Free but Costly

If someone were to go to a free community event, would that person be free to act however they want at that event? Say they wanted to hit and offend everyone they came in contact with, could they? It’s a free event—are they free to do as they please? What if they wanted to drink alcohol and get totally drunk and act foolishly, could they? Would it be permissible for them to freely have sex at this event? Or would there be a conduct code?

What about freedom in Christ? It’s free. Can the saved person act however they want?

What does free in Christ mean? Are we free to do as we please, is that what it means?

If it’s free then why is it so costly?

Freedom is free—meaning you can’t buy or earn your way in. But freedom does have a cost. America’s freedom has cost many lives.

A Christian’s freedom is free, but it cost Jesus His life.

The freedom we have in Christ means we are free from death, sin, hell and the world—free from the devil and all his evil. We love this part and rightly so, but where things get tangled up is the world component.

We are to be in but not of the world, okay so where do we free Christians draw our line? We obviously have to live in the world and no doubt it is one of our biggest adversaries.

Now think of this as the free community event, can a person do whatever they want? The answer is no. Just because it’s free it does not mean you can freely do whatever you desire or feel like. It’s the same with Christianity; just because it’s free we are not free to do as we please.

The freedom we have in Christ translates to this—free to love and obey—we are free from the devils hold on us and we are free to love and obey God and His word.

Our freedom costs us our life as we knew it before we accepted Christ as savior. Christ bought us a relationship of intimacy with God the Father, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit—intimacy that comes by way of freely submitting (James 4:7-8).

Sadly a lot of people have a hard time with this. Until I realized that my freedom was about relationship I did too. When we are not aware of the relationship factor, then it’s easy to get caught up in wanting to do whatever we want, not caring if we grieve God, using the grace clause as our excuse. The reason being—it’s all about us and our happiness—not realizing genuine happiness is the joy that’s found in relationship with God.

Christianity is not about going to church, ministry, being good, evangelism or any other reason. These are all necessary biblical elements but they are not why we become Christians—no, we become followers of Christ because of love. He first loved us—showing us how to love Him and others.

This amazing love cannot be attained outside of a relationship with God and relationship with God will cost you your life.

It makes sense. Think about it—how can we accept the free gift and draw near to God outside of holiness? What relationship does light have with dark? None. Sin separates light from dark.

Galatians 2:20 says,

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Essentially freedom bought our ability to crucify the old worldly person/life, so Christ, the light of the world, could live in us.

Listen to Romans 6:12-14 from The Message,

That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.

The freedom of God gives grace—grace leads to obedience—obedience leads to righteousness—we are instructed in Romans 6:13 to be instruments of righteousness.

Take note of what Paul says in Romans 6:15-16 about grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

We are free to love God—free to obey—free to lay our life down as a living sacrifice—free to be in the world and not of it—His grace makes way for it.

Please be encouraged in knowing that your freedom was bought with precious blood, shed to draw you near to God Himself.

Following is Romans 6:15-23 from The Message. It’s very lengthy but so good!

So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind? Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom! I’m using this freedom language because it’s easy to picture. You can readily recall, can’t you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God’s freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness? As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end. But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.

True Repentance

A lifestyle of repentance is a vital spiritual discipline for the thriving Christian. Without it, our flesh remains prideful. It is what we do with our sin that makes all the difference. If we hide our sin and defend ourselves, making excuses for our behavior, God cannot help us. Hidden sin has to be exposed—preferably by the one sinning.

Exposed sin needs to lead us to godly sorrow, which opens the door to true repentance. Godly sorrow is the grief we experience when we realize we have sinned against God Himself, this truth is illustrated in 2 Corinthians 7:8-10

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

The sorrow the world has to offer leads to death because it has nothing to do with true repentance; therefore, no changes are made. Worldly sorrow cheaply spits the words “I’m sorry” out of its mouth, desperately trying to relieve its own conscience. It is all about self, with no real regard for God or those it has hurt and wounded, which is why it leads to death.

Oswald Chambers says it in this manner,

Repentance always brings a person to the point of saying, “I have sinned.” The surest sign that God is at work in his life is when he says that and means it. Anything less is simply sorrow for having made foolish mistakes—a reflex action caused by self-disgust.

True repentance is a lethal weapon to be exercised daily. It births us into a healthy lifelong change. Repentance is not just acknowledging and confessing our sin, but the starting point of turning away from sin, as indicated in Acts 3:19.

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.

Casual Christians treat repentance as if it were the cold ocean where they just tiptoe at the shore. If we seriously want to be healed and live in a deeper relationship with God, than we cannot afford to be casual or to dabble. True repentance has to become our lifestyle.

