After the exchange of sin for righteousness is that of wrath for acceptance. Then comes the exchange of death for life. Christ died for dead men that they might rise to be living men. Paul's happy if somewhat involved testimony makes this clear: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) . This is mysterious but not incredible. It is one more example of how the ways of God and the ways of man diverge. Man is a born cobbler. When he wants a thing to be better he goes to work to improve it. He improves cattle by careful breeding; cars and planes by streamlining; health by diet, vitamins. and surgery; plants by grafting; people by education. But God will have none of this cobbling. He makes a man better by making him a new man. He imparts a higher order of life and sets to work to destroy the old. Then as suggested in the Isaiah text, the Christian exchanges weakness for strength. I suppose it is not improper to say that God makes His people strong, but we must understand this to mean that they become strong in exact proportion to their weakness, the weakness being their own and the strength God's. "When I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10), is the way Paul said it, and in so saying set a pattern for every Christian.

A.W. Tozer's materials are a mainstay in Evangelical churches in our day and he is one of the most quoted authors. He was a prophet in his day and his writings are even more influential in our day. One of his books: The Pursuit of God, has had over 1 million copies sold world-wide.

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer

Personally Weak but Strong in Him

For Reading and Meditation:      Galatians 2:15-21We turn now to consider the second of our Lord's Beatitudes: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matthew 5:4). It is important to note that there is a very definite order in these sayings of Christ. Every one is carefully thought out and is given a precise place in the spiritual sequence. Once we see that entrance into the kingdom of God is through the acknowledgement of one's spiritual poverty and the acceptance of Christ's riches and resources, we are then ready to consider the next: "Happy are those who know what sorrow means, for they will be given courage and comfort" (Phillips). Before pondering the meaning of this Beatitude, we pause to make clear that the Beatitudes must not be viewed simply as a code of ethics, but as a description of character. Many people view these sayings of Jesus, as well as the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, as a set of regulations which they must follow in order to become a Christian - a kind of New Testament "Ten Commandments". The simple truth is that to try to live out these principles in our own unaided strength would be about as possible as trying to move the Rock of Gibraltar with a pea-shooter. Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones said: "We are not told, 'Live like this and you will become a Christian ', but rather, 'Become a Christian and you will live like this.' " Advocates of the "social gospel" - the belief that we become Christians by attempting to live out Christ's principles - are seriously in error. We must first know Christ as a Person before we can fully live out His principles. Father, how tragic that, down the centuries, so many have got Your truth the wrong way round - they have tried to follow Your principles before first knowing You in Person. Help me never to go wrong here - ever. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Ephesians 3:1-19</li><li>John 14:20</li><li>Colossians 1:27</li><li>1 John 3:24</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Of what does the indwelling Christ bring a full knowledge?</li><li>What is the 'hope of glory'?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me '" (v. 20)

For Reading and Meditation:      Matthew 27:32-44What humiliation and shame our Lord endured for us on the cross of Calvary. Cicero, a Roman philosopher, said of crucifixion: "Far be the very name of a cross not only from the bodies of Roman citizens, but from their imaginations, eyes and ears." But He, our Lord, though sinless, was crucified on a cross. Although His blood was flowing freely from wounds inflicted by the crown of thorns on His head, from His back that had been lacerated by cruel thongs, from His hands and feet through which He was skewered to the tree, yet He refused the deadening drug offered Him. He underwent the ordeal with brain unclouded and with nerves unsoothed. The crowd who watched Him cried: "He saved others, but he can't save himself!" But strange as it seems, that mocking phrase became the central truth of the gospel. He was saving others and therefore He could not save Himself. That is one of the greatest truths of life -if we are to save others we cannot save ourselves. To quote Spencer again: "It is a great mystery," he says, "yet an everlasting fact, that goodness in all moral natures has the doom of bleeding upon it, allowing it to conquer only as it bleeds. All goodness conquers by a cross." This law of saving by self-giving runs through life. Those who save themselves cannot save others, and those who save others cannot save themselves - cannot save themselves trouble, sorrow, hurts, disappointments, pain, and sometimes even death. This is a law of the universe, and it applies to God as much as it does to us. O God, I have seen this law at work in human nature but I never thought it was part of the divine nature. But where could it have come from other than You? The highest in mankind is the deepest in You. I am staggered by it, but I know it to be true. Thank You, dear Father. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Galatians 1:1-5</li><li>Galatians 2:20</li><li>1 Timothy 2:6</li><li>Titus 2:14</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What does Paul emphasize?</li><li>What is the implication for us?</li></ul></div></div>

"'He saved others,' they said, 'but he can't save himself!' " (v. 42) 

For Reading and Meditation:      Galatians 2:11-21The argument presented by pluralists that Christians must view their religion as one among many, and Jesus as only one Savior among others, must be firmly resisted. It may sound arrogant to say so but it is nevertheless a fact that Christianity is unique, absolute, definitive, ultimate, and final. Critics of the uniqueness of Christianity can be very persuasive. "The world is under great threat," they tell us, "because of environmental pollution, economic injustice, and many other problems. Nothing that divides us, including our religions, should be considered as important as the need to live together in harmony." Another emphasis is on the need to study comparative faiths. There is a sense in which understanding what other people believe is useful, but not until the claims of Christianity are seen to be definitive and final. Christianity is not a comparative religion; it reveals God's one and only way of entering into a personal relationship with Him. The text before us today in the Amplified Bible reads: "The life I now live ... I live by faith - by adherence to and reliance on and [complete] trust - in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Bishop Leslie Newbigin put it well: "If it is really true, as it is, that 'the Son of God loved me and gave himself up for me,' how can I agree that this amazing act of matchless grace should merely become part of a syllabus for the 'comparative study of religions'?" Christ is not first in a class; He occupies the category all by Himself. My Father and my God, may the Person of Your Son become as real and as precious to me as He is to You. And teach me more about Him so that I can make clear to others why He is a Savior beyond compare. For His own dear Name's sake. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Acts 4:1-12</li><li>1 Timothy 2:1-6</li><li>1 Corinthians 3:11</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did Peter declare to the Sanhedrin?</li><li>What did Paul declare to Timothy?</li></ul></div></div>

