Saturday, July 12th
Read: Galatians 5:16-18
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
Spend a few minutes discussing questions you have about the passage. Here are a few to get you started:
Have you felt this conflict described in this passage?
How do we live by the Spirit?
Sin and the Spirit are in direct opposition. Sin is to be apart from God. The Spirit is God. And if there’s one thing that God is, He is HOLY. He is completely and fully Himself, unable to be a part of anything but Himself.
Love is good. He can be with love because He is love. He can be with joy because He is joy. He can be with us when we are in Him and He is in us. But He cannot be in the areas that are given over to sin, because sin is separate from God. He can have nothing to do with it, because it brings separation from who He truly is. The spiritual law says that the punishment for sin is death. “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 3:23a). Areas of our life that are being controlled by sin lead to death— they hurt us, they hurt others and most of all, they hurt God. Our flesh and mind are constantly vying for control, trying to cause us to do what we don’t want to do: feel fear, anger and hurt, act in selfish ways. We feel a need to protect ourselves, to appease the things like fear, anger and hurt, which are eating away at us. But the truth is—painful feelings are the precursor of an attack from the enemy. If we feel hurt by something, we automatically feel the need for justification. So we get angry, bitter, jealous, envious, prideful, rude, self-seeking etc.
But, if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 3:23). When we asked Jesus to save us from our sins, the law of death that was at work in us was abolished. We are no longer slaves to the law that says we will die. However, though our souls are safe with Christ, there is still temptation for areas of our souls, minds and bodies to live contrary to the Spirit. It is God’s desire that we continue to grow towards life-giving ways rather than ways of destruction. God’s desire is that we are open to letting Him fix us. We cannot fix ourselves. Only God can make us holy. The enemy works against us by using our hurts to tempt us into sin. Because of this, we can look for where he tries to abuse our hurts, and instead of allowing the bad reactions to take over, we can ask the Spirit to guide our reactions. We can claim the promise of God in those areas— the promise of eternal life in Christ. Jesus came that we might have life and have it to the full, (John 10:10) so He desires that we would take up ways of life, of the Spirit. He gives it to us as a gift, not as something we can earn. When we turn to the Spirit, and ask for guidance, He will surely lead us away from the law of death.
Process:
-Think of things that have hurt you recently. Are there ways that you reacted which were contrary to the Spirit? Are there ways that you reacted which were in submission to the Spirit? Go back to a time when you reacted in a way that contrary to the Spirit. Ask Jesus to take your hurt, and show you what to do with it. Ask Jesus to get rid of any sin that may have come from the hurt, and ask Him to give you love instead.