Morning by Morning, January 11 - “Blessed” to “Walk in His Ways” Good morning, Lord Jesus. Put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart, so I can seek to walk in Your ways by the power of Your grace today. ... “How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways” (Psalm 128:1). ... We don’t earn our salvation by walking in Your ways. We’re saved by grace through faith in You -- it’s our personal relationship with You as Lord and Savior alone that determines our salvation (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8). And at the same time, we do receive Your blessing as we walk in Your ways, as we honor and fear the Lord, as we yield to Your Lordship as the authority and guiding principle in our lives. We’re saved so that now we can walk in Your ways, as we grow deep in our faith, grow up in spiritual maturity, and grow out in the transformation of our world, just as You have transformed us. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set (us) free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4 ESV). The same power of Your grace that saves us and sets us free from the law of sin and death is the same power of Your grace that empowers us to “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (v. 4). In that place of growing in spiritual maturity -- not settling for merely our salvation, as wonderful and as essential as that is -- we also begin to experience the deeper life and fuller peace that’s now available to us through life in Your Spirit: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:5-8). Praise You, Lord, for setting us free for life in You! We have life in You because Your very Spirit lives in us! “(We), however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in (us). Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in (us), although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in (us), He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to (our) mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in (us)” (Romans 8:9-11). Thank You for this grace! Thank You for this power of God abiding in us to walk in Your ways as You live out Your ways through us: “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if (we) live according to the flesh (we) will die, but if by the Spirit (we) put to death the deeds of the body, (we) will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:12-14). All by the power of Your grace that saves us and is maturing us, we are sons and daughters of God, set free to live by the Spirit, as we are led by the Spirit to walk in Your ways by Your Spirit. And in this, we are truly blessed. “For (we) did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but (we) have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs -- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him” (Romans 8:15-17). What is to “suffer” is not our true identity as children of God in You. What is to “suffer” is our flesh -- that part of us that wants to be Lord ourselves instead of yield to Your Lordship, wanting to walk in our own ways apart from Your ways. It’s our flesh that needs to suffer and die by the mercy of Your grace so that we can truly live our life in Christ, as we allow You to live Your life in us: “(We) have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer (we) who live, but Christ who lives in (us). And the life (we) now live in the flesh (we) live by faith in the Son of God, who loved (us) and gave Himself for (us)” (Galatians 2:20). “For (we) have died, and (our) life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is (our) life appears, then (we) also will appear with Him in glory!” (Colossians 3:3) That’s the blessed life! That’s our best life now! -- to borrow a phrase from a famous preacher and apply it to the will and ways of our even more famous Savior! So I begin this day thanking You for Your grace to walk in Your ways by Your Spirit in the fear of the Lord. Keep putting Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart all day long. Keep filling me up with Your Spirit all day long (Ephesians 5:18). And I thank You now that it will be another good day in Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays My friend, may you be empowered by God's grace to walk in His ways, with the Spirit of Christ living His life in you, in Jesus' name. God bless you!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries Mailing Address: 412 S. Adams Street #148 Fredericksburg, Texas 78624
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