Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings,
and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time
past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is
no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in
the Spirit.
Gal 5:26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory,
provoking one another, envying one another.
Works of the flesh.
Works of the Spirit.
We know, come on,
we're not dense, we're really not.
We know when the
works of the flesh are working in us.
In the days of Noah,
all but Noah were living in the works of the flesh. In Sodom and Gomorrah all
were living in the works of the flesh, God could not even find ten people
living in the Spirit. And we know that
in the last days God will be hard pressed to find any living in the Spirit as
well. Knowing this shouldn't we be more
aware of where our flesh works are active in our lives? Satan will tempt us with the lusts of the
flesh all the time. Even something as simple as irritation has it's roots in
Satan. Of course satan doesn't want us recognize the tiny works of the flesh.
He loves as those tiny very deceptive works of the flesh rear up and become
common place in our lives. We let them. Why do we let them? We let them because
we've been taught to believe they are just part of normal, every day,
acceptable life, things we can't help and shouldn't even try to change. We are
going to be irritated end of story so stop fussing over irritation and just
call it part of life. Satan then gets the stain of that irritation to remain
upon us because we fail to call it the sin that it is and repent of it, asking
for forgiveness.
Sure, most
Christians will agree adultery, fornication, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, and
murders are wrong and works of the flesh, but do most agree strife, envying,
drunkenness, reveling and the like are works of the flesh? We call strife in
our lives stressful but label it normal. We call envying normal as well because
everyone falls victim to wanting more and better, nicer, and when they don't
have it and see others with it, they envy them wishing they had it as well.
We excuse sin and
therefore it remains. We can't afford to
believe sin is just our normal acceptable life, forgetting that Satan is egging
us on to sin every single day of our lives. If Satan can push a button to even
irritate us in the tiniest way, he is pleased.
God forgive us for
calling sin good, forgive us for excusing the sin in our lives!
Please help us to
recognize ALL the sin in our lives. Help us to recognize the works of the flesh
for what they are even the tiniest of flesh works that we have grown so
incredibly used to in our lives they've become what we've labeled our
personalities. I'm not saying that we
don't have various defects in our personalities that go beyond our
encouraging. What I mean is, I've seen
tiny babies with tempers, young toddlers
with flares of unjustified anger, and this isn't LEARNED behavior for them,
they have been born with this anger, this work of the flesh is a part of them
and it only seems to grow with them. Age will help them handle their anger if
they have loving parents guiding them, and they will prayerfully grow into
young adults that have given their lives to Christ and allow Him to live in
them through the Spirit. We are born
with our flesh nature striving to take over. God will guide us if we let Him.
That anger WE are born with, that tendency to be selfish, the callousness we've
developed, the unloving heart, the jealousy we've embraced can be given to our
SAVIOR, and given to Him over and over and over again all the time as we are
shown all those flesh works in ourselves.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is
no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in
the Spirit.
Gal 5:26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory,
provoking one another, envying one another.
Do we have these
fruits of the Spirit within us?
Are we loving,
joyous, peaceful, long suffering, gentle, good, faithful, meek, temperate?
Do we crucify our
FLESH?
Do we crucify our
AFFECTIONS and LUSTS?
WE must live in the
Spirit- WALKING IN THE SPIRIT.
We truly must not
long for glory that is in vain, and all glory that is NOT of God, is in vain.
We must not provoke one another, we must not envy one another, please LORD,
please bless us and keep us in the Spirit, only by YOUR grace, YOUR love,
please! Help us, we would be YOURS and only YOURS.
All in YOUR LOVE!
By our Savior, Jesus
Christ, our LORD now and forever!
Amen.
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