Daily Devotions
The Book of Galatians
These devotions are based on a letter that Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians. You can read about how Paul planted these churches on his first missionary journey in Acts 13-14. Like in other letters Paul writes because of an issue that is disrupting the church. People were losing sight of the grace that gave them this new life of freedom in Christ. They were going back to a life of “slavery” to Judaistic legalism, with the act of circumcision becoming the indicator of discipleship instead of faith leading to transformed lives. The issue is relevant today because at risk here is the grace, or unmerited, surprising love of God in Jesus that is often missed in the pursuit of holiness (maintaining “God’s standards”) because of a reluctance to listen to the Spirit. I pray that through these devotions you will (re)discover that grace! For an overview of Galatians please watch: Watch Here
Remember, these are devotions – it is not a study. Please first pray asking God to speak to you, read the passage at least twice, then the devotion. Use the questions to help you think about how the passage relates to you, then pray the prayer I’ve written, it may be more important than the devotion! May I suggest you write your own prayer that is more relevant to your situation and add it to the comments for others to be encouraged? Or maybe you have a question/comment that others can respond to. If you have a personal question/comment please email me directly. I’ve also chosen a song for you to listen at the end of each devotion. Be blessed!
Week 2, Wednesday, Galatians
Galatians 2:1-2
Christ does give each of his followers a distinctive calling (purpose). But we must remember that he gives it to us within the larger context of the church – the family of God – that we belong to. In God’s scheme of things each has a relevance to the other: the personal to the corporate (church family), and vice versa. What God is doing in/through our personal lives is related to (though not dictated by) what he is doing in/through the church, and the reverse is true as well. That is the reason why Paul goes to Jerusalem along with his companions to share his unique calling that he received from God which was to share the gospel with non-Jews, however radical might seem to their ears!
How does your own God-given purpose relate to what God is doing in/through your church (faith-family)? How does what God want to do in/through your church relate to what he is doing in your personal life?
Prayer
Forgive me Lord when I am so individualistic sometimes in my relationship with you. I sometimes don’t take the trouble to discover how what you want to do in my life can actually bring your change to my larger faith family as well. And I am sometimes insensitive to your working through my church that can also bring clarity to my own personal life and purpose. I’m all eyes and ears Lord! Help me sensitive to both. I humble myself to see, to hear, to grow. Amen.
Song: Humble Yourself (Maranatha Singers)
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Week 2, Saturday, Galatians
Galatians 2:9-10
“…they recognized the grace that was given to me” (v.9). Paul relates how those original/senior disciples
recognized the way God’s unprecedented, unconditional, undeserved love (=grace) had worked in Paul’s
life changing him, calling him, empowering him. And that was the main reason whatever differences
they may have had faded into nothing. Maybe that’s what we should do ourselves: “recognize the grace
Maybe that will help us accept and minister with those we don’t fully understand – just recognizing the
same grace that worked in us working in them. That and our common responsibility to the poor (v.10).
What are some ways that you can “recognize the grace that is given” to people that are very different
from yourself? How does “recognizing this grace” grow your appreciation and understanding of a God of
love that meets each of us in our own unique point of need?
Prayer
though I did not deserve it. You saved me, changed me, and then called me to be your servant. Even
though I did not consider myself worthy or competent, you empowered me through your Holy Spirit. It
has been your grace – first to last – that has lifted me up from where I was before to where you are now.
Forgive me for not recognizing your working in similarly unique ways in the lives of others around me.
May I accept them even as you accept me – only because of your grace. Amen.
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Week 2, Friday, Galatians
Galatians 2:6-8
Surprise! God shows no favoritism – in his choice of people that he calls to serve him, in his choice of recipients of his message and love, in his choice of who he wishes to empower with his Holy Spirit. We must never put “God in a box” as to who he wants to reach/touch with his love, and who he will empower to make that happen. The original disciples realized this with God’s choosing of Paul to be his messenger to the non-Jews.
When were you surprised by the way God worked – his method and choice of instrument? How did that change your understanding of him? How has God led you to serve him along with people that you may not have been comfortable with (at least at first)?