"The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God ..." (v. 20) 

And what was Paul? A blasphemer, a persecutor, one who injured the church of God. And did Jesus love Paul? Yes: "He loved me." Then the love of Jesus is free, and not on account of anything man is.The cause of love is in God, not in the objects loved. You may have looked for some reason to conclude that God has loved you, but you have been disappointed; the Lord says, "I will love them freely." When we were dead in sins, He quickened us because He loved us; He revealed Jesus to us because He loved us; He has given us His Holy Spirit because He loved us. Whom once He loves He never leaves.Jesus loves us this morning with a free, infinite, and eternal love. He loves our persons, apart from our graces and acts; these are the effects of His love, and not strictly the objects of His love. O Holy Spirit! whisper to our hearts this morning, "Jesus loved THEE, even thee." O to love Him in return! to love Him above health, wealth, comfort, yea, life itself! O to show forth the praises of His love by humility, faith, constancy, and zeal!Great God, to Thy almighty love What honours shall I raise? Not all the raptured songs above, Can render equal praise: Thy love to me surpasses thought! O could I praise Thee as I ought!

Written by James Smith for his own flock around 1840, but such was the demand that by 1846 over thirty thousand copies where in circulation.

The Believer's Daily Remembrancer

Who loved me. - Galatians 2:20

Jesus was our Substitute. He lived, suffered, and died, in our stead. Our sins were imputed to Him, punished in Him, and removed by Him.God had cursed us, but Jesus gave Himself to bear the curse in our stead; every threatening of the law was executed on Him; everyone of the claims of justice was answered by Him; and now God is just and yet the justifier of everyone that believeth in Jesus. The debt-book is crossed, the handwriting that was against us is destroyed, and every foe is overcome. Do we think of the law we have broken, of the justice we have provoked, of the hell we have deserved?Let us also think, Jesus gave Himself for me. He satisfied justice, fulfilled the law, and brought glory to God, in my nature, name, and stead; and God is infinitely more honoured by the life and death of my Substitute, than He could have been either by my obedience had I never sinned, or by punishing me for sin. This is our rejoicing, that God can be just, in justifying us who believe in Jesus.Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.Jesus is the chiefest good; He hath saved us by His blood: Let us value nought but Him; Nothing else deserves esteem.Jesus, when stern Justice said, "Man his life has forfeited; Vengeance follows My decree," Cried, "Inflict it all on Me."

Who gave Himself for me. - Galatians 2:20

When the Lord in mercy passed by and saw us in our blood, he first of all said, "Live"; and this he did first, because life is one of the absolutely essential things in spiritual matters, and until it be bestowed we are incapable of partaking in the things of the kingdom. Now the life which grace confers upon the saints at the moment of their quickening is none other than the life of Christ, which, like the sap from the stem, runs into us, the branches, and establishes a living connection between our souls and Jesus. Faith is the grace which perceives this union, having proceeded from it as its firstfruit. It is the neck which joins the body of the Church to its all-glorious Head. "Oh Faith! thou bond of union with the Lord, Is not this office thine? and thy fit name, In the economy of gospel types, And symbols apposite-the Church's neck; Identifying her in will and work With him ascended?" Faith lays hold upon the Lord Jesus with a firm and determined grasp. She knows his excellence and worth, and no temptation can induce her to repose her trust elsewhere; and Christ Jesus is so delighted with this heavenly grace, that he never ceases to strengthen and sustain her by the loving embrace and all-sufficient support of his eternal arms. Here, then, is established a living, sensible, and delightful union which casts forth streams of love, confidence, sympathy, complacency, and joy, whereof both the bride and bridegroom love to drink. When the soul can evidently perceive this oneness between itself and Christ, the pulse may be felt as beating for both, and the one blood as flowing through the veins of each. Then is the heart as near heaven as it can be on earth, and is prepared for the enjoyment of the most sublime and spiritual kind of fellowship.

This timeless classic from Charles Spurgeon will help to both start and end your day with wonderful insight into God's Word.

Charles Spurgeon's Morning & Evening

"The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God." - Galatians 2:20

Morning Devotional

The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what he did as a great public representative person, and his dying upon the cross was the virtual dying of all his people. Then all his saints rendered unto justice what was due, and made an expiation to divine vengeance for all their sins. The apostle of the Gentiles delighted to think that as one of Christ's chosen people, he died upon the cross in Christ. He did more than believe this doctrinally, he accepted it confidently, resting his hope upon it. He believed that by virtue of Christ's death, he had satisfied divine justice, and found reconciliation with God. Beloved, what a blessed thing it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon the cross of Christ, and feel, "I am dead; the law has slain me, and I am therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the curse, and in the person of my Substitute the whole that the law could do, by way of condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am crucified with Christ. " But Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in Christ's death, and trusted in it, but he actually felt its power in himself in causing the crucifixion of his old corrupt nature. When he saw the pleasures of sin, he said, "I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them." Such is the experience of every true Christian. Having received Christ, he is to this world as one who is utterly dead. Yet, while conscious of death to the world, he can, at the same time, exclaim with the apostle, "Nevertheless I live." He is fully alive unto God. The Christian's life is a matchless riddle. No worldling can comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it. Dead, yet alive! crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in newness of life! Union with the suffering, bleeding Saviour, and death to the world and sin, are soul-cheering things. O for more enjoyment of them!

