Fruit of the Spirit: Walking in the Spirit

“But I say, 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.” ~Gal 5:16-17

Brothers,

In looking for a topic for this week’s letter, I came upon the end of Galatians 5, which talks about the fruits of the Spirit. My plan is to go over those individually in the coming weeks, but first I wanted to take a look at what comes directly before it. Take a look at the passage above. Whenever we read passages of Scripture or even letters, such as this, our tendency is to look over it without paying much attention to it, but remember, when we read Scripture, we’re reading the inspired word of God. Even if it didn’t talk about such important topics, it would be important merely because of the One who spoke it. But it is made all the more significant because of what it says, so read it again. Now in Eph 4:24 it says, “put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” In other words, we are to walk in the Spirit. Yet what does this tell us about ourselves? If we truly put off the old man and put on the new, if we truly walk in the Spirit, we would not gratify the flesh. And yet every day, we struggle with our fleshly desires and often we give in to those desires. This means that we have disobeyed a direct command of God Most High. We shy away so much from the thought of hard training and pain that we continue in sin. For what is the opposite of walking in the Spirit, but walking in the flesh? If we are not doing one, we are assuredly doing the other.

But, how do we walk in the Spirit? First, by hiding God’s Word in our hearts. This is such an important part of the Christian’s life that it cannot be neglected without serious consequences, for how can we walk in the Spirit if we do not know what that entails? We can only find this out in the Word. Scripture is our daily bread; without it, we will starve. Second, we walk in the Spirit by applying the Word. In James we are told to be doers of the Word, not just hearers. While it is important to know what to do, after we find out how, we must actually do it. The final part of walking in the Spirit is prayer. Prayer is a refinement of our faith. It is one thing to think, “I need help,” it is another to be on your knees crying, “Father, help your servant.” Through prayer, we not only praise God for who He is, but we lay our needs at His feet. Through the combination of these three – hiding God’s Word in our hearts, applying the Word, and praying – we equip ourselves for the war against our flesh and work towards walking in the Spirit. As we will see in the next few weeks, many of the fruits of the Spirit are the result of this training. Humility, though not one of the fruits listed in Galatians, is the result of seeing our utter depravity before God and understanding that salvation is not through any act of our own, but only by God’s grace. Patience comes from imitating how Jesus lived His whole life, but as seen especially in the account of His crucifixion, where He didn’t respond to any of His enemies’ mocking comments or to their actions. Kindness is seen throughout the Bible in God’s continued mercy to His people despite their rejection and in His extended mercy to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Each of these virtues is achieved by first searching the Scriptures for instruction, then applying that teaching to everyday life, and finally in seeking help from God for the accomplishment of that goal. Be diligent and walk in the Spirit. Do not try to battle the flesh by your own strength, for you will fail, but hide, apply, and pray. Hide, apply, and pray.

Your brother in Christ,

Corey

Live the Gospel!

“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” ~Martin Luther

Brothers,

The quote above tells of how we can see the work of God all around us. Mark 16:15 says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” We are clearly called to share the “Gospel” with unbelievers, but what is the Gospel? It can be summed up in two words: Jesus Christ. Whenever we evangelize, these two words should be the words we speak the most. Without them, there is no good news. The Gospel starts with the creation of the world and the Fall. Sin entered the world, but salvation was promised one day through a descendent of Adam. This Savior was Jesus Christ who was incarnated in the flesh, was crucified, and rose again on the third day to pay the penalty for man’s sin. The Gospel, Jesus Christ, is the cornerstone of our lives and He should permeate our speech, lifestyle, dress, actions, thoughts, and ideals. Remember the Gospel. Live the Gospel!

Your brother in Christ,

Nick

“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary, use words.” ~St. Francis of Assisi

The Triumph of Christ

I've come to understand more and more how much of a treasure the Scriptures are. New readings of the same passages seem fresh and I am given the perception to see things I hadn't seen before. There are sadly days where I am rushed in the morning (which is my fault) and I quickly read through and as a result, I am not nourished by the Word at all that morning. Or there are the dreaded days where I am distracted and robbed of focus, or even days where I neglect to do it at all. But the Word is so sweet to me. I don't have a greater treasure in my room. I used to feel discouraged when I couldn't understand a passage, but now I feel excited! It excites me to encounter those passages where I am forced to stop and ask, “where did that come from?”; those passages where it feels like it came up out of nowhere and seemingly has nothing to do with the previous passage, or seems insignificant – which means there is something significant about it. Now I love those moments. I pray that God would help me understand His word, and the meanings of it. In my recent reading, this verse especially made me stop and think:

“And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.”

