The Daily Word: Sunday, September 26th, 2021
Isaiah 48:12-50:11
Ephesians 4:17-32
Psalm 69:1-18
Proverbs 24:5-6
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Commentary from Pastor Michael White:
…who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. – Eph. 4:19
You were designed to live in partnership with God. God made you “in His own image” (Gen. 1:27). He gave you ears to hear His voice! He gave you eyes to see His will. He gave you senses to perceive His presence. And as you learn to “walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16), you will be “led by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:18) more and more as time goes on.
But if you ignore the Holy Spirit, your senses will grow dull. Your partnership with God will get weaker and weaker until it is fundamentally non-existent! Today’s verse describes those who are “past feeling.” Feeling is the Greek word apalgeo,[1] which means “to cease to feel pain or grief.” When you do or say things that don’t align with God’s heart, it should pain you! It should cause you grief. But if you willfully ignore His commands for long enough, you will stop feeling that grief. You will move “past feeling” and your flesh will take over. Your life that was meant to be yielded to God’s Spirit will instead by molded and shaped by the spirit of this fallen world.
Are you “past feeling?” Have your ears been so closed to God that you no longer know what He sounds like? Has your life been so closed off from God that His Holy Spirit no longer feels welcome? Ask Him to soften your heart. Ask Him to restore your feeling! The Holy Spirit is knocking at the door to your life. Will you answer and let Him in?
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. – Ezek. 36:26
Prayer:
Lord, soften my heart! Make my ears receptive to Your voice. Make my soul sensitive to Your touch! Open my eyes so that I can see what You want me to do, and what You want to do through me. I am ready, and I am waiting. Holy Spirit, come and move through me, in Jesus’ name!
© Michael D. White, 2021. All rights reserved.
[1] Strong’s G524