"I am crucified with Christ." - Galatians 2:20

Evening Devotional

When the Lord Jesus died on the Cross, He died not only as my Substitute; He died also as my Representative. He died not only for me but as me. When He died, there is a real sense in which I died. All that I was as a child of Adam, all my old, evil, unregenerate self was nailed to the Cross. In God's reckoning, my history as a man in the flesh came to an end.That is not all! When the Savior was buried, I too was buried. I am identified with Christ in His burial. This pictures the removal of the old "I" from God's sight forever.And when the Lord Jesus arose from the dead, I arose too. But the picture changes here. It is not the one who was buried who arose, not the old self. No, it is the new man - Christ living in me. I arose with Christ to walk in newness of life.God sees all this as having taken place positionally. Now He wants it to be true practically in my life. He wants me to reckon myself to have gone through this cycle of death, burial and resurrection. But how do I do this?When temptation comes to me, I should reply to it exactly as a corpse reacts to any solicitation to evil. No response! I should say, in effect, "I have died to sin. You are no longer my master. I am dead as far as you are concerned."Day by day I should reckon my old, corrupt self to have been buried in the grave of Jesus. This means I will not be introspectively occupied with it. I will not look for anything worthwhile in it or be disappointed at its utter corruption.Finally, I will live each moment as one who has risen with Christ to newness of life - new ambitions, new desires, new motives, new freedom and new power.George Muller told how this truth of identification with Christ first came home to him:There was a day when I died. Died to George Muller, his opinions, preferences, tastes and will; died to the world, its approval or censure, to the approval or blame even of my brothers or friends, and since then, I have studied only to show myself "approved unto God."

With reverence, humor and skill, William MacDonald wove a daily devotional tapestry that challenges the reader to think deeply and Biblically, and apply God's Word to their lives.

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

"I have been crucified with Christ." (Galatians 2:20 NASB)

Matthew 27:33-50<div class="center-it mtb10">The story of the crucifixion has the most sacred and tender interest for everyone who loves Jesus Christ. It is not merely an account of the tragic death of a good man - He who was crucified was the world's Redeemer, our Redeemer, suffering for us! Some of the old preachers used to say that our sins drove the nails in the hands and feet of Jesus. He died for us. Paul speaks also of being crucified with Christ (see Galatians 2:20). He means that Christ's death was instead of his death. No other death in all history, means to the world what the dying of Jesus means.</div>They led Jesus out of Golgotha. There He was met by those who offered Him "vinegar to drink mingled with gall." It is supposed that the act was one of kindness, that the mixture was intended to stupefy Him so as to deaden in some measure, the awful suffering of crucifixion. But Jesus refused the drink. He would not have His senses dulled, as He entered upon His great work of death for the world, nor would He have His sufferings as Redeemer lessened in any degree.The garments of men who were crucified were by custom the perquisites of the soldiers in charge of the crucifixion. They "divided His garments, casting lots." We love to think of the garments which Jesus had worn. Perhaps they had been made by His mother's hands - or else by the hands of some of the other women who followed Him and ministered unto Him of their substance. They were the garments the sick woman and other sufferers had touched with reverent faith, receiving instant healing. What desecration it seems when these heartless Roman soldiers take these garments and divide them among themselves! Then what sacrilege it is when the soldiers throw dice and gamble for His seamless robe - under the very cross where the Savior is dying!"They sat and watched Him there." Roman soldiers kept guard - but they were not the only watchers. There was the careless, heartless watch of the soldiers. They knew nothing about Jesus. They saw three poor Jews on three crosses, and had no conception of the character of Him who hung on the middle cross. It is possible yet - to always to look at Christ on the cross - and see nothing more than these soldiers saw. We all need to pray to have our eyes opened when we look at Christ crucified, that we may see in the lowly sufferer - the Son of God, bearing the sin of the world.There were also jealous watchers, the enemies of Jesus, so full of hatred that they even hurled scoffs at Him who hung in silences upon that central cross.Then there were loving watchers - the women and John, Christ's friends, with hearts broken as they looked at their Lord dying in shame and anguish.Then there were wondering watchers - angels, who hovered unseen above the cross and looked in amazement upon the suffering Son of God, eagerly desiring to know what this mystery meant.<div class="center-it mtb10">All the words that Jesus spoke on the cross were full of meaning. One, the very first, was a prayer for His murderers, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). The words seem to have come from His lips - just as the nails were being driven through His hands and feet. The torture was excruciating - but there was no cry of pain, no execration of those who were causing Him such bitter anguish; only an intercession.</div>The answer to the world's daring defiance of God - was the hands of Christ stretched out to be pierced with nails for the world's redemption!<div class="center-it mtb10">It was the custom to fasten on the cross, a board bearing the name and crimes of the sufferer. "They set up over His head his accusation written, this Is Jesus the King of the Jews ." It was only in mockery that Pilate wrote this superscription. He did it to vex the Jews. Yet never were truer words written. Jesus was indeed the King of the Jews. They had looked forward to the coming of their Messiah with expectations of great blessings from Him. "He came unto His own - and His own received Him not" (John 1:11). This was the way they were treating their King. But He is our King, too. The crown He wore that day - was a crown of thorns. Thorns were part of the curse of sin, and the crown of Jesus - was woven of sin's curse. We have the promise of crowns of glory in heaven, because on Christ's brow rested that day the crown of shame .</div>"He saved others; He cannot save Himself." Unwittingly in their mockery they spoke a deep truth. Jesus had saved others, and even now He was saving others in the most wonderful way of all - by dying for them. He could have saved Himself, however, from the cross - if He had desired. His offering was voluntary. He said, "I lay down my life for My sheep. No man takes away from Me" (John 10:15-18). He said He could have summoned twelve legions of angels to deliver Him. He could have saved Himself - but then He would not have saved others. The soldier cannot save himself - and save his country. Jesus could not save Himself - and redeem His sheep. So He gave His own life a willing sacrifice to redeem lost men.It was a strange scene that came on at noonday. "From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land." A yet deeper darkness hung around the Redeemer's soul those hours. It was so dark - that He even thought Himself forsaken of God. We never can understand the mystery of it, and we can know only that He wrapped the gloom of death about Himself that we might be clothed in garments of light. He died in darkness - that when we walk in the valley of the shadow of death, that the light of glory may shine about us. His head wore a matted crown of thorns - that under our heads may be the pillow of peace. He drank the cup of woe - that we may drink the cup of blessing."Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the Spirit." His loud cry, "It is finished!" which John records (19:30), was a shout of victory. His work was completed. The atonement was made. Then followed the word, given by Luke, "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit" (23:46). The shadows were lifted. There was no longer any feeling of forsakenness. Again we hear the sweet name, "Father," showing that the joy had been restored. We see also in this word, that death was to Jesus - only the breathing out of His spirit into His Father's hands. We cannot see into the life beyond - but revelation assures us of the Divine presence close beside us. Dying is but fleeing from the body - into the arms of the Father. All this is ours because Jesus tasted death for us. Because He had the darkness - we have the light.

