The Savage Five

As believers it is important to walk in the Spirit as Paul exhorted the Galatians to walk in the Spirit and not to succumb to the desires of the flesh. We were called to freedom from the law of sin and death by and through Christ Jesus.  Our freedom should not serve as a license to follow our sensual and fleshly desires but should be used, through love to serve one another. In serving one another we become more like Christ, who was the servant of all, by laying down His life so that we might live.  We too are called to give up not give in to what our flesh desires us to do in the moment. In order to keep in step with the Spirit we need to realize that the desires of the flesh are contrary to the desires of the Spirit that lives inside of the believer. Paul lays out the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident:  sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,  idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy,  fits o...

Patience is the fruit that we are reaching for today.  Reach high and hard like you are picking the best looking apple on the tree that is at the highest limb! Have you ever thought about how plants are an anomaly?  We are so accustomed to seeing things grow upward that we forget about the effects of gravity that apply to everything on earth. Plants utilize gravity as a guide for their upward growth but that seems backwards doesn't it? Gravitropism is a gravity directed growth process that dictates upward reaching shoots to ensure proper positioning of leaves for photosynthesis. This process affords plants the opportunity to grow in such a way as to reach for the sun's energy.  However, there are 2 parts to the process of gravitropism that are working in tension with one another. In order for a plant to grow it needs not only the energy from the sun but water and minerals that are imperative for photosynthesis.  Gravitropism provides the process needed for ...

Galatians 5 is the resounding theme of the the past few posts so we are going to continue to walk in the Spirit today realizing that He empowers us to walk according to the Spirit and not to do the things that the flesh desires to do. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace... Peace   If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.  Following Jesus means that we walk the way that He walked, crucifying the flesh with all its passions and desires. Do you have peace?  Most people know right away if they don't have peace.   I was recently staying with a friends baby.  The entire time that I was with her, the baby did not have peace.  No matter what I tried, she was full of fear and unrest.  She was so worked up that she could not rest in the provision of my love as I cared for her.   I tried everything to give her peace I gave her food, I bounced her, I tried to read to her, I sang to her, I put h...

Galatians 5 paints a whirlwind of sinful traits exhorting us to walk in the Spirit. When we decide to follow after the desires of our flesh and disregard the ever present Spirit in our hearts, we are led on a path of the works of the flesh. Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;  against such things there is no law. We are called to walk in the Spirit, to be led about by the Lord's ever present help.   This is the grace of God. We find in the Strong's concordance that grace (charis) is that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness and grace of speech. This is the same grace that was upon Jesus as he was growing up. John 1:16 says For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. Because we have received grace we can walk in the Spirit.  We can love the unlovely, we can be full of joy when it doesn't make sense to th...

Are you choosing to walk the path of Joy?  Of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 , joy is the second fruit produced by a life lived walking by the Spirit of God. Love comes first I believe, because without love nothing we do will amount to anything as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13 . So walking in the Spirit at times in an intentional endeavor that scripture confirms; Galatians 5:13-16 ESV For you were called to freedom, brothers.   Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,  but through love serve one another.   For the whole law is fulfilled in one word:   "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.   But if you bite and devour one another,  watch out that you are not consumed by one another.   But I say, walk in the Spirit,  and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Here we are encouraged to love and then walk in the Spirit by not doing what the flesh wants us to do...

My middle son is high energy.  As a baby he slept so much that I missed him and as he grew his personality seemed to be one of a quiet observer but then he turned 3 and the pliable, low-key baby blossomed into a confident forthright little person with an agenda to be in charge of everything and everyone. I hadn't expected what would be exposed in me as he constantly challenged my every command. Prior to this shift I would often praise him for being so obedient. I recall when he turned about 4 years old that I was holding my hands out as he would approach me because of his strong personality. Well that little boy is now 13 and rapidly growing into a man.  Continually challenging me in my parenting. Recently, I have realized that God uses him to expose my own sin. Because he is always so feisty, lately I have been telling him to stop being annoying.  But the Lord really convicted me as I listened to this song of 1 Corinthians 13. It has dawned on me as I me...

Glancing down as I return home I am pleasantly surprised by little bird tracks impressed in the sidewalk. This little bird was moving quickly through the freshly poured concrete.  He must not have had a care in the world as he scurried through at an unknown rate then stopping for a moment. Speed is the rate at which something goes through a specific distance.  The author of these prints was not just going a specific speed as he traversed through this medium but he was traveling in a certain direction.  Both his speed and direction kept him from getting caught up in the moment of each step. Speed and direction are the two parts of the vector quantity velocity.  As Christians, we need not get too preoccupied with the speed at which we traverse through a specific struggle but the component that makes the path we take distinctly different is the direction that we choose to travel as we walk. Jesus refers to two ways of traversing through life; Matthew 7:13-14...