Galatians 4 - Nathanael

So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 

Galatians 4:3

NIV does a good job of rendering the Greek here as "elemental spiritual forces". This passage demonstrates the spiritual captivity that each of us was under before coming to Christ. In fact, as Paul also says, these forces desire and try to enslave us again after being rescued by Jesus. Unfortunately, many are enslaved and do not recognize it. 

to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.  Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba , Father."

Galatians 4:5‭-‬6 NIV

Thank you Daddy God, that you have rescued and adopted me! Draw me closer to you! I love you! 

http://bible.com/111/gal.4.3-6.NIV

Why Muslim Dr. Nabeel Qureshi Converted to Christianity

This is a powerful description as Dr Qureshi tells about his journey to Jesus.

What is your wish?

We often have heard the words "What is your wish?" in the context of a genie in a bottle, but surprisingly this is basically what God said to Solomon in 1 Kings 3:5.  It is also similar to what Jesus said to the blind man, "What do you want me to do for you" in Mark 10:51.

Solomon's Legacy
As I was reading through 1 Kings and came to this verse, it gave me pause and made me think, "What would I ask for if I was in Solomon's place?"  Solomon was a young king and he asked God for wisdom to help in ruling God's people.  God was pleased with the request since he didn't ask for wealth or long life (which is the typical type of response when we think of the genie scenario), so God said he would give him wealth and honor in addition to the wisdom he requested.  If you are familiar with the life of Solomon you know that though he was the wisest man and extremely wealthy, that in the end these didn't help him and that he was led astray to worshipping false gods because of his many wives who worshipped them.

My Choice?
So in considering this question for myself, I realized that wisdom is good but it didn't help Solomon in the long run.  At the end of it I thought that I would want to have a close and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and have him deep in my life.  If I have Jesus, that is all that I need. He is better than riches, wisdom, long life, success, honor, a great legacy or anything else.  Jesus is the source of life. He is the only one who can change me, forgive me, transform me and more than that, he loves me!

As Moses said, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here" (Ex 33:15).  He didn't want to be without God's presence. When Jesus asked if the disciples were going to leave him Peter said “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69 NIV).  Peter recognized that only Jesus had life and without him he would have nothing.

So Lord Jesus, I want you!  I need you!  I want only you!

What is your choice?
To you reading this, what is your response? What is your wish?

Back in the Saddle :) - Genesis 13 - Let God Be Your Provision

It has been a while since I posted last, but I had seen some interesting things in my daily Bible reading that I wanted to capture, so I figured I may as well capture it on the blog :)

I'm reading in Genesis now and yesterday I was reading in Genesis 13 and I saw an interesting principle in Abraham's actions.

In this chapter Abram (who God later re-names to be Abraham in Gen 17:5) and his nephew Lot had grown wealthy in possessions and had many flocks and herds and they were grazing too close together and it was causing conflicts between the herdsmen.  So Abram proposed that the two of them separate (separation for peace-sake).

A Curious Choice
What I find to be interesting is how Abram did the separation of the land.  He told Lot to choose first and whatever was left over, Abram would have.  The interesting point is that Abram was clearly the older and leader of the two, yet he allowed the younger one to have the first choice of where he lived. Clearly the "where" you choose has a large impact on prosperity and ease of life - after all in real estate the keys are "location, location, location."  In our normal worldview and training, the leader would choose first and choose the best for himself.  Or if he wanted to be "fair" Abram could divide up the land in such a way that there were two groupings that were approximately even in their amount of "well watered plain" and hills and mountains.  But Abram did neither and allowed Lot to choose first. Lot of course choose the "best" area that was "well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord" and Abram was left with the hilly/mountainous areas.

Two Signs of Faith and Wisdom
Two things then happen in the text that indicate the wisdom and faith of Abram.  First off we see the spiritual dark side of Sodom who are "great sinners against the Lord."  Sometimes things that look very good from a natural view are actually bad when viewed from a spiritual view.  Many people when making decisions about where to live focus on the job or the material provisions of the area and don't focus on the more important spiritual question (not so much if the area is evil, but more if that is the place where God wants them to live).  Secondly God appears to Abram and tells him to look around to the north, south, east and west and that all he could see (which included Lot's land) God would give to his descendants.  I recognized that Abram, rather than trusting in what he could see (choosing the best looking place) or trusting in his own ability and wisdom (dividing up the land somehow equally), chose to put his trust in God, knowing that God would provide for his future and that he didn't need to fight or push or struggle to make it happen.  Abram chose not to worry about his future provision or place of living, but rather to trust in God who he knew would take care of him.