A unique type of devotional from the writings of James Russell Miller, published between 1908 and 1913.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

Matthew 27:33-50

The Crucifixion

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. (Galatians 2:20)

Christ is not a second 
personality or power, to come along to reinforce us, to vivify us, 
to strengthen us, for us to use in life and in service, and that He 
should make us something. That is not the thought, and that is not the 
angle of Scripture at all. And yet, how almost universally, perhaps largely 
unconsciously, that is what is happening. Christians are wanting to be made 
something, even as Christians; and Christian workers and the Lord's servants 
are, though perhaps unwittingly, wanting to be made something as workers; and 
they want Christ to reinforce them, come behind them, and make 
them something as His servants and in His service. That whole system of 
things is diametrically opposed to the truth. The truth is that Christ shall be 
All, and that we decrease that He may increase; that He should be the primary 
Personality, and that the impact and registration of any life and any service 
should not be: "What a good man he was!" or "What a good woman she is!" or "What 
a fine worker!" but: "What a presence of Christ! What a testimony to Christ! 
What an expression of Christ! What a sense of Christ! What a reality of Christ!"

Are our hearts set upon God 
having that which is wholly of Himself? That means "I" crucified! No longer I, 
but Christ! And that means that Christ in us is the basis of our conformity to 
His image, until we partake with Him of His own nature – pure gold. It is 
something to face seriously before Him. It brings to us a challenge, but surely 
it also brings to us a glorious possibility! What Christ is can be made good in 
us!

This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!” Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message.

Open Windows

Christ in You

He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life. § I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Because I live, you will live also. § I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God … For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but  alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

 If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. He 

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find … O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! § If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. § If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard. Little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. § He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

 Abide in Me, and I in you. 

How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? § I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. § He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. § If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. We are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. § As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us. § You are the body of Christ, and members individually. § Because I live, you will live also. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.

 You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. § Without faith it is impossible to please Him. § He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. § Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! Whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. § Faith working through love. § Faith without works is dead. We walk by faith, not by sight. § I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. § Whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

 The fruit of the Spirit is . . . faithfulness. 

If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. § Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being. § You were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

 None of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 

You are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. § I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. § I am his. § The Son of God … loved me and gave Himself for me. Your body is … not your own. For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. § The Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day. You are God’s field, you are God’s building. § Christ [is] a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. § You also, as living stones, are … a holy priesthood. “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on the day that I make them My jewels.” § And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. § The glory of His inheritance in the saints.

Evening Daily Light

 The Lord’s portion is His people. 

If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. § We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame. § To you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” and “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. § I have been crucified with Christ. § Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. § If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.

 The offense of the cross. 

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. § The Son of God . . . loved me and gave Himself for me. § He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? § God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. § Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

 I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us. 

Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. § All things are yours. § My beloved is mine. § The Son of God … loved me and gave Himself for me. The Lord said to Aaron: “You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.” Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. § I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land.

 O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. 

The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. § That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. § Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God. § Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 It is the Spirit who gives life. 

<blockquote>
 Not I, but Christ" (<a id="verse_1632879559691405" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>).
</blockquote>Any abiding spiritual progress must be based upon our taking sides with God against the old life. Why? "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (<a id="verse_1632879559220675" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/8/7">Rom. 8:7</a>). "Enmity" knows no reconciliation; crucifixion is the only alternative! "The life of Christ is the holiness of Christ. The reason we so often fail in the pursuit of holiness is that the old life, the flesh, in its own strength seeks for holiness as a beautiful garment to wear and enter heaven with. It is the daily death to self out of which the life of Christ rises up." -A.W.T."In receiving Christ we receive the divine-human life, a life that is death to the life of fallen nature, which finds its fruit in sin and self. The tragic mistake of thousands of believers is in trying to live in two worlds at the same time - in nature and in God, in self and in Christ, in the flesh and in the Spirit, by faith and in independence, by abiding and by effort. To have life is not enough: the life of the Lord Jesus demands the death of the flesh, if that life is to be fully developed and become fruitful in us. Here is the crux of the whole matter.""That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable unto His death" (<a id="verse_1632879559895652" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/3/10">Phil. 3:10</a>).

