Dear Brothers and Sisters,  Thank you as always for your grace and mercy as I attempt to tackle some of the more difficult questions of our times together.  Please note that I am still working these things out so this post will likely be editted a number of times and my wording may fall short.

I have been camping in Galatians and am particularly drawn back to Galatians 4 over and over again.  I encourage you to pause right here and ask for eyes to see, and ears to hear and the ability to understand what this says and perhaps read it out loud a few times… Even maybe meditate on it, just think on it for a couple of days even before reading my thoughts.

Galatians 4 KJV ” Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;  ² But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.   ³ Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:  ⁴ But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,  ⁵ 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.   ⁷ Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.  ⁸ Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.  ⁹ But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?   ¹⁰ Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.  ¹¹ I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

²¹ Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?   ²² For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.   ²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.  ²⁴ Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.  ²⁵ For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.   ²⁶ But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.   ²⁷ For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.   ²⁸ Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.   ²⁹ But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.   ³⁰ Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.  ³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.”

James 4:7 King James Version (KJV) “7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

                Submiting to God is THE most important part of the above verse.  We will never be ideally positioned to resist temptation or symptoms or any other work of darkness  if we have not yet submitted to God.    What exactly does submitting to God mean and actually look like though?     We need to know Him, know His heart, know His general desires for all of mankind and His creation and learn to hear Him clearly enough so that we can know His day to day plans and purposes for us along with His big picture vision and agenda for our lives.    We need to truly and deeply know our God and let Him give us the desire, power and ability to do what pleases Him.    Submitting to Him requires us to resist the devil and all other dominion and subjection to the powers of darkness because He has commanded us lrto do so.   

1st point.   We resist the devil from a position of doing so because God has commanded us to resist.   

Most of the time, when we resist the devil and symptoms, we do so to try to avoid pain, suffering, discomfort and adverse circumstances.      Most of our resisting is actually self motivated instead of God motivated.    Once we have obtained enough relief for ourselves, our resistance often stops.       Let’s take the verse from Romans 6.   Hear the command to not yield your body parts (or any part of your life) to sin and that sin no longer has dominion over us.   We don’t resist sin/symptoms, both elements of the dominion of darkness attempting to re-establish dominion over us,  for our own benefit.   We resist, because God has commanded us to not yield even one part to the things from which He has set us free.     

2.  An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure…   Snuff our every thought/symptom/temptation that raises itself up against the reality of Christ and the Kingdom.

Many of us won’t even bother to pray about a stuffy nose or a little ache or pain because it is more trouble to us to pray then to live with the symptom.    When we realize that God has called us into a holy war and to resist all the works of darkness, then even these seemingly trifling things are worth our attention and snuffing out.    One little match left burning is all it takes to set a forest on fire under the right conditions.   Each symptom and temptation left unchecked is by default us submitting our members, thoughts etc to the dominion of darkness.   Even my own head is shouting, well that is just plain outrageously radical.    Do note that these verses say, that we become a slave to anything we submit to.   It is far easier to snuff out that little match than to put out the fire once that one little match lights a huge portion of our lives on fire.

Romans 6 KJV “5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:  6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.   7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.  8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.  10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.  11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  13 Neither yield ye your members [body parts] as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.  15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.  16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?  17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.  18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.  19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.  21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.  22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.”

3rd point:   We resist from the position of knowing who we are in Christ, of understanding what our identity is in Him and what our authority is based on this reality.

     Again I turn to Galatians though there are likely hundreds of verses one could quote on this topic.   Who we are in Christ will be  one of our next topics and we will likely devote at least 2 sessions to it as understanding who we are is essential to how we think, act, speak and live.   I have intersperced my commentary through Galatians 3 as I think this gives us a solid glimpse of who we are and hopefully enough to motivate us to dig deeper and pray hard for more and more revelation on this essential key to our walk in Christ.

Galatians 3 KJV ” O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?

² This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

³ Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

⁴ Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

⁵ He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

                   Miracles are a fruit of hearing and acting on faith

⁶ Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

⁷ Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

Identity, our identity hangs on believing everything Jesus has said that we are. Remember, Abraham knew that his body was impotent to birth a son at his age AND YET by faith, he believed God anyways.  He believed God’s Word over the witness of his own body and that of his elderly wife Sarah.  Romans 4 gives many details.  We will explore the promises made to Abraham (to which we are now heirs) more fully when we explore the topic of our identity in an upcoming session.

