SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2017 (PENTECOST SUNDAY)
CONTINUING IN THE SPIRIT
READ GALATIANS 3:1-9
MEMORISE: Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3)

In the international calendar, today marks the celebration of the day of Pentecost, i.e. 50 days after the death and resurrection of Christ. Hallelujah. God has given us His Holy Spirit. What a great opportunity!
Paul, in his words to the Galatians, confronted them with their real state that can best be described as being carnal. They were people who began well in God’s Spirit, being led by God, His presence and His Word, but because of the challenges they faced and the false teachings they allowed on the way, they turned from walking in the Spirit to carnality, man-made rules, traditions of men, false doctrines, and the likes. Instead of growing towards God, they became stagnant and redundant. They remained babies, fed with milk, while they ought to have grown to become teachers.
When you start in the Spirit, you must continue therein, if you are to end well. Do not begin in the Spirit, only to continue in the flesh. It took Paul’s cautioning and disciplinary grace, as a discipler and leader, to moderate the lives of those who were following God under his watch. Otherwise, they would have completely strayed from the Spirit. Leaders must watch over their followers to ensure that they do not derail. Parents and masters should do likewise. When did you have a definite start?
It is easy to drift from the Spirit to the flesh, without knowing. The flesh is deceitful. One can start well in the Christian journey, but later enter into mere religiosity, without knowing, still active in God’s service, but has been cut off from Him. This is the more reason we must examine ourselves and the lives of those under us regularly, to ensure that we are still continuing in the path of faith. Read Hebrews 3:12,13.
If you started in the Spirit, continue therein, and you will end well in the Lord. Be on your watch!

PRAYER POINTS:
1. Help me, oh Lord, never to quit Your path of righteousness.
2. Lord, help me to give more attention to examining myself and watching over those you have kept under my watch.
3. God, help our leaders to faithfully watch over what You keep in their care.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Hebrews 12 - 13