Amen!  Lord Jesus help us to trust in you completely with our future and our finances and let us find our belonging, hope and provision in you!

Romans 6 - Stop Sinning!

What should our relationship to sin should be in light of the free gift of righteousness that comes by faith?

This is often misunderstood, even during Paul's time.  At the end of the previous chapter (Romans 5:20) Paul says that where sin increased, then grace abounded all the more.  The next logical question, which Paul rhetorically asks at the beginning of this chapter is "Should we go on sinning so that grace can increase?" and he clearly answers "By no means".

He goes on and in verse 12 says "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires".  He also says in v 21 that sin leads to death and in v 23 that the wages of sin is death.  If we have been set free by Christ then we are no longer a slave to sin (v 7 - the one who has died has been set free from sin).

Continued Sin is a Sign of No Salvation
Here's the deal, if we go on sinning, we are either not yet saved or we will lose our salvation - depending on where you stand on once-saved-always-saved.  John says in 1 John 3:9 "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning." (ESV) or "will continue to sin" (NIV).  In other words, if we are continuing to sin in a particular way, we are not born of God.  There is no such thing as a "carnal Christian".

You may ask "Are you saying that we must be without sin and perfect?"  No, I don't believe that the Scripture teaches that, but if we are sinning in a particular area and keep doing that, then there is an indication that we are not set free from the slavery of sin.  Now Romans 7 describes the back and forth tugs that we can have as we desire to do what is right but end up doing wrong.  As we follow Christ, there is a process of sanctification where we are being made more and more like Christ, and growing in goodness or virtue (2 Pet 1:5).  1 John 2:8 describes the darkness "passing away and the true light already shining."  So there is a growth and changing process.  But if that growth and change isn't occurring, then we need to get very serious about that sin and work to overcome it by Christ's help.

I'm not referring to some self-help type plan where we go through various rituals and accountability to change ourselves, because we cannot change ourselves.  But the great news is that God can and will change us and set us free from sin and its desires.  He can change us and remove even the evil desires.

Steps to Freedom From Ongoing Sin
So what should we do?  Here are some Biblical steps that I'd recommend if you are struggling with a sin and can't seem to stop:
1) Get help - James 5:14-16 says to go to the elders and confess your sins and the prayer of the righteous man is powerful and effective to help and get healing - both physical and spiritual.  So I'd recommend that you find someone in Christ who you respect who you can go to and ask for help.  Church leaders/elders are best based on James 5, but the whole body can minister to each other.  Just find someone who is more mature than you in Christ and is able and willing to stand with you (Gal 6:1).

2) Cry out to God for help - Rom 10:13 - Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  - Salvation is being rescued from our problems, from our sin.  It is not just the one-time salvation where we give our lives to Christ, but it is the ongoing salvation and sanctification where God is saving and changing us.  He has the power to help us and will hear us and rescue us when we call on his name.

3) Deal with the sin drastically - Matt 5:29 - In the context of dealing with the sin of lust, which Jesus says is the same as committing adultery in the heart, and which is a type of ongoing sin that many men struggle with, Jesus says that if your eye causes you to sin, then tear it out and throw it away.  Clearly it is not our eye that is causing us to sin, but the evil in our hearts (Matt 15:19).  However Jesus is making a clear point by using this exaggeration and saying that we must deal with sin very drastically because if we don't, we risk the fire of hell. Sin generally doesn't just happen.  There are usually things that lead up to it, smaller steps/compromises/decisions that are made before the sin itself actually happens.  You should work with your counselor to determine what those steps are and how to build a wall of self-control up so that 1) You avoid situations that cause temptation 2) You recognize when the temptation is coming 3) You decide before the temptation and situations happen what you will not do 4) You flee from temptation.

4) Memorize scripture that relates to the sin - Matt 4:1-11 - when Jesus was being tempted by Satan to sin, he answered each temptation by quoting Scripture.  You should memorize and put up in places where you can see regularly or where you might be tempted, various scriptures that relate to the specific sin you are working to overcome.  1) Scriptures that say clearly that it is a sin 2) Scriptures that remind about the penalty for that sin 2) Scriptures that give a way to overcome the particular sin.

We struggle with the three enemies of the world, our flesh, and the devil.  So we need to be on guard against each of these and see how they are pushing us, influencing us and tempting us.  We also need to see how to flee from the influence of the world, have God change our fleshly desires, and have God deliver us from the chains and snares of the devil.

Jesus has defeated the power of sin and death and all of Satan's power!  He has given us freedom in Christ to come away from sin and in his name we can be set free and changed forever!  Thank you Lord Jesus!