⁸ And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

⁹ So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

¹⁰ For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

The enemy capitalizes on our tendency to need to feel like OUR righteousness / our ability to do what is right, our good works etc are the basis for the promises of God being fulfilled.   The promises come to us based on who we are /who we believe ourselves to be.   Our actions and lives follow our identity.     In Galatians 4 we see the inheritance goes to the child of the free woman.    Faith is the mother of the true heirs, the Law is the mother of the servant.     

We truly are truly a son or a slave based on what we believe and to whom we submit. 

Our actions are a mere reflection of our faith and always give away what we really believe and who we are truly submitted to.     For most of us, we are double minded.   We choose to fight some battles, but are complacent in others.    We want to move from a place of being partially submitted to God and partially submitted to the dominion of darkness to fully submitted to God. 

¹¹ But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

¹² And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

¹³ Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Yeshua, the Lord Jesus, has been (past tense) made the curse for us.     Our penalty has been paid in full.    Paul said that all that he preached was Jesus crucified and His resurrection.    To understand out identity, increading our understanding of the fullness of what Jesus accomplished through His torture, death and ressurection is essential to faith.   If we don’t know what He did, we cannot have confidence in what He accomplished on our behalf.       He set us completely free from the curse of the Law.

¹⁴ That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

¹⁵ Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.

¹⁶ Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

¹⁷ And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

This is a tremendous verse.  It spells out that the law was not in place from the beginning but only implemented 430 years after the promise was given to Abraham.  It inicates that the Law in no way disannul the promise given to Abraham and plainly that Abraham was not under the Law.

¹⁸ For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

¹⁹ Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

Why the Law then?    Again, here spelled out so clearly,  man in his fallen state needed help.    With a dead spirit, (due to man’s loss of ability to be in fellowship with God, to tolerate God’s presence and inability to hearken to God’s voice), God spelled out for the people guidelines that they could relate to and understand in their fallen state.      God never stopped broadcasting, the radio station never closed but the people lost their ability to tune into His voice and instead found that they were now tuned into the god of this world (Satan) and appetites and lusts of the flesh.    Jesus has now made it possible for anyone who believes to be able to learn to hear God’s voice again.    This is why my central prayer is “Lord, Heavenly Father, help me to hear what you are saying and give me the desire, power and ability to live for and do what is pleasing to you”.  It is a simple prayer that can change everything if prayed with all sincerity.   This is a wonderful first step for any believer who wants to truly grow in Christ.

²⁰ Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

²¹ Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

²² But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

²³ But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

²⁴ Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

The Law was never intended to be the solution to the problem of the Fall.   It was always a temporary stop gap measure, a governor, a tutor, a guardian to keep people from some measure of sin, and to reveal to them just how utterly impossible righteouness is to man.      There was a gap of some 4000 years between when God first conceive Christ in the flesh right at the moment of the fall and His birth, time of ministry on earth and His death and resurrection.

²⁵ But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Once we receive Jesus as Lord, we are no longer subject to the Law as we are now governed internally by the Spirit instead of externally by the Law.    The first requires us to study, to try, to make lists, to exercise continuous effort to conform to the outward boundaries set around us.   The second is written on our hearts, it is the force within us, our conscience with a megaphone, our conscience (the Holy Spirit really) to do right empowered to the point that we can plainly hear and do what He prompts us to do.   Our thinking and desires being healed and restored so that the fruit of His presence flows out of us like a river, without conscious effort or striving.  In other words, one leads us into constant works and striving, the other into a place a constant rest in that we are totally confident and totally reliant on the reality that God will faithfully prompt us and lead us as we walk with Him.   Once we have tuned into His voice, it is as simple as listening to and doing all that he shows us to do.   It is a place of peace, joy and provision…. of knowing that the one who knows best has done all the hard work.    Our hands don’t fret all day about what they need to do.   They simply wait for the impulse and instructions to come from the head and then they act.  It is the head that keeps them safe, it is the head that cares for the hands, and directs them.    Christ is the head of the church and we are the body (Colossians 1:18).   Such is the simplicity of lives in Christ.

