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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are Galatians 5; Leviticus 19; 2 Samuel 9; 2 Chronicles 10.
Galatians 5:16-24
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
There have been times when sorely-tempted, people have given in and fallen into sin. There have been times when faced with the opportunity to do a great work of faith and faithfulness people have risen to the challenge and done extraordinary things.
But we who have been called by the Holy Spirit of God also know that we do not go all the way down the vortex of temptation and sin. We haul ourselves back before completely giving in to the point of death. The Holy Spirit prevents us from completely abandoning the faith – sinners though we are. And we also know what it is to propose some great act of sacrificial love, but to fail to give in fully to the point of death.
If we are free in Christ why is a life of faithfulness so difficult? Paul speaks of this here when he says, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Galatians 5:17). We do not do what we want to do on either side. We don’t give in fully to temptation. Nor do we perfectly follow the lead of the Holy Spirit.
There is a war going on. We are saint and sinner. And the struggle will continue until life’s end. But even as we struggle, we do not despair. We rely on the Holy Spirit’s power to fight temptation, and to restore us in repentance and faith when we stumble. And we pray that the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control would ever more control our hearts, minds, and hands.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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