December 9, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Breath of Blessing

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Opening Prayer

Today, Lord, by the Holy Spirit, I want to learn to delight in Your love and walk in Your ways.

Read Galatians 3:1-14

[1] You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. [2] I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? [3] Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? [4] Have you experienced so much in vain-if it really was in vain? [5] So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? [6] So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” [7] Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. [8] Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” [9] So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. [10] For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” [11] Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” [12] The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” [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 hung on a pole.” [14] He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“It is the foremost concern of the Holy Spirit to pour God’s love into the hearts of his people. Without that… we have nothing to offer a hungry world” (David C. K. Watson, 1933–1984).

 

Orators in the ancient world liked to use “proofs”—arguments to support a speaker’s main point. Chapters 3 and 4 are Paul’s “proofs.” They back up his point that justification depends on Israel’s Messiah, Jesus, rather than on Israel’s ancient Law (Gal. 2:16). This first “proof” focuses on three important words: Abraham, blessing and Spirit.
Abraham was the founder of the Jewish people. God called him to travel in faith, as a beacon for generations to come. So Abraham was the root of the idea that being right with God comes through believing (6, quoting Genesis 15:6). To take the path of faith is to follow his footsteps. Faith in Jesus—”believing what you heard” (2,5)—is part of Abraham’s heritage, and Gentiles can do this as surely as Jews can, for the blessing God gave Abraham was always intended to spread (8, drawing on Genesis 12:3 and 18:18). Genes and ancestry were never meant to be a permanent boundary around God’s grace. Now, in Jesus, God’s purpose is reaching wide. Promise is turning into possibility. Gentiles are blessed, on the basis of faith (14).
The sign of blessing is the Holy Spirit, who comes through the preaching of the Good News (2,5) to people of every race who believe (14). The Law picked out one nation, but the Spirit reaches out to all people. The Law did not deliver all that Israel hoped (we shall think tomorrow about the difficult word “curse”), yet the Spirit brings blessing and labels Gentile Christians as children of Abraham (7). Notice that Paul talks of “beginning with the Spirit” (3). Never think that God’s Holy Spirit comes only to seasoned Christians. This gift of God’s living presence is for new believers too.

Orators in the ancient world liked to use “proofs”—arguments to support a speaker’s main point. Chapters 3 and 4 are Paul’s “proofs.” They back up his point that justification depends on Israel’s Messiah, Jesus, rather than on Israel’s ancient Law (Gal. 2:16). This first “proof” focuses on three important words: Abraham, blessing and Spirit.
Abraham was the founder of the Jewish people. God called him to travel in faith, as a beacon for generations to come. So

Abraham was the root of the idea that being right with God comes through believing (6, quoting Genesis 15:6). To take the path of faith is to follow his footsteps. Faith in Jesus—”believing what you heard” (2,5)—is part of Abraham’s heritage, and Gentiles can do this as surely as Jews can, for the blessing God gave Abraham was always intended to spread (8, drawing on Genesis 12:3 and 18:18). Genes and ancestry were never meant to be a permanent boundary around God’s grace. Now, in Jesus, God’s purpose is reaching wide. Promise is turning into possibility. Gentiles are blessed, on the basis of faith (14).

The sign of blessing is the Holy Spirit, who comes through the preaching of the Good News (2,5) to people of every race who believe (14). The Law picked out one nation, but the Spirit reaches out to all people. The Law did not deliver all that Israel hoped (we shall think tomorrow about the difficult word “curse”), yet the Spirit brings blessing and labels Gentile Christians as children of Abraham (7). Notice that Paul talks of “beginning with the Spirit” (3). Never think that God’s Holy Spirit comes only to seasoned Christians. This gift of God’s living presence is for new believers too.

 

Apply

“The Spirit comes in with the preaching of the crucified Christ… Seeking the Spirit, then, means returning in faith to the message” (Charles B. Cousar). What is your response to this quote? What does the Holy Spirit bring to your walk with the Lord?

Closing prayer

Blessed Holy Spirit, set my heart aflame with faith, hope and love. I release You anew in my life so that I may be used mightily by You.

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