But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Gal 5:16) Father, you call me to walk by your Spirit. I see this is right, and I see the simplicity of it, but it is hard. Be gracious to me and grant me to rest in your Spirit and to allow Him to fill me as I walk through life. Once upon a time, many, many years ago, a man sent a car to his son who lived in a remote village. The father had a friend deliver the car, and he…
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. (Rm 8:9) I come to you, Father, with amazement and gratitude at the fact of Your holy presence within me through Your Spirit. God is in me! Hallelujah! Perhaps the greatest mistake church people make is that they try to live a godly life without Jesus. The thrust of their life can be summarized something like this: “I will be kind to my children … I will memorize the Bible … I will work to spread the gospel ……
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit … (Mt 28:19) Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (I Cor 3:16) Holy Spirit, You give me the presence of God inside. Hallelujah. Bless You. When Jesus was on Earth, God was on Earth, walking, talking, eating, sleeping. Today, however, we can no longer put our hands into Jesus’s side or watch Him break bread. The physical presence of Christ is gone, but this does…
The Word was with God and the Word was God … and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (Jn 1:1, 14) Lord, I look at the Incarnation and marvel. Praise You! The radical claim of the Christian faith is that God became a man. Christians call this the Incarnation, which means something like “in the flesh.” For a time on Earth, God had skin and bones as you and I do. Some people say that’s crazy, and I suppose, in one sense, they are correct. Reality often is crazy. But if Jesus is God, as He claimed, then…
I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (Jn 14:6) I sat in an enclosed patio at an inn in Eagle Harbor, Michigan. Enormous picture windows surrounded me on three sides, and Lake Superior was right outside those windows. The morning sun was bright and dancing on the water. It was one of those peaceful times when you get away, and I was enjoying my time alone looking out over the endless blue of the water and the rocky jetty with spruce trees popping out of it. My Bible was…