THE POWER OF THE CROSS.

DAILY DEVOTION.

DAY TWENTY EIGHT.

GALATIANS 6:14-15.    But 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. For in Christ neither circumcision or uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
Paul, in these verses shares a vital truth that we must all come to know and understand and walk in. Paul recognizes that our boast must be in nothing else other than the cross of Christ, he even goes as far as to say that God would forbid him from boasting in any thing else. Paul shows us here that we are no longer under the authority of the world system, it has been crucified to him. In Colossians 1:13 he says that we have been delivered from the power of darkness and conveyed into Christ's kingdom, again showing us that Satan and his system no longer has authority over us. In our verse here Paul shows us that it is through the power of the cross that this has happened. Paul also shows us that he is now also dead to the influences and attractions of the world, when he said, "And I to the world", we have to realize the power of the work of the cross in our lives, because it is only through the work of the cross that we are set free from Satan's power and the pull and influence of the world system. 
Galatians 2:20 For I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ 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. Paul again in this verse is emphasizing the importance of the cross of Christ and His work in our lives, when Jesus was crucified we were crucified with Him, when we acknowledge Christ as our Lord and Saviour and are born again the work of the cross is applied to our lives, our old man is now dead, Christ now lives in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, we are now new creations in Him but it is up to us to apply that work in our lives on a daily basis and recognize that our life is in Christ. Paul says in Galatians 2:20 that His life is now in Christ and it is by faith that he lives in Christ. 
In Galatians 6:15 Paul again emphasizes the point that it is not about what we can do in the flesh, but that we are now new creations in Christ, born again, the old man done away with because of the cross of Jesus. It is not about us trying to work for God, but allowing God to work through us as we recognize that we are now dead, that there is no good thing in ourselves, that is in our flesh, but it is only as we allow the life of Christ in us to work through us that we can accomplish that which Christ has called us to. 
We all want to know what it is to walk in the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, in the power of the resurrected life that Jesus offers us. Paul says in Philippians 3:10 That I may know Him in the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.  This verse is not saying that we are going to have to suffer, no, it is saying that if we want to know the power of the resurrected life, then we need to realize that it is only available to us because of what Christ suffered on our behalf and we must know that we have been crucified with Him, that's what it means to be conformed to His death, as Paul said in Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ" 
My prayer for all of us is that we would all get the greater revelation of what it means to be crucified with Christ, that we would never boast in how good we are or in what we have done, no matter how good we might think it was. That our boast, like Paul, would only ever be in what Christ has done for us through His death on the cross and that we would always know that it is not us that lives but Christ who lives in us that gives us the ability to live and walk in this Christian life. AMEN.