A 365 day devotional that will help you in your Christian growth and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This devotional is a collection of quotes from some of the best authors in the realm of Christian growth that has been organized by Miles J Stanford.  This devotional study is divided into 12 sections each containing 31 daily portions.

None but the Hungry Heart

 Spiritual Balance 

<blockquote>
I have been crucified with Christ, and I myself no longer live" (<a id="verse_1632879604436298" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>, Wms.).
</blockquote>Upon conversion, the new believer feels that every opposition to a joyous, fruitful Christian life has been overcome once for all. Later, when the world and self begin to insinuate themselves once again, he thinks that determination and self-effort will keep him free. Finally, after a seemingly endless struggle, the defeated believer is brought back to the Cross. Here is the source of liberation from the power of self and the world."Sinners are not saved until they trust the Saviour, and saints are not delivered until they trust the Deliverer. God has made both possible through the Cross of His Son." -L.S.C."The believer can never overcome the old man' even by the power of the new' apart from the work of the Cross, and therefore the death of Christ is indispensable, and unless the Cross is made the basis upon which he overcomes the old nature,' he only drops into another form of morality; in other words, he is seeking by self-effort to overcome sin and self, and the struggle is a hopeless one." -C.U."Just as the Lord Jesus came into this world where this old humanity was and came into it not to ally Himself with it but to take it into death by the Cross, even so He now by the Holy Spirit, in regeneration, comes into us where there is this old fallen life and not to ally Himself with it, but to hold it in the place of death by the same means - His Cross." -N.D."But may it never be mine to boast of anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world!" (<a id="verse_1632879604390610" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/6/14">Gal. 6:14</a>, Wms.).

 Freedom's Foundation 

<blockquote>
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (<a id="verse_1632879639114016" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Psalm/51/10">Ps. 51:10</a>).
</blockquote>A healthy spiritual birth results in the falling away of many of the more obvious works of the flesh, often causing the new believer to claim <a id="verse_1632879639292373" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/5/17">2 Corinthians 5:17</a> or <a id="verse_1632879639321067" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Galatians 2:20</a> as his testimony. However, for the Lord Jesus to be fully manifested, it is going to involve a lifetime of the Holy Spirit's deep dealing with the more subtle and deadly characteristics of the self-life "always delivered unto death" (<a id="verse_1632879639563188" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/4/11">2 Cor. 4:11</a>)."By the daily supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ' (<a id="verse_1632879639468677" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/1/19">Phil. 1:19</a>), the believer united to his Risen Lord grows continually to a more perfect knowledge and likeness of his Creator,' and grows up after the image of Him that created him, in the sphere where Christ is all, and in all.' "The child naturally grows up in the likeness of his father, and the new life communicated to the redeemed grows up in the likeness of Him who is the Creator of the new creation if so be that the death with Christ is unflinchingly recognized, and old things' are truly allowed to pass away to make room for the growth of the new man, which is after God . . . created in righteousness, and holiness of truth' (<a id="verse_1632879639713908" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/4/24">Eph. 4:24</a>).""How many earnest and religious people belong to the Old Adam Improvement Society.' It is the recognition of the Christ-life, it is union with the Risen Christ, that men need instead of the culture of the religious self-life." -E.H."Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (<a id="verse_1632879639821401" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/4/13">Eph. 4:13</a>).

 Subtle Self 

<blockquote>
I have been crucified with Christ" (<a id="verse_1632879679966265" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>, ASV).
</blockquote>The Cross is the height of paradox; it is at once God's greatest agony, and His eternal glory. For the growing believer it means daily crucifixion, and at the same time freedom from the penalty and the power of sin and self. "But may it never be mine to boast of anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world!" (<a id="verse_1632879679313060" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/6/14">Gal. 6:14</a>, Wms.)."We need to enter deeply into the truth that Christ the Beloved Son of the Father could not return to the glory of Heaven until He had first given Himself over to death. As this great principle opens up to us, it will help us to understand how in our life, and in our fellowship with the Lord Jesus, it is impossible for us to share the fulness of His life until we have first in very deed surrendered ourselves every day as having died to sin and the world.""Many believers appear to think that when once they have claimed Christ's death in the fellowship of the Cross, and have counted themselves crucified with Him, they may now consider it as past and done with. They do not as yet understand that it is in the crucified Christ, and in the fellowship of His death, that they are to abide daily and unceasingly. The fellowship of the Cross is to be the life of a daily walk - His taking the form of a servant, His humbling Himself and becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross; this mind that was in the Lord Jesus is to be the disposition that marks our daily life.""Have this mind [attitude] in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (<a id="verse_1632879679711268" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/2/5">Phil. 2:5</a>, ASV).

