Reading for today
Old Testament: Psalm 21, 22, 23
New Testament: Galatians 5
Thoughts from today’s reading
Psalm 22. This Psalm reveals the sufferings of Christ on the cross hundreds of years before it happened. When we worship the God who was, and is, and is to come, we are able to tap into His mind for our past, present and future, and He is able to reveal to us great and marvellous things to come.
Galatians 5:18-24. As believers, there is a contest between the Spirit and the flesh in our lives. Sometimes we try to justify our reasons to be angry, hateful, envious etc. saying, I am just being real. That is the reality of the flesh and we are giving expression to it when we make those excuses, but we are called to crucify those expressions of the flesh by the help of the Holy Spirit, and we are expected to act in the way of love listed in the fruits of the Spirit.
Prayer
1. Heavenly Father, as we worship you, open our eyes to see Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us. May we truly understand that you have blotted out the sins of our past, and have given us life in our present, and secured a future of peace for us. Thank you Lord, for such a great salvation we have received in You.
2. Lord, we pray and put to death every expression of the flesh in our lives. Wherever we have given in to immorality, uncleanness, idolatry, selfish ambition, hatred, outbursts of anger and every other expression of the flesh, we come in repentance before you and submit to the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ. We take on the fruit of the Spirit and allow expressions of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Thank you Lord that we live in the victory of the Spirit through Jesus Christ.