(No Title)

By: Monique Smith

Galatians 5:1-14

Be it known that it is 3:34 a.m. Pretty much every night this week, I have waken up in the still of the morning. Every time that happens now, I definitely feel like God wants me to pray, read the Bible, or sit still and listen out for Him if he’s speaking.  (Now umm… I don’t know if God will be in this devotional grammatically or not because I just re read that sentence and I had mad errors in it….but I’m gonna write this anyways! Y’all bear with me!

We are FREE. Pause. The followers of Christ in this world are free. If you don’t follow Him, you are in bondage. If you are lukewarm, you’re in bondage. If you are double minded, you are in bondage. Don’t get it twisted. The promises of God only come to the people who follow Him. Follow is a verb that means- “To go after in or as if in pursuit”, if you aren’t pursuing God, you’re not free.

To the free people reading this, do not disqualify yourself from being free. Don’t do it. You have come TOO far to backslide now. You have defeated too many addictions, situations, and enemies, so do not go back into bondage. You don’t wanna be a slave no more. You really don’t. (vs.1).

In verses 2-4, Paul is encouraging the Gentiles not to go back to following past beliefs or guidelines to become righteous because Christ would get no glory out of that. Not only would that be self righteous, but would also add extra burdens and restrictions on their lives but also strip them away from Christ and away from GRACE. WHERE would I be without GRACE! So to you my friends, if there is something that you used to do back before you really started relying on Grace and following Christ, don’t go back to it. And in this sense, I’m not even meaning sin, I’m talking about those things you used to do to “fix” stuff when you messed up. For example, every Saturday night/Sunday morning around 3:30/4 a.m. when I would just be arriving back home from the club, I would mumble a quick prayer and remind myself that I was “good” since I was about to wake right back up and go to Sunday school and church. So my remedy for my sin, was going to church. The other people I went to the club with and who were in the club with me, most likely didn’t go to the club, so that meant I loved God a little bit more than them, and I would have a better chance at going to heaven.  So the word to me now is, DON’T resort back to that kind of thinking.  Do not let the church and prayer become my “quick fix” when I mess up and sin, allow God’s grace to cover that. (Make sense? Lemme know if I need to expound more)

Vs. 5, Paul tells us that our righteousness comes through FAITH from the spirit. Not through us fixing ourselves.

But hold up! YOU knew this! You knew that the only way to the Father was by following Christ, by soaking up his grace, by basking in his love! What happened?! Who stopped you from pursing truth? Who twisted your thinking? It certainty wasn’t God! You knew works don’t please him! You knew nothing you can offer him other than a broken spirit and a contrite heart is sacrifice that is pleasing (Psalm 51:17).

Well I don’t know what or who messed you up, but ONE bad influence can mess up your whole journey towards Christ. One confusing sermon, one confusing scripture interpretation could send you down a path of self-righteousness, doubt, or ratchetness.

We were saved to be FREE. God wants us to love up on some people while we are free too, so we can encourage them to become free! Love them as you love yourself!

Well y’all, the Jesus juices are wearing off, so im bouts to go back to sleep. Pray that this blessed you. God still hasn’t revealed to me why He’s waking me up….but in due time I shall know. Love y’all ‘cause I surely love myself : )

Prayer: God thank you!!! I love you so much! Keep working on me and others around me! Make me a mirror so I will only reflect you!  In Jesus name, Amen.

P.S. so this has no title cause I’m legit struggling to type this right now…its 4:29 and I just can’t think of nothing lol….hahaa idk why I’m so sillyyyyyy