 The Cross For Self 

<blockquote>
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts" (<a id="verse_1632879685800564" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/4/6">Gal. 4:6</a>).
</blockquote>When the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, it is to remove self from the throne of our hearts. When the Holy Spirit fills us, it is to place the Lord Jesus on the throne of our hearts. Ours is the choice - "not I, but Christ" (<a id="verse_1632879685771500" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>); His is the work, for He is "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (<a id="verse_1632879685404337" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/8/2">Rom. 8:2</a>)."The great secret of the Christian life is found in ceasing from self, in which the power of the Cross manifests itself in us. We all know how our Lord Jesus, ere He could receive the new life from the Father in glory, and the gift of the Holy Spirit through whom He could impart His life to His people, had first to give up the life He lived upon earth. He had to take His place among the dead in utter weakness and helplessness before He could live again by the power of God. His death on the Cross was indispensable to the life of the Spirit."And as it was with Christ, so it must be with us. As we yield ourselves to be united with Him in the likeness of His death, we can share with Him in the glory and power of the life of the Spirit. To know what the Holy Spirit means, implies the knowing of what death means. The Cross and the Spirit are inseparable. The soul that understands that the death to self is in Christ the gate to true life, is in the right way to learn what and who the Holy Spirit is." -A.M."If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (<a id="verse_1632879685528163" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/5/25">Gal. 5:25</a>).

 Convicted, Or Filled? 

<blockquote>
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free" (<a id="verse_1632879925669404" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/8/2">Rom. 8:2</a>).
</blockquote>The more fully the Lord Jesus controls within, the less we will be influenced by externals. The more we are affected by externals, the less freedom He will have within."The Lord Jesus' miracles did not have a character changing effect upon the people who saw them or participated in them. They were but for a testimony to who He was. With all His miracles, in the end the principle of unbelief has not been rooted out of a single individual! Though they saw all that He did, the deep-rooted unbelief was untouched. The amazing thing - even with the disciples themselves - was that they were still capable of deep-seated unbelief. O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe....' He upbraided them with their unbelief....' With all they saw, it did not touch character, it did not touch their nature." -T. A-S."As in the apostolic days so now the desire exists for the manifestation of the Spirit in marvelous ways; but a life sober, righteous, holy, lived in the hope of the glory to come, is the more excellent way of the Spirit's manifestation and undeniable proof of His indwelling. The prayer should not be so much for this or that gift, or this or that result, as for Christ Himself to be made manifest to us and through us. The Apostle who was most filled with the Spirit sums all up in that one great word, For to me to live is Christ.'" -W.F.E."It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me" (<a id="verse_1632879925383896" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>).

 Not Influence, But Life 

<blockquote>
Put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man" (<a id="verse_1632880002744509" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/4/22">Eph. 4:22</a>, ASV).
</blockquote>Positionally, in the finished work of the Cross and resurrection, we have been cut off from the old man through death, and have been born into the new Man by the new birth. "Ye have put off the old man...and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him" (<a id="verse_1632880002856812" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/3/9">Col. 3:9</a>; <a id="verse_1632880002887655035" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/3/10">10</a>). Experientially, day by day, our part is to choose against the old ("put off") in favor of the new ("put on"), thus allowing the Holy Spirit freedom to apply the finished work of the Cross (<a id="verse_1632880002473111" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/6/11">Rom. 6:11</a>). "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me" (<a id="verse_1632880002153044" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>, ASV)."The flesh need not be an ugly form of life, indeed it can be apparently very nice, but it is alien to this new life in the Spirit. It belongs to another race; it is not the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we are told that the Holy Spirit is in open conflict against the self-life (<a id="verse_1632880002230649" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/5/17">Gal. 5:17</a>)."It is equally true that the flesh lusts (strives) against the Spirit, but He is well able to take up the challenge. He will not quietly accept this rival to the rule of Christ, so He stands, with His great weapon of the Cross, to render inoperative everything which is a menace to the life of Christ in us. He calls us to cooperate with Him in this matter by reckoning, for only so can the excellency of Christ be manifested in the believer." -H.F."Put on the new man" (<a id="verse_1632880002422092" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/4/24">Eph. 4:24</a>).

 Cooperative Living 

<blockquote>
Christ in you, the hope of glory" (<a id="verse_1632880075840856" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/1/27">Col. 1:27</a>).    
</blockquote>Beware! The world, both secular and religious, is seeking to destroy your individuality by conforming you to the mass of faceless ones. But our heritage and destiny in the Lord Jesus Christ is to be conformed to His image - not at the loss of our individual personality, but by the gain of His nature and character. "I in you"; "Christ liveth in me" (<a id="verse_1632880075317579" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/John/15/4">John 15:4</a>; <a id="verse_1632880075919635" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>)."Something has got to be done in us as well as for us. We want to proceed on the line of having things done for us, heaven intervening for us, our difficulties removed for us, having a straight path made for us. Heaven may be ready to come in, the Lord may be prepared to work for us, but it is not sufficient for Him - and it would not prove good enough for us - if that were all. The very principle of spiritual growth and maturity demands that He keep the objective and the subjective balanced; that is, that something is done in us as well as for us." -T. A-S."We are apt to think that if and when the circumstances and conditions of our lives are changed and we are in another position than the one we now occupy, then something will happen, the purpose of God will begin to be fulfilled. But the Lord says, No, it is not circumstances, not conditions, at all; it is you.'""Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (<a id="verse_1632880075202448" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/1/6">Phil. 1:6</a>).

