Keeping in Step with the Holy Spirit

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.   Galatians 5:16, 22-23  NIV

   Growing in life means that sometimes we have to ask ourselves hard questions.  Galatians 5:16 challenges us to ask ourselves, “Do I really want the life of God that comes through the Holy Spirit? I may say I want life in the Spirit, but do I really want it?

  

   The word “flesh” in the New Testament (see the verse above) simply refers to natural human desire seeking to satisfy itself in the easiest way possible without any regard to the long term consequences or to how it effects others.  The flesh doesn’t care if its choices lead to addiction or if its choices hurt other people.  It doesn’t love, it lusts.  It doesn’t trust, it manipulates.  It doesn’t care about truth, it will lie to get what it wants.

   The Spirit, on the other hand, is focused on love.  When we walk by the Spirit, our desires our fulfilled, but not at the expense of others.  The Spirit makes it possible for us to enjoy all of God’s blessings while at the same time sharing his blessings with others.

   Paul tells us to walk by the Spirit, meaning that life in the Spirit is a humble partnership with the Spirit in every moment of life.  At first, this is extremely difficult.  Our flesh fights against the Spirit’s work in us.  But as we discover the good life the Spirit wants to share with us and learn to simply trust him, a habit of surrendering to the Spirit becomes a more and more consistent part of our lives.

   Do you want the good life of the Spirit?  Set aside some quiet time this week to honestly ask yourself this question and consider your answer.  If your answer is yes, then begin a habit of surrendering yourself to God and inviting the Holy Spirit to fill you with his life.  Start every day by letting the Holy Spirit know that you want to be completely filled with the kingdom life of God so that God's will can be done in your life just as it is done in heaven!  Continue to give yourself to Spirit throughout the day whenever it comes to your mind or when you are feeling tempted by your flesh to go against God's will.

Praying for God's Blessing on Our Enemies

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another.      Romans 12:14-16  NIV

   While few of us have the opportunity to influence peace on a global or scale, or even just for our own country, we do have a mostly overlooked way to spread peace in our own sphere of influence.  Peace is something that spreads through webs of relationships, so even small actions by a few individuals can have a rippling effect  that accomplishes more than we can imagine.

    What is this opportunity that we all have?  It’s the opportunity to pray for and bless our enemies.  When we use the grace God has given us to pray for those who have caused us pain and ask for God’s blessing on them, we revolutionize our attitude toward them and we begin a ripple of peace.  This week, make a short list of people who have brought difficulty into your life.  Commit to praying for God’s blessing on them every day this week.  Don’t ask God to make them treat you better, just simply trust God to work for good in their lives in the way that he knows is best.  You will be amazed at how this will change your attitude toward the people on your list and make you more compassionate toward others in your life as well.