Today's Devotions

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Showcase: Assorted Treats

  • Soul of a Man by Blind Willie Johnson +

    Blind Willie Johnson ask in this song: Who am I? What does it mean to have a relationship with God? Read More
  • Shut It Tight, T Bone Burnett +

    I find it hard sometimes to say the way that I feel I do the very things I hate to Read More
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SylviaHave you ever tried to walk up hill in snow?

Not an easy task, if you are the first one to attempt it. But if you find a path that someone has walked before you, the climb up the hill is made much easier by walking in the footsteps of the one who came before. Galatians 5:22-23 says: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."

How often have we read that list as a check list and found ourselves lacking?
Love?  Well, it depends on the person.
Joy?   I am happy most of the time.
Peace?   Sure, when things are going well.
Patience?   I have some, until somebody makes me lose it!
Kindness?   I am a pretty nice person.
Goodness?   I am better than some people I know.
Faithfulness?    I usually do what I promise most of the time.
Gentleness?   Depends on how you define it.
Self-Control?   There are areas where I could use some more. Doesn't everybody?

Often reading this list leads to conviction and determination to work harder. Quickly the burden of trying to be more loving, more joyful, more peaceful, more everything becomes overwhelming. It feels like trying to walk uphill in snow.

We must put our feet in the nail-pierced footprints of Jesus, according to Galatians 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). That's our motivation and power. Galatians 5:25 tells us, "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." What sweet relief comes from knowing that my job is not to produce the fruit but to keep in step with the Savior, in alignment with the Spirit who lives His life in me and who produces the fruit.

We have all experienced glimpses of being in step with the Spirit. Think back to that situation when even you were impressed by the level of grace and love you had in a certain tough situation because that wouldn't have been your normal response. Rather than it being surprising, God wants it to be the norm, the natural flow of being in step with Him.

Be blessed to bring your spirit, soul, and body in step with the Spirit, so that your true beauty, the beauty of God's Spirit living in you, may show forth. He has given you the good gift of Himself in you. He makes you more like Himself as you let Him transform you into His image. The Holy Spirit reaches into the deep places of your inner being and expresses Himself through you. "As this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives" (Galatians 5:25 The Message). 

Be blessed to bear much fruit

as you keep in step with the Spirit of all fruit...

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control.

Reflections to Consider

  • Corporate Spirituality

    Encouragement, Accountability, and Worship Solitude, community and ministry are three areas requiring balance and integration in the Christian walk. The Read More
  • Companion of the Souls

    When the two disciples recognised Jesus as he broke the bread for them in their house in Emmaus, he "vanished Read More
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Publications

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Music

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Audio & Video

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Favorites

  • Transforming this World: The Hope of Glory by NT Wright +

    Wright confronts the perspective that this world doesn’t matter, and that we live only to be in heaven. He shows Read More
  • What is Good in a World that Defies Hope: a talk by NT Wright +

    This is the second part of three talks by NT Wright at Harvard University in November, 2008 on the topic Read More
  • The Stream, the Lake and the River: NT Wright +

      Acts 2.1-21; John 7.37-39; a sermon at the Eucharist on the Feast of Pentecost, 11 May 2008, by the Read More
  • Jesus in the Perfect Storm by NT Wright +

    Zechariah 9.9-17; Luke 19.28-48; A sermon for Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011, In the University Chapel of St Salvator, St Read More
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Hidden Blessings

  • Warfare Spirituality +

    The Trinity function as farmers of our souls, actively caring for God’s creation: an ongoing, radical reclamation of His creation. Read More
  • You are free +

    The Jesus who calmed a sea of deadly, stormy waves, whose arrival sent thousands of demons cringing and cowering to Read More
  • Deliver us from Evil +

    Spiritual warfare is something that few Christians, regardless of their denomination, are accustomed to thinking about, let alone engaging in. Read More
  • Baby, you're a rich man! +

    The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is Read More
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