Galatians 5

As Christians,we have this thing(not a good thing!) inside us that is powerfully drawn to making us feel better about ourselves.Considering our “faith”,we typically know enough about the “rules&principles” in the Bible that we tend to make us feel better about ourselves by cherry picking a few of these to “live by”,or at least “draw a line” for our behaviors. Even though we may not consider ourselves legalistic like a Pharisee,in essence our lives are “pharasitical” because we base our feeling secure in our position w Christ on a few of the “rules&principles”,and not seeking to know a vibrant relationship with Christ through His Spirit that dwells within us!This is what Galatians 5:4 addresses when it says,”You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ;you have fallen away from Grace.”In other words,when we lean on a few,or many,of the “rules&principles” in the Bible to be the foundation of our identity in Christ(instead of a vibrant RELATIONSHIP with Christ/His Spirit that lives within)we alienate ourselves from Christ,and away from the life changing GRACE that Christ only provides.Our lives are not changed by cherry picking from a menu of rules&principles from the Bible to live by....in fact Galatians5:3 says that if cherry picking from the menu is “our way”,then we are going to be held accountable for the WHOLE list of rules&principles->”Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised(cherry picking from Biblical rules&principles to live by/base my faith on)that he is obligated to obey the whole law”.SO!Having this cherry picking way of faith not only alienates us from Christ,but it also makes us accountable to ALL of the rules&principles in the Bible!Paul addresses this by saying instead of living by cherry picking,we need to “live by the Spirit”->Galatians5:16-18,”So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.....But if you are led by the Spirit(live by the promptings & power of the Holy Spirit that is within us)you are not under the law”-> Christ set us free from the burden of the Law(Galatians5:1)!set us free from the Law so we can have a vibrant relationship with Him through His Spirit that lives within us! When we sincerely trust Christ for our salvation,He gives us His Spirit to live within our being...to guide us/to grow us/to prepare us/to spiritually feed us;etc.!When we lean on these things from His Spirit, we will be drawn into a vibrant relationship with Christ that grows us/prepares us/feeds us;etc., in ways that change us from the inside out->Galatians5:22,”...the fruit of the Spirit is love,joy,peace,patience,kindness,goodness,faithfulness,gentleness & self control.”These are the things that truly indicate the state of our relationship with Christ...and NOT necessarily a cherry picked list of Biblical rules&principles we choose to live by,& judge others by!A personal relationship w Christ is “indicated” by how our life is regularly being changed by the time we spend with Him,in His Word,in conversation&prayer with Him,& by following the lead of His Spirit in and around our lives(Galatians5:25,”Since we live by the Spirit,let us keep in step with the Spirit”.)! Dear Jesus,this cherry picking attitude in my heart/mind/live has robbed me of so much...,especially of knowing You more and more.Forgive me...and help me be aware of the cherry picking that I do every day...help me to be more and more responsive to Your Spirit that lives inside me...and may I be constantly changed by the time I spend with You!

