Welcome to the PoG Blog! As we kick off the New Year, God is speaking through the Sunday message as well as the daily readings on the subject of "freedom"! All of Galatians 5 was designated for today but for the sake of the blog, I picked out the following section!
Galatians 5 "13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
If I am hearing God correctly through these verses He is saying, "delton, freedom is not you doing what you want to do - no - freedom is you doing what my Spirit in you is leading you to do. In that Spirit led life and way of life, delton, you will be experiencing freedom."
Is that what God is saying?
That there is a taskmaster that can put me in bondage on a daily basis more than any other and that taskmaster is "me"!
Who was it that said, "I have seen the enemy and it is I!"
I think that is what Paul means by the flesh - me in my natural, sinful, broken self - my personal default mode is my "flesh"! But God has set me free - through the death and resurrection of Jesus my sinfulness has been redeemed and cleansed and now the Spirit of God seeks to dwell in me. I get to receive that Spirit by faith everyday - every minute - and that Spirit in me unleashes life that is the real "me".
How does this section strike you? What is God saying?
I like to use the following portion of a prayer to help me step into the Spirit-life everyday in a practical way!
"Holy Spirit, I honor You as my Sovereign and I yield every dimension of my spirit, soul, and body - my heart, mind and will to You and You alone to be filled with You, to walk in step with You. Fill me afresh - restore my union with the Father and the Son, lead me in all truth, anoint me for my life and walk and calling and lead me deeper into Jesus today!"
I am free to be more than "me'!
delton