²⁶ For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁷ For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Is it possible that baptism, annointing with oil etc…. are more like the monuments that we read about in the Old Testament? That are the seal, the moment in time that mark a momentous event in our lives.    Sure, I can take a pile of 12 stones and set them up in our backyard and take my kids there often and tell them all about when the Israelites crossed the Jordan river on dry ground.  But because those stones were not put there by the 12 tribes, because they did not come from the dry river bed that the walked over as God supernaturally held back the waters etc.. that monument isn’t really that meaningful to my children.    Baptism is the action that follows a soul that cries out to the LORD, “YES!!!!  I choose to die to myself, to my life, to my agendas, to sin, to sickness, to the Fall, to cultures and fallen world that surrounds me, to everything other than you taking pre-eminence in my life.    I agree with You that following others gods, including self is meaningless and that You are the one TRUE LORD and that I am choosing with all my will to submit to You as LORD of all my life.”    The action of being dunked in water is one that we have all experienced many times as babies and infants and children . 

There is of course a world of difference between a bath and baptism.     The changes do not occur only because of the physical action of being immersed.   A human marriage in some ways echoes Baptism…   A marriage is consumated by a couple post sharing their vows and committing their lives to one another.  First we say I do and commit our lives with vows to be His and His alone, and then, after the vows (some would argue this order can be reversed), we consumate our union with Him in death and resurrection when we are baptized.  It is the two elements combined  that make for a God honouring union.   We can never put on Christ, if we have not first taken off self.   In  marriage we understand that in saying yes to one we are forsaking all others,  how much more so should it ought to be when  we enter into union with our LORD.     In ancient times, a seal was used to indicate that what was inside the sealed document was legitimate and carrying the weight of the authority of the ones whose seal bore it.    Even in home canning a seal is used to keep what is inside a jar from being contaminated and keeping the contents fresh, palatable and safe to eat.   Those who can take great cares to make sure that the contents are stelirized and prepared first.    A good seal will do absolutely nothing to prevent ill prepared food from spoiling in that jar.   Is it possible that we have shifted the importance to the seal itself and have in some ways, forgotten that what is behind the seal, the preparation and the experience that proceeds the act of annointing etc is the actually the weightier matter?  Is annointing essential.. Absolutely.    Is baptism a necessary step to entering fully into a union with Christ? Scripture records that only those baptized into Christ have put Him on, so YES, 100%.   This is a newer question that has just recently stirred up in my own heart.

^“28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹ And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+3&version=KJV

Once we are Christ’s alone, once we have died to self, to the world, to sin etc.  Our identity has changed.    When I was married, my old life in many ways ended.   I instantly gained a new name, a new family, a new home etc.  I bound myself to the city in which my husband is bound, I inherited all that he had and became part of the community in which he dwelt.    There are so many parallels here but still these fall short of the the radical shift that takes place when we become born again.        Scripture records that we are “new creations” and that we have put on Christ as our new identity.   It is this new creation, this one clothed in Christ, that is truly heir and truly free.  

Romans 6:4 KJV “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

2 Corinthians 5:16-18 KJV “¹⁶Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. ¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. ¹⁸And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;”

Galatians 5  KJV”“1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.  ² Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.”

Scripture calls us “to submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee”.    For us to submit to God as Lord, we first and above all things have to know Him, know His will for our lives, we have to earnestly with all diligence study the instructions He has spelled out for us in His Word, we have to eat the food He has lovingly prepared for us daily to grow in strength and wisdom, we have to willingly submit to His chastisement and correction and count these a blessing when they come, we need to find a community of others who are also committed to Him and seeking His Kingdom and face above all other things, and do all that we can to live at peace with and be a blessing to the precious brothers and sisters who surround us.

^“24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

4th point.   Recognizing the limitations of our enemy and enforcing the Kingdom

I am going to tackle this one in a separate post.    This will also be a future topic to be covered in another session.

From the verses above… Galatians 4.  We are no longer subject to the begarly elements of this world so why are we submitting to them if we don’t have to?

Colossians 1:12-13 King James Version (KJV)
“12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:  13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”