Life in the Spirit
Good Morning Friends,
Some people need a personality transplant and no amount of hard work is going to make it happen. What I hope for them and myself when I am beset with the anguish of the world that I would like to blame on them, is to allow the Holy Spirit to do the work in me, changing and making me into the kind of person God wants me to be. I need this and as best I can tell everyone does. I have found that best thing I can do when confronted with the insanity of another person is to be sane myself. And that means becoming filled with God’s Spirit for only then will others will find in me something that might help them. There is an old riddle that asks how one gets all the air out of a drinking glass and the answer is to fill it with something else. When I have to confront the enemies of joy, the only way I have found to face them is to be filled to overflowing with the Life in the Spirit.
Scripture: Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.
Galatians 5:16-26 (NRSV)
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:3-4 (NRSV)
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Romans 8:14-27 (NRSV)
Message: The believer’s responsibility is to set the mind on living in submission to the indwelling Holy Spirit…that is to say we are to focus the mind on Christ.
Friends, if we believe we should live by the Spirit, we need to walk by the Spirit. If we are saved, we need to act like it, for when we do…when we are Spirit led we can restore each other. You see God blesses those who walk daily in the Holy Spirit. So help people be restored by praying with them. Let us not be weary in doing this good. When we do we can expect peace which implies contentment, a sense of security, and an inner calm. So today in prayer let’s admit our mistakes knowing that each of us are confronting them and the crazy evil of this world. Tell someone the good job you have seen them do. Be part of the fellowship. Build up the team. Be joyous each day. Be patient each day. Be trusting each day. Each day in all things with thanksgiving make your wants known to God in prayer. The motivation has to be restoration not judgment. The focus has to be not on death but on the power of the Spirit of resurrection.
Pray in the Spirit, with the Spirit interceding and searching our hearts so we might have a mind focused on God. Pray that when we do not know what to pray we allow the Spirit to pray for us. Pray the fruits of the Spirit remind us of the wonderful things God has prepared for us who believe. Pray we have an eager expectation of the glorious life to come. Pray we know the freedom and identity found in being God’s adoptive children. Pray we have the hope of acceptance. Pray we be led by the Spirit. Pray God gently leads us so we too can be gentle with others. Pray our love is connected to our faith and born of the Spirit. Pray we are empowered by the Spirit to say no to sin. Pray the essence of the law is fulfilled in our life as we live in the Spirit of love. Pray this movement of life flows from the Spirit of God the Father to the Spirit of Christ the Son and then to Christ in the Holy Spirit fill us. Pray we have peace and confidence in a life everlasting.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 