It has to become our lifestyle because sin happens daily. When we ask Christ to be our savior He wipes away all our past sins. It would be great if at that point we stopped sinning all together, but that’s not the way it is.

There are sins of omission and sins of commission. There are heart attitudes that have to be dealt with daily, as well as issues that we are in the process of overcoming. We never arrive to perfection but are a work in progress.

A lifestyle of repentance is not meant to make us feel like losers, but to assist us in moving forward—in the way of sanctification.

One aspect of true repentance is that it can change our pallet for sin. Sin becomes distasteful when true repentance is taken in and savored—mainly because we recognize how our sin has separated us from God.

Another truth about repentance is that it kills pride in us. Isaiah 57:15 says,

I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

God dwells with those who are contrite and humble. Pride is a major enemy to a lifestyle of true repentance.

It’s also important to realize that the grace of God is what leads us to repentance and it comes by way of the Holy Spirit’s conviction, as stated in Romans 2:4

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness [grace] of God leads you to repentance?

When we repent and ask for forgiveness, God takes our sin and remembers it no more, as clearly specified  in Psalm 103:12

He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

Please do not keep reminding Him of it, simply shut the mouth of the devil and be led by the Holy Spirit.

In Romans 8:1, Paul writes,

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

If we live in the Spirit and not the flesh there is no condemnation or guilt. One way to know if we are operating in true repentance is to check our condemnation and guilt level. True repentance sets us free with no regret. True repentance also wipes out our sin and lifts our burden, allowing God’s refreshing to come to us. The enemy of our soul will try to convince us we’re not forgiven, set free, healed or delivered. He will attempt to heap shame on us, but we have to remember; if we sincerely repent, turn and operate in Godly sorrow, God forgives us. End of story. Our sins are removed as far as the east is from the west.

Essentially true repentance is priceless—it brings times of refreshing (Acts 3:19) that allow us to draw closer to God—who wouldn’t want that?

Please be encouraged to welcome godly conviction in your life and to live a lifestyle of true repentance. You won’t regret it.

The contents of this blog was taken from my book Thirsty Heart.

Conviction vs. Condemnation

Godly conviction and all of its potency, has been misconstrued as condemnation.

The Bible says in Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Condemnation is not of God, but is a way for the devil to keep people under his thumb—where they never feel worthy to know and love God, or never feel good enough to be loved by Him.

Conviction by God’s Holy Spirit on the other hand is not only needed but should be welcomed. I love the way Oswald Chambers describes it.

Conviction of sin is best described in the words:
“My sins, my sins, my Savior, How sad on Thee they fall.”
Conviction of sin is one of the most uncommon things that ever happens to a person. It is the beginning of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict people of sin (see John 16:8). And when the Holy Spirit stirs a person’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not that person’s relationship with others that bothers him but his relationship with God— “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight . . .” (Psalm 51:4). The wonders of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven person who is truly holy.

Justification happens when we accept Christ as Savior. By the mercy of God, we are free from the penalty of our former sin—justification, by faith in Jesus we are declared righteous. The process/life of a Christian does not stop at justification, but begins there. What follows is sanctification. By the grace of God we become holy and learn to live righteously. The work of sanctification is ongoing victory over sin.

Conviction is part of the Christian life—it’s interlaced in the work of sanctification—it is vital for the transformation process of holiness.

The Bible says “Be holy for I am holy” (1 peter 1:16 and Leviticus 11:44). We won’t be holy as God is holy without the recognition of our un-holiness!

1 John 1:8-10

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

If we were perfect and never crossed the lines of holiness, then we would not need godly conviction.

Where conviction and condemnation get all mixed-up, is when one’s own heart and soul confuse and complicate the two.

Whenever we hear or read, the powerful, Word of God, it should cause us to examine our life and behavior—therefore align ourselves to His Word. The confusion comes when our heart, mind, will and emotions don’t want to get aligned.

A heart that is hard or judgmental will hear God’s Word and feel condemnation. A person who lives with a spirit of offence will be offended at the Word and blame the preacher/messenger for being condemning or too harsh. A prideful rebellious heart will rebel against the Holy Spirit’s conviction and manipulate the words to be condemning. A religious person will turn the prompting of the Holy Spirit into another reason to complain.

The sad thing about this, is that the person with the twisted perception never progresses in their relationship with God. Whereas one whose heart is tender will realize when their life, behavior, heart and soul don’t necessarily line up to God’s Word and will repent. Thus—such humility will lead one into God’s presence, where we can know Him personally.

