You Love them. Send out Your workers to sow Your seed of the Gospel in every fertile field, and to reap every field that is ripe and ready for harvest. 

Send me, Father, to find some of Your lost sheep, Your wandering lambs who are caught in some thicket of addiction, or some pit of deception. Enable me to lead them by the hand even kicking and screaming into the health and safety and Truth of Your One Fold with One Shepherd. 

And fill Your house with all of Your great family, that every place at Your grand Banquet Table will be filled to feast with You forevermore. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim the Lordship of Christ Jesus, the Son, the Lord God Almighty, King of the Universe, to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Freedom To Be Free

Galatians 5: 1

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. 

We just went through the previous verses in this Epistle, settling the doctrine that the Covenant of Promise and the Covenant of Law are two separate Covenants, that don't cancel each other out. 

The Promise came first, to Abraham, that his descendants would number more than the stars, and that his Seed would inherit the Land. 

These Promises have not yet been fully fulfilled, so God still will remember His chosen people to elevate them as the head, instead of the tail, among the Nations. 

Then, hundreds of years later, God gave the Law to Moses. This was to given them a specific road to walk, a culture and society separate from the rest of the Nations. It laid out all the specifics, like detailed directions to a child in school. When they followed these directions, things went well for them, they prospered. But when they forgot God and started to follow the ways of the World around them, they lost their prosperity and suffered. 

So the whole body of Laws was like a road-map to teach God's people how to think like He thinks. 

Now that Jesus was born a man, and died as the Lamb of God, fulfilling the sacrificial laws, and rose from the grave with a new Life; now we can be cleansed completely from sin by His Blood so that God could now come live inside our human spirit, making it alive. 

And now that we are spiritually alive with God's Spirit living in us, God has written His Law in our hearts, so that we can know how to live. When we love God and make Him our first, highest priority, and love our neighbors as God has Loved us; then we will be fulfilling the purposes for which the Law was given, and we don't need to pay attention to the details. So we are free from the letter of the Law. 

It's all based on Love. God is Love, He has Loved us beyond anything we can even imagine, and He wants us to love Him back, and love one another. 

Then we will live super-naturally, following the Spirit's leading, and in His power. This is impossible to do without Him. In our flesh, we all have come short of the Glory of God, we can't be perfect. But now we can grow up in Christ, and be mature in the faith. 

This freedom is not license, so we will never need to return to the old ways of trying to follow rules and regulations, and try to never make a mistake. We never need to go back under the yoke of the slavery of having to obey lined-out precepts. We are free to love one another and treat each other with the respect and worth God values each of us at. 

We don't have to like each other to treat one another with worth and respect; to want what would be good for them, for their benefit. This is real love. 

O my Father, thank You for freeing us from every yoke of slavery. Thank You for releasing me from the slavery of addiction when You found me. And thank You for saving all Your children from the power of the yoke of sin over us. 

Please help us all to realize we have Your power to overcome sin and the deceiver. Teach us all to not return to any bondage from which we've been freed. We are free, in the liberty of being able to choose to do what is right and righteous, and not slip again into old patterns of sin. 

You are making us new, Father, molding us into the very image of our Lord Jesus Christ, growing us up in Your family until we reach the end of our childhood and schooling, and graduate at His coming, to receive spirit bodies in place of these bodies of flesh. Then we will be prepared and ready to help You rule in Your Kingdom! 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Lord God Almighty, King of the Universe, to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever, Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!




 

Who Is Your Mother?

Galatians 4: 21-31 

Paul has just said that he was perplexed by these Galatians. Here's why. 

Tell me, you who want to be under Law, do you not listen to the Law? 

He's asking them, Do you even know what the Law says, what you are proposing to saddle yourselves with? Do you realize what you're doing? 

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. 

The story about Abraham and Sarah and Sarah's Egyptian slave Hagar. You can find it in Genesis chapters 16, 17 and 21.

But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the Promise. 

Sarah had convinced Abraham to have a son by her slave, who would legally be Sarah's child, since Hagar was Sarah's property. So Ishmael was born to the slave because of Sarah and Abraham conniving to bring about God's promise by themselves. 

