A New Creation

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
Galatians 6 (click the link)


KEY PASSAGE:
For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. (Galatians 6:15-16, NASB)


THE BIG IDEA:
Paul has written this whole book to slam home this one thought:  It is not about the physical things we want or see or feel or touch or about behaviors per se, it is about the inner spiritual man putting the soul (mind, will and emotions) in subjection to the Spirit first, then all these other things will be in order.

Galatians was the reformer Martin Luther’s favorite book on “living by faith.”  There is no mistaking its importance to Paul and the passing on of the passionate wisdom of “how to do it.”  It is the Spirit’s original self-help book to be a successful follower of Jesus Christ.

Just in studying the material here, it has brought this more home to me again and I needed it.  I tend to get into “my own thoughts and reasonings” to figure out life, but here there is none of that.  The Spirit first, then wisdom comes.  Why is that so hard to get? Human nature (spawned by EVE, thank you very much…) works the opposite way and we need to understand that… period.


REFLECTIONS:
At this point, I would like to take the opportunity to pull three points out of this book that I believe are important today to remember and to hopefully inspire you to new testimonies of how Christ will meet you and I there.

The first point is in verses 1-3, “If anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are SPIRITUAL, restore such a one in the spirit of GENTLENESS; each one looking to yourself, so that you too are not tempted… bear one another’s burdens (paraphrase by me)” I love these verses.  They brings connotations of true love and care from someone who wants the best for me.  I have to say PRF has a lot of these people in our congregation.  They have been such an inspiration to me and I have seen direct words from God through them that have brought about spiritual healing to me and others in the congregation.  The world needs more of this.  There are so many in so much pain out there in the world… which bring s me to my next point.

Verses 6-10 are about reaping and sowing.  Maybe it’s just me, but this reaping and sowing thing has always been emphasized and hammered home to me in the financial arena (maybe because I have a charismatic background).  You sow a tomato seed, you get a tomato.  You sow a dollar and God gives you a dollar.  You sow a meal for someone and you get a meal from someone.  Pretty basic.  Right?  Well… I think this is more about sowing good stuff into your spirit… like scripture, like prayer, like time listening to God, and inspiration from others, and then you reap the things of the Spirit or the fruit of what you have sown like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).  You don’t just get back the same thing but much, much more.  Sometimes you get a plant that bears fruit every year.  I pray the Lord will help me to sow wisely.  But, just as you sow the good things, bad things can be sown as well.  The Lord warns us through Paul in this verse.  Watch what you sow and keep those weeds pulled!!! LOL.

My third and longest point is about growing weary and not losing heart, from verses 9-10.  I have experienced weariness several times in my life and God has used someone to pull me out, every time. I have a recent testimony of this.  I went to the 50 hours of praise event in February and I was feeling a little bit empty and I really needed God to fill me up… and he did… but on the last day of the event I was sitting in the chair just taking in the worship music (which was AWESOME) when the Lord spoke to me.  He said “This is for you to recharge, but it is also about recharging others around you and to be aware of them when I show you.”  So I perked up and began to look around the room, when my eyes came upon a middle-aged, very well dressed man in a business suit.  He looked somewhat out of place among all the young people, jeans and casual dress.  The Lord spoke to me and he said, “This man has a broken heart and he cannot move on to love again unless I heal his heart.  Go and pray for him.”   Immediately, I argued with God… do you ever do that?… I do, unfortunately.  I said “God this man doesn’t know me and what if this isn’t the time to speak to him about this and how should I approach him” as panic was setting in.  But I had told God I would do anything for him that weekend… yeah, I did.   So I approached the man and said “Is there anything you need prayer for today?  I would consider it an honor to pray for you if there is.”  He said, as tears welled up in his eyes, “Yes there is. You see, I was a drug addict, but I have been clean for 5 years now and the Lord has saved me and cleaned me up.  I did some really bad things though during those drugging years.  One of which, my wife left me and then she remarried.  In a fit of rage I disowned my daughter and let my wife’s husband adopt her.  I was so out of it, I do not remember signing the papers, but I did.  Now, I am trying to get a relationship hooked back up with my daughter, but she won’t even speak to me, because I did this.   I can’t forgive myself for doing this and I broke her heart and mine in the process.”  I stood there speechless for a moment.  Then I said “Well all I know is that God wants to heal your broken heart.”  I began to help him pray through getting forgiveness for himself for doing this and I asked God to heal his broken heart.  I told him that he cannot fix this with his daughter and that he would have to give her and the situation to God and leave it there for Him to fix it.  He said he would and I hugged him and went and sat down where I had been.  I felt elated that God would find me worthy to deliver a message to this man and I thanked God for the opportunity… but that wasn’t the end of it.  That afternoon I saw him go to the altar several times and stand there then enter into the worship and music.  Later that afternoon he came over to where I was sitting and this is what he said.  “I put my daughter on the altar this afternoon through much wrangling with my heart, but I finally did it.  As I turned to go back to my seat the Lord said to me, “Because you have not withheld your daughter from me and because of My sacrifice and covenant with you, I will restore all you have lost with your daughter.  I will fix it.  I promise.”  We both cried, hugged and said our goodbyes.  I turned to go, refreshed and renewed, and the weariness had finally left me.  OK, God… thanks and I think I’m ready for you to bring it on for another round.  But… I finally saw that it was all done by the Spirit and there was no weariness in it.   Zechariah 4:6 says, “… not by might, nor by power, but by MY SPIRIT, says the Lord of Hosts.” 


POINT OF ACTION:
Ask God to open your eyes to the people who need His touch today.  Ask for God’s words for them.  Let Him refresh you by His Spirit today by receiving His Grace and giving it away.


PRAYER:
Father, thank you for giving your Son as a sacrifice for sin.  We are so beset with sin in so many ways, yet there is forgiveness and grace for every mark that it has made on our lives past, present and future.  Search my heart to see if there be anything you want to rearrange or remove, so I can be a clean vessel for you.  I want to be used by you.  I want to be a vessel of honor in your house.  


WHO AM I?
I’m June Criner and one of my many blessings directly from God is the house I’m living in right now.  It was definitely one of those God transactions.  My back porch has a beautiful view of the lake and a whole lot of the hill country.  I can see Dick Pickens' house from here.  We could communicate in Morse flashlight mode if we had to.  TEE HEE.  My porch faces almost directly north and one of the things I love most about it is I get to see the storms roll in.  The birds dance on the wind currents before it gets here and I see the flashing lightning in the distance.  Then as the rain comes it looks like a soft mist as it edges closer.  It wraps itself around all the living things and nurtures it.  I love being so close to nature out here in Spicewood.  It all reminds me that our God is Creator first and he creates above all we can ask or think.  He provides for us just like he provides for his creation.  The rain makes everything green.  After the drought last year, I am so thankful for the rain on the land.  It is so beautiful.  Lift your eyes to God; raise your hands in praise to the one who can do exactly that for your spirit!!!