The Awakening, Beggarly Elements

Passage from Pieter’s book - “The Awakening”

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Beggarly Elements
But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? Galatians 4:9

Here I want to explain the difference between grace and the works of the law. The word grace means “unmerited favor from God.” We were saved by the grace of God, which came through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. I did not deserve to be saved, but I receive it freely in Jesus Christ. Grace also has a greater meaning, which is God’s divine favor working in and through the heart of man. This divine favor wakes us to the revelation of Christ living in us. In other words, He is the life that gives us the ability to do things we cannot do in our own strength. He comes and lives the Christian life through us. Grace means that Jesus has provided everything for a victorious life. Jesus has done the work on the cross and in His resurrection. I believe in my heart, and it comes to pass: this is grace and faith working together. Paul says to the Ephesians: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

Grace does not stop the day you are born again, as many believe. We started in grace, and we will finish the walk by grace. This condition is good soil for the seed. The moment I try to be perfect in my own strength to get the Spirit to work in my heart, I have turned to “beggarly elements,” and I enslave myself anew. Works of the law are my effort to be perfect and to get God to accept me through my good works. Paul says to the Galatians:

This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
Galatians 3:2-3

This is bad soil, because it hardens the heart. Stop trying, and start resting so that Christ can do the work. We rest in the finished work of the cross, for on the cross Jesus took all sin, sickness, infirmities, curses, rejection, shame, poverty, death, and much more on Himself, so that we can live in victory and abundance. This is the work of grace. Beggarly elements do exactly that; you start to beg for things already available freely in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are not beggars as slaves are, but we are children of God who share in the inheritance with Jesus Christ.

Paul says to the Romans:

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father”…and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
Romans 8:15-17

Slaves work for a wage, while sons share in an inheritance. A slave does not share in the inheritance. By believing you are a child of God, you start to live in the inheritance you share in Christ Jesus.
The purpose of the law is to show you that you need a Savior. The law is under the work of the flesh, and the flesh is weak. “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Galatians 3:24-25). The law will keep on frustrating you and condemning you until you call out for a Savior. The problem is that when we put ourselves under the conditions of the law after we are saved, we pollute our whole faith system.