Fighter Verses

We need God to do a miraculous work when we read the Bible. So we must pray. In chapter nine of When I Don’t Desire God, John Piper introduces a memorable and helpful acronym for what to pray: I. O. U. S. Incline my heart to you, not to prideful gain or any false motive. (Psalm 119:36) […]

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). We are new creations, children of God, and our lives should reflect this reality. And remember, please, that this life in the Spirit is not spinning our wheels. We are moving somewhere. In Romans 8 Paul reminds us […]

Galatians 5:24–25, And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Character is determined by identity. At the end of the day, we live as who we are. Start with Paul’s primary command […]

The depth behind Galatians 5:19–23 reaches well beyond certain character traits that we should and should not have. The presence of the Holy Spirit invades our present realitiy to point to a new world. And his aim in the lives of believers is to produce lifestyles that are fit for this new world. As the […]

Galatians 5:22–23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. John Calvin summarized the Christian life as a transformation of identity, or better said, an exchange of possession. “We are not our own, but the Lord’s,” he writes. And thus, […]

Reading the Bible is such an interesting adventure. Just when you might think the text is going to zig, it often zags. In John 1:12-13 we have the unqualified promise of the Gospel joined with the specific work of God necessary for someone to be saved. Everyone who receives Jesus Christ for who He really […]

For our good. It is no small thing that the obedience God commands from his people is for our good. It’s not for some bizarre divine entertainment, to see how silly he can make us look. It’s not that he derives pleasure from making us suffer. It’s not that he’s getting back at us for […]

It is a mistake to think that all the commands of the Bible are only found in the Old Testament. The fundamental difference in the New Covenant is that it’s characterized by the Holy Spirit who empowers believers to believe and obey God.