Saturday, January 11, 2020

EACF 40 Days of Prayer - January 11, 2020

EACF 40 Days of Prayer 2020
Day 11: Praying for Growth Out of Sin

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit." - Galatians 5:22-25 ESV

There's one final thing we should pray before we leave Galatians 5:22-25. We should pray for growth out of sin and into this new life God gives us through His Spirit.

But here is the struggle: do we really want to be done with sin? After all, there are so many sins that feel good when we commit them. And life is so much easier when we also engage in sins of omission - sleep longer, neglect God's Word, don't pray, don't forgive others, don't reach out to your neighbor, co-worker, or classmate in need. Life seems simpler when we don't worry about such things...and when we do not actually follow God.

But sin kills us. We know that sin ultimately kills, so we flirt with it, dance with it, allow just enough of it not to get to the point where we feel compromised. But sin kills immediately, too. Sin kills our communication with God, and sin keeps us from keeping "in step with the Spirit." Sin means we miss out on all the good things, the better things, the blessed things that God has in store for us.

Choosing to follow Christ is a daily decision: Jesus said, "let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).  When we follow Jesus, He blesses us. Pray for a spirit of growth in your relationship with God, growth out of sin and to be able to keep in step with Him.

This is getting long but I just want to share an image: when I was a child, I had to walk with my oldest brother somewhere. He's ten years older so his steps were way bigger than mine. It took me two steps to keep up with every one of his...and it was tiring. But eventually, I grew and was better able to keep in step with him (and then beat him in our first Peachtree Road Race, hehe).

Pray for the blessing of walking out of sin's grasp and in step with Christ. Pray for your own struggles and pray for two others you know who need this prayer, who need you to intercede for them. Write down the names of those for whom you prayed, and send them a message to encourage them and demonstrate God's love. You can say, "I prayed for you today. Is there anything I can keep in mind as I continue to pray for you?" As we do this, God will work powerfully through our group, bringing us closer together and closer to Him.

This is day 11 as we "Pray for Good."

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