The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Bewitched?"
God gives Himself to those who trust the Lord Jesus Christ by imparting His Spirit to dwell within our spirit. He also promises an active and involved participation in our hearts and lives.
"I will dwell in them and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16; emphasis added).
Our spiritual enemies likely know better than we do what a wondrous and powerful gift our Father has given to believers in Christ. Thus, they tempt us incessantly to exchange living fellowship with with God for something other and something less.
"O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?... This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:1; 2-3).
Note the spiritual element of the Galatians' detour from grace to ritual and legalism: "who hath bewitched you?" Human weakness alone does not account for the challenge we face in maintaining the personal fellowship with our Heavenly Father that fulfills His desire and purpose in our lives. The devil and his minions continually seek to thwart our fellowship with the Lord, as based on His grace and truth in Christ. They well know that the believer who draws close to God in personal fellowship will be the same believer who walks in faith and faithfulness.
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5).
We must therefore "fight the good fight of faith" (I Timothy 6:12). Someone will try in this day to thwart our experience of God's vibrant presence known through His Word, His Spirit, and His personal working in our hearts and lives. Yes, someone will attempt to "bewitch" us by enticing us to exchange the reality of grace in the Lord Jesus for the ritual of viewing the Christian life in terms of mere obligation and duty. Let us get our dander up over such an attack! And let us determine to draw near to our Father in the Heart to heart communion that enables us to truly live by the life of Christ. Again, He gave to much for believers to fail to avail ourselves of His promise to dwell in us and to walk in us.
"Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in Thy presence."
(Psalm 140:13)
"Thou wilt show me the path of life. In Thy presence is fullness of joy. At Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore."
(Psalm 16:11)
Weekly Memory Verse
If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin.
(I John 1:7)
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