Flesh Versus Spirit (Daily Devotional)

Greetings and trust that you are journeying strong with the Lord and we speak God's blessing over your life and thank you for this opportunity to come to you and spend a few minutes with you. This week, we are talking about the motives of our hearts and today we want to understand the difference between the motives which result in the works of the flesh and the motives that give birth to the things of the Spirit. In Galatians chapter 5, verses 19 to 21 and I'm only reading certain parts of these three verses, the apostle Paul says, ‘Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, envy, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.’ Now, as believers, we understand the difference between the works of the flesh and the works of the Spirit. But what we must understand is what is it that determines something that is a fleshly work and something that is a spiritual work or a work of the Holy Spirit. In this list, Paul mentioned certain things that are really the motives of our hearts. He talks about things like hatred, jealousy, selfish ambition, envy, and strife and these are things that are actually the motives, the motivations of our hearts. So, even if I'm doing a seemingly good thing, but if the motivation is jealousy or if the motivation is hatred or contention, wanting to outdo somebody else or selfish ambition, then the good thing that I'm doing because it's wrongly motivated ends up being a work of the flesh, not a work of the Spirit. So, this is something very important that the motivation with which something is done will determine whether it is a work of the flesh or a work of the Holy Spirit. If something is really motivated by the Spirit, motivated with love and joy and peace and kindness and meekness and temperance and faith, is motivated out of those things, then it's a work of the Spirit. But if something is motivated about out of these kinds of things like jealousy and selfish ambition and anger and hatred and contention, then it results in the work of the flesh. Paul makes it very clear that such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So, what God is looking at is not just the works but the motivation with which it happens. And so, we have to guard against fleshly motivations. Let’ pray, Father, we ask that you will help us to watch over our hearts so that the motivations with which we do things will be of the Spirit and not of the things that result in the works of the flesh. Watch over us O God and guide us, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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