EXPAND TO READ: GALATIANS 3 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 10-13): For much of my faith I have lived in a way that attempted to live by the law instead of by Christ. I often found myself unworthy because I couldn’t live up to the law, so I would regress in my faith telling myself (or maybe Satan whispering to me) that I could never live up to the requirements of my faith, so why bother trying? Please forgive me for my immaturity and confusion in my faith, Father. You did not call me to live by the law when I accepted Christ into my life. You called me to abide in Christ, who replaced the law of old and gave us a new path for eternal salvation. Continue to remind me, Father, when I want to go back to the legalistic approach and get discouraged that You gave us the sacrifice of Christ for our redemption and that the law is no longer the means I am required to live my life through for salvation. Help me to be more mature in my faith, so that when Christ does speak to me through the Spirit, I am able and willing to listen.
PROMISE (verse 14): The promises made to Abraham for believers was an amazing promise of salvation. You extended these promises to us Gentiles through Jesus, because You knew that we would struggle to live in the way of Abraham’s requirements. This grace You have shown us through Jesus is such a powerful and humbling promise given freely to us and I am so grateful for it. We received the promised Spirit through our faith and not through our works. I do feel, however, that we only receive what we allow the Spirit to give us, so please continue to work in my heart, Father, so that I will be more open as I mature in my faith to allow more and more from the Spirit in my heart.
ATTITUDE (verses 25-26): I have struggled quite a bit in my faith with truly accepting and embracing the attitude of being a son of God. The reason being is because I keep looking at my earthly parents, especially my earthly father, and thinking that being anyone’s son is not such a great thing. You are far greater than my earthly parents and I need to remember that every day. All the hardships, pain, turmoil, inconsistencies, sin, and sorrow I endured from my parents is in no way the way You parent Your sons. I am a work-in-progress with much baggage from my past that I seem to be holding onto, Father. This is preventing me, unfortunately, from truly embracing all that it is to be Your son. Help me to be better so that when I do call myself a “son of God” that it truly means everything to me in all respects. Help me to be better at understanding exactly what this means in my life right now. Also, help me to stop comparing Your Fatherhood to that of my earthly father as there is no comparison. My earthly father was not even close to a great example of fatherhood and You are perfection if I allow You fully into my life. I thank You for allowing me to be Your son, Father.
COMMAND (verses 2-3): Such an interesting way of putting this command, but I thank You for shining a light on it for me as I really needed this insight this morning. Although it is kind of in a roundabout way, I see a command in these verses that tells us to stop looking at the law, our works and the flesh. We are not made complete of saved by any of these. In fact, You tell us that we are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ alone! The command is to stop thinking that the law of old or our works or even things of the flesh are our way to You. I’ve struggled with all three of these at times throughout my faith, even though I’ve known in my head that this is not what You’ve expected of me. Help me to be better at living by faith, Father. Help me to resist the temptations to live my faith through my works or through fleshly reasons. Remind me constantly that my faith in Jesus is enough so that I can embrace this way of life fully, without remorse or self-criticism that I am not doing enough or not good enough. Jesus is enough and I need to always remember that and live in that promise and truth.
EXAMPLE (verses 21-26): In the example You give us here, You assure us that nothing in Your word and Your truth is contrary to Your promises. You gave us Jesus as an example of how to live out our faith, but in here You take that example a step further. You tell us of how the scriptures of the law were used as a self-imprisonment for us for everything under sin’s power. Although the law of old does gives us a glimpse into sin’s stranglehold on us, it is not how we are to live our faith. We should not be living in self-imprisonment, nor in a way that we allow sin to keep a stranglehold on our lives. You tell us that Jesus came as our new Guardian that justified us through our faith. You tell us that we are all sons of God through our faith in Christ Jesus. Thank You so much for this example of how we are to truly be living out our faith through Jesus, not through the law of old.
*DAILY NOTE: You are definitely giving me a lot to think about this morning, Father. From living as Your son with You as my Father to remembering that the law of old has been replaced by the new covenant that is Jesus Christ. I need to remember that I should never compare You to my earthly Father. You are perfect, loving, caring, and show me so much grace that I am unworthy of. In addition to that, You sacrificed Your perfect Son for my sins, which I cannot even fathom doing. Thank You so much for today’s conversation with You, Father. Thank You for all of the examples You’ve given me today to think about, embrace in my heart, and hopefully begin to truly live out fully as I mature in my faith journey.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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