Romans 8:5-6 "Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace."
Well, I guess we are sticking with Holy Spirit today (of course, we should be sticking with Him everyday)...
Growing up some of us I'm sure have heard at some time or another, "Use your head" or "That thing on top of your shoulders is called a head, use it once in a while". We probably heard that mostly because we were doing something stupid and was caught. Or maybe we received bad marks on a report card when we know and our parents knew we could have done better.
We live in a society where we want what we want and we want it right NOW. Our flesh has a bad, bad case of the gimme's - give me this and give me that. Or it only gives when there is a reward to be gained or giving satisfies some fleshly need of acceptance or prestige... okay, let's stop for a moment and lick our wound ;) But really, before Jesus was in our lives, most of us gave to get. We needed some kind of satisfaction in it. That, my friends, is how the flesh operates and would STILL operate if we gave in to it.
But no, we don't have to give in to our own fleshly desires that originate in our MINDS, anymore. They're not a part of us anymore. Oh, yes, they do try to rise up from the dead - but they have no life (sort of like all these zombie movies that have come out recently). They have no life, unless we give it to them. satan, lucifer demons have no power unless we give it to them. See a correlation? satan comes to steal, kill or destroy... that's all. If we don't let him, then he can't touch us. Unless we have some sort of sin that is opening the door for him or some wound that we haven't been healed of (the enemy can piggy-back on hurts - as in a spirit of torment or even a spirit of unforgiveness).
The Spirit, He plays a whole new ballgame. Once the pitcher throws us the ball (thinking that it's going to land where he wants it to land) and we slam it out of the ballpark (to his ultimate surprise). We can run the bases and come Home. Our MINDS are set on one purpose - to go Home and take as many with us as we can.
Slamming the ball out of the ballpark is telling the flesh, "N...O... NO". For the recovering alcohol, it can't have that drink, because that drink would lead to another and another and death. It can't have a whole half gallon on ice cream every weekend. It can't have that cigarette - especially not having one for 6 years and the desire hits... hypothetically speaking. It can't have that new motorcycle. Why can't it have all these... why does the flesh pout when it doesn't have what it wants? Because these things are not what Holy Spirit wants for us.
First Base is inviting Him in to empower us to run the distance of our lives. There's a couple more bases to run and the joy of having slammed the ball out of the ballpark can only last so long by itself. Since we can't run the distance of our lives by ourselves, then we need help... His help.
Second Base is listening for His Voice. Sometimes this needs training. Sometimes trial and error training, but there's an easier way. Ask the Lord what to do, where to go, how to do it, when to do it. Then be PATIENT for an answer (I envision you envisioning throwing something at me for using THAT word)... Most of the time, an answer comes right then. We hear it in our spirits. It's either yes, no, or maybe - which usually means WAIT. Yeah, I hate those 4-letter words...
Third Base is doing what His Voice is telling us to do. Our flesh most of the time desires something that isn't going to be good for us - physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially, etc... Holy Spirit/Jesus/Father wants only the best for us. Look at Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruit of the Spirit - actually read from verse 13-26... He wants us to live in love, joy, peace, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, self-control, kindness, patience (forbearance). He wants our mind not to be governed by the flesh that will eventually die and decay. He wants our minds to be led by the Spirit our of hearts that love Him and would do anything for Him, because He (Jesus) did everything for us.
Then we come Home into the waiting arms of Jesus. Who leads us to Father and we finally see Him 'face to face' and He's smiling. I don't know about you, but I like it when I sense that He's smiling on me or on someone I'm praying for. Then, with a voice like thunder, He says, "Well-done good and faithful servant, enter into My Rest."
That's the Spirit's desire - that's my desire. How about you?
Holy Spirit - Jesus Culture
No comments:
Post a Comment