Galatians 4 adoption to sonship

I was reading about children who live in the streets and my heart broke for them. I held my baby boy this morning and prayed for them that the Lord would help them and use us to help those that need him! Just like Christina had been talking about adoption this Chapter completely brought that subject home! As I prayed I began to see that this is how we were lost in the streets of sin without hope until we met our Saviour! He came to make everything right. Hope began to grow stronger in me for those children I was praying for because even if they are not adopted by earthly parents there is a Father that will adopt them and not only that but make them his sons for eternity!


Galatians 4:4-7 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.^[b] 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,^[c] Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.


I discovered today that the Greek word for adoption to sonship is a legal term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture.


so by Christ's blood we are redeemed and are now sons of God and because we became his sons he  sent his Holy Spirit into our hearts-we are now no longer slaves but heirs and redeemed to call him our Abba-which means father. He doesn't stop there of course because we are now his children he also made us an heir with Christ. This means that we have full access to his throne.

Hebrews 4:16 (New International Version)

¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

praise the Lord! His Word is truly alive and true and this truth continues to tear down walls that have been stubbornly taking up space in my heart that belongs to Christ alone. Because now I know that I have been adopted to Sonship I can approach his throne with confidence.

Hebrews 2: 10-18 basically rewords these beautiful truths to strengthen our faith.

¹⁰ In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. ¹¹ Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.^[g] 12 He says,
   “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
   in the assembly I will sing your praises.”^[h]
 13 And again,
   “I will put my trust in him.”^[i]
   And again he says,
   “Here am I, and the children God has given me.”^[j]
 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁶ For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. ¹⁷ For this reason he had to be made like them,^[k] fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

So now after believing in him to be our Savior-the center of our lives he has given us freedom to live life forever with him. We are no longer bound in fear about where we will spend eternity-we are not afraid to die because he took the fear of death away by giving us eternal life! 

Galatians 3 Salvation is by faith alone.

It took me a while to post but through the day I was able to think about the reading for today.

Paul is very direct with the Galatians in this chapter he wants them to understand that salvation can not be obtained by ceremonies or traditions and like he states in verses 2-4 "...did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law? Or did you receive the Spirit by believing...are you so foolish? You began with the Holy Spirit. Are you now trying to complete God's work in you by your own strength?"
This is essentially the difference between the law and Grace. Grace is freely given and by faith we are saved for believing in Christ. The law on the other hand is a conglomerate of rules that we control by our own strength. I see the Law as a mirror in which we see ourselves unsaved and ashamed because we can't follow it-we are merely human. 

Christ is our Hope amen! He promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed because of Him-really because of his faith- he believed God. God knew that we(the gentiles) would enter this promise through Christ's sacrifice! So praise God because even before the Law was established he was first establishing hope not only for the Jews but also for the rest of the world-he was depicting his plan of salvation!

Galatians 3:24-25 " Christ came so that we might be made right with God by believing in Christ. But now faith has come. So we are no longer under the control of the law"
praise God that he gives us freedom! All throughout these chapters I see that the Lord wants to give us freedom so we can enter into a relationship with him!

I think I could write forever from this chapter!
Thank you Lord, for your promises and your faithfulness-for giving your only son so that we can be free to choose you as our Savior through faith and not be bound by sin!

I believe you are more than enough for me Lord!

Galatians 2 Stop trying to be good accept God's Grace

It is only day two and I am learning so much!

^{The accusation is frivolous. If I was "trying to be good," I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.}

^19-21What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

   Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

Galatians 2:18-21 the message

So many times I find myself going through check lists and when i am able to check off things on it I feel good. I feel like God ought to love me more because I did all the things on my list that are good. He gently reminds me, " I have loved you with an everlasting love..." Jeremiah 31:3 His grace is sufficient I need to stop trying to be good-stop trying to keep the rules I made up and just be a woman according to God's heart. 

So, I must remember to crucify myself with Christ daily-although sometimes I need to hourly! Because Christ's life is the perfect example of what I should do. I love the way the message states this-IT IS NO LONGER IMPORTANT FOR ME TO APPEAR RIGHTEOUS OR TO TRY TO IMPRESS GOD. 

what a load of my shoulders-God doesn't want to be impressed by me-he wants to be loved in obedience by me-what a beautiful thing his death and resurrection has set us free to have a relationship with him!

