Children of Abraham by Faith

Hello people of God. Hope you have enjoyed your holiday. I have been richly blessed posting these pieces and I trust God you are also deriving some benefit from reading them.

In this post we will proceed to the next verses in Galatians 3:

‘So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. The 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.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.’ Galatians 3:6-9 NIV.

After referring to the experience of the Galatians as a proof that God only deals with us by faith (as we briefly looked at previously), Paul now points to the life of Abraham as another proof  that justification comes by faith.

Verse 7 reminds me of one of the many encounters Jesus had with the Jews (John 8:31-41). The Jews were very proud of their heritage. One of the things they were so proud of was that they were descendants of Abraham. They assumed that they were automatically heirs of God’s promise simply because they were Jews.

How wrong they were! Just as Jesus pointed out to them in John 8, such a position (becoming an heir of God’s promises) cannot be attained simply by nation of birth or earthly parentage. The Spirit of God through Paul now affirms the same truth-only those who believe (who have faith in the gospel of grace) are the true spiritual children of Abraham.

Under the dispensation of the Law of Moses, we (every single non-Jew) were nothing. Hopeless, helpless, Christless, Godless! Far separated from the covenants of promise and we had no claim to any rights in God’s domain (Ephesians 2:11 &12). However, God has chosen to grant us access to Himself through a different means. Not earthly parentage, not nationality and not any other human parameter like observance of the law. It is by faith through grace. Read Romans 4 and Romans 11 for more on this.

Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith and depends [entirely] on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants--not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is [thus] the father of us all. Romans 4:16 Amplified Version

You are a child of Abraham by faith and that means a lot. You are now part of God’s household. No longer pushed aside, now you belong. You’re blessed, that’s what verse 9 of Galatians 3 says. You are a true heir, a partaker in God’s promises. And all these came through faith because of God’s grace!

This week, roll this thought over and over in your mind. Let it take a hold of your heart. Remember this again has only been a snapshot of God’s amazing grace.

My song for the week is “Loyal” by Lauren Daigle. Have a great week.

"Loyal" by Lauren Daigle 

Christmas Special

It is Christmas. We are often fixated on just the birth of Jesus, we sometimes forget that the cradle was leading to the cross. His birth was to facilitate His death. Bethlehem was necessary so He could go to Calvary. And He is no longer a tiny helpless baby in a manger that we will rock to sleep as we sing some lullaby.

The wise men (were they really three? See Matthew 2:1-12) brought 3 gifts, I bring you 3 poems this Christmas. My song for the season is “Mary, Did You Know?” by Pentatonix.

Emmanuel Has Come

A cradle in a stable

No wool or cotton for a soft pillow

Maybe some hay and clothes for a swaddle

Was this not too much for them to handle?

Not in the birthing room of a palace or a castle

He came like a stranger in a manger

Born in little Bethlehem, the only lights could have been a lamp or a candle

Divinity had come to humanity but not with a swagger

A child born

A Son given

Our Saviour had come

Emmanuel made good on His name

No lavish parade or trumpets blaring

No elite company to welcome our King

Just bleating sheep and some cattle lowing

With a few peasant shepherds who had no gifts to bring

Can you feel the travails of young Mary?

Or the anxiety of pious Joseph?

Imagine the amazement of the shepherds in the fields

When excited angels lit the heavens with their chorus

The Almighty God came in flesh

Son of man, Son of God!

Our Saviour has come

Emmanuel-God with us, that’s who He is.

The Essence of Christmas

Not just about the merry making

Beyond the carol singing

More than the exchange of gifts

Or even Santa's bag of goodies

Not just the new clothes or shoes

Or different delicious meals on menus

Beyond all of these

Christmas tells a story that puts the soul at ease

A virgin birthing in a manger

Angels singing in praise and wonder

Shepherds in awe coming in from the field

Wise men from the East presenting gifts at His feet

A baby born in Bethlehem

The Eternal King came without His diadem

Emmanuel, our Saviour had arrived

Our Great God in human flesh appeared

The ease to the soul that the story brings

Is not just about this birth but how it ends

Jesus our Saviour indeed went to Calvary

And there paid the price that saves us eternally

So today we gather and rejoice

Singing with melody in one voice

In praise to our God for all that He has done

Our freedom, our rescue Jesus has won!

