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Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Praise to God

O  God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips praise you.

Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any grievous way in me, and if there be any, return me to your path, and lead me in the way everlasting. All glory and praise be yours, now and forever,

From Psalms 63 and 139

Mason Barge 4/3/2017

Prayer for Renewal

O  God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant me and my fellow saints so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection. Stir up in your Church that Spirit of adoption which is given to us in Baptism, that all Christendom, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Meditation

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.”

~ 1 Peter 2:11

Benediction

May the love of the Father, the tenderness of the Son, and the presence of the Spirit, gladden our hearts and bring peace to our souls, this day and all days,

Mason Barge 2/2024

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Taking Second Best

Galatians 1:15-16 (DP Bible)

15-16 But from the time I was in my mother's womb, God had other plans for me. And when the time pleased Him, He revealed His Son to me, by His grace, that Christ might be revealed in me and through me to the Gentiles.

DP Parallel Bible (3-Column) - Galatians 1

Notes on the Scripture

Paul’s Calling (Galatians #8)

hether or not a Christian believes in full-bore Calvinist predestination, in partial predestination (some are predestined but all have free will to choose), or in something else, we are certain that there are at least a few people who have been irresistibly called by God.

The examples run throughout the Bible. Several times in the Old Testament we see a barren woman, often past the age of childbirth, who is blessed to bear a child and dedicates the child to God. Sometimes she dedicates the child herself, sometimes God commands it. Hannah was barren and distressed by it, so she sacrificed and prayed that, if He would give her a son, she would dedicate him to God. She bore Samuel, the last of the major Hebrew judges and one of the greatest. (1 Samuel 1.)

In another famous Bible story, an angel of the Lord appeared to the wife of Manoah and told her that she would have a son who (like Samuel) would know neither wine nor a razor, as a sign he belonged to the Lord. This was the genesis of another judge, and one of the Bible's most colorful characters, Samson. (Judges 13) And let us not forget the most important of these O.T. miracle births: Isaac, born to Sarah when she was 90. (Genesis 17 and18)

The New Testament begins with an echo of these dedicated births: the last Hebrew prophet. Elizabeth was barren and well past the age when Gabriel came to Zechariah and announced the conception of John the Baptist. (Luke 1) John’s birth was right out of the Old Testament, strikingly similar to the births of Samson and Isaac. He was the transition, a book-end to the covenant with the Hebrews, the prophet who could finally say, “He is here.” The telling of the new covenant thus begins with the final chapter of the old.

No matter how one thinks about predestination as a doctrine, then, there are people in the Bible whom God pre-ordained to believe in Him and serve Him. Paul was one of them. Unlike the others mentioned, though, his calling was not announced or known at the time of his birth. It was God’s plan that He become the greatest enemy of Christ’s believers in Judea, the foremost of all the persecutors of Christ’s church.

We might infer that these verses in Galatians 1 are part of the reason for Paul’s history: it gave him credence in his claim of divine revelation. How else could he undergo such a sudden and complete change? There were witnesses to the actual moment of his conversion, when a flash of light knocked him from his horse on the road to Damascus — some of the bystanders actually heard the voice of Christ — and many, many witnesses to his subsequent blindness and startling reversal of belief. (Acts 9.)

Paul downplays the drama of his conversion in today’s Scripture. Instead, in the mildest of language, he ties himself to John the Baptist, Isaac, et al., by simply informing the Galatians that he, like they, had been called before he was born.

The translation of Greek prepositions is often difficult and sometimes impossible, but here, the meaning of the phrase “that Christ might be revealed in me and through me to the Gentiles” comes across with perfect clarity. Christ is revealed in Paul, because Paul becomes the model Christian convert. It is critical to understanding Paul’s writing that we fix this meaning in our mind. At the moment of his conversion, Christ comes to live in Paul. Paul suffers a crucifixion by proxy and symbolically dies; he will be blind for three days, just as Christ was dead (in a sense) for three days. And thereafter, Christ will act through Paul to establish His church among the Gentiles and write His messages to us.

Daily Inspiration

“Faith Enough To Be Wrong”

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