THE STORY OF JESUS: Galatians 5:16-18
“Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16)
I’m the first to admit that resisting sinful temptations is hard.
To ‘walk by the Spirit’ is to choose to go where the Spirit leads.
Imagine a situation: you’re tempted to curse someone who cuts you off.
At that moment, your natural (flesh) response is to curse; its easy to give in.
But in that moment, you pause and ask, ‘Lord, what would You have me do?’
You sense the Spirit say, ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc.’
So you say, ‘OK Lord, I want to go where you lead; I will bless them!’
If this seems silly to you, then you’ve probably not decided to ‘live by the Spirit’.
For living by the Spirit, allowing the Spirit to lead you, is a decision with results.
You have made a radical commitment: to live by the law of the Spirit of life.
You know what the Spirit desires, and you’ve decided to gratify His desires.
Our problem is not that we can’t do this, but in the moment, we choose not to.
Its not that our ability is weak, our decision is weak.
Our critical need is a clear, bold decision, a radical commitment.
The strength of our FOLLOW THROUGH depends on the strength of our SURRENDER TO!
This needs to be our foremost prayer: Lord, help me to make THIS decision.
We need the Spirit’s help to make this surrender.
Once your heart and mind are set on what the Spirit desires, doing it will be natural.
For it will be His Spirit at work within us, as we surrender to His leadership.
“The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, You will help me if I choose to submit. But it starts with me making this decision. Please help me make a clear, firm, bold decision to do what You would have me do!