Galatians 3-4

A message of Galatians is directed at a conflict that rages within everyone that turns their life over to Trusting Christ,&becoming a Follower of Christ.When we trust Christ to be our Savior & Lord, There begins a struggle within us that is analogous to an event that Galatians4:28 refers to n Genesis29:1 when Isaac(“the child of promise” that was God’s plan for Abraham) is “mocked”/laughed at/made fun of/ridiculed by Hagar(mother of Ismael the child resulting from Abraham not waiting on God’s plan,& Abraham succumbing to different solution to fulfill his desire for a child/different from God’s plan)The analogy is that we were born into sin that was spawned by a temptation from the devil(the serpent that tempted Eve)that would have an allure that would lure Adam & Eve away from God’s Word and His Promises.We are born with this same inherent weakness in us that can be overwhelming sensitive/responsive to temptations that possess alluring properties which lure us away from God’s Promises and His Word!The Promises of God’s Awesome Love have been displayed for us from the absolute beginning of all time(Romans1:20,”For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”),yet - we have this THING inside us,this THING that is part of our “DNA” we have inherited throughout all generations from Adam&Eve,that is disastrously susceptible to thoughts/things/ideas/beliefs which possess an allure that plucks at the fiber/strings of our being to lure us away from “God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power”(His Omnipotence/His Omniscience/His Omnipresence) “and divine nature”(His Awesome Love/His Awesome Grace/His Awesome Love/His Righteousness/His Awesome Goodness,His Great Desire for our GOOD,....).This THING inside us has tentacles running through our life rooted in the “desire organ” of our mind/heart/life that will never let us go....unless we turn to Christ to SAVE US from their death-grip.By turning our lives over to Christ/trusting in Christ we become sons&daughters of God(Galatians3:26,”You r all sons&daughters of God through faith in Christ Jesus”)and we become heirs to the promises in God’s Word(Galatians3:29,”If you belong to Christ,then you are Abraham’s seed,and heirs according to the promise.”).This means that our identity is changed and effectively our “DNA” is changed so that the tentacles above are no longer a part of our Iives...so their is no longer the death grip on our lives that once existed->we are no longer slaves to sin because of the tentacles connected to the “desire organ” of our mind/heart/life”.This means that our “desire organ” has voids left behind when these tentacles are removed,needing to be healed up/filled up with healthy things where once there were tentacles connected that have been excised from our lives.But,we still have these voids within us that are dangerously susceptible to the allure that once had a grip on us via the tentacles....we can still be tempted.This is why we must reckon temptations for what they are and even remember the ultimate pain they cause/bring into our lives...and be encouraged away from temptations by the freedom we have been given by our DNA change that has removed the tentacles from our life(Galatians4:8-9 says,”Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces?Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?”).Even with the tentacles removed from our lives,we can allow ourselves to succumb to temptations that lure us away from our freedom from them in Christ.These voids in our “desire organ” that are not backfilled with healthy desires can become pockets of the same old evil desires once connected to the excised tentacles -James1:13-15,”When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death”).So,if we leave these voids in our “desire organ” unattended,they will lure us back into sin that makes a believer deathly sick...sometimes we can be unaware of this sickness that hardens our heart and breeds a virus of pride and arrogance in us.Just as a deathly ill patient n a hospital is fed nutrients and “medicinals” to heal them up...the same must happen in our lives to properly heal up the voids in our “desire organ”.And then just as that previously deathly ill patient must resist going back to the “old ways” that made that patient deathly ill...so we must resist the “old ways” and replace them with NEW WAYS,i.e.,the “NUTRITENTS &MEDICINAL” provided for us by God our Father in Heaven via His Word,His Spirit,Prayer,His Ways,&His people...& turn away from the voids not healed up yet(evil desires),trusting that each time we turn away from these evil desires,we allow a little more healing to occur in our mind/heart/life where the dangerous voids still exist.Dear Lord,I pray for You to make me aware of the dangerous voids in my life...I know many of them...help me to identify them as the death virus they represent,& turn away from them instead of succumbing to them.May my mind/heart/life be strongly drawn into Your Word;Prayer;&Godly counsel/wisdom so the perilous unhealed voids in my life are “backfilled” with the true desires that You only know are the BEST for me,& the only ones that can truly heal me forever.

Galatians 2-3

The world and Satan like to condemn those who seek to follow Christ every time we mess up/every time we sin.In fact,this may be one of the most effective ways the enemies of God will use to DISCOURAGE us.To discourage our faith and/or our perceived position in Christ can be the beginning of an ultimate loss of our confidence/faith in the atoning work of what Christ has done & is doing for our lives...,exactly what the enemy would like to have happen in our lives!If not addressed with The Truth of The Gospel,this waning of confidence/faith can lead to greater heartache & pain n our life,by our lives turning to paths far from those that would be honoring Christ/away from the paths God has conceived for us before we were born(Jeremiah29:11,”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”).Galatians2:17-3:5,gives us what we need to combat the above tactics that the enemy will so cunningly seek to use on us every time we have a “slip” in our walk w Christ...,& every time we return to some kind of behavior that we thought we had moved past forever.This doesn’t mean that it is ok to have these slips,nor can we continue to return to these past behaviors continually.As we grow n our faith walk w Christ,we should be distancing ourselves further & further from these things...,so when we r tempted to return to them,they r further & further from what our heart/mind/life are truly pleased with.In fact,the more we walk faithfully w Christ,these things actually “taste bad”,”feel bad”,”look bad”,and are simply not as attractive as they once were....we are attracted to things that are much more significant->things that we were created to have from the Creator of life/our Father in Heaven as He promises in the verse from Jeremiah above.Back to confronting the tactics of our enemy->Galatians2:17-3:6 says that,to try as hard as we may to live by justifying ourselves by the way we live...we will fail...and that our victory is only found as our Faith&Trust in The True Gospel grows in our life!>(“If while we seek to be justified in Christ,it becomes evident that we ourselves are still sinners,does that mean that Christ promotes sin?Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed,I prove that I am a lawbreaker....Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law,or by believing what you heard?Are you so foolish?After beginning with the Spirit,are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?....Does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law,or because you believe what you heard.Consider Abraham:”He believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness”)As our lives are continually changed by The True Gospel(what we have heard through the testimonies the Bible;& through the lives of the faithful in all history past&present),our personal faith&confidence in The Lord will grow and continue to process our lives to be more and more like Christ.This personal faith&confidence is the target of the personal DISCOURAGEMENT Satan seeks to heap on us every time we slip.We must confront this with The True Gospel,while acknowledging that our lives are a “work in process” by the hands of our Creator God/our Father in Heaven(Isaiah64:8,”Yet you, Lord, are our Father.We are the clay, you are the potter;we are all the work of your hand”)....being in the process that only The True Gospel can promise for us.When we remember these Truths of The True Gospel,the DISCOURAGEMENT should not last long enough to do damage to our heart/mind/life,but instead humble us even more because of the awesome Mercy/Grace/Love given to us by The True Gospel...and bring us to an ever increasing faith and confidence in The Lord...that continues to allow His Hands to shape our lives as we grow and mature.Dear Lord God-I praise You for the patience and persistence of Your Love,& Your True Gospel...help me to remember Your Promises, and Your Sovereignty in all things for my life...so I will not become discouraged for long when I slip...and please help me to move past these things in Your Process for my life...as Your Loving Hands continue to mold me.

