Yesterday’s post was pretty heavy. These are heavy times. But we can be assured of the hope we have in Christ Jesus; Jesus is in us by faith in him. And into that belief, we are guided by the Spirit, because we are not capable in our broken humanity without the divine to help us defend against evil and to advocate on our behalf to continue moving God’s universal plan of redemption forward.

Welcome all to the Thursday, May 14, 2020 daily post from Peachtree Baptist Church, my name is Paul Capps, pastor. Today I want to provide some ways for you to practice your relationship with the Spirit of God in you. First, if you are unsure of your faith, God is reaching out to you even now, seeking to use you to make a difference in this world. When you surrender to knowing God by faith in Jesus, the Spirit will begin a new work in you. And if you are a person of faith, you know, as I know each and every day, that I am not doing what I could be doing because of my weakness and rebellion, but I am confident that I am being transformed even as this whole world groans for redemption. And so today I offer to you some very practical ways to practice that work of advocacy for the fruits of the Spirit.

I’ll start with information, then inspiration for practicing the work.

It is a little risky to suggest places to go online because it may seem as though I am fully endorsing views, but that to me is simply another symptom of the evil one, the prosecutor at work, trying to divide us into walled islands in a pretentious act of disrupting God’s plans of redemption. I would encourage you not to be baited. Being human means remembering that we get it wrong most of the time, but keeping in step with the Spirit means looking for places that represent the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

A few days ago I mentioned an article from Christianity Today about defending against conspiracy theories. In the article, Ed Stetzer suggests that Christians are especially susceptible to conspiracies and need to be very careful. And just Monday, the leadership at BioLogos put out a similar article, providing ways for Christians to respond to attempts at division with well-being.

I have heard from colleagues that they have found it hard to discern good information from bad regarding this pandemic. For me personally, Johns Hopkins continues to effectively collate and distribute data and research, I have personally found their Covid site very helpful in feeling confident about information related to the pandemic

During this time I continue to be inspired by my alma mater, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Their president Dr. Scott Sunquist recently wrote a powerful piece about putting our understandings of God’s justice into practice. He uses the recent murder case of Ahmaud Arbery as an example for taking action.

Finally, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship should be a bookmark on your browser, and a follow on your Facebook and Twitter feed. They are working hard to help churches figure out unified ways to begin co-existing with this virus. One very helpful blog post posted just yesterday was reporting the surprise that more people are attending online services weekly compared to before the virus.

Of course there are other organizations that are working hard to represent the advocacy they experience by the indwelling of the Spirit in them. I look forward to how we as a church and the body of Christ may become more active in recognizing our steps with the Spirit as we seek to serve our resurrected Lord.