“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.” (Galatians 6:18 NIV)
In some of his letters, the apostle Paul closes by praying that the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ might be, not just with the believers,
but specifically, with their spirit. What impact does this grace of
God—his unmerited favor; his doing for us [what we can’t do for
ourselves]; his love in action—have on that innermost part of our being
and, consequently, on our lives as a whole?
[The first thing //that
happens] is that we become conscious of God /wherever we are. We may be
chatting with someone about an everyday matter but, like the Psalmist,
we can simultaneously be saying in our hearts, “I have set the Lord
always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved”
(Psalm 16:8). Think of all the trouble //that saves us from! Think of
all the sin that saves us from!
In his New Testament letter, James
says, “But each one is tempted /when he is drawn away by his own desires
and enticed”
(James 1:14). What does James mean /when he says “drawn
away”? Drawn away from what? Drawn away from a sense of God’s
presence! But God’s presence is not felt only at an altar. The Lord is
as much in our kitchen or on the bus () we take to work every day /as he is
in a church building. We just need for the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ – his impact, his love, his embrace – to be with our spirit /so
that we can sense him with us. When that happens, we get careful about a
lot of things, because the Lord is made real; and every day becomes a
holy day, every day is sacred, every hour is sacred.
The good news is that we’re not left /to ourselves /to try and live holy
lives /as we become conscious of God’s presence.
Instead, we can look
forward /to the fact //that holy desires are actually born in us /when the
grace of the Lord is touching our spirit. Too often we try to replace
bad and angry and impure desires /by trying to have no desires at all.
But we can’t erase something with nothing. [The only way to live
victoriously] is to have the Holy Spirit create new desires in
our hearts.
Have you ever had a desire /to read the Word of God or go to
a prayer meeting or just be in the presence of God in your home?
Who
do you think gave you that desire? Your flesh? Do you think the world
or the devil gave you that desire?
No, that desire came from the grace
of God /touching your spirit.
We have to pray, “Oh God, help me; let
your grace be with my spirit today, and form new desires in me!” The
more we do that,
the more God will give us holy instincts, kind
thoughts, and loving words for others. We’ll start doing things and
we’ll wonder [where it’s all coming from]. It’s coming from us, but it’s
not really us, for the Bible says, “It is God //who works in you both to
will and to do for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). He gives us
the willing power and the doing power, but it all comes by his grace on
our spirit. So, not only do we become aware of God, but God also begins
to shape our thoughts and causes us to do things for his glory as his
grace touches our innermost being.
Thank God that this amazing grace is available to you and me today!
Read Galatians 6:18 and 1 Corinthians 15:9-11.