Romans 5 - Amazing Consequences and Undeserved Gift

Now that Paul has established the proof of the existence of this radical righteousness by faith, he now demonstrates some of the even more great news of what comes as a result of this faith-based righteousness - the amazing consequences.  He does this with several cause and effect chains.

He begins with

Faith® Justification® Peace with God® Hope of God's Glory® Rejoice.

But not only do we rejoice in the great news, we rejoice in short-term bad news that produces great news:

Suffering® Rejoice® Endurance® Character® Hope.

My diagram is technically off a bit because he says that suffering produces endurance, but he also says that we rejoice in our sufferings.  Usually when we don't face the suffering with the right attitude, we don't gain the good results (As I believe Charles Stanley has said, we either become bitter or better).  This of course echo's James' statement in James 1:2 - Count it all joy, my brothers, when you face trials of various kinds.

So the results of our faith in God is rejoicing and great hope because of the change that God works in us through a changed life due to being justified.  Thank you God for your indescribable gift!!

We Don't Deserve It
Then as Paul continues, this great gift is not only something that we didn't earn but it is also something that we don't deserve!  While we were still weak (v6)...while we were still sinners Christ died for us (v8)!!

Strong Vs Weak
People generally don't like to admit or have it be known that they are weak and/or sinners.  We try to hide those facts behind masks, pretensions and/or swagger.  We generally fall into one of two camps: overly strong/confident or overly weak/afraid.  When we are too confident, we don't like to admit to any weakness and we hide it and cover it up and don't want to ask for help.  When we are too afraid, we feel like we are useless, beyond hope or repair.  Both of these are of course wrong.

The fact is that we are ALL sinners and we are weak.  We need God's forgiveness and help and we don't deserve it.  The GREAT NEWS is that Jesus died for all of us weak sinners, while we were sinners!  We don't have to fix ourselves up to gain worthiness.  What we do need to do is humble ourselves, recognize our need and ask for help.

Lord Jesus, I pray for humility to recognize my weakness, my sinfulness and my utter, desperate need for you!  Thank you for your amazing love and kindness and loving me in the middle of and rescuing me out of my sinful state!

Romans 4 - Proof for a radical gift of righteousness

In Chapter 3, Paul introduced a new radical concept that there is a righteousness based on faith and not on what we do (our works).  This claim flies in the face of our experience and expectations.  Even for Christians who have begun in faith and have known no else, there is a tendency and draw to living our lives in an achievement-oriented way.  Everything in the world around us is based on the concept of working hard to receive a benefit and this is indeed a Biblical value (Proverbs 14:23).  There is even a saying that many attribute to the Bible "God helps those who help themselves" (but is absolutely not Biblical) that reflects and feeds into this feeling.  Paul had to rebuke the Galatian believers for starting in faith and then trying to continue on in the flesh (Galatians 3:3).

So when Paul introduces this "new righteousness" that is an unearned gift from God, he has some explaining to do.  And that is exactly what he does in chapter 4.  In 3:21 he had even claimed that the Law and the Prophets testify to this type of righteousness so now he is demonstrating this.  He is building a proof for his claim so he brings two witnesses (Deut 13:15) and gives two examples from the Old Testament: 1) Abraham's righteousness by faith 2) David's testifying of the blessedness of one whose sins are forgiven (here the person is not righteous on their own, but they are forgiven).

Paul spends the most time discussing Abraham, proving that this righteousness by faith applies not just to those who are circumcised (Jews) but to gentiles as well.  That is great news for me and you!  God is forgiving our sins when we trust in him who rose Jesus from the dead and make him our lord, he who was delivered up for our sins and raised from the dead for our justification!

So Can We Go On Sinning?
The tricky question then comes "If I am declared righteous as a gift and not by what I've done, can I then continue sinning and it doesn't matter?"  Paul clearly answers this as "NO!" in chapter 6.  He says that we should obey Christ's law and call for holiness, but that this obedience and our actions are not the basis of our righteousness nor our salvation.  If we try to trust in our goodness or our obedience to save us, then we will fail!  All we can do is keep putting our faith and trust in Jesus.  But true faith will produce obedience, works done in a response of love.  As James says "faith without works is dead" (James 2:17).  The difference is that our faith in Christ is what saves us and by which we are declared righteous so that we cannot boast or be proud of our righteousness (because it is not something we did or earned) (Romans 3:27).  The works then flow from our love and obedience to the God who saved us, and who changes us and gives us the ability and desire to obey (Phil 2:13).

Thank you Father for your love!  Thank you Jesus for your love and sacrifice!  I am truly blessed that you have forgiven my sins, though they are many and though I have done nothing to deserve your forgiveness!  I trust in you, believe in you and you are my lord and king!