The Christian life is not about being perfect but about relationship with Christ and if that relationship comes by way of Holy Spirit conviction—urging me to become more like Christ and drawing me closer to Him—then I’m all in!

What about you?

Please be encouraged to soften your heart and embrace godly conviction.

Coming up in the next blog—the counterpart to godly conviction: True Repentance

John 16:8
And when he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

Longsuffering

All of God’s attributes are basically jaw droppers and worthy of our praise, but the one I feel compelled to mention in this blog is longsuffering.

Longsuffering is not really a word that we use very much these days and might better be known in today’s culture as patience.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 gives us a very graphic narrative of love. When reading this portion of scripture, keep in mind that God is love; therefore each expression used in depicting love—is an attribute of God.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

(It’s tempting to get distracted and write about love, but I’ll save that for another day!)

God is described as being longsuffering. He is very willing and patient to wait on us to love Him wholeheartedly. He provides volumes of opportunity for our heart to completely fall in love with Him.

Why? Why would God who created the whole universe, not just demand that we love Him?

The truth is, He gave us free will. We are free to love or not love God and we are free to love Him halfheartedly.

God didn’t want to create robots, programed to love Him. He wants people made of flesh and blood—created in His image—to choose to love Him.

When we think of patience we think of waiting, but genuine patience is not exactly about waiting—it’s put to the test in the way one waits.

The Lord is not impatient; He does not wait intolerantly for His creation to get their heart aligned with His. No, instead He offers favor, grace and mercy, that we may see and experience His love.

God is also extremely longsuffering with those that don’t or won’t make Him their Lord. I’ve watched Him over and over again extend His unconditional love to those who disregard Him.

Why is He so longsuffering with people who could care less about Him or His love? The answer is—salvation. He is not willing for anyone to spend eternity in hell—He gives countless opportunities for life change and repentance.

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

He’s longsuffering because of love. He desires to spend eternity with all His children.

I’m most longsuffering with my children. Why? Because I love and believe in them, I know them, I’ve seen their heart from the very beginning. I know their value and potential—I believe in God’s plan for them. I am not willing to just write my kids off when they portray immaturity or stupidity.

I’m by no means saying I’m as patient as God! I’m just trying to paint a picture for you of how loving, tender and longsuffering God is with His Children—with you and me.

As any good parent He does require obedience, but truly—obedience is birthed out of love—if we love God we will obey Him. (John 14:15) If we love Him we will surrender our whole heart and life to Him.

Let’s take this a step further—God calls us to be longsuffering. To suffer long with those He loves—to patiently see them to wholeheartedness in God and to salvation.

In order to do this we must disregard our own feelings and time frame. I’m preaching to the choir here. When people disregard my God, or trample my love and efforts to help them, my flesh wants to write them off and say “Oh well, I tried but it wasn’t received.” I want to protect myself from their rejection. This is where I push past the struggle and align my heart to God’s.

We have to realize it is not about us or about our comfort, but about God’s purposes and eternity. We must believe in God’s plan and purpose for people. We need to see God’s children as we see our own children and extend grace and mercy just as we do to our own.

I want to be a person of longsuffering (and not just with my own kids). What about you? In what ways can you be more longsuffering?

How do we become longsuffering? Patience and love are a fruit of the Spirit—to have this kind of fruit in our life we must continually be filled with the Spirit of God.

Please be encouraged to be more like Jesus and  love with longsuffering just as He loves you!

No Modifications

I have a love hate relationship with my workout DVD. It’s appropriately named the 30 Day Shred.
I love it because it’s just 20 minutes a day, I hate it because…well I don’t love exercise, not at all! The workout is circuit training, so you indulge in torturing yourself with a well-rounded mix of ab exercises, cardio and weights.

Every time I use it, I think I am going to preach a message using quotes from this DVD. So here it goes…

First, I have to say the reason I dislike exercise, is because it opposes my flesh. My flesh is happy to eat whatever it wants and never do a push up! My health, on the other hand is not!

The whole time I’m working out, my flesh is thinking of reasons why I should stop and never start again! This is where my will comes in. I have to will myself to exercise. Why bother? Because it’s good for me!

This analogy is very similar to our relationship with God. It would be so easy to just love God, accept Him as savior, live however we want and when life is over, see Him in heaven. Well sorry, that’s not the Bible’s interpretation of relationship with Christ or of salvation.

One statement my personal DVD trainer makes is, “You have to push—you do not get results for free!” Basically salvation is free, but costs you everything—kind of like exercise.

