Christ Church Daily Devotion June 4 2024

In today's Daily Devotion, the main message is about living according to the Spirit and not the flesh. The passage emphasizes the importance of loving your neighbor and warns against destructive behaviors. It explains that those who live by the desires of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God, but those who follow the Spirit will bear the fruits of love, joy, peace, and more. Walking by the Spirit requires recognizing our dependence on God's power and seeking His guidance in understanding His Word and will. The goal is to surrender to the Spirit and align our actions with His desires. Welcome to Christchurch's Daily Devotion for June 4th, 2024. Today we will be reading from Galatians chapter 5 verses 14 through 26. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command, Love your neighbor as yourself. If you bite and devour each other, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 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. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious, sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But a fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Jesus Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not be conceited, provoking and envying each other. Learning to walk takes practice. The more steps a toddler takes, the more proficient he or she becomes, until walking is a normal part of life. This same principle is true spiritually. When we are first saved, our steps are small and uncertain. But as we practice and mature in Christ, walking by the Spirit becomes a normal and essential part of our life. The first step in walking by the Spirit is to be fully persuaded that we can't live the Christian life by human effort. Until we grasp this truth, we'll rely on our own strength, repeatedly fail, and find ourselves confessing the same old sins without ever mastering them. The second step is to recognize that the Holy Spirit is the one who overcomes our sinful desires and gives us victory as we rely on His power. The way to do this is by asking the Spirit to help us understand God's Word and will. We also pray that He'll give us a sense of revulsion at sin in our life and infuse us with a desire to know, love, and obey Christ more each day. Our goal should be that when temptation comes our way, we surrender to the Spirit and do what He desires, step by step. Your personal worship option today? Lord Jesus, I pray that each step I take today be in Your Spirit. Amen.