EXPAND TO READ: GALATIANS 5 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 19-21): For most of my faith journey, I have fallen many times to the flesh. The ones from this list that stand out the most in my heart for me personally are sexual immorality, promiscuity, hatreds, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, and drunkenness. Although I have been freed of most of these thanks to the building of my relationship with You, Father, I do still struggle at times. I do still struggle with jealousy and outbursts of anger specifically. Please forgive me for my weakness in the flesh with these things, Father. Forgive me for often delving back into my old habits instead of living in the habits that the Spirit has brought into me. Yes, I have gotten better, but I am not where You want me to be, yet. I pray that Your grace continues to be sufficient for me personally, so that I can lean more on You without pushing away in my selfishness and guilt.
PROMISE (verse 14): This is such a bold and empowering promise that You’ve made to us in just a few short words. You promise us that then ENTIRE law of old is fulfilled if we “simply” love our neighbor as ourselves. I guess the first thing I need to do in order to truly embrace this promise is to be better at knowing what it means to “love myself” as I have struggled with this quite a bit over the years. I often find my faults, weaknesses, and inequities to be a method at which the enemy uses to cause a lot of guilt, doubt, and pain inside of me that I find difficult to overcome. I often find that me loving others the way I do myself is quite broken due to the fact that I do struggle with the loving myself portion of it at times. I know that with this ever-growing and intimate relationship with You, I will get better at knowing exactly what it means to love myself and relay that to others, but I am not fully there yet. Please continue Your works in me, Father, so that I may better understand and embrace self-love in the way You expect of me.
ATTITUDE (verses 22-23): In these two verses, You give us the fruits of the Spirit which I have struggled with these for most of my life, unfortunately. You tell us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. All of these have been a struggle for me at times, some more so than others. Help me to embrace the fruits of the Spirit as my default attitudes in this life, Father. Help me to be more loving; more joyous; more peaceful; more patient; more kind; more good; more faithful; more gentle; and more in control of myself. Help me to not only learn more about these attitudes, but also to build them deeply in my heart so that I can live in them and walk in them daily with minimal to no effort.
COMMAND (verse 13): Wow! I feel this verse is coming directly at me because I have been guilty of disobeying this command quite often in my life. Your command is for us to not abuse our freedom in Christ as an opportunity for fleshly desires. You command us to serve one another through love. Oftentimes, I have given into the flesh since coming to faith because I always hear that all of my sins are covered and that Your grace is sufficient, so why not? This is not the way You expect me to live out my faith. By living this way, I am essentially keeping myself as a slave of my flesh and my past instead of living in the freedom that only You can bring to me. Help me to be better at truly living in and embracing this command, Father, so that when I do walk in my faith it is by the Spirit and not the flesh; it is with love for others instead of solely for myself; it is serving others out of that love instead of only serving myself.
EXAMPLE (verses 14-17): I have, unfortunately, lived most of my life so far kind of opposite of what You’ve expected of me. In this example, You show us how we are to live in the Spirit and amongst each other. You show us that if we live in a way that we love our neighbors as ourselves, then the entire law is fulfilled. You show us that if we do not live in this way, then we will likely end up “biting and devouring one another” to the point that we will be consumed by one another. I have been a witness to this since coming to faith, as I have seen churches broken up due to disagreements and hatreds; I have seen marriages and friendships destroyed due to the lack of love; I have even been a part of this in my own relationships as I have not lived in and embraced Your love fully at all times. Thank You for this example, Father. Thank You for showing me just how important love is for all in this life.
*DAILY NOTE: Another great quiet time this morning in Galatians, Father. Although Galatians is a short book in the Bible, it has a LOT of content to learn from. I want to thank You for leading me to Galatians for my quiet times when You did. This has all been felt directly on my heart, every single chapter and word within Galatians. I am so grateful for the lessons today on love and the fruits of the Spirit versus the flesh. Help me to be better at living in the fruits of the Spirit, Father, so I know longer try to “default” back to my old habits of the flesh. Help me to be better at recognizing those moments when I do try to go back to old habits, so that I can quickly go to You in those moments for strength to correct my thoughts, emotions, and actions. I am a work-in-progress, but I know that with You and our ever-increasing relationship that all things are possible and that I will continue to become a better, more Godly man in this life. Thank You, Father!
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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