Page 103 - Laying Down the Law

Spirit, but then turn back again to the Law as a means to offer to Yahweh an
acceptable sacrifice. Having begun in faith, they turn again to vain works of the flesh.

Galatians 3:1-4
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth,
before whose eyes Yahshua Christ was clearly portrayed among you as
crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the
works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun
in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered
so many things in vain - if indeed it was in vain?

Perhaps you are sensing that something very profound is being spoken in these
words, but you are having a difficult time grasping what it is and how to apply it to
your life. This would be an excellent time to practice the counsel of James.

James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and
without reproach, and it will be given to him.

What Paul is declaring is not natural wisdom, but spiritual. It can only be
comprehended through the exercise of spiritual senses. Even as Christ opened the
eyes of blind men, and unstopped the hearing of the deaf, so too is He able to give
spiritual sight and hearing to the people of God. I understand that my teaching is a
vain thing if not attended by the quickening presence of the Spirit. May Yahweh grant
sight and hearing to His people!
Consider the questions poised by the apostle Paul. “Did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” How does a man become a partaker
of Yahweh’s divine nature through the indwelling Spirit? We cannot work ourselves
into divinity. We must hear the message that Christ has reconciled God and man
through His atoning sacrifice, and that He has sent forth His Spirit to indwell man.
If we believe these things, then we will by faith petition the Father that He might give
us His Spirit to indwell us.

Luke 11:9-13
"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock,
and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks
finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any
father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give
him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a
scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"