From the Kitchen Table

The Kitchen Table            Day 13

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— ¹⁴ so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:13-14

I am a child and not a curse.  We are blessed because Jesus was cursed with our sin.  Because on the cross Jesus took our curse and crushed it.  The curse of the law is death to those who have broken the law.  Jesus didn’t break the law, He didn’t sin, we did, but He took our cross and our curse and crushed the law’s verdict over us so that we might live “blessed” when we believe in Him and what He did for us.  We know He crushed the curse because He rose from the dead.  Now we are free to live in the blessing of Abraham if we will live by faith in His love rather than in fear of the law.  Now the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, can move, mold, and motivate us because we are no longer cursed, we’re children of God.

The Kitchen Table            Day 10

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 The law tells me that I am a sinner, but love tells me that I am a son.  I am a child and not a curse.  What Jesus did for us on the cross offered us a new way of being alive and a new way of doing life.  Don’t go back.  We can, you know.  We can be saved but live enslaved to sin and its system of accusation, condemnation, and regulation.  We don’t want to rebuild what Jesus helped us tear down.  Think about it this way.  In Christ this life is no longer involves breaking laws but rather breaking hearts, His heart.  This is a love relationship and its lived in the love of faith.  We believe in Christ’s love for us and live by faith in His love, not the law

The Kitchen Table            Day 11        

Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— ⁶ just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Galatians 3:5-6

Live boldly by faith rather than badly in fear.  Our enemy would have us be intimidated but our Savior would have us be inspired.  The enemy intimidates but the Spirit inspires.  The law came to show us our faults, but the Spirit comes to show us our future.  But we have this tendency to go back to the law trying to live this life in our own strength and savvy.  This life is not living by heeding the law but by hearing the Spirit.  The blessed life is in the hands of the Spirit, not the hands of the courts.  That’s why it’s not about better obedience or worse sin.  This life is about faith that obeys the voice of the Holy Spirit, the heart of God.  Sin for us is grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit’s desires.  The law does what the law does but only the Holy Spirit can do what the Holy Spirit does.  Learn to listen and obey His voice.

The Kitchen Table            Day 10

So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. Galatians 3:9

We have a choice to live blessed or bewitched.  God says that those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham.  Those who are of the flesh are bewitched in the flesh.  To be bewitched is to be under the intimidation, manipulation, and domination of the flesh, foe, foolishness, and fear.  We have a choice.  The flesh operates in fear, but faith operates in the fearlessness of blessing.  We are blessed in Christ Jesus and His work on and through the cross.  We are blessed to be a blessing today.  God says so!

The Kitchen Table            Galatians Day 9

yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.                        Galatians 2:16

Hypocrisy lives in hopeless lives.  Happiness lives in a hopeful life.  Trying to live this life by the law is hopeless; we just can’t justify our lives by ourselves.  Only Jesus can do that.  Only Jesus lived the perfect life and only Jesus can justify the life of a man.  To be justified is be just as if I’d never sinned.  That’s amazing and awesome.  Faith makes all the difference.  Faith in Jesus and what He did for us.  We can try to live by the law but we can’t do it.  We need the Spirit of God to live this life and that happens through faith in Christ and what He did and does.  The law doesn’t save us; the law tells us that we need to be saved.  Jesus saves us, He saves our spirit immediately, making us pure, and now by faith He will save our mind, emotions, will, and our body if we will live by faith in Him.  There’s Hope that makes us happy in Jesus.  Trust Jesus today!

The Kitchen Table            Galatians Day 8

But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” Galatians 2:14

Hypocrisy is one of the hardest habits to overcome personally and publicly.  It’s a constant struggle because we’re constantly dealing with our flesh and the fear in our flesh.  Our skin wants to rule our spirit but this life is lived from within, from faith with hope in love.  To live in the flesh is death and that’s why we must deal with it.  Hypocrisy hurts our conscience and our community because the spirit of man is looking for truth.  It shuts down our witness.  When we are not in step with the gospel everyone and everything else suffers, but it happens because we’re growing in our walk with Christ.  The best thing to do is deal with it, don’t defend it.  If we deal with it (hypocrisy) we don’t have to defend I; God will defend us.

The Kitchen Table            Galatians Day 7

Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— ⁵ to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you

 Galatians 2:4-5

One of the greatest threats to this new life in Christ is false friends.  These are people who profess the faith but live in a false gospel.  Know God’s word; it is the food of your spirit.  The good news of Jesus is about a life of liberty in Him and with Him.  But, we won’t see the warning signs if we don’t know His word.  We let false friends take positions of influence in our lives when we don’t know God’s word to us.  We won’t know truth or love if we don’t know His word to us.  Unhealthy relationships are the product of unhealthy eyes.  We can’t see spiritually if we can’t think Scripturally.  Know the good news of Jesus and you’ll know the good life of love He gives us.

The Kitchen Table            Galatians Day 6

I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain Galatians 2:2

Never settle for a powerless gospel.  There really is no such thing but don’t settle for a man-made religious life.  The gospel of Jesus comes with “power” to see and to save.  Paul had a revelation of Jesus; he met Jesus himself.  It’s the personal connection with God that makes it so powerful.  I’ve met Jesus!  That is a powerful experience and encounter that is life-changing.  Now, don’t settle for vanity.  Vanity is what we get when we don’t let Jesus continue to reveal who He is and what He wants.  Vanity is what happens we make Jesus who we want Him to be and that is powerless.  You’ll see Jesus when you come to Him, but you’ll know Jesus when you hear Him.  Paul didn’t want vanity, he wanted victory and so he submitted himself to the scrutiny of the Scripture.  Do the same.  You’ve met Him, now get to know Him by getting into His word with His people for His will.

The Kitchen Table            Galatians Day 5

They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God because of me. Galatians 1:23-24

Salvation is the greatest miracle of all.  It changes who we “used to” be.  We are not who we “used to” be and we don’t live like we “used to” live.  Before we were born-again, saved, we “used to” be used by Satan, sin and other sinners.  Sin had darkened the mind and damaged the soul.  But Jesus reached into the darkness and saved us from who we “used to” be.  If we have been saved, we will be changed and people may not believe it but they will see it.  Don’t fear the change, it’s always good.  The only people who won’t like it will be those who like death rather than life.  Jesus changes the “used to” mind, mouth and motivation of a man to the glory of God and it is good for everyone involved.

The Kitchen Table            Galatians Day 4

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, Galatians 1:15-16

Meeting Jesus personally makes all the difference in the world and eternity.  Some never really see Jesus, they just see the need to be better.  One day Jesus revealed who He was and is to Paul.  That’s what we all really need is a one on one with Jesus so that we aren’t just living on what someone else has said or experienced.  Jesus will meet each of us, one on one, right where we are, when we respond to His calling us.  We were made to know Jesus and He comes calling and when He does, we need to pick up the line and talk to Him.  It’s only in knowing Jesus personally that we can know His love, life, light and liberty seriously.  He who created us will call us and when we answer the call, His love will change us forever. Did you get Jesus or did you just try to get right on your own?  Get Jesus!  He is the real thing!