More Than Just A Man

Born in a manger

Who could really wager

This little baby in a borrowed crib

Would grow out of a bib and take His place as King?

An ordinary night it seemed

Till the shepherds heard the angels' hymn

Choirs of heaven sang their melody on earth

A sweet refrain at the arrival of the long awaited Messiah

A baby, yes it was a boy that was born

Soon to be a man-more than just a man:

Great Teacher, Miracle Worker, Bondage Breaker;

Satan Slayer, Special Sibling, Sympathetic High Priest, Sin Destroyer,

Sacrificial Substitute, Suffering Saviour, Supreme Deliverer, and our soon returning King

"Mary, Did You Know?" By Pentatonix 

The Value Of Experiences

Hi everyone. It is a new week again and we will proceed in our look at Galatians 3.

“I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? …Does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?” Galatians 3: 2 & 5.

After expressing shock at their folly, Paul then pointed them back to their previous experience - the reception of the Spirit among them-, an event that occurred by faith in the message of grace that they had heard. Though the book of Acts doesn’t record this, we can conclude that the experience of the Galatians was not different from others recorded e.g. the Samaritans in Acts 8, Cornelius’ household in Acts 10 and some unnamed disciples of John in Acts 19. He also went further in verse 5 to refer to their on-going experience of the move of the Spirit among them. 

The point he was making was that both their initial experience and their on-going experience of the Spirit had not come through strict observance of any codes of conduct but through faith in God’s message of grace. Since that was their experience, why then were they being “foolish”?

Our consideration now isn’t the foolishness of the Galatians but here we see how past or previous experiences can be useful for the Christian in present living. When we look closely at scriptures we find that learning from experience was a common feature of the lives of men and women of God in times before ours.

Jacob set up a pillar at Bethel (Genesis 28:18 & 19). Samuel, God’s Prophet set up a stone between Mispah and Shen, calling it Ebenezer (1^st Samuel 7: 12). The pillar and stone were to serve as reminders of the wonderful experiences they had enjoyed with God. Each time they went by those erected monuments, they were reminded of the greatness and power of God, even in succeeding generations. 

David had never fought a giant before he faced Goliath in the valley of Elah but he drew on his encounters with the bear and lion (1^st Samuel 17:34-37) to have confidence in facing the Philistine champion. Peter in his second epistle (2^nd Peter 1:17) made reference to his experience on the mount of transfiguration and John in the prologue of his first letter (1^st John 1:1-3) referred to the experiences he had with Jesus when He was on earth. In Acts 15, Peter drew on his previous experience in the house of Cornelius in making a contribution to the discussion on issues concerning Gentile believers. 

The problem generally has been that people usually elevate their experiences above the word of God but we shouldn’t throw away the baby with the bathwater. It is good to chronicle and cherish in our hearts some experiences in our spiritual journey like Mary treasured her experiences after the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:19). 

I remember for example the day I got saved. I just knew that day deep down in my heart that Jesus had come into my soul and so when I read Romans 8:16 "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" it made absolute sense. I remember with so much joy the day I preached my first message in a dark room lit by lanterns as an SS1 boy. I remember the first time I preached in a lecture theatre in University of Ibadan. I will never forget the first time someone wrote back to me thanking God after she had been healed of an illness when I had prayed for her at a programme back in University of Ibadan too.

  

I do not celebrate the events or the experiences in themselves but I see them as monumental stages in my walk with God. I can look back and trace the hand of God in my life. And sometimes the Spirit of God crystallizes a spiritual reality to our hearts by pointing us to an experience we had in the past just as it happened to the Galatians. At other times, those experiences become useful when we share them with other people to illustrate the undeniable reality of God's powerful grace.

If you’ve not been doing so, start to cherish your experiences in God folks. Even if you don’t write them in a journal, “file” them in the recesses of your heart. 

My song for the week is 'Finished' by Jermaine Leong and the New Creation Worship. 

It’s Christmas this week. I will post a special piece for that later in the week so please come back to the blog for that. Have a beautiful week.

"Finished" by Jermaine Leong and New Creation Worship