Galatians 2

One of the things we need to be so very careful of, is being wrongly influenced by anything...,especially religious/churchy cliques or even church leaders that may have influence on us.This is what happened to Peter and even Barnabas when they allowed certain religious/churchy cliques to influence who they hung out with/ate with.Galatians 2:11-13,”When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.”Here Paul is saying that Peter and Barnabas were being led astray from the “truth of the Gospel”(Gal2:14).I do the same thing when I let what others think and say concern me/influence me more than what God says in His Word,and what Jesus says through  His Life,Sufferings,Death,Resurrection,& Ascension.We tend to let our faith get lazy & misdirected when we begin to let what others say and think become part of the foundation of our thinking without first seeking to distill everything through the Word of God with the help of The Holy Spirit(2Cor10:4-5”The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”).It happens to the best of us...it even happened to Peter and Barnabas!Fortunately,Peter and Barnabas had a faithful friend n Paul, in that he was more concerned about the “Truth of the Gospel” than what was going on in churchy cliques and even churchy leadership.Paul had written 2Cor10:4-5 addressing the same challenge in Corinth...now he was personalizing the same message with two of his closest brothers n Christ.Dear Lord,I have been guilty of this very thing in my life,over and over...to not only my detriment,but to that of those closest to me...forgive me...Help me to be more aware of my tendencies to b influenced by anything other than “The Truth of The Gospel”,and lead me to a 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 mindset.

Galatians 1

The most significant peril to a vibrant relationship w The Lord is anything coming into our hearts/minds/lives that n any way dilutes &/or pollutes The Gospel of Christ!Galatians 1:6-9 says,”I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”These are pretty strong words that Paul uses....strong enough to say that Paul probably saw this challenge as one of the most significant in the Church!After describing these challenges,Paul exposes the primary motive for diluting &/or polluting The Gospel->Galatians 1:10,”For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”Paul sets up the contrast of pleasing man, or being a servant of Christ...,as a litmus test for our hearts/minds/lives,saying that if we are succumbing to ideas/beliefs for the purpose of pleasing anyone by Christ, we are n danger of having our relationship w Christ diluted &/or polluted by a “gospel contrary to” The One that we first trusted when we trusted Christ Alone to save us.Paul is saying that establishing a“True North” for our hearts/minds/lives is imperative,just as establishing a true north is imperative to a compass being trustworthy.And just as there are interferences that can throw off an accurate reading of a compass we trust to get us through the woods and back to safety,there are “interferences” that throw off our hearts/minds/lives in a right relationship w The Lord...& the intimacy that God desires for us to have as HE expresses HIS HOPE/MERCY/GRACE/LOVE to us/for us!Paul says here that one of the more significant “interferences” is a desire to please man that interferes with our being faithful seekers&followers of Christ.When we allow our hearts/minds/lives to be influenced by any Extra Biblical ideas/thoughts/beliefs,our spiritual compass will suffer interferences that can lead us astray from a vibrant relationship w Christ....and away from His Promises of Hope & Blessings that surpass all understanding(“Philippians 4:4-7,”Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.Let your reasonableness(sound judgement for belief/thought based on The Gospel/Scripture)be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”).SO- when our faith is challenged in any way,we need to turn back to True North->The Gospel according to All Scripture->and depend on nothing else to provide us solid confidence & trust n The Lord....,& beware of submitting our hearts/minds/lives to anything less!Being Especially Aware of a tendency to accept a “more friendly Gospel”,or convey a gospel that is anything less than The Gospel.Our Shield of Faith must be “dipped into” the Word of God and Prayer regularly in order to keep our Faith capable of defending our hearts/minds/lives from the flaming arrows of a gospel other than The Gospel.We protect ourselves/our Faith from Extra Biblical perils by regularly “dipping our lives/our Faith into God’s Word and Prayer.Dear Lord,I have allowed so much of my life to be influenced more by thoughts/ideas/plans/desires motivated by a desire to please either myself or others,instead of directing my thoughts/ideas/plans/desires toward “True North”...and away from what Your Great Mercy&Grace desires for me to enjoy.Help me to change this...and open my eyes to see & know the calling in these verses for my life.