HELPING ONE ANOTHER

 

HELPING ONE ANOTHER

Gal. 6:1 Dear brothers and sisters, if another Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. NLT

Yes, it is possible for Christians to be overcome by sin. To overcome means to be overpowered by, to become a victim of. No one is so strong spiritually that they cannot sin. Paul says that when it happens, the rest of the body of Christ has a loving responsibility to help their fellow Christian be restored to a right relationship with Christ. We are very good at messing this up.

We can be good at pointing out the sin we see in others, but very bad at doing it in a loving way. So often we get on our soap boxes and berate a fallen brother or sister and pat ourselves on the back because it wasn't us. We chide others for doing things we would never imagine ourselves doing. We want to fix others without regard for what needs to be fixed in us.

When dealing with another person's sin, there must be a gentle and humble spirit that drives us. We must understand our own tendencies to wander from the right path. We must understand that if the tables were turned and we were in the other person's shoes, we too might have very well had been the one who had sinned. We must understand that it is only by God's grace at work in us that we are able to keep from sinning at all.

We have a loving responsibility to come alongside of each other and deal with our sins, but not in a condemning, self-righteous way. We should always deal with sin in our lives with the goal of restoration to Christ. We must care enough for each other that we don't make matters worse by taking a "holier than thou" attitude. We too are sinners and could very easily fall into the same temptation that caused our brother to sin.

Dealing with sin in others and ourselves should always be first bathed in humble prayer before God. We must first examine our own souls and deal with our sins before we attempt to expose the sins of another. And, when we do sin, we should not resist the efforts of restoration.

The true sign of a heart that is right with God is a humble and contrite heart. When our sin is exposed we acknowledge it and confess it, whether it is the Spirit of God or man who exposes it. As we wait before God with broken hearts, we become a holy people, a people after His own heart.

LET THE SPIRIT LEAD

 

LET THE SPIRIT LEAD

Gal. 5:25-26 If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or irritate one another, or be jealous of one another. NLT

Are you out of formation? Are you letting the Spirit of Christ guide you in every area of your life? Be honest with yourself, are you in step behind the Spirit, or do you try to lead the way?

We often try to decide which parts of our lives we will let the Spirit lead us in. We try to maintain control over certain aspects of our lives. We like to do certain things or think about some things that we don’t want to let go of. We like where we are at and don't want to change. We know that it's not right, but we enjoy the momentary pleasures they bring. However, there is a price to pay.

If the Spirit is not in front of us leading the way, we will sin. We will continuously live with the guilt and shame of our sin, and we will never get victory over it. We will not only experience problems with God, we will experience problems with those around us as well. We will become proud of ourselves, we will become an irritation to those around us, and we will be plagued by jealousy towards one another amongst other things. In other words, we will be miserable.

Let the Spirit lead you through life. Let Him guide you into all that is true about you and change you. Let Him empower you so that you don't fall into the grip of your sinful nature. Let the Spirit be your guide so you don't lose your way. He will help you if you will let Him. Let Him guide you through the Word of God and teach you what it says. Let the Spirit keep you close to the heart of God and you will live in peace with both God and man.

DEAD TO SIN

 

DEAD TO SIN

Gal. 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. NLT

The message is clear: if you belong to Christ, you will no longer be controlled and driven by sinful desires and passions. There will be an awareness of the wrongfulness of sinful behavior, thoughts, and attitudes. There will be a sensitivity to what pleases God and what doesn't. Granted, we grow into our awareness, but grow we will.

Without the help of Christ, we are slaves to our sinful nature. We will sin naturally. It is not something we can do anything about. Jesus changes our desires; He changes our character. His presence prevents our sinful nature from rearing its ugly head.

Our ability to resist the temptations to sin is directly related to our relationship with Christ. If you are having problems with sin in your life, you need to draw closer to the Lord. You cannot sin as long as He is near to your heart and in your heart.

Think about it for a moment. Whenever you sin, it's because the presence of sin is more powerful at the moment than the presence of Christ to you. The only way we can resist the urge to sin is to reclaim Christ's presence at the moment. Sinning is a choice and therefore a responsibility we can't avoid. You have no one to blame but yourself when you fall into sin. Satan has no more power over you than you let him have.

Don’t get me wrong. You will be tempted no matter how close you live to Christ, and you will stumble into sin from time to time. But, the closer you live to Christ the stronger you will become in your ability to resist what tempts you. Your desire to pursue temptation will wane as you stay closely connected to the Lord.

And, when you do fail, you will know it and flee to the Lord for forgiveness and renewed strength.

GODLY FRUIT

 

GODLY FRUIT

Gal. 5:22-23 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law. NLT

Every believer should be defined by these qualities of character to some degree. We are all different and we will major on different ones, but the transforming work of the Spirit will manifest itself in all of the above in us to some degree. There is no one who is controlled by the Spirit who will not take on these traits in their life.

If you do not see the fruit of the Spirit in you, then your heart is not right with God. It is impossible for us to live in faith and not show the evidence of that faith in our lives. We must be growing and showing the fruit of the Spirit in how we live.

