It's pretty clear that God's trying to tell me something specific. Last week I read through Romans which, at its center (chapter 8) has some of the greatest stuff in the Bible: If we live according to the Spirit we will desire things according to the Spirit, but if we live according to the flesh we will desire things according to the flesh.
Now this week I'm reading through Galatians and it basically has the same thing: "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another..." (Galatians 5:16-17).
This is messing me up! Right when I read this Galatians verse, I though of Holly's and my trip back from California (where we hung out with the coolest, oldest people in the world) and at one point, God made a thought enter my mind saying, "You should pray with your wife." I then thought that it would be a great idea to do that. Then...nothing. I began thinking about something else and shrugged off my thoughts of prayer. But here's the cool thing...literally minutes later Holly asked me if we could pray together!
It was at that point that I realized that I failed. God wanted to use me to bring my family before his throne and worship Him together, but I was not walking according to the Spirit. I kinda thought that I had been walking according to the Spirit simply because I had a good thought about praying, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Literally, my flesh set its desire against the Spirit...and my flesh won.
So, what the smack do I do now? Certainly, confession, repentance, and renewal are a part of it. James 5:16 says, "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed." In Luke 5:32 Jesus says, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Finally David says in Psalm 51:9, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me."
Repentance is great and all (I DID IT! if you went to CALM last Sunday, you'll get this :) but is there a way we can NOT sin; NOT be led by our flesh? In thinking of this, I think of an old Cherokee story:
A father was teaching his son about the two wolves that are in a battle over each man. One wolf is good and will bring a man honor. The other wolf is bad and will bring dishonor. To this the boy responds, "How do I know which one will win?" And the father told the boy, "The one which you feed."
Just like these wolves who are in a battle over every man, so is our flesh in a battle with our Spirit. Just as the wolf who gets fed will overcome the other, so also does the Spirit or the flesh overcome the other as we feed it.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Being Led and Actually Following
Posted by As Christ Lives In Me at 8:43 AM
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2 comments:
another similar experience. while there i got an idea to pray before the day actually started with my cocounselor, i did not say anything. lo and behold my cocounselor was the one to ask if i wanted to. i dont think it is so much your flesh as much as it is satan convincing you a different way is better and when you give into that you let him win. correct me if i am wrong, but most people do want to serve God, but satan comes in and says you will further the kingdom more if you put yourself first.
That's really weird.. But I don't know if it is kind of the same thing but like I get verses everyday and soetimes 2 times a day from people who send verses everyday.. lol And today's verse was "Walk in the wise and bcome wise; associate with fools and get in trouble". Proverbs 13:20. It was really weird to that that verse was the one for today because like you said at the end, whichever you feed the most you will conquer. I was feeding the flesh today and I indeed got in trouble. But not literally, but through conviction. Does that make sense? any comments?
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