We have made excuses long enough.
American Christianity has become decadent and worldly.
Comfort and Consumerism has infected the Church, the Body of Christ. Were we to read back through the Old Testament, in Judges or Samuel for example we would see God's discipline of Israel and if we are honest it will remind you of America in our time.
The Need Has Never Been Greater for True Repentance
Repentance is needed, yet to repent we must be aware of our sins and intentionally seek God's deliverance.
Are we even aware of our many sins, are we intentional in our relationship with Christ?
We cannot go on for very long as a culture, as people claiming to follow Christ when we are actually just giving Him lip service.
Can you put down your device, your cell phone, tablet etc. long enough to pick up your bible and read from the most valuable and precious book ever created!! God's Words are life and they uphold the universe!
If you are filling up your time with endless and pointless content you will not take time to read God's Word. Prayer is always a struggle for every generation of Christians. We however are simply too distracted by the around the clock media to long for God’s presence.
Social media helps us into our fleshly tendency to spend more energy discussing the other persons “speck” while ignoring the “log” in our eye. (Matt. 7:3–5).
Our personal "sin" should be the subject of our reflections and not the latest "Twitter Rant".
Make Space for The Person of the Holy Spirit
What are the daily patterns of your spiritual life?
Are you humbly seeking God's mercy? The renewing work of the Holy Spirit can only occur if we are truly aware of our sins and we seek to "mortify" them. Do you pray, confess your sins, read scripture, speak to Christ, walk and talk with him?
Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. –Galatians 5:16–17
Mortification is the theological term used to describe the call for those who are united to Christ and living in the power of the Spirit to put to death (mortify) lingering sinful impulses that come from within and resist temptations that come from the world.
Spiritual desires frustrate our fleshly desires, and fleshly desires frustrate our spiritual desires.
In this scripture Paul is not saying we can make our sinful desires completely go away no he is saying if we constantly walk in the spirit we will not gratify the desires o the flesh.
We all know what the desires of the flesh are: things like sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies etc. And we have all experienced them to one degree or the other.
You may want to indulge your sins but you don't have to, they need not master you. This can only come about if we are walking in the Spirit.
How Do We Walk by the Spirit?
"And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit." Galatians 5:24-25
“Walk by the Spirit” and “keep in step with the Spirit” indicates we are working daily in keeping step with the Spirit. We develop a rhythm to our walking as our daily intimacy with Christ and the person of the Holy Spirit begins to feel more comfortable, more natural. We see this basic idea throughout Paul’s letters:
Walk rightly with the truth of the gospel (Galatians 2:13).
Walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16).
Be led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:18).
Keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:26).
Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called (Ephesians 4:1).
Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord (Colossians 1:10).
The person of the Holy Spirit is active in our daily lives and in us. Once we submit ourselves to Him we can begin to be transformed.
Transformed Daily
Christians can no longer pretend we are happy, mature and wise, when we lack all of these things.
The Christian Way of Life, a life focused on and abiding in Christ is complete surrender of our will to Him.
Walking by the Spirit then refers to our daily conduct, what we do everyday in our union with Christ in his death, resurrection and empowerment by the Spirit who redirects our sinful desires to Godly fruitfulness. The Spirit shapes our daily decisions as we wake up in the midst of spiritual warfare. Paul’s reminds us we must encourage and gratify our spiritual desires, and keep in step with the Holy Spirit because we belong to Jesus.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2: 19-20