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[Candice]

Gary Wilkerson's devotional today shares a new perspective (at least to me). How do you view this outlook?

"I hope I am not the only person who sometimes wonders, “Am I really walking out the gift of righteousness that He’s given me?” Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (ESV).

We can take any passage of Scripture and read it through the lens of either grace or the lens of works and the Law. When I read Galatians 5:16, I sometimes get in the “works” mentality that says, “I have to try to do this!” I say to myself, “Okay, I’m going to do this today; I’m going to walk in the Spirit!” I get anxious and all of a sudden, I am not walking in the Spirit at all.

The next thing Galatians 5:16 says is, “You will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Sometimes we read this passage through the lens of, “I’m in the flesh. No, I’m in the Spirit. But then something comes along and I get mad and I’m back in the flesh!”

Galatians 5:18: “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

Are you in the Spirit? Has Jesus ever come into your heart? If so, did He say, “I’m going to check you out and if your heart is righteous enough, later on we’ll invite the Holy Spirit to come, too”?

No! He did not do that! You cannot get saved unless you have the Holy Spirit living in you. So when He says, “Walk in the Spirit,” He is not saying, “Try to be spiritual,” He is saying, “The Spirit of God lives in you, so walk it out!” He has granted you access to His righteousness and now He is just saying, “Catch up with the work I have already put in you. Put to practice the things you already have in life and quit being anxious and fearful and stressed out.”

Do not wonder if you are too much in the flesh. You don’t need to say, “God, can You help me become more spiritual?” No, you already are spiritual—the life of God lives in you! The Spirit, the breath of God, is in you and you are not under the Law."

[Charles Miles]

I met a man a week or so ago who had converted to the Jewish religion. We had a very interesting discussion about just what he did and why. He had no idea what he had done and what moving back under the law positioned him for. I`m not sure that he evr believed what I was trying to explain, because he could not believe anyone would want him to accept a faith that was impossible to follow without help from the very One his new religion tells him is not of any use to him. Granted, the law is God`s law and will always be the ideal for which to strive, but everyone knows that the law is totally impossible to completely follow. The Lord says He will write his laws on our heart and remember our sins no more....and this is said to those who are already His and attempting to walk in the correct way. The indwelling Spirit will tell us when we are wrong, but that doesn`t mean we won`t still stray and sin. We, as children of God, have a mediator in heaven who will face the devil for us and represent our case to the Father. Without the Man standing at the right hand of the Father, we have no chance. Under the law, we have no standing, no righteousness with God, and are unable to present ourselves before Him even to plead our case. I`m so glad that my defense attorney is the Son of God, who has the perfect right to stand there and present my case. We should all do our very best even when we know it is nowhere good enough. The sin problem has been dealt with completely, all we have now is a faith/trust problem.

Merry Christmas to all.....we have already been given the greatest gift of all.

In Christ,

Charlie

[chipped china]

Good food! That was a great explanation of living under the law and living by Christ our defense attorney. I have a niece and her husband that are Jewish. If the Holy Spirit prompts me this may be helpful when talking to them.