<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Ephesians 4;30-32<div><br></div><div><b>30. &nbsp;And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.</b></div><div><b>31. &nbsp;Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice,</b></div><div><b>32. &nbsp; and be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Paul is pleading with us to not interfere with the work of transformation God the Holy Spirit is doing in us. &nbsp; Notice in verse 31 he says, <i>“<u>Let</u>&nbsp;all bitterness…be put away from you”. &nbsp;</i>We do not make ourselves holy or fruitful, God working in us does all that. &nbsp;To Him be all the glory.</div><div><br></div><div>What we by our old nature can still do is the ‘alien work’ of&nbsp;resisting the working of God. &nbsp;I say ‘’alien’ because the old Adam has no place or residence in the new-man. &nbsp;He does&nbsp;not belong, he is not just a foreigner, he is our enemy. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>God in us&nbsp;is raising up a new man who delights to read his word, to be generous with what he has given us, to overlook the casual&nbsp;offenses and weaknesses of others, to love and pray for the wicked to be given repentance and faith. &nbsp;Our old nature hates and despises the new man and seeks to oppose him with the death and darkness we can still choose to live in. &nbsp;The old-Adam does not&nbsp;have to ‘decide’ to oppose the work of God, he&nbsp;does&nbsp;it naturally, automatically.</div><div><br></div><div>Faith believes God has cleansed us and made us his own dwelling, he&nbsp;is indwelling us, inspiring and empowering us to, <i>“by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body.” &nbsp;</i>(Romans 8;12-17)</div><div><br></div><div>If we resist anger and wrath, we do so only by God’s grace and&nbsp;faith. (Galatians 2;20b)&nbsp;<i>“The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” &nbsp;&nbsp;</i>(Not just on the cross, but by our baptism <u>into Christ,</u>&nbsp;he gives himself to us continually,&nbsp;we now&nbsp;live in and through Jesus.). Christian living by faith is &nbsp;believing this and is the new-man&nbsp;<i>“letting” </i>God indwell AND lead us.</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, grant us to believe, we are&nbsp;now&nbsp;the clean&nbsp;living&nbsp;‘glove’ on your hand. &nbsp;Indwell us and work through us to your glory. &nbsp;Inspire us and empower us to be life-givers, a witness of Christ indwelling his Church.&nbsp;</div><div>Make us mindful of our enemies (including our own old nature)&nbsp;who oppose you&nbsp;and remember,<i>&nbsp;“Greater is he </i>(Christ Jesus)<i>&nbsp;who is in you, than he </i>(Satan and our old nature) <i>who is in the world.”&nbsp;</i></div><div><i></i>(1 John 4;4)&nbsp;In Jesus we pray, Amen.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”<br><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Ephesians 4;30-32
30.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.31.  Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice,32.   and be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Paul is pleading with us to not interfere with the work of transformation God the Holy Spirit is doing in us.   Notice in verse 31 he says, “Let all bitterness…be put away from you”.  We do not make ourselves holy or fruitful, God working in us does all that.  To Him be all the glory.
What we by our old nature can still do is the ‘alien work’ of resisting the working of God.  I say ‘’alien’ because the old Adam has no place or residence in the new-man.  He does not belong, he is not just a foreigner, he is our enemy.  
God in us is raising up a new man who delights to read his word, to be generous with what he has given us, to overlook the casual offenses and weaknesses of others, to love and pray for the wicked to be given repentance and faith.  Our old nature hates and despises the new man and seeks to oppose him with the death and darkness we can still choose to live in.  The old-Adam does not have to ‘decide’ to oppose the work of God, he does it naturally, automatically.
Faith believes God has cleansed us and made us his own dwelling, he is indwelling us, inspiring and empowering us to, “by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body.”  (Romans 8;12-17)
If we resist anger and wrath, we do so only by God’s grace and faith. (Galatians 2;20b) “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.”   (Not just on the cross, but by our baptism into Christ, he gives himself to us continually, we now live in and through Jesus.). Christian living by faith is  believing this and is the new-man “letting” God indwell AND lead us.
Prayer:  Merciful Father, grant us to believe, we are now the clean living ‘glove’ on your hand.  Indwell us and work through us to your glory.  Inspire us and empower us to be life-givers, a witness of Christ indwelling his Church. Make us mindful of our enemies (including our own old nature) who oppose you and remember, “Greater is he (Christ Jesus) who is in you, than he (Satan and our old nature) who is in the world.” (1 John 4;4) In Jesus we pray, Amen. 
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”


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