The one quote that continually rings in my ears is this, “There are no modifications for a jumping jack” In my world, I can and I do think of many modifications for jumping jacks—there’s the stand in one place and just move your feet…first your right, then your left and so on. Then there’s the one that keeps my cardio going, where I move side to side, one foot behind the other, but never jump off the ground as with a real jumping jack.

Believe me—I can come up with modifications! But isn’t that the way it is with our flesh? Always trying to modify Christianity, or doing what’s right? We need to remind ourselves—there are no modifications!

Next this beautiful, slender women on my DVD says, “So often people think they’re not strong enough, you’re told to just take the stairs, this gives you a false sense of lethargy—you can change!”

Isn’t this true in life as well? Following God wholeheartedly seems too hard, so we make excuses for half-heartedness—this absolutely gives us a false sense of lethargy! We can change, we can make heart, soul and lifestyle changes. By the power of God’s grace—we can follow God wholeheartedly!

The last motivational phrase is about quitting. She says, “I know you want to quit, you feel that knot in the middle of your stomach, that’s fear leaving your body!”

One very real opposition to living sold out for Christ—is fear.

Fear of change, fear of failure—of success—fear of pain.

Following is a quote from my book Thirsty Heart. It’s taken from the chapter, Sexual Healing for the Heart and Soul. In context, I’m talking about how sexual healing frees you to know and love God wholeheartedly. The following is a list of reasons given for not getting free, it was compiled after talking to a person steeped in fear of freedom.

Study the list below. Fear is the common thread. Fear immobilizes and disarms us, paralyzing our faith.

• Fear of the unknown: I know how to live like this and I am afraid to live differently.
• Fear of facing who I really am.
• Fear of facing the root cause.
• Fear of rejection and not being accepted; once people know who I really am they will reject me.
• Fear of pain.
• Fear of pain for others: I’ve caused enough pain to those I love already.
• Fear of the process to get free: Getting free is too time consuming and embarrassing.
• Fear of the cost to get free: What will be lost in the process?
• Fear of truth—Denial: If I ignore it, it will go away.

I love what 2 Timothy 1:7 says,

 God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

For a lot of people, change would mean—freedom. Healthy change that draws us near to God is priceless. Sometimes we just have to take a leap of faith, trusting and knowing that God loves us and He will help us!

The last phrase I want to leave you with is “Time and pressure.”

A planted seed breaks forth into a root bearing plant with time, pressure and the right environment. A piece of coal turns into a diamond with time and pressure.

Sometimes the pressure of life and its circumstances are the best environment for change—could it be that your time to change has come?

Please be encouraged to stand strong, with no modifications to your Christianity.

Describe Yourself

If you had to write a short one liner describing yourself what would you write? What if someone else had to define your character using one short line of words, what do you think it would say?

What would you write about Jesus in one line? What do you think He would write about Himself?

The only description Jesus ever gave of Himself is found in Matthew 11:29.

 I am gentle and lowly in heart                                          

No doubt, Jesus could have said amazing things about Himself. If we are confident people, then I’m sure without hesitation we can reiterate remarkable words about our self.

Why did Jesus describe Himself only once, and why only two expressions—gentle and lowly in heart?

I believe it was because of the “H” Word—humble—He was humble.

There are certain words that cause our flesh to recoil. To humorously ease you into them, I like to call them the “H” Word, the “F” Word or the “S” Word, etc. etc.

The “H” Word—humble or humility
The “F” Word—forgive or forgiveness
The “P” Word—pride
The “S” Word—submit, surrender or suffering
The “R” Word—relinquish or resignation

All joking aside, Jesus chose to describe Himself not with words of grandeur, but with simple yet difficult words that we as followers of Christ, by His grace, need to duplicate within our self.

Let’s look at all of Matthew 11:29

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

One way this scripture can be seen is—Jesus saying;
“Take my yoke”—submit to my ways.
“Learn from me”—listen, I have something to teach you.
“I’m gentle and lowly in heart”—I am humble.
“You will find rest for your soul”—in following these steps you will find a rare attribute to add to your life—peace.

As we submit to His yoke and humbly learn from Him we will be like Him and our heart, mind, will and emotions will be at peace.

In Romans 12:3 Paul says,

I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him.

We need to be honest in our estimation of our self, always measuring ourselves to God and His Word. Confidence is good and needed, but why not be gentle and lowly in heart? Thus, confident in who God is in us.

It’s easy to boast of God and unlike boasting in our self—it’s always true!
Psalm 34:2 “My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.”

There is a difference in being confidently humble verses humbly confident!

Be encouraged to live a life marked by humility.

