The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:16-26 (day seven)  

those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. vs. 21b

Upon reading this list, I find myself in conviction of missteps in my own life where I succumbed to the desires of my flesh. What about you? Does that mean that we will not inherit the kingdom of God? It would seem as if the very legalism that Paul is attempting to extinguish is being fed kindling. We feel as if when we commit one of these sins we have committed an unpardonable offense… or that is what the enemy would want us to believe. When we think we are unredeemable, we lose our hope and will to endure. The game changer here comes down to “practice.” In this instance, practice does not make perfect but is the road to condemnation. The grace of God allows us to recognize that the flesh has not won the war and we can repent of our missteps. By the work of the Spirit and the evidence of His fruit, we can pull ourselves up out of the practice of sinning through the practice of praying.

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:16-26 (day six)

²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23

The evidence of the Spirit is not the clothes you wear, the food you eat, or the places you go. Nor is it your family lineage, how early in life you attended church, your Sunday school attendance, or your well-versed prayers. The Spirit of God will always lead the children of God to love God and others.

A child of God is not determined by how they look on the outside but by how they love on the outside. Say “yes” to God’s Spirit and love well today!

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:16-26 (day five)  

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” Galatians 5:25 The scripture teaches that there is rhythm and movement of the Holy Spirit- steps (forward progress). The challenge from Paul to these believers is remarkable. The God of the Universe, through His Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to walk WITH Him.  There are “steps”- pace, cadence, stamina, required to be in stride with the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is both possible and beneficial. The prerequisite is that we live by the Spirit (“If we live by the Spirit”).

Being in step with the Holy Spirit is not dependent on spiritual highs or lows, or good or bad circumstances, but rather faithful obedience in our daily lives. Throughout scripture, importance is placed on walking with God on a daily basis. We must discover and practice rhythms that will keep us in step with the Spirit- prayer, worship, reading and meditating in scripture, just to name a few.

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:16-26 (day four)

My favorite attraction at water parks is the lazy river. There’s something blissful about sitting back and letting the current send you slowly drifting down the stream. Sometimes the river is so lazy that you’re hardly aware it’s moving you, until you look up and realize you’ve gone further than you thought. This is all well and good on vacation, but when the same thing happens to us spiritually, it’s a very different story. The natural flow of life does not lead toward righteousness. There are times when life is busy or we’re distracted by the things of the world, and we find ourselves in the lazy river, slowly drifting towards unrighteousness without even realizing it.

At first we may think, “well, it’s not so bad, I haven’t drifted that far.” Soon, though, we look up and realize we’ve slowly gone a lot further than we thought, and this depiction of fleshly deeds is starting to sound a lot like us. It may not be all at once, but the rhythms of the world will always lead to a life of destruction.

But when we begin catching the rhythms of the Spirit, things start to look different. When we encounter the Holy Spirit, God lifts us up out of our lazy drift and sets our feet on solid ground, leading us into all truth. As we walk in that truth we begin to see the fruit of the Spirit ripen in us. This leads us to the question, then – how do we keep in rhythm with the Spirit? What practices help you walk by the Spirit rather than drifting into the rhythms of the world? Is there a new spiritual discipline you’d like to try as you continue to see fruit grow in your life?

That lazy river may seem appealing now, but the fruit of the Spirit is too sweet to miss.

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:16-26 (day three)

“Against such things there is no law.”

The law turned on the light so Israel could see both the way God lives – goodness, beauty, righteousness, and love, which is the eternal kind of living – and their own patterns of not living that eternal way. Because God desires his creation to live eternally, his law is therefore against this non-eternal way of living, which is what sin actually is. Conversely, the law is not against anything that produces in human beings a desire for that eternal kind of living. When the Spirit’s movement produces such a desire in a person, the law is not against that desire, but for it. The law’s prescriptions for purity are then unnecessary for that person, because the Spirit is already producing what the law agrees with. The Spirit’s work is so good that the law’s work is done.

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:16-26 (day two)  

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. vs. 17

This duality in our nature is nothing new to Paul. He speaks very directly about this to the believers in Rome (Romans 7:14-20). Knowing that the apostle Paul understood and struggled with this idea of wanting to do one thing, but doing another should help our understanding of the challenge we all face. We are in a spiritual battle. It is a daily conflict to choose the Spirit over the flesh. It is also why we are instructed by Jesus to take up the cross daily. 

Make no mistake complacency in the faith leads to an erosion of our will. We all desire to live by the Spirit, but this desire requires surrender. If the evidence of the Spirit isn’t obvious, take a spiritual inventory and recalibrate. Don’t give up the fight.

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:1-15 (day seven)

A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. vs. 9

One bad apple spoils the barrel. It only takes a few degrees to get off course. We have heard these idioms time and time again, but the truth of the message is important to hear often. If we allow ourselves to compromise on our ideals in even minuscule situations, it begins a slippery slope that could lead to total corruption. We are not saying that going 75mph down 281 on my way to church this morning will lead me to apostasy, but it is a calling for us to think about the places where sin and other disruptors have a foothold into our lives. The Galatians in this instance found themselves immersed in a battle with legalism that threatened their entire trajectory as a church. It is important that we look for these areas in our own lives and solidify our theology, so that we do not fall into corruption individually or corporately.

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:1-15 (day six)

“…faith working through love.” Galatians 5:6

Faith is not a license to live in disobedience; Paul assures his critics of that. In fact, Paul describes a kind of faith that works through love. This means that love is the fuel that puts faith to work. It is much like marriage should be. You don’t seek your spouse’s well-being to pass an annual review, a checklist that keeps your marriage intact. You seek their well-being because you love them and you have made a covenant with them. Your motivation is not self-preservation, it’s devotion.

Faith without devotion is not faith. James would describe that kind of faith as dead faith (James 2:26). And not only devoted to God but to one another. You can’t have one without the other. (See verse 14.)

 

Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:1-15 (day five)

“I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.”  Paul’s words in our Re:verse captured my attention this week. Did you sense the continued urgency of His message for freedom in Christ expressed through loving obedience?  But in these verses add another emotion- anger. Anger at the one (ones) distracting, disrupting, discouraging these newer believers in their faith (race). His words sound really harsh. What would cause Paul to be this urgent and this angry?  I believe it is love. A Holy regard and affection for the Word of God and the People of God. There is no doubt of Paul’s love for the scriptures and the church (God’s people). Maybe a teachable moment for us as we examine our own faith and hearts. Do we have this kind of protective love for the Word of God and the People of God?  How do we communicate it and live it?  How do we (should we) teach and model that to our children, grandchildren, and others? The stakes are high and the consequences are eternal!! We must love God’s Word and God’s People.