My devotional reading for today brought me to Ezekiel 11. God is giving a vision to Ezekiel about the exiles who have been scattered to other countries and their subsequent return both to Jerusalem and to God Himself. I think this prophecy will find its ultimate fulfillment in the millennial kingdom for the Jews, but I was struck by the language used to describe their transformation. I decided to personalize the language and use it as my prayer for today and I also wanted to share it with you. This is adapted from Ezekiel 11:16-20.
O Lord, be my sanctuary. Remove every trace of idol worship within me. Give me a singleness of heart and fill me with the Holy Spirit. Take away my heart of stone and give me a tender heart with a desire to obey Your laws. You alone are my God and I want to follow you completely. Amen
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
Sometimes I Preach - The Fruit of the Spirit
Oh the fruit of, the fruit of the Spirit is
love and joy, joy and peace, peace and patience and kindness too, tenderness, faithfulness, self-control and goodness for you. Oh the fruit of the Spirit is ..... cha cha cha!
This is the song that taught me the fruit of the Spirit in a way that I could memorize and I think I learned it when I was age 35. I guess that is the joy of having children and trying to raise them in a Christian home in a different denomination than the one in which I grew up - I get to learn new songs. Now if only I could remember the addresses. I still have to look them up every time.
Galatians 5: 22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Of course, against things there is no law! These things are ideal and unfortunately, opposed to our flesh - that very human part of us that is in conflict with the Spirit of God, also within us as believers (Gal 5:17). The good and bad news, is that it is obvious which side is winning that battle at any given time. The acts of the flesh are obvious (Gal 5:19).
So how are we to live? We are to live in step with the Spirit. What does it look like? Well, I think it means that we recognize that we can't be these ideal things on our own and that even seeing these good things in ourselves or others can provoke us to more fleshly reactions like conceit or envy (Gal 5:26).
So where does that lead us? It leads us back to grace. It leads us back to Jesus who makes us righteous by His death for our sins. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He made us right with God. He has placed His Holy Spirit within us to give us the power to live a live that is crucified to the flesh (Gal 5:24). And He continues to give us grace when we fall. 1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, by daily yielding to the Spirit and walking in the grace of forgiveness and acceptance, we find that little by little we have more fruit from the Spirit in our life. This is my prayer for all of us.
Dear Lord,
Please give us the desire and the power to walk in the Spirit. May we see your power and fruit in our lives. May our hatred and indifference be replaced by love that comes from You. Let the joy of the Lord replace our sadness and despair. Let Your peace rule in our hearts and replace our anxiety and unsettled feelings. May Your patience replace our impatience and Your kindness replace our unkindness. Lord, we are unfaithful, please teach us Your faithfulness. Replace our roughness with Your gentleness and grant us self-control. And somehow use our struggles to show others your grace. Amen.
love and joy, joy and peace, peace and patience and kindness too, tenderness, faithfulness, self-control and goodness for you. Oh the fruit of the Spirit is ..... cha cha cha!
This is the song that taught me the fruit of the Spirit in a way that I could memorize and I think I learned it when I was age 35. I guess that is the joy of having children and trying to raise them in a Christian home in a different denomination than the one in which I grew up - I get to learn new songs. Now if only I could remember the addresses. I still have to look them up every time.
Galatians 5: 22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Of course, against things there is no law! These things are ideal and unfortunately, opposed to our flesh - that very human part of us that is in conflict with the Spirit of God, also within us as believers (Gal 5:17). The good and bad news, is that it is obvious which side is winning that battle at any given time. The acts of the flesh are obvious (Gal 5:19).
So how are we to live? We are to live in step with the Spirit. What does it look like? Well, I think it means that we recognize that we can't be these ideal things on our own and that even seeing these good things in ourselves or others can provoke us to more fleshly reactions like conceit or envy (Gal 5:26).
So where does that lead us? It leads us back to grace. It leads us back to Jesus who makes us righteous by His death for our sins. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He made us right with God. He has placed His Holy Spirit within us to give us the power to live a live that is crucified to the flesh (Gal 5:24). And He continues to give us grace when we fall. 1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, by daily yielding to the Spirit and walking in the grace of forgiveness and acceptance, we find that little by little we have more fruit from the Spirit in our life. This is my prayer for all of us.
Dear Lord,
Please give us the desire and the power to walk in the Spirit. May we see your power and fruit in our lives. May our hatred and indifference be replaced by love that comes from You. Let the joy of the Lord replace our sadness and despair. Let Your peace rule in our hearts and replace our anxiety and unsettled feelings. May Your patience replace our impatience and Your kindness replace our unkindness. Lord, we are unfaithful, please teach us Your faithfulness. Replace our roughness with Your gentleness and grant us self-control. And somehow use our struggles to show others your grace. Amen.
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