But Isaac was born by a miracle, of Sarah who was barren and now even in menopause, and Abraham who was 100 years old and hadn't been able to even have relations with his wife for many years. So it had nothing to do with their decisions.  

This is allegorically speaking, 

These people really did live, and these things really did happen to them. It's real history. But these stories also teach us lessons. As an allegory, it's a spiritual lesson learned from the physical people who made these decisions. 

So here's the spiritual lesson:

for these women are two covenants: 

There is the covenant of the promises that Abraham's descendants would be innumerable and that they would inherit the Promised Land. Then there was the covenant of the Law God gave to Moses on Sinai. Two separate contracts.

one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. 

Hagar was a slave, the property of Sarah, and had no legal rights. Her children are all in the same bondage she is in. 

Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 

Sinai is where God gave the Law to Moses. And the Jerusalem is the physical city of Jerusalem, in the World. Still in bondage. 

But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. 

This is the spiritual Jerusalem, the Holy City to come, that is a reality now in those of us who are born of the Spirit. This is the New Covenant bought by Christ with His Blood.  

For it is written: 

"Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; for more numerous are the children of the desolate than of the one who has a husband" (Isaiah 54: 1).

And you, brethren, like Isaac, are children of Promise. 

Now Paul refers to the Millennial Reign of Christ, when He will rule the World from Jerusalem personally as King. And all we who are born of the Spirit will participate in Jesus' government. 

But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 

This refers to when Ishmael was mocking Isaac at the time of the party given for Isaac's weaning; and Sarah was upset and threw Hagar and her son out (Genesis 21: 1-12).

But what does the Scripture say? 

"Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman" (see Genesis 21: 10).

So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman. 

Both boys had the same father, but the slave and her children are in bondage; we, having been born into God's family, are free, having been born by Promise and grace. 

Paul here concludes his argument in favor of grace and Promise, with this concrete story of the slave woman and the free woman and their children, representing Law and Promise. 

Paul has Hagar represent Sinai, where the Law was given, then Jerusalem, where the Law was being administered by the Jewish leaders, who Ishmael represents. 

He has Sarah represent the Heavenly Jerusalem, the miraculous, the Promise, and we are the Isaac, who was the heir of Abraham. 

So we inherit the Promises because of God's miraculous working in our hearts, not because of any rules or commandments we followed. 

Paul is amazed that these Galatians want to go back to being bound to obey all the stipulations of the body of rules and regulations being imposed upon them by the Judaizers who came from Jerusalem, after experiencing the freedom of the grace of Christ. 

O my Father, please help us to realize the freedom You have given to us as Your Royal children. You have put Your Law into our hearts, and we want to obey Your will because You have Loved us so unconditionally. And in loving You back, we also love who You love, our fellow human beings. So we love our neighbors the way You have loved us, and we are obeying all the rules, and even going beyond the letter, down to the spirit of the Law. 

Please show Your children Your ways, help us to follow You even in the crunch of the moment. Continue to mold and make us into the very image of Your dear Son, that His character would be in us, and our lives will show Christ to all who are in our little worlds. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is our Lord God Almighty, King of the Universe, to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!




 

Slavery To Freedom And Back Again?

Galatians 4: 8-20 

However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. 

I can relate to this. Before I knew God, I had an addiction. I tried to reform myself, but every time I took a step forward, I slid two steps backward. I was a slave, bound to that weakness, that sin. 

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, 

I know God now, but it's because He knew me first, and came to me. I'm the one who was lost, and He found me. 

how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? 

These people in Galatia have been rescued from their dependence on rituals that could do nothing for them. But now they are turning back to them, as though they are different. But the rituals haven't changed. 

You observe days and months and seasons and years. 

This was part of their pagan beliefs before Paul came to them with the Gospel. 

I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. 

Paul is vocalizing a query here, has all the Truth he taught them being just thrown away?

I beg of you, brethren, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. 

Paul learned to empathize with people in what they were going through, how their thinking brought unfavorable consequences, and led them into better paths. He always started with where they were. So now he's asking them to look at his lifestyle and thought patterns in response. 

