Hearts Ablaze By Grace!

Good day people of God. It’s a new week again and I am delighted to have another opportunity to share with you from the word of God as we go through the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians.

We have reached a section of Galatians 4 where the Apostle Paul had begun to make a very personal appeal to the Galatians about their beliefs and attitudes (Please see Galatians 4:12 -20). He had been a first-hand witness to the tremendous change that had occurred in the Galatians when they initially received the gospel of Jesus. Unfortunately, they had been exposed to some bad influence and were no longer exhibiting the appropriate fruits of salvation.

Paul therefore asked them directly the reason for their reversion in Galatians 4:15:

“You were so happy! What has happened? I myself can say that you would have taken out your own eyes, if you could, and given them to me” Good News Bible

“What happened to your positive attitude? It's a fact that if it had been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me” God’s Word Version

Something had changed in the Galatian believers. All their joy and positive attitude had seemingly evaporated! These people had initially been so endeared to Paul, they had loved him so much and were so attached to him that they could have parted with anything for his sake. But sadly, things had taken a different turn.

I have over the years in my Christian walk come to realize that many believers go through such a phase at some point in their lives.  A similar trend occurred in the Ephesian church and the Lord Jesus in His revelation to John said to them “…you have forsaken your first love…” (Revelations 2:4). And today I am asking you a simple question: are you in this phase?

Where is your zeal? Where is your first love? Do you still have that “joy”? Do you love the Lord with fervency still or do you think so little of Him? Does the thought of our great Saviour excite your soul? Are your energies channeled and your resources spent for the right purposes? Are the delights of communion and fellowship with God and the brethren still a resounding constant in your heart?

A full review of the different reasons for such flagging zeal and loss of positive attitude in many believers is outside the scope of my brief post this week but I will point to one major culprit: a loss of focus on the awesomeness of God’s grace. Generally (as in the case of the Galatians) we lose fervency, zeal, joy and such positive attitude toward God when we allow other matters to take the pride of place in our hearts. The Galatians particularly had been drawn away by erroneous teachings and had lost a proper view of the grace of God. This led them into the state they were in.

"Do not be carried about by different and varied and alien teachings; for it is good for the heart to be established and ennobled and strengthened by means of grace...." Hebrews 13:9

You may need to rekindle again the excitement that brimmed in your heart when you first met the Lord. Renew again your whole-hearted devotion to God and to His truth. That was what God desired the Galatians to do and that is what He expects of us too.  And to do this we must return again and again to the simple message of the amazing grace of God. 

Occupy your mind with thoughts of your liberation and freedom in Christ; your deliverance from sin; your freedom from a system of rules and regulations; the new life you have in Christ Jesus; the tenderness of the warm embrace of our Father; the intense intimate relationship you have with God; the priceless position, possessions and privileges that are ours through grace in Christ.  It will keep your heart ablaze and  if the glow in your heart had waned, it will definitely return.

My song for the week is “Covered” by Planetshakers.

Have a great day friends and a lovely week. Please return to the blog next week as we see more snapshots of the super-abundant grace of God.

"Covered" by Planetshakers 

Grace, Not Religious Servitude

Good day people. Hope you had a good weekend. It’s the beginning of a new week and I hope you are ready to walk in victory in all the tasks and circumstances you will face.

We will proceed in our Galatians’ journey exploring God’s amazing grace:

“You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” Galatians 4:10 & 11 New International Version

One main feature of Judaism was a legalistic observance of special days, months and years. The practice had started as special days to mark the different Jewish festivals and there were many of such festivals in the Mosaic Law. But in addition to these, the Jews had added several others. For example they had days to commemorate the destruction and rebuilding of the temple, and other important events in Jewish history. 

Observing a special day isn’t a problem (see Romans 14:5-6). The problem was that people’s spirituality was being evaluated based on observance of such mere religiosities. The Galatians had fallen prey to such belief system and Paul was obviously not happy about the situation. In fact, he was wondering whether his work among them had not been a wasted effort (verse 11).

“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come, the reality, however, is found in Christ.” Colossians 2:16, 17 

The temptation sometimes is very subtle. We probably don’t have much of observance of special feast days in the contemporary Christian world but there are shades of powerless religiosity in other forms that are present with us till this moment. There are many man-made regulations on food, clothing and rules about worship that really have no real significance in God’s dealings with us. Many of them are really just superficial, external veneers that do not matter with God and we must not allow them take precedence over the reality of God in our hearts. 

Remember as Colossians 2:17 says, all those regulations in the Old Testament were shadows of things to come; things that have now come because the substance is here-Christ Jesus Himself. We must refuse to return to that pattern of bondage. We are free from all that now.

Let me say it in another way: the grace of God has ensured that faith alone in Christ is adequate. You are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10) so you do not have to look elsewhere for any further additions. It is really that simple-that is why it is grace! Don’t be tempted to believe otherwise. Just focus on Jesus and on the grace of God revealed to us through Him.

My song for the week is “Grace is enough” by Don Moen.

The liberty we have from such religious forms of servitude and our completeness in Christ are together another snapshot of the awesome grace of God. Live in that reality. Have a beautiful week. 

"Grace is enough" by Don Moen 

Known By God

Good day people of God. Hope you’ve had a good weekend. 

We are at verse 8 of Galatians 4 now:

“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 principles?” Galatians 4: 8 & 9. 

In my post today, I would like to focus on a little phrase in verse 9. The verse started off saying that the Galatians now knew God but the Apostle interjects, “…or rather are known by God…”  

The phrase is an important one that helps us understand that there are 2 perspectives to our salvation. From our perspective we could say that we have now come to know God and from God’s perspective He now knows us. Our salvation is not just a product of our own efforts. I know that at salvation we made a decision to believe in Jesus Christ, but there is also the vital aspect we need to understand-God now knows us.

God now knows us. Wow!

The original Greek word used to describe God’s knowledge of us does not refer to a general awareness of a thing or a person. It is a word that literarily means “to know intimately and on a personal level”. Permit me to illustrate this way: I know Muhammad Buhari who lives in Abuja, Nigeria. He is the President of Nigeria. I know Barrack Obama who is the President of the United States of America. I also know Oluseun Olowojolu. I don’t have any personal relationship with either President Buhari or President Obama. Oluseun Olowojolu however, is my wife. I know all 3 people but the knowledge I have of my wife is different. It is special. It is intimate and personal. 

It is this sort of knowledge that Galatians 4:9 refers to about God knowing us. So this is not about God’s general knowledge of everything and everyone but a special knowledge. For every believer in Christ, there is an intimate personal knowledge which God has of him or her. God’s personal presence, His personal ownership, His personal love, His personal guidance, His personal kindness and personal care are all yours. This is the reality of the new life in Christ Jesus. 

It is a privileged position we have been brought to and it is important for us to take advantage of our position in Christ. As we go into the week, allow this theme come into dominance in your thoughts.

My song for this week is “No Longer Slaves” by Jonathan David. 

Remember God knows you. Yes, I mean God has an intimate personal knowledge of you and this is another snapshot of God's amazing grace! Have a great day and a lovely week. 

"No Longer Slaves" by Jonathan David