Prayer: Lord help me to be faithful to what you have called me to do, and not be critical of others you have called that do things differently. Teach me learn from them the wonderful and different ways that you have worked in their lives and thereby grow in my understanding of you. And them. I realize that it is only when you empower us that we can be effective at all. I want with all my heart to be productive for your Kingdom Lord Jesus, even if it means setting aside my own prejudices and biases for your sake. Amen.
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Week 2, Thursday, Galatians
Galatians 2:3-5
Bible Passage
It is great to have a mentor – a “coach,” someone who accompanies you through new and stressful situations, who doesn’t allow the wrong kind of people to shake your new-found faith. Because that was what Paul the Jew was to Titus the Greek convert. He wouldn’t allow “grace-killers” (people who made rule-following more important than living as those forgiven by Jesus’ underserved love) force their brand of legalism on someone brand new to the faith. When we move our attention from what Jesus did for us to religious practices we humans are used to doing, we undermine the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. We also endanger the freedom that that gospel has given us.
Who has been your mentor/defender, especially in your early faith-life? Who have you been a mentor/defender to? In what ways have you remained faithful to the “truth of the gospel”?
Prayer
Thank you Gracious God for the mentors in my life that have protected me from “grace-killers” and helped me keep my eyes on you alone. I love my own religious practices of worship, study, Holy Communion, but only because those practices draw me closer to you. However may they never replace the love that you first showed me when you came into my life – a love and freedom that keeps growing me as your child and in your service. Amen.
Song: Be My Defender (Jordan St. Cyr)
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Week 2, Tuesday, Galatians
Galatians 1:21-24
It was the early part of Paul’s ministry, before he started planting churches, writing letters. It was a time when what he was doing was almost unbelievable to those early Christians. How could someone change so drastically? But it seemed that Paul began preaching with as much zeal for the gospel, as he used to work against it before (though maybe more “for”!) Two things were for sure: one, people noticed the obvious change and two, they ended up glorifying God because of the change only he (God) could have brought about.
Who in your life is the example of that unbelievable change that God brings about? How much are you the cause of other people’s praise to God?
Prayer
I am so grateful O Jesus that you can and do change people so completely. That gives me hope for people that I know and love – even in my family – that need your transformation. Maybe even me. I will trust that you will do so, and I will keep praying for it, and even be your instrument if you need me for it to happen. And may it be O Christ that maybe I too will be some people’s reason to praise and glorify you. Amen.
Song: Never Too Far Gone (Jordan Feliz)
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Week 2, Monday, Galatians
Galatians 1:16-20
Our natural reaction when something suddenly happens to us to turn our entire world upside down is to go to someone trustworthy, someone who will understand our unbelievable situation. So it would have been logical for Paul to go immediately after his exciting, dramatic Acts 9 conversion and meet with the disciples – Peter, John and the others. Yet he did not, and instead went to Arabia, into a wilderness. We don’t know how long he was there except that it was three years before he finally went to Jerusalem to meet with the disciples. (While Luke doesn’t mention this, this is what could have happened between Acts 9:25 and Acts 9:26.) Sometimes when God works in such a significant manner in our lives we too need to turn away from our natural inclination of consulting people, and spend time alone with him for the Spirit to minister to us.
How do you naturally react when God has worked in a significant way in your life? When is the last time that after something tumultuous happening in your life you have gone alone to spend time with God? What were its results?
Prayer: Thank you Lord for the many times that you have worked in significant ways in my life. As I remember those times I realize that I may have excitedly told others about them, and even thanked and worshiped you for them. But I may have lost the opportunity of discovering their deeper significance you had for me in them because I didn’t stick around long enough with you for you to tell me. And now they are lost in time. Or are they Lord? Can you please remind me of those special times and their true significance that I may have missed? Maybe when I remember I will (re)discover my calling. Thank you my Savior. Amen.
Song: Remember (Lauren Daigle)
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Week 1, Saturday, Galatians
By Rev. Sunil Balasundaram
Saturday, Galatians 1:15-16
Bible Passage
“But God had set me apart from birth and called me through his grace.” V.15 is a “Wow” verse. Paul knew how much he had hurt people, and thereby hurt God. Yet he was convinced that that didn’t make God love him any less. Because God knew Paul far before that – from the time he was born – much, much before he could grieve the heart of God. And that’s the beauty of grace – God’s unconditional, undeserved love – even though God knows how broken we will be in the future, he knows the extent we will break his heart, he still dares to love us and choose us for himself even as just born babies. Think about it. Again and again!