You have done me no wrong; 
but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the Gospel to you the first time; 

Evidently Paul had a physical problem that he needed to take care of, and he had Dr. Luke travel with him.

and that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition you did not despise or loathe 

But even so, these people weren't put off by his illness.

but you received me as an Angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. 

They welcomed him into their world, even as they would welcome an Angel or Christ, Himself. 

Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. 

Paul did have some kind of "thorn in the flesh" that bothered him. Here is an indication that it may have had something to do with his eyes. It's possible that the "scales" that fell from his eyes could have had some lingering effect on him (Acts 9: 18). We don't know, this is just speculation.  

So have I become your enemy by telling you the Truth? 

This is what happens when people have been deceived, and do not want to hear the Truth that will free them. Even among family members, who love each other as family.

They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them. 

Paul is referring to the Judaizers who had come from Jerusalem after Paul had left the area. They were trying to worm their way into these people's hearts so they could have power over them. 

But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you. 

Here's the difference between being a wanted lover or be on a "wanted" poster.

My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you--

Paul feels like he may need to start all over again, to win these people for Christ. Like he's in labor trying to deliver them again. 

but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. 

He wants to see them face-to-face again, so that he can be more positive and compassionate, instead of trying to solve this problem with a letter. 

And he's mentally at a loss at what they're thinking now. 

O my Father, You are so good to us all. You have planned out everything You would do, and You are doing everything for us, so we can be with You. 

You have given us our whole past history, so that we could learn from it. We can see how others have responded to You and Your ways, and how it went for them; whether they obeyed and were blessed, or rebelled and suffered harm. 

You have always given us a choice, in every circumstance, we can choose to do what is right or what is convenient. What is righteous is sometimes the harder choice, and takes wisdom to recognize that it is the better way in the long run, when the easier path will lead to destruction, illness, brokenness. 

Father, I, with Paul, do not understand how anyone who has been shown Your great goodness and Love, can turn away from You! There is no one else who can rescue us, no one else that can give us peace and rest. No one else can satisfy the longings of our hearts, or fill the God-sized hole You put there. 

And there are so many, Father, who don't know who You are yet, and are desperately seeking what only You can provide. Some don't have any idea that You are their Source, and You are seeking them, not willing for any to perish. 

O Father, send out Your workers into Your fields to sow the seeds of Your Gospel; to reap Your fields that are ripe and ready to harvest. Send me, Father, to find some of those lost sheep, who are caught in the thicket of the World, trapped in the pit of deception; to take them by the hand and lead them, even kicking and screaming, into the safety and peace and rest of Your One Fold with One Shepherd. 

And may Your house be full with all of Your children, every place at Your great Banquet Table filled, to feast with You forever. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Lord God Almighty, King of the Universe, to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!




 

The Heir As A Child

Galatians 4: 1-4 

Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, 

The Hebrew people descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were God's royal family. But they rarely realized even a little part of what that means. 

If they had, maybe they wouldn't have strayed so often. 

So God gave them the Law to teach them how to live righteous lives, as His children.  

but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. 

The guardians and managers were the Law and the leaders He provided them. 

So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the World. 

And we, also, were tied up by the World until He found us. 

But when the fullness of the time came, 

God's timing is always perfect. 

God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, 

He had to have a genuine human body to die a human death, the death we all deserve. 

born under the Law, 
so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, 

Jesus fulfilled all of the Law, so that those who were under the Law could be freed from it. 

that we might receive the adoption as sons. 

And we will receive the "adoption" when Jesus returns and we "grow up" and our mortal bodies will put on immortality, and these flesh bodies will become spirit bodies. Then we will be given the authority by our Father to help Him run His family business, the Kingdom of God. 

Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 

Because we are His children, we can call Him "Daddy!" and curl up in His lap! 

Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. 

Even though we're still children in His family, we are still His sons and daughters, and as such, His heirs, to inherit with Jesus all the Promises God gave to Abraham, and all the other Promises as well. 

O my Father, help me to learn how to live my life as a royal princess in Your family. Teach me how to think Your thoughts, have Your attitudes and views of things, and how to live my life showing forth the Light of Christ upon all those who are in my little world. 

Father, help me to continually grow in the character of my Lord Jesus, so I can be a useful member of Your family. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Lord God Almighty, the sovereign King of the Universe, to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!