Mark 1:13

Now, this verse isn't out-of-the-blue where it was, but there was a phrase in it that grabbed my attention. It was the phrase, “and was with the wild beasts”. Really that piece of information seems unsurprising, being apart of the wilderness setting Jesus was in. However, I had to stop at this verse and ask why Mark even puts it in here. It is appropriate to the setting, but seemingly insignificant. One might think it could easily be taken out and nothing would change, so why is it there? Obviously there is a reason that that little phrase is inserted in here. Nothing else comes of it really; there is no incident where it goes on to account Christ being threatened by a wild animal. So this verse struck me.

After praying, I took notice of the temptation aspect in this account. This was the passage where Christ was being tempted by Satan. Then I saw something in this passage that I thought was really cool! And it all came from that moment where I took notice of the strange, seemingly insignificant phrase.

Other than Christ's temptation, what is the most significant temptation you can think of in the Scriptures? I am going to guess you'd say the temptation in the Garden. This is what I saw in this verse. I this verse, we get a picture of the contrast between the first Adam and the Second Adam: where the first was in the Garden of Eden, the Second was in a wilderness; where the first had a secure, plentiful supply of food, the Second fasted; where the first had a helpmeet, the Second was alone; where the first was around tame animals of no threat, the Second was with wild beasts; and where the first was tempted once and failed miserably to the death of mankind, the Second, in the very trying setting, was tempted more than once and was victorious for the life of those who are given to Him!

What an amazing contrast! I know I have not said anything new; just read Paul's writings. Jesus has done what we could not do. He suffered greatly and remained absolutely faithful. He is not a mere man, but God in the flesh. And He did not die, but conquered death, by raising Himself from the grave. It is the greatest miracle and work of God. He is living now, and coming soon. Let's be ever watchful as we eagerly wait for Him. Brothers and sisters we have a great hope we wait for! When this is all gone we will all be with Him, for eternity, in perfection. He suffered for that.

~Brenn

Aspects of Advent

"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." ~Luke 2:11

Nick,
It's not only five days until Christmas. 'But what are you looking forward to more: Gifts and food, or celebrating Christ's birth? As a family, we have been reading a book called , "O come, Though long-expected Jesus." It's a collection of writings from many "wise heads", including George Whitfield, J. C. Ryle, R. C. Sproul, Calvin, Luther , Spurgeon, Edwards, Piper, and St. Augustine. All of them speak about an aspect of Advent. Some write about how the shepherds, despised as much as swineherds and dung-sweepers, were the first to know about Christ's birth and come and see Him in the flesh. The wise men, Gentiles and foreign rulers, journeyed hundreds upon hundreds of miles to find a toddler. Yet they had faith and believed that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and bowed down and worshiped him. A teenage girl is told she will give birth to the Son of her Creator. But she believes and says, "Let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:39) What marvelous faith existed in that day! Today we regard God more as a friend than a Lord. True, He is the best Friend we could ever have. But He is also All-powerful, All-wise, And Omnipotent. We are His servants and should address Him as such. Today we want to be as independent as possible. "I can do this," we often say. In effect, we're telling God we don't need Him. In that we are sadly mistaken. Christmas is one of the greatest reminders that we have besides Communion. These two remind us of our sin and about God's redemption of us. Listen to the Song of Mary from Luke 1:46-55 and make it your prayer.

“ My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him, From generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

Merry Christmas and God Bless!
Your Brother in Christ,
Corey

Dependent upon Christ

Dear Corey,

I also don’t have a quote, but I have a story. I was watching Grace as she struggled up the hill above our house. Well, I was doing more than watching, but it reminded me of how we can treat God. She would struggle up the hill, mostly ignoring my help. When she fell, I would pick her up, but then she’d take off again.

This is how some people treat God. He is always with us, watching over us. He helps us in troubled times and He directs us, showing us where to go. When we deny God or His power over one aspect of our lives we “fall” more often. Many times this results in us ending up in the wrong place, arriving at a destination we weren’t planning on going to.

It might not even be apparent to us that we are denying God. We might think we are merely being “independent;” we might not even think that, we’re just thinking, “I can do this.” We can do nothing without God’s help. He walks with us, watching our feeble attempts at obeying Him.

Not to say that God cannot help us unless we let Him. I want to make it clear that this is not what I am saying. Many times God intervenes before we get to that destination we don’t know we’re going to. He does this by many different ways. Through parents, friends, relations, strangers, car problems, etc…God uses everything for His glory.

“For all things work together for good to those who love God.”

We should always strive to become more like Christ, but we do not do this by ourselves. We can only do this with God’s help. I want to encourage you this week to not be independent, but dependent upon Christ.

Your BIC,

Nick