Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning.
Monday, March 23, 2026
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Desires of the Flesh (Galatians #62)
Bible Verse:Galatians 5:19-21
"You know perfectly well what I mean when I speak of indulging the “desires of the flesh”: such things as sexual immorality, impurity of mind, sensuality, worship of false gods, witchcraft, hatred, quarrelling, jealousy, bad temper, rivalry, factionalism, carousing, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like that. As I have told you before, those who indulge the desires of the flesh will never inherit God’s kingdom.
Verbatim Bible
19 Now, evident is the works of the flesh, which some is fornication, uncleanness, indecent conduct,
20 idolatry, making potions, hostilities, rivalry, jealousy, angry outbursts, selfish ambition, factionalism, dogma,
21 envyings, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things, which I forewarn to you just as I forewarned that those the such things practicing kingdom of god not will inherit."
Message:
Lest there be any mistake, Paul describes the kind of conduct that constitutes “desires of the flesh.” We have given the Verbatim Bible as the second translation today, because it emphasizes an important point (and, also, we can have some fun examining more closely exactly what each of these fleshly sins means, in Greek).
Paul’s primary intention is not to list commandments to avoid these specific sins. To refresh our memory, a “relative pronoun” is a word like which, who, what, etc., used to introduce a clause (a “relative clause”) that tells us something about a noun or pronoun preceding it. In the phrase, “desires of the flesh, which are sexual immorality, . . .” the word “which” is the relative pronoun.
Greek has a peculiar relative pronoun that English does not have. Try to imagine “whichever” or “which some” used as a relative pronoun: “the desires of the flesh, whichever are sexual immorality, . . . ” It signifies that Paul is not making a list of the desires of the flesh, but giving examples. If we have received the Holy Spirit and are attempting to follow it (or Him), we will not need to quibble about what is and is not sinful. We do not need to see it on a list. It does not have to be specifically prohibited in the Bible, New or Old Testament, for us to know it is contrary to the life in the Spirit and avoid it!
still small voice Elijah
Elijah’s “still small voice”
I have seen almost every concept in the Bible picked to pieces by commentators who want the Bible to say what they want it to say, not what it says. People naturally tend to read the Bible to confirm that their own ideas are correct, not to learn something new and especially not to learn that they are wrong about something. People do not want to hear that something they like, and have convinced themselves is right, is neither right nor even permissible.
I don't want to pick on homosexuality but “discovering” that the Bible does not forbid homosexual activity is a growth industry right now. This has spawned a number of gay apologists, whose methodology is to go through the New Testament and show that, wherever homosexuality is mentioned as a sin, it can be translated to mean something else (by simply ignoring what the Greek actually means).
But there is a fatal flaw to their logic, which is that God doesn’t care about their arguments. One cannot believe he has solved a Rubik’s cube by becoming color blind.
A person genuinely living in the Spirit will understand and avoid desires of the flesh, which includes every manner of perverted sexual desire (not to mention, abuse of “normal” sexual desire). One does not get to heaven by blinding one’s own Spirit. We may close our eyes or wink at what we consider itty-bitty sins — eating that last slice of pizza when we have had enough, spending too much on a luxury consumer item just to satisfy our vanity, etc., but God is not blind and will not wink. He will forgive sin, but He will not wink at it.
And let us remind ourselves, first and foremost, that gay people are God’s beloved children. The hatred occasionally visited upon them by certain “Christians” is heartbreaking; but our duty of love, and God’s commandments about judging others, are topics for another day.
endless knot
Meditation
:
Prayer :
Be merciful, O Lord, to those who have entrusted me, an unworthy sinner, to pray for them. Be merciful, O Lord, to all who ask Your help. O Lord, make this day a day of Your mercy; give to each according to their petition. Be the Shepherd of the lost, the Guide of Light of unbelievers, the Teacher of the unwise, the Father of orphans, the Helper of the oppressed, the Healer of the sick, the Comforter of the dying, and lead us all to the desired end — to You, our refuge and blessed repose. Thus I pray, in the name of Christ,
Amen.
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