Friday Micro-Group Moments
Galatians 5:13-26
Life by the Spirit
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 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[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 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.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Footnotes:
[a] Galatians 5:13 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 16, 17, 19 and 24; and in 6:8.
[b] Galatians 5:14 Lev. 19:18
]c] Galatians 5:17 Or you do not do what
Pondering Point
The sinful mind is “hostile to God,” the Bible says (Romans 8:7). That means our sinful mind is not going to crucify itself. The spirit in us needs to crucify the sinful self with its thoughts and desires and say, "We are following Jesus." That's going to enable us to walk with the Spirit. We say "no" to the flesh by saying "yes" with the spirit -- and walking with the Holy Spirit.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, since I belong to You it is appropriate for me to crucify my flesh with its passions and desires. So that I may live by the Spirit, help me to keep in step with Him in the big and small decisions, in high-pressure, tense moments and in low-pressure, commonplace moments. To God be the glory. Amen.
Micro-Group Moment:
Consider the Prayer Life of Martin Luther
The following excerpt is from a letter Luther wrote to his barber describing his personal prayer life, presumably upon request. The full letter (11 pages printed) can readily be found online under the title: A Simple Way to Pray by Martin Luther. It incorporates an introductory prayer followed by expansions of the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles’ Creed.
I will tell you as best I can what I do personally when I pray. May our dear Lord grant to you and to everybody to do it better than I! Amen.
First, when I feel that I have become cool and joyless in prayer because of other tasks or thoughts (for the flesh and the devil always impede and obstruct prayer), I take my little psalter, hurry to my room, or, if it be the day and hour for it, to the church where a congregation is assembled and, as time permits, I say quietly to myself and word-for-word the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and, if I have time, some words of Christ or of Paul, or some psalms, just as a child might do.
It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night. Guard yourself carefully against those false, deluding ideas which tell you, "Wait a little while. I will pray in an hour; first I must attend to this or that." Such thoughts get you away from prayer into other affairs which so hold your attention and involve you that nothing comes of prayer for that day. It may well be that you may have some tasks which are as good or better than prayer, especially in an emergency. There is a saying ascribed to St. Jerome that everything a believer does is prayer and a proverb, "He who works faithfully prays twice." This can be said because a believer fears and honors God in his work and remembers the commandment not to wrong anyone, or to try to steal, defraud, or cheat. Such thoughts and such faith undoubtedly transform his work into prayer and a sacrifice of praise.
Prayer
Father God, Martin Luther was a man just like us. And the prophet Elijah, he was a man just like us too (James 5:17). Both were earnest in their prayer life. You used them to bring change to the world around them, providing proof to your promise that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (James 5:16). Let me value prayer as these men valued prayer. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.