BY GRACE WE HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH!

Ephesians 2:5
that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)

Another verse  that caught my attention was 

"The only additional thing they asked was that we remember the poor, and I was already eager to do that." Galatians 2:10

as I was doing research  

I found this writing by Charles Spurgeon http://www.biblebb.com/files/spurgeon/0099.htm

I like this excerpt

 "Grace is a plant which draws no nourishment from the wilderness in which it grows; it finds nothing to feed upon in the heart of man; all it lives upon it receives supernaturally. It sends all its roots upwards, none downwards; it draws no support from poverty, and none from riches. Gold cannot sustain grace; on the other hand, rags cannot make it flourish. Grace is a plant which derives the whole of its support from God the Holy Spirit, and is therefore entirely independent of the circumstances of man. But yet, mark you, it is an undeniable fact, that God hath been pleased for the most part to plant his grace in the soil of poverty. He has not chosen many great, nor many mighty men of this world, but he hath "chosen the poor of this world—rich in faith—to be heirs of the kingdom of God." We should wonder why, were we not quite sure that God is wise in his choice. We cannot dispute a fact which Scripture teaches, and which our own observation supports, that the Lord's people are, to a very large extent, the poor of this world. Very few of them wear crowns; very few ride in carriages; only a proportion of them have a competence; a very large multitude of his family are destitute, afflicted, tormented, and are kept leaning, day by day, upon the daily provisions of God, and trusting him from meal to meal, believing that he will supply their wants out of the riches of his fullness"

with the holidays coming up let's make an effort to remember those in need and rally together to help them.

be it in our bible studies, social groups, or book clubs-maybe a food drive or donations?

We can do all things through Christ! phil 4:13

New Bible Study

Very excited to take part in this new bible study. So many firsts for me today-this is my first online bible study! we will be studying Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and colossians starting today through November the 20th. This list includes four of my favorite books!

as I read Galatians 1 today I was refreshed by the greeting Paul gives the Galatians and

"...So I greet you with the great words, grace and peace! We know the meaning of those words because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we're in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God's plan is that we all experience that rescue. Glory to God forever! Oh, yes!"Galatians 1:1-5 the message

Thank God for his great sacrifice that rescued us so that we can enjoy his grace and peace! 

The end of the chapter is the verse that has stuck hardest with me today. I wonder do others recognize and  praise God because of me?

There was only this report: "That man who once persecuted us is now preaching the very message he used to try to destroy." Their response was to recognize and worship God because of me! Galatians 1:24

make sure to check these outhttp://myawakejourney.blogspot.com/
 Get Joy

My Graceful Becoming

I am very excited to begin this journey of becoming with God.

This whole year I have been stretched, tried, and challenged beyond my imagination. 

September marked the climax of how much the Lord wanted to teach me this year! After Samuel was born I began to pray and ask the Lord what he thought about motherhood and how he viewed it. The Lord of course did not let me stop there he continued to speak to my heart about a graceful becoming. 

Many times I wondered becoming what? 

a wife, a mother, a provider, a teacher, most importantly a woman after God's heart? 

all these questions continue to resonate in my heart and i believe that the Lord will show me the answers I seek.

Today this word 

de·vel·op·pé

   [dih-vel-uh-pey; Fr. dev^uh-law-pey]  Show IPA

–noun, plural -pés  [-peyz; Fr. -pey]  Show IPA.

a movement in ballet in which the free leg is drawn up beside theworking leg and then extended into the air.

Origin: 
1910–15;  < F, ptp. of développer  to develop

was dropped in my heart and i remembered from my ballet class striving to create a perfect 

developpé. The Lord wants to guide me deeper into his heart where I will discover the gifts that he so generously has waiting for me. Not by my own strength but by His.

 

Ephesians 4:7

But that doesn't mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. The text for this is, He climbed the high mountain, He captured the enemy and seized the booty, He handed it all out in gifts to the people. Is it not true that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ's followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.