When did you realize that you were deeply loved, not because of what you did or did not do, but because God created you, and go to the extent of dying for you?
Prayer
I have no words Lord but Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. May I always remember that your love has everything to do with who you are, because “God is love” (1 John 4:16), and Whose I am. Amen.
Song: “Reckless Love” (Cory Asbury)
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Week 1, Friday, Galatians
By Rev. Sunil Balasundaram
Friday, Galatians 1:13-15
It is interesting that some things we once thought of as proud achievements become occasions of embarrassment and even regret later on. For Paul it was his religious zeal in Judaism that translated into violence against the infant Christian church (he would have more to say about that in Philippians 3:4-6). What changed? Those past deeds did/could not. It was Paul who changed; v.15 has two words that made the world of difference: “But God…” Whatever else your past may be, when God steps in, it makes all the difference from that point on!
Are there things in your past that you were once proud of, but now see in a completely new (not so positive) light? What changed your thinking? How has your “But God…” experience been?
Prayer: All-knowing, all-seeing God: you know everything from my past. As I remember my past I see times when I thought I was following you, I was sincere and even zealous. I now realize that those times I once was so proud about were actually self-serving – I was pleasing myself, not you. I am especially saddened now when I think of how I pleased myself at the expense of others – not realizing the pain caused to people that I love, and many I did not know. But I am so very grateful that you stepped in and changed all of that. Thank you for making the difference of what I was before and who I am now. Amen
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Week 1, Thursday, Galatians
By Rev. Sunil Balasundaram
Thursday, Galatians 1:10-12
It is dangerous when the primary motivation for doing anything is so that people will like us – we become “people-pleasers.” Paul was intentional in keeping Jesus as central in his life, relying on what he (Jesus) revealed to him, and what pleased him. He refused to become enslaved to other people’s opinions and whims not only because they contradicted what pleased God, but also because he considered Jesus as his Master, not public opinion. And the good-news-of-Jesus revelation to him filled him with conviction of Who he belonged to!
Where and how do you draw the line between being agreeable (“winsome”) and not becoming a “people-pleaser”? Why was it so important for Paul to state that his gospel was revealed by Jesus himself (and not any other human)? What does it mean to be “Christ’s slave” (that is the original Greek word)?
Prayer
I love you Lord Jesus, and I want to do what you tell me. But sometimes I am swept away by what others think of me, and I am tempted to please them instead of you. I unconsciously make public opinion my master, not you. Forgive me Lord. Speak to me through your Word because I want to hear your voice over the distracting, enticing voices all around me. I want to live and preach your good news, and you alone. Amen.
Song: “God-pleaser” (Petra)
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Week 1, Wednesday, Galatians
By Rev. Sunil Balasundaram
Galatians 1:6-9
It is easy to listen to and be swayed by someone who is persuasive and convincing, especially if they came with a semblance of religiosity. The danger is that we could lose out on the truth of the original because the “clever facsimile” (cf. 1 John 5:21) seems such a practical substitute even if it is deceiving. The Galatian Christians had turned from the simplicity of a personal relationship with Jesus based on grace and faith to “another gospel” which had traded “personal relationship” with “legal (ritualistic) requirement.” After all, isn’t ritual more tangible and practical than grace and faith?
How simple is your relationship with Jesus – is it based purely on what he has done for you? Or do you feel more comfortable adding some tangible things you can/are doing for him (because they are “required”)?
Prayer
Forgive me Lord when I forget that the only way I can relate with you is trusting in your love and depending on what you have already done for me on the Cross. I am sometimes confused by all the voices around me that persuade me into believing that there is more to your “good news” than your sacrifice on the Cross for me. I want to come back to you Lord Jesus, to stop striving to win your approval and experience your pure love once again. Amen.
Song: “You Love Me Anyway” (Sidewalk Prophets)
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