Galatians 5:25

Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. We don’t work for our salvation, we are saved by faith in God. So how do we live the Christian life each day? Exactly the same way! By faith. Every day we should begin with this prayer, “Dear Lord, I can’t do this. I am not able to live the Christian life, so I need you to live it through me. I am your hands and your feet today. Let me be used of you today. Amen.” We are saved by faith and we live each day by faith – faith is Jesus Christ! Now . . . just do it!

Galatians 5:22,23

Galatians 5:22,23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. God uses many illustrations in the Bible to help us understand spiritual truths, and Paul uses the illustration of fruit here in Galatians. If you are a Christian, you will have the fruit of the Spirit of God. Here is an interesting statement: an apple tree isn’t an apple tree because it has apples on it; an apple tree has apples on it because it is an apple tree on the inside. That sounds confusing, but it isn’t. The inside will determine what kind of fruit will appear on the outside. Love, joy, and peace are not things that we do in order to become a Christian; we are a Christian, and will naturally have love, joy, and peace in our lives because we are Christians. We are not Christians because we do good things; we are Christians, and because we are, we will do good things. Just like an apple tree has apples on it; real Christians will have good things in their lives like love, joy, and peace.

Galatians 5:13

Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. When we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are free from our sins! Hallelujah! So if Jesus forgives us of all of our sins, aren't we free to sin and those sins are already forgiven? Well, yes and no. We are forgiven – that is the Christian liberty that our verse talks about. But all sins affect other people. Our so-called Christian liberty to sin then hurts someone else. What about if we sin by stealing? What about lying and coveting? We may be free of the penalty of sin, but these sins hurt other people. And then there are sins that hurt God. Are we free to disobey God and disrespect His holy day and His holy name? I don’t think so! We have Christian liberty, but our liberty is not so that we can disrespect God and other people. We should respect others and put them above ourselves. We should respect God above ourselves. We have Christian liberty but the responsibility to love others and to love God is greater than our liberty. Love is more important than our liberty. We should put others first. Then we will be the happiest!

Galatians 5:1

Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Paul was a Jew and the Jews had to keep the Old Testament law. There were many more rules to keep than just the Ten Commandments. But Paul was writing this to the new gentile Christians. Instead of many rules, there was just one rule: to love Jesus Christ the Lord with all of your heart. There were so many rules for the Jews to follow that they would often forget one or two just by accident. And then sometimes, while trying to obey one rule, they would unintentionally break another. Keeping all of the laws was such a headache! But under the grace of Jesus Christ the law was changed to love. God sees the heart, and God knows when we are trying to do what is right. In Jesus Christ there is freedom from the law. And Paul was reminding the gentile church in Galatia not to be all tangled up in the old Jewish law because the grace of Jesus Christ had set them free! And the grace of Jesus Christ has set us free too! Praise the Lord!

Proverbs 18:22

Proverbs 18:22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD. On October 2, 1971, I married Kathy Papastavro. What a wonderful day that was 44 years ago! She has been the best thing that has happened to me! Let me encourage you: find a good husband; find a good wife. And then when you are old enough, marry them and never let them go! And that will be the best decision that you will ever make!

Galatians 4:4-6

Galatians 4:4-6 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. There is much doctrine in our verses for today. Doctrine means solid Bible teaching. The first verse tells us that Jesus Christ was born at just the right time. Just like an apple has to grow until it is just ripe, God waited for just the right time for Jesus Christ to be born. He waited for the Greek language so that the New Testament would have an exact language to carry God’s good news of salvation. God waited until the Romans came along and build great roads so that God’s missionaries could travel quickly and easily with the gospel message. And God came to save people and to birth them into His spiritual forever family. We can be born again! Now we have Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit as our Guide, and God the Father as our spiritual Daddy. Oh my, how God loves us so!