Part CXXV on Galatians Study

Philippians 4:6
"Be careful for nothing; (or worry about nothing) but in every thing (what ever the need or circumstance) by prayer and supplication (and here's the secret) with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God...."
Never ask the Lord something without thanking Him for it in advance.
This is one of the criterias of prayer. Always thank Him for what He's done and going to do with our prayer request. We try to remember to always tell people whether God answers yes, or no, or maybe later, whatever He says, we have an immediate answer in verse 7. The minute we get up from our prayer place we've got our prayers answered because of what this next verse says.

Philippians 4:7
"And the peace of God, (now we have the peace with God at the moment of receiving our salvation, but now as a believer, and we enter into this Spirit filled walk, now we have the peace of God) which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Whatever the circumstances, God is there calming our situation saying, "I'm in control." Now we all know that it's been hot this summer where we live, and we're getting concerned about grass, and the only hope that we have are these promises that we have the peace with God, and the peace of God, and we can take it to Him in prayer. In fact we were talking to some one and said that we sure hoped it would rain before too long, and he said, "Are you praying?" we said, "You bet we are, absolutely, and we're quite sure that God in His own time is going to answer." But what ever the circumstance we have that peace with God and the peace of God, which rules our heart. Now reading verse 7 again.

Philippians 4:7
"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, (some of these things we sometimes don't comprehend how He answers. Some times He says no. It may not rain, but whether it does or not what do we have? We have the peace of God, which passes all understanding, and it) shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
He is the constant, He never fails, He's always there! Alright now let's come back to Galatians chapter 5. So we've covered love, joy, and peace. Now the next three are more or less an attitude toward our neighbors, or maybe our families, the people around us, and that is -


Galatians 5:22b
"...longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,..."
Another word for longsuffering is patience. And what do these three lead to? Well, they lead to a pretty good happy family environment don't they? If all family members can exemplify these three fruits of the Spirit, patience with one another, gentleness with one another, and goodness, Oh! talk about family - wouldn't that be perfect? What a beautiful family relationship we could enjoy if all members of the family would just practice these three fruits of the Spirit.
Now the last three fruits of the Spirit are pretty much tied to our association with God Himself.


Galatians 5:22b-23
"...faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
And the first thing that God looks for is what? Faith. Let's look at that for a moment in the Epistle of Hebrews chapter 11, and verse 6. We think that's why it's listed first. Also in I Corinthians chapter 13 the love chapter how does God end it?

I Corinthians 13:13
"And now abideth faith, hope, charity,..."
 We see faith has to be the first one. Do you see that? But here in Hebrews let's look at verse 6.

Hebrews 11:6a
"But without faith,..."
Remember our definition of faith? Taking God at His Word! Trusting His faithfulness! Believe it from cover to cover. Now granted not all of the Bible is written to us Gentile believers. When Leviticus chapter 5 says, "That anyone who has touched something unclean has to go through the rites of purification, and has to bring a particular offering," Hey we don't do that. And why not, it's in the Bible. See that's what people like to say a lot of the time. "Well it's in the Bible." Well if that's the case we'd better go back and practice Leviticus. Then these same people don't know what to do with it. We have to realize that the Bible is for us, but it's not all to us, nor is it all about us and that makes all the difference in the world. The secret of being able to separate the Scriptures is to see what was written to the Gentile, the Body of Christ, the Church, us today, and that all comes from the pen of the Apostle to the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul. For he alone raises the Name of Christ above all others. But a great majority of the Bible was written to the Nation of Israel, the Hebrews, and even the Jewish believers in the Four Gospels. So we've got to be careful in how we rightly divide or delineate the Word of God. Now looking at this verse in Hebrews again.

Hebrews 11:6a
"But without faith it is impossible to please him..."
In other words there is no way we can get to first base with God unless He sees faith first. How we might ask, "What about a sinner seeking salvation?" The first article of faith for a lost person seeking salvation is Romans 3:23. And again remember we have to first receive redemption before we enter into the Lord's working His salvation in us.

Romans 3:23
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
We have to believe what the Bible says, and that is "all have sinned, and come short..." Now that's the first step of trust in order to become a true believer. "Yes Lord I'm a sinner, I have fallen short!" Then the next step of trust is to believe this Gospel for our salvation, that "He died for you, was buried, and rose again the third day." But that's all taken by trust which becomes our faith. How? Because we place our trust in His faithfulness, Christ Jesus (because as the son of man trusted God) and Paul (Paul as a man trusted the Word of illumination which he received and then acted upon it in His faith) being our first examples. And that is the key, and without it -


Hebrews 11:6b
"...it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
The key to this verse is to seek Him, not for power or worldly things but rather His righteousness, for without His righteousness NO one will see (know) God. Now back to the Book of Galatians. We see in chapter 5 now the next one after faith is -