Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God

Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;

Give me life in your ways. Psalm 119:37

 

Read Ephesians 4:30—5:2
What is so good about making space this evening for a quiet time with God is that I can be renewed in who I am. I am a person in Christ. It may be tempting to read the list of these things I am to avoid — bitterness, wrath, anger, wrangling, and slander, all malice — to read this list and tell myself, ‘Don’t let your guard down. Don’t let your standards slip.’ But that is rarely helpful. Perhaps a little, but not greatly. Rather than trying harder at what I do, this quiet time is an opportunity to remember who I am. And where I am. It is all based on what Christ has done. I am living in the place he has won for me. The place of divine love. The outcome of his self-giving, the fruit of his self-offering, the product of his self-sacrifice. That’s who I am and where I am.

Prayer
Dear Lord, who gave yourself up for me, who made yourself an offering for me, who counted me more precious than yourself and sacrificed yourself for me, you have closed the door to my own way. You have made it impossible for me to be true to myself except by allowing the Holy Spirit to move me, to inform me, to mould me into your likeness, and to produce in me beauty and fruitfulness in the things of God. For the fruits of the Spirit of God are also the character of a truly human life.