Notice that we can’t pick and choose which one of these traits we will have in our lives. Fruit is a singular noun which tells us that all of these traits should show up in us. No one is going to do all of these well, but all will do all of these to some degree.

We should regularly examine our hearts to see what we need help with. The Lord will help us to become stronger in our weak points if we will but ask Him to and let Him work on us. We must strive to be honest with how we are doing. Otherwise, we will never improve the quality of our life in Christ. Admit to yourself where you have failed, confess it to the Lord, and with His help get to work on making your weaknesses stronger. There are nine fruit characteristics listed so there is enough to look at each day of our lives to see how we are doing.

Fruit does not grow overnight. The soul must be properly nourished. We must work at cultivating a healthy soil for it to grow in. We must diligently strive to keep the weeds at bay. If we work at it in cooperation with the Lord, we will produce much fruit for others to see and enjoy.

Fruit left on the tree does no one any good. It may be nice to look at, but if it never gets off the tree, what good is it? Likewise, spiritual fruit is meant to be tasted and used by others. The more we share our fruit with others, the better we serve Christ. Be a blessing to others and share your fruitfulness with others.

CONFLICTING VOICES

 

CONFLICTING VOICES

Gal. 5:16-18 So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer under the law. NLT

News flash! If we live according to the life we have in Christ, we won't do what our sinful nature wants us to do! The more determined we are to live godly lives, the more resistance we will have against sin. We fall into sin when we let down our guard and listen to our sinful urges. We will not be overcome by sin when we are overcome by the life of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

The Spirit gives us a desire for God and a desire to please Him. Our sinful nature does not want us to follow the Spirit's leading in us. Satan will do everything he can to drown out the Spirit's voice in us. We control the volume. We choose whom we will listen to the most, God or Satan. You will never get anywhere in your walk with the Lord as long as you listen to the voice of Satan. And be assured, the more determined you are to listen to God, the more determined Satan will be to drown out His voice. Satan is a master at distractions and we must be on our guard and not allow him to drown out God's voice.

There is a constant warfare going on in us to see who gets the airtime. Who are you listening to, God or Satan?

AT WAR WITHIN

 

AT WAR WITHIN

Gal. 5:17 The old sinful nature loves to do evil which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from conflict. NLT

If you are not in the middle of a spiritual warfare taking place in you, you are not living rightly with God. The Spirit of Christ is constantly fighting against Satan for control of your heart. The two are on opposite sides and will never get along.

Satan wants to destroy you. He wants to suck the life right out of your soul. He will do everything that he can to keep you from doing what pleases God. His desire is to draw you as far away from God as he possibly can. He never has, and never will, have your best interests in mind.

On the other hand, the Holy Spirit always has your best interests on His mind. He desires to lead you closer to God. He longs to see you gain victory over sin so you can have a deeper fellowship with God. He wants you to know the truth so that it can set you free from Satan’s hold on you. He wants to teach you the deeper things of God so you will know them and live by them. The Spirit always is leading us out of darkness into the light of God’s glory.

God allows us the freedom to choose whether the Spirit or Satan rules over our hearts. We choose who will gain the upper hand. We choose whether we will pursue godliness or follow our sinful desires. We determine who claims victory over our souls.

Who is ruling your heart today? Are you helping or hindering the Lord’s efforts to rule you? Are you submitting to His promptings of your soul? Are you reading God’s Word and striving to live by it? Are you praying faithfully so you can hear the Spirit moving on your heart? We choose daily through the day who rules our soul. Let the Lord lead you victoriously through life.

A NEW LIFE

 

A NEW LIFE

Gal. 5:16 So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. NLT

It really isn't all that complicated. In order to break sinful habits we need to develop godly habits. We need to exercise our souls in order to get them into good shape. We need to discipline ourselves to make our souls strong.

What we put into our minds affects our souls, so we need to be careful what we dwell on. We must deliberately strive to avoid being entertained by sinful behavior which means we need to be selective in what we choose to watch and read. We need to be careful what we listen to. We need to stay away from those places where sin is the main attraction. We need to resist the temptation to follow the crowd and not let others determine for us what sin is or isn't.

We need to be godly-minded if we are going to not cave into our sinful desires. In order to develop a godly mindset, we must consistently feed our minds with godly things. We must faithfully read and study the Word of God. When we do, we must allow ourselves the time needed to gain insights from God that will help us grow in grace. Reading the Word and never gaining new and useful insights does the soul very little good. The more we learn what God says, the more likely it is that we will live by it.

We need to be Spirit sensitive. It is natural for a soul who is seriously seeking God to be led by the Spirit of God. We get into trouble with sin usually because we get lazy about seeking God. We get too comfortable with where we are at and are led to believe that we are strong enough to resist sin's temptations and therefore we let down our guard. We must always keep our relationship with God the number one priority of our lives. We must pursue Him diligently so that we will want to not sin against Him. The Spirit of God will guide us through the Word of God into holy living as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.