Dear First Pres,
Have you invited the Holy Spirit to lead you today? Have you spent any time meditating on the work of Jesus for your salvation? Have you followed the prompting of the Spirit?
If you heard Sunday’s sermon, these questions should sound familiar. How do we live by the Spirit as Paul exhorts the Galatians? We invite the Holy Spirit to be in charge of our day (something I pray multiple times throughout each day). We meditate on the life and work of Jesus crucified, resurrected and ascended. And we follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit as they come throughout the day.
One of the ways I’ve been practicing the obedience of following the promptings of the Holy Spirit is to pay attention to the people that randomly pop into my mind. It has seemed random, but I don’t believe it is actually random. I’ve come to just trust that the Holy Spirit is bringing those folks to mind for a reason. So, when you pop into my mind, I pray for you. Sometimes I have time to send a text or a note or make a phone call, but often I just pray for you by name. And time and time again, I learn later about something happening in the lives of those folks the Spirit brings to mind. Time and time again, people are encouraged and built up in faith knowing that someone was praying for them because the Holy Spirit prompted the church to pray.
Isn’t God good?! Isn’t it amazing that God loves you so much that He would prompt other believers to pray for you even if you haven’t reached out for help? YES! Amazing things happen when we follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
But the Holy Spirit doesn’t only prompt us to pray for other people. The Holy Spirit also prompts us away from our sinful nature. And when we simply cooperate with the Spirit in that work, we are transformed. Praise the Lord.
On Sunday I mentioned a book by Tim Chester called You Can Change: God’s Transforming Power for Our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions. I recommend it as a wonderful and practical companion to our study of Galatians. I borrowed Tim’s illustration that as Christians we are always double-booked. We’ve been invited to the feast of sin and we’ve been invited to the feast of God. One will never satisfy you (sin) and the other will eternally satisfy (God). May today we choose the Lord’s feast.
Blessings,
Jeremy
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