Psalm 131 “Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp.Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.  O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—now and always.”

Marry a Prostitute?

I’m engulfed in an amazing novel titled Redeeming Love. It’s a work of fiction based on the true account of Hosea in the Bible.

The book of Hosea is about God’s restorative love for His people and the unique method He chose to reveal it. Essentially it’s a prophetic statement—God told Hosea to marry a prostitute. He doesn’t argue with God, but I wonder what he was thinking?

It was a harsh demonstration of loving the unlovely.

God wanted His people to know how much he loved and cared for them, that they were His beloved. He wanted to be known not as master, but as a loving husband. A loving husband that unconditionally loves His beloved, no matter the state of her heart and life.

As I’m reading this novel I’m praying and putting myself in two places, one—as the prostitute herself (Gomer in the Bible and Angel in the book) and two—as Michael Hosea, the man who loves the hurting, miserable prostitute.

Honestly, I can relate to both. Not that I’ve ever prostituted (thank God!) But in her, I see the person I used to be, one who self protects and is afraid to dream or imagine anything different for her life. A wounded person petrified of true love.

Sadly, I also see the person I am now. One who has experienced God’s immeasurable, healing, redeeming love—yet still hesitates—at times—to surrender my whole heart and soul in complete submission—for fear of pain.

I can relate to the man in this because He represents God. Scripture says to imitate God in all we do. I want to patiently love as He does. Even when the person you’re trying to love and help; can’t receive or won’t reciprocate, even if that person hurts you. Loving the unloveable is what Hosea did as he prophetically demonstrated how God loves us.

It’s interesting how the two personalities in the books, though they be so opposite, relate to each other. In order to love as God does, we have to experience it for ourselves. We must allow this unconditional love to penetrate our very heart and soul, therefore bring change to the way we give and receive love.

At some point in our life we have to surrender to God’s love and learn to walk in obedience. Knowing, His ways are much better than ours. Unfortunately,  some will wait so long that it will be too late.

How do we surrender when we can’t trust love? Surrendering is an act of the will. You—will yourself—over to love and relationship, as painful as it may be—you choose love.

You will yourself to believe that God’s love is good and trustworthy. His love is evident in all He does, just read the book of Hosea…the book of John…all the books in the Bible! For God so loved the world, even though the world didn’t love Him, He gave Jesus.

I want to leave you with a quote from the book Redeeming Love. It’s found at the top of chapter 7, it’s a quote from a poem written in the 1400’s, by Charles D’Orleans.

I am dying of thirst by the side of a fountain

This appropriately describes a hurting person. Though they sit right next to The Fountain, they will die, for they refuse to drink.

Be encouraged—surrender to love—so you can be love.

Hosea 10:12  “Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you.”

Living in the Spirit vs. the Soul

Do you ever desire to do good, but then just don’t? You want to make the right choices, nonetheless you make the wrong ones. I have a very important question for you: who or what decides what the right choices are for you? Be honest with yourself, is it God and the Bible, or you and culture?

As people who call God their Lord, there are only two ways to live: being led by the Spirit of God or led by the god of self.

Personally, I have lived my Christian life both ways. In previous years I regarded God and His Word, but picked and chose what I wanted to do and what part of the Bible I would obey.

This was not the deliberate way I had decided to live, but more the quiet unspoken choice I made. I figured that it was all good and God would understand; after all, being a Christian and following God’s way was hard. Not. In reality I was double-mined and lived according to my own desires.

After years of living that makeshift sort of Christianity, God in His mercy got a hold of me. The truth came to the light; my life was not about me and I was not free to pick and choose what part of Gods ways I would follow. God showed me it was a matter of living in the Spirit versus the soul.

The soul consists of the mind, will and emotions. Mainly, when we think about living in the soul we are talking about the will—stubborn self-will.

Another way to look at it is living in the flesh or in the sinful nature. The flesh is not the soul, but living according to the flesh is equal to living governed by a stubborn self-will.

The Bible tells us the Spirit and the sinful nature are always at war. Galatians 5:16-18 says it this way…

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

So what’s the answer? How do we win this never-ending battle?

It’s a matter of harnessing the will. That’s done by crucifying the flesh and its passions, and believing that the cross and the blood of Jesus are powerful enough to transform us, therefore giving us the ability to overcome in every situation.

Galatians 5:19-23, gives us a list of the evidence of living in the soul and the fruit of living in the Spirit.

Galatians 5:24-26 articulates,

“And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Be encouraged, you do not have to live in the soul! By the power of the cross you can live in the Spirit and fulfill the desires of the Spirit!