Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit
Galatians 5:25
Where are you with God right now? Maybe this is a question that we ask ourselves less and less nowadays. We have regularly heard that to grow close to God and be connected to God is essential to our faith. However, maybe we have not searched deeper in our hearts, to find out how we thirst for God. The verse above tells us to live a Spirit led life, to obey the leading of God. We do not want to ignore the guidance of God, which will result in distancing ourselves from Him. Gaps between us and God can happen to everyone, and every Christian’s struggles are real. Christians sometimes either grow distant from God in their comfort zone or dismiss the Gospel as less relevant nowadays compared to other times in history. We might just go cold and become apathetic out of spiritual burnout and spiritual frustration.
We could have been a Christian for a long time by now. We can still easily take our faith for granted and forget God’s authority. When was the last time we thought about the love we had at first (Revelation 2:4) for God, and when was the last time we prayed for ourselves to not be lukewarm, but to be committed to God? We can look back to how we have experienced the presence of God, how we experienced answered prayers, and how we have experienced the kindness and goodness of God. If we do, we will find that God is faithful, and He is still the same God who is love and merciful. May God help us be renewed in love and rediscover the love we had at first.
We risk a stagnant spiritual life if we are not purposeful and committed to connect with God. It then becomes very easy for us to question God’s authority. Then we use our plans to replace His plans and determine our ideas to replace actual commands from the Bible. And finally, fix our own terms of faith to replace His terms.
During this lent, let us be renewed in our faith. We can start by rediscovering our purpose of faith in God.
From the verses below, let us meditate and rediscover the purpose of faith:
If we are in the faith, we will know Him and love Him.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Deuteronomy 6:4
If we are in the faith, we will live for Him.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20
Our satisfaction is from Him.
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16:11
We will commit to serve Him.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
Apart from that, let us persevere and make it our desire to know Him, to keep pressing on in knowing our God better by the day.
Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.
Hosea 6:3
Let us be in awe of our God, the only God. The one who is sovereign over all (Isaiah 40:9).
Let us obey the sovereign power of God (Isaiah 40:10), obey His rule and joyfully expect His just reward in the end.
Finally, let us draw strength and gain wisdom from our infinite God (Isaiah 40:28).