 Internal Priority 

<blockquote>
We love Him, because He first loved us" (<a id="verse_1632880255883831" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/1-John/4/19">1 John 4:19</a>).
</blockquote>We first come to know something of the Lord Jesus' love by what He did for us; but that is only the basis for coming to know His love in what He is to us. The first is known at the Cross, the latter is entered into through personal fellowship with the risen Lord."There are three steps in appreciation of His love for us. First, I learn that He loves me so much that He saved me. He is our treasure My Beloved is mine' (S.S. 6:3). The second step of affection is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He has a right to me. He would have me for Himself. I am my Beloved's' (S.S. 6:3)."The third step is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He wants my company His desire is toward me' (S.S. 7:10). Love's delight is found in the company of its object. May we know in a deeper way, and in a fuller measure, the sweetness of personal intimacy with the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me' (<a id="verse_1632880255179536" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>)."Much ministry is lost upon us as to any practical result, because we are not prepared to be detached from things here, so as to be simply here for Christ. And the preparation for this is to come personally under the influence of the blessed attractiveness of the Lord Jesus. When we sit under His shadow with great delight, everything else becomes so small, and loses its hold upon our hearts." -C.A.C."But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (<a id="verse_1632880255723293" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/3/18">2 Cor. 3:18</a>).

 The Greatest 

<blockquote>
Not I, but Christ" (<a id="verse_1632880664788144" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>).
</blockquote>It is not a matter of what fruit, but of which tree!"What salvation has done is not merely forgiving me my sins; forgiveness, cleansing, justifying, applies to my responsibility and guilty condition in the first Adam; but salvation applies to my standing in the Last Adam. It is a new creation (<a id="verse_1632880664442724" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/5/17">2 Cor. 5:17</a>)."What would you do if you wanted to make something of a crab tree? Not nurture, and prune, and dig about it. That God has done with His fig tree (Israel). If you know anything about it, you will cut it down and graft it. Until you find out that the old man is utterly bad, and that there is no mending it, you will not give it up. If you cultivate the old crab tree you will have fair blossoms but only bigger and more sour crab apples." -J.N.D."Before we were saved, worldly objects and affairs usurped the place of Christ; but after being saved, spiritual objects and affairs now tend to occupy His place. Earlier God took from us the things of this world; presently He is taking away our spiritual thing or things. He removes our personal patience, love, power, gentleness, humility."Indeed, He removes all, that we may not live by these good things but live by a Person instead. We are patient not because we have received a power to be so, but because we have got a patient Person. So it is with humility and the rest: not a power but a Person." The fruit of the Spirit is the life of Christ."For to me to live is Christ" (<a id="verse_1632880664975153" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/1/27">Phil. 1:27</a>).

 The Tree Of Life 

<blockquote>
Ye have put off the old man with his deeds" (<a id="verse_1632877248738500" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/3/9">Col. 3:9</a>).
</blockquote>Sometimes our Christian life and love are divided between the two Adams. It may be 60-40 in favor of the Last Adam, still it is shared. But the Lord Jesus paid it all, gave His all, deserves our all, requires all, because He is our ALL. Ours is to be total separation - death to the old, life in the New."Our Father has removed everything to His own satisfaction, and you learn in the first eleven verses of Romans 5 the terms He is on with you. It means much to the heart of the believer to know that he is received on the ground of another Man who perfectly glorified God."We are accepted in Him, the Beloved. God has changed His man, and you are never happy until you believe that and are able to say, I have, too. If you do not see that God has changed His man you will never change your man.""The only way to freedom is to leave Adam for Christ - to change your man; then it is not I, but Christ liveth in me' (<a id="verse_1632877248590798" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>). There are two sides; one, that you are cleared from the old in the eye of God in the Cross; the other, that you are now new in Christ risen. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death' (<a id="verse_1632877248890899" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/8/2">Rom. 8:2</a>). The old is held in the place of death as you walk in newness of life in the Spirit.""And have put on the new man, that is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him" (<a id="verse_1632877248700508" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/3/10">Col. 3:10</a>)

 Terminal Condition - Eternal Position 

<blockquote>For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them" (<a id="verse_1632877469707133" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/3/10">Gal. 3:10</a>).</blockquote>None can be born again by the law, and none can live anew under the law - neither its precepts, nor its principle. "The life I now live by faith - by adherence to and reliance on and (complete) trust - in the Son of God" (<a id="verse_1632877469400875" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>, Amp.)"The Gentile never was under the law; and being set in the Lord Jesus Christ, now that he believes, he stands on other ground, to which the law does not apply. Every believer is regarded by God as alive from the dead, to bring forth fruit (not works) unto God. The law only deals with a man as long as he lives, never after he is dead.˜Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ' (<a id="verse_1632877469829938" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/7/4">Rom. 7:4</a>)."And that is not at all what is said of us, after a second blessing,' or any other step of imaginary perfection. We begin with. . . alive in Christ.' I am identified with the Lord Jesus dead and risen. It is no longer the law dealing with me to try if it can get any good out of me. I have relinquished all by receiving Christ, and I take my stand in Him dead and risen again, as one alive from the dead, to yield myself as a new creation' to God and walk in newness of life.'" -W.K."The teachings of grace are perfect and sufficient in themselves. They provide for the instruction of the believer in every situation which may arise. There is no need that they be supplemented, or augmented, by the addition of precepts from either the Law of Moses or the teachings of the kingdom." -L.S.C."What an indignity religion puts on every Person of the Godhead alike, on the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ, when it drags souls back to the dread distance of Judaism." -W.K."I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain" (<a id="verse_1632877469802894" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/21">Gal. 2:21</a>).

 The Fruit Of Grace 

<blockquote>Ye have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (<a id="verse_1632877788228133" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/3/3">Col. 3:3</a>).</blockquote>When we rely upon and cater to the old man, that ground produces "the works of the flesh" (1). But as we abide in the risen Lord Jesus, that new ground of our position, His life will be manifested in "the fruit of the Spirit" (<a id="verse_1632877788366521" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/5/22">Gal. 5:22</a>; <a id="verse_1632877788118996260" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/5/23">23</a>)."God's Word declares that we are dead indeed unto sin,' but nowhere does it say that we are dead in ourselves. We shall look in vain within to find death there. We have died to sin; not in ourselves, but in Christ,' and our death with Him is as sure as His death, and since we died with Him it is impossible for His death to be certain and ours uncertain."We were crucified with Him because we were in Him (<a id="verse_1632877788822996" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>). We are raised in Him (<a id="verse_1632877788610426" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/2/6">Eph. 2:6</a>); we are complete in Him (<a id="verse_1632877788576440" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Colossians/2/10">Col. 2:10</a>); we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Him (<a id="verse_1632877788690795" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Ephesians/1/3">Eph. 1:3</a>); the entire work regarding us is not done in us but in the Lord Jesus - the Father has done all in His Son. If you stand on the ground of what the Lord Jesus is (abide), you will find in your growth that all that is true of Him is becoming true of you; but if you remain on the ground of what you are in yourself, you will find that all that is true of the old man is true of you in life and walk.""The purpose of Paul, in Romans Six, is to show how completely the believer is identified with the Lord Jesus when He died unto sin.' To enter fully into the meaning of that death is to see that He has emancipated us from any further dealings with our old master, sin. The believer is privileged thus to take his position in the risen Lord Jesus, who is now alive unto God.' From that ground he is henceforth to regard sin." -E.H."Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free" (<a id="verse_1632877788336920" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/5/1">Gal. 5:1</a>).

 Groundwork 

<blockquote>
I have been crucified with Christ" (<a id="verse_1632878360517890" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>).
</blockquote>The difference between stultifying carnality and growing spirituality is the believer's realization that he the sinner, as well as his sin, were taken down into death. Seeing one's identification in the Lord Jesus' death, burial, resurrection and ascension is the necessary foundation for spiritual growth to maturity."How often do we find believers plunged into the very depths of distress and darkness as to their spiritual condition and prospects! So many do not as yet see the application of the death of the Lord Jesus to their old man. They do not realize the glorious truth that in that death they were delivered from this present evil world, from the dominion of sin and the law, and from the power of the enemy."All believers see that the Blood of the Lord Jesus screens them from the judgment of God; but most do not as yet see that they are dead unto sin' in the Lord Jesus; that their old man was crucified with Christ'; that not only have their sins been put upon Him at the Cross, but they themselves, as sinful children of Adam, have been personally identified with Him in His death unto sin; that God pronounces them dead and risen with Him. But if this foundational truth is not apprehended by faith, there is no bright, happy, emancipating sense of full and everlasting salvation." -C.H.M."We are to hold by faith the position which the Father has given us in the risen Lord Jesus, and abide therein, occupied with the interests of our Father and not our own. Taking thought of ourselves is a divergence from the place of faith.""We enter the heavens in order to be qualified for earth; we do not begin on earth, to reach the heavens. Our simplest earthly responsibilities require us to be conversant with the things above.'""If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (<a id="verse_1632878360314064" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/5/17">2 Cor. 5:17</a>).

 Peaceful Knowledge 

<blockquote>
That I may know Him. . . being made conformable unto His death" (<a id="verse_1632878385529320" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/3/10">Phil. 3:10</a>).
</blockquote>The wondrous depths of the finished work of the Cross will always be adequate to deal with the terrible depths of the unfinished work of the old man. As we glory in the Cross, the flesh is denied."When we have apprehended our death-position with the Lord Jesus (<a id="verse_1632878385887263" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/6/6">Rom. 6:6</a>; <a id="verse_1632878385427155" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Galatians/2/20">Gal. 2:20</a>, etc.), we may have failed to see the on-going conformity to His death (<a id="verse_1632878385931386" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/2-Corinthians/4/11">2 Cor. 4:11</a>; <a id="verse_1632878385520653" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Philippians/3/10">Phil 3:10</a>, etc.). The absence of this brings the anomaly of the Cross being preached with little or no marks of the Calvary spirit."This is the problem of teaching the identification' truths without the consequent conformity of death which brings forth life. We may rely upon the fact that we died' with the Lord Jesus, and assume that it is entirely wrought in us at once, not realizing that the fellowship of His sufferings' follows the apprehension of identification. That delivery unto death' must become deeper and deeper, until the conformity to His death' in the path of the Cross becomes a very real characteristic of the life.""We are not to think that our exalted position in the Lord Jesus, seated with Him in heavenly places, frees us from the need of further application of the Cross. We never reach a point where we can leave the Cross. We are invincible, more than conquerors through Him who loved us, only as we are brought into ever deeper conformity to the Lord Jesus' death unto sin. Otherwise the flesh reinstates itself and we once more fall prey to the old man's reign. There are always remaining, however much we have advanced, hidden strongholds of the old man which must be rendered inoperative by the finished work of the Cross." -F.J.H."Let him deny himself, and take up his Cross daily" (<a id="verse_1632878385585801" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Luke/9/23">Lk. 9:23</a>).

 Cross Continuity 

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I have been crucified with Christ<cr>1</cr> and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.<cr>2</cr> The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,<cr>3</cr> who loved me<cr>4</cr> and gave himself for me.<cr>5</cr>

Galatians 2:20

 20 I have been crucified with Christ   and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.   The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,   who loved me   and gave himself for me.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

 I have been crucified with Christ   and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.   The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,   who loved me   and gave himself for me.  

Bible Verse of the Day

October 16, 2023

Galatians 2:20 NIV

Verse by Verse Bible Study

More on the web

Group of Brands