Galatians Devotional:We all need a guide

  We all know that feeling of walking into a gym for the first time. You want to get in shape, and today is the day you’re going to start! There is one problem: You have no idea what to do. You don’t know anything about fitness or how to use the equipment. You need guidance. There are times in all of our lives where we need counseling to know what to do. At a gym, guidance comes in the form of a personal trainer. In our spiritual lives, our guide is called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of Jesus sends to us when we accept Jesus as our savior. In John 14:26, Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as our counselor, “whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things.” The Holy Spirit helps us in four ways, according to Galatians 5:

• He helps us overcome sin.
• He helps us follow God’s instructions.
• He produces godly qualities in our lives.
• He encourages us to seek God’s approval not man’s approval.

Before meeting Jesus, we did what seemed right to us. When we do what feels good at the gym, we rarely see ourselves change. When we do that in our spiritual lives, we find ourselves stuck in an endless cycle of sin. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we lived in conflict with God and His desires. Those old habits are hard to break. The only way to overcome sin and experience real life change is to listen and follow the Holy Spirit. As we let go of our old ways, our selfish desires are replaced with the characteristics of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Reflect:

• Which characteristics of the Holy Spirit do you see in you?
• Which characteristics do you need more of?