Love God Greatly - GalatiansSample

Abraham and Sarah doubted God’s promise that they would birth a nation, especially at their ages. So they devised a plan in which they would circumvent God’s plan and birth a child, Ishmael, through their slave Hagar. God kept His promise, and Abraham and Sarah eventually birthed a son, Isaac, supernaturally. Isaac was born through God’s promise, while Ishmael was born through an act of their own will through their own work.

Although Ishmael was the oldest, Isaac was the one who inherited the promises made to Abraham. Believers are the spiritual heirs of Abraham, symbolized by those who have a supernatural birth because they trusted in the work of Jesus. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Therefore, where there is no faith, those acts displease God.

In what circumstance have you been tempted to circumvent God’s plan and move forward with your own? Are your thoughts of the flesh…self-centered and self-focused, centered on your own comfort, convenience, and ease of life? Are your thoughts of the Spirit…God’s will for you, God’s plan for your life, denying your agenda for His, serving the Lord’s people until He returns, following God above all else? Will you begin to intentionally filter out and take captive every thought that does not reflect Him?

Father God, You are my Consuming Fire, burning and destroying all things that are impure in my life. Lord, consume those things that don’t reflect You. Take authority over my thought life. Conquer every thought that threatens my peace in You. Convict me quickly, Lord, when I saturate my mind with thoughts that aren’t of You. Remind me that this battle of my mind and